2,700 year old yogi in samadhi found in indus valley

8/19/2019 2,700 Year Old Yogi in Samadhi Found in Indus Valley

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2,700 Year Old Yogi in Samadhi

Found in Indus Valley Civilization Archaeological Site

The 2,700 year old skeletal remains of an ancient yogi sitting in samadhi

have been found in an Indus valley civilization archaeological site locatedat Balathal, Rajasthan

!any Indus "alley seals de#ict #ictures of yogis sitting in lotus #osition $ere

are t%o e&am#les sho%ing ancient yogis sitting in meditation and kee#ing

their hands on their knees as done in modern yoga meditations If %e see


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the skeletal remains of the yogi above, %e can note that his fingers are in

gyana mudra '%ith thumb touching inde& finger(, resting on his knees as

%ell

Balathal is an archaeological site located in "allabhnagar tehsil of )dai#ur

district of Rajasthan state in %estern India This site, located * km from

"allabhnagar to%n and +2 km from )dai#ur city, %as discovered by "

!isra during a survey in -.*2/* 1&cavation began in -..+ jointly by the


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1&cavation of sites from the +,00 year old 3har culture #rovide clues to the

link bet%een the $ara##ans and their #redecessors

That it e&isted at all %as a sur#rise 8 a fortified enclosure of mud and brick,

com#arable to the citadels of the $ara##ans, s#read over 00 s9 m It %as

filled %ith ash and co%dung 3 #eo#le called the 3hars had built it in Balathal

near modern )dai#ur some +,00 years ago

4arbon dating established that they had lived in and around the !e%ar

region in Rajasthan bet%een ,00 and -,:00 B4 They %ere !e%ar;s first

farmers, older even than the $ara##ans But %hy had they built a fort only

to fill it %ith ash and co%dung< To solve the mystery, a team of Indianarchaeologists e&cavating the site %ent on removing layer after layer of

civilisation

The mystery dee#ened They found five skeletons, four in layers bet%een

2,000 B4 and -,:00 B4 That %as the age of stone and co##er, the

chalcolithic age This %as the first time human skeletons had been found at

any 3har site The 3hars, it had been thought, cremated their dead 3nd the

$ara##ans buried theirs


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Who Were The Ahars?

There are .0 sites of 3har 8 a rural society The recent round of e&cavations

is establishing that 3har culture and $ara##an civilisation %ere different

though contem#orary and related This village life emerged much before the

mature $ara##an era

$ara##a;s #rogress in the mature $ara##an #eriod '2,00 B4( hel#ed the

rural 3har #eo#le to flourish and develo# their o%n to%nshi# and stone and

brick houses =n the scale of civilisation, they emerged far ahead of other

chalcolithic cultures in the subcontinent

3nd they may be the missing link to sho% ho% the Indus #eo#le made such

a 9uantum lea# from small rural communities to an advanced civilisation


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3har culture flourished #redominantly in the !e%ar region of Rajasthan, on

the eastern side of the 3ravallis, and in undulating rocky #lateaus and #lains

along the Banas river and its tributaries

In modern Rajasthan, 3har sites have been re#orted in )dai#ur, 4hittorgarh,

ungar#ur, Bhil%ara, Rajsamand, Bundi, Tonk and 3jmer dotting-0,000 s9

km >There is a commonality in all .0/sites located in 6outh eastern

Rajasthan and #arts of !adhya 5radesh,? says @ai#ur/based Rima $ooja, a

scholar on 3har culture

Their name comes from a mid/-.0s e&cavation led by R4 3ggar%al,

former director of archaeology, Rajasthan, at 3har near )dai#ur 3 fe% yearslater, one e&cavation %as carried out at Ailund in Rajsamand and then the

focus shifted to the $ara##ans

The eccan 4ollege, 5une and Institute of Rajasthan 6tudies, Rajasthan

"idya#eeth, )dai#ur turned their attention to 3har culture in -..+ and

began e&cavations in Balathal eccan 4ollege and the )niversity of

5ennsylvania began digging in Ailund in -... and the @ai#ur circle of

3rchaeological 6urvey of India '36I( began e&cavation at =jiyana in Bhil%arain 2000 3nd discoveries began #ouring in

A%en Robbins, a biological anthro#ologist from the )niversity of =regon,

)63, in her ongoing #reliminary analysis of the bones, found the first

skeleton uncovered %as of a male ead at the age of 0, he suffered from a

joint disease and had lost all but four of his teeth at least five years before

death =n closer ins#ection of the remains, a left mandible and a fe% cranial

fragments %ere found to be of a second individual aged %hose se&couldn;t be determined

The third skeleton %as of a female a##ro&imately years of ageThe fourth

%as of a /year/old %oman, and it caught the archaeologists; interest It

had been buried %ith a small earthen lota '#ot( near the head hy %as the


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lota there< >I am certain that the fortified enclosure had a ritual function,?

says r " !ishra, former #rinci#al of the eccan 4ollege, %ho led the

e&cavationsC >Dou don;t find such selective burials in co% dung and ash

any%here else?

