Showing posts with label Harrapa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harrapa. Show all posts

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Origin of Monotheism- Meluhha (JR218)





The Origin of Monotheism- Meluhha



by Javed Rashid
Oct.,9,2011
























CHAPTER 1: SUMMARY
The thesis that is being attempted to be established is that monotheism, which is taken to originate from the Jewish people, is a concept that was evolved within other societies .The most likely candidate is the Indus Valley Civilization. This study attempts to investigate the linkage between the Indus Valley Civilization and the development of the One God religion in Sumer .
There is evidence of considerable trade between Mohenjadaro/Harappa(IVC) and Sumer (SC).The SC was the cradle of monotheism .The issue is what impact (if any) did the IVC had upon the development of the religion of Prophet Ibrahim? Considerable trade between IVC and SC suggests: Ethic Similarities; Ethnic linkage between IVC and SC.

The Sumerian myths can be classified in two major parts. Firstly are those which differ in content depending upon the place the myth was found and also the time in which it was composed, these include the Gilgamesh  myth  .The second category are those which do not vary in content ,irrespective the place that the myth was found or the time of composition of the myth, these include the creation myth ,the flood myth .The conclusion drawn is that the myths that do not vary in content are the primal religious text that the Sumerians brought from their place or origin, in the piedmont between modern Pakistani Punjab and the Turkish East. The origin of the Sumerians and the Harrapans is likely to be the same and therefore the primal religious text is perhaps a common heritage of the two civilizations.
The IVC is characterized by : well planned cities and system that are almost identical in all contemporary cities of the civilization : lack of any evidence of warfare between cities ; lack of evidence of belief in many gods ; rationality in burial practices ; evidence of a central authority that is not maintained by a warrior monarch ; lack of evidence of warrior kings ; lack of evidence of slavery ; urban setting ; advanced manufacturing and trading practices . All of which suggests that IVC could only have existed if the central belief system supported the structure of the society and the economy .The unity in practices and ideas could only emanate from a concept that propagates such unity .It is therefore hypothesised that monotheism is either a concept that the IVC obtained from the time of common existence with the Sumerians or a concept that evolved within the IVC . Without monotheism IVC could not have existed.
The Indus civilization excavations do bring out the following facts: -

-          There does not seem to be a large number of gods, in fact very few figurines have been found which could be gods or goddesses, although it should be said that these figures, the priest – king, dancing girl, other god figures do not necessarily indicate images of gods. The first two were not images whilst the later could be god images but these perhaps relate to the last Indus periods, a period according to this thesis, the Indus elite had already migrated to Sumer, and the whole structure and ethos of the Indus society had changed .
-          The burial practices in proto Harrapan /early Harrapan period changed in about 3000 BC. Burial were no longer elaborate and dead bodies did not include valuables, in contrast to the  practice which continued in Sumer and elsewhere .The Indus burials were simple and indicate the fact that these people believed that the dead had no use for the material goods which are of value to the living. Incidentally in the late Harrapan period the burial practices changed again .The dead were cremated, this would indicate a major change and would support the theory that the Indus elite did migrate (to Sumer) around 2000 BC and although the cities did continue to exist but the central organizing force was not there any more.
-          No evidence has been found to indicate inter city warfare amongst the Indus cities. It would seem that these cities were not at war with each other and the similarity in city layouts would indicate a strong central authority, which was imposed not by force but by commerce, trade and religion.
-          There is significant evidence of industrial activity, this would indicate a society that was progressive, was not warlike and therefore had structures that assisted innovation (although the fact that Indus artifacts remained exactly the same for a large period of time would indicate that there was strong central regulation which did not allow change and therefore inhabited innovation).
-          There is also no evidence of slavery, There does seem to be an upper and lower class but the structure does not seem to have been maintained by use of force .The elite perhaps exercised control by means of: religion; and by management and control of trade with Sumer and elsewhere.

The above would indicate that the Indus civilization was inclusive in nature and therefore would not have multiple gods; there would be a single God which could have been an abstract concept of God. Prophet Abraham (pbum) perhaps did seem to have obtained the concept of an abstract, mono, omnipresent God from Sumer. This concept was not present in Sumerian society itself (see the reaction of Nimrod to the complain of Prophet Abraham’s father and people, for this see both the Koranic and Talmudic versions) .The concept was not present in the Jews (see reaction of Prophet Abraham’s father and family). The only people sophisticated enough to have developed this concept were the Indus people (Egypt, Crete and China do seem to have multiple gods).

The Indus government was very complex and yet was efficient.  These were efficient and technologically advanced people. Their art indicated that these people had fine artistic sensibilities .The efficiency is manifested in the ability of the Indus people to evolve and establish a complex social structure, which integrated various ethnic and religious groups and ensured peace and prosperity.

The primitive man also is said to believe in cyclic nature of things and life , the modern mind believes in a linear forward looking approach .Burial practices where the dead body was accompanied with large an mount of luxury goods and in cases where the body is cremated do suggest that the society practicing such burial procedures believes in the cyclic nature of life and the dead are deemed to return in the same or in some other shape .The Harrapan burial practices , in sharp contrast to contemporary civilizations, were simple burial with very few commodities buried with the dead body , the few items that were found were very inexpensive ( there are very few exceptions to this) . This would suggest that the Harrapan people were forward looking people who had a pragmatic view of things and events.


The Sumerian myths seem to be of two kinds , one that differ from time to time ,these were modified in each successive era , the other are that seem to have been kept in tact for all times , these seem to be related to the sacred text that perhaps the Sumar brought from the piedmont perch from where they migrated to the plains .The concept that the human mind has a deep structure that allows it to learn language and to accept the monotheistic concept of religion has been given by a number of philosophers .This legacy, the monotheistic concept of religion, from the place of fall (Eden according to the Bible) seem to be the factor that made civilizations dominant , and this key factor passed from the dominant civilization to the succeeding one . The Indus people were the first owners of this key concept and when for unknown reasons their land became not receptive to this primal but everlasting truth they migrated and passed on this message to Prophet Ibrahim .Who in the travels spread this to the whole of middle eastern .the Jewish people became the owners or holders of this key element and this subsequently passed on to other civilizations and this process goes on to the present.


The IVC concept of religion was exported to Sumer, with whom the IVC had ethnic, cultural and economic ties .This occurred when the Indus elite migrated, for reasons not clearly established, to Sumer , around 2000 BC ( various traditions related to the Mai Nanna etc. ,in modern Pakistani Baluchistan , do point to possibility of such migration by land route from IVC to Sumer). The Sumerians had evolved very differently. They had established a number of independent cities who were in constant strife with each other and each city had a separate god, monotheism clearly did not evolve in SC. The only source of this concept could be the IVC whose elite chose Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) and transferred the concept to the Hebrews .The concept was also clearly alien to the Hebrews as is evident from the Biblical and Koranic accounts of the life of Prophet Ibrahim in Ur, this concept did not evolve within the Hebrews and was clearly imported from other people.
The IVC concept of religion , in the sub-continent,  did not completely die out with the Aryan victory over the Indus people .Hinduism is comprised of two diverse streams, one related to the Aryan concept and another ,completely different in character and ethos to the non-Aryan traditions, that is referred to as indigenous traditions ,These are reflected in the Jain, Buddhist and Bhakthi or devotional  response to the Brahamanic Hinduism .The source of these anti-Aryan traditions must surely be the IVC .Some of these pre Aryan tradition ,especially the devotional South Asian religion, do contain a concept of a single God , and do not subscribe to the cult of sacrifice or of elitism in religious and other affairs .The Indus people are surely the source of these traditions .
Monotheism can perhaps be traced to the IVC from where it was passed on to the Hebrews .The fact that there are ancient primal sacred Sumerian myths suggest that  monotheism possibly was a legacy of the IVC from their place of origin .Perhaps the attainment of consciousness , by the first human, Prophet Adam (pbuh) also included the concept of a single God .Human consciousness  encapsulates the concept of monotheism , the full extend of the message unravels with technological and other change in human existence and will probably be completely unraveled by the time life on this earth ceases to exist .










































CHAPTER 2: Indus valley Civilization

The Indus valley Civilization, 3500 – 1800 BC is the earliest known civilization of south Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and Crete. This civilization is as old as those which are called the cradles of human culture, civilizations like those of Egypt and Babylon .This was a very highly developed civilization. It was known as the Indus Valley Civilization or it is sometimes called the Harappan Civilization, and it extended from what is now Western Pakistan, south to a point which is near Bombay and eastward to a point which is in the neighborhood of what is now Simla in the foothills of the Himalayas .The remains of the settlements belonging to this culture have been found through out the Indus river Valley in Pakistan, eastwards towards the Run of Katch and westwards to the Iranian border
Populated by, what are referred to as the “black – headed “people. These “black headed “people are also credited for the formation of the Sumeric civilization.
The Indus cities were laid out on a rectangular grid system, with wide main streets running parallel to each other, cut at right angles by smaller streets .The streets were lined with large blocks of houses, many of them two storied, all of them with flat roofs. They were the first to use bitumen in walls, floor and roofs, to keep the damp out .The houses were built of baked bricks. Access to the upstairs rooms was by a narrow stone staircase at the back of the house .The staircase sometimes continued to the top of the roof .The house had bathrooms and water closets, rubbish shoots and excellent drainage systems .The drains were incorporated in the walls and led into covered sewers which ran down the side of the streets.
Excavated settlements reveal blocks of mud-brick buildings separated by streets, and the cities, such as Mohenjadaro and Harappa, are dominated by large public buildings. Characteristic artifacts include a distintictive black on red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp seals with an un deciphered script.
The Indus people had wooden storage chests with bronze or copper fasteners, beds, and benches. Carved chair legs dating back to about 2000 BC have been found in the ruins. Houses had their own wells. There were also public bathhouses, which were frequently used.
Some houses were larger than others and this must indicate that there was a rich class which was superior to ordinary people. They were great traders. Indus pottery, jewellery and metal work has been found in many places in the Middle East and so perhaps it was the merchants who owned the larger houses.
They used copper and bronze and made fish hooks, copper-headed arrows razors and bronze mirrors (Indus seals and script that depict the fish and a man with an arrow could be depicting the nature of commodity traded i.e. fish hooks or arrow heads respectively, the papal leaf could be depicting cotton)
Clothing that the Indus women wore was very gay. They wore short, scanty petticoats rather like mini-skirts. Their clothes were made of cotton, linen or wool. They wore bright, sparkling jewellery made of gold, silver, or shell, inlaid with stones like jade and lapis-lazuli .Men wore a sort of cloak which went over one shoulder and under the other.
They were great craftsmen and made fine pottery on the wheel. Potters usually engraved or painted their pottery. Their favorite design was geometric, but they used also the figures of animals as decoration .the designs were painted in black ink.
They kept songbirds and dogs as pets. They also raised cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry for food, and used cattle for drawing vehicles. They are believed to have invented the ox cart.
The sculpture produced is also beautiful particularly when it depicts motion.
They build no temples or palaces and their rules do not seem to have splendid tombs constructed. By about 1500 BC the civilization disintegrated.

 Unfortunately, the nature of the social organization in this complex culture still evades complete interpretation.
Sometimes after 2000 BC, complex ecological changes occurred in the Indus valley area, forcing abandonment of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization. Late Indus Valley culture is known from excavated small farming villages. Artifacts associated with these sites are stylistically similar to earlier types but show more regional variations
The civilization did not appear abruptly, as was initially believed, but evolved indigenously. Some experts believe that it borrowed from the Sumeric, a claim that is perhaps not correct , the civilization was distinctive yet there are signs of constant contact with Sumer and there are also reasons to believe that both the Harrapan and Sumerian  people did share a common ancestry, they were either the same people or most likely were closely related cousins   .In any case once developed the civilization was an intensely individual one, with many characteristics not shared with any other civilization . There was contact between the Indus and Sumerian people, this is evident from the large number of seals and letters in Indian script that have been excavated in Mesopotamia .Much fewer  Sumer seals etc. have  been discovered in Indus cities
The Indus civilization became mature by about 2500 BC, then over the next 1000 years it stagnated,

There is overwhelming evidence of maritime trade with other areas. Some beads were reported to have been exported to Egypt from this valley.  Sumerians had acted as intermediaries for this trade. The Indus civilization supported the cultivation of wheat barley.
The significant increase in rainfall at the beginning of the third millennium BC, attested by palaeoecological evidence, played an important part in the sudden expansion of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures in north-west India, ultimately leading to the prosperity of the Indus culture.
The present evidence would suggest that the onset of aridity in the region around 1800 BC probably resulted in the weakening of the Harappan culture in the arid and semi arid parts of northwest India.
The Indus people did not engrave inscriptions on stone or place papyrus scrolls in the tombs of their dead: all we know of their writing is derived from simple inscriptions on their seals.
These people farmed .The people of Indus prospered on the foundations of an agriculture based system and irrigation and fertility, maintained by silt bearing floods. Wheat and barley were grown, as were melon seeds, oil crops like sesame and mustard, and dates. Field peas were also grown .The earliest trace of cotton known anywhere in the world have been found in the Valley.
Animals domesticated include dogs, cats, zebu, short-horn and buffaloes, and possibly pigs, horses, camels, and asses.
From every crop grown a large portion had to be paid into the granaries. This siphoning of the surplus was not managed by force but was perhaps achieved by the prevalent religious practices and beliefs.
Archeologists have turned up imports including gold from southern India, copper from Afghanistan, jade like fushsite from southern India and turquoise from Iran. Trade with Mesopotamia has been noted, as Indus pottery has been discovered in the ancient city of Tell Asmar.
A number of typical Indus seals have been found in Sumer, seals dating back to between 2300 and 2000 BC .The finding of Indus seals in Mesopotamia suggests that people of Indus may have resided in this territory, possibly merchants who were keeping up a constant trade with the Mesopotamia people (cotton was a staple export of Indus, and could have been the crop that brought these two civilizations into contact). These seals are thought to have been a representation of personal names .With these seals turning up in many locations ,it seems that in spite of the totalitarian casts associated with the Indus State ,trade may have been in the hands of private merchants rather than regulated by a form of governmental authority .The Indus people sailed in high prowled ,single mast boats ,sound for carrying the exported goods .Nearing the end of The Indus Civilization, the cities began to wither and the strong economy deteriorated.

