Re: From Meluhha To Pakistan: The Embodiment Of A Civilization
Most scholars do not agree with anything. There is no substantial evidence to prove that the people of the Indus valley were monotheists. Do you have any proof? Have they translated texts or tablets singing praises of one God? No. The lack of temples could imply atheism also. The religion of the Indus valley civilization is an predecessor to the Dharmic religions…Some Indus valley seals show swastikas, which are found in other religions worldwide, especially in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The earliest evidence for elements of Hinduism are alleged to have been present before and during the early Harappan period.[SUP][63]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] Phallic symbols interpreted as the much later Hindu Shiva lingam have been found in the Harappan remains.[SUP][64]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][65]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
](File:IndusValleySeals swastikas.JPG - Wikipedia) http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.21wmf12/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png
Swastika Seals from the Indus Valley Civilization preserved at the British Museum
Many Indus valley seals show animals. One motif shows a horned figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named by early excavators Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu gods Shiva and Rudra.[SUP][66]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][67]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][68]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] According to Iravatham Mahadevan symbols 47 and 48 of his Indus script glossary The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977), representing seated human-like figures, could describe Hindu deity Murugan.[SUP][69]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
In view of the large number of figurines found in the Indus valley, some scholars believe that the Harappan people worshipped a Mother goddess symbolizing fertility, a common practice among rural Hindus even today.[SUP][70]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] However, this view has been disputed by S. Clark who sees it as an inadequate explanation of the function and construction of many of the figurines.[SUP][71]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
There are no religious buildings or evidence of elaborate burials. If there were temples, they have not been identified.[SUP][72]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] However, House - 1 in HR-A area in Mohenjadaro’s Lower Town has been identified as a possible temple.[SUP][73]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
In the earlier phases of their culture, the Harappans buried their dead; however, later, especially in the Cemetery H culture of the late Harrapan period, they also cremated their dead and buried the ashes in burial urns.
It is possible that a temple exists to the East of the great bath, but the site has not been excavated. There is a Buddhist reliquary mound on the site and permission has not been granted to move it.[SUP][74]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] Until there is sufficient evidence, speculation about the religion of the IVC is largely based on a retrospective view from a much later Hindu perspective.[SUP][46]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
Ram Prasad Chanda, who supervised Indus Valley Civilisation excavations, states[SUP][75]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] that, “Not only the seated deities on some of the Indus seals are in Yoga posture and bear witness to the prevalence of Yoga in the Indus Valley Civilisation in that remote age, the standing deities on the seals also show Kayotsarga (a standing or sitting posture of meditation) position. The Kayotsarga posture is peculiarly Jain. It is a posture not of sitting but of standing. In the Adi Purana Book XV III, the Kayotsarga posture is described in connection with the penance of Rsabha, also known as Vrsabha.”[SUP][76]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
Christopher Key Chappel also notes some other possible links with Jainism.[SUP][77]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] Seal 420, unearthed at Mohenjodaro portrays a person with 3 or possibly 4 faces. Jain iconography frequently depicts its Tirthankaras with four faces, symbolizing their presence in all four directions. This four-faced attribute is also true of many Hindu gods, important among them being Brahma, the chief creator deity.[SUP][78]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] In addition, Depictions of a bull appear repeatedly in the artifacts of the Indus Valley. Lannoy, Thomas McEvilley and Padmanabh Jaini have all suggested that the abundant use of the bull image in the Indus Valley civilization indicates a link with Rsabha, whose companion animal is the bull. This seal can be interpreted in many ways, and authors such as Christopher Key Chappel and Richard Lannoy support the Jain interpretation.[SUP][77]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
Source: Wikipedia
Ha ! Corrupted to Polytheism? Should read the other way round. The world was polytheistic before it was corrupted to Monotheism which is in effect in many parts of the world. Sorry dearie, Polytheism was first and I am starting to believe they were right. You can refute this in the Religion sub forum 