The fifth skeleton, from a different era, %as of an adult male to +0 years

old, and had been buried in a seated #osition that resembles the modern

samadhi burial of sadhus %ho renounce the %orld The ritual of burial in ash

and co%dung raises the need to look at related traditions in #resent/day

$indu communities such as Aosain and @ogi %hich bury their dead

Were They Cow Worshippers?

The e&cavations reveal a large number of bull figurines indicating the 3har

#eo#le %orshi##ed the bull 3t !armi, a site near 4hittorgarh, these figures

have been found in abundance indicating it could be a regional shrine of the


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bull cult of this rural #o#ulation iscovery of co%/like figurines in =jiyana,

the first site found on the slo#e of a hill, has baffled archaeologists

4o%/%orshi# %as not a kno%n 3har #ractice >There are no hum#s and %e

can see small teats,? BR !eena, su#erintendent, asi @ai#ur circle, %ho

undertook the e&cavation, says, >These are certainly co%s? =ther

archaeologists sus#ect them to be bull calves but insist if further studies

#rove these to be co%s, one could infer that the co% %as a revered animal

and the $indu #ractice of treating the co% as a holy animal can thus be of

#re/3ryan anti9uity

There is no other evidence of idol %orshi# or $ara##an religious #racticeslike %orshi# of the mother goddess The $ara##ans flourished in a far larger

area, along the alluvial #lains of the Indus and its tributaries, by the

6aras%ati, in Baluchistan and in the relatively semi/arid environment of

Eutch and 6aurashtra and the sandy south/%estern #lains of Aujarat But

there is evidence that the 3har #eo#le may have had links %ith Aujarat;s

$ara##ans

Did The Harappans Learn Fro The?

The techni9ue of decoration in #ottery kno%n as >reserved sli#? %hich %as

seen only in a fe% shards at the $ara##an sites of !ohenjodaro and

6urkotada in 2,+00B4 is a very common feature at Balathal

This techni9ue consists of #utting a second sli# over the earlier 'lo%er( sli#

on the #ot and then removing it in thin bands before it com#letely dries u#This #roduces various kinds of motifs like straight and %avy bands and criss/

cross #atterns in t%o colours 6ays "6 6hinde of eccan 4ollegeC >The

$ara##ans a##arently borro%ed this techni9ue from Balathal?


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6#eculation about intense fire/modelling activity has been su##orted by the

discovery of kilns at 3har sites The coarse #ottery in the earliest levels of

e&cavations confirms that 3har culture gre% inde#endently of $ara##ans In

later levels, fine delu&e %are of three varieties %as found

ecorated black/and/red #ottery is a mark of 3har culture distinct from the

$ara##an %here the interiors of vessels %as black In Balathal, the black/

and/red %are constitute only : #er cent of the ceramic assemblage %hereas

in 3har it is 70 #er cent

Balathal a##arently im#orted this %are from other 3har sites Tan %are,

mainly dishes and dishes/on/stand very similar to those of the $ara##ans,and thin red %are a##ear only in the >fortification #hase? of 3har civilisation

and suggest contact %ith the $ara##ans of Aujarat

3n unusual discovery last year %as a set of si& clay #ots arranged inside a

large clay jar in Balathal =f the si& #ots three are large black/and/red bo%ls

decorated %ith geometric designs in %hite =ne of the other vessels

contained steatite beads and flo%ers both of %hich %ere used for stringing

into necklaces >This, to me, is a lady;s je%ellery bo&,? says !ishra

)nlike other chalcolithic cultures %hich had stone tools, the 3harites made

co##er tools such as chisels, razors and barbed and tanged arro% heads,

a##arently for hunting 5robably, they had the advantage of access to co##er

from the Ehetri mines and in the nearby 3ravalli hills There is evidence of

co##er melting too $ara##ans #robably im#orted co##er ores and even

finished co##er goods from 3har #eo#le

Were They The First Planners?

