Horses/Indus seals

N. Ganesan GANESANS at CL.UH.EDU
Sun May 17 15:40:05 UTC 1998


Dr. Lars Fosse writes:
>I believe the point here is that the horse plays a central role in
>Indo-European ritual, which is why we would expect to find it on the seals.
>The reason why the bull is frequently represented on the seals may be that
>it played a role in the Indus culture which it didn't play in Indo-European
>culture. The camel may have played no significant part in the culture apart
>from performing menial work.
>But it goes without saying that all such interpretations are uncertain. We
>simply do not have enough data to state emphatically that things are in a
>certain way.

The bull is frequently represented in Indus seals. Does it
have anything to do with the Nandi vaahana of "Siva in later Hinduism?
Have seen in articles that "Siva is largely pre-vedic and
pre-Aryan.

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Forgot to ask earlier:
Is the tripura dahanam episode in "Siva's myth, a development
from Vedic Indra & so on. When many of Indra's qualities
become "Siva's attributes, this also gets transferred??
Interesting that "Siva only smiles at the three puri/purams.

Prof. F. C. Southworth has indicated 'puri' is Dravidian.
************************************************************

Vedic folks sought many (100,000?) cows. Have seen that even the universe is
born out of a Cow. gOdaana is important in dharmasaastras. Is there any link of
cows largely, but NOT bulls, to vedic material?

Thoughts, corrections welcome.

Regards,
N. Ganesan





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