Indus Valley Civilization

The well-developed ancient urban civilization of the Indian subcontinent, the Indus Valley civilization or Harappan culture dominated parts of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan between 2600 and 1900 BCE. Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were the two largest cities. The archaeological findings had given a fairly good picture of the urban planning, economy, society, and religion of the people belonging to the largest Bronze Age civilization of Asia. Information about religion and religious life were deduced from seals of burnt clay, figurines, images of stone, and other artifacts. These exquisitely constructed material objects provided proof of the existence of religious life in the Indus Valley civilization.

The engravings on seals depicting animals, flowers, and other symbols had not only artistic value but were also a pointer toward religious beliefs. These helped reconstruct the religion of the civilization, even though the writing system was still undeciphered. One common animal on the square seals was a mythical unicorn. Bulls, elephants, rhinoceroses, doves, rams, dogs, and snakes were also present on some seals. Some of the animals were three headed; there were tigers with horns and a bull's head with a human torso, all of which suggested specific religious beliefs. The trees, particularly the pippal tree, were sacred symbols. Some of the clay figurines of men and women that were found might have been used in rituals. Phalli and female sex organs made of stone were also discovered, which suggested that these were objects of worship. Serpent worship was prevalent, as could be seen from the figure of a deity with a hooded cobra. There was a picture of a nude female with a plant emerging from the womb on one of the Harappan seals. On the reverse, there was a male holding a sickle-shaped knife and a female with raised hand. This suggested that human sacrifice as well as worship of an earth goddess was prevalent. The most striking deity of the Indus Valley culture was the horned God sitting in a Yogic posture surrounded by animals such as elephants, tigers, buffalos, rhinoceroses, and deer. This was taken to be a proto-Siva image. There were some similarities to religious beliefs of the Sumerian civilization. A seal from Mohenjo Daro depicted an attack on a horned tiger by a figure that was half woman and half bull figure. This was suggestive of the mythology of Goddess Aruru. A seal found in Chanhudaro showed a bull and a woman in a sexual position. The former represented the heaven and the latter earth. This duality was similar to the creation myths of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda.

That the Indus Valley people believed in life after death was evident from burial sites. Some of the graves contained pottery, ornaments, and mirrors intended for use in the afterlife. The practice of burial of the dead body was replaced by cremation in the late Harappan period. Burial urns containing ashes were also found. In the Rig Veda, it had been mentioned that the ancestors performed both anagnidagdha (“burial”) and agnidagdha (“cremation”). A wide range of Hindu beliefs are thought to have Harappan origins, including the proto-Siva form, serpent worship, the practice of painting dots on the female forehead, and the swastika symbol. There is a clear link between the religious tradition of the Indus Valley and the development of Hinduism.

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