History
Indus Valley Civilisation
Religion, Art and Script
Harappan religion, burials, art and script for CGPSC: Mother Goddess, Pashupati seal, fire altars, Priest-King, Dancing Girl and the undeciphered Indus script.
Prerequisites
- Sites and Town Planning: where the Great Bath, fire altars and seals were found
- Economy and Trade: how seals were used, and what steatite and lost-wax casting are
The Hook: Bulls, Trees and a Goddess in Every Village
Connect
On Pola (पोला) in a Chhattisgarh village, bullocks are bathed, decorated and worshipped, and children pull clay bulls on strings. Women tie threads around a pipal tree, and every village has its Gram Devi (ग्राम देवी) or Mata, often a simple stone smeared with vermilion rather than a temple image.
Archaeologists digging Harappan cities found clay bulls on wheels, the pipal leaf painted on pots and carved on seals, and hundreds of terracotta female figurines that many read as a Mother Goddess. They found no temple whose purpose is certain, and they cannot read a single word of the writing.
So what can we say about Harappan belief from objects alone, and why does the script still defeat scholars?
Why it matters: Prelims asks “the Pashupati seal shows which animals”, “fire altars were found at”, “the Indus script is written in which direction”, and burial-site matching. Mains asks about Harappan religious practices, their continuity in later Hinduism, and the problem of the undeciphered script.
A word of caution before the facts
Everything on this page is inferred from objects. No Harappan text has been read, so labels such as “Mother Goddess”, “Priest-King” and “proto-Shiva” are modern interpretations, many of them borrowed from much later Hindu practice. Good Mains answers say so.
Religion (धर्म): What the Evidence Shows
| Belief / practice | Evidence | Interpretation and caution |
|---|---|---|
| Mother Goddess (मातृदेवी) | Many terracotta female figurines, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head-dresses | Read as a fertility cult. Not all may be goddesses; some could be toys or votive figures |
| “Proto-Shiva” / Pashupati | The Pashupati seal from Mohenjo-daro (details below) | John Marshall read the figure as a prototype of Shiva as Pashupati, lord of animals. Many scholars find this too much influenced by later Hindu iconography |
| Linga and yoni | Conical stones and ring-shaped stones from some sites | Identified by some as phallic (linga) and yoni symbols; others think some were gaming pieces or architectural parts |
| Tree worship | The pipal leaf on seals and pottery; a seal with a figure among branches and worshippers | The pipal’s sacredness continues in Indian religions |
| Animal worship | Humped bull (zebu), the “unicorn”, composite animals on seals; terracotta animals | Animals were probably sacred or symbolic; the unicorn may be mythical |
| Fire worship | Fire altars at Kalibangan and Lothal (pits with ash, charcoal and bone) | Suggests a ritual of fire, sometimes linked to later Vedic yajna, though the cultures are distinct |
| Ritual bathing | The Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro | Ritual purification is likely; function is inferred |
| Charms and symbols | Amulets; the swastika sign on seals | Belief in magic and protection from evil |
| No temples | No building identified with certainty as a temple; no clear images of gods in shrines | Worship may have been domestic, open-air or at the citadel |
The Pashupati Seal: the details Prelims asks
- Material: steatite. Site: Mohenjo-daro, found in the 1928–29 excavations (listed as Seal No. 420).
- Central figure: seated in a yogic posture on a low platform, wearing a horned head-dress, possibly with three faces.
- Animals around the figure: elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and buffalo, with two deer (or antelopes) below the seat.
- Interpretation: John Marshall called it “proto-Shiva” (Pashupati = lord of animals).
Pashupati's four: 'E-T-R-B'
Elephant · Tiger · Rhinoceros · Buffalo — “Every Tribe Respects Bulls” — plus two deer under the seat.
The bull is not among the four, and neither is the lion or the horse. That is the trap.
