Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TrangaBellam (talk | contribs) at 08:00, 9 August 2021 (→‎Priest King: ed). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Swastika excavated from Indus valley civilization is an important symbol in Indian religions

Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization is a debated topic and remains a matter of speculation until Indus script is deciphered.[1][2]

Background

Main article: Indus Valley Civilisation

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation,[3] was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE.[4][a] Together with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilisations of the Near East and South Asia, and of the three, the most widespread, its sites spanning an area stretching from today's northeast Afghanistan, through much of what is now Pakistan, and into western and northwestern India.[5][b] It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, which flows through India and Pakistan along a system of perennial, mostly monsoon-fed, rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra river in northwest India and eastern Pakistan.[4][6]

The religion and belief system of the Indus Valley people have received considerable attention, especially from the view of identifying precursors to deities and religious practices of Indian religions that later developed in the area. However, due to the sparsity of evidence, which is open to varying interpretations, and the fact that the Indus script remains undeciphered, the conclusions are partly speculative and largely based on a retrospective view from a much later Hindu perspective.[7] Geoffrey Samuel, writing in 2008, finds all attempts to make "positive assertions" about IVC religions as conjectural and intensely prone to personal biases — at the end of the day, scholars knew nothing about Indus Valley religions.[8]

An early and influential work in the area that set the trend for Hindu interpretations of archaeological evidence from the Harappan sites[9] was that of John Marshall, who in 1931 identified the following as prominent features of the Indus religion: a Great Male God and a Mother Goddess; deification or veneration of animals and plants; symbolic representation of the phallus (linga) and vulva (yoni); and, use of baths and water in religious practice. Marshall's interpretations have been much debated, and sometimes disputed over the following decades.[10][11] Nevertheless, some contemporary scholars have argued that the culture of Indus Valley civilisation contributed to the formation of Hinduism, (together with the Vedic culture and other local traditions); these are typically not mainstream views.[12][2]

Bull worship

The Pashupati seal discovered during excavation of the Indus Valley archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro and showing an instance of "Lord of the Beasts" motif, or the widespread motif of the Master of Animals.[13][14][note 1]. Circa 2350-2000 BCE.
Main articles: Pashupati and Pashupati seal
See also: Shiva and Rudra

Most discussions on religion in IVC centers around a seal that shows a large central figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic,[15] seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position, surrounded by animals.[16] Named by Sir John Marshall, an early excavator of Mohenjo-daro, as Pashupati (Lord of Animals[17]) — an epithet of the Hindu deities Shiva and Rudra —, it remained an unassailable evidence in favor of IVC influencing Hinduism for a few decades.[18][19]

In 1976, Doris Meth Srinivasan mounted a severe critique of Marshall's identification.[20] Scholars such as Gavin Flood and John Keay followed up with their own critiques.[21][22] Marshall's identification since stands rejected.[23] Scholars today consider the image to be an instance of Lord of the Beasts found in Eurasian neolithic mythology or the widespread motif of the Master of Animals found in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean art, and the many other traditions of horned deities.[13][14][note 1]

Alf Hiltebeitel suggests that the legend of Mahishasura may have roots in IVC as seal 279 depicts man hurling a spear at buffalo.[25][note 2]

Mother Goddess

Terracotta figurines excavated from Indus Valley civilisation
See also: God and gender in Hinduism

Certain terracotta statuettes have been identified as figurines of "Mother Goddess" by a spectrum of IVC scholars — John Marshall, Walter Fairservis, Bridget Allchin, Ernest J. H. Mackay, and Jim G. Shaffer among others — thus positing links to the Shakti tradition in Hinduism.[27][28][29]

Peter Ucko challenged this reading as early as 1967 but failed to make any noticeable dent.[29] In the last three decades, this hypothesis has been increasingly rejected by a newer generation of scholars — Sharri Clark, Ajay Pratap, P.V. Pathak, and others.[29] Clark, in what has been described as the most detailed study on terracotta figurines of Harappa, emphatically rejects that there exists any bases for the Mother Goddess identification or its continuance into Hinduism.[30] Shereen Ratnagar (2016) rejects the identification too, as being based on flimsy evidence.[28]

Other objects

Swastika

Swastiks in Indus valley civilisation
Main article: Swastika

Swastika is a symbol sacred to multiple Indian religions — Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.[31] Evidence of swastika in the IVC comes from button (and square) seals.[31][32] It is not likely that they served any definite ritualistic purpose in IVC. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer notes the Swastika to be a "decorative motif" that was utilized by political and religious leaders of the subcontinent to claim ties of Hinduism with IVC.[33]

