Chapter III
Mother Goddess in the Protohistoric Period
The Bronze Age was the period of human culture between the Stone
Age and the Iron Age. It saw the use of weapons and implements made of
bronze. It was an era dominated by the techniques of working metals and
exploitation of certain ores, of more modern methods of production of tools
and more precise shape of weapons. The Bronze Age was the third phase in
the development of material culture among the ancient people of Asia,
Europe and the Middle East following the Paleolithic and the Neolithic
period, and preceding the Iron Age. The beginning of this period is
sometimes called the Chalcolithic Age, that refers to the initial use of pure
copper along with stone.
The Bronze Age was initiated in the alluvial valleys of the Nile, the
Tigris-Euphrates and the Indus about 5000 years ago with the transformation
of some riverside villages into cities1. It represents a stabilizing age after a
long period of transition from the Neolithic Age to the Metal Age. During
this period, the cultural influences of different areas of the earlier
civilizations met with each other viz. the Aegeo-Asia Minor Area, the
Pannonian-Carpathian, the Balkans with its particularities and finally, from
the end of the Neolithic to the metal age, the nomadic steppe elements which
brought with the transition of the Indo-European languages and new forms
of economic life, which was an important factor in the creation of the
cultures of Bronze Age 2.
41
The development of metallurgy was followed by the rise in
urbanization. While the search for raw materials stimulated the exploration
and colonization of new territories, the organized operations of mining,
smelting and casting required the specialization of labour and production of
surplus food to support a class of artisans. This period also witnessed a
definite class distinction within the primitive community. The beginning of
these divisions brought about a final social separation and the formation of
rich tribal aristocracy.
The Bronze Age revolution began in Mesopotamia, in the area
extending from Tigris to the Euphrates and from there it spread to Egypt- the
delta of Nile in the fourth millennium B.C.3. The Indus Valley in India and
the provinces of Hopel, Shanting, Anhewel, Shensi and Honan on the banks
of Yellow river in China also witnessed the revolution. The search for new
territories and colonies led to the civilizations of Mesopotamia, and Sumer.
Later, the Minoan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization opened
extensive trade routes in Central Europe, fostering the growth of industries
in Hungary, Austria and the Alpine Region. By the end of the third
millennium B.C., Palestine, Syria, Persia, Anatolia, Cyprus and Crete came
in contact with the new civilization4.
Cultural and religious intermingling of thoughts followed the political
and economic diffusion between the old and the new colonies. Agriculture
now being the main occupation of people with the advent of new
implements, the belief in the fertility cult and superiority of Earth Mother
was further acknowledged. Facts regarding the Western Asian conception of
the Mother Goddess have been derived mainly from the writings on clay
42
tablets. The literary records of the Egyptians like the Pyramid texts and the
Graceo- Roman writings reveal the unique position enjoyed by Mother
Goddess in different parts of the ancient world5.
M.A. Murray6 has classified the female fertility figures into three
categories, viz;
1. The Universal Mother or Isis type,
2. The Divine Woman or Ishtar type, and
3. The Personified Yoni or Baubo type.
1. The Universal Mother or Isis type: According to Murray, the Universal
Mother is actually the True Mother. Her best examples are the Venus
figurines of the Paleolithic times at Laussel and the polymastic Diana of
the Ephesians. These figurines depicting Mother Goddess either as
pregnant or bearing a child are clear indications of her motherhood.
Thus, “all those figures in which the child is the essential part, actual or
implied, the rudely fashioned figures which are only vaguely human in
outline but with the breast clearly indicated and the semianthropomorphic figures with two small parallel spouts at one side also
represent the Divine- Mother”7. Thus, fertility and fecundity with which
a woman is basically associated are clearly represented by these figures.
2. The Divine Woman or Ishtar type: The Ishtar type of female figurines
generally depicts a young woman or a maiden, with feminine features,
but without any indications of Motherhood. The figurines are sometimes
nude and sometimes partially clothed while at other times they are fully
43
clothed. The sexual organs or the feminine parts are not exaggerated.
The limbs are round and beautiful and the arms are sometimes bent
across the body with the hand supporting one breast. Thus, the Ishtar
type of figurines represents a beautiful and alluring virgin mother. They
belong to that class of deities who are both desired and worshipped by
men. In Mesopotamia, the unmarried Goddess was initially worshipped,
but later on, she assumed both the forms of Goddess- maiden as well as
bride8.
3. The Personified Yoni type: In these figurines, the genital organs are
most emphasized upon, giving less preference to physical features,
beauty or secondary sexual organs. The artist highlights the portion of
pudenda. The body is usually nude but if draped, the drapery is confined
to the upper portion of the body. The headdress is often very elaborate
and resembles the nimbus. The thighs are spread wide apart and the
strongly marked sexual triangle is represented as stretching across the
body from one point of hip to another. The triangle is either marked
with incised dots or lines or it is painted in solid black, thus attracting
immediate attention. The earliest example of the personified yoni type
figure is the Ivory figure from Badari now kept in the British Museum.
An account of the Mother Goddesses as conceived in the urban
civilizations of the Proto-Historic period is being given below:
44
Goddesses of Egypt and Western Asia:
In Egypt, the valley of the Nile, it was not Earth but Heaven that was
regarded as a woman deified as the Goddess9. In terms of the Goddess,
“Mother Earth”, the earth was represented as a male god, Geb, the Supreme
Creator10. Geb was called the Bull of the Sky Goddess Nut, the sky being
described as “the cow that bore the bull, the rising sun being the calf born of
her each morning”11. Being related to Geb, Nut was called the “Lady of the
Heaven” who gave birth to the Gods, the “Mistress of the two lands” on
Earth and the “Proprietress of the Dead” in the underworld12. Goddess Nut is
shown arched across the Earth, with her hands and feet at its four cardinal
points and thereby, she holds at bay the chaos from which the cosmos
presumably evolved13. Nut was also regarded as the mother of Ra, the Sun
God whom she swallowed every evening and who again emerged every
morning out of her body to lighten the world. Nut was usually depicted with
cow’s horns and often in the form of a Great Cow. At Dendrah, Nut was
identified with Hathor, the Mother Goddess par excellence.
Hathor was a Goddess of joy, love, fertility, music and dance. She was
the daughter of Ra and the mother of Horus. Hathor is usually depicted as a
cow, bearing a sun-disc in her horns or as a woman with the ears of a cow.
In a figure (fig.12) from Thebes, Faience, dated 1000 B.C. now kept in the
British Museum, Goddess Hathor is depicted as bearing a disc over her head
and ears shaped like those of a cow. Being a Goddess of music, she carries a
sistrum, a rattle like musical instrument14. Being a benevolent deity, Hathor
was popular both among the classes as well as the masses. Her main cult
center was at Dendera, where a huge temple was dedicated to her in
45
Ptolemaic times. Later on, Goddess Isis usurped many of the features of
Hathor and they both together appeared as a combined Isis-Hathor figure.
The most popular Goddess of Egypt was Isis. She was the prototype of
motherhood and the embodiment of wifely love and fidelity15. She was the
“throne woman personifying the sacred stool charged with the mysterious
power of kingship”16. Isis was called “the lawgiver”17 as she punished all
those who transgressed the moral order. She destroyed the empires of
despots, established sanctity of oath and punished those who violated the
moral order18. Isis is generally depicted with a vulture headdress, the horns
of Hathor and the solar disc, often with double crowns of Upper and Lower
Egypt or with son Horus in her lap19. A figure (fig.13) from National
Archaeological Museum, Florence shows Goddess Isis as wearing cowhorns and sun-disc that were primarily associated with Hathor. In the later
figures, she is crowned either with the crescent moon or with a lotus in her
hand
20
. As Isis was the syncretic goddess of many names, she was called
“The many named”, “The thousand named” or “The myriad named”.
Originally, she was a goddess of fecundity21. As a queen of all gods and
goddesses, she was associated with Hathor, the Heavenly Cow
22
as well as
the Great Mother of Western Asia, Greece, Rome and the Mother Goddess
of Indus Valley23.
Temples dedicated to Isis were erected at Athens, Hali Carnassus and
Antioch and her cult became popular in Cyprus, Syria and Asia Minor24. Her
cult entered Rome in the third century B.C. and was fully established there
by about A.D. 215, when she was given a place in the Roman Pantheon with
a great temple dedicated to her on the Capitoline hill25.
46
Ammut was an Underworld Goddess with the head of a crocodile,
foreparts of a lion and rear of a hippopotamus 26. Known as the “Devourer of
the Dead”, she devoured the hearts of those who were not fit to pass into
after life because of their past deeds. Bastet was a Cat Goddess whose cult
center was Bubastis. Supposed to be the daughter of Sun God, she
personified the beneficial aspects of Sun’s power27. Bastet was usually
depicted as a woman with a cat’s head and was often accompanied by
kittens. At times she carried a sistrum, which suggests her association with
Isis and Hathor. In one of the bronze figures (fig.14), Bastet was shown with
a cat like head, holding an aegis (broad neck decoration) in her hands.
Kittens also accompany her.
Hekat was a goddess in the form of a frog and was associated with birth
and re-birth28. According to the Pyramid text, she helped the dead king on
his journey to the sky and as a goddess of childbirth she shaped the child in
the womb and gave it life29. Meshkent was also a goddess of childbirth who
determined the destiny of a child during birth. She was also a funerary
goddess who helped the diseased to be reborn into the after life. For this, she
was present during the judgment of the dead 30.
Goddess Maat personified the laws of ordered existence, harmony,
justice and truth both in a cosmic sense and among the society of men31. She
represented the order on earth as well as order in the universe. Goddess Maat
is often depicted as standing straight, with arms running parallel to the body,
well developed breasts and wearing an ostrich- plume on her head (fig.15)
that was used to signify her. Later on, she was known to be the “Daughter of
47
Ra”. It is said that officials wore her effigy when they presided in the
Egyptian law-courts32.
Neith, the Goddess of the Western Delta was identified later with
Hathor and Isis and thus, she became the wife of Osiris and mother of
Horus. Her original symbols were a shield with crossed arrows and was
depicted as wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt33. Neith was also said to
have invented birth. Being a universal mother, she made the germ of Gods
and men, the mother of Ra, who existed when nothing else had been and
who created that, which existed after she had come into being34
Mut was a Theban Goddess depicted as wearing a bright coloured dress
and a headdress shaped like a vulture (fig.16). At Thebes, she was so
important that she replaced Amunet as the wife of Amun, and thus became
like other Mother Goddesses, Isis and Hathor, the symbolic divine mother of
the earthly kings35. Later on, she was fused with the cat goddess Bastet as
Mut-Bastet.
