Harappan-tiger-sign-in-the-ivc-script

Tiger Symbol in the Indus Script

The famous "Paśupati" seal from Mohenjodaro has an "equivalent double" representation in the Indus-Vāṉi civilization. While the Mr̥gapati/Paśupati seal is unique and is the only one of its kind found so far, its equivalent double is represented on many seals. This suggests the identity of the yogi in the Paśupati seal as a crocodile deity and indicates that the Harappans valued the crocodile deity more highly. Since the crocodile, or Makara Viṭaṅkar, seal is found many times, often in an abraded condition, it is possible that these Makara Viṭaṅkar seals were used in some kind of pūjā ritual involving abhiṣeka with garlands, milk, curd, honey, and other offerings. Mālā in Sanskrit corresponds to Dravidian mālai ("garland"); compare malar ("flower").

Like the Paśupati seal, there is also a rare and unique seal from Mohenjodaro depicting three interlinked tigers (M-295), now in the National Museum, New Delhi. This drawing was first shown on the Internet around 2010 by the Brazilian illustrator Walter Plitt Quintin. At that time, the connection between the tiger sign in the Indus script and its interpretation as a representative of the Goddess was mentioned by me. It is a "Puli mudrā" sign, puli meaning "tiger," a meat-eating carnivore, in Dravidian. The emblematic artwork is a major feat of graphic design in early antiquity of the World.

Gharial God and Tiger Goddess in the Indus Valley: Some Aspects of Bronze Age Indian Religion, 2007.

https://archive.org/details/IVCReligionByNagaGanesan2007/page/n5/mode/2up

Visualization of M-295 seal by @thehistoropill

The "Paśupati" seal (M-304) from Mohenjodaro, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupati_seal

The Mulabandhasana posture of Pasupati seal compared with several seals of the same IVC deity, and in Janapada coins (200 BCE), and later Ganapati icons.

https://x.com/sarvamedha/status/2059849939346465110

Mr̥gapati/Paśupati and his equivalent double, Makara Viṭaṅkar crocodile, representing the Pole Star (Thuban in Draconis constellation).

Indus Creation Mythology in the Iron Age Tamil Nadu:

https://cenkantal.medium.com/indus-creation-mythology-in-the-iron-age-tamil-nadu-e4834c8ecbd7

 

Gharial god and Tiger goddess: saṃyoga depicted in the seal, H-180 from Harappa

https://nganesan.blogspot.com/2022/02/samyoga-indus-makara-with-tiger-goddess.html

https://x.com/naa_ganesan/status/2053437875945951496

 

Useful bibilography:

(a) Sullivan, Herbert P. (1964). "A Re-Examination of the Religion of the Indus Civilization". History of Religions. 4 (1): 115–125.

(b) Hiltebeitel, Alf (2011). "The Indus Valley "Proto-Śiva", Reexamined through Reflections on the Goddess, the Buffalo, and the Symbolism of vāhanas". In Adluri, Vishwa; Bagchee, Joydeep (eds.). When the Goddess was a Woman: Mahabharata Ethnographies - Essays by Alf Hiltebeitel. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-19380-2. Original in Anthropos, 1978.

(c) Srinivasan, Doris (1975–76). "The So-Called Proto-śiva Seal from Mohenjo-Daro: An Iconological Assessment". Archives of Asian Art. 29: 47–58

(d) Srinivasan, Doris (1984). Unhinging Śiva from the Indus Civilization, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1 (1984), pp. 77-89

(e) Doniger, Wendy (2011). "God's Body, or, The Lingam Made Flesh: Conflicts over the Representation of the Sexual Body of the Hindu God Shiva". Social Research. 78 (2, Part 1 (Summer 2011)): 485–508.

(f) Dhyansky, Yan Y. (1987). The Indus Valley Origin of a Yoga Practice.Artibus Asiae. Vol. 48, No. 1/2, pp. 89-108 .

(g) Parpola, Asko. https://askoparpola.academia.edu/research

The Tiger symbol sign of the Indus script is derived from the center of the three interconnected tigers, M-295 seal.

Tiger symbol sign - "Puli mudrā" - in the Indus script.

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The Tiger symbol sign is derived from the center of the three interconnected tigers, M-295 seal: https://x.com/naa_ganesan/status/2065501421525516468

The basic Tiger symbol of the IVC script, and then there are diacritics (1) a flat roof (2) V-roof (3) a plant (4) vindu "drop". Thanks to https://indusscript.net

       

 

The Tiger symbol sign of the Indus script - with roof diacritic.

