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Durga-like and the Indus Valley Civilization. New discoveries in the seals of the Indus valley.

During the 3

rd

millennium b.c., the people of Namazga and Kulli culture (Appendix 1)abandon gradually their areas for installing settlements along the river Sarasvati banks which

become an important factory and trade center.

Trading contacts follow with the neighboring empires : Elam, Sumer, Akkad, (Appendix 2)

Despite the many influences brought by the trade, the Indus valley civilization develops

the iconography of original deities of the fertility cult :

- A Nude Goddess with bangles standing in a arch of Pipal tree.

- A Proto Shiva, male deity, who is bowing down the Nude Goddess.

I recently discover, in the Barakat gallery collection, anincised shell that reproduces the theme of the "Procession seal". Thisartifact brings new details and confirmations about these Indus fertilitycult deities.

The Indus valley culture :

Kot Diji (2800-2600 bc Mature Harappa (2600-1900 bc) Late Harappa (1900-1300 bc).

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The Nude Goddess with bangles :

Procession seal.Mohenjo Daro. Mature Harrapa. 2800-2600 bc. Islamabad mus.

Procession seal impression Harrapa moulded tablet.

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Harappa. 2100-1750 bc. New Delhi mus. Huntington. . Other faces of the same seal

Harappa mature.Trench 11 other faces of the same seal. New Delhi mus.

3B/3C.2450-2200 bc 2100-1750 bc.Huntington

Mohenjo Daro.Carved seal. 2100-1750 bc. Huntington Mohenjo Daro.Carved seal. 2100-1750 bc. Huntington

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The new Procession seal artifact in the collection of the Barakat Gallery :

Incised Indus valley shell. 3000-2000 bc . Barakat Gallery. AM-0362

New Indus script on the Procession seal . A duck in flight above the goddess

http://www.barakatgallery.com/store/index.cfm/FuseAction/ItemDetails/UserID/0/CFID/47313294/CFTOKEN/64414549/CategoryID/32/SubCategoryID/916/ItemID/27423.htm

http://www.barakatgallery.com/store/index.cfm/FuseAction/ItemDetails/UserID/0/CFID/47313294/CFTOKEN/64414549/CategoryID/32/SubCategoryID/916/ItemID/27423.htm

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Some seals figurating the nude Indus goddess with bangles were discovered in Mesopotamia and

other places. They were imported by the trade, or were copies of the Indus seals, and they are

always written in Harrapan script.

Near eastern seal. Louvre mus.

Reflections on the artistic representation of the Nude Goddess :

- She is nude, arms decorated with bangles.

She is a fertility symbol, as the goddesses of the neighboring empires and kingdoms: Inanna, Ishtar,

Ninhursag, Ashera,

The bangles on the arms allow to recognize her from the other fertility goddesses.

The goddess being the main deity, the nudity cannot indicate a lower status or caste (as slave) as

some scholars repute the representation of the Dancing girl .

Mohenjo Daro. 10,8 cm high. Lost wax bronze. 2500 bc. Another Indus bronze.

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- She wears a helmet representing the horns of a bull with a branch of pipal leaves

ascending in the center of the horns.

This helmet is peculiar to the Indus valley worship and seems the mark of the main human deities.

Three pipal leaves on the branch.Or three lines on the head.

Same helmet is attributed to the proto-Shiva male deity who has three faces.

The schematic design of the helmet figures a trident (Trisula, symbol of the yogis). Further, thetrident will be the token of the brahmanical trinity symbolizing, as the three faces, the three powers

in Hinduism : creation, preservation, destruction. The trident will be the symbol of Shiva.

- A male deity (same helmet) and a bull with human face are worshiping the deity,

with offering too.

Most of the scholars repute the huge beast behind the male deity to be a goat or a ram.

I dont think so. It is a bull with a human face, zoomorphic deity.

The male sex of the bull can be better seen on the impression of the Procession seal and perfectly on

the Incised shell.

The chest design of the bull is confirmed by its representations on the Indus seals :

The huge beast as a bull is confirmed by the drawing on the Incised shell and by the seal of the New

Delhi museum which retakes too the special horns.