In contrast to other civilizations The Indus people achieved great accuracy in measuring physical units of length, mass, and time. They were perhaps also using the decimal system .All of this signifies a highly advanced, technologically adept and efficient civilization. They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. They also evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, tin.
Bronze, terracotta and stone sculptures in dancing poses also reveal much about the Indus art of dancing .A harp like instruments and shell objects attest to the fact that stringed instruments were used. Much of the Indus art is considered advanced for the time.
Social cohesion, which allowed various ethnic groups to co-exist, is depicted by animals of several heads that represent a combination of different tribes or social groups. Further
Harrapan rulers were treated as common men after their death.
The contributions of the civilization include decimal divisions in measuring length and mass, study of stars, construction if tidal docks, efficient sewerage system, metallurgical techniques.

The language of the Indus people was sufficiently different from Sumerian (or Elamites) to require a translator from Meluhha whose name was iu-iliSu .the products of Meluhha include: abba wood, a thorn tree (kikar?); mesu wood (of the plains); ships of Meluhha type (boat). Indus words in Sumerian include: Sindh wood sinda; date palm; the “red dog of Meluhha” zaza cattle (zebu?); elephants; sesame oil

In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from these cities are not magnificent; they are more simplistic and contain few material things. Remains of palaces or temples in the cities have not been found, no hard evidence exists indicating military activity .The cities did contain fortification and the people used copper and bronze knives, spears, and arrowheads.
The Harrapan civilization was mainly urban and mercantile. Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with Mesopotamia, Southern India, Afghanistan and Persia for gold, silver, copper and turquoise .The Mesopotamian model of irrigated agriculture was used to take advantage of the fertile land along the Indus River. Earth links were built to control the river’s annual flooding. Crops grown included wheat, barley, peas, melons and sesame .The civilization was the first to grow cotton for the production of cloth
The theory that the Dravidians are the Indus people and that the Dravidian language contains Indus language words and form does not appear to be right .The Dravidians, living in South of India, do not exhibit any feature of the Indus valley civilization and no trace of Indus cities have been found in south India (although South India does presents a superior urban layout and management than does North India) .South India has not revealed any evidence of connection to the Indus civilization, no seals or pottery or other artifacts unique to Harrapan civilization have been located in south India . There , however, is evidence that the Dravadians did coexist with the Harrapans for some time before the advent of the Aryans .Dravadian religious responses to Brahamin controlled Hinduism possibly borrow form the Indus legacy that the Dravadians carried with them from the period that they had co-existed with the Harrapans .

Seals were passed around as part of a project to create literacy in the rapidly developing and urbanizing society of the Indus Valley and neighboring regions. This was done by first creating a script (which was constantly changing anyway) and then to making pictures of everyday animals and personalities. These pictures would be accompanied by a word or two on a seal so that people would recognize the picture and then learn to spell .We do the same thing today .we show a child a picture of an apple and under the picture we write “APPLE” to teach the child how to read and spell.
Then there are secondary uses for the seals that have been found. These are economical and come in the form of receipts and labels .The receipts were given as evidence that a tax has been paid .The labels were used to identify persons and also indicate ownership of animals and other things.
ARON - from the internet.

The Indus elite maintained power by managing and controlling the trade based upon the agricultural surplus from the Indus area and of processed stones and other products .These were manufactured in secret factories.
The Indus elite were able to manage the trade due to ethnic and other similarities with the Sumer and Bahraini elites.
The Sumer elite lost control by around 2000 BC and this perhaps were the cause of decline of the Indus Elite .Without the Sumer elite in power and in absence of sympathetic groups in control of the trade routes the Indus Elite could not maintain their hold upon the Indus Area.
The Indus elite migrated to Sumer around 2000 BC.


Extract from “A Glimpse of The social Stratification and Political Set-up of the Indus Civilization “by B.B. Lal published in “Harrapan Studies” edited by G.L Possehl and M Tosi published by Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd.

“The available evidence indicates that there were at least three classes in the Harrapan society: a priestly class occupying perhaps the highest position ;an agricultural-cum-merchant class forming the main core; and a labor class at the lowest rung of the ladder .Indus cities seem to have residence for the upper classes in the fortified areas and for the labor class outside the fortified area as in Kalibangan .The citadel is seen to be the seat of the priests .The town had : a priestly class inhabiting the Citadel : an agricultural-cum-merchant class occupying the Lower Town ;and a worker class living outside the two fortified areas .Mohenjadaro and Harrapa also had a Citadel and a lower Town ..Indus population seem to have been divided into three sections : an elite associated with the Citadel or Acropolis ,a well to do middle class occupying the Lower Town ,a relatively weaker section working for the former two categories .Whether these divisions were based purely economic factors or had socio-religious impress as well cannot be categorically stated .It seems that religion did play an important part .The Elite occupying the Citadel at Kalibangan seem to have derived their authority from religion and commanded perhaps the highest position in the hierarchy .”

The most striking feature of the Harrapan civilization was its homogeneity in all aspects of life ,such as ,pottery ,buildings and religious beliefs .The Harrapan beliefs were different than Sumerian (and Egyptian) ones .The Harrapan believed in one female goddess in contrast to the many gods that the Sumerians believed in .The Harrapan believed in a female goddess whose depiction bears close resemblance to the goddess Inanna  .Who it is stated got bored with her duties and went back to Sumer ,where she was got drunk by Enki and tricked in giving away certain divine objects referred to as “ME’s” ,these were supposed to give great power to Inanna .All of this gave great power to Ur and she became its major deity .This myth could be interpreted as to describe the migration of the Indus Elite from the IVC to Summer and the transmittal of the Indus philosophy or religion to the Sumerians .
The Mesopotamian civilization is characterized by a multiplicity of city-states ,an efficient writing system ,a changing art style ,international contacts ,organized warfare ,and an extensive irrigation system. All of these characteristics are not discernible in the Indus Civilization. It is unlikely that any contact with the Sumeric civilization germinated the Indus Civilization. The evidence does suggest that IVC was an indigenous development.
The advantages of natural soil and water in the Indus plain could ensure higher crop yield to create large surpluses which in turn supported greater population and encouraged craft specialization leading to mass production and standardization of products.
IVC offers striking similarity to Sumeric and Iranian civilizations. The well developed and organized city life, use of the potter’s wheel, use of precious and semi precious stones and metals, a script are features that were common
Long distance trade must have necessitated the keeping of records and proper packaging of goods marking them with identifiable seals. The administration of the cities must have involved keeping of records and issuance of orders. All of this must have required the kind of seals and script that has been found in the Indus cities. Of the 400 signs known over half are identical with porto-Elamite and proto-Sumeric examples, the rest are of indigenous origin. It would therefore seem that the Indus people drew upon the existing signs of their proto-urban predecessors, on whose base they erected their civilization. About 78 signs are similar to the pre-Indus signs. The script therefore seems to have been developed from already existing signs of their forbearers. The Semitic people who had contact with the Harrapan borrowed, by 1600 BC, 17 Indus cursive signs for their consonant value.

Burials found from these cities are not magnificent; they are more simplistic and contain a few material goods. This evidence suggests that this civilization did not have social classes. Remain of palaces or temples have not been found .No hard evidence indicating military activity exists.
The seals suggest a symbolic or religious intent. Stone sculptures carved in steatite, limestone, or alabaster depicts a male figure who may have represented a god.
The civilization experienced its height around 2500 BC and began to decline about 2000 BC. One cause of the dispersal could have been a result of agricultural problems. Topsoil erosion, depletion of nutrients from the soil, or a change on the course of the Indus River may have forced the inhabitants to leave their towns

The Indus government was very complex and yet was efficient.  These were efficient and technologically advanced people. Their art indicated that these people had fine artistic sensibilities .The efficiency is manifested in the ability of the Indus people to evolve and establish a complex social structure, which integrated various ethnic and religious groups and ensured peace and prosperity.
The quality of municipal town planning is an outstanding feature of this civilization .The uniform planning of towns and cities suggest the presence of efficient municipal governments which placed high priority upon personal hygiene .The streets were laid in an efficient grid pattern which ensured that the houses were protected from noise, odors and thieves. Baked bricks which were rare at that time in the near east were used. The uniformity of town planning suggests the presence of a strong centralized government that must have enforced this strict planning regime.
Town administrators enlisted the cooperation of the people in order to efficiently execute public works programs .The administration also standardized industrial products such as metal tools and weapons and even the units that were used to measure length.the smooth flowing of trade channels was a result of strict vigilance by state and city authorities .An efficient system of distribution of agricultural and industrial products, and raw materials, indigenous as well as imported is evident  .The high degree of homogeneity in products ,the uniform town planning ,the rigorous enforcement of trade and municipal regulations ,and the efficient distribution system all confirm that there was a highly efficient and effective administration in the Indus valley .

The elite perhaps managed two important functions:

        .   Firstly to provide the exchange mechanisms and arrangements
            by which the surplus was taken over from the farmers .

        .   Secondly to arrange, manage the trade with Sumer and elsewhere
             and to exchange the surplus for other items .

The decline of the IVC could well be the failure of the elite to perform any of the above two functions.
Trade could have been disrupted by means of reasons including disruptions caused due to : changes in the middle man arrangements ; and disruptions of the trade route due to hostile people having taken over these routes.


The seals with inscriptions perhaps have economic significance. The seals, therefore, must have:

         .   Quantity depictions

         .   Item depictions

If these were used for internal exchange perhaps these must pertain to items that were surplus . Seals found in Sumer sites perhaps were related to commodities or products that were traded. Perhaps herein lays the answer to the IVC script.


The Indus people did not engrave inscriptions on stones or place papyrus scrolls in the tombs of their dead.
The genius behind the advanced architecture of the Indus civilization carried over into a thriving agricultural and trade based economy .The Indus people used the plentiful rivers surrounding them much to their advantage .The people of Indus prospered on the foundations of an agricultural based system of irrigation and fertility, maintained by silt bearing floods .Wheat and six-row barley were grown , as were melon seeds, oil crops like sesame and mustard ,and dates .Peas are the only vegetables that have so far been associated with the civilization .The earliest traces of cotton found anywhere in the world have been found in the Indus Valley .Dogs, cats ,zebu , cattle ,pigs, camels, horses and asses were domesticated .Elephants may also have been domesticated as many seals have elephant representations and ivory was used for crafts .For every crop that was grown a portion was deposited with the central public granaries .Hunting and fishing was also practiced and meat did form a part of the diet of the Indus people .
In addition  to agriculture and hunting trade and commerce formed an important part of the economic life of the Indus people .Trade with various lands has been recorded and links with Mesopotamia has been noted, as Indus pottery has been discovered in the ancient city of Tell Asmar .A number of Indus seals have also been found in Sumer, these date back to 2300 and 2000 BC .This in turn suggest that the Indus people may have resided in Mesopotamia .The trade seems to have been in the hands of businessmen rather than with the political/religious elite .


CHAPTER 3: Sumerian Civilization
The land between the two river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates have provided of the oldest settlements, the extreme south was the richest as from centuries of drainage and flooding a rich top soil was built up .It was easier to grow crops here than in most other places, provided safe and regular water supply could be ensured for rain was slight and irregular and the river bed was above the plain .all of thus provided the opportunity of producing more than was needed for consumption. Fish additionally was available from the river and sea.
The land was populated by a dark-skinned race from north – west India settled. They called themselves the “black – headed people“or the people of Sumer .The Sumeriaans were not the only people inhabiting the land.
The Sumerians probably began to move into the Mesopotamian plain before 5000 BC these people understood the working of metal and could make many useful tools. They were already skilled farmers, and in the rich soil of Mesopotamia they found the opportunity to develop their agricultural skills to a high degree .It was not long before they were growing far more than they needed for themselves, and so they began to trade with their less skilful neighbors. The Sumerians were builders as well as farmers. There were no natural stones for building in Mesopotamia, nor was there much timber .So they made bricks by molding the thick clay of the river banks into blocks and leaving them in the scorching sun to bake. Soon they discovered that settlements farther away had natural stones, and they traded their surplus farm goods for the stone.
Meanwhile they developed the potter’s wheel and with it were able to fashion a great variety of useful vessels, such as bowls, plates, cups, vases and storage jars. They decorated their pottery with beautiful designs and shapes. They also knew how to make sculpture and how to work copper, bronze, and gold and precious stones.
Mesopotamia was a region that did not have many natural resources. Therefore the people who lived there needed top trade with adjoining areas in order to acquire the resources they needed. Grains, oils and textiles were taken from Babylonia to other areas and exchanged for: timber; wine; precious metals and stones

They build small boats of plaited reeds which they covered with animal skin and pitch. This gave mobility and allowed them to communicate between early settlements, which in time led to the development of the great cities. Sumer the main city was formed in 3500 BC and it lasted for around 1500 years.
UR another city was encircled by means of a high brick wall and a wide canal which was used for defense and for transport .On the rivers edge was a harbor which brought goods to and from the other settlements along the Euphrates .In about the middle of the city was a large temple in the shape of a tower called a ziggurat .
The family was the most important unit of society, and the father was the head .To keep the family together he usually had land, which could be handed on to his wife or son.
There were three classes of people in Sumer .The highest contained the priests, the government officials and the army officers .The middle class included the traders, farmers and craftsmen, and last were slaves. The most important people were the priests, for they were the servants of the gods.
Sumerians believed that gods were responsible for people’s safety, good health and prosperity. The gods had to be kept happy .It fell to the priests to supervise the many jobs that this entailed. They tended the temple land outside the city: they managed the storehouses: and they conducted trade, exchanged surplus food for stone, timber, and precious metal with which they adorned the temples and chapels.
The priests were also looked upon as the wise men of the city. They held lessons in the temple enclosure, prescribing medicine for the sick, sat in judgment over disputes between one person and another and managed the calendar.
The Sumerian year was calculated on the behavior of the moon and had twelve months divided into hours and days. The months, however, were only thirty days long which equaled a year of 360 days. Therefore, in order to make the seasons coincide properly with the calendar, every so often the priests announced that another month would be added to the current year.


