1. 1. Ancient Indian Astronomy: Binjor Seal, Early
Harappan Period (3000 – 2600 BCE)
The Indus Valley civilization is the
Cinderella of the ancient world. By a combination of circumstances it has been
considerably overshadowed by its elder sisters of the Nile Valley and the
Tigris-Euphrates Valley. It is more distant from Europe (and it was from Europe
that the discoverers of all the ancient civilizations had come); it was
discovered much later; and it has proved more difficult to fit into a coherent
history of mankind. Unlike the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, which
had been known by repute to the historians of Greece and Rome, and which were
recorded in the Bible, the civilization of the Indus was unsuspected until
1921. Geoffrey Bibby (1969), Looking for Dilmun, A. Knopf, p. 174.
Encompassing
over a million square miles area, the Indus civilization is larger than any
other of the contemporary empires of its day, including the Mesopotamian,
Egyptian or Chinese Bronze Age civilizations. Cultural uniformity of the Indus
civilization is an wonder and, Sir Mortimer Wheeler has noted that the Indus
civilization exemplifies “the vastest political experiment before the advent of
the Roman Empire.” Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Early India and Pakistan: To Ashoka., 1968, Thames and Hudson, p. 98.
Fig. 1 Viṭaṅkar & Kolli amulet/charm from Binjor, Rajasthan (Early Harappan Period) https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/heritage/a-harappan-export-processing-zone/article8815314.ece
This essay
shows the cultural uniformity and continuity of the Indus religion based on
Astronomy in the Bronze Age. The divine couple, Makara Viṭaṅkar & Kolli/Koṟṟavai is represented by
their symbols respectively: (a) Viṭaṅkar (gharial crocodile) and (b) blackbuck for proto-Durgā in an
amulet/charm from Binjor,
Rajasthan. In this seal from Harappan site, named 4MSR, the 4600 years of Indian astronomy is evident: Rohiṇī (star Aldebaran) for proto-Durgā represented by her antelope, and pole
star (then, star Thuban) represented by his gharial. Unfortunately, the head
and tail of the gharial in the steatite seal got broken off. Comparing the depiction
of the Gharial in amulet H-172 (Fig.2) and in the tablet H-180 (Fig. 3), especially its four
legs that are concave when viewed in the front, Prof. Asko Parpola communicated
via an email that the aquatic creature in Binjor tablet is indeed a gharial. In this article, Binjor is a short notation for Early Harappan site 4MSR near Binjor, Rajasthan. A line
drawing and a clay model based on CAD 3D drawings can be made showing the broken limbs of the crocodile in the precious
amulet displaying ancient Indian astronomy. It belongs to the Early Harappan
Period (3000 – 2600 BCE). The front side of the Binjor amulet, at least 4600
years old is shown in Figure 1. On the back side in the amulet, a goat, a calf
and a jackal are shown representing possibly farming and wilderness. The
cultural uniformity of the Indus civilization can be seen in its religion from
three sites – Harappa, Mohenjodaro, and Binjor - forming a core triangle of the
Indus civilization. The Paśupati seal from Mohenjadaro has an exact equivalent
with the deity replaced by a gharial. In the H-180 tablet, the Makara is shown with its head down just as the Pole star is described as śiṃśumāra maṇḍala in later Indian astronomy texts. Gharial was considered an aspect/representative of the horned Paśupati deity (M-304) and it is often portrayed as a “Master of Animals” in a variety of mass-produced moulds and seals. Gharial is shown wearing the horns of bison bulls (Bos gaurus) or buffalo (M-1395). Significantly, the same kind of animals adorn the sides of Paśupati/Mṛgapati seal: tiger, elephant, rhinoceros and bison/buffalo. In the Gharial as Paśupati/Mṛgapati seals, the head of the tiger is turned backwards in a mode of attention, and there is an acacia tree standing near it. Upon a branch of the tree, a