This bull has a human face, it is not a common bull, and its horns are distinctive of this zoomorphic

deity.

- She stays, standing, in a arch of pipal tree.

Three pipal leaves on each branch of the arch.

She is the main goddess, the one before the one as the Devi Durga further. The male deity, gone

with the bull, is bowing down her and she stands in the pipal tree protecting the goddess, then lower

than her.

The sign could be a schematic pipal arch for meaning worship.

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Harappa.com.Inscribed steatite tablets.Harappa.Trench 54.To worship the Pipal tree

To see too : Asko Parpola for his interpretation of the first sign on these tablets : sacred tree.

This sign is often associated with the deities, as with the Proto-Shiva male deity or the

Nude goddess

It seems (but the upper right corner of the procession seal is broken and worn) that the 5 signs,

out of the ,on the Procession seal are exactly the same than those of the Pashupati seal

This observation allows to confirm the Indus script as a coherent language and the Proto-Shiva as

a male counterpart of the female deity.

- Seven attendants in procession are represented participating to the worship.The attendants (men or women?) have a lower status than the goddess described by their youngster

hairstyle. They are not nude as the goddess but wear a dress.

They have the same braid of hair than the goddess, this can signify that they are priestesses (or

priests) of the goddess cult

Akkadian seal impression. 3rd mil.bc.

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Seal from Harappa with seven attendants : H 97 tablet.

Some two millenniums further, in Hinduism, the Saptamatrikas will represent the avatars of the

main goddess Devi Durga

- The goddess is associated with the tiger.

An Indus seal represents a deity half human half tiger, with the same helmet than the Nude goddess

of the Procession seal. The Nude goddess with all her distinctive elements appears composing this

zoomorphic deity.

Other seals represent a tiger with horns :

This tiger with striped skin and one horn, as a unicorn, is engraved behind the male deity on the

incised shell.

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Some Indus seals or tablets confirm the association of the Nude goddess with the tigers :

Harappa earliest level. 3B. 2600-2400 bc. Trench 54 Mount E.

The Nude goddess (with breasts) , not Gilgamesh, is surrounded with two

felines (tigers, leopards ?) and stands above an elephant. Lady of the beasts as a female

counterpart of the proto-Shiva, Lord of the beasts. Her male counterpart is represented on thereverse of the tablet.

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This story is retaken on some other seals but with a male or female (?) deity or figure.

Interesting to note than the script is similar on these 2 seals.

The sign , above her, represents the sun to consecrate her as a solar deity.

The head of the goddess is represented as the sun, round with rays.

This sign is reserved to this goddess and to the pipal tree :

The position of the rays is different that the other sign : which can be seen on numerous

seals.

The association of the sun symbol with the nude goddess is confirmed by another seal,

2100-1750 b.c., in the collection of the New Delhi museum :

Another religious scene appears on numerous seals : A nude human (male or female?) is sitting on

the branch of a tree (not a pipal tree), facing a tiger always represented by the back.

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Harappa earliest level. 3B. 2600-2400 bc. Trench 54 Mount E.

It is not sure that this scene would have a link with the goddess not represented on the reverse of a

similar seal despite of the tigers and the elephant. This seal is worn but if the goddess was present

between the felines and above the elephant, some traces of her should remain.

Or, may be this religious story is associated with the male deity :

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The Proto-Shiva male deity :

Incised shell. 3000-2000 bc. Barakat gallery Mohenjo Daro. Islamabad mus.

Mohenjo daro. Part of the Procession seal. Mohenjo daro. Seal fragment.

Harappa. 3 sides tablet. Trench 11.2450-2200 bc Ashmolean mus.Oxford.

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Mohenjo daro.2100-1750 bc.Huntington. Harappa. 2100-1750 bc. New Delhi mus.

Harappa . 2600-2400 bc Harappa. Trench 54.

Mohenjo Daro. Pashupati seal .2300-1750 bc.