The Sumerian gods governed natural forces such as the earth (Enlil), the sky (Anu, water (Ea) the sun (Shamash) and the moon (Nanner). Each city had its special god but also worshipped other gods .The chief god for Ur was Nanner and for the city of Eridu it was Ea.
The temple was enclosed by a high wall. Inside this enclosure there was a palace for the reigning king .His house was like the others in the city except that it was larger, for it had to accommodate his advisers and servants as well as his family .The priests of the gods also lived in the enclosure.
Nanner was also worshipped in many smaller temples throughout the city, and there were small temples for his wife, Ningal.
In the earlier days of Sumer there was no king, and the city was ruled by chief priests. But as the cities grew and the business of government proved to much for one chief priest, a worthy man was picked from among the rank of the priesthood to handle some of the city’s affairs, and from this stemmed the principle of kingship .The king managed the business of state that was not connected with the temple .He ensured that law and order was enforced among the people .He maintained the canals and kept the streets in good repair .If there was war with the neighboring city or tribe, he led the army into battle .
The king was helped and advised by priests and other official. Some of them assisted him in dispensing justice for, as the population of the cities expanded. Business in the law courts became a heavy burden for the king alone. Traders and farmers kept the city well stocked with food and other necessities and with many luxuries as well. They increased the prosperity of the whole community by successfully trading with other cities and with less civilized races further away .The craftsmen turned their skills to making the city beautiful. Sculptors carved exquisite statues, carpenters fashioned splendid gates, doors, and furniture. And smiths made jeweler out of silver, gold and precious stones. Armourers wrought copper for weapons of all kinds; for the Sumerians were warlike people and needed arms on may occasions Among the most skilled craftsmen in Sumer were seal-cutters .the kings .the court official’s .the high priests and the merchants all needed seals for their letters, orders, legal documents and accounts .The seals were made of clay or stone, alabaster or ivory, and were carved with images of gods, animals or human beings.
The slaves were the servants of the rich in the households or on the land. They often were enemy solders that had been defeated and captured in the field of battle. Slaves also cleared the streets, emptied the rubbish and carried water to people’s houses. Some were able to buy their freedom and purchase their own land.
Sumerians developed the cuneiform writing .As far as 3500 BC they drew pictograms, or outline of objects incised on clay tablets with reed pens. The pictograms were used to communicate basic information about crops and taxes. These tablets were than baked and became almost indestructible .The pictograms developed into a mixture of pictures and symbols, which represented pronunciations of word syllables. Eventually they had a script, which include some 600 symbols. Over time the need for writing changed and the signs developed into a script called cuneiform
From about 2700 70 about 2280 BC, UR was the leading city .In about 2370 BC Sumer was conquered by the Semitic chief Sargon 1



In between 3000 and 2000 BC Sumer was subjected to invasions by several races, these were successfully defended  .in about 1950 BC Semitic Amorties from the western Arabian desert and emetic Elamites from the east began to move into the richer plains of Mesopotamia. They over ran the Sumerian cities .The Amorties had been overrunning northern Sumer, Babylon a village in northern Sumer eventually became the now famous city and its king Hamurabi managed in dominating the whole of Mesopotamia .His rule was extended over the period 1790 to1750 BC .By then the Babylonian had developed their own language and Sumerian language was relegated to be the language of the priests. Hamurabi gave the famous code, which it is believed became the source of Moses Ten commandments. Some of the laws mentioned in the Old Testament are derived from Hamurabi’s Laws. Hamurabi did not invent these laws; he assembled existing laws, revised them and added new ones of his own in order to bring the whole system up to date.
The Babylonians were great readers of poetry, one of their famous epic was the story of a mythical Sumerian hero-king Gilgamesh, the legend was absorbed in Babylonian folklore.


From the beginning as a collection of farming villages around 5000 BC to its final collapse in about 2000 BC, the Sumerians developed a relation and a society that influenced both their neighbors and conquerors .The Babylonians took the Sumerian language and the religion .In fact, traces and parallels of Sumerian myths can be found in Genesis.
Sumer was a collection of city states around the lower Tigris River and Euphrates River .Each state had its own ruler although by about 3500 BC the ruler of the dominant state could be called the king of the region. Sumerian history can be divided into five periods: Uruk period:  Jemdat Nasr period he early dynastic period: the agate period: and the Ur II period.
The Uruk period stretched from 3800 BC to 3200 BC, the period is referred to as the reigns of Dumuzi the Shepard who was worshipped as the god of the spring grain. This period saw very rapid urbanization .The Eanna of Uruk, a collection of temples dedicated to Inanna, was constructed at this time. These building served religious as well as civic functions. Which was fitting as the en, or high priest, served as both the spiritual and temporal leader .The temples were places where craftsmen would practice their trade and here surplus food would be stored and distributed?
The Jemdat Nasr period lasted from 3200 BC to 2900 BC, the period was not particularly remarkable .It was this period that the great flood is supposed to have taken place .The Sumerian account of the great flood may have been influenced upon the flooding by Tigris and Euphrates onto their already marshy land.
The Early Dynastic period saw kingship move to Kish .A king of Kish named Etana was believed by the Babylonians top have rode to heaven on the back of a giant eagle so that he could receive the “plant of birth “ from Ishtar (their version of Inanna) and thereby produce an heir.

Meanwhile in the South the dynasty of Erech was founded by Meskiaggasher, who along with his successors, was termed the “son of Utu “, the sun god. Followed three other kings, including another Dumuzi, the famous Gilamesh took the throne of Erech around 2600 BC and became involved in a power struggle for the region with the Kish dynasty and with Mesanneoadda, the founder of the dynasty of Ur. While Gilamesh became a demi-god, remembered in epic tales, it was Mesannepadda who was eventually victorious in this three way power struggle, taking the by then traditional title of “King of Kish ":
Kish and Erech gave way to Ur, which also failed to maintain control .the region was weakened by power struggles .The ruler of Lagash declared themselves “King of Kish” around 2450 BC, but failed to obtain control of the region facing challenge by the nearby Umma. Lugalzagesi, ensi or priest-king of Umma from around 2360-2335 BC, razed Lagash, and conquered Sumer, declaring himself “King of Erech and the Land” .All this strife weakened Sumer which was conquered by Sargon of Agade, an outsider.
Sargon united both Sumer and the northern Akkad, his realm is said to extend from the Mediterranean sea to the Indus river .He build the city of agate .his empire fell apart just 40 years after his death and Guti, a mountain people, razed agate and deposed the then king.
The Guti were driven out by Utuhegal of Uruk/Erech. Ur-Nammu usurped his authority and became king. And established the Third Ur dynasty around 2112 BC .He gained control and developed the earliest known law-codes and had constructed the great ziggurat of Ur, a kind of step pyramid which stood 60 x 200 ft. This was a very prosperous period, which ended by 2000 BC, when the civilization collapsed under the Amorite invasion; Sumer henceforth was absorbed in Babylonia.
Professor Samuel Kramer observed that:
“With the help of their gods especially Enlil ,the “King of Heaven and earth”, the Sumerians transformed a flat ,arid windswept land into a blooming ,fertile kingdom”
The whole of Sumerian life evolved around the gods, whom they regarded as flesh and blood immortals .They invented their deities as an imaginative psychological response to a hostile, incomprehensible environment .The picture that emerges is that of anthropomorphic gods with human like motions, intimately mixed up in human affairs .Every Sumerian city was associated with one, sometimes, two gods.
The Sumerians believed that the gods had created man as a worker
George Smith of the British Museum published his translations of the sacred Babylonian text in 1876..This was the Emma Elish epic and it presented the creation epic in much more detail than the Bible.
Eridu the ancient city of the Sumerians literally means E.RI.Du or “home in the Faraway Built”.


Extracts form “Mesopotamian Myths” by Henrietta McCall, British Museum Publication

The temples in which the gods were worshipped were run by a priestly class .A priest called a satammu probably headed the administrative side and sons often followed fathers into the same profession.
Religion played an important part in the everyday life of the people. On a personal level they attach themselves to a particular god or goddess and offered prayers and sacrifices in return for intercession with the other gods and protection from evil spirits.
There is no promise of an afterlife and death was accepted in a resigned and matter of fact way.

The inhabitants of cities could be divided into two parts, those few who benefited from court and temple connections which gave them the use of their own means of production, and those who were wholly dependent upon the palace and temple organizations. Most of the means of production were under the control of the vast temple complexes and the royal places, although individual owned land as well. Both temple and palace derived their income from mainly agriculture, either directly or through the payment of taxes. Central administration received most income and redistributed it .Both organizations supported a large number of people who were paid with food and clothes etc. . . .




















Chapter 4 Mesopotamian Myths
Traditionally, authorship of the oldest works was attributed to sages sent out before the Flood by the god Ea to bring civilization to mankind. In Mesopotamian eyes, true authenticity must derive from divine inspiration and/or great antiquity.
Gilgamesh as great in knowledge and wisdom, as one who bought information from before the days of the Flood (this possibly refers to the primal religious text that was common to both the Sumerian and Harrapan people).
Gilgamesh decides to see Ut-napishtim, who with his wife is supposed to have survived the Flood and to know the secret of eternal life .Ut-napishtim’s gift to Gilamesh is a closely guarded matter, a “secret of the gods” – a plant of rejuvenation.
The Epic of creation, unlike that of Gilamesh, appears to have been almost unknown outside Mesopotamia. Tablets have been found at Sultantepe, Nineveh, Kish and Babylon, but (unlike the Gilamesh Epic) they show little variation. It is more in the nature of a sacred book and was recited during the celebrations of the New Year’s festival at Babylon.
Myths can be interpreted in a variety of ways: they can portray cosmic forces personified ,as for example when chaos is subdued by order ;they can reflect historical events such as military campaigns ,the building of city walls and the return of the cult statues ;they can serve a purely cultic purpose ,for example recitations at the New Year’s festival ;and events in them can mirror the cycle of nature ,thus reassuring their audience that the national gods are in command.
Gods played a far greater part in the life of the ancient world than can easily be comprehended today.

The Myth of Dumuzi and Inanna
Dumuzi or Tammuz and Inanna or Ishtar myth .The former is a vegetation god who dies and rises again with the rebirth of vegetation in the spring. Inanna decides to go to the nether (the land of no return) world, ruled over by her sister Ereshkigal .To guard against any disasters she instructs her vizer, Ninshubur, that if she does not return in three days he is to perform mourning rites for her and to request the gods Enlil of Nippur, Nanna the moon-god of Ur, and Enki, the god of wisdom, in Eridu to intervene and spare her life .She puts on her queenly attire and presents herself at the gate of the nether world, where she is challenged by Neti ,the gate keeper of the seven gates .She ,as she passes though each gate loses a piece of her apparel and is brought before Ereshkigal and the Anunnaki ,the seven judges of the nether world .She is turned into a corpse .Her vizer does as instructed and Enki performs certain magic operations by which she is restored to life .

This was the earliest myth, which perhaps the Sumerians brought with them when they came to the delta.

The Myth of Creation
The original myths have no description of the act of creation. These myths can be classified under three heads: -
The Origin of the Universe: The goddess Nammu (sea) is described as the “the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth”. Heaven and earth was a mountain, whose base was earth ant the top heaven. Heaven is personified as an, and earth Ki, and from their union the air god Enlil was born, it was he who separated heaven and earth and brought the universe into being.
The Organization of the Universe: The moon-god Nanna or Sin was born out of rape of goddess Ninlil by Enlil, he was banished to the underworld but Ninlil was with child and she insisted to follow Enlil. Enlil is believed as the source of vegetation, cattle, agricultural implements and the art of civilization, all this he delegates to lesser gods.
Another myth describes the journeys of Enki to different worlds in order to bring order into the universe .He visits Ur, then Meluhha and then Dilman
The Creation of Man: Man was created for the service of gods (essential to justify the production of surplus and its submission to the gods to keep them happy), to till the ground and free the gods from having to do work for their living. Gods complain that they cannot get their food. Enki is asleep but Nammu arouses him from sleep, on his instructions Nammu and Ninmah mix clay and bring man to existence.
The Myth of the Flood: A god appears to be declaring his intention of saving mankind from the destruction which the gods have decided to bring upon them. Enki is credited as that god.

The Enuma Elish or the creation myth describes Enki who blesses Nippur, Ur, Meluhha and Dilman with abundant crops, flocks, precious mortals and success in war.  He crossed to the Kur Meluhha
Enki, the king of the Abzy, decrees its fate:

Black Kur, your trees will be large trees.
They will be me-groves of the Kur:
Their thrones will be set in royal palaces.
Your reeds will be large reeds; they will be reeds of the Kur:
Heroes work them as weapons in the battlefields.
Your bulls will be large bulls
They be the bulls of the Kur.
Their roar will be the roar of the bulls of the Kur.
The great me of the gods will be perfected for you.
All the dar—birds of the Kur (wear) carnelian beards;
Your birds will be haia-birds;
Their cries will fill the royal palaces
Your silver will be gold
Your copper will be bronze-tin.
Kur, everything you have will (increase),
Your people will (multiply),
Your males will go after his fellow male like a bull.







