HARAPPAN CULTURE Shyam Manohar Mishra ph. d.F.R. As. Reader in A. I. History and Archaeology, Lucknow University Prashant Srivastava B.. (Hons.).M.A..Pb. D. Lecturer in A. I. History and Archaeology, Lucknow University PRAMANIK PUBLICATIONS. : :Chapter VI RELIGION The main sources of our knowledge of the religious beliefs and Practices of the Harappans consist of some objects of stone and metaf, terracotta figurines, depictions on pottery, certain devices on seals/and sealings, besides, amulets, fire altars, burials and a few structures. The script used by the Harappans has so far defied adefinite decipherment. As such, the sources at our disposal aquaint us only with the ritualistic aspect of their religion, and their religious philosophy and ideas temain, perforce, a matter of conjecture and hypothesis’ Another consequence of this limitation is our inability to trace the evolution of the religious beliefs of the Harappans. In prehistoric and protohistoric teligion, there are usually two main concepts : a Father-god and a Mother-goddess associatéd with hunting and fertility Tespectively. The. hunting stage preceded the agricultural stage. This has led some scholars to assume that the worship of the Father-god antedates that of the Mother- goddess). On the other hand, some scholars regard ‘the life producing mother’ as “the central figure of religion’ in the ‘earliest phase of social evolution’, i.e., the pre-hunting stage” and that the Mother-goddess was given a male-partner only in the hunting stage of human evolution’, Both these concepts seem to be present in the religion of the Harappans. The Male God A three-faced and three eyed male deity, seated cross-legged in . a yogic posture on a low seat whose lower portion bears the depiction of a pair of antelopes, appears on a seal from Mohenjodaro*. The two arms of the ithyphallic deity are adomed with bangles. On his head is a homed or trident like head-dress or a trident like figure. He is : 34RELIGION 55 Surrounded by an elephant and a tiger on his right, and a rhinoceros and a buffalo on his left. The figure has been identified with Agni by Saletore®; with the Beast-Mother by Herbert Sullivan®, with a siddha by L. M. Joshi’, with a composite deity similar to Rudra by K. N. Shastri’, and with a prototype of Siva Pasupati by John Marshall. Marshall's identification draws support. from the following facts summed up briefly as below : w Besides the mention of Siva as trimukha (three-faced) and triyambaka (three-eyed) in later Indian literature, the three- faced ' Siva-icons of the historical period are also known. (ii) The male deity on the seal is seated in a yogic posture”, and Siva is often referred to as yogiraja, Mahayogi, Mahatapa, Yogisvara, etc. (iii) The male deity is surrounded by animals, and one of the popular epithets of Siva is Pasupati (Lord of the Beasts). (iv) He wears a three-horned head-dress. The Mahabharata (Vanaparvan, 88.8) refers to Siva as Trisringa Sirsha. Some scholars see in the three horns, the trisula attribute of Siva. (v) A pair of antelopes is seen below the seat of the deity. In the Mediaeval yoga-dakshina, images of Siva, the god holds a deer in one of his hands. The conspicuous absence of the bull, the mount of later Siva on the seal, has led some scholars to doubt the identification of the deity with Siva-Pasupati. In this connection the evidence of a sealing from Harappa is significant. The said seal depicts on one side a humpless bull standing before a trident and a male figure (deity ?) standing in front of a double-storeyed structure by its side. The other side of the sealing has an enthroned male in the centre, with some animals in an enclosure to his right, and a scene of tiger-hunt to his left. The enthroned deity has been identified with Siva, who has been repre- sented with his mount, bull and the attribute trident. The double- storeyed structure was his temple. This would show the connection of the bull with Siva even in the period of Harappa culture. 0. The deity of the above mentioned Mohenjodaro seal is ie hy be seen, with lesser details on two other seals from the same place.56 HARAPPAN CULTURE Siva in the historical period was also regarded as a great hunter (Kirata). Some scholars see this divine hunter aspect of Siva in the depiction of a homed arches dressed in a costume of leaves, on a seal amulet, from a Harappan site,!? ‘The steatite male statue form Mohenjodaro is shown draped in a shawl adored with trefoil motif. Several scholars have taken this male to be a priest. If the view that the trefoil pattern is the idealised form of the bilvaleaves'* be correct!’ this priest might have been associated with the worship of the proto-type of Siva-Pasupati. For, in the historical period, bilva leaves became sacred to Siva. It appears that the personality of the Rigvedic Rudra underwent a transformation in the later Vedic period, perhaps as a result of the influence of the Harappan culture. While the Rigvedic Rudra is a minor god of the rural community, in the Atharva Veda, he becomes Mahadeva, Isana and Pasupati. The Yajur Veda lays greater emphasis on his Pasupati aspect, and gets the names of Siva, Kapardin etc. More "significantly the Krishna Yajurveda connects him with the merchants besides others; and it is noteworthy that Harappans were deeply involved in commercial activities. Thus, the Vedic Rudra seems to be imbibing some characteristics of the Harappan deity, the proto-type of Siva- Pasupati. Phallic Worship Probably associated with the worship of Siva-Pasupati was the cult of the phallus, though there is also a suggestion that phallic worship might have been independent of Siva-worship in the Harap- pan phase. A large number of objects made of stone, shell, paste and other materials resembling the phallus have been found from the Harappan sites. Their héight varies from 1.27 cm. to almost 1 m. The Rigveda (VII, 21.5) speaks of the Sisnadevah. ae Weber, Hopkins, R G Bhandarkar, J. N, Banerjea, and others! take Sisnadevah to represent the phallus worshipper in the Harappan nt ture, although Sayana has not taken it in the sense of any cult object ~ or its Worshippers, He has explained Sisnadevah as lustful persons. According to A. C. Das, the image-worshipping Harappan are perhaps implied in the Regvedic reference to MuradevasRELIGION 57 The Mother-goddess Various Harappan sites have yielded numerous terracotta female figurines which are semi-nude but wear, generally, a fan-shaped head-dress, necklaces, bangles and girdle or band. Some such figurines are smoke-stained leading to the conjecture that oil or incense were burnt before them to propitiate the deity!”, Marshall identifies these female figures as the Mother-goddess'®, who, according to Piggott’®, was worshipped in household shrines. The mother-goddess aspect is specially notable in the terracotta figurines of pregnant women” found from Chanhudaro and other Harappan sites. These figurines appear to be votive in nature. The tradition of the worship of mother-goddess goes back to remote antiquity as attested by the Venuses of the Stone Age in Europe who probably represented the mother-goddess”, But her cult gained in popularity in the Bronze Age, when she was worshipped in almost all the cultures from west Asia to the Ganga Valley, notably in Elam, Mesopotamia, Transcaspia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, the Balkans and Egypt”. Some scholars believe that this cult originated in Anatolia, more particularly in Phrygia, wherefrom it spread to other countries”, A.L. Basham” observes, ‘that cult centering round fertility rites and the worship of Mother-goddess was being practised by the con- temporary agricultural communities’. The figurines of the Mother-goddess from the Harappan sites have been classified into three groups. (i) the Divine Woman or Ishtar type; (ii) the Divine Mother or Isis type; and (iii) the Personified yoni or Baubo type. First type is represented by the female figures with nude upper body, and arms held in a dispassionate manner; and the second by the figures of woman and child’, The earth is generally identified with woman in her maternal aspect all over the world due to the fecundity of the two. There seems to be some evidence regarding the worship of the Earth-Mother in the Harappan culture. The legless female figurines from Harappan sites have been identified by Aurel Stein with the Earth-goddess” , though 1 Piggott sees in them the terrific aspect of the Mother-goddess as the58 HARAPPAN CULTURE —_r guardian of the dead”®, A terracotta seal from Harappa”” shows on the obverse, on the right side, a nude female upside down with a plant issuing from her womb. On the left are two tigers. The reverse has a standing male figure holding a sickle, and a fearful female figure kneeling down on the ground. The plant issuing from the womb of the female figure on the obverse portrays her as a fertility goddess, and she might be the Earth-mother from whom springs all vegetation. It has been suggested that the kneeling female on the reverse is in the process