man sits (his body flexed like the letter S and legs in aṭṭaṇaṅkāl posture). His face is towards the gharial while the double hair buns (M-339, M-440, M-441, M-1393, M-1394, M-1395) at the back of his head are near the vertical trunk of the tree. The motif of the shaman on the tree with a tiger below is portrayed independently in a number of seals (M-309, H-163, K-49, H-176), and likely shows a priest of the tiger goddess. For more details, Gharial god and Tiger goddess in the Indus valley, Some aspects of Bronze Age Indian Religion (2007) https://archive.org/details/IVCReligionByNagaGanesan2007/
Fig. 3 Gharial god
mating with Tiger goddess, H-180
2. Crocodile god in Post-Harappan period: Anthropomorphic Axe "Maḻuvāḷ Neṭiyōṉ" with Proto-Brahmi script
The Ochre Colored Pottery culture (OCP) in the Gangetic plains is a 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age culture of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (Ganges-Yamuna plain). It succeeds the Harappan Civilization. Bronze metal weapons and an Anhropomorphic Axe (AA) has been discovered in scores of sites from Haryana to Bihar. It has been a mystery to determine the identity of Anthropomorphic Axe. Whether it is the Vedic Vajra weapon has been tested and that hypothesis rejected (P. Yule). A chance find from Haryana Post-Harappan mound and the developments in the Early Iron Age succeeding OCP and the Tamil Sangam texts throw new light on the crucial AA identity. Some of the Anthropomorphic Axe sculptures have the Fish sign, numerous in Indus script, engraved in their chest. Both Fish and Crocodile signs occurring in astronomy and in Indus script mark the Dravidian linguistic connection with the Indus civilization.
Anthropomorph 1500–1000 B.C. "These anthropomorphic figures, harpoons, ax blades (celts), and antennae swords were cast and hammered from unalloyed copper. They may be dated to 1500 to 1000 B.C. Given that pure copper is a relatively soft metal and most of the objects show little or no signs of wear, it seems likely that their function was largely dedicatory. Hoards of such objects have been found across north India, the greatest concentration being in Uttar Pradesh. The findspots suggest they were ritually deposited in rivers or marshes, though several related antennae swords were recorded in late Indus Valley civilization (ca. 1500 B.C.) burials at Sanauli." Two lasting
influences of Śaka clans in India are (1) Creation of Brahmi script in North
India and (2) Dog sculpture representing the star Sirius in Gaṅgādhara panels
carved in Pallava caves. Brahmi script is formed with most letters formed from
two basic forms - circle and square. Interaction with Greeks in the Persian empire during Darius the Great
with Gandhāra forming part of his kingdom led to this development.
Greek capital letters form the model for most Brahmi letters. In fact
these basic geometric forms are inscribed at the end of Tamil Brahmi
inscription at Kongar Puliyangulam, near Madurai (Cf. M. Lockwood). An early form of Pre-Mauryan Brahmi letters
appears in Anthropomorphic Axe (AA) sculpture with a Makara (crocodile) face in
Sonipat, Haryana around mid 6th century BCE.
Worship of Varuṇa (Anthropomorphic Axe) in Maturai-k-Kāñci, a Sangam text:
anti viḻā
------------
nīrum, nilaṉum, tīyum, vaḷiyum,
māka vicumpōṭu aintu uṭaṉ iyaṟṟiya
maḻuvāḷ neṭiyōṉ talaivaṉ āka, 455
mācu aṟa viḷaṅkiya yākkaiyar cūḻ cuṭar
vāṭāp pūviṉ imaiyā nāṭṭattu
nāṟṟa uṇaviṉ urukeḻu periyōrkku
māṟṟu aru marapiṉ uyarpali koṭumār
anti viḻavil tūriyam kaṟaṅka, 460
Twilight Celebrations
---------------------
At the twilight festival, musical instruments are played, and abundant offerings are given according to unchanging traditions (of the Ṛgveda), to the Great god (Varuṇa) as an axe weapon, who created the five elements of water, land, fire, wind and space. To the fierce gods with faultless bodies, whose eyes do not blink, who wear bright flowers that do not fade, fragrant food offerings are given.