Manabu Koiso classifies them to lie among a class of seals embossed with "geometric motifs" (including concentric circles and stars); the relative sizing of seals are hypothesized to reflect socio-economic, political, and religious hierarchy.[32][34] E. C. L. During Caspers found these Swastika Seals to have served a "mercantile purpose" in certain trade routes; Gregory Possehl has separately documented trade-circulation of these seals.[35]

Lingam

Main article: Lingam

John Marshall and Ernest Mackay proposed that certain artifacts found at Harappan sites may be evidence of yoni-linga worship in Indus Valley Civilization.[36] According to Dilip Chakrabarti, "some of the stones found in Mohenjodaro are unmistakably phallic stones". These are dated to some time before 2300 BCE. Similarly, states Chakrabarti, the Kalibangan site of Harappa has a small terracotta representation that "would undoubtedly be considered the replica of a modern Shivlinga [a tubular stone]."[37]

Priest King

Main article: Priest-King (sculpture)
See also: Hindu priest

Ernest J. H. Mackay, the archaeologist leading the excavations at the site when the piece was found, thought the statuette to represent a "priest". John Marshall agreed and regarded it as possibly a "king-priest", but it appears to have been his successor, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who was the first to use the designation of Priest-King.[38][39] One of the "seven principal pieces of human sculpture from Mohenjo-daro",[40] Asko Parpola had even hypothesized it to resemble later Indian traditions of Priesthood.[2] The terminology stands rejected.[41] Modern scholars find this term and the hypothesis to be highly speculative, problematic, and "without foundation" — Wendy Doniger in a scathing review noted that Parpola's "desire and imagination" surpassed available evidence.[42][43][44][45]

The Priest-King

Great Bath

Main article: Ghat

Many scholars propose the Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro to be a forerunner of ritual bathing, central to Hinduism.[46] Doniger rejects that the structure has any evidence for such ritual connotations.[44]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Witzel: "It is known from internal evidence that the Vedic texts were orally composed in northern India, at first in the Greater Punjab and later on also in more eastern areas, including northern Bihar, between ca. 1500 BCE and ca. 500–400 BCE. The oldest text, the Rgveda, must have been more or less contemporary with the Mitanni texts of northern Syria/Iraq (1450–1350 BCE); ..." (p. 70) "a Vedic connection of the so-called Siva Pasupati found on some Harappa seals (D. Srinivasan 1984) cannot be established; this mythological concept is due, rather, to common Eurasian ideas of the “Lord of the Animals” who is already worshipped by many Neolithic hunting societies."[24]
  2. ^ Mahishasura is a Sanskrit word composed of Mahisha meaning buffalo and asura meaning demon, thus meaning Buffalo Demon. Mahishasura had gained the boon that no man could kill him. In the battles between the Devas and the demons (asuras), the Devas, led by Indra, were defeated by Mahishasura. Subjected to defeat, the Devas assembled in the mountains where their combined divine energies coalesced into Goddess Durga. The newborn Durga led a battle against Mahishasura, riding a lion, and killed him. Thereafter, she was named Mahishasuramardini, meaning The Killer of Mahishasura.[26]