of being sacrifi iced to the Earth-mother. Some, however, take itis a harvest scene™? which is less plausible. ‘The suggestion that the use of clay in the making of these figures and seals ‘is an indication of the necessity to use Mother Earth for an image?! has nothing to commend it. Besides being connected with vegetation the Harappan Mother- goddess was also associated with the animal kingdom. This appears to be shown by a steatite seal from Mohenjodaro which depicts a female with the composite body of a goat and a tiger ‘a queer blending of meek and the ferocious’, representing probably the benevolent and the fierce aspects respectively of the Mother- goddess. In the absence of deciphered written records, it is extremely difficult to arrive at any conclusion as to who among various Harappan deities was the most important. Marshall? regards the Mother-god- dess as the most popular Harappan deity. According to K. N. Shastri®’, the Harappan pantheon was male-dominated, with the pipal god as the most powerful deity. In view of the large number of figurines of the Mother Goddess recovered from various Harappan sites, and her depictions on seals etc., and also the importance given to her in several other civilizations. Marshall’s view appears more plausible. According to A. D. Pusalker’4, "No buildings have so far beet discovered in the Indus valley which may be definitely regarded & temples, and even those doubtfully classed as such have yielded © religious relics. There are no shrines, alters, oF any definite or objects’. Wheeler has, however, tried to identify some strut Mohenjodaro as temples. A rectangular, small but strongly built!RELIGION 59 / ture in the HR area houses two stone icons, Allchins regard a number of buildings both on the citadel and in the lower town at Mohenjodaro, housing stone sculptures, almost certainly all cult icons, as temples?>, Tt has also been argued that Harappan temples, being constructed of wood have perished. And according to D, D. Kosambi, the Harappan ‘citadels’ corresponds to the ‘temple-zikkurat’ structures in Mesopotamia”®, Fire cult Fire altars found at Kalibangan and Lothal, have been regarded as sacrificial altars by S, R. Rao and some other scholars, The presence of animal bones and horns of antelope inside a rectangular kunda, by the side of a fire-altar, on a raised platform on the citadel mound at Kalibangan shows beyond doubt the sacrificial nature of these kundas and altars, H. D. Sankalia, however, does not subscribe to it?” A bronze dancing girl from Mohenjodaro, already referred to, according to some may be a proto-type of later day devadasi. But this Suggestion is too farfetched to carry conviction. The tradition of keeping devadasis in temples started around 400 A.D. Animal Worship The representations of animals on seals and sealings inde- pendently or in association with deities, and their figurines made of terracotta, and stone point to the prevalence of animal worship. A. D. Pusalker has divided animal representations into three classes : (i) Mythical and complex animals, like the ‘semi-human, semi- bovine creature, attacking a homed tiger resemblir.z Eabani or Enkidu in Sumerian mythology’; (ii) ambiguous animals, like the unicorn, depicted on seals and sealings; and (iii) actual animals like the elephant, tiger, bull, ram, buffalo, rhinoceros, bison, etc. A feeding trough is not unoften shown placed in front of these animals, which has been taken as symbolizing food offerings to these animals. As some of these beasts like the thinoceros and the tiger could not be domesticated, the placing of the food offerings before them would indicate religious significance of animals in the Harappan culture.60 HARAPPAN CULTURE In later Hinduism, some animals were adopted as mounts of deities for example bull became the vahana of Siva, lion of Durga, buffalo of Yama and elephant of Indra, and so on. It is not known whether the animals were worshipped in the Harappan Culture as mounts of deities or independently for their prowess. It has also been suggested that composite animals were worshipped so that the prowess of all the animals forming the particular composite animal could be attained by the worshipper. The form of the so-called unicorn is somewhat tantalizing. It has been suggested that the animal is not actually single-horned, but the engraver of the seals has shown only one hom because the horn is hidden behind it. But Ctesias, Aristotle, Pliny and others have men- tioned an Indian single-horned animal. S. R. Rao and others say that the unicom was associated with vee trainee of Vishnu which shows him ekasrngi or single- horned?