Chapter 5: Sumerian Myths and the Holy Books
The Sumerian myths have a great influence upon the Old and new testaments. The biblical accounts in some cases mirror the contents of the myths.
Jewish history begins at the bottom of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This was a logical place for civilization to begin in terns of development of agriculture and culture, and it’s also a logical place for Prophet Abraham to appear, because he is going to affect the world, he has to be at the crossroads of the ancient migration pathways. Prophet Abraham was born in Mesopotamia, in a city called Ur
The religions of ancient east were predominantly polytheistic. Most tribes and societies in the Mesopotamian region believed in some kind of pantheon of recognized deities. Natural elements or phenomena were often associated with deities .The existence of gods like Enlil (air), Anou (sky) and Enki (water) in Sumer are evidence of this .It was quiet common to worship a multitude of gods and goddesses. Although families and clans ,often ,had a personal “patriarch/matriarch deity”. Worship often involved the offering of gifts to appease the deities, a few common ones being honey, wine, date, date cakes and human sacrifice.
Abraham came from Ur and from a place in the Mesopotamian delta called Aram Naharayim (Aram of the two rivers), a location not in the city proper.
Excavations show that the architectural knowledge of the people that inhabited this area was extraordinary. Some of the earliest brick dwellings were found in this area. The society relied heavily on farming and trade within the local area as well as on merchants who facilitated the movement of goods between the cities .The city states often warred with each other and there was no political unity.
It appears that in Abraham’s (pbuh) times there was a general migration from urbanized areas to farming villages and rural existence .He was given marching orders by a divine source known as Yahweh.
Z Sitchin in his book “The 12 th Planet” and Alan Alford’s book “Gods of the New Millennium” has indicated that Abraham was summoned in a covert manner? If true this would only make sense if Yahweh was not well liked in Ur and that is why the deity had to use covert operations to steal a pure seed like Abraham from Sumer.
The bible suggests to us that Arram lived his childhood with Ur in Chaldee .His father was Terach, who had three sons: Haran (dead in Ur), Nachor and Abram .Ur was destroyed in 2004 BC and a great famine preceded its destruction. Abrahms was a man of truth and sensitivity, full of ideals, devoted to justice and peace. Then God, in “human –form”, in the company of two angels also in human form, visited Abraham.
The Bible says that Ishmael and all the males of the House of Abraham were circumcised as a sign of the Alliance that God made with Abraham and his descendents.
Within the numerous human societies, the notion of there being many gods or spirits preceded the concept of a single God .The precise time at which monotheism, the worship of one god, appeared is not known. That it arose somewhere in the Middle East, probably in Mesopotamia, is certain (although this thesis attempts to prove that the concept was borrowed or acquired from the decaying Indus valley Civilization) .Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all trace their roots back to one individual: Abraham, who probably lived sometimes after 2000 BC. According to the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), Abraham emigrated from Ur, an ancient city of Sumer on the Euphrates River northwest of the Persian Gulf – to Canaan (roughly the area now called Israel).
 Extracts from
Bruce Feiler
Abraham –A Journey to the heart of Three Faiths
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 2002 .
Page 25
“Mass migrations, from Mesopotamia to Canaan were noted around 1800 B.C.E.”

“Jewish and Christian scholars associate this place with UR, the capital of ancient Sumer”.

Page 48-49

“Later generations conclude the Abraham understood that the voice belonged to God, specifically the one and only God .All three religions are clear on this point .But the Bible, in fact is not .If anything, it suggests otherwise .The voice that calls Abraham belongs to Yahweh, often translated as “the Lord”, Later .Abraham performs circumcision at the request of El Shaddi or “Almighty God”. He plants a tamarisk at the behest of El Olam, or “Everlasting God”. Even Yahweh confirms that polymorphy, telling Moses that He appeared to Abraham as El Shaddai .
The suggestion in such passages is that Abraham, far from the complete monotheist of Moses, still retains echoes of the polytheism of his ancestors .He is a transitional figure, with a foot in both worlds.”

Page 86
“In Genesis …………After circumcision ,the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of three men .Abraham immediately throws open his tent flaps ,slaughters a calf , and asks Sarah to prepare a meal .As a reward ,the men promise that Sarah shall soon have a son. But she laughs,” I am withered, am I to have enjoyment with my husband so old?” God is clearly miffed.”Is anything too wondrous for the Lord?” In response, Sarah actually lies to God. “I did not laugh”. But God has none of it.” You did laugh”. Finally the men depart.


The Sumerians claimed that their culture was a gift from the gods .The Sumerian and Mesopotamian text do credit flesh and blood gods with the creation of man. These texts closely parallel the Biblical account of Genesis, although the later tends to present the monotheistic interpretation.
The beliefs of ancient people were founded on perceptions that had proper substance in their historical context.
Karen Armstrong writes:
“The idea of the covenant (with Moses) tells us that the Israelites were not yet monotheists ,since it only made sense in a polytheistic setting .The Israelites did not believe that Yahweh ,the God of Sinai ,was the only God ,but promised in their covenant ,that they would ignore all other deities and worship Him alone ….The Prophet would urge the Israelites to remain true to the covenant but the majority would continue to worship Baal ,Asherah and Anat in the traditional way “.
 There is an amazing similarity between Genesis and the Enuma Elish ( a Babylonian epic text) .One Mesopotamian  text describes the instructions given by the god in charge of creation :

“Mix to a core the clay
From the Basement of Earth,
Just above the Abzu
And shape it into the from of a core
I shall provide good, knowing young gods
Who shall bring that clay to the right condition”

The Bible makes a similar claim that man was created “from the dust of the ground”
Why mankind was created .The Bible states only that “there was no man to work the ground” prior to the “creation” but the Atra-Hasis gives additional details:

“When the god, as men
Bore the work and suffered the toil
The toil of the gods was great,
The work was heavy
The distress was much”         


Another aspect of the Exodus is the Ark of the Covenant .The Lord tells Moses
;
“There above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelis”

The Lord explains that he cannot accompany the Israelis to the Promised Land in person; indeed he will use the Ark to communicate his commands.

Prophet Abraham pbum came form Ur and he might have been a native, and could be from the noblest priestly family.
Adam’s fall from grace,according to the bible, was a result of consuming a drug or fruit that was forbidden, the consumption of which led to sexual knowledge.
All of Mesopotamian texts indicate that man was originally created as a slave race to relive the “toil” of the gods.
Sumerian depictions of the event suggest that the serpent-god was Enki himself, and that he was temporarily arrested for this act.
According to the Bible man was created to “work the ground” .The Sumerian version claims that “the gods of Sumer rebelled at such drudgery and invented man to dig and tend”.
Genesis 11 does discuss the Sumer civilization, the Bible says:

“At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words. As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there. They said to one another,” Come on! Let’s make bricks and bake them hard”….”


Extract from Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997

“Nimrod, character in the biblical Book of Genesis, described as “the first potentate on earth” and “mighty hunter in the eyes of Yahweh (God) (Gen. 10:8-9). In Genesis he is identified as the son of Ham and grandson of Noah, and an empire-builder whose lands included large areas of southern Mesopotamia. Nimrod’s identity is much debated. He has been associated with the Mesopotamian god Ninurta, with the legendary Mesopotamian hero Gilamesh, and with King Shamshi-Abad 1,the founder of the Assaryian Empire.
The epitaph “mighty hunter” applied to Nimrod in genesis has traditionally been interpreted as indicating that “his prey was man”. In the 17 th.- centaury epic poem Paradise lost(Book X11, 11.24-63),by English writer John Milton ,Nimrod appears as the lawless and impious tyrant whose ambition led to the disastrous episode of building of the Tower of Babel, Nimrod instructed his people to construct a tower to reach heaven .God punished Nimrod’s arrogance and halted constriction by condemning the human race to speak separate and mutually unintelligible languages and scattering it all over the world .Legend locates the tomb of Nimrod in Damascus, Syria .In English literary tradition ,the name Nimrod is often applied to a skillful or daring hunter .”

Extract from Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997

Gilgamesh Epic
An important poem is named for its hero, Gilamesh, a tyrannical Babylonian king who ruled the city of Uruk, known in the Bible as Erech (now Al Warka, Iraq), according to the myth, the gods respond to the prayers of the oppressed citizenry of Uruk and send a wild, brutish man, Enkidu, to challenge Gilgamesh to a wrestling match. When the contest ends with neither as victor, Gilamesh and Enkidu become close friends. They journey together and share many adventures. Accounts of their heroism and bravery in slaying dangerous beats spread to many lands.
When the two travelers return to Uruk, Istar (guardian deity of the city) proclaims her love for the heroic Gilamesh. When he rejects her, she sends the Bull of heaven to destroy the city. Gilamesh and Enkidu kill the bull, and, as punishment for his participation, the gods doom Enkidu to die. After Enkidu’s death, Gilamesh seeks out the wise man Utnapishtim to learn the secrets of immortality .The sage recounts to Gilamesh a story of a great flood (the details of which are so remarkably similar to later biblical accounts that scholars have taken great interest in this story). After much hesitation, Untnapishtim reveals to Gilgamesh that a plant bestowing eternal youth is in the sea. Gilamesh dives into to the water and finds the plant but later loses it to a serpent and, disconsolate, returns to Uruk to end his days.
This saga was widely studied and translated in ancient times. Biblical writers appear to have modeled their account of the friendship of David and Jonathan on the relationship between Gilamesh and Ebkidu.”
 

The Prophet Ibrahim and Nimrod incident finds no mention in the Bible.The incident with Nimrod and The prophets opposition by his Father and people are also not mentioned at all in the Bible  .The bible treats the whole affair as a migration by the prophet to other lands to seek better economic opportunities .The Koran does present the incident as follows :-
Al Ambia 51…

Even before that We had accorded realization to Ibrahim and We knew him well  .Remember the incident when he ,Ibrahim ,said to his father and people “ these idols which you worship ,what is their use “ ,they replied that “ we found our ancestors and forefathers worshipping these idols “ .Ibrahim said “ you are misguided and so were your forefathers “ they said “are you serious or are you joking with us “ Ibrahim replied “ No , the true God is the same Who is the Creator of the earth and heavens  .I affirm my faith in front of you  and in your absence I will deal with your idols “ .The prophet than  did in fact broke the idols into pieces but left the biggest idol unharmed  .When his family came back they saw the fate of their idols and said “ who has done this to our gods some amongst them replied that “ we heard , a young man  named Ibrahim , who was mentioning this –the destruction of the idols to us “ .Ibrahim was summoned and asked as to why he had destroyed their idols .Ibrahim said that the idols were damaged by the big idol ,he suggested that they question the big idol  .This argument did register with the people but then they chose to ignore the rational and logical answer provided by Ibrahim and complained to Nimrod .

XX! – The Prophets verse 51 – 71
And we verily gave Abraham of old his proper course, and we were Aware of him. When he said unto his father and his folk. What are these images unto which ye pay devotion? They said: We found our fathers worshippers of them .He said: Verily ye and your fathers were in plain error. They said: Bringest thou unto us the truth, or art thou some jester? He said: Nay, but your Lord of the heavens and the earth .Who created them; and I am of those who testify unto that. And, by Allah, I shall circumvent your idols after ye have gone away and turned your backs. Then he reduced them to fragments, all save the chief of them, that haply they might have recourse to it. They said: Who hath done this to our gods? Surely it must be some evildoer. They said: we heard a youth make mention of them, who is called Abraham. They said: Is it thou who hast done this to our gods, o Abraham? He said: But this, their chief hath done .So Question them, if they can speak. They gathered they apart and said: Lo! Ye yourselves are the wrong doer. And they were utterly confounded. And they said: Well thou knowest that these speak not .He said: Worship ye then instead of Allah that which cannot profit you at all .not harm you? Fie on you and all that ye worship instead of Allah! Have ye then no sense?
They cried: Burn him and stand by your gods, if ye will be doing, we said: O fire .be coolness and peace for Abraham. And they wished to set a snare for him, but we made them great losers. And we rescued him and Lot (and brought them) to the land, which we have blessed for (all) peoples.
 Translation from Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall


The Koran and Talmud do discuss this .The Koranic description suggests:-

       . The monotheistic religion did not form the part of the collective
          Consciousness of his (prophet Ibrahim’s) people and family .His                     father and people were clearly idol worshippers( Although there are references, to a lost tradition and belief of worship of one God).

        . Nimrod and the establishment also were not happy at this action and claim of Ibrahim pbuh .This would suggest that the Sumeric/Babylonian people were also not the adherents of the monotheistic religion.

.Interestingly Nimrod’s unhappiness, in fact, resulted from the complain of The Prophets father and not from the deeds of Ibrahim pre se. The assertions of the Prophet Ibrahim were not per se offensive to the ruler .Nimrod.s displeasure resulted from the debasing of the Hebrew deities at the hand of Ibrahim .


One could infer that the monotheistic religion as a concept was introduced by people other than the Prophets family and the prevailing population and royalty of UR .Royalty of Ur also did not subscribe to the monotheistic religion .Who were the outsiders, sophisticated enough, to have introduced the concept of the monotheistic religion? Could these have been the parts of the elite from Indus civilization, which around this time started to .Did the Indus elite migrate to Ur and did the elite carry the embryonic concept of ONE GOD RELEGION with them to Sumer.