References

  1. ^ Hiltebeitel, Alf (1978). Anthropos. Vol. 73. pp. 767–797. ISSN 0257-9774.
  2. ^ a b c Parpola 2015.
  3. ^ For example, in the titles of the works used to reference this article by Habib (2015), Marshall (ed., 1931 and 1996), Parpola (2015), Possehl (2002), and Sullivan (1964)
  4. ^ a b c Wright 2009, p. 1.
  5. ^ a b Wright 2009.
  6. ^ Giosan et al. 2012.
  7. ^ Wright 2009, pp. 281–282.
  8. ^ Samuel, Geoffrey, ed. (2008), "Introduction", The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–14, ISBN 978-0-521-87351-2, retrieved 2021-08-09
  9. ^ Ratnagar 2004.
  10. ^ Marshall 1931, pp. 48–78.
  11. ^ Possehl 2002, pp. 141–156.
  12. ^ Flood 1996, p. 24-30, 50.
  13. ^ a b Werness 2006, p. 270.
  14. ^ a b Witzel 2008, pp. 68–70, 90.
  15. ^ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
  16. ^ For a drawing of the seal see Figure 1 in: Flood (1996), p. 29.
  17. ^ For translation of paśupati as "Lord of Animals" see: Michaels, p. 312.
  18. ^ Sullivan 1964.
  19. ^ Steven Rosen; Graham M. Schweig (2006). Essential Hinduism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 45.
  20. ^ Srinivasan, Doris (1975). "The So-Called Proto-śiva Seal from Mohenjo-Daro: An Iconological Assessment". Archives of Asian Art. 29: 47–58. ISSN 0066-6637.
  21. ^ Flood 1996, pp. 28–29.
  22. ^ Flood 2003, pp. 204–205.
  23. ^ Doniger, Wendy (2011). "God's Body, or, The Lingam Made Flesh: Conflicts over the Representation of the Sexual Body of the Hindu God Shiva". Social Research. 78 (2): 485–508. ISSN 0037-783X.
  24. ^ Witzel 2008, pp. 90.
  25. ^ Hiltebeitel, Alf (1978). "The Indus Valley "Proto-Śiva", Reexamined through Reflections on the Goddess, the Buffalo, and the Symbolism of vāhanas". Anthropos. 73 (5/6): 767–797. ISSN 0257-9774.
  26. ^ Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 410. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
  27. ^ Bhattacharji, Sukumari; Sukumari (1998). Legends of Devi. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-1438-6.
  28. ^ a b Ratnagar, Shereen (2016-12-01). "A critical view of Marshall's Mother Goddess at Mohenjo-Daro". Studies in People's History. 3 (2): 113–127. doi:10.1177/2348448916665714. ISSN 2348-4489.
  29. ^ a b c Bhardwaj, Deeksha (18 October 2018). "Traces of the Past: The Terracotta Repertoire From the Harappan Civilisation". Sahapedia.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  30. ^ Clark, Sharri R. (20 February 2017). The Social Lives of Figurines: Recontextualizing the Third-Millennium-BC Terracotta Figurines from Harappa. Papers of the Peabody Museum: 86. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780873652155.
  31. ^ a b Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2006–2007). "Indus Seals: An overview of Iconography and Style". Ancient Sindh: Annual Journal of Research. 9: 12.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  32. ^ a b Parpola, Asko (2018), Jamison, Gregg; Ameri, Marta; Scott, Sarah Jarmer; Costello, Sarah Kielt (eds.), "Indus Seals and Glyptic Studies: An Overview", Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 127–143, doi:10.1017/9781108160186.011, ISBN 978-1-107-19458-8, retrieved 2021-08-09
  33. ^ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2005). "Culture change during the Late Harappan period at Harappa: new insights on Vedic Aryan issues". In Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 9780203641880.
  34. ^ Konasukawa, Ayumu; Koiso, Manabu (2018). "The Size of Indus Seals and its Significance". Walking with the Unicorn: Social Organization and Material Culture in Ancient South Asia: Jonathan Mark Kenoyer Felicitation Volume. ArchaeoPress. ISBN 9781784919184.
  35. ^ Caspers, Elisabeth C.L. During (1973). "HARAPPAN TRADE IN THE ARABIAN GULF IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C." Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 3: 3–20. ISSN 0308-8421.
  36. ^ Asko Parpola (1985). "The Sky Garment - A study of the Harappan religion and its relation to the Mesopotamian and later Indian religions". Studia Orientalia. 57. The Finnish Oriental Society: 101–107.
  37. ^ Lipner, Julius J. (2017). Hindu Images and Their Worship with Special Reference to Vaisnavism: A Philosophical-theological Inquiry. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 39. ISBN 9781351967822. OCLC 985345208.
  38. ^ Possehl, 115
  39. ^ Coningham & Young 2015, pp. 480–83a.
  40. ^ Possehl, 113
  41. ^ Wright 2009, p. 252.
  42. ^ Possehl, 115 (quoted); Aruz, 385; Singh (2008), 178
  43. ^ McKay, A. C.; Parpola, Asko (2017). "Review of The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, ParpolaAsko". Asian Ethnology. 76 (2): 431–434. ISSN 1882-6865.
  44. ^ a b Doniger, Wendy (2017-08-02). "Another Great Story". Inference: International Review of Science. 3 (2). doi:10.37282/991819.17.40.
  45. ^ Kenoyer 2014, p. 424,b "The most famous of these stone figures was originally referred to as the “Priest-King” (Fig. 1.25.8) based on similar images from Mesopotamia, but there is no way to confirm this identification without the aid of written texts."
  46. ^ McIntosh, Jane (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2.

Sources


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Religion_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilization&oldid=1037886592"