Edjo or Udjat was a Cobra Goddess of the Delta and was shown as a
snake or a woman wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. She was depicted
in a menacing attitude as if defending the king against his enemies36.
Nekhbat was a Vulture Goddess who represented Upper Egypt just like
Udjat, the Cobra Goddess represented Lower Egypt. The vulture and the
snake came to symbolize the two halves of the country and were used in the
royal insignia for that purpose37.
48
The Ugaritic texts describe the worship of different forms of Goddess
Ishtar in Palestine and adjoining regions under names such as Anat, Asherah,
Astarte and Ashtaroth38. These Goddesses are closely allied in their forms
and features to the Egyptian examples of nude females wearing a Hathor
headdress and sometimes marked with the sexual triangle39. Anat or the
“Lady of the Mountains” was the sister and consort of Baal, who was the
counterpart of Temmuz, the fertility God of vegetation40. Anat was also the
Goddess of war and slaughter41. She was concerned with sex and war,
sensuous and perennially fruitful, and yet without losing her identity42. The
union of Anat and Baal was represented as that of a bull and a cow and the
Baal- Anat mythical cycle was represented by harvest festivals in which sexcharged rituals predominated43.
Asherah was called the “Creatress of the Gods” and “Lady of the Sea”
as she bore to her father-husband El seventy Gods and Goddesses44. The
Baal-Anat mythical cycle describes Asherah as a rival of Anat who tried to
get one of her sons (Attar) appointed to the vacant throne of Baal. The two
Goddesses Asherah and Anat were also rival aspirants for the supreme
status45. In Israel, under the name of Ashtaroth, Asherah was coupled with
Baal, while in Egypt Anat was fused with Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoroth,
and a Goddess of war and counterpart of Asherah46.
Atargatis was the Goddess of fertility and vegetation and she was the
wife of Hadad. Historically, Atargatis and Astarte were distinct but later
authorities tried to establish their relation47. Phallic symbols, eunuch priests
and temple prostitution characterized her worship48. On the local coins,
Goddess Atargatis was portrayed as being seated on a lion or a throne
49
supported by a lion, while her male partner Hadad occurs in his bull symbol,
on the reverse49. Anuket was the Goddess from Nubia, whose center in
Egypt was in the region of the 1st Catract50. She, together with Khnum and
Satis, formed the Elephantine triad. Meretseger was a local cobra goddess
who protected the king’s valley at Thebes. She was a goddess who “loved
silence” and was venerated by workers of the valley to strike down with
blindness or snake poisoning all those who committed crimes and indicating
that she could also offer cures to the repentant51.
Goddesses of Greece and Asia Minor:
The cult of Mother Goddess was introduced into Greece from Asia
Minor in about 4000 B.C. Initially, the Goddess was worshipped as the
Mistress of Trees and Mountains and Lady of Wild Beasts. In association
with her youthful male partner, she represented the life giving principle in
nature and in man, until eventually, on the Greek mainland, her functions
and attributes were assumed by a number of Goddesses52.
Cybele was one of the most popular and powerful Goddess
worshipped by the Phrygians. Her worship had its origin in Asia Minor in
Pre-Historic times, possibly prior to the advent of the Phrygians53. She was a
Goddess of fertility and was identified with Ishtar or Astarte of Palestine.
With Artemis in particular, Cybele was associated as the protectress of lions,
bears, panthers and other wild beasts and with Hecate who was identified
with Artemis at an early date, she shares the title Antaea, the sender of
nocturnal apparitions54.
50
Rhea was regarded as the Mother of Gods. She was the daughter of
Gaea, the Earth Mother and Uranus, the Sky Father who may be equated
with Indian Dyaus and Prithvi55. Zeus had a dual character, being both the
son and consort of Rhea, and he represented the process of fecundity on
earth. According to Greek Mythology, his consort was Hera, the Goddess
connected with birth, marriage, menstrual cycle and maternity56. At Argos,
Hera was worshipped as the “Goddess of the Yoke” and rich in Oxen57.
Ultimately, Hera was identified with Earth in the Greek religion. Goddess
Athena was of Cretan origin and represented the survival of the Minoan /
Mycenean household Goddess bearing a shield, who protected the citadel
and the person of a king58. Athena was called the protectress of civilizations
and for this function; she assumes a war-like nature and displays the mastery
of the arts of war59. She is also associated with agriculture and is said to be
the “farmer’s Goddess, the peaceful Mother of fruits and the Offspring of the
land”60. It is said that Athena betters the deity of the sea by creating the olive
tree, which subsequently became the basis of the Athenain economy61. She
is also said to have invented the domestication of horses, shipbuilding,
carpentry and the skills of public debate62. Potters also propitiate Athena63
and she is said to teach young girls “skill in handiwork”64. Her title
“Phallus” was indicative of the sexual rites connected with the primitive
forms of her worship65.
Artemis, a pre-historic virgin Goddess of Minoan origin was the
daughter of Zeus and the sister of Apollo. She was the Earth Mother and the
Mistress of the Beasts66. She was the huntress and protectress of all the
young creatures, tender to the young cubs of lions, pregnant hares and all
sucking and roving beasts67. Artemis is also called Ellethyia and
51
Kourotrophos, her role as a Goddess of beasts, fertility and childbirth being
represented in her Ephesian temple68 statue with many breasts. Artemis was
later identified with the Roman Goddess Diana69. Britomartis was
Hellenised Artemis. She was also known as Diktynna, the net, as
fisherman’s nets in the sea caught her.
Goddess Aphrodite originally belonged to West Asia. She was the
daughter of Zeus and wife of Hephaestus. She was initially worshipped as
the Goddess of calm seas and happy voyages, but later on she became the
Goddess of love and beauty70. The festival of Aphrodite and Adonis
symbolizing death and resurrection was celebrated annually at Byblus on the
coast of Syria71. In Rome, she was transformed into Venus.
Demeter was the daughter of Rhea and Kronos and the mother of
Persephone72. She was the Greek corn mother concerned with the vegetative
cycle. Demeter was worshipped under different local names in the Hittite
city-states of northeast of Anatolia and in the adjoining areas of Asia Minor.
In Armenia, she was called Anaitis, in Cilecia, she was called Ati and in
Phrygia, she was known as Cybele, the mother and wife of Attis, while in
Phoenicia, Demeter was called Astarte, a form of Ishtar73.
Morrai, the Goddess of fate; Eurybia, the Goddess of wide force and
Hekate, the distant one also occupied a place in the Greek pantheon74.
Goddesses of Mesopotamia and Iran:
There are three main historical divisions in the third millennium in
Mesopotamia: Early Dynastic (2900-2350 B.C.), Old Akkadian (2350-2150
52
B.C.) and Neo- Sumerian (2100-2000 B.C.)75. The forty-one temple hymns
of the Old Akkadian period dedicated to the tutelary deities of all the major
contemporary cities including sixteen hymns dedicated to the Goddesses
indicate that thirty-one percent of the deities were female76. According to
Langdon77, “In Mesopotamia, the intensity of worship of other gods
depended somewhat upon the political importance of the cities where their
chief cult existed before the orders of the gods of nature arose or before the
complex theology of emanations supplied the religion with a vast pantheon
in which the masculine element predominated. The productive powers of the
earth had supplied in pre-historic times a divinity in which the female
element dominated.”
The main occupation of the people of the Tigro-Euphrates valley was
agriculture and the chief divinity of its people was Earth Mother, the
Creatrix. She was responsible for the periodical renewal of life in spring and
she was the inexhaustible source of new life78. Creatrix renewed vegetation,
promoted growth of crops and was responsible for the spirit of seasons.
From Creatrix, developed the later conception of goddess Ishtar, who
absorbed many of the local goddesses79. Ishtar occupied the same status as
Rhea in Greece and Tellus Mater in Rome80. Because of her association with
plants and vegetables, she was also called the “Lady of the Plants”. Ishtar
was also called the “Mother of Gods” and “Lady of Fate”. Her primary
function was fecundity that upholds her concept essentially as Mother
Earth81.
Innana, the Queen of Earth and Heaven was the most popular goddess
of Ancient Mesopotamia. She was a lunar goddess who gave life as the
53
waxing moon and then withdrew it as the waning moon82. She was also the
youthful goddess of love involved in royal rituals and marriages. By the
mid-third millennium, Innana became the “lady of all the me’s (divine
principles), resplendent light, righteous woman clothed in radiance, beloved
of Heaven and Underworld83. She represented order and disorder, structure
and anti-structure and by transcending the normative categories and
boundaries, she defined and protected the norms underlying the structure of
the Mesopotamian civilization84. Innana and Ishtar partly merged by the
mid-third millennium.
The main Sumerian Goddesses were Nammu (personification of the
subterranean waters), Ninhursaga (lady of the foothills), Nintu (lady of
birth), Dingir-man (exalted deity) and Ninmah (exalted lady)85. The early
Sumerian texts describe these goddesses as mothers of immortals,
humankind and animals. These divine mothers were in charge of placing the
semen in the womb, the formation and gestation of the foetus, the birth of
the child and determination of the child’s fate86. The goddesses who assisted
these main goddesses were Ninirigal who acted as wet nurse and
Ninnigingar, the lady of the birthing hut87. Nammu was the “mother who
gave birth to the sky and the earth” and the ancestress that brought forth all
the gods88.
Nira was the Great Mother of the Sumerian city Nina and was later
absorbed by Ishtar. Taimat- a Babylonian Goddess of dual personalityrepresented the watery chaos out of which the Earth was fashioned89. The
Akkadian inscriptions refer to Elamite goddesses as Ninni, Shala, Kiririsha
and Nanaia90. Kiririsha was the fertility goddess of Susa and is shown in a
54
squat posture representing childbirth and holding her breasts. Goddess
Anahita absorbed the qualities of Syrian Anat, the Babylonian Innana-Ishtar
and other goddesses of their types and stood in the same tradition as the
Elamite Kiririsha and Nanaia91. The cult of Nanaia extended from Asia
Minor to Susa and she was later identified with Anahita, the goddess of
fertility and water.