Burial Practices (शवाधान)
The Harappans generally buried their dead. Burial goods suggest some belief in an afterlife and some social difference, though Harappan graves are far less unequal than Egyptian ones.
| Practice | Where | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Extended inhumation | Most sites | Body laid full length in a pit, usually with the head to the north; pots, ornaments and sometimes a copper mirror placed with the dead. Jewellery is found with men as well as women |
| Brick-lined pits | Some graves at Harappa and elsewhere | Shows effort and possibly status |
| Coffin burial | Harappa (Cemetery R-37) | A burial in a wooden coffin |
| Double (joint) burials | Lothal | Two bodies in one grave, often read as a male–female pair (the interpretation is debated) |
| Dog buried with a human | Ropar | Unusual; suggests a bond with domestic animals |
| Pot (urn) burials, fractional burials | Cemetery H, Harappa (Late Harappan); some other sites | Bones collected and placed in pots; marks a post-urban change in custom |
Art (कला)
| Object | Material and site | Points to remember |
|---|---|---|
| “Dancing Girl” | Bronze, cast by the lost-wax method; Mohenjo-daro | About 10.5 cm tall; a young woman, hand on hip, arm covered in bangles. Now in the National Museum, New Delhi |
| “Priest-King” | Steatite bust; Mohenjo-daro | Bearded man with a trefoil-patterned shawl over the left shoulder and a headband. The name is a modern label; there is no proof of priest-kings. Now in the National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi |
| Male torso | Red sandstone; Harappa | Notable for realistic modelling |
| Terracotta | Most sites | Mother Goddess figurines, toy carts with wheels, animals, whistles |
| Seals | Steatite | Finest Harappan art in miniature: the humped bull and “unicorn” seals |
| Pottery | Red ware with black painted designs | Geometric patterns, pipal leaves, fish-scale and intersecting circles |
| Beads and jewellery | Carnelian, gold, faience | Etched carnelian beads were exported to Mesopotamia |
The Indus Script (सिंधु लिपि)
Facts
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Status | Undeciphered (as of 2026) |
| First published | A seal from Harappa published by Alexander Cunningham in 1875 |
| Number of signs | Roughly 375 to 425, depending on how variants are counted. Iravatham Mahadevan’s concordance (1977) listed 417 signs |
| Type | Too many signs for an alphabet (which has about 25–50) and too few for a purely logographic script. Many scholars think it was logo-syllabic (word signs plus syllable signs) |
| Direction | Generally right to left. On seals the spacing is wider on the right and cramped on the left, as if the engraver started on the right and ran out of space. Some multi-line texts may be boustrophedon (alternate lines in opposite directions) |
| Length | Inscriptions are very short: most have only a few signs, and the longest has about 26 signs (NCERT) |
| Where found | Seals, sealings, copper tablets, pottery, bangles, ivory rods, and the Dholavira signboard (ten large signs) |
| Signboard | Dholavira: ten large signs, made of inlaid white material, found near a gateway of the citadel |
Why it remains undeciphered
- No bilingual inscription: nothing like the Rosetta Stone, which helped decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.
- Texts are too short to show grammar or repeated sentence patterns.
- The language is unknown: proposals include an early Dravidian language (argued by Asko Parpola and Iravatham Mahadevan), an Indo-Aryan language (argued by S.R. Rao and others), and other families. None is accepted.
- Some scholars have even argued that the signs are not writing that records a language at all; most specialists reject this.
Current interest (dated)
On 5 January 2025, at a seminar marking the centenary of the civilisation’s discovery, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a prize of US$1 million for deciphering the Indus script. As of 2026, no decipherment has been accepted by specialists.
Evaluation for Mains: continuity into later Indian traditions
| Harappan element | Later continuity (suggested, not proven) |
|---|---|
| Mother Goddess figurines | Shakti worship; village goddesses |
| Pashupati figure in yogic posture | Shiva as Pashupati; yoga |
| Pipal on seals | Sacred pipal (and the Bodhi tree) |
| Humped bull | Nandi, and the bullock in farming festivals such as Pola |
| Great Bath | Ritual bathing at tanks and rivers |
| Fire altars | Fire rituals |
| Swastika | An auspicious symbol in Indian religions |
These parallels make Harappan religion look like an early layer of later Indian religious life. The careful answer adds that the parallels rest on appearance, not on texts, and that 1,500 years and very different cultures separate the two.