The character and ethos of the Indus civilization was inclusiveness .There is no evidence of any intercine warfare or struggle .This trait was definitely not transferred to the people who subsequent to the decline of IVC inhabited these areas .The succeeding people were tribal and pastoral people, with considerable evidence of intercine warfare and struggle, as depicted in the Mahabatra .The IVC did not transfer its main trait to the people who succeeded them.
Perhaps the elite migrated to UR (and not to the Jummna-Ganges valley or Kutch area) and therefore the essence of the IVC was not transferred to the subsequent societies that followed the IVC in the sub-continent. What was transferred was the handicrafts and other craft skills .This would suggest that Indus people other than the Indus elite did stay on .The Indus civilization was characterized by the lack of defined priest structures .Also absence were elaborate burial practices .There is evidence of inequality but there is no evidence of human sacrifice or slave workers (general health of non elite has been deemed to be good, they had been well fed).
The religion of the Sumerians left its mark on the entire Middle East .Its temples and ziggurats are scattered all over the region .Its literature, cosmogony and rituals influenced its neighbors to an extant that Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions echo Sumerian ones.
Each city housed a temple that was a seat of a god, as the gods controlled the powerful forces which often dictated human life .The city leaders had a duty to please the towns patron deity, not only for the good will of that deity but also for the good will of other powerful deities (this could also be the method used to skim off the surplus form the farmers, who were made to believe that gods needed pleasing else the prosperity of the farmer would be threatened, the farmer gave away most of the surplus to the god to ensure continued good will of the deity with reference to weather ,water etc . )
The priests initially held this role which also continued when secular kings got to power. Many kings also claimed divine right.
The circular central shrine of the temple, known as a “cella”, had a brick alter or offering table in front of a statue of the temple’s deity, the cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud–brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temples eventually evolved into towering ziggurats.
The temples were staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians, singers, castrates and hierodules. Various public rituals, food sacrifices and libations took place on a daily basis. There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. During the later, the king would be married to Inanna as the resurrected fertility god Dumuzi.


When it came to more private matters, a Sumerian remained devout  .In times of misfortunes a Sumerian could do little, the best he could do was would be to “plead, lament and wail, tearfully confessing his sins and failings.” their family god or city god might intervene on their behalf, which did not happen always. After all a man was created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the use of the gods and at the end of everyone’s life, laid the underworld, a generally dreary place.
The Sumerian concept of creation (anki) was that the primeval sea (abzu) existed before anything else and within that, the heaven (an) and the earth (ki) were formed .The boundary between heaven and earth was a solid (perhaps tin vault, and the earth was a flat disc. Within the vault lay the gas-like “lil” or atmosphere, the brighter portions therein formed the stars, planets, sun and the moon. Each of the major Sumerian deity is associated with one of these regions .An the god of heavens may have been the main god prior to 2500 BC, although his importance gradually waned .the original name of the earth goddess, whose name more often appears as Ninhursag (queen of the mountains), Ninmah (the exalted lady), or Nintu (the lady who gave birth). It seems likely that these two were the progenitors of most of the gods.
Nammu is the goddess of the watery abyss, the primeval sea .She may be the earliest of deities within Sumerian cosmology as she gave birth to heaven and earth .She is elsewhere described both as mother of all gods and wife of An .She is Enki’s mother .she prompts him to create servants for the gods and is then directed by him on how, with the help of Nimmah/Ninhursag to create man.
An, the god is heaven was a main god since 2500 BC although his importance gradually waned .in the early days he carried off heaven, while Enlil carried away the earth .He and Ki/Ninhursag were the progenitors of most of the gods, although in one place Nammu is listed to be his wife .His primary temple was at Erech .He and Enlil gave various gods, goddesses, and kings their earthly regions of influence and their laws.
Ninhursag (Ki ,Ninmah ,Nintu) Ki is perhaps the original name of the goddess of earth whose name often appears as Ninhursag (queen of mountains) ,Ninmah (exalted lady), or Nintu (the lady who gave birth). Most often she is considered as Enlil’s sister, but in some traditions she is his spouse instead .She was born, possibly as a unified cosmic mountain with An, from Nammu and shortly thereafter, their union produced Enlil .In the early days, as Ki she was separated from Heaven (An) and carried off by Enlil .It seems likely that she and an were the progenitors of most of the gods .she later unites with Enlil and with the assistance of Enki they produce the world’s plant and animal life.
Enki and Ninhursag in Dilmun ,she as (Ninyu) bears the goddess Ninsar from Enki .who in turn bears the goddess Ninkur ,who in turn bears Uttu ,goddess of plants .Uttu bore eight new trees from Enki .when he ate Uttu’s children ,Ninhursag cursed him eight wounds and disappears .After being persuaded by Enlil to undo her curse ,she bore Enki eight new children which undid the wounds of the first ones .
Enki seats her (as Nintu) on the big side of the table in Nippur at the feast celebrating his new house in Eridu .
Enki and Ninmah, she is the mother goddess and, as Ninmah assists in the creation of man. Enki, having been prompted by Nammu to create servants for the gods, describes how Nammu and Ninmah will help fashion man from clay. Prior to getting to work, she and Enki drink overmuch at a feast She then shapes six flawed versions of man from the heart of clay over the Abzu, with Enki declaring their fates. Enki, in turn also creates a flawed man which is unable to eat. Ninmah appears to curse him for his failed effort.
Extract form Ibn e Khuldun:
The Khane Kaaba was said to have been first built by the Prophet Adam, this was destroyed in the great flood and its traces were lost. However there is no evidence of this from the hadiath records.
The Koranic verse that says, “Hazarat Abrahim pbum and Hazarat Ishmael pbum were to construct their walls on ancient foundations”
It is possible that this is a reference to this story.
It is also possible that ancient foundations here mean the religion and not figuratively the building also it could mean the great assembly hall in Harrapa (and Mohenjadaro). There was a claim that this great assembly hall was similar in style and architecture to Kaaba.

Extract form: Tafseer Ibn e Kasir, Allama Ammad uldin ibn e kasir: Hadiqa Academy, Urdu Bazar, and Lahore

When Hazarat Abrahim pbuh reached the Kaaba a piece of cloud was over him and a voice commanded that O Ibrahim construct the House of God along the shadow of the cloud.
Hazart Sadi states “The stone was brought by the angel Gabriel from HIND, and then it was white ….
Also it was stated in the same narration that the foundations of the Kaaba were laid upon already existing foundations.
In Abdul Razzak it is stated that Hazarat Adam came from Indian sub continent. 

Interestingly in 2120 BC Ur-Nammu the governor of Ur was crowned: King of Sumer, UR and Akkad” his reign lasted until 2095 BC he standardized weights and measures in the mines .He, formulated a system of law which tried to establish justice for the underprivileged, notably the widows and orphans who were desperately poor .He also made rules for punishing the rich who abused their power by beating and violating their slaves. There were also laws in this new code to punish those who bore false witness, and laws to financially compensate people who were victims of robbery and injury, and particularly indemnities for wives treated badly by their husbands. Were these laws developed under influence from IVC? The Indus elite possibly migrated to Sumer aroud 2000 BC.

                                                     






































Chapter 6: Signs of Rationality

The Harrapan civilization was unique in many ways .It was technologically a very advanced society, the arts of Mohenjadoro seem to belong to a much later era .The social structure and the belief system also seems to be much advanced as compared to contemporary civilizations .The IVC exhibits some signs of rationality that need to be explored further.
The seal  (Plano convex molded tablet from Harrapa – Cat. No. 27) shows a man slaying a buffalo and a seated figure, in yogic posture.
This could be interpreted as the demise of the old religion (portrayed in the slaying if the buffalo); the deity could be the symbol of the new religion.
The slaying could represent departure from Sumer like religion to an abstract one. Slaying of the buffalo is intriguing as the buffalo was a worship animal.
The “deity” in yogic posture, is elsewhere shown as wearing spreading horns of a water buffalo, does this also represent a departure from older traditions.

The bull was a worship animal

Lord who walks nobly on heaven and earth, self-reliant,
Father Enki, engendered by a bull,
Begotten by a wild bull,
Prized by Enlil, the Great Kur,
Loved by holy An,……

Once he had turned his eye away from that spot,
Once father Enki had raised it over the Euphrates,
He stood up full of lust like an attacking bull,
Lifted his penis, ejaculates –
He filled the Tigris with flowing water.

A wild cow mooing for its young in the pastures,
The scorpion-infested stall,
The Tigris clung to its side as to an attacking bull.

He lifted his penis, brought the bridal gifts –
Like a big wild bull he thrilled the heart of the Tigris,
Stood by as it gave birth.

Source: Myths of Enki, The Crafty God by Samuel Noah and Meier, John

 Is the yogic posture deity a Gilgamesh like figure?

Animal motifs appearing on seals found primarily at the largest cities include dangerous wild animal including the buffalo. These animals were revered as totemic animals, closely associated with important myths and legends. Zebu bull seals is found on many seals and these bulls may represent the most important or powerful clan of the cities.




The so called granary of Harrapa is found on Mount F .It has a brick structure that was built on a massive brick foundation over 45 meters north south and 45 meters east – east .Two rows of six rooms that appear to be foundations are arranged along a central passageway that is about 7 meters wide and partly covered with baked bricks. Each room measures 15.2 by 6.1 meters and has three sleeper walls with air space between them. A wooden superstructure supported in some places by large columns would have been built on top of the brick foundations, with stairs leading up from the central passage area. Small triangular openings may have served as air ducts to allow the flow of fresh air beneath the hollow floors.
Most scholars agree that theses structures are large public buildings. Rulers and state officials probably did meet in such large buildings and many of them may have been used for specific religious functions, their specific function remains a mystery.

Are these structures a model for the Kaaba?
Extract from Ibn e Khuldun:
The Khane Kaaba was said to have been first built by the Prophet Adam, this was destroyed in the great flood and its traces were lost. However there is no evidence of this from the hadiath records.(separate traditions suggest that Prophet Adam resided in what is now known as the IVC)
The Koranic verse that says, “Hazarat Abrahim pbum and Hazarat Ishmael pbum were to construct their walls on ancient foundations”
It is possible that this is a reference to this story.
It is also possible that “ancient foundations” here means the religion and not figuratively the building. Also it could mean the great assembly hall in Harrapa (and Mohenjadaro). There was a claim that this great assembly hall was similar in style and architecture to Kaaba.

Extract form: Tafseer Ibn e Kasir, Allama Ammad uldin ibn e kasir: Hadiqa Academy, Urdu Bazar, and Lahore

When Hazarat Abrahim pbuh reached the Kaaba a piece of cloud was over him and a voice commanded that O Ibrahim construct the House of God along the shadow of the cloud.
Hazart Sadi states “The stone was brought by the angel Gabriel from HIND, and then it was white ….
Also it was stated in the same narration that the foundations of the Kaaba were laid upon already existing foundations.
In Abdul Razzak it is stated that Hazarat Adam came from Indian sub continent. 

The similarities in plan and construction of Harrapa and Mohenjodaro and their sizes suggest that they served as capitals of their provinces .Both cities were constructed of the same type and size of bricks.
In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from these cities are not magnificent. Burials are more simplistic and contain few material things, for the most part things that are found are not luxury goods .remains of palaces or temples have not been found .The civilization was mainly urban .The inhabitants traded with Mesopotamia, Southern India, Afghanistan and Persia for gold, silver and turquoise.
The government was very efficient and complex .The complexity of the social structure is evident from the fact that various racial and ethnic groups peacefully coexisted within this civilization for a long period of time .The quality of municipal town planning is an outstanding feature of the civilization and depicts the emphasis accorded to hygiene. The streets were laid out in an efficient grid pattern, which ensured that houses were safeguarded from odor, noise and thieves .Houses were also safeguarded from floods. Baked bricks which were rarely used in the Near East were used for construction. The uniformity (there are some exceptions) in town planning suggest the presence of a strong centralized government, which enforced the standardized construction and planning of cities.
The construction and maintenance of the cites was accomplished by participation of the city population as no slave labor seem to have been detected or inferred .The government even standardized industrial products such as metal tools and weapons and even units of length that were used to measure distance. The administration managed an intricate system of distribution of agricultural and industrial products, and also raw materials, both indigenous and imported. They managed to grow enough surplus agricultural produce to feed the various specialized workers .The high degree of homogeneity in products ,the uniform planning of towns ,the rigorous enforcement of trade and municipal regulations and the efficient distribution system all point to an efficient sophisticated administration , much out of place , in that point in time .
There is evidence of scientific and technological excellence as well; this is depicted by the great accuracy that they achieved in measuring units of length, mass and time. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale of Lothal , was approximately 1.704 mm . Their engineers followed the decimal division of measurement and hence the great symmetry and homogeneity in their structures. The sewage system was very sophisticated and they were the first people to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. They evolved techniques in metallurgy and produced tin, copper, bronze, and lead.
The Indus people were very proficient in fine arts .Sir John Marshall once reacted with surprise when he saw the famous Harrapan bronze statuette of the slender-limbed “dancing” girl in Mohenjodaro :

“When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they are pre-historic; they seemed so completely to upset all established ideas about early art .Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to the Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made; these figures had found their way into levels some 3000 years older than to which they properly belonged …. Now, in these statuettes, it is just this anatomical truth which is so startling; that makes us wonder whether, in this all-important matter, Greek artistry could possibly have been anticipated by the sculptors of a far-off age on the banks of the Indus.

The Harrapan art is considered as much advanced for that period.

The inclusive mature of the civilization is perhaps its greatest achievement; various religious, racial and social groups lived in harmony. Some seals do show some strife between social classes but more numerous others show integration of ideologically or socially different groups , which is symbolically shown by animals with several heads that represent a combination of different tribes or social groups .
 This integration was managed by means of free trade , of goods and commodities ,between various regions within the civilization resulting in mutual prosperity .The central authority did manage to put up a system that ensured equitable returns to different groups by means of establishment of market towns .Another approach of the Harrappans peoples to the problem of religious differences was to form confederacies in order to convert other people to the Harrappan ideology and way of life by offering the benefits of superior material culture and ensuring as more peaceful life . In addition inter racial marriages were encouraged and were very common as is revealed by the examination of joint burials of Lothal .

Extracts from Prof. Dani’s interview, from the internet.