Goddesses of Baluchistan:
Mother Goddess figurines dating back to 3rd millennium B.C. and
similar to those of Asia Minor, West Asia, Crete, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt
etc. have been found in Baluchistan. The main centers of Goddess cult in
Baluchistan are Kulli in Southern Baluchistan (with pottery of the Buff
ware) and Zhob in Northern Baluchistan (with pottery of red ware type)92.
Mother Goddess figurines of the Zhob type as well as the Harappan culture
type are also found on a high mound at Damb Sadaad (Mian Ghundai).
The artifactual similarities suggest that the Neolithic settlers of
Baluchistan may have migrated from the Mesopotamian (Sumerian) region,
bringing with them the worship of a Great Goddess and her son-consort93.
They settled in the mountains and foothills of Baluchistan, to the west of the
Indus Valley in Modern Pakistan by about 4000 B.C.94. A more modern
proposition made by the historians is that the idea of the Goddess entered
Baluchistan via a trade network that began during the late 4th Millennium
B.C.95.
The Kulli figurines having only the head and the waist are short. They
end in flat bases resembling thus the Goddess figurines of the Minoan and
55
Myceanean origin. The flat bases might imply that the figures were set up
perhaps for worship96. The figurines are heavily decked up with jewellery
and their heads are also decorated with cowrie shells. The heads and faces of
these figures are pinched and somewhat resemble a hen’s head97. They
neither have highly exaggerated breasts nor elaborate hair.
The Zhob valley figurines that are decked up with necklaces have
large beak-like noses, hooded heads, exaggerated breasts, circular eyeholes
and slit mouths98. Highly grotesque facial expression of the Zhob figurines
clearly tends to inspire horror and terror. Most of the historians have
interpreted this expression as portraying negative qualities; “the face clearly
intending to inspire horror can hardly fail to remind us of the terrible and
loathy images of the malignant Kali of which these figurines may be taken to
be an early prototype”99. These flat, grotesque figurines were found mainly
in Kaudani Moghul Ghundai and Periano Ghundai in the Zhob100. The
generally accepted view of the scholars with regard to the figurines from
Baluchistan is that they represent the Great Mother or Nature Goddess
known also as the Lady of the underworld and Mother Earth101. Both the
Kulli and the Zhob figurines suggest a parallel with the later images of the
Earth Goddess who is portrayed half emerging from the ground. This
accounts for the three quarter length figurines of the Goddess102. The
figurines sometimes bear infants in their arms and thus portray the three
basics of feminity- life, fertility and fecundity.
56
Proto-Historic Mother Goddess Cult in India:
The cult of Mother Goddess that prevailed in India in the Pre-historic
times continued to dominate the Indian religious thought in the Protohistoric times as well and this time its main center was the area covered by
the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan civilization. The Harappan
civilization flourished almost simultaneously with the civilizations of
Mesopotamia and Egypt. It was an urban civilization that spread over an
area of about a thousand miles and flourished in the period ranging from
2300-1700 B.C.
Discovered in 1921 and watered by the river Indus and its tributaries,
the boundaries of this civilization extended from Suktagendor in Southern
Baluchistan in the West to Alamgirpur in the upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in
Uttar Pradesh in the East, and from Ropar in the sub-Himalayan foothills in
the North to Daimabad in the Ahmadnagar district of Maharashtra in the
South.
The Harappan culture indicates a revolutionary change from the
isolated peasant communities to the large and highly organized urban
settlements103. It is supposed that the tradition and cultures of Iran and
Baluchistan influenced the initial stages of Indus Valley culture. People from
these areas migrated to the new valley in search of greater opportunities for
their living. They brought with them their own customs, traditions and
rituals that formed the basis of Harappan religion. Since the Harappan script
still remains undeciphered, assumptions with regard to their political,
economic and religious life are based totally on the numerous clay figurines,
seals, amulets and phallic symbols discovered from the various Indus sites.
57
Majority of the clay figurines discovered from there are those of females and
they display the various aspects of feminity viz, fertility, procreation and
fecundity. From the motifs occurring on the seals and sealings and the
figurines excavated, it has been accepted that the Harappan religion centered
mainly around the worship of the feminine principle and that the main deity
of the Harappans was a Mother Goddess.
Holding his belief in the cultural diffusion theory, Sir John Marshall
observes: “The generally accepted view concerning them is that they
represent the Great Mother or Nature Goddess whose cult is believed to have
originated in Anatolia (probably in Phrygia) and spread thence throughout
most of Western Asia. The correspondence, however, between these
figurines and those found on the banks of Indus is such that it is difficult to
resist that the latter also represent Mother or Nature Goddess and served the
same purpose as their counterparts in West viz, either as votive offerings or,
less probably as cult images for household shrines; and this conclusion is
strengthened by the fact that the range of these figurines now extends
practically without break from the Indus to the Nile, over tracts that are not
only geographically continuous with but which in the Chalcolithic Age were
united by common bonds of culture104.
The worship of Mother Goddess or the Earth Goddess was an
essential feature of Harappan religion. In the words of Oppert, the Indus
Valley people, “believed in the existence of one supreme spirit of Heaven
with whom was associated and admitted to an equal and eventually even
superior share of power, i.e., the Goddess of Earth.”105. The three aspects of
the Mother Goddess as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of human race
58
are clearly indicated by the clay figurines depicting Mother as a pregnant
woman, woman carrying a child and the upside down nude female figure
with a plant issuing out of her womb respectively. These very three aspects
of the Goddess become dominant in the later phases of Hinduism when
Mother Goddess was designated as Durga, an embodiment of Shakti or
Power. In the words of Tyler, “There are numerous Mother Goddess
figurines indicating probably that there was a popular fertility cult. This
feature reappears in later Hinduism in the form of a feminine principle
represented in Shakti worship and the worship of Parvati, the wife of Siva.
There are numerous male figures that are probably also part of a fertility cult
since many of the figures are phallic symbols.”106.
The Mother Goddess figurines from Harappa and Mohenjodaro are
generally of a uniform type. Most of the figurines are of terracotta whereas a
few of them, like the “dancing girl”, are made of bronze and skillfully
crafted107. The use of clay for the purpose of modeling these figures, seals
and sealings, is an indication of the necessity to use Mother Earth as an
image of Earth or Earth Mother108. The figures are usually depicted in a
standing posture (fig.17). They are mostly nude except for a very short skirt
round their loins secured by girdles. They have prominent breasts and are
heavily ornamented with chains, necklaces, armlets, bangles, anklets,
earrings etc. Some figurines have a boyish build109. A few figurines have a
very narrow waist, sharp breasts and flared hips that are reminiscent of the
way in which female figures are often portrayed in Later Hinduism110. A
very unique and striking feature of these figurines is their distinctive
headdress which “rises from the back of the head, in some cases directly
from the head, while in others, it forms part of the coiffure.”111. The figures
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often having smoke stains in them suggest that they were worshipped in
homes as cult objects. Occasionally, the naval and the vulva are indicated in
the figurines; sometimes a decorative belt overlaps the navel and a short
wrap hides the vulva112. The figurines from Harappa are modeled with legs
and hands along with busts, showing a variety of positions. They suggest a
greater freedom of movement indicating a stylistic advance on the figurines
of the preceding peasant cultures of Baluchistan, the religious association of
both being the same113. The Indus Valley figurines have elaborate ornaments
and headdress and are more pleasant in appearance than the bird-like
figurines or the morbid- hooded Zhob statuettes and are generally dissimilar
from their Mesopotamian counterparts114. Irene Gajjar115 points out that the
terracotta tradition of Indus Valley, as regards its relationship with western
cultures, shows evidence of fundamental links, especially with reference to
Mother Goddess cult. “The similarity is not so much in form as it is in the
underlying concept- the concept of fertility and plenty”116.
Crudeness in modeling is another characteristic feature of these Indus
Mother Goddess figurines. The faces seem to have been stuck together in a
hurry, “the features often being represented by lumps of clay stuck onto the
face”117. A few of the terracotta figurines also have horns attached to
them118. While the figurines from Mohenjodaro are painted with red slip or
wash119 as in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Malta120, those from Harappa
retain no trace of paint121.
Sir John Marshall calls these figurines as representations of “Mother”
or the “Great Mother”, the prototype of power “prakriti” which developed
into that of Shakti in India122. She is represented by the “gramadevatas”, who
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personify the same power123. Ernst Mackay reveals the relation between the
Indus Valley Mother Goddess and the present day village deities. According
to him, “in India today, she is the guardian of the house and the village who
presides over child-birth and takes a more human interest in their needs. She
is altogether closer to her worshippers than any of the recognized Hindu
Gods”124. An interesting factor is that these MG figurines, found at all levels
of habitation125 suggest that they were also the objects of daily domestic
worship126. The Mother Goddess figurines from Chanhudaro are also of the
Mohenjodaro type, the only difference being that they stand upon a flat,
more or less open base which recalls the figurines from the pre-Harappan
sites of Northern and Southern Baluchistan127.
The fan-shaped headdress (fig.18) is a unique and rare feature of the
Indus Mother Goddess figurines. According to Mackay, “ this portion is
quite unique outside India, and at Mohenjodaro, it appears to be confined to
the figurines of Mother Goddess. A band round the forehead, apparently of
some kind of woven material served to support them…in some of them,
soot-like stains still remain…”128. This remarkable headdress stretched over
the ears made the wearing of earrings or fashioning of the ears almost
impracticable. According to Marshall, “the head-dress worn by these figures
(female figures) was also that worn by the better class inhabitants of
Mohenjodaro, for it has always been customary to dress a deity in a familiar
costume. It is probable that she was a Goddess with attributes very similar to
those of the Great Mother Goddess, “Lady of Heaven” and the special
patroness of women, whose images are found in large numbers at many
early sites in Elam, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean”129.
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The unique headdress, hairstyles and ornamentations of the Indus
Valley figurines have been dealt in detail by E.C.L. Casper130. According to
him, “a larger study at present in progress reveals an astonishing
proliferation of head-dresses and hair-styles among these terracottas”.
Casper puts forth that plaits, coils and curls were the normal styles of hair
dressing in Indus times and these were arranged and fashioned in a variety of
ways with the help of beads and pins. The large size of the headdresses
reveals that wigs were also in fashion. Ivory, bones and metals used for
making of combs and pins have been discovered.
