Death in the streets

Death in the streets

No trace has been found of royal burials like those at Ur, but there is good reason to guess that these cities were utterly under the domination of their priests or priest – kings. Representations on seals suggest some sort of worship associated with bulls as in Minoan Crete, but most of the seal – representations are very mysterious. There is however, one which depicts a man or god in the now familiar cross-legged posture, surrounded by animals, and it is very probable that this is a representation of the god Siva as Pasupati, lord of creatures. This leads to speculation as to how much of the indigenous Indian religion goes back to the Harrapans. Did they practice caste system? Were their vey sinister priests the earliest Brahmans? Were the yogi techniques of concentration and meditation already known so long ago? One is tempted to surmise that they were, for certainly the earliest parts of the Vedas, the hyns of the invading Aryans, show no knowledge of any of these things.

The end of the cities was abrupt and violent, but they had been falling away for some time from their earlier standards. There are smaller houses and even pottery kilns encroaching on the streets, and everywhere there are signs of overcrowding and deterioration. But Mohenjo – Daro was apparently sacked and burnt in a final overwhelming attack. Men, women and children were massacred in the streets and houses and were left lying – a fairly sure sign that the city was at least temporarily abandoned. In one lane are nine skeletons, including five children, and in another place several people were apparently climbing steps from a well – room to the street when they were knocked over backwards and fell dead at the bottom of the steps. The weight of probability suggests that these invaders were the first wave of Aryans, whose onslaughts on the cities of the aborigines are celebrated in the Vedas. If so, then the peak of the Harappan civilization may be placed between 2500 and 1500 BC and its destruction at about 1500. We must hope that on day the decipherment of its script will tell us more about this enigmatic civilization.