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Reflections on the artistic representation of the Male deity :

He is nude, with bangles on the arms and wears the same helmet than the Nude goddess.

These elements show that the two deities are clearly associated in the same fertility cult with deity

status for both.

- His sex in erection confirms his main position in the fertility cult.

Bowing down the Nude goddess, he is the reproductive and the male counterpart of the Nude

goddess who is the first deity.

Numerous lingams and yoni were excavated in the Indus valley.

- His three faces image the three powers in one. His helmet prefigures the trident/trishula.

It is disturbing to find so many symbols of Hinduism in a so early period but the facts are there.

- He stands in yogi position.

- The powerful animals : water buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant and tiger are associated

with him.

These 4 animals, the most powerful, give their force to him on the Pashupati seal.

The helmet of the male deity has stag horns on the incised shell, confirming that he is the Lord

of the beasts.

The presence of zoomorphic deities, the bull with human face on the Procession seal, and the

unicorn tiger, on the Incised shell, both behind him to worship the Nude goddess show that he is

superior to the other deities, the zoomorphic ones.

- He is the male counterpart of the Nude goddess in the Shakti cult.

Forerunner of Shiva ? Vishnu ? or Brahma ? or the three together as a trinity god ?

Reflections on the hole of the incised shell :

The hole in the center of the shell is another fertility symbol. Its the maternal vulva which

receives the procreation act and gives the birth.

The bull seems to drop its semen inside the hole! confirming a fertility cult scene.

Many ring stones have been found in the ancient cities of the Indus valley. Some scholars seethem as yoni to be associated with lingams, as John Marshall, others consider that they are

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simple building materials. The skill of the carving allows to doubt that such a work could be

destined only for supporting a wooden column. More, a wooden column will crack a stone ring

when dilating with water.

Mohenjo Daro ringstone. Harappa ringstone.

This hole in the incised shell is to be compared with the Mauryan ring stones :

Metmuseum. 300 bc V&A museum. 300 bc

Some ring stones of the Mauryan period have a sacred tree or a duck replacing the goddess for

fertility symbol. The duck in flight above the goddess on the incised shell, is interesting to be noted

as a fertility symbol two millenniums before the Mauryan rings.

.

Allahabad museum. Allahabad museum.

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It is really disturbing to find evidence, during the 3 rd millennium b.c., of a god Shiva-like whose

elements and representation cannot be rediscovered until the 2nd century b.c.

The earliest human representation of Shiva known is the sculpture of Gudimallan.

The existence of the Skatism cult is confirmed in the Indus Valley religion with a goddess Durga-

like, and his male avatar Shiva-like. All the forerunner elements of the Hinduism are there :

- Yoga and yogi. Lingam and yoni.

- Bull slaying as a religious image.- Goddess associated with the tiger.

- The Trimurti , three powers : creation, preservation, destruction symbolized by the three faces in

one head of the god.

- The trishula, the trident of Shiva symbolizing the Trimurti with its three points.

- The relations of Hinduism with the animals.

- The concept of the avatars and the Saptamatrikas.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium b.c., the changing of the climatic conditions and the

migrations of the Aryans will cause the disappearance of the Indus civilization and the abandon of

the Sarasvati bank settlements.

The people remained to contribute to other civilizations. They apparently bore the oral tradition of

the religious thought of the Indus valley during centuries. This thought resisted to the Vedic

civilization transforming the Aryan god Rudra in Hindu god Shiva, bearing the Shiva symbol, the

trident, for it can be punched on the first Indian coins and always transmitting the Indus religious

tradition beside the rise of new religions as Buddhism and Jainism.

The Ramayana and the Manu Smriti of the mythical Ishvaku kingdom (600-300 bc), then the

Shunga dynasty will throw the foundations of the modern Hinduism.

The first artistic representations of the goddess Durga whose iconic image dates from the

time of the Shunga dynasty with the Armed goddess, then from the Kushan dynasty for the

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Mahishasuramardini attitude, have another origin (2) but the spirit of the Shaktism is

resolutely coming from its forerunner, the Indus civilization through the centuries.