Small, short, close plaits covered the head in a mop-like cap style.
Pigtails also existed, though they were not too common. At times, hair was
arranged tightly over the ears with a single curl hanging down the side of the
neck. Hair was also arranged in coils that covered the crown of the head like
a close cap or were fashioned erect to a high point. Thick plaits and twists of
hair were either loosely looped to the side of the head, or stood stiffly on
either side of the neck reaching the shoulders. Pads were used to extend the
hair or exaggerate the shape of the head. Buns were used in a variety of
ways, the most common being in transverse style.
A tall and erect “fan- shape” was a common feature of hairstyle. This
fan-shape was either used alone as a distinct style (fig.19) or at times it was
accompanied by other elements giving it a different style (fig.20). Two
wing-like objects protruding vertically from the sides of the head were often
associated with the fan. They were of varying length and depth and often
resembled deep panniers. Black stains on these pannier-like side projections
were probably produced from smoke caused by lamp offerings to the
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Goddess. Similar headdresses were also worn by the pre-Historic figures of
Mother Goddess from Adalia in Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean
regions131. As has also been confirmed by James132, “Similar headdresses
recur in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean in this context with an
abundance of jewellery including bead necklaces with pendants, ornamental
collars with metal rings, armlets and bracelets of spiral wire, finger rings and
anklets of beads or embossed metal.”
It is also assumed that oil or little pellets of incense were burned in
these cup-like hollow objects to please the Goddess133. In some cases two
tusk-shaped objects were placed below these wings and they were fitted
tightly on either side of the neck so that they could support the wings. A
curious cone-shaped object is sometimes seen in the center of the head
(fig.21) and it is held tightly in its place either with a band or simply secured
to the hair itself. A knot, medallion or pin is placed at the center front of one
headdress and large earrings protrude at the sides. Seven headdresses
discovered from the Indus sites display a beautiful and glamorous floral
arrangement.
At times, a tall and narrow erect piece, which splays out sideways at
the top, is used for styling the hair instead of the fan. This tusk-like object
juts out from the hair looped below the headdress and a high choker style
necklace is worn134. According to Casper, “This outfit would seem to give a
distinctly more secular appearance which could, of course, belle its true
nature”135. Mackay also puts forth that this hair dress was a feature of
Mother Goddess figurines, “ In fact, what are generally regarded as images
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of an Earth or Mother Goddess are practically always nude, save for
quantities of jewellery, a wide girdle and their remarkable head-dress”136.
Most of the terracotta figurines discovered from the Indus sites are
either of the Divine Woman of Ishtar type or Divine Mother of Isis type. The
Ishtar type of figurines have been found in Mohenjodaro, Chanhudaro,
Harappa, Chiridamb, Kulli, Mehi, Periano Ghundai, Dabar Kot, Moghul
Ghundai and Kundani Mound. These figurines have their upper body nude;
arms kept in a dispassionate manner and having a loincloth round their
waist137. The figure of a Mother and a child excavated from Harappa is of
the Divine Mother or Isis type where the child sucks the nude breast of the
female figurines138. Another figure of the Isis type has been recovered from
Harappa. Its developed breasts indicate that it is a Mother Goddess figurine.
Its body is nude, the hands clasp the wrist and the child sucks the mother’s
bare breast. These clay figurines were kept in every house and streets of
Harappa and Mohenjodaro139 as a tutelary divinity much as the Mother
Goddess. They are still taken to be the guardian of the house and the village
in India presiding over child- birth and daily needs140. They may be the
manifestations of Mother Earth whose worship is prevalent even today in
many parts of India141. Some nude figurines of Mother Goddess from Indus
Valley, belonging to 2500 B.C. depict the goddess in a state of pregnancy.
The rare feature of this type of figurines is that often the head of the goddess
is in the shape of an animal while the rest of the body is shaped like that of a
human (fig.22).
A few mother and child figurines have also been discovered from
Mohenjodaro142. These figurines display the motherly aspect of the Goddess.
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A mother gives birth to a child and then feeds her. These activities
emphasize the creative and nourishing aspects of a mother. While some
figures hold the baby to the left breast143, the others hold him to the right144.
The responsibilities of caring, rearing and bringing up of the younger ones
by the mother in the family are well illustrated in these figurines
A number of legless figurines discovered from the Harappan sites
have been identified with the Goddess Earth by Sir Aurel Stein145on the
basis of Buddhist and Hellinic iconography. Mackay146, on the other hand,
considers these figurines as “household deities kept on a shelf or a little
recess in the wall”. Piggot147 regards these figurines as “a grim embodiment
of Mother Goddess who is also the guardian of the dead as underworld deity
concerned alike with the corpse and the seed buried beneath the earth”. It
seems certain that these legless figurines do represent Mother as Earth
Goddess and are similar to the Earth Goddess figurines of later Hinduism
where she is portrayed as half emerging from the ground148. Such half
female figurines were also discovered in Crete149.
Along with the terracotta figurines, the Mother Goddess images also
occur on the seals discovered from the various Indus Valley sites. More than
two thousand seals and seal impressions have been found in the various
centers of Indus Valley. Most of these seals are made of steatite and faience.
They are mostly circular in shape, some even being rectangular. Despite
their small size, they have intricate intaglio designs showing trees, animals,
humanized forms and writing150. The images depicted on stamp seals are
schematic in design and reflect concerns with ideas beyond mundane life151.
Some seals also depict Mother Goddess thus, proving the existence of
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Mother cult in this period. In the seals Mother Goddess is generally
associated with trees and animals, the most common trees being Pipal and
Acacia and the main animals associated with the Goddess were tiger, buffalo
and the unicorn. Thus, the seals of the Harrapa period served to depict
Mother Goddess as the “Goddess of Vegetation and Wild Beasts”.
Because of their depiction along with the Goddess, the trees Pipal and
Acacia also became the objects of devotion by the Harappans. The seals
depict the Goddess either as residing in the acacia tree or as emerging out of
the pipal tree. Thus, the acacia was sacred because of its constant association
with the Goddess whereas the pipal tree might have held the exceptional
honour of being treated as the direct manifestation of the Goddess herself152.
A tree represents ritually and physically the living cosmos153. “The plant
theophany further developed in the non-Aryan Durga as she called herself
Sakambhari”154.
A seal from Harappa shows on one side a nude female figure with her
head downwards and legs drawn apart. A plant with five leaves is shown
issuing out of her womb. It is suggestive of the “Mother Goddess as the
genetrix and source of all vegetation”155. The Goddess here is regarded as
the prototype of Mother Sakambhari mentioned in the Puranas out of whose
body grew vegetables. Thus, the seal expresses the potency of a female. It
emphasizes the productivity and fertility of the Mother Earth. Feminine
procreative power is regarded as the harbinger of fruitfulness and abundance
at a mysterious level156. “ The Earth is the Great yoni. The woman’s body in
the Indus Valley seal is the earthbound root, the fecundating source”157. The
woman has two tigers on both of her sides, seen as guardians of initiation158.
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On the reverse side of the seal, a man is shown holding a sickle-shaped knife
and a woman is seated on the ground in an attitude of supplication. The
scene seems to depict human sacrifice to appease the Goddess and ask her
for the increased fecundity of the tribe, fertility of the soil and abundance of
crops. Pupul Jayakar associates this with the Sathapatha Brahman159 as well
as with the ritual killings by the tribals such as: the Khonds of Orissa, the
Marriahs, the Oraons, the Kalahandis and the Baigas of Central India. Sir
John Marshall, however, links this seal with the later sculptures of Aditi
Uttanapada wherein the legs of the Goddess are more or less in the same
posture- head downwards, but instead of a plant issuing out of the womb, a
lotus emerges out of the neck of Aditi160. It is still not certain whether human
sacrifice did actually take place or was observed only ceremonially. The seal
also contains six pictographic signs on both the sides. As the Indus Valley
script has still not been deciphered, it is supposed that these signs were a part
of the hymn sung either in praise of the Goddess or at the time of the
sacrifice.
Another seal from Mohenjodaro (fig.23) shows a horned figure
standing between two branches of a tree with her hair falling down in coils.
The tree is identifiable by the shape of its leaves- perhaps the Pipal tree
under which Buddha attained enlightment161. The identification of the figure
as female is confirmed by her two-horned headdress and pigtail. To the right
of the tree, a figure kneels down bending forward with her arms raised and
extended towards the tree. Behind the kneeling figure stands an enormous
composite figure. A few pictographic symbols are depicted above the
animal. In the lower portion of the seal are seen seven figures standing erect
with a tall headdress, braided hair and wearing short skirts. The female
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figure between the branches is supposed to be that of a Mother Goddess as it
was the Goddess who was associated with the Pipal tree. She represents a
Tree Goddess or a Fertility Goddess or a Goddess of Vegetation or the
Forest Mother162. The kneeling figure is that of a worshipper submitting
herself before the Goddess and kneeling in the posture of prayer. Some
scholars interpret this figure to be that of a priest, “one who is exalted in
status as the Goddess herself”163. The composite animal is a Goat and the
“Goat with a human face is certainly not a sacrificial animal”164. Among the
pictographic symbols is represented a “fish”, which is “a recurrent female
symbol of the aphrodisiacal and later identified with the Bhaga, the symbol
of female generative organ”165. The goat as a symbol of the potent male and
the downward thrusting fish in conjunction establish the sexual nature of the
imagery and link to the rites of union, birth and transformation166. Various
interpretations have been given by different historians and scholars
regarding the seven figures occurring at the base of the seal. Pupul Jayakar
imagines the figure between the branches of tree to be that of a Yakshi and
imagines the magician priest engaged in the worship of the Yakshi inside the
tree shaped like a womb vessel as an alchemist seer doing tapas for the key
to transformation and metamorphosis167. According to the historian, the
seven figures represents the seven virgins of the present day rural
symbology; the vegetal and water nymphs found throughout India, the
Satsahelian of the Northern river valley, the Sapta- kannigai of Tamil Nadu
or the Satasara of Maharashtra who are invoked at the time of drought. Some
historians assimilate this with Nagarjuna asking for the power of alchemy
from the deity of the Asvatha168, while others are of the view that the seven
figurines depict the seven planets and the Goddess represents the New
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Moon169. Asko Parpola suggests that these figures may represent the stars of
the Krttikas (Pleiades) constellation170.