®. On one seal, a rayed solar disc is shown in front of a unicorn, which, according to Mackay, indicates the association of the animal with the sun. And it is also noteworthy that Vishnu is described as solar deity in the Rigveda. Could the unicorn be a theriomorphic representation of Vishnu ? Some limestone animal figurines are mounted on rectangular pedestal. These include bull and ram, etc. Mackay suggests that they represent the gods in their theriomorphic form, and that these figurines might have been installed in temples. There is also evidence regarding the serpent worship. A seal a Mohenjodaro shows a serpent in human form on each side of a deity”? f while three pot shards from Lothal depict a pair of serpents each. These depictions point to the prevalence of snake- worship in Harappan culture. The depiction of the crocodile on some seals has been taken by some is indicating the prevalence by the worship of gharial which is prevalent in Sind even now? Tree worship The Harappans seem to have worshipped trees in three forms- natural, human, and as abodes of spirits” 40 Often trees-in-railing areRELIGION 61 depicted on s nd sealings, as well as on pottery. On one terracotta seal from Harappa, a three horned deity with long hair stands nude between two branches of a pipal tree emerging from the ground. By the side of the deity is a kneeling worshipper with a composite animal behind him. In the lower part are seven human (female) figures. According to one view the deity within the branches of the tree might be a tree-goddess; and according to another this scene depicts a post-funerary rite, and the figure between the tree-branches represent the spirit of some departed human being whose relation is sacrificing the animal to propitiate this spirit*!. A seal from Mohenjodaro shows a homed deity standing between two pipal trees on the right. On the left is a ram. Behind it is another horned (female ?) deity. The deity between two trees might be the tree deity. The head of a unicorn is seen emerging from between two pipal branches on another seal. Yet another seal” shows a branch of the pipal tee emerging from the combined heads of two unicorns. This has led Marshall to suggest that the unicorn might have been the vahana of the God of the pipal tree, On the basis of the reference in the Atharvaveda (III, 6.1; VI. 11. 1), that the asvattha (pipal) was worshipped for victory over enemies and for the birth of the male progeny, it has been suggested that the Harappan, too, might have worshipped the pipal for these purposes. Ceremonial significance of water Some scholars believe that ceremonial ablution formed a sig- nificant part of the religion of the Harappans. This view is mainly based on the discovery of the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro, and the presence of a bathroom in almost all the houses - a rare feature in Chalcolithic cultures. The Great Bath had a tank in the centre, ap- proached by steps. On its four sides are other structures and bath- rooms. The Great Bath complex also had an upper storey, where priests are believed to have resided. According to D. D. Kosambi“’, the ritual tank in the Great Bath is the prototype of the sacred Lotus pond, the pushkara of the later62 HARAPPAN CULTURE | times, where kings-were anointed or rather, sprinkled. He adds that the tank was also associated with the worship of the mother-goddess“* = Ithas also been suggested that the seal from Harappa*® depicting a ‘tree-goddess'’, also bears representation of seven rivers of the Punjab in human form, Other scholars see in them the saptamatrikas, of saptarishis®, But these identifications are extremely doubtful Some other Aspects Like Babylonians, Harappans also probably had some faith in Tantricism. This has been inferred from amulets, depictions on some seals and sealings as also from some beads bearing designs, recovered _ from various sites of the civilization. Some symbols engraved on seals and sealings, beads and shell and ivory objects had sacred character. The svastika, which is depicted in profusion has had religious significance from fairly early times, not only in India but also in other ancient civilizations. This appears to be associated with solar worship. The solar disc may also be seen on Harappan seals, especially in association with the unicom. Similarly cross had religious, significance in Harappan culture as well as in Greece, Elam and some other