ONE PLUS ONE MAKES ONE
Some Very Interesting Indus Valley Tablets
(The pictures below are repeated to make reading the text alongside the picture easier.)
The reconstructed tablet contains three references to Kartikeya (Muragan, Skanda).
Left collage: Two similar two-sided tablet fragments (ochre and burgundy).
Right collage: Three different (light burgundy, dark burgundy, ochre) tablet fragments fitted together by using photographic overlays.
All fragments are from Harappa. Possibly a fourth fragment is still missing, namely a piece above the spoked wheel symbol (top right in both collages).
Note that the vertical faces of both tablets are convex, while the horizontal faces are flat.
- PART I -
Left Pane - tablet descriptions
The ochre colored tablet fragment, both faces (H-2001ab)
Horizontal face (left to right):
. a hunter in a tree (Skanda, the young hunter in the Bael tree),
. a tiger (Shiva),
. a gharial (crocodile),
. the rear part a bull (the asura bull-king Mahisha).
Vertical face (from the bottom upwards):
. An elephant (Ganesha),
. damaged remnants of two upright tigers on the outside edges,
. a heavily worn centre part (upright figure).
The dark burgundy colored tablet fragment, both faces (H-95ab)
(length: 3.91 cm, width: 1.5 to 1.62 cm)
Horizontal face (left to right):
. a gharial (crocodile) with a missing snout,
. a bull (the asura bull-king Mahisha)
. a bull fighter (the older Asura slayer Skanda),
. a siting meditating figure (Skanda when much older)
Vertical face (from the bottom upwards):
. an elephant (Ganesha),
. two upright tigers on the left and right vertical edges (Asura brothers),
. upright figure (Skanda dealing with the Asura brothers),
. a six-spoked wheel (Ravi, the solar symbol for Surya, also symbolizing
Shiva the brother of Ganesha.)
Comparing the two tablets
When we compare the ochre tablet's faces with the dark burgundy tablet's faces, it appears that the top of the ochre vertical face is missing - the spoked wheel plus another symbol .
On the ochre horizontal face the crocodile's tail and part of the bull is missing and possibly the bull slayer.
If the ochre tablet were of the same length as the burgundy one appears to be, then it would not have the sitting meditating figure.
If we would go by the average typical longer length of tablets, this tablet could possibly also feature the sitting meditating figure, but it would be hard to say what its reverse would depict.
On the burgundy seal, on the vertical face above the wheel, a chip (large or small) is missing.
- PART II -
Right Pane - Joining the Tablets
A reconstruction is possible using the obverse and reverse of three different but related tablet fragments (shown in ochre, dark burgundy and light burgundy).
Notice that on the left pane the two faces of the ochre colored tablet and the two faces of the burgundy colored tablet have some elements in common:
. the vertical faces both share an elephant and two tigers (vague on the ochre face),
. the horizontal faces share a partial crocodile (gharial) and a partial bull.
The right pane shows the result of the joining after cutting, copying, size-matching and pasting: 'lo and behold' the pieces fitted nicely!
- PART III -
Six Tales
After certain parts from three different tablet fragments with the same themes were matched, a reconstruction was made that resulted in a tablet of which the two faces contained a collection of narratives that tell of six legendary tales, tales that much later appeared in various versions and much more embellished in ancient written Indian literature and in current stories still being told throughout India:
1. A young hunter in a Bael tree and Shiva appearing as a tiger.
2. The slaying of the asura bull-king Mahisha by Murugan (Kartikeya).
3. The meditating sage Skanda after he replaced Shiva. (The story in which Skanda questioned Brahma and Shiva if they knew what OM meant).
4. The siblings Skanda and Ganesha:
- middle: the upright figure Skanda
- bottom: the elephant Ganesha.
5. The six-spoked wheel symbolizes Surya (Ravi, Agni, Shiva) and its six partitions may represent Shiva's son, the six-headed Skanda (Shadanan, Shashthinathan), at birth to be the intended slayer of the asura bull-king Mahisha.
6. Skanda fighting two tigers - the two demon brothers.
Remarks on the Legends
1. On the left of the horizontal face, a young hunter is hiding in a tree, This scene refers to the story of Skanda who after being chased by a tiger hides in a Bael tree. Not knowing about the lingam stone at the foot of the tree, the Bael leaves which the hunter nervously picks and drops, fall on the lingam. In the morning the tiger turns out to be Shiva who thanks the hunter for putting leaves around his Lingam. The hunter is so relieved and excited that he even achieves Moksha (liberation).