The people of agricultural communities regarded that the presence of
stars of a constellation in the sky at different periods marked the beginning
and end of the seasonal year. Thus, with the help of these stars, they
determined their planting and reaping seasons. The presence of seven
females in this seal, therefore, refers to an important astronomical marker for
the heralding and closing of a fruitful season171. As the marker was
connected with agricultural productivity and fecundity, the group of stars or
the seven figures of the seal are considered as females.
Buddha Prakash considers the seven figures as representing the seven
fold system of creation. In support of his view, he quotes a Rgvedic
passage172 unfolding the Vedic visualization of the process of creation and
its manifestation into seven categories173. Quoting V.S.Agarwala174, Buddha
Prakash interprets the long braids of hair in the figures as the element that
represents the refuse thrown out by a living organism suggesting thereby the
undergoing of the creative process. K.N.Shastri regards the seven figures as
representing composite beings that are human in the upper part of the body
and avian in the lower. He associates them with the seven Maruts, the storm
gods, who follow the Aryan God Indra175. Referring to the heptads in the
Rgvd, the Mundaka Upanishad and the Mahabharata, M.K. Dhavalikar176
considers the seven Goddesses as the proto- Saptamatrikas, the evidence
suggesting certain degree of Aryan element in the Harappan religion.
According to him, the seal narrates the ceremony of the pressing of Soma by
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Agni and the seven figures as preparing soma juice. The figures represent
the Saptasindhu Mother Goddesses or the seven sacred rivers.
Sir John Marshall’s interpretation with regard to these Goddesses is,
“The nude deity appearing between the branches is very small and roughly
portrayed, but the absence of any evidence of a male sex couple with the fact
that the tree deities in India are usually females and that the ministrant
figures on this seal also appear to be women…The seven figures in line at
the bottom are taken to be female officiates or ministrants of the
Goddess”177. According to Mackay178, these seven mystical figures recall the
small pox Goddess Sitala and her six sisters. Herbert P. Sullivan compares
these figures with the seven Canarese Mari Goddesses and other groups of
seven Ranimars or virgins of Tamilnadu and other groups of seven
goddesses of present day folk cultures179.
Similar to the Saptamatrikas wearing conical hats with hair coils
falling as mentioned earlier is the goddess Chicomecoatl who is also called
“Demeter of Mexico”180. She is the oldest aboriginal Goddess who renews
vegetation through sex. Seven snakes accompany her and she is also the
Goddess of death and the underworld. Dressed in a mantle of snakes, she has
jaguar’s claws181. Goddesses in other areas also wore the two-horned
headdress worn by the Goddess in this seven figure seal. The Egyptian
Goddess Isis wore a two-horned headdress that was with or without discs in
the middle182. Goddesses from Crete also had two- horned headdress, though
it was smaller in size183. A Parthian Goddess of 1st- 2nd cent. A.D. also had
two horns looking like a crescent on the head above dressed hair184.
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Altogether, four seals depicting seven figures and one with six figures have
been discovered from the various Indus sites185.
A seal from Kalibangan bears a horned, half –human and half-animal
figure like that from Mohenjodaro. The figure certainly represents a deity
whose four quarters are completely human, complete in itself in a standing
position with two arms resembling those of the so-called Pasupati186. The
hindquarters of the figure are those of a tiger and it so appears that a
decapitated body of the tiger has just been attached to the backside of the
horned deity. The two different figures are blended into each other so
skillfully that when it looks like a combined figure, it also gives a feeling
that the horned deity is about to rest her left arm on the animal’s back whose
head is hidden behind the deity187. Behind this composite figure is an acacia
tree and an another figure with raised arms. The left corner of the seal
depicts a short figure in the center flanked by two tall figures. The taller
figures have spear like weapons in their arms that meet just above the head
of the central figure. While the taller figures are nude and their heads are
dressed up like the male heads at Mohenjodaro, the central figure is clothed
below the waist and her hair is tied up in the form of a plait. It may be
reminded that at Harappa and Mohenjodaro, it is always the female figurines
that are clothed without exception while the male figurines are invariably
nude188. Thus, it may be concluded that the clothed figures with plaits is that
of a female and that the scene on the seal most probably depicts a virgin
sacrifice. While the seal from Harappa associates the virgin sacrifice with
the Goddess of vegetation, this seal associates it with the Goddess of
beasts189. The association of the Goddess with the tiger and war that became
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so complex in later Hindu mythology is shown in its initial budding stages
during this period in this seal190.
In the Indus Valley seals, the female Goddess is depicted either in the
company of a tiger or that of a sacrificial animal. When a tiger accompanies
the Goddess, he is totally subdued and the Goddess seems to have taken over
all his ferocity, whereas when the Goddess is associated with a sacrificial
animal, it is in the context of the performance of some ritual. One of the
seals (fig.24) depicts the Goddess standing amidst two tigers and grasping
them with both her hands. The tigers seem to have been completely
overtaken by the Goddess. The upper portion of the seal shows a wheel-like
symbol that can be inferred to be the ‘chakra’ of later Hinduism while the
lower portion depicts a standing elephant Another seal from Mohenjodaro
depicts a tendril- like figure seated on a Margosa (Neem) tree. The figure
summons a tiger towards her and the tiger appears completely subdued in
her presence. The tiger, seeming to have lost his natural fierceness in front of
the Goddess, meekly submits before her. The scene thus symbolizes the
mighty power and strength of the Goddess- “the lady of beasts”. The later
Hindu texts associate the tiger with the Goddess Durga. In this connection,
Hiltebeitel suggests perhaps the composite of female, tiger and antlers on the
Mohenjodaro seal depicts a prototype of the later Hindu Goddess Durga191.
In the Hindu tradition, the lady always rides a tiger until in the Brahmanic
tradition it is changed to lion192. Animals standing for their god-doubles may
have contained the germ of the idea of later vahanas193.
An interesting “Pasupati Seal” from Mohenjodaro shows a deity
seated in a yogic posture surrounded by four animals- a tiger, an elephant, a
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rhinoceros and a buffalo. Most of the historians had speculated this seated
deity to be a prototype of Lord Shiva- one of the Gods of the later Hindu
trinity, until recently H.P.Sullivan194 put forth a proposal that this was a
female deity. According to him, the deity depicted on this seal is none other
than Mother Goddess depicted as a “Mistress of Animals” or a “Mistress of
Beasts”. The arms of the figure ornamented with armlets were infact insect
like accentuating the combined form of the Goddess. The animals that
appear calm in the seal are infact submitting to the greatness of the Goddess.
According to Sullivan, all godheads found in the Indus Valley sites must be
considered as females. His study, however, has not appealed to all the
historians and has thus failed to get recognition. But, Shubhangana Atre
agrees with Sullivan and accepts the deity as female. According to Atre, the
horned deity depicted on the various seals and sealings with or without
pigtails represents one and the same deity who is a female. “The tiny size of
the seals and sealings did not provide sufficient space for indicating the
sexual attributes very clearly, but one seal where the horned Goddess is
engaged in a fight with a horned tiger leaves no doubt about her feminity195.
In her support, Atre quotes E.Newmann’s remark that “in Crete, the Goddess
herself played victoriously with the bull”196.
Among the buffalo seals, one demonstrates the animal in a ferocious
mood, but the two remaining ones are proof enough of the prowess of the
Goddess that the animal is seen submitting very meekly even to the blow of
a spear197. Bulls and unicorns have also been depicted with the Goddess on
the Harappan seals. Being mainly agriculturists, the Indus Valley people
must have realized the importance of bull in the various stages of farming.
“The earth as female and the bull as male must have evoked feelings of awe,
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gratitude and reverence in the hearts of the Indus Valley people. Like the
female figurines, the images of the bull symbolize procreation, fertility and
abundance in herds”198. The bull and Mother Goddess worship was an ageold practice in West Asia and Asia Minor going back to 5000 B.C. at Catal
Huyuk and other places199. The discovery at Inamgaon200 of a bull together
with clay Mother Goddess (headless) figurine recalls Catal Huyuk examples.
Along with trees and animals, the Harappans also associated birds
with their Mother Goddess. Mackay201has observed a dove-like object seated
on the headdress of a Mother Goddess figurine from Mohenjodaro. Thus,
Indus Valley people worshipped Mother Goddess in her various aspects such
as Earth Mother, Forest Mother, Mother of Beasts, Mother of Vegetation,
Mother of Animals and Birds.
A large number of circular ring-shaped stone objects discovered from
many sites of Indus Civilization are still a matter of debate for eminent
scholars and historians. While some historians regard these stone objects to
be a symbol of Mother Goddess, others consider them to be mere
architectural decorative pieces to be kept in homes. Sir John Marshall202
initially thought that these stone objects were treaded on poles to form
columns but this did not explain the purpose of miniature stones. He further
said that these stones had magical properties and that they were imbued with
divine spirits. After extensive research and study, he classified these stone
objects into three groups, viz;
(1) Lingas
(2) Baetylic Stones
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(3) Ring stones.
He further divided the elongated stone artifacts into two classes (a)
Sacred stones and (b) Utility stones. He said, “The only explanation
applicable to them all is that they were sacred objects of some sort, the larger
ones serving as aniconic amalgamate for cult purposes, the smaller ones as
amulets to be carried by persons, just as miniature lingas are commonly
carried by Saivites today”203. Marshall identifies the ring stones with the
Yoni (vulva) of later Hinduism204. According to him, “ It could hardly have
been utilitarian, nor they suited for personal ornaments… These figures of
the Fertility Goddess are particularly significant because the form of the ring
stones from Taxila to Kosam also recalls to mind the peculiar ring stones
from Harappa and Mohenjodaro”205.
Mackay, in his efforts to prove the significance of these stones,
collected twenty-seven ring stones with their detailed measurements. After
careful study, he found that the diameters of the rings progressively
increased in size and as a result, the height and central hole of the stones also
increased. Thus, he came to the conclusion that the rings were once set on a
tapering pole206. But, he also agrees with Marshall that they might represent
phallic objects. “In many respects, these stones resemble the phallic object
(lingas) of the Hindus. There is every possibility that the exceptionally
finished stone is a linga which was stored on a base”207.
