Invitation to World Religions

128  CHAPTER 4  Hinduism

be an archaic form of Shiva. The male figure is seated in a yoga posture, wears a buffalo-horned headdress, is sur- rounded by animals, and appears to have three faces. Later images of Shiva often show him meditating in a yoga posture, being in the company of ani- mals, and having three faces. Of course, without a decipherment of the script it is difficult to understand fully this and other images depicted on the seals. Archaeologists working in the

Indus Valley have also discovered a number of terracotta figures depicting women. Some scholars have identified these as representations of a mother goddess. It may be that the widespread worship of goddesses in later Hinduism originated in the veneration of female dei- ties in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. During the eighteenth century bce, there was a sudden decline in the Indus Valley Civilization. Scholars are uncertain as to what caused the decline, although climate change that disrupted agriculture is cited as a likely contributing factor. Who Are the Aryans? The English linguist Sir William “Oriental” Jones (1746–1794) described how San- skrit, Latin, Greek, and several other ancient languages shared a common linguistic ancestor. These languages are referred to as “Indo-European” and probably stem from a lost language we call “Proto Indo-European.” Jones’s discoveries astounded Europeans, who soon learned that Sanskrit was closest to the original language spoken by the earliest Indo-Europeans. The ancient speakers of Sanskrit who moved into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 bce referred to themselves as the Arya —that is, those who are “noble,” “cultivated,” and “civilized.” Today, we call them Indo-Aryans or, more simply, Aryans —although this use of the term is more specific (and accurate) than the gen- eral label “Aryan race” as used by the Nazi Party in the twentieth century. Skilled in handling the horse and chariot, the Aryans were a warlike and nomadic people who were well prepared to make themselves the dominant elite soon after they en- tered the Indian subcontinent. Like other Indo-European peoples, the Aryans revered the horse, placed special importance on sacrifice, and organized their society into a three-part structure. For the Aryans, sacrifice was a means to maintain order in the universe. The priests (brahmins) who conducted sacrificial rituals occupied the top rung of the social order because of the religious power they wielded. The rulers and warriors of Mohenjo-Daro, an important city of the Indus Valley Civilization. A tower- ing granary can be viewed in the distance. PROPERTY OF OXFORD The great bath can be seen amid the ruins of the ancient cityscape

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