“…. Have been working in the assumption that the language of the Indus people was Dravadian , that the people who built the Indus Civilization are Dravadians ,. But unfortunately I, as well as my friend Prof. B.B. Lal in India, have not been able to agree with this “ . “ ….then something of that civilization they should carry into the South except just the language .”
” We have not stringed instruments in Indus Valley Civilization. We have got the flute, we have cymbals, we have got the dholak , So , I would like to correct myself : to say that there is nothing  surviving in South India ( is wrong) ; this is the only instrument which is surviving there according to me from The Indus Civilization “
“….So if we insist on an agglutinative language being used in the Indus period, why not connect it with Altaic , rather than just with Dravadian ? Why not connect it with Sumerian , which is also an agglutinative language ?”
“…. The prototype of Shiva, and about the yoga and so on. But today we know that there is a great difference between the two “
“So if writing in the Indus Civilization is derived from Western Asia, it is not necessary that the symbols come from that place. We can use our own symbols. But the basic principle came from there.”


Extracts from Dr. Tariq Rehman : ”Peoples and Languages in Pre-Islamic Indus Valley:

“…Thus Pakistani languages have a Dravadian substratum .The evidence for this presence of this substratum is the presence of retroflex consonants which does not exist in Iranian or European members of the Indo-European family of languages .Another clue may be the existence of consonantal clusters in the beginning and end of words in Iranian , European , Dardic languages and even Sanskrit .Thus Sanskrit has “prem” which means love , but Hindi-Urdu has “perim”. They insert the vowel “i” between the two word-initial consonants “p” and “r” because their own rules of pronunciation do not allow word-initial consonantal clusters”.
“…speakers of , Urdu , Punjabi and Sindhi separate consonants in words such as “school”, “ stool” , and “small” .It may be that this splitting of consonantal clusters comes into some of the languages of South Asia from languages older than Sanskrit .”

“Mohenjodaro was abandoned and a cultural fragmentation in the Greater Indus Valley took place .When that happened the Harrappan language remained as a substratum in the language of the Aryan civilization of the Indus valley civilization of the Indus Valley of about 1200 to 1000 B.C when the Rigveda was largely composed in the plains of Punjab,”



































Chapter 7: Philosophy of Religion
Whiteheads definition of advanced religion:
“A system of general truths, which have the effect of transforming character when they are sincerely held and vividly apprehended.”
Almost in all religions some sort of cosmogony exists

Herbert Spencer from “The Story of Philosophy” by Will Durant
Society is an organism, having organs of nutrition, circulation, coordination and reproduction .In a society each of the part retains its own consciousness and its own will, but the centralization of government and authority tends to reduce the scope of this distinction .A social organism grows but with growth it becomes more complex and while becoming more complex its part acquire increased interdependence.
The development of society mimics evolution, the growing size of the political unit, from family to state and league, the growing size of the economic unit, from petty domestic industry to monopolies and cartels, the growing size of the population unit, from village to town and cities, surely these show a sign on integration, while the division of labor, the multiplication of professions and trades, and the growing interdependence of the city with country, and of nation with nation, amply illustrate the development of coherence and differentiation .
The same principles of integration of the heterogeneous apply to every field of social phenomena, from religion and government to science and art.
Religion is at first the worship of a multitude of gods and spirits, more or less like in every nation, and the development of religion comes through the notion of a central and omnipotent deity subordinating the others, and coordinating them into their hierarchy of special roles.
The first gods were probably suggested by dreams and ghosts .The primitive mind believed that in death or sleep, or trance, the ghost or spirit left the body. Echo’s and reflections were sounds and sights of one’s ghost or double .God was at first only a permanently existing ghost. Persons who had been powerful during their earthly lives were believed to keep their power in their ghostly appearance. Such dangerous ghosts had to be appeased. Funeral rites grew into worship, and all the modes of currying favor with the earthly chief were applied to the ceremonial of prayer and the appeasement of the gods. Ecclesiastical revenues originated in gifts to the gods, just as state revenue began as presents to the chief. Obeisance to kings became prostration and prayer at the altar of the god .In ancestor worship all religion has its origin.
Religion is probably the central feature in the life of primitive man. Existence is so precarious and humble among them that the person lives rather in the hope of things to come than in the reality of things seen.
Supernatural religion is a concomitant of militant societies, as war give way to industry, thought turns from death to life, and life runs out of the groove of reverent authority into the open road of initiative and freedom.
The military states are always centralized in government and almost always monarchical, the cooperation it inculcates is regimental and compulsory, it encourages authoritarian religion, worshiping a warrior god .It develops rigid class distinctions and class codes .It props up the natural domestic absolutism of the male. Because the death rate in warlike societies is high, they tend to polygamy and to a low status of women. Most states have been militant because war strengthens the central power and makes for the subordination of all interests to those of the state.
Industry makes for democracy and peace as life ceases to be dominated by war a thousand centers of economic development arise and power is beneficially spread over a large portion of the members of the group. Since production can prosper only where initiative is free, an industrial society breaks down those traditions of authority, hierarchy and caste which flourish in military states and under which military states flourish .The occupation of a solider ceases to be held in high repute and patriotism becomes a love of one’s country rather than a hatred of every other. Superstitious religion is superseded by liberal creeds whose focus is upon enrichment of human life .The contrast between the militant and the industrial type of society is indicated by the statement that “inversion of the belief that individuals exist for the benefit of the State into the belief that the State exists for the benefit of the individuals.
A military society exalts certain virtues and condones what other people might call crimes. Aggression and robbery and treachery are not so equivocally denounced among peoples accustomed to them by war, as among people who have learned the value of honesty and non-aggression through industry and peace. Generosity and humanity flourish better where war is infrequent and long periods of productive tranquility inculcates the advantages of mutual aid .The patriotic members of a militant society will look upon bravery and strength as the highest virtues of a man, upon obedience as the highest virtues of the citizen, and upon silent submission to multiple motherhood as the highest virtues of a woman.
The North American Indian regarded the use of the bow and arrow, the war club and spear, as the noblest employments of man; they looked upon agricultural and mechanical labor as degrading.
During immaturity benefits received must be inversely proportionate to capacities possessed. Within the family group most must be given where least is deserved.

Evaluation of The Indus valley civilization evaluated at above criteria would be as follows: -

The Indus civilization excavations do bring out the following facts: -

-          There does not seem to be a large number of gods, in fact very few figurines have been found which could be gods or goddesses, although it should be said that these figures, the priest – king, dancing girl, other god figures do not necessarily indicate images of gods. The first two were not images whilst the later could be god images but these perhaps relate to the last Indus periods, a period according to this thesis, the Indus elite had already migrated to Sumer, and the whole structure and ethos of the Indus society had changed .
-          The burial practices in proto Harrapan /early Harrapan period changed in about 3000 BC. Burial were no longer elaborate and dead bodies did not include valuables, in contrast to the  practice which continued in Sumer and elsewhere .The Indus burials were simple and indicate the fact that these people believed that the dead had no use for the material goods which are of value to the living. Incidentally in the late Harrapan period the burial practices changed again .The dead were cremated, this would indicate a major change and would support the theory that the Indus elite did migrate (to Sumer) around 2000 BC and although the cities did continue to exist but the central organizing force was not there any more.
-          The Indus cities do not indicate any inter city warfare evidence .It would seem that these cities were not at war with each other and the similarity in city layouts would indicate a strong central authority, which was imposed not by force but by commerce, trade and religion.
-          There is significant evidence of industrial activity, this would indicate a society that was progressive, was not warlike and therefore had structures that assisted innovation (although the fact that Indus artifacts remained exactly the same for a large period of time would indicate that there was strong central regulation which did not allow change and therefore inhabited innovation).
-          There is also no evidence of slavery, There does seem to be an upper and lower class but the structure does not seem to have been maintained by use of force .The elite perhaps exercised control by means of: religion; and by management and control of trade with Sumer and elsewhere.

The above would indicate that the Indus civilization was inclusive in nature and therefore would not have multiple gods; there would be a single God which could have been an abstract concept of God. Prophet Abraham does seem to have obtained the concept of an abstract, mono, omnipresent God from Sumer. This concept was not present in Sumerian society itself (see the reaction of Nimrod to the complain of Prophet Abraham’s father and people, for this see both the Koranic and talmudic versions) .The concept was not present in the Jews (see reaction of Prophet Abraham’s father and family). The only people sophisticated enough to have developed this concept were the Indus people (Egypt, Crete and China do seem to have multiple gods).

The primitive man also is said to believe in cyclic nature of things and life , the modern mind believes in a linear forward looking approach .Burial practices where the dead body was accompanied with large an mount of luxury goods and in cases where the body is cremated do suggest that the society practicing such burial procedures believes in the cyclic nature of life and the dead are deemed to return in the same or in some other shape .The Harrapan burial practices , in sharp contrast to contemporary civilizations, were simple burial with very few commodities buried with the dead body , the few items that were found were very inexpensive ( there are very few exceptions to this) . This would suggest that the Harrapan people were forward looking people who had a pragmatic view of things and events.

The above discussion supposes that religion was and is a result of evolution. Society as it grew and matured required the concept of an abstract, omnipresent God and this evolution occurred in the Indus cities and was transmitted, by means of the migrating Indus elite, to Prophet Abraham and his people in Sumer .The problem with this concept is that it is not supported by subsequent, to IVC, history, progress does not necessarily relate to improved in religious concepts .In IVC itself the late Harrapan period could be termed as an regression .An answer to that could be that the evolution in religious thought and practice becomes a part of the total human consciousnesses and the progress is passed to the next dominant civilization ,the civilization making the development could go in decline .Further complications rise as there is considerable evidenced to support that the central idea of the monotheistic religion can be traced to the first man who achieved conciseness , prophet Adam . Early Sumerian myths (the creation myth for example) do seem to relate to sacred text belonging to the era and land from where the Sumar migrated to their city states . Rigvedic texts also contain text that seems to belong to an era when the Aryans had not separated from the Iranians.

The Omniscience of Varuna

A guardian, the Lord of worlds
Sees all things as if near at hand.
In secret what ‘tis thought to do
That to the gods is all displayed.

Whoever moves or stands, who glides in secret,
Who seeks a hiding-place, or hastens from it,
What things two men may plan in secret council ,
A third King Varuna , perceives it also .

And all this earth, King Varuna possesses,
His the remotest ends of you broad heaven;
And born the seas in Varuna lie hidden,
But yet the smallest water drop contains him

Although I climbed the furthest heaven, fleeing
I should not there escape the monarch’s power;
From the heaven his spies descending hasten hither,
With all their thousand eyes the world surveying

Whate’er exists between the earth and heaven,
Or both beyond, to Varuna lies open
The winking of each mortal eye he,
He wields the universe, as dice a player



Page 50, “The Oxford History of India” by Vincent A. Smith, (2001, OUP).

The Sumerian myths seem to be of two kinds , one that differ from time to time ,these were modified in each successive era , the other are those that seem to have been kept in tact for all times . These seem to be related to the sacred text that perhaps the Sumar brought from the piedmont perch from where they migrated to the plains .The concept that the human mind has a deep structure that allows it to learn language and to accept the monotheistic concept of religion has been given by a number of philosophers .This legacy, the monotheistic concept of religion, from the place of fall (Eden according to the Bible) seem to be the factor that made civilizations dominant , and this key factor passed from the dominant civilization to the succeeding one . The Indus people were the first owners of this key concept and when for unknown reasons their land became not receptive to this primal but everlasting truth they migrated and passed on this message to Prophet Ibrahim .Who in the travels spread this to the whole of middle eastern .the Jewish people became the owners or holders of this key element and this subsequently passed on to other civilizations and this process goes on to the present.



History is the record of progress of the human race over time. This progress is not a straight linear path, but there are regressions also, but looking at a long-term picture there is a clear trend towards steady progress in human religious thought and practice. This would of course depend as to how we define progress.