ancient cultures. The knot had religious importance in the Orient as also in the Occident. But we cannot be sure about the sacred character of a knotted pattern found on a Harappan shell object. Besides, the trefoil motif on the shawl of the Mohenjodaro priest perhaps symbolises star, though it has also beea taken to be the conventional representation of bilva leaves associated with the worship of Siva and the sun in later Hinduism. Disposal of the-dead An idea of the Harappan concepts associated with the disposal of the dead can be gathered from various cemeteries discovered at Ses like Harappa, Derawar in Bahawalpur, besides those foun and Kalibangan. The evidence of Harappan cemeteries shows that exude humation was the most common practice, with the body placed . back in the north-south direction and the head generally toihe " Pottery and in some cases omaments, were buried with the ara graves, as al Kalibangan resembled cists, and a grave e id at LoRELIGION 63 gives evidence of a coffin burial with traces of a reed shroud. Urn- burials in small circular Pits, and orthodox pit burials are also reported trom Kalibangan, From Lothal, S, R. Rao recovered three examples of twin burials, which he takes to be indicative of the prevalence of the custom of Sati. But this view is not beyond doubt and dispute” as discussed while dealing with social life (above). The homogéneous character of the Harappan culture has been rather over-emphased and we find regional variations almost in all its aspects including religion. For example, the figurines of the Mother Goddess, yoni and linga like stones, and the fepresentation of Brah- mani bull, so abundantly found at Mohenjodaro, Harappa and several Other sites, are absent or near about at Lothal, Kalibangan, Alamgirpur etc, while some new religious features like the fire altars and sacrificial kundas have been found only at Lothal and Kalibangan but nowhere else in Harappan empire. References . 1. S.R. Goyal, Religious History of Ancient India, I, p. 12. 2. _-N.N. Bhattacharya, History of the Sakta Religion (Delhi, 1974), p. 2. a 3. _E.O. James, The Cult of the Mother-Goddess (London, 1959), p. 228. 4. Mackay’s list ‘no. 420. 5. Vide Dandekar, Rudra in the Veda, p. 42, n. 3. 6. History of Religion, IV (i), pp. 115-125. 7. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 1964, pp. 115 ff. 8. Sindhu Sabhyata ka Adikendra-Harappa (Hindi), pp. 78, 83. 9. Padmasana, A. D. Pusalker, in op. cit., p. 190; Kurmasana, J. N. Banerjea, The Development of Hindu Iconography, Calcutta, 1956, p. 159. 10. Mackay’s list no, 420. 11, Mackay’s List nos, 222 and 235; S. R. Goyal, op. cit., I, p. 19. 12, A.D-Pusalker, in op. cit., p. 19124, 25. » 26. 27. 29. 30. 31, 33, 34, 353 36. 37. HARAPPAN CULTURE Contra, the view that it represents the star S. R. Goyal, op, cit. 1, p. 21. See S. R. Goyal, /bid., p. 23. AC Das, Rigvedic Culture, p. 145. Mackay, JRAS, 82, p. 218. Op. cit., 1, pp. 48ff. Prehistoric India, p. 203. Marshall, op. cit., pl. XCV 24, 29, 30. E.Neumann, The Great Mother, p. 94; Stephen Fuchs, The Origin Of Man And His Culture, p. 62 Marshall, op. cit., I, p. 50. Ibid. The Great Mother manifested herself as Nin-tu in Sumeria (Howkes and Woolly, History of Mankind, |, p. 702) as Ishtar in Akkad; perhaps as Isis in Egypt (E.O Jeames, The Ancient Gods, p. 81); as Cybele in Phrygia (Frazer, The Golden Bough, p. 347). Wonder That Was India, p. 13. C. C. Dasgupta, The Origin and Evolution of Indian Clay Sculpture, pp. 81-82. R. Briffault, The Mothers, Ill, pp 5Sff. MASI, No. 43, pp. 126-162; pl XXII. Op. cit., p. 127. M.S.Vats, Excavation at Harappa, p. 42, pl. XCIIl. 304. See M C P Srivastava, Mother Goddess in Indian Art, AT- chaeology and Literature, p. 27. See Mackay, Further Excavation at Mohenjodaro, P. 258. Marshall, op. cit., I, pp. 48ff. Sindhu Sabhyata Ka Adhikendra-Harappa (Hindi), P- B. In The Vedic Age, p. 189. The Birth of Indian Civilization, p. 311. An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, P- See HiD,Sankalia, The Pre-history and Protohision i.and Pakistan, p. 350. , 63. y of India38 39, 39A. 40. 41. 42. 43. 45. 46. 47. RELIGION 65 Vide, A. D, Pusalker, in op. cit, p. 192 See The Vedic Age, p. 192. S.R. Goyal, op. cit.,, Lp. 29, S.R. Goyal, op, cit., L. p. 29, S. R. Goyal, op. cit., 1. p. 18. Marshall, No. 387. D. D. Kosambi, J/BBRAS, 27(1951), pp. 23-30. D. D. Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian His- tory, p. 64. " M. S. Vats, op. cit., pl. XCIII. 304. Vide, S. R. Goyal, op. cit.,, I, pp. 17-18. See above.