Fig. 4 Anthropomorphic Axe (Makara Viṭaṅkar) with Pre-Mauryan Brahmi
An important anthropomorphic figure and a copper sword
have been acquired by Archaeological Survey of India from Sabdar Ali,
Sonepat district, Haryana. The village contains a large mound from Late
Harappan and Post-Harappan period. It is a unique AA figure from Copper
Hoard Culture period, perhaps ~600 BCE, with a crocodile head on a human
male torso and is kept in the ASI Office, CAC section, Purana Qila, New
Delhi. The Anthropomorphic Axe (AA) contains a composite animal in its
chest which has similarities with the Unicorn figures of the Harappan
seals. Above the “unicorn” are letter-like signs which resemble vaguely
some Indus signs. The Copper Hoard anthropomorphic axe is actually a
Makara “mugger”. Usually, due to lack of knowledge of the AA megalithic
sculptures and Sangam texts of Tamil country and also the earlier
Crocodile-Koṟṟavai couple in Harappan art, the Sonepat anthropomorphic
axe figure is mistaken as a boar (Naman Ahuja, 2014, The body in Indian
art and thought, Brussels). The continuity of religion of the Indus
Civilization and its crocodile god is most likely shown in the
Anthropomorphic Axe cult bronzes.
The
Jaina emperor, Candragupta
Maurya and his grandson, Aśoka spread Brahmi throughout Indian
subcontinent as
the official script for all Indian languages. In Tamil Nadu, places like
Kodumaṇal
routinely yield pottery with Tamil Brahmi in the mid-5th century (K.
Rajan, Early Writing System: A Journey from Graffiti to Brahmi, 2015,
Madurai.)
3. Divine Couple in the Megalithic South India (First Millennium BCE)
In the last three decades, huge monolithic sculptures, made with iron tool technology, have been discovered in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At Mottur, Udayarnattam, Sittannavasal, Midimalla, ... They may date to 800 – 500 BCE. When the knowledge on Harappan crocodile deity morphing into Anthropomorphic Axe in the Copper Hoard and OCP cultures in North India gets forgotten, it is interesting that the tradition is kept alive in South India from the Early Iron Age. These huge Anthropomorphic Axe stone sculptures are the earliest monumental art from South India. These monolithic AA sculptures face South, the direction of the dead, like later Dakshinamurti. Maturaikkāñci calls the all powerful deity as “Maḻuvāḷ Neṭiyōṉ” (the Great one in Axe Weapon form) who created all the five elements in the world. This Sangam text advises the king about the impermanence of human life and narrates scenes in Madurai starting in the east, circumambulating in counter-clockwise direction and in ending in the south. The megalithic dolmens and chamber tombs are the places where south-facing Anthropomorphic Axe sculptures are found.
Labyrinth designs, covering a large area, are found near these megaliths showing the interest of the ancients querying about Life and Death. Both Yama and Varuṇa hold a noose in their hands. Indeed Varuṇa is Death [mr̥tyur vai varuṇah, KS 13.2]. Neytal paṟai is the funeral drum in classical Tamil. Neytal, one of five landscapes "tiṇai" of Classical Tamil poems, is the littoral landscape whose deity is Varuṇa. Neytal paṟai 'funeral drum' is called paṭāap paṟai 'the drum that should not be beaten' due to association with Varuṇa by Tiruvaḷḷuvar. In the funerary rituals of Early Iron Age, the crocodile deity and his spouse, Koṟṟavai were worshiped. This is seen in the broken pots deposited in burial urns where the divine couple are shown as Crocodile and Koṟṟavai. Paddy crop and its grains, egrets associated with paddy fields, and blackbuck antelope, the vehicle of Koṟṟavai- Durgā are all depicted in the funeral pottery from Adichanallur (Figure 5). The contemporary monumental Anthropomorphic Axe sculptures in megaliths, and the presence of crocodile deity with his spouse in the burial urns make their identification possible. Sri. T. S. Subramanian, The Hindu journalist talks of important Megalithic burials, Tamil Brahmi, and the most important pottery piece of Art found inside a funerary urn from Adichanallur: https://youtu.be/mJ2e1HgeSbo
Fig. 5 Makara Viṭaṅkar & Kolli/Koṟṟavai inside Burial Urn, Adichanallur
In very rare instances of later evolution, female anthropomorphs in megaliths are found in the Southern peninsula. At Kummatti in Karnataka, the divine couple appear as Axe anthropomorphs (AA). Of course, the prototype for this sculpture of deities is the double-bitted axe. The female Axe statue is symmetrical and curvy while the male Axe statue has straight edges. A female anthropomorph of Koṟṟavai with breasts is found in Andhra.