Fundamental changes in conception go together with fundamental changes in values. Historical consciousness has not been forced upon man by the relentless accumulation of knowledge and experience .He does not embrace modern view of time and history reluctantly, as something to which he is condemned by fate. Rather it is a matter of preference with him .He has come to regard non-repetitive change, the continual occurrence of novelties, as a law of life because he wants it to be a law of life .The idea that history repeats itself has been rejected by Kant on the ground that this will violate human dignity by denying man’s exceptional status.
The ancients had generally seen the world as eternal, without beginning or end, and as a harmonious whole and balanced system, a kosmos that partook in the nature of the divine and was a worthy object of admiration .The new religion saw the world as temporally finite, the creation of a transcendent personal; Deity who continually sustains it during its limited period of existence, it was God alone who was now eternal.
In ancient mythology, religion or philosophy the world had also been occasionally described as the creation of God or the gods, but “creation” had then meant a rebuilding or restructuring of pre-existing materials, according to principles of timeless validity.
The new concept of religion gave the concept of God’s absolute power and self-sufficiency .God was also said to process absolute goodness and love. The attitude of looking forward in hope acquired the status of a virtue and religious demand which it had not processed before .The classical stance had been to associate hope with illusion, it might make life more bearable, but the wise and strong neither hoped nor feared.
Relevance to the present issue is to discuss the differences in: structure of society; and attitudes, between the prehistoric man and the new emerging man who believed in a single God.
Turgot believes that the first age has been one in which men like children indulge in anthromorphic beliefs; this was followed by a period when these phenomena were accounted for metaphysically, in terms of abstract entities (finally there has been a breakthrough to scientific rationality). Turgot also referred to mankind’s gradual unification: beginning with numerous isolated tribes, larger and larger, and fewer and fewer, units have been formed throughout history and in the future there will be only one unit.
Condorcet believes that the subject of progress was the human mind, the shaping of the mind by means of enlightment and education seemed to be suggested as the proper way of promoting progress .He divided history into: hunting and fishing (family, language); pastoralism (livestock, primitive technology, slavery, inequality); agriculture (further technology, alphabet) and so on.
Marx saw that what makes man human is the fact that he produces for need and the way he does it, and on the other hand has ability to produce beyond need .Man became man through labor i.e. by creating conditions which are necessary to his bodily needs.  Labor thus expresses man’s dependency and lack of freedom; it would have to be abolished if man were to be made completely free
Kant believes that God has implanted reason in man and this development of reason is what history is all about .If so the question is did God reveal the Oneness of the God to the Indus people if so why. This must be a logical reason for this. What were the differences between Sumer and IVC, Sumerian civilization was not inclusive in nature, city states were frequently at war with each other, each had its own deity, IVC was different as it was inclusive, there is no evidence of multiple gods nor is there evidence of warfare between cities, Why? Was this so.
Audelung claims that the initial primal apex language was created when Prophet Adam was born and further that Prophet Adam was born in Kashmir and Prophet Adam’s heaven (Eden) was also in Kashmir.
Gorres in 1810 claimed that Aryans were the middle eastern Sumer and that Prophet Ibraham came from Kashmir which was the first place where human civilization developed .Creuzer in his book “Symbolik and Mythologie” claimed that the Jews based their religion upon the religion of the Brahmins, he further claimed that Prophet ibrahim was in fact the god Brahma and Sarah was in fact the Sarasvati of the sub continent, both Ibrahim and Sarah were Brahmins.
What is significant in these statements is the fact that it depicts the intellectual legacy which the sub continent passed on to Abraham . These comments suggest that that the monotheist concept could only have come from the Harrappan people and perhaps the the Harrapan people perhaps did transmit the one God concept to Abraham rather than the Aryans.
Michelet in his book “History of Rome” claims that “---the departure place was Hindusitan , which was the birth place of all races and religions ..”.Renan in his book “ Life of Jesus” claims that “The Sumer were a tribe of the Jewish people “ .Jacolliot in his publication claims that “Hinduistan ,which is the birth place of all human races , is like the full breast of a mother “.
The book “Historical Development of Music “, claims that” from Mohenjadaro and Harrappa seven stringed musical have been discovered”. Similar claims were made by Rai Bahadur K.N.Dixit (pre historic civilization of the Indus Valley, Madras 1939, page 30).
The above is a view of religion that accepts that evolution created religion .Although there are a number of aspects of this assumption that can be debated , we for the purposes of our inquiry accept this thesis and evaluate the Harrapan civilization  on this account .The above and other similar hypothesis are based on evolution of man , human society , economic structures and religious concepts .This view if applied to the Harrapn civilization would perhaps result in rejection of this thesis , since the Harrapan civilization was inclusive , rational , and pragmatic , all what it should not have been according to the evolutionary theory .





































Chapter 7: Non-Aryan Elements of Hinduism

The IVC legacy did not completely die out with the demise of the cities .IVC religion continued to play a part in the subsequent years .Hinduism exhibits two distinct, very different, streams .One of which is the Aryan concept system and the other is the non –Aryan belief system , which is argued to be related to the IVC legacy .
The Devotional religion of South India, Jianism and Buddhism were all reactions to the Aryan-Brahmin control of all religious thought and practices .All these non Aryan reactions can be shown to be influenced by the IVC legacy.
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
“The Upanisads have a distinct mystic and religious strain” pg. 20 .
“In the development of philosophical thought in India there have been two main currents, the Vedic and the non-Vedic …. The gods of Vedas are associated with chariots and horses but non-Vedic gods have association with hunting ….The Vedic religion is one of ritualism. The offering of soma at the sacrifices formed the most important feature of the religious life of the people among the Vedic Aryans .In the Upanisads we find a combination of the element of the worship of the Divine in the forest with Vedic sacrifices .The Vedic concept is mainly the worship of the male deity there are a few goddesses in the Vedas and these are of minor importance.
Page 36 “The earliest religious literature in Tamil consists of devotional songs of the saints called Alvars” page 37”There is no evidence of the existence of anything corresponding to Vedic ritualism in the Indus Valley Civilization. We, however, find many of the features of the non-Vedic civilization that contributed to the growth of later Hinduism “.”Another prominent feature of the Indus Valley Civilization was the worship of the Mother Goddess. Thus the Predominance of the female aspect of the Divine in this civilization is another non-Vedic element which influenced the Indian civilization of later time “page 38 “The idea of man being his own architect fits better with the non-Vedic relegopn than with the Vedic religion of ritualism where man performs the sacrifice to propitiate gods who bestow benefits on man.



The development of devotional religion and the subsequent Bkakti movement in South India also needs attention as this was an anti-Aryan movement .The movement is described as follows:
Bkakti Movement Extract from “Indology”by Rashid Malik, Fiction House, 2002

“….But the religious movement which developed in that period of time was called Bhakti , and this movement had no links to Vedic literature or to other religious books, there were also no links to the philosophical though of the times in the sub continent .The movement preached that there are no go-between in the contact between man and Creator .The movement rejected religion and philosophy and reverted to the sufic concept of love --- The collection of poems called Dewarama has the status of a holy book in Tamil South India . The poems portray a new direct relationship between the Creator and man, this relationship is based on love, in which the beloved is the Creator and the lover is man “(this extract is from Professor Mujib as quoted in the above referred book).
The professor’s view can be summarized as:
-          The rejection of Vedic and other religious literature by the movement.
-          The rejection of sacrifice and related traditions.
-          The rejection of Vedic deities.
-          Change in manner and style of religious expression.
-          Opposition to the Brahmins.
-          Salvation trough a teacher.
-          Rejection of Sanskrit as a holy language and expression of religious thought in local dialects.”

The influences on the Bhakti movement are hotly debated , one line of thought places these on the influence of Islam , other points of view seek seeds of the movement in the Vedic literature and in the deity Vishnu .The significant fact here is that the initial Bakhti literature was found akin to a Indo-Aryan language literature in Mahastara , this literature was produced before the advent of the Muslims .This would suggest that the movement could be the manifestation of dormant religious thought related to pre Aryan era , possibly the Harrappan civilization .

Extract from “a History of India” Volume 1, Romila Thapar, Penguin Books, 2000

1.“The participation of women in a wider area of social activity than laid out down by brahamanic sources was encouraged by all the socio-religious reform movements in India, such as the Tamil devotional cult , the Bhakti movement , and the nineteenth-centaury Brahmo-samraj and Arya-samaraj .”page 67
2.”..The Buddha intended his teachings to reach the lower strata of society, hence his use of the popular language Magaghi in preference to Sanskrit. Buddhist following was drawn mainly from the mercantile community, the artisans, and the cultivators …. The pattern of association of these two heterodox sects- Buddhism and Jainism – with urban centers and largely with the lower castes was repeated in later centuries with the various phases of what came to be called the Bhakti movement …” page 68
3.”In the sphere of religion, other groups either anti-Vedic or non-Vedic in feeling were also present .Apart from Jainism and Buddhism, there arrived the Bhagavata and Pashupata cults, the cults of devotion to Vishnu and Shiva respectively –theism with an emphasis on personal worship rather than sacrificial rituals – and these were to strike at the roots in the populace whilst the royalty was busily concerning itself with Vedic rituals. Eventually the devotional cult was to prove stronger than any other religious force in the South, and this was recognized even by the royal patrons.
Jainism and Buddhism has gradually to give way to a new form of religious worship ,the devotional cults of the Tamil saints , which were among the early expressions of what came to be called the Bhakti movement .The devotional aspect was formulated in a relationship between God and man based on love ,a formulation which had not been so strongly stressed in earlier Hindu thought .The worshippers , recognized a feeling of inadequacy , would declare his love for God who , it was believed , permitted a reciprocal relationship ., described poignantly in one of the Tamil hymns .

When you see his face praise him with joy,
Worship him with joined palms bow before him
So that his feet touch your head,
Holy and mighty will be his form
Raising to the heaven, but his sterner face
Will be hidden, and he will show you
The form of a young man, fragrant and beautiful
And his words will be loving and gracious –
Don’t be afraid – I know you are coming.


Tamil devotionalism achieved a great wave of popularity in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. and was continued in the hymns and sermons of the Nayanars(the Shaivite saints) and the Alvars (the Vaishnavite saints) ……The Vedic gods were either denied or ignored ,the emphasis being not on worship but on the relationship involved in the worship , the relationship between man and God.
… although never so recognized by the Brahmins , the Tamil devotional cult was in part a resistance to the Aryanization of the region.---- Religious hymns and music was popularized by the Tamil saints , and the singing of these hymns became a regular feature of temple ritual .  The vina was probably the most frequently used instrument, its origin being the bow-harp familiar to both the Indian sub continent and the ancient Middle East …..Dancing was also included in the rituals at the temple .Originating with folk dancing, the choreography of temple dancing became the highly sophisticated and complex renderings of religious themes as apparent in its final form, Bharatanatyam.’
Pages 184-190

The devotional cults were developed in the Southern Tamil lands, this surely must be significant, the Dravadiams are said to have coexisted with the Harrappans in the last Harrappan period and they seem to have either borrowed from the Harrappan language or contributed to modern day, existing languages in lands that were included in the Harrapan civilization .The sufic concept, much later, also became the popular religion in the western and north-western sub continent. The music and dancing aspects of the devotional religion could have links to the Harrappans , where dancing and music seem to be a part of their cultural and religious life .The monotheistic religion concept could be a legacy from the long forgotten Harrapan civilization that kept surfacing in the Tamil lands and indeed elsewhere in the shape of Buddhism , Jainism , Bhakti movement , Kabir and Nanak , all of these were essentially anti Vedic and anti Aryan in varying degrees .All these concepts could be echoes from the long forgotten Indus valley civilization .






Extracts from “The Oxford History of India” by Vincent A. Smith, (2001, OUP).

”Prehistoric forms of worship and many quite un-Aryan social practices survive, especially in the peninsula among the peoples speaking Dravadian languages” (page 8) .

“ The Dravadian religion and social customs differed widely from those of Northern India .Caste was unknown , as it is now in Burma ,and the religion was centered on the ecstatic and often orgiastic worship of original divinities have since been adopted by the Brahamins , given new names and identified with orthodox Hindu gods and goddesses “. (Page 42).
“The laws of marriage and inheritance also differed completely from those of the Brahmins .Even now, when Hinduism, with its strict caste rules and its recognized system of law, has gained the mastery, the old and quite different Dravidian ideas may be traced in a thousand directions. The ancient Dravidian alphabet called Vatteluttu , of Semitic origin , is very different from any of the northern alphabets . Tradition as recorded in the ancient Tamil literature indicated that from the very early times wealthy cities existed in the South and many of the refinements and luxuries of life were in common use ……..Commerce supplied the wealth required for life on civilized lines, and the Dravidians were not afraid to cross the seas”. (Page 43).
“Those two faiths, it need hardly be said, did not come into being independently of previous conditions .The teachings of Mahavira the Jain and of Gautama Buddha , was based on the doctrine of early prophets .Mahavira started his religious life as a reformer of an ancient ascetic order said to have been founded by Paravanatha two centuries and a half earlier . Gautama’s preaching was related to the cult of “former Buddhas”, whose prophet was Devadatta ,  Gautama’s cousin .” page 76 .
Tamil poem (page 161)

Love
Loveless natures, cold and hard,
Live for self alone.
Hearts where love abides regard
Self as scarce their own…

Where the body hath soul,
Live hath gone before
Where no love infils the whole
Dust it is – no more





 
Origin of Jainism needs to be explored as there may be evidence of influence of pre Aryan thought upon the development of Jain thought .Jainism is an independent and most ancient religion of India.  Jainism is revealed in every cyclic period of the universe, and this constitutes the pre-historic time of Jainism. And there is a recorded history of Jainism since about 3000-3500 BC.
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
Page 139 “It is now accepted that Jianism is older than Budhism and that Mahavira who lived from 599 B.C. to 527 B.C. , was not the finder of Jainism and that his predecessor Parsva who lived 250 years earlier was also an historical person .The ahimsa doctrine preached by Rsabha is possibly prior in time to the advent of the Aryans in India and the prevalent culture of the period”.