Erkka Maula208, a Finnish scientist considers these stones to be
gnomon holes for determining the north-south direction and also that there
azimuths yield the winter and summer solstices. He considers these stones to
be the earliest calenderic instruments in history, however it is not clear as to
how he gave his conclusions209. George Dales of the University of California
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rejected the idea of the ring stones as being “phallic”. Though he himself
could not explain satisfactorily the function of these ring stones, nevertheless
he concluded that there is no archaeological evidence to support claims of
special sexually oriented aspects of Harappan religion210.
During the excavations, Vats identified certain objects of various sizes
as lingas211. He also found some doughnut shaped stone rings that he
identified with the Yoni212. According to Wheeler213, “A non-Aryan tradition
which appears to have obtained amongst the Harappans certain polished
stones, mostly small but up to 2ft. or more in height. They have been
correctly identified with the linga and at other places with the Yoni”. Thus,
Wheeler accepts the existence of linga and yoni concept in the Harappan
religion.
Celebrated historian E.O.James214, also accepts the prevalence of linga
and yoni worship in the Harappan period, “the more realistically modeled
examples unquestionably are phallic, just as certain large undulating stonerings represent their counterpart (i.e. yoni or vulva), sometimes brought into
conjunction to indicate the union of two organs as for example, in the yoni
base of the linga. Some miniature conical baetylis have a sort of ring round
the body which has been regarded as a possible yoni”.
While some of the ring stones discovered from Mohenjodaro are
enormous in size, others have holes perforated at their conical ends. A stone
with two holes and another with three holes has been unearthed from
Mohenjodaro. According to Mackay215, the stones with holes might have
been contrived for anointing with butterfat. Another historian216 is of the
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view that the holes implied the increased power for transmission to the
worshipper. P.K.Agarwala217 is of the view that “annular stone disks (ring
stones) of the 3rd- 1st cent. B.C. is to do with the nude Mother Goddess”.
Jairazbhoy, after much research and a deep study of these ring stones
was of the opinion that the ring stones were used for enthroning the
Goddess. To support his view, he mentions a seal that shows a seat for the
Goddess at the top and a vertical pole threaded through the rings evidently
attached to the base for stability.
The prevalence of Mother Goddess cult in the Chalcolithic Period is
also confirmed by the discovery of female figurines at Mehrgarh dated 3500
B.C. The figurines are in a seated position and have large pendulous breasts,
heavy hips and joint legs with tapering ends (figs. 25& 26). These features
are similar to the Mother Goddess figurines discovered from other sites.
One of the figurines unearthed has a pinched nose and body tied with
applied rope. The lower portion of the body is missing. Scholars still doubt
as to whether it is a human figurine or it has a sacred significance. While the
pinched nose and eyeholes of the figure give it a human character, its
“tubular head” gives indications of it being a phallic representation218. The
circles round the figurines are regular, complete and totally unconnected
with each other. Thus, the entire figure appears to be phallic in character, the
circles being indicative of the yoni.
The second figurine discovered from Mehrgarh also belongs to the
same period. It, too, has a tubular head, pinched nose, large pendulous
77
breasts, heavy hips and joint legs that taper downwards. The arms of this
figurine are missing. “Its strongly Neolithic aspect is worth noticing and
leaves some hope to find earlier specimens”219. Again, in this figurine too,
the “tubular head” indicates the “phallus” and the “pendulous breasts” and
“heavy hips” point out the feminine aspect of the figurines. Both these
figurines, thus, confirm the worship of linga and yoni worship in those days.
The figurines of Mehrgarh that belong to 2700 B.C. are in an upright
posture (figs. 27& 28). They have stylish hair, goggled eyes and beaked
noses. Their headdress goes over the shoulders. The hair is banded in
straight lines. They also wear a necklace that has a drop piece towards the
center of the body. Their hips are slightly arched to the sides indicating thus
their female character. Some figurines from the same area show the goddess
in a standing position clasping a child close to her chest, while in some other
figurines, the child sucks the breast of his mother (fig.29).
Jowre Culture succeeded the Harappan culture in India. By about
1200 B.C., this culture had spread in Western Maharashtra and the Krishna
Godavari valleys. Incorporating within it were the earlier cultural
manifestations from Andhra- Karnataka in the South and Malwa in the
North220. The boundaries of this culture extended from Purna Valley in
Vidarbha in the east to Theur near Poona in the west, and from Khandesh in
Tapi Valley in the North to Upper Krishna Valley in the South. The
inhabitants of this culture had a private shrine for the Mother Goddess who
was worshipped in two forms- one having a head and the other without a
head but standing or sitting on a bull221. The excavation of Mother Goddess
figurines from Inamgaon in 1970-71 proves the prevalence of Mother cult in
78
this culture, too. The Inamgaon unbaked clay figurines (from Period II,
Jorwe Culture, circa 1300-1000 B.C.) represent a predominant Mother
Goddess type with a modeled flat body, stumpy arms and legs, pendulous
breasts and a cone like head222. Some figurines have also been found along
with a bull that gives a sacred significance to the bull as the mount of the
Goddess. A unique Goddess figurine unearthed from Inamgaon has no
markings for the head. “With it was associated a bull figurine as the vehicle
of the Goddess and the definitive pointer in this direction is the evidence of a
lost device which actually served to support the Goddess on the bull”223. For
the Goddess figurines with cone-shaped heads, a semi-circular clay base was
provided so that the figurines could be mounted on it. All the figurines from
Inamgaon are inarticulate and strikingly similar to the “timeless” type of
Pre-Mauryan and Mauryan period224.
Cone-headed Mother Goddess figurines have also been found at
Nevasa. These figurines “show a distinct and comparatively abstract form
having the featureless lower torso rendered into a flaring out wide base and
marked by a conspicuous perforation for the navel”225. This flat base was
made for firm fixation of the figure on it. Holes were made in the body of
the bull as well as the navel of the Goddess so that by inserting a stick in the
hole, the Goddess could be imagined sitting or standing on the back of the
bull. The bull at Nevasa and Chandoli was represented in the “form of a
rhyton, having a large bottle like opening at the mouth, small hump and tail,
striped body and four low wheels on the four feet”226. Fiddle-shaped
terracotta figurines with conical heads have also been found at Bilwadi. The
features of these figures show a diversion from the contemporary Harappan
79
figures and resemble instead the Mother Goddess figurines from Western
Asia, Iran and Turkmenistan.
The storage jars of Navdatoli Phase IV show appliqué figures of both
males and females. The stiff posture and features of the females connect it to
the Mother Goddess figurines from Harappa. Similar pottery has been
discovered from Bahal in the Khandesh district. A huge jar from Navdatoli
shows an appliqué figure of a female worshipper on the right side and a
lizard on the left. In between the two is a structure appearing like a shrine.
There are four such shrines on four sides and the entire shoulder of the jar is
ornamented with appliqué patterns227. The shrine appears to be of a deity
with whom alligator (makara) or lizard (godha) is associated228. According
to J.N. Banerjea229, in the historical period, the lizard is associated with
Parvati. The other side of the jar shows a shrine with a tortoise on the left.
Tortoise was also a sacred animal of the chalcolithic farmers of Malwa,
which is proved by the discovery of a tortoise amulet of shell from Prakash
in Maharashtra dated to the Malwa occupation of the site230. The tortoise,
being one of the ten incarnations of Visnu, is also of religious significance to
the Hindus. The portrayal of the shrine, the Goddess and the creatures on the
shoulder of the Navdatoli storage jar reminds us of the similar arrangement
of the motifs on the perforated stone discs discovered from Mauryan levels
from Taxila to Patna231.
Post- Harappan Chalcolithic phases have also been observed at the
sites of Gujarat, Rajasthan, the Chambal, Narmada and other river basins of
Central India, Maahrashtra and Southern India232. Gilund in the Banas
80
Valley of Rajasthan and the topmost level of Chirand belonging to c.1650
have yielded terracotta figurines that have religious significance233.
Mother Goddess worship around the beginning of 2nd millennium B.C.
has also been confirmed by the discovery of two terracotta female figurines
from the OCP site of Lal Qila, Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh234. The
figure in the better form has large breasts, a narrow waist, an elongated neck
and sharp facial features. It has bulging eyes, hooked up nose and a broad
jaw with protruding lips and thick chin235. It resembles the Harappan stone
figures in that the arms affixed to the holes were especially made for that
purpose on the shoulders.
The most recent excavation of a terracotta figure of Mother Goddess
is from Oriup in the district of Bhagalpur, Bihar236. The figure was found
along with black and red ware, bone objects, copper pieces and has all the
characteristic features of pre-historic images. It has however been ascribed
to be of the Post- Harappan period237.
The numerous excavations conducted around the world thus establish
the wide prevalence of the worship of Mother Goddess in the Protohistoric
period. Countless numbers of Mother Goddess figurines have been found
with their center extending from Iran, Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia to
the Eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Syria, Crete and the Indian sub
continent.
The similarity of form, texture, decoration and dressing styles of the
images also confirm that there was definitely an exchange of ideas and
81
cultures between the people of these countries. It also confirms to the
preponderance of the feminine concept in the everyday lives of these
agricultural communities. This feminine concept gradually made its way in
religion, too. In those days, when agriculture was the main occupation and
men had just picked up hunting and domestication of animals as the new
means of their livelihood, food gathering and food collection became the
main occupation of women. Thus, she became the bread- earner of the
family. She also functioned as the homemaker as it was the woman who
gave birth to the young ones in the family and brought them up with all care
and attention. The woman thus held an important place in the family both
economically and socially. Her status was above the status of men.
Acknowledging her importance in all aspects of life, her attributes gradually
became an object of reverence. She thus, found her way in the religion of the
people and emerged as the most powerful and important in the pantheon.
Man’s awe, wonder and feelings of respect towards women led to her
deification.
It was from religion that man’s sentiments found way in art and
sculpture. Gradually, images of Mother Goddess began to be revered and
worshipped and were subsequently produced in large numbers, a description
of which has already been given in this chapter. Certain symbols like the
cow, bull, swastika, trees, linga and yoni also became associated with
Mother worship. Most of these symbols along with the Goddess are still held
with great reverence in Hinduism.
Similarity in the texture, posture and other features of these images
found at different sites also points out to the cultural bonding between these
82
places. The female principles of fertility and fecundity were the main theme
of these figurines. One noteworthy point is that these images appear either
singly or are associated with animals or a child, usually a male child, but not
with a male partner or counterpart as we see in the images of later Hinduism.
