The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c17.43

c17.43

A large number of the terra-cottas represent females (pl. XIX), and there has been perhaps an exaggerated tendency to regard these as a manifestation of the Great Mother Goddess familiar in the religions of western Asia and parts of Europe. The commonest Harappan type is a standing figure adorned with a wide girdle, often with a loin-cloth and nearly always with a necklace and an emphatic head-dress which is generally fan-shaped above, sometimes with a shell-like cup or pannier on each side. The pannier appears to have been used in some instances for burning lamp-oil or incense. The features and general modelling are of the crudest; the eyes and breasts are circular pellets, the nose beak-like, and the mouth an applied strip of clay with a horizontal gash. No special artistry went to the making of these figures. Occasionally a lump of clay is added to represent an infant at the breast or on the hip; and the general notion of fertility, whether in thanksgiving or in anticipation, is further indicated by representations of pregnancy, although there is no emphasis of the generative organs such as is normal to Mother Goddess cults.⁵ Women, with or without children, lying on beds may nevertheless be related to the idea of fecundity. Other figures are seated, or engaged upon household occupations such as kneading flour, and were doubtless toys.