SmartSurat  #  Hinduism

Other seals

Some seals suggest that plants and trees were venerated. Such seals include nude figures with flowing hair. On one seal a person is depicted as kneeling at the base of a tree with a huge goat towering above him or her, while another seal shows something being placed at the foot of a tree, perhaps an offering. A ' recurrent theme ', to use the Allchins term, is some sort of tree-spirit, surrounded by the branches of what seem to be pipal trees. Such beings are sometimes horned and of indeterminable sex, but the manner in which worshippers are arranged around the base of the tree, often with a certain uniformity, is suggestive of ritual practice. Clearly, a horned worshipper kneeling before a being in a tree is indicative of cultic ritual. Some authors see evidence of early bhakti here in view of the scenes of devotion on the seals, but this is stretching the evidence too far: a distinction needs to be made between bhakti - the kind of loving-devotion which is a reciprocal two-way devotion between devotee and deity - and simple propitiatory devotion which is all the seals can indicate. Many seals have pictures of half human, half animal forms which are suggestive of divine creatures. Bulls feature considerably on seals and many writers note the connection between Siva's association with the bull Nandi (who is his mount as well as the guardian of his shrines and temples), and suggest a similar connection between Proto-Siva and the proliferation of bulls on the Indus valley seals. But there is nothing to connect the latter two directly: even the horned head-dress which adorns the figure of Proto-Siva is most likely indicative of buffalo horns and not bulls horns, and the whole figure could even be a humanized buffalo. Yet bulls certainly seem to have been part of religious practice. For example, a bull on one seal is garlanded, while on another seal a bull stands before what has been described as a ' sacred manger ', which seems to be a cultic object of some sort.        From the evidence of the seals alone, then, it could be claimed that the Harappan people venerated animals and trees, tree-spirits, or even a tree goddess and some kind of horned, male deity which many have seen as a precursor of the Hindu God Siva. Trees, indeed, may have been used as sacred sites which would explain the lack of archeological evidence of any edifice conclusively shown to be a temple. Half animat, half human creatures also seem to have been part of the religious cult and some seals portray nude, male figures with matted hair. This, and the seated, still pose of the figure on the Proto-Siva seals, might suggest some kind of ascetic aspects for the Indus valley religion. Some, indeed, see the eyes of one Proto-Siva figure as fixed on the tip of his nose - the classic yogic gaze - but we must remember the size of these seals and the fact that it would be difficult for any craftsman to portray such a feature on a tiny seal. Nude, bearded, male figurines in identical upright stance might also suggest an ascetic pose, similar to that of some Indian traditions today.