This reflects the important and superior position held by women in the
protohistoric period. As Marshall puts it, “in Punic Africa she is Tanit with
her son, in Egypt Isis with Horus, in Phoenicia Ashtaroh with Tammuz
(Adonis), in Asia Minor Kybele with Attis, in Greece Rhea with the young
Zeus”238.
Mother Goddess figurines with emphasis on the feminine organs like
breasts, hips etc. have been found in Western Asia, Baluchistan,
Mesopotamia as well as the Indus sites. The headdress of almost all the
figurines has been peculiar. The hair of Kulli figurines was decorated with
cowrie shells. Almost everywhere the figurines are decked up with jewelry.
A girdle was most commonly used to hide the sexual organs. The display of
the reproductive and the child nursing aspects of a Mother was another
common feature of these Mother Goddess figurines. Images showing a
mother with a child in her lap or sucking her breast were common in Egypt
and Western Asia. A seal from Harappa showing a woman in an inverted
posture with a plant issuing out of her womb emphasized the reproductive
aspect of the Goddess.
Animals were also closely associated with the Mother. The Egyptian
Goddess Nut was depicted either in the form of a Great cow or was
associated with a cow’s horn. Goddess Hathor had ears of a cow while Isis
was depicted with a vulture headdress. Ammut had the head of a crocodile.
83
Bastet was a Cat goddess while Heket was a frog goddess. Goddess figurines
with bull have also been unearthed from Inamgaon. Images similar to the
Catal Huyuk figurines, terracotta figurines of dove have also been unearthed
from Mohenjodaro. They might have been associated with the Goddess.
Thus, the All Pervading, Life Producing, Eternal Mother was an
essential element in the lives and religion of the Proto-Historic people. It
was from her fundamental concepts of Reproduction, Fertility and Fecundity
that a single notion of a Mother evolved into several new aspects and diverse
forms in the Vedic age.
84
References
1
Bhattacharya, N. N.; History of Sakta Religion, Munshiram Manoharlal
Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 1974, p.12.
2
Garasanin, Dr. Draga; Bronze Age in Serbia; Summary from the
Catalogue, Belgrade, 1972, p. 1.
3
Hawkes, J & Wooley, L; History of Mankind, Vol. I, George Allen and
Unwin Ltd. London, 1963, p.366.
4
Ibid, p.378.
5
Bhattacharya, N.N.; Indian Mother Goddess, Manohar Book Service, New
Delhi, 1977, p. 83.
6
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. LXIV, 1934, p. 93.
7
Ibid, p. 94.
8
Ibid, p. 94.
9
Pyramid Text, 282 C.
10
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 58.
11
Ibid, p.58.
12
Budge, E.A.; The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, p. 59.
13
Barnett Mary; The Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, p. 97.
14
Ibid, p. 87.
15
Breasted J.H.; Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt,
p.57.
16
James E.O.; The Ancient Gods, Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London, WI, p.
81.
17
Vera Fredrika Vanderlip; The Four Greek Hymns of Isidorus and the Cult
of Isis, Toronto: A.M. Hakkert Ltd. 1972, Hymn 3, VV 26-7, p. 51.
85
18
Witt,R.E.;Isis In The Graeco-Roman World, Thames and
Hudson,London,1971,p.106.
19
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 85.
20
Ibid.
21
Frazer, J.G.; The Golden Bough, Vol.V, Macmillan and Company Ltd.,
London, 1954, pp.114-115.
22
James E.O.; The Ancient Gods, op. cit. p. 82.
23
Budge, E.A.; The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, op. cit. p.203.
24
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 85.
25
Ibid.
26
Barnett Mary, op. cit. p. 80.
27
Ibid, p. 85.
28
Ibid, p. 88.
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid, p. 92.
31
Ibid, p. 90.
32
Ibid, p.91.
33
Ibid, p. 94.
34
Budge, E.A.; The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, p. 450 ff.
35
Ibid, p. 93.
36
Ibid, p. 86.
37
Ibid, p. 95.
38
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 85.
39
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p.69.
40
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 85.
41
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 74.
86
42
Ibid, p. 75.
43
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 85.
44
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 76.
45
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 86.
46
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 77.
47
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 86.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid, p. 87.
50
Barnett Mary; op. cit. p. 81.
51
Ibid, pp 91-92.
52
James, E.O.; Prehistoric Religion, London, 1957, p.163.
53
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. IV, Edited by James Hastings,
1954, p. 377.
54
Ibid, Vol. VIII, p.849
55
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 87.
56
Ibid.
57
Farnell, L.R.; The Cult of Greek States,p.181ff.
58
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p.145.
59
Kinsley, David; Mother Goddess and other Goddesses, Edited by V.
Subramaniam, Ajanta Publication, Delhi, 1993, p. 68.
60
Herington, C.J.; Athena Parthenos and Athena Polias: A Study of the
Religion of Periclean Athens, Manchester Univ. Press, Manchester, 1955,
p. 46.
61
Senior Michael; Greece and it’s Myths; Victor Gollancz, London, 1978,
pp.38-39.
62
Kinsley, David; op. cit. p. 69.
87
63
Homer’s Epigrams, 14, Hugh C. Evelyn- White. Trans; Hesoid; The
Homeric Hymns and Homerica, N.York: G.P.Putman’s Sons, 1920, p.
173; Hesoid, Works and Days, Evelyn- White. Trans; Hesoid; The
Homeric Hymns and Homerica, p. 35, and Odyssey 6, 223.
64
Otto, Walter F; The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek
Religion, trans, Moses Hadas, N.York, Pantheon Books, 1954, p. 56.
65
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 88.
66
Ibid, p.89.
67
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 150.
68
Ibid.
69
Gupta, V.P. & Gupta Mohini, Mother Goddess, A Global Perspective,
Ambe Books, Delhi, 1999, p. 44.
70
Ibid, pp. 43-44.
71
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 88.
72
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, p. 153.
73
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op. cit. p. 89.
74
Dhawan, Dr. Savitri, p.18.
75
Ancient Goddesses, Edited by Lucy Goodison $ Christine, British
Museum Press, 1998, p. 67.
76
Ibid, p.68.
77
Langdon S; Tammuz and Ishtar, p.5.
78
James, E.O.,op. cit. p. 47.
79
Bhattacharya, N.N., op. cit. p. 92.
80
ERE, Vol. V, p.49.
81
Neumann Eric; The Great Mother, p. 33 & 132.
82
Westenholz, J.G.; Goddesses of the Ancient Near East (3000-1000 B.C.),
88
Ed. By Lucy Goodison and Christine, British Museum Press, 1998, p.72.
83
Ibid, p. 74.
84
Ibid, p. 74.
85
Ibid. p. 68.
86
Ibid, pp. 68-69.
87
Ibid, p. 69.
88
Eliade, History of Religious Ideas, pp. 67-68.
89
Bhattacharya, N.N., op. cit. p. 92.
90
Ibid, p. 93.
91
Ibid, p. 93.
92
Piggot, S; Prehistoric India, p.72.
93
Hutton, J.H.; Caste in India (4th Ed.) p. 223; Bhattacharya N.N.;History Of
Sakta Religion, p. 19; Stone Merlin; When God was a Woman, p. 40-41.
94
Fairservis Walter A; The roots of Ancient India: The Archaeology of
Early Indian Civilization, NewYork, Macmillan Press, p.138.
95
Gatwood, Lynn E; Devi and the Spouse Goddess, Manohar Publication,
1985, p.17.
96
Kinsley David, op.cit. p. 213.
97
Ibid, p. 212.
98
Stein, M.A.; An Archaeological tour in Waziristan and Northern
Baluchistan, MASI, 37, Calcutta,1929, p. 38ff; An Archaeological tour in
Gedrosia, MASI, 43, Calcutta,1931, p.37ff.
99
cf ERE, Vol. V, p. 119.
100
Ibid, p.119.
101
Langdon, S; Tammuz and Ishtar, p. 44; Morgan, Prehistoric Man, p. 250.
102
James, E.O.; op.cit.p.32.
89
103
Bhattacharya, N.N.; History of Sakta Religion, op.cit ,p. 12.;
104
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, London, 1931,
Vol. I, 48ff; cf. V.G. Childe, What happened in History, revised edition,
London,1957; New Light on the Most Ancient East.
105
Oppert G.; The original Inhabitants of India or Bharatvarsha,
Westminster, 1893,p.574.
106
Tyler, Stephan A; India: An anthropological perspective, p. 33.
107
Marshall J; op.cit. Vol.3 pl.94, nos. 6-8.
108
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, Government of India
Press, Delhi, 1938, p. 258.
109
Ibid, pl.72, nos.8-9; pl.73, nos. 9-11.
110
Ibid, pl 75, no. 5; Marshall, J.; op. cit. Vol. I, pl. 94, no.14.
111
Bhattacharya, N.N.; op.cit. p. 15.
112
Wangu, Madhu Bazaz; Images of Indian Goddesses, Abhinav
Publications, New Delhi, 2003, p.22.
113
Bhattacharya N.N.; op.cit. p. 15.
114
Gajjar , Irene N.; Ancient Indian Art and the West, Bombay, 1971, p.42.
115
Ibid, p. 41.
116
Asthana Shashi; History and Archaeology of India’s Contacts with other
countries, p.42.
117
David Kinsley, op. cit. p.215.
118
Mackay, E.; op. cit. Vol. I, pl.76, nos.1-5.
119
Mackay, E.; op. cit. Vol. I, p. 349; Marshall, J.; op. cit. Vol. I, p.341.
120
cf.Brunton,Gand Caton-Thompson, G;
The Badarian ivilization,London,1928, p.29.
121
Vats, M.S.; Excavations at Harappa, Delhi,1950, p. 292.
90
122
Marshall J; op. cit.; p. 49; Oppert Gustav; op. cit.; pp 449-50, 504.
123
Ibid.
124
Mackay, E.; Early Indus Civilization, London, 1948, p. 54.
125
James, Myth and Ritual, p. 134, fns 100-01.
126
Aiyar, Indira S.; Durga as Mahisasurmardini, Gyan Publishing House,
N.Delhi, 1997, op. cit. p. 96.
127
Bhattacharya N.N.; Indian Mother Goddess, op. cit. p. 149.
128
Agarwala P.K.; Goddesses In Ancient India, Abhinav Publications, N.
Delhi,1984, p. 29.
129
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, op. cit. p. 339.