If Balathal sur#rised archaeologists %ith its skeletons, Ailund has e&cited

them %ith its massive burnt/brick structures 3 sand, clay and lime mi& %as

used as #laster 1ven Balathal and =jiyana had sun/dried mud/brick and


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stone structures and fortifications The findings club 3har sites in the same

category as the $ara##ans %ho %ere, until no%, the only kno%n #re/iron

#eo#le kno%n to have used these techni9ues

In stone structures, mud bricks %ere often used to raise #artition %alls In

Balathal, the 2,00 B4 fortification #hase reveals a succession of stone

structures inside the fortification and belo% the %all that ran around the

residential com#le&

There are high/built stone #latforms on the eastern edge This im#lies that

#eo#le kne% of stone architecture %hen the settlement began around ,00

B4 though fortification began later ooden beams and rafters made theroof, ca##ed by mud in case of stone %alls and by thatch in case of smaller

structures of %ooden #osts and mud %alls

!ud and co% dung %ere used as #laster 8 as villagers use them even today

Focally available granite and gneiss rock %ere used in construction and the

average size of stone blocks %as 2 cm long, 20 cm %ide and - cm thick

The mud bricks %ere often of the same length but narro% and slimmer 3sthe co##er tools %ere too small for 9uarrying, #eo#le a##arently heated

rocks %ith fire to create cracks and #oured %ater to loosen the stones, using

stone hammers and co##er and %ooden %edges to remove the stone blocks

The Balathal and Ailund settlements also sho% inci#ient #lanning %ith a %ide

street and a narro% lane dividing the residential com#le&es 3t Balathal,

there are remains of a %all that #robably surrounded the residential com#le&

and a fortified structure in the centre of the habitation

Fike $ara##an citadels, it is built over mud/brick #latforms, and fortification

%alls are broadened to%ards the base Ailund had long and %ide #arallel

%alls 6hinde %ho began e&cavations at the site %ith a )niversity of


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5ennsylvania team says, >Ailund is emerging as an urban centre of the

3harites? =ne com#le& is of :,000 s9 ft, and there are more like it around

3##arently, it %as controlling the settlements around it %ith its o%n

organisational set/u# of a chiefdom/based society but the construction

activity %as influenced by $ara##a 6ays 6hindeC >The $ara##ans did hel#

them flourish but the farmers retained their culture intact? 4hairman of the

3rchaeological 6ociety of India 65 Au#ta says, >The $ara##an model of city

#lanning has a clear im#act here?

It %as a mi&ed economy based on farming, stock raising, hunting, fo%ling

and fishing There %as sufficient agricultural sur#lus to undertakefortifications as in Balathal 5E Thomas and 55 @oglekar of eccan 4ollege

studied animal remains and found domesticated animals accounted for 7

#er cent of bones, shee# and goat -. #er cent, buffalo only #er cent

ild animals such as nilgai and blackbuck constituted #er cent Remains of

#ig, fish, turtle and molluscs %ere also found 3 large number of bones %ere

charred and s#lit o#en, #erha#s to e&tract arro%s ! Eajale of the same

college found that the cultivated #lants included %heat, barley, lentil,common #ea,finger millet and Italian millet

$ooja #oints out that at 3har, rice %as also gro%n The rotis %ere made, as

they are today, on earthen ta%as, food cooked on )/sha#ed chulhas, and

lentils and cereals grounded in #ounders and 9uerns 8 handmills of stone

What Happened To The?

3harites abandoned the sites in -,:00 B4, a #eriod by %hen $ara##a had

also declined 3##arently, it %as climatic changes or natural calamities that

com#elled 3harites to 9uit farming %hich might not have remained

remunerative in that area Their economies must have been hit by the


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decline of $ara##a too 6o either they left for other #laces for farming or

took to cattle and stock raising

Balathal, for e&am#le, remained unoccu#ied until 00 B4, %hen in the

!auryan era, some #eo#le re/occu#ied the sites Falti 5andey of the Institute

of Rajasthan 6tudies says of these #eo#le that >they kne% of iron smelting

and manufactured iron im#lements? T%o iron smelting furnaces have been

found in Balathal in this #hase It is around this #eriod;s layer that the fifth

skeleton %as found

In !e%ar, there is a long and continuous history of human habitation It

seems that influenced by 3har culture, hunter/gatherer/herders of the regiontook to farming and became the forerunners of today;s rural society in

southern Rajasthan

!ishra says others took to stock breeding and became Aadris

'she#herds(and Rabaris 'camel breeders( Then there are communities like

the Aemetis, !egh%als and Ba%arias %ho continue to #ractise their

traditional occu#ation of hunters to this day 6ome of them used to eat

carrion until a fe% decades ago

The odhnis of Aameti %omen bear a tell/tale resemblance to the trademark

red/and/black #ottery of 3har culture 3nd evidence of the folk religion of

the 3hars survives among the Ealbelias, the community to %hich the dancer

Aulabo, famed in Rajasthani folklore, belonged The 3hars aren;t dead They

still live among us

2,700 year old yogi in samadhi found in indus valley

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