Fig. 6 Divine Couple as Anthropomorphic Axes, Megalitic site, Kummatti An important part of Tamil funeral customs is that a son of the dead person, possibly the Vēḷir chieftain of the village called ūraṉ in Sangam texts, breaks a small pot (kalaśam) going around the pyre. Usually, the breaking of the kalaśam is done by last son for the father, first son for the mother (tāykkut talaimakaṉ, tātaikkuk kaṭaimakaṉ). The kalaśam pot that was broken at the funeral possesses one of the finest art ever produced in India and it was placed inside the mutumakkaḷ tāḻi. This ancient art pottery in Figure 5 may be at least 2600 years old exhibiting an amazing continuity of astronomy based religion of two millennia when we calculate from Binjor amulet(4600 years) to Adichanallur pottery shard. It uses a ceramic art technique called "raised-cord or cord-imitating decoration" and some broken pieces of these kind of ceramics have been found in Indus civilization. This raised-cord decoration is common in the well known Jomon pottery of Japan. The Kolli-Viṭaṅkar divine couple (dampatī), paddy plant with cattle egret are made slightly raised from the surface on the Applique Ware. Koṟṟavai sculptures of Pallava, Pandya, Chola periods with the blackbuck and also her elder sister Jyēṣṭhā (tavvai/mukaṭi/mūtēvi) are found in scores of spots in the paddy fields etc., all over Tamil country. Connection of Kolli/Koṟṟavai with Inanna of Mesopotamia has been dealt with in detail, and it will be an important study to compare Jyēṣṭhā of Sanskrit and Tamil texts, and iconology of her sculptures with Ereshkigal of Mesopotamia. Kolli/Koṟṟi and Muruku are called aṇaṅku, "spirits causing affliction" in Sangam texts probably much older than anthropomorph AA sculptures of the astronomy based religion introduced by the Vēḷir migration from the North during Iron Age brought in the Indus astronomy based religion of Durgā, Varuṇa and Kārtikeya to Tamil. This can be seen in Paripāṭal verse 5 which describes the birth of Skanda in detail. Jyēṣṭhā-tavvai and her younger sister Durgā-kolli with vāhana blackbuck sculptures available in Tamil Nadu in hundreds of places is a standing testimony to the continuity of religion from Indus valley of the Bronze Age. Durgā-kolli with vāhana blackbuck sculptures of the historic era in the First millenium CE derive directly from Adichanallur raised-cord image on the pottery deposited inside a burial urn, and even in Early Harappan amulet from 4MSR site near Binjor.
References:
(1) A. Parpola, Beginnings of Indian astronomy with reference to a parallel development in China.
in: History of Science in South Asia 1 (2013), pp. 21-78
(2) A. Parpola, Beginnings of Indian and Chinese Calendrical Astronomy
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 134, No. 1 (January-March 2014), pp. 107-112
(3) Paṭṭa-Mahiṣī: Proto-Koṟṟavai goddess in Indus civilization (Banawali and Mohenjadaro)
http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/01/banawali-mohenjadaro-proto-durga.html
(4) Indus seal, M-312 - Proto-Koṟṟavai war with Mahiṣa
http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/01/m312-seal-is-not-jallikkattu.html
(5) Kavari in Tirukkuṟaḷ and Sangam Texts: Dravidian word for Gauṛ bison and Tibetan yak
http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2017/11/kavarimaa-tirukkural-conference-2017.html
(6) Parpola, Asko, (2000), Vāc as a Goddess of Victory in the Veda and her relation to Durgā, Zinbun, Kyoto University, 34, 2, pp. 101-143.
http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/handle/2433/48782
(7) Kurush Dalal, Metal Men of the Doab: Still Figuring it Out
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/history-daily/2020/06/17/anthropomorph