130
South Asian Archaeology, 1977, Vol. I, Caricatures in Indus Valley Art,
pp. 360-374.
131
Bhattacharya N.N.; Indian Mother Goddess, op. cit. p. 149.
132
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, op. cit. p. 36.
133
Mackay, E.; Early Indus Civilization, op. cit.,p.53.
134
South Asian Archaeology, 1977, Vol. I, Caricatures in Indus Valley Art,
p. 370.
135
Ibid, p. 370.
136
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, Vol. I, op. cit. p.265.
137
Dasgupta , Dr. C.C.; Origin and Evolution of Indian Clay Sculpture,
University of Calcutta, 1961, pp. 81-82, figs. 12-17, 21,22,29,32,36 $ 40.
138
Ibid, p. 82, figurines41.
139
Mackay, Early Indus Civilization, op. cit., 2nd Ed. p. 54.
140
James, E.O.; Cult of MG, op. cit. p. 24.
141
Crooke W; Religion and Folklore of North India, Allahabad, 1894, Vol. I,
p. 29.
91
142
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, Vol.I, p. 269; Marshall;
Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, op. cit. p.49, pl. XCV 20.
143
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, pls. LXXV.7.12;
LXXVI.13.
144
Ibid, pl. LXXII.2.
145
MASI, No. 43, pp. 126-162, pl.XXll.
146
Mackay, Chanhudaro Excavations (1935-36), pp. 151-52.
147
Piggot, S; Prehistoric India, p. 127.
148
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, Vol. I,op. cit. pp.
49-50. These figurines show a parallel to the Buddhist Earth Goddess
depicted as rising out of the ground in base reliefs: Grunwedd, Buddhist
Art in India, pp. 100ff; Vedic Goddess Usa is also footless: Griffth, Hyms
of the Rgveda, RV.6.59.6, p. 629.
149
Evans, Sir Arthur, Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol. II, p. 340, figurines
193.
150
Wangu, Madhu Bazaz; Images of Indian Goddesses, Abhinav
Publications, New Delhi, 2003, p. 24.
151
Ibid, p. 24.
152
Atre, Subhangana; The Archetypal Mother: A Systematic approach to
Harappan Religion, Ravish Publishers, Pune, 1987, p. 200.
153
Aiyar, Indira S.; Durga as Mahisasurmardini, Gyan Publishing House,
N.Delhi,1997, p.99.
154
Cf, Ibid, p. 99; D.M.11.48-49.
155
Fowler, J.D.; Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, Brighton and Portland,
Sussex Academic Press, 1997, p.90.
156
Wangu, Madhu Bazaz; op. cit; p. 27.
92
157
Jayakar Pupul; The Earthen Drum, New Delhi, 1980, Published in a
revised, updated edition as The Earth Mother, 1989, p. 67.
158
Ibid, p. 48.
159
Sathapatha Brahman, 2.3.6.7; The Earthen Drum, p. 48,fn 5.
160
Marshall, John; Indus Valley Civilization, Vol. I, Delhi, 1973; Marshall
compares this seal with the terracotta relief from Bhita of early Gupta
period.
161
Jairazbhoy, R.A; The First Goddess in South Asia and other Essays,
Menander Publications, 1994, p.8.
162
Srivastava, M.C.P.; Mother Goddess in Indian Art, Archaeology and
Literature, Agam Kala Prakashan, N.Delhi, 1936, p. 28.
163
Ibid, p. 28.
164
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, op. cit. p. 338.
165
Pannikar, Shivaji K; Saptamatrika Worship and Sculpture, D.K.
Printworld (P) Ltd. N. Delhi, 1997, p. 13.
166
Jayakar Pupul, op. cit. p. 74.
167
Ibid, pp 74-75.
168
Cf Aiyar, Indira S; op. cit. p,. 100.
169
Maula, E.;The Calender Storus of Mohenjodaro, Sindhological Studies,
Summer, 1987, p. 30. In this same view, the composite animal above is
supposed to be the Sun, and the fish sign over its back is the heliacal
rising of Jupiter.
170
Parpola Asko; The Sky Garment: A study of the Harappan religion and
its relation to the Mesopotamian and Later Indian Religions, The Finnish
Oriental Society, Helsinki, 1985, pp.215 &120. In later Hindu
Mythology, the Plaiades constellation (the six/seven females)is associated
93
with the birth of Skanda.
171
Wangu, Madhu Bazaz; op. cit; p.26.
172
asya vamasye palitasya hotastasya brato madhyamo astayasne
trtiyo bhrato ghritapamsto asyatropasayam vispatimsapta putram; RV,
I.64.1; Buddha Prakash; Rgvd and the Indus Valley Civilization,
Hoshiarpur, 1996, pp. 32-34.
173
Ibid, p. 35.
174
Agarwala V.S ; Vision in Long Darkness, p.116, as referred by Buddha
Prakash, op. cit. p. 36; cf Pannikar Shivaji, op. cit. p. 13.
175
Shastri, K.N.; New Light on Indus Civilization, Delhi, 1957, cf Pannikar,
op. cit. p.13.
176
Dhavalikar, M.K.; The origin of the Saptamatrikas, in BDCRT, 1960-61,
pp.23-26.
177
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, Vol. I, op. cit.
pp. 64-65.
178
Mackay, E.; Early Indus Civilization, op. cit.,p.58.
179
Harper, Katherine Anne; Seven Hindu Goddesses of Spiritual
Transformation: The Iconography of the Saptamatrikas, New York, 1989,
p.5.
180
Aiyar, Indira S; op. cit. p. 100.
181
Ibid, p. 100.
182
Neumann, Eric; The Great Mother, pl.4(with disc), pl.44(without disc).
183
Ibid, pl. 27B.
184
Ibid, pl. 49.
185
Dhavalikar, M.K.; op. cit. p. 26.
186
Atre, Subhangana, op. cit. p. 157.
94
187
Ibid, p. 157.
188
Ibid, p.159.
189
Ibid, p. 159.
190
In Mesopotamia, Ishtar, the Goddess of war was associated with the lion.
Lion was associated with the dawn dispelling the darkness of night. Cf.
Wangu, Madhu Bazaz, op. cit. p. 26.
191
Hiltebeitel, Alf; The Indus Valley Proto-Shiva Re-examined through
Reflexions on the Goddess, Buffalo and the Symbolism of Vahanas,
Anthropos,LXXIII,1978,p.777.
192
Aiyer, Indira S; op. cit. p. 101.
193
Ibid. 101.
194
Sullivan, H.P; A Re-examination of the Religion of the Indus
Civilization, HR4 (1), 1964, p. 115-125.
195
Atre, S; op. cit. p. 194.
196
Neumann, Eric; The Great Mother: An analysis of the Archetype,
Manheim, Ralph (trans), Princeton University Press, 1974, p. 280.
197
Atre, S; op. cit. p. 195.
198
cf Wangu ,Madhu Bazaz, op. cit. p. 25.
199
Asthana Shashi, History and Archaeology of India’s Contacts with other
Countries, op. cit. p. 780.
200
Sankalia, H.D.; The Pre and Protohistory of Early India and Pakistan,
Deccan College, Post Graduate and Research Institute, Poona, 1974, figs.
186, 187, 188; Dhavalikar; A Pre-historic Deity of Western India, Vol. 5,
No. 1(1970), p.131ff.
201
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, op. cit. pl. LXXVI.5.
202
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, Vol. I, op. cit.
95
pp.62-63.
203
Ibid.
204
Ibid, pp. 58-63, pl.13; Vol. III, pl. 156.
205
Quoted by B.C.Sinha; Hinduism and Symbol Worship, p. 128.
206
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, op. cit. p. 596.
207
Lal, B.B. & Gupta S.P; Frontiers of the Indus Civilization, pp. 105-106.
208
Maula, E; The Calender Stone of Mohenjodaro, Sindhological Studies,
Sumer, 1984, p. 30.
209
Jairazbhoy, R.A; op. cit. p. 11.dg
210
Dales, G.F; “Sex and Stone at Mohenjodaro”, Frontiers of the Indus
Civilization, ed. B.B.Lal, 1984, pp. 111-115.
211
Vats, M.S; Excavations at Harappa, Delhi, 1940, Vol.I, p. 55.
212
Lal, B.B. & Gupta S.P;op. cit. pp. 109-15.
213
Ibid, pp. 109-15.
214
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, op. cit. p. 36.
215
Mackay E; Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro, op. cit. p. 408.
216
Jairazbhoy, R.A; op. cit. p. 13.
217
Agarwala, P.K; The early Indian Mother Goddess Votive disks, East and
West (Rome) ,Vol. 29, 1979, p. 75f.
218
James, E.O.; Cult of Mother Goddess, op. cit. p. 36.
219
Ibid, p. 36.
220
Sankalia, H.D; Prehistory of India, Munshilal Manoharlal Publishers Pvt.
Ltd. 1977, p.125.
221
Ibid, p. 127.
222
Agarwala, P.K; Goddesses Ancient India, op. cit. p.37.
223
Ibid.
96
224
Agarwal, D.P. & Chakrabarti, D.K; Essays in Protohistory, B.R.
Publishing Corp. Delhi, 1979, p.258.
225
Ibid, p. 37.
226
Sankalia, H.D; op. cit. p. 127.
227
Agarwal, D.P. & Chakrabarti, D.K; Essays in Indian Protohistory, B.R.
Publishing Corp. Delhi, 1979, p. 241.
228
Ibid.
229
Banerjea, J.N; Development of Hindu Iconography, 2nd edition,
University of Calcutta, 1956, p. 101.
230
Thapar, B.K; A Chalcolithic Settlement in the Tapti Valley, Ancient
India,1967, p.115, pl. XXII, 31. Agarwal, D.P. & Chakrabarti, D.K; op.
cit. p.241.
231
Agarwal, D.P. & Chakrabarti, D.K; op. cit. p.241.s
232
Bhattacharya, N.N; Indian religious Histriography, M M publishers Pvt.
Ltd. 1996, p.20.
233
Ibid.
234
Agarwala, P.K; op. cit. p.38.
235
Ibid.
236
Museum of the Department of A.I.H. & Arch., P.U. Pl. II, Figurine 4.
237
Verma, Nisha; The Terracottas of Bihar, Ramanand Vidya Bhawan,
Delhi, 1986, p. 63.
238
Marshall, John; Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization, Vol. I, op. cit.
p. 57.
97