Memory Tricks
Religion in one line: 'Mother, Shiva, Tree, Bull, Fire, Bath'
Mother Goddess · Shiva (Pashupati) · Tree (pipal) · Bull (humped) · Fire altars (Kalibangan, Lothal) · Bath (Mohenjo-daro).
And no temple.
Script numbers: '400, 26, 5 January'
About 400 signs (Mahadevan 417) · longest text about 26 signs · written right to left · prize announced 5 January 2025.
Burials by site: 'Coffin H, Couple L, Dog R'
Coffin at Harappa · Couple (double burial) at Lothal · Dog with man at Ropar.
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Dancing Girl — bronze, lost-wax | vs | Priest-King — steatite bust |
| Dancing Girl — National Museum, New Delhi | vs | Priest-King — National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi |
| Fire altars — Kalibangan, Lothal | vs | Great Bath — Mohenjo-daro only |
| Pashupati seal animals — elephant, tiger, rhino, buffalo, two deer | vs | Unicorn — the commonest seal motif (on separate seals) |
| Cemetery H — Late Harappan, pot burials | vs | Cemetery R-37 — Mature Harappan, extended burials |
| Indus script — undeciphered, right to left | vs | Brahmi (Ashokan, also at Jogimara, Chhattisgarh) — deciphered, left to right |
Common Mistakes
MCQ traps on religion and script
- “The Pashupati seal shows a bull.” It shows an elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and buffalo, with two deer. No bull, lion or horse.
- “Harappan temples have been excavated.” No building has been identified as a temple with certainty.
- “The Indus script is written left to right like Brahmi.” It is generally right to left. Brahmi is left to right.
- “The Indus script has been deciphered as proto-Tamil / Sanskrit.” These are proposals; nothing is accepted (as of 2026).
- “The Priest-King is made of bronze.” It is steatite. The Dancing Girl is bronze.
- “Cremation was the normal Harappan practice.” Burial (extended inhumation) was the norm.
Practice
All questions below are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.
Level 1: Foundation
- The archaeologist who called the central figure of the Pashupati seal “proto-Shiva” was ______.
- Fire altars have been found at the Harappan sites of ______ and ______.
- Iravatham Mahadevan’s 1977 concordance listed ______ signs of the Indus script.
Answers
- John Marshall.
- Kalibangan and Lothal.
- 417.
Level 2: Prelims MCQs
Q1. Which of the following animals are shown around the central figure on the Pashupati seal?
- Elephant
- Tiger
- Humped bull
- Rhinoceros
- Buffalo
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1, 2 and 3 only
- (b) 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
- (c) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Answer and explanation
(b) 1, 2, 4 and 5 only. The four animals around the seated figure are the elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and buffalo, with two deer below the seat. The humped bull appears on many other seals but not on this one.
Q2. Consider the following statements about the Indus script:
- It is generally written from right to left.
- It has more than 1,000 distinct signs.
- A bilingual inscription has allowed partial decipherment of it.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer and explanation
(a) 1 only. The script is generally right to left, with the spacing on seals cramped on the left. It has roughly 400 signs (Mahadevan listed 417), not over 1,000. No bilingual inscription has been found, which is one main reason it remains undeciphered.
Q3. Match List I (Burial practice) with List II (Site):
| List I | List II |
|---|---|
| A. Wooden coffin burial | 1. Lothal |
| B. Double (joint) burial | 2. Ropar |
| C. Dog buried with a human | 3. Harappa |
- (a) A-3, B-1, C-2
- (b) A-1, B-3, C-2
- (c) A-2, B-1, C-3
- (d) A-3, B-2, C-1
Answer and explanation
(a) A-3, B-1, C-2. A wooden coffin burial is known from Cemetery R-37 at Harappa. Lothal has double burials, often read as male–female pairs. At Ropar, a dog was buried with a human.