(2) Durga's origins on Scribd max8899.

Need to read :

John Marshall Mohenjo Daro and the Indus civilization.Richard H.Meadow and Jonathan Kenoyer The tiny steatite seals of Harappa.

Dr S. Kalyanaraman Mecchlita,Vikalpa, Mecchla, Nighantu.Sarasvati epicagraphica.

Thomas McEvilley The shape of ancient thought.

Gregory L.Possehl The Indus valley civilization.

Unesco publication History of civilizations of Central Asia

And to find images of Mohenjo Daro on :

http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/mohenjodaro /

http://www.harappa.com

Appendix 1 :Main origins of the early culture of the Indus valley :

The migrations of the Europeans follow one another from the Black Sea to

the south through the Balkans to current Anatolia and Syria and along the banks the

Caspian Sea and Aral Sea to current Iran and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Indo-europeans migrations.Maria Gimbutas theory.

Vinca-Turdas-Gradeshnitsa script. 7th/6th millennium BC. 6200/5500 BC.Serbia Romania Bulgaria. = Danube banks.

and their heirs :

Cucuteni-Trypillian-Tripolye culture.5500/2750 BC.

http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/mohenjodarohttp://www.harappa.com/http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/mohenjodarohttp://www.harappa.com/

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Romania Ukrainia-Russia = . Northwestern banks Black Sea.

Yamna culture. 3600/2300 BC = Northsouthern banks Black Sea.

They bring with us the Vinca script and specially the Svastika sign which allow to

identify their presence.

6th mil. bc. Kurdjali. Vinca. Samara plate. 5000 bc. Northern Irak. Anatolia. Gold. 2600-2000 bc

Vinca script :http://www.omniglot.com/writing/vinca.htm

The signs of the early Indus script are similar with those of the Vinca script :

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/vinca.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/writing/vinca.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/writing/vinca.htm

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Maria Gimbutas s elements of the Vinca sript

Harappa phase. 2600-1900 bc Kot Diji phase. 2800-2600 bc (1) Harappa. Mount AB- surface.

(1) not a house or a temple but male and female symbols tangled up. Fertility cult symbol.

Ravi phase. 3300-2800 bc

Some signs (or petroglyphs) are common to many civilizations to traduce the immediate visual

and/or the easy description comprehensible on first grade by every one :

Moon Sun Male Female Arrow/Spear Fish

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Human Cow Cereal ,

Others are the elementary figures :

Or elementary representations of numbers :

Specially, two elaborated signs are markers of the Vinca script :

, the Jar, and , the Svastika, which figures the sun course in dynamic expression,

turning around its axe.

Faience button seal.Harappa Harappa. Trench 43. Harappa. Rectangular tablet.

Mount AB surface.

From the 4th millennium b.c.,an important and cultural settlement is noted in current

Turkmenistan , linked by the north with the Andronovo culture and by the south with the northern

Iranian culture :

Bactria-Margiana-Archaeological-Complex (B.M.A.C). 4th/2th millennium BC.Contemporary culture of Harappa. Central Asia and Northern Iran settlements.

The use of the Vinca script and the similarity of the seals show strong links between the

late Mehrgarh culture (Kulli/Nal/Zhob) and those of the BMAC.

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Altyn depe. 2300-2000 bc Kot Diji seals.Namazga design

To see :fig. 3. Native and Harappa-like seals from Altyn-depe (2300-2000 b.c.).http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000944/094466eo.pdf

The representations of the Mother goddessare too similar in the early phase :

Hermitage mus. Ukraine Hermitage museum Yalangach depe Early Harrapa.Ravi phase.4th mil.bc. Harrapa.com

Tripolye 4th mil.bc South Turkmenistan 4th mil.bc

Appendix 2 :

Specialized in lapidary industry and metal wares, the Indus valley culture received the influences from

other cultures and specially, specialized too in lapidary industry, from its great neighbor Jiroft and its

zoomorphic motifs :

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000944/094466eo.pdfhttp://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000944/094466eo.pdf

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