It is a logical that the organisation in the Indus cities presents the need for a leader to pull the logistic, economic and political aspects of the civilization together. The palaces found in Harappa, and their segregation from the main populous, is further evidence of at least some form of higher class structure. This particular characteristic of the Indus civilisation is mainly speculation, however the discovery of statues depicting priests suggests their importance in society, and it is possible that the government may have been fundamentalist. Flood thinks that this “caste” system’s head may have been a King or, possibly, a high priest with their own cult as part of an official religion.
What was this official religion? There is not any literary evidence so much of what is known about the religion is a mixture between artefacts and pure speculation. The suggestion of a priestly caste comes from the finds of statues and seals of similar bearded figures in cloaks. Flood suggested that the great bath at Mohenjo-daro was used for ritualised bathing, and the importance of water in the culture. Indeed, high alters above the bath were possibly used for animal sacrifice. Further to this, there are rooms around the bath that may have been used for prostitution. This could have been for some form of fertility ritual, or perhaps for the entertainment of officials? The Indus people were probably polytheists, the discovery of female figurines depicting goddesses probably supports this view. Animals were probably of some importance: there are several seals of a unicorn; its horn may be a fertility symbol. On several seals the unicorn appears to be feeding from a trough, and it has been suggested that this may have not been a unicorn but a form of cattle. Another seal supposedly depicts a seated male god, or a buffalo, surrounded by animals. It has been argued that this may have been a proto-Siva. His phallus perhaps depicts male power, and a powerful animal as a metaphor for this power. Above this man there is some form of script or hieroglyphs.
The hieroglyphs have not yet been deciphered, and perhaps will remain un-deciphered until the discovery of a bilingual document. The hieroglyphs partly resemble Sumerian script and due to it trading links with the valley it is entirely possible that these hieroglyphs were influenced both ways. Each hieroglyphic symbol may represent a sound of an object or an object itself, for example, in English, a symbol of a bee and a leaf may represent the word belief. The language for these hieroglyphs was probably Dravidian, a descendant language of the early colonising people before the civilisation’s emergence. After 1500BCE this language may have been influenced by the Aryans.
It was around 1500BCE that that Indus Valley civilisation began to demise. The actual reason for this is unknown; however there are numerous theories. It is generally thought the sudden demise of the Indus Valley civilisation was the result of an invasion by the Aryans, indeed a number of skeletons were found in Mohenjo-daro, laying where they had fallen as the result of a violent death. Hopkins has suggested that the Aryans may have been partly responsible via a series of pitched battles. However, Arthur Cotterell suggests that the main cause of decline was internal. Evidence in Mohenjo-daro seems to support this argument: after 1900BCE the civilisation began to decay the houses were less meticulously planned out and poorly built, there was a deterioration of the surrounding landscape possibly due to overgrazing. Mohenjo-daro was suffering from a series of high floods, so the government’s concerns were probably turned to handling this problem rather than the organization of infrastructure. The other cities probably broke away from Mohenjo-daro to form their own regional cultures. This combined with the Aryan raids may have been enough to bring about the end of the civilisation. Indeed, Cotterell argues that the Aryans may have destroyed dams which may have resulted in the high floods and the lack of irrigation for the farmers. Aryan hymns tell the story of the god Indra rolling stones (the composition of the dam) like wagon wheels, and giving the Aryans victory over people living in strong holds, walled towns and fortified cities. So it is probable that the demise of the Indus Valley civilisation was caused by a mixture of internal troubles and the Aryan arrival.
The Indus was the largest of the four “cradle civilisations” including Egypt and Mesopotamia it had a strong economic and social bedrock that remained virtually unchanged for 600 years, perhaps in their view they had created an Utopian society. But this conservatism was probably the cause of its downfall: in a changing environment the Indus people may have found it difficult to adapt, for example the reliance on agriculture so with the high floods the cities were in trouble and the Aryan invasion probably brought the last element needed for its collapse. But the knowledge of this civilisation is far from complete. The hieroglyphs on the seals, copper plates and potsherds are still un-deciphered and much of the archaeology in Harappa was used to support a railway. So much of what is known on the Indus Valley is speculation. Perhaps one of the important aspects of the Indus Valley, which has attracted many scholars, is the evidence of early shadows of modern Hinduism.
The statuette of a priestly figure with a robe draped over one shoulder shows aspects of reverence during the time of Buddha; and his eyes are half closed as if he is in meditation. This priestly figure shows the influence of Sumerian priests, his long beard and headdress. Perhaps this priest was part of a priesthood who assisted the king and with this it is possible to suggest an early form of caste system. But this type of assumption may be too easy to make, because feudalism was a key aspect in all civilisations and probably the best from government for this time.
A seal has been found in the lower city of Mohenjo-Daro which depicts a three faced God sitting on a throne in the attitude of an yogic position, his legs bent double heel to heel, wearing a buffalo headdress, bangles and bracelets, a double belt and a triangular collar, around him is a tiger, an elephant and a rhinoceros. Could this figure be some form of proto-Shiva? There are certainly similarities between them. This seal depicts the God’s phallus, which possibly represents male power, and this phallus is a definable feature of Shiva. Sir John Marshall has suggested that this proto Shiva represents Pasupati, the lord of the animals or Rasupati, the lord of the wilderness: the fact that he is surrounded by animals and wearing a buffalo headdress certainly supports this. Further evidence such as the half moons in Shiva’s hair does resemble the horns of the buffalo headdress. But these conclusions are speculative and it must be remembered that the role of nature in man’s life made the difference between life and death, and therefore it is only natural that a person should try to control through worship of a god in nature. Indeed Flood suggests that his God that this god may not be a man but a seated buffalo; and indeed this animal maybe a symbol of male power. This seal bares resemblance to the Celtic horned God Cerunnos, who is depicted seating in a similar fashion and is surrounded by animals. However, in the ancient world it is dangerous to generalise. The argument against this assumption is that the only literally evidence of the Indus Valley religion comes from the Vedas, and Shiva is not a Vedic God.
Another similarity between the religion of the Vedas and Hinduism is the high regard for water. The great bath at Mohenjo-daro and the drainage system suggests the Indus Valley people saw cleanliness and hygiene is important. This was probably mainly a practical reason for the successful sustainment of a city, but there could have been religious reason which has filtered into modern Hinduism. The great bath may have been occupied by the priests and the general public. Around the great bath there are a further eight bathrooms, these more secluded rooms may have been used by the priests, while the general public used the great bath. Indeed the great bath has been suggested to be a brothel. However, the great bath does seem to prefigure the holy bathing places of Hinduism.
In conclusion, the Indus Valley religion does seem to have similarities to modern Hinduism. However, it must be remembered that scholars who seeks links between the Indus Valley and modern Hinduism may be blinded by their search to the facts that suggest otherwise. Throughout humanity there are key features in religion that are universally applied, they all depend on the circumstances of the human and any similarities or link may be the result of coincidence rather than a direct link. However, it is entirely possibly that there may have been a cultural synthesis between the Aryans and the Indus, through interbreeding, which allows ideas to continue and possibly leak into the Vedas. But this is speculation and will probably not be confirmed until the decipherment of the hieroglyphs until then it depends on the perception of the scholar.
Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition
An Introduction to Hinduism
Early India- Indus Valley Civilisation