Q4. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?
- (a) Priest-King — Bronze
- (b) Dancing Girl — Steatite
- (c) Pashupati seal — Steatite
- (d) Great Bath — Lothal
Answer and explanation
(c) Pashupati seal — Steatite. Most Harappan seals, including this one, are steatite. The Priest-King is steatite, not bronze; the Dancing Girl is bronze, not steatite; the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro, not Lothal.
Level 3: Mains Answer Writing
Q1. (150–200 words) “Harappan religion can be reconstructed only through material remains.” Discuss its main features and the limits of such reconstruction.
Model answer outline
- Intro: With the script unread, Harappan religion is inferred from figurines, seals, structures and burials.
- Body:
- Mother Goddess figurines: a fertility cult.
- Pashupati seal: a seated, horned figure among elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and buffalo; Marshall’s “proto-Shiva”.
- Nature and animal worship: pipal, humped bull, the unicorn motif; possible linga and yoni stones.
- Ritual: fire altars (Kalibangan, Lothal); the Great Bath (Mohenjo-daro); amulets and the swastika.
- Burials: extended inhumation with goods; coffin (Harappa), double (Lothal), later pot burials (Cemetery H).
- Limits: no temples, no texts; labels are read back from later Hinduism; the same object (a conical stone) can be a linga or a gaming piece.
- Chhattisgarh angle: bull worship on Pola, pipal reverence and village goddesses show how such practices can persist in folk religion, though direct descent cannot be proven.
- Conclusion: Harappan religion appears to be an early layer of Indian religious life, but conclusions must stay tentative until the script is read.
Q2. (60 words) Why has the Indus script not been deciphered?
Model answer outline
- No bilingual text to compare with a known script.
- Very short inscriptions (most a few signs; longest about 26), so grammar cannot be worked out.
- Unknown language: Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and other proposals all remain unproven.
- About 400 signs, probably logo-syllabic, which makes sign values hard to fix.
Quick Revision Table
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Mother Goddess | Terracotta female figurines; fertility cult |
| Pashupati seal | Steatite, Mohenjo-daro, 1928–29; elephant, tiger, rhino, buffalo + two deer; Marshall’s “proto-Shiva” |
| Fire altars | Kalibangan, Lothal |
| Tree worship | Pipal |
| Commonest seal motif | “Unicorn” |
| Temples | None identified with certainty |
| Normal burial | Extended inhumation, head to the north |
| Coffin / double / dog burial | Harappa / Lothal / Ropar |
| Cemetery H | Late Harappan, Harappa; pot burials |
| Dancing Girl | Bronze, lost-wax, Mohenjo-daro; National Museum, New Delhi |
| Priest-King | Steatite, Mohenjo-daro; trefoil shawl; Karachi |
| Script signs | About 400; Mahadevan (1977) 417 |
| Direction | Generally right to left; some boustrophedon |
| Longest text | About 26 signs |
| Dholavira signboard | Ten large signs |
| Decipherment | None accepted (as of 2026); US$1 million TN prize announced 5 Jan 2025 |
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
- Harappan religion is reconstructed from objects: Mother Goddess, Pashupati seal, pipal, humped bull, fire altars and the Great Bath.
- No temples and no readable texts, so every religious label is an interpretation.
- The Pashupati seal’s animals are elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, buffalo (plus two deer), not a bull.
- Burial was the norm; learn the coffin (Harappa), double (Lothal) and dog (Ropar) burials.
- The script has about 400 signs, runs right to left, has very short texts and remains undeciphered as of 2026.
What’s Next
- Decline: why the cities, seals and script disappeared
- Vedic Age: compare Vedic religion (nature gods, sacrifice, horse) with Harappan practice
- Art and Culture: Harappan art at the start of Indian art history
- Harvest and Agrarian Festivals of Chhattisgarh: Pola and the living reverence for the bull
- Mauryan and Satavahana Chhattisgarh: the Brahmi inscription at Jogimara, a script that has been read
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