15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
====The Indus Valley’s Cultural Influence====
[[File: MDBath.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|Ruins of the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro]]
Although the Indus Valley mysteriously collapsed in the early second millennium BC, many scholars believe that some of its cultural traditions were continued by the later peoples and kingdoms of India. Ritual bathing was an important aspect of Indus Valley culture that may have been one of the many features of Harappan religion that were incorporated into the later Vedic and Hindu religions of India. <ref> Avari, p. 48</ref> The many seal impressions excavated from Indus Valley sites also indicate religious influences that later Indians possibly adopted. One of those seals, known today as the “Shiva seal,” depicts a human figure wearing an elaborate headdress seated in a yogic position. Although not all scholars are convinced that the figure represents Shiva or that it is even religious in nature, those who believe it is and that it represents a Harappan religious influence on later Indian religion point to other examples in the Indus Valley that may indicate origins for some Vedic traditions. Structures discovered at the site of Kalibangan have been interpreted by some as being fire altars, which would predate those used by the Aryans at a much later period. <ref> Bryant, Edwin. <i> The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate.</i> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pgs. 160-5</ref> Unfortunately, in the absence of a written text, it is impossible to confirm how much, if any, religious influence the Harappans had on later Indian religions.
The Harappans were the first people to develop writing on the Indian subcontinent. Archaeologists have discovered more than 4200 inscribed objects in the Indus Valley, most from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The Indus writing system employed 419 signs, but unfortunately, even after several valiant attempts to link the writing and language to known languages scholars are still left wondering as to its origins. <ref> Avari, pgs, 50-51</ref> Some scholars have attempted to link the later Sanskrit language or Dravidian languages to the undeciphered Indus script, <ref> Bryant, pgs. 179-182</ref> which if proven would confirm that that Indus people had an even greater influence on later Indian culture than previously believed. Still, even if the Indus language and script is discovered to not be related to any of the later Indian languages – Indo-European or Dravidian – it was the first written language on the subcontinent and may have influenced the <i>concept</i> of later writing in India.