Recent archaeological excavations indicate that the decline of Harappa drove people eastward. After 1900 BCE, the number of sites in India increased from 218 to 853. Excavations in the Gangetic plain show that urban settlement began around 1200 BCE, only a few centuries after the decline of Harappa and much earlier than previously expected.[SUP][80]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] Archaeologists have emphasized that, just as in most areas of the world, there was a continuous series of cultural developments. These link “the so-called two major phases of urbanization in South Asia”.[SUP][82]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
A possible natural reason for the IVC’s decline is connected with climate change that is also signalled for the neighbouring areas of the Middle East: The Indus valley climate grew significantly cooler and drier from about 1800 BCE, linked to a general weakening of the monsoon at that time. Alternatively, a crucial factor may have been the disappearance of substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river system. A tectonic event may have diverted the system’s sources toward the Ganges Plain, though there is complete uncertainty about the date of this event, as most settlements inside Ghaggar-Hakra river beds have not yet been dated. The actual reason for decline might be any combination of these factors. New geological research is now being conducted by a group led by Peter Clift, from the University of Aberdeen, to investigate how the courses of rivers have changed in this region since 8000 years ago, to test whether climate or river reorganizations are responsible for the decline of the Harappan. A 2004 paper indicated that the isotopes of the Ghaggar-Hakra system do not come from the Himalayan glaciers, and were rain-fed instead, contradicting a Harappan time mighty “Sarasvati” river.[SUP][83]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
A research team led by the geologist Liviu Giosan of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution also concluded that climate change in form of the easterward migration of the monsoons led to the decline of the IVC.[SUP][84]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] The team’s findings were published in PNAS in May 2012.[SUP][85]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][86]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] According to their theory, the slow eastward migration of the monsoons across Asia initially allowed the civilization to develop. The monsoon-supported farming led to large agricultural surpluses, which in turn supported the development of cities. The IVC residents did not develop irrigation capabilities, relying mainly on the seasonal monsoons. As the monsoons kept shifting eastward, the water supply for the agricultural activities dried up. The residents then migrated towards the Ganges basin in the east, where they established smaller villages and isolated farms. The small surplus produced in these small communities did not allow development of trade, and the cities died out.[SUP][87]](Indus Valley Civilisation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
In the aftermath of the Indus Civilization’s collapse, regional cultures emerged, to varying degrees showing the influence of the Indus Civilization. In the formerly great city of Harappa, burials have been found that correspond to a regional culture called the Cemetery H culture. At the same time, the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture expanded from Rajasthan into the Gangetic Plain. The Cemetery H culture has the earliest evidence for cremation; a practice dominant in Hinduism today.
The religion and practice of the IVC was the parent of Vedic Hinduism and Shramana religion which grew side by side and influenced each other. Buddhism and Jainism were reforms of the existing Shramana religion. Among the Astika schools of Hinduism, Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga are early and very important philosophies that have influenced and been influenced by the Sramana philosophy, with their origins in the Indus Valley period of about 3000-2000 BCE.
The Sramana movement later received a boost during the times of Mahavira and Buddha when Vedic ritualism had become the dominant tradition in certain parts of India. Śramaṇas adopted a path alternate to the Vedic rituals to achieve liberation, while renouncing household life. They typically engage in three types of activities: austerities, meditation, and associated theories (or views). As spiritual authorities, śramaṇa were at variance with traditional Brahmin authority. However some Brahmins joined the Sramana movement, such as Cānakya and Śāriputra](Śāriputra - Wikipedia)[SUP][3]](Śramaṇa - Wikipedia)[/SUP]. Similarly, a group of eleven Brahmins accepted Jainism of Mahavira, and become his chief disciples or Ganadharas.[SUP][25]](Śramaṇa - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
With regard to Buddhism, Randall Collins opined that Buddhism was more a reform movement within the educated religious classes, composed mostly of Brahmins, than a rival movement from outside these classes, with the largest number of monks in the early movement derived from Brahmin origin, and virtually all the monks were recruited from the two upper classes of society[SUP][26]](Śramaṇa - Wikipedia)[/SUP]