 

The interlinked 3-tigers seal of Mohenjodaro, M-295, is the Rosetta Stone to decipher the Tiger Symbol in the Indus script. The tiger symbol sign representing the great goddess of IVC repeats twice in the "sacrifice seal" M-1186 dedicated to the goddess in the pipal fig arch. Note the five signs (L to R): "Tiger sign (twice), Fish (with bindi/poTTu), Jar, Human (shaman)".  The goddess seal, M-1186 is the only seal having the tiger symbol twice in the "script".

Interestingly, the crocodile deity seals showing the equivalent double of Pasupati on the Obverse side, has the interlinked 3-tigers like a pinwheel on the Reverse side. These Makara Viṭaṅkar seals, showing the divine couple on both sides, were used in some kind of pūjā ritual involving abhiṣeka with garlands, milk, curd, honey, and other offerings. There are many such seals found.

My note on M-1186 "Sacrifice to fig deity" seal. Also, it explains that M-312 displays the fight of the goddess with the buffalo, and it is not a Jallikattu scene as written by I. Mahadevan (The Hidu, 13-1-2008).

https://nganesan.blogspot.com/2008/01/eru-tazuval.html

கொற்றவையும், புலியும் - ஒரு 4500 ஆண்டு காலத் தொடர்பு:

http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/05/tiger-durga-indus-cilappatikaram.html

Paṭṭa-Mahiṣī: Proto-Koṟṟavai goddess in Indus civilization (Banawali and Mohenjadaro)

http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/01/banawali-mohenjadaro-proto-durga.html

Indus seal, M-312 - Proto-Koṟṟavai war with Mahiṣa

http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/01/m312-seal-is-not-jallikkattu.html

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

Analogous to coins which possess an obverse (front) and a reverse (back), numerous seals have been discovered depicting the divine pair: the Gharial god on the obverse and interlinked Tigers symbolizing the goddess on the reverse. Compare the interlinked 3-Tigers with M-295, the Rosetta stone used in deciphering the goddess sign in the IVC script.

 

 

 

Two more examples of IVC amulets displaying the divine couple.

(1) Divine Couple in Ancient Indian Astronomy from Binjor to Adichanallur: Makara Viṭaṅkar & Kolli/Koṟṟavai

https://nganesan.blogspot.com/2021/02/divine-couple-binjor-amulet-to.html

In this amulet, the emblems of Gharial in the sky for the god and Blackbuck for the goddess are shown. There is a similar IVC amulet from Konar Sandal South, Iran. While the head and tail of the Gharial have broken away from the Binjor amulet, the metallic seal from Iran has the full Gharial intact.

(2) Divine Couple in Ancient Indian Astronomy from Kalibangan.

Kalibangan excacavation report, ASI documents significant findings and is a must read. On the cover of the Kalibangan report, both Vol I & II, an important correction on the drawing of the ceramic where a blackbuck is pulling a cart on which Bodhi tree leaves are arranged on a circle. 

 

In the sketch (top left corner) of the Kalibangan excavation report (ASI), a bird like an ostrich is drawn/extrapolated. It is actually the legs of a Gharial crocodile that needs to be drawn, and it is not a bird. Above the blackbuck (vaahana of Kotravai/Proto-Durga), Gharial (the Pole Star) needs to be drawn in lieu of the ostrich-like bird. Proof: (1) the full Gharial in the sky with blackbuck below shown on the seal (metal) from Konar Sandal South, Iran excavations (2) Binjor (4MSR) amulet in which the head and legs of the Gharial have been broken (3) Many IVC seals showing the Gharial in the sky.

Also, looking at similar carts/chariots from Sumeria, only two wheels per side need to be shown. In the Sumerian examples, the four-wheeled chariots were drawn by Kunga equids. Sumeria was the source of the cart/chariot design in this cart/chariot of Kalibangan and blackbucks are shown, an Indian innovation. The funerary carts/chariots found at Sinauli and Tilwara, most likely showing taurus bulls, same as used for the ubiquitous Unicorn seals devloped from "Bull of Heaven" portrayals in Sumeria. The trefoil shape on Bull of Heaven statuetets in IVC and Sumeria is a geometric abstraction of the Bael/Bilva leaves offered for Makara croc deity, the god of death. I think zebu bulls on Sinauli cart is less likely at Sinauli. Erwin Neumayer has mentioned the Daimabad chariot was designed for horses, but uses zebu bulls. Makara Viṭaṅkar of the Mature Harappan era morphs into Varuṇa in the Post-Harappan (2nd millennium BCE) period (e.g., Gudimallam lingam standing on Makara yaksha) and then to Mahadeva Śiva in the first centuries CE.

N. Ganesan