2. On middle of the horizontal face Skanda is shown as Murugan (Kartikeya) with his 'vel' (lance) slaying the asura bull-king Mahisha. Skanda was born with the intention to do just that. Even at his birth he was already given the gifts of custody over many animals, as it was predicted that he would be successful
3. Although the horned figure in meditative pose is more often identified as Shiva, for the following reason I suggest it is Skanda.
In the Harappan culture Skanda was slowly taking over the role of Shiva... The result of which can be still seen in Tamil Nadu (Murugan, Subrahmanya)... where later Durga in turn took over from Skanda.
I came to that conclusion (Skanda replacing Shiva) from a different angle as well:
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150530341845306
4. When we consider that the elephant on the vertical face is Ganesha (a sibling of Skanda) then these tablets also refer to Shiva and Parvati's offspring: Ganesha. Shiva and Parvati's offspring were both produced without copulation:
- Ganesha was the animal that replaced the figure that protected Parvati when she was taking a bath. Shiva beheaded that figure. It had been molded by Parvati from dirt.
- Skanda (Kartikeya) was the result of Shiva's spilled semen (he refrained from having intercourse) His semen impregnated six mothers (the Kritika) at once. After birth the six offspring became one: Skanda the six-headed one: Shadanan, Shashthinathan.
5. When we consider the six-spoked wheel on the vertical face to be Ra - which is Ravi - which is Surya (the sun) - which is Agni or Shiva, then in one of the ancient stories (when properly translated) Agni refers to Shiva's Agna Chakra (Shiva's third eye) from which his mystical seed sprang... This seed eventually gave rise to the birth of Skanda. (See number 4.)
6. The upright figure is Skanda keeping two demon brothers (the tigers) at bay. It is often considered that the figure between the tigers is female (one breast showing?), but when compared with many other seals that show a similar standing figure with similar short curly hair who is also holding tigers at bay, one may well conclude that this figure is male.
- PART IV -
Questions regarding this Reconstruction
There are a number of questions that can be brought up :
1. Is there a small significant chip missing from the dark burgundy tablet, the part above the spoked wheel where it is chipped?
If so, it is likely not the elephant part of the ochre specimen, as the dark burgundy tablet already features an elephant in a spot on the tablet.
2. Is the dark burgundy tablet just missing an insignificant chip and was it produced with various tablet theme stamps which may have been part of other tablets or were separately used to purposely produce tablets with different themes?
3. Is the ochre tablet missing a large fragment that might not have been the same as the dark burgundy specimen, e.g it may not have featured the meditator and/or the spoked wheel on its obverse and reverse.
4. Was the theme of the light burgundy segment ever really a part of the dark burgundy seal?
If so, its reverse would likely not be a second elephant.
- PART V -
Conclusion
The only thing we can say for sure is that various different stamp elements with differing themes were used to produce a variety of story combinations for distinct tablets.
- PART VI -
My Approach
The descriptive text above consists of two parts:
a. the visual part and
b. the interpretive part.
It may be good to offer some insight into how I work. Being a detail oriented person and loving to find correspondences and correlations, I look for similarities. When I read books, stories, comments, view pictures, videos, watch movies or listen to conversations, not much escapes me. (I thank my mother for that observing part - nothing escaped her :), and I thank my father for always seeing things in terms of constructive relationships. He saw connections between things that superficially seemed unlikely, but which (as it always turned out) were intricately connected on deeper or higher levels.
A wonderful environment for a kid to grow up in, especially in its formative years.
The same keen observation skills (my mom) that helped me to find those seal fragments, and the same skill to see correspondences (my dad) that helped me to join those fragments up, those same skills also contribute majorly to finding the interpretive correspondences that I tend to discover.
Of course to some, the non-visual interpretive correspondences are harder to accept, they may even look far-fetched. Also, they don't fit the same way as tight-fitting puzzle pieces do. But, whereas puzzle pieces are fitted in two dimensions, the connective non-visual interpretations I am looking for (and hopefully find) come from four dimensions.
It may be hard to see these 'fits' from a two-dimensional viewpoint, but a bit of - nevertheless critical - imagination helps to understand these more complex interpretive fits. (And even if they are misfits, it helps one looking for other possibly better fits.)
- APPENDIX -
Just some additional but unrelated photographs
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| Daimabad, bronze chariot. c. 1500 BCE. 22X52X17.5 cm Notice the dog just at the front tip of the chariot. Also notice the curved stick. |