The discovery of the Indus Civilization seems to have thrown a new light on the antiquity of Jainism. The evidence suggests that Jainism was known among the people of the Indus Valley around 3000-3500 B.C. Some nude figures, considered to be of Lord Rishabha, on the seals have been discovered at Mohenjodaro and Harrappa. There is an article that suggests the representation of the seventh Tirthankar SuParsvanath. The people of the Indus Valley not only practiced Yoga but worshipped the images of Yogis. There are figures in Kayotsarga posture of standing are peculiarly Jain.
In addition, the sacred signs of swastika are found engraved on a number of seals.  Furthermore, there are some motifs on the seals found in Mohen-jo-Daro and it is suggested that these motifs are identical with those found in the ancient Jain art of Mathura.
 This presence of Jain tradition in the earliest period of Indian history is supported by many scholars. It strongly suggests that Jainism existed in pre‑Aryan time.
The origin of Buddhism also needs to be explored as this will reveal the influence of pre Aryan thought on the religion put forward by Lord Buddha .In Indian religion there have been two independent influences which were originally quite distinct and had separate origins and which for a considerable length of time were separate but which at a certain point of time merged and flowed on united right to the present day. The oldest known civilization was the Indus valley Civilization, located roughly in modern day Pakistan.. Not only was this civilization stable for a thousand years, it was also a very highly developed civilization both materially and spiritually. Materially the civilization was an agrarian one. They were skilled in irrigation and the planning of towns. In addition, they had a very highly developed spiritual culture. This is clear from the archaeological evidence that has been discovered at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. There is also evidence of the fact that they were literate. They had developed a script which unfortunately we are not able to decipher.
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
Page 152 “A re-orientation of the faith was necessitated by the impact of Sumero-Dravadian culture of the Indus Valley and the need of cultural expression beyond the early frontiers of Aryan domination towards the East and the South where tribes of the hill and the forest lived and imitated Aryan ways and thought .It has been conjured that yogic mediation , ascetic habit and belief in transmigration may have come from non-Aryan sources as well as the development of the Siva and , later , of the Sakti cult “”Criticism of Vedic practices had started earlier  , in fact , for even the Upanisads belittled the efficacy of sacrificial rites and laid emphasis on knowledge of Reality as the best path of attaining a blessed hereafter”. page 153” In fact the dissenters were many and of diverse sorts …..Apart from the six main heretical teachers from the Buddhist point of view, of whom Purana-Kassapa, Makkhali-Gosala ,Ajita-kesa-kambalin , Pakudha-Kaccayana , Nigantha-Nataputta and Sanjaya-Beltthaputta “
Sakta and Saiva schools of Indian thought have also been linked to pre-Aryan sources.
The Aryan invasion and its impact can be described as follow:
The peaceful life of this civilization was unfortunately interrupted in about the year 1800 or 1500 B.C. by an invasion that came from the North West. The invading people were known as the Aryans and this is a term that designated a people of Eastern Europe. The origin of the Aryans was in the grassy region extending from Poland to Western Russia. The Aryans were very different from the people of the Indus Valley Civilization because they were generally nomadic and pastoral. They did not have a highly developed urban civilization. They were a warlike expanding pioneer civilization that lived in large part from the spoils and plunder that they gathered from the peoples they conquered in the course of their migration. When the Aryans arrived in India, they very quickly destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization succumbed very quickly to the military might of the Aryans. What existed in India after the invasion was an Aryan dominated civilization.
The Indus Valley Civilization had a script which has not been deciphered. The information regarding the nature of this civilization is from two sources, first from the archaeological discoveries at the sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa and second from the records of the Aryans who described the religious behavior and beliefs of the people they conquered. From the archaeological evidence we find a number of symbols that are of religious significance, that are special to Buddhism: the symbols of the Bodhi tree and animals such as the elephant and deer. Perhaps most importantly there have been discovered several images of figures sitting in cross-legged postures with their hands resting on their knees, with their eyes narrowed, half-closed quite evidently in postures of meditation. These archaeological findings have been studied by eminent scholars and the conclusion is that we can quite definitely trace the origin and practice of meditation to the Indus Valley Civilization. When we look at the descriptions of the religion of the Indus Valley Civilization from the writings of the Aryans - the Vedas - we find the figure of a wandering ascetic frequently mentioned. We find that they practiced meditation, that they were celibate, that they observed an austere life, that they were sometimes naked or clothed in most simple garments, that they wandered about homeless and that they taught in the way beyond birth and death. If we put together the evidence of the archaeological findings and the evidence of Aryan literature, we find that there emerges a picture of the religion of the people of the Indus Valley Civilization in which there are several important elements. First of all, meditation or mental concentration; secondly renunciation, abandoning the household life, living the life of a wandering ascetic; thirdly that we have a conception of rebirth over a long series of lives; fourthly we have a conception of moral responsibility beyond this life, the notion of karma; and lastly we have a goal of religious life, a goal of liberation. These are the salient features of the religion of the very earliest Indian Civilization.
The Aryan religion in contrast was very different, and it would be hard to find two religious views that are more different. Here we find it much easier to construct a picture because we have a complete literature with regard to their religion. When the Aryans came to India, they had a religion which was totally secular. They were an expanding pioneering society. There are many close parallels between the Aryan religion and the religion of the Greeks. If you have come across the description of the Greek pantheon you will find striking similarities between their pantheon and the Aryan pantheon. You will find in the Aryan faith a number of gods who are personifications of natural phenomena. We have Indra for instance who was the God of Lightning and the Thunderstorm personifying power, we have Agni the God of Fire, and Varuna the God of Water. We have a religious set-up in which the priest is the most important figure, while in the Indus Valley Civilization the ascetic was the most important figure. In the Indus Valley Civilization renunciation was the ideal of religious life, while in the Aryan religion the ideal state is the householder state. In the Indus Valley Civilization we have a rejection of sons and offspring, while in the Aryan religion sons are the highest good. While in the Indus Valley Civilization we have the practice of meditation, in the Aryan religion we have the practice of sacrifice - sacrifice was an important means of communication with the gods, of achieving victories in battles, of gaining offspring, of going to heaven. While in the Indus Valley Civilization we have belief in the Law of Karma, and rebirth, in the Aryan Civilization we have no conception of rebirth. Just as in the Indus Valley Civilization we have the notion of moral responsibility extending over a series of lives, in the Aryan Civilization we have no such notion. In fact the highest ideal was loyalty, those values that contributed to the power of the community. Finally while in the Indus Valley Civilization we have liberation as the goal of religious life, in the Aryan Civilization we have heaven as the goal of religious life. The idea that they had of heaven was a heaven modeled upon a perfected version of this life. So if we want to sum up the differences between the religions of these two civilizations, we can say that on the one hand the Indus Valley Civilization stresses renunciation, meditation, rebirth, karma, the goal of liberation; on the other hand the Aryan religion stresses this life, material well-being, wealth, power, fame and sacrifices as means of achieving these goals. It would be hard to find a set of more diametrically opposed religious attitudes. In addition, there are two more important elements of Aryan religion that we ought to recall caste: the division of society into social strata; and belief in the authority of the revealed scriptures, the Vedas. These two elements were not present in the Indus Valley Civilization.

Chapter 8: Semites and the Indus valley Civilization



Extracts from Karachi University, Bereau of Composition, Compliation and Translation-Research Journal,22 nd. Issue –of “Jareeda” titled “Ancient Language and Scripts, special number”

The Indus Valley Civilization comprised of a number of cities, these are stated to be seven in number .These cities were prosperous due to trade and agriculture. The population was prosperous and was prominent due to lack of evidence of islands of poverty and need.
The Arabs have a number of pronouncements related to Sindh and Hind .Wahab ibn Munbah has called Hind and Sindh to be sons of Ham .Ibn-e Jarar has from Ibn Abbas stated that “Arab and Faras and Naith and Sindh and Hind were sons of Ham son of Noah .Various Arabic traditions deem Hindi and Sindhi people to be of the same ethnic stock as the Arabs. An Arabian poet claims that
 “Hind was ours, Sindh was ours and Arusn was also ours, Eastern people were also our people so to were the Western people”
The author claims that the script of IVC was the earlier form of Arabic .Marshall has proved that the language of the IVC could not have been Sanskrit or any other Aryan language .He expressed the possibility that the IVC language could be related to the Dravidian group of languages. IVC seals have been found in Sumerian cities , which indicates close ties between these two civilizations .The exact nature of this relationship is not exactly known .It is generally considered that this relationship was related to commerce and trade , but perhaps the relationship was in fact encompassing other faucets of life , including religion and social structures .The seals found in Iraq show that the trade routes between the two civilizations were very active between 2750 B.C. to 2080 B.C., it further points out to the fact that the Sumerian ( and the Harrappans) understood each others language , Sumerian symbols are found with Indus script in the IVC cities which would suggest that the IVC people did not understand the Sumerian symbols , on the other hand IVC scripts with IVC symbols are found in Sumerian cities which would indicate that the IVC symbols and script was understood by the Sumerians . These seals performed some function which was common to both civilizations.
Head skeletons found in the IVC cities are similar to those found in The Palestine Valley, Iraq and Tel Aviv, this would indicate the ethnic and racial similarities between the Arabs and the Sindhis.
The IVC script has links to Arabic languages and the IVC had therefore some impact upon the people of other Prophets and upon the world of Islam.
The language of IVC is neither Sanskrit (nor any other Aryan language) or Dravidian, it is in fact akin to the language of ancient (4000 to 5000 years old) Arabic. Most ancient languages, except for Chinese, have relationship with the IVC language. The Indus seals are of three kinds i) pictures of things ii) modified pictures of things which makes these as Idea-graphs iii)
This establishes the fact that the IVC was populated by Arabic people, who migrated to the Middle East .Arabic speaking Iraqis were called, in the Koran; the people of Abraham, the Semite tribes had their earliest homes in or around ancient Indus valley. In other words the Arabs went to their present abodes from Sindh .
The IVC language must have its influences upon Arabic, Persian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Seriaki and Urdu .Seals found in IVC that are related to commercial activity were, with minor differences, also used in Sumerian cities.
The Indus cities were laid out and constructed in a very organized manner: Broad streets paved with baked bricks; distinctive architecture of the houses; and separate places earmarked for collective activities characterized these cities.
Islamic literature’s initial references to Hind are related to the traditions about Prophet Adam (pbuh) , who is said to be exiled to present Sir Lanka from heaven .Prophet Adam , in Islamic thought and belief system , is definitely the first human of the present human race .What is disputed is that was he the first human .The Koran does not conclusively establish this fact . There is reference to Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience and the consequent exile , but it is not clear if they were the original couple to whom the Koran also refers to .The original human , gave birth of the female and this initiated the human race , this original human is perhaps some other than the prophet Adam(pbuh) . Prophet Adam (pbuh) was perhaps the first human to achieve consciousness some 10000 years ago after the end of the last ice age .The place where Adam and Eve were exiled to is said to be the present Indian subcontinent .It is also claimed that Adam’s “heaven” was located on a hill ,from where he was exiled to the plains .The Torah calls this “heaven” as Eden , a place where four rivers originate ,which places the “heaven” somewhere in modern Eastern turkey and Armenia .The place to which Adam (pbuh) was exiled is modern Indian subcontinent .
Interestingly the Aryan ancient records have no references to the names Hind and Sindh whereas the Arabic ,ancient and relatively modern, references have extensive usage of both these names .it would seem that the names of Sindh and Hind was given to these areas by the Semites .
Few Iraqi seals are found in the IVC whereas a large number of IVC seals were found in the Sumerian cities, which would suggest an unequal traffic, of both goods and ideas, from IVC to Sumer . Another fact needs that attention is that Sumerian scripts have not been found in IVC cities whereas IVC seals and script have been extensively located in various Sumerian cities. All of this would suggest that in some point in pre history the Indus elite did migrate to Sumer .The seals found in IVC are not statements, which have not been found so far, perhaps the Indus elite took their manuscripts with them when they migrated to Sumer .
Ancient Aryan records, do suggest that at the time of Mahabharata, Arabic was understood in the subcontinent.
The symbols of prophet Suleiman (pbuh) are found on Indus seals.
Traveling in Arabia, one comes across camels belonging to different tribes which are distinguished by means of distinctive marks these marks bear uncanny similarity to those found on Indus seals.
29 Koranic Surah begin with a few letters, which are considered to be undecipherable, this cannot be correct as if this were to be true and these words are definitely a part of the Koran, their meaning would have been sought by the sahaba from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), this did not happen . We can perhaps infer that the meaning of these letters was commonly understood by the Arabs.
The Koran, in Surah Shorah 8.5, states that:
No man has the status that he can talk to God , but only through i) revelation(Wahi) ii) across a veil iii) or through a messenger
 








































Chapter 9: Social structures

Extract from Ibn e Khuldun :
Human societies are dependent upon a collective structure, the need of which was felt very early in human development.  This was so because it was not possible for any individual to fulfill all human needs without help of others.
The concept was perhaps copied from societal structures exhibited by animals, some animals lived in groups and these groups had a structure and system of collective behavior.
Human beings when evolved into tribal structures needed to have individuals specialized in different tasks. This specialization evolved later into professions. Since man has inbuilt capacity for sin and anti social behavior there was a need of an authority figure or structure to maintain law and order and to protect individuals and groups from the ill intentions of others.
End of extract


Human societies need laws which ensure justice to all citizens  .In ancient societies there was “national political law “, this was not a systematic law making process as kings and rulers proclaimed laws. These understandably were mainly to protect the interests of the elite.
There is no or little evidence of warfare between cities or groups within the Harrapan people, yet these cities were very similar to each other. This would imply a strong central regulation, but this regulatory framework was not based upon use of force but was rather enforced by means of religion. This would therefore be the driving force. This would provide the need to develop a law giving process based not upon human or political systems but rather on an abstract divine being. These laws would therefore be not subject to revision by kings or rulers or even priests. The upkeep of standards is reflected in the fact that IVC art displayed a confirmation to standards to the very end of the IVC (apart for the last periods).
This would therefore be the rationale for development of a monotheistic religion in the IVC and not in Sumer .In Sumer each city was semi autonomous and each city tried to subjugate the other, there was considerable warfare between cities and from outside, there was therefore no compulsion to develop a monotheistic religion. .
It needs to be mentioned that Sumer and Harrapan people were ethnically the same and both perhaps belonged to the tribes that originated somewhere between north west Pakistan to eastern Turkey. The religion of Sumer was different from other tribal religions in so far as the Sumer religion was more a “code of homage “(that one might pay to a king or lord) rather than a mystical worship of gods in fact this relationship with gods was the very driving force for the rise of Sumerian society .The very reason for the existence of Sumer and her people seemed to lie with these strange and mortal deities and the very reason for existence for every Sumerian person was to worship the appropriate deity .
This in Sumer was managed on a city basis with struggles with other cities. The reason for this could be that Sumer was located in a open plain with very little natural protection from invaders. Thus warfare was inevitable and it also resulted into city warfare, this was so as a militarized society has different norms than a producing society .The military society glamorizes the war heroes and is generally expletive and tyrannical.
IVC on the other hand was protected form invaders by mountains and semi deserts; this led to the evolution of the same SUMER code of paying homage to gods to one where the divine being was abstract. This abstract divine being was necessary for IVC to maintain and retain control over the vast Indus valley civilization.


Extract from Ibn e Khuldun
Before civilization trade was managed by barter, then coins were used, these were made in an oven of gold, silver, the molten metal was poured into moulds .the finished product had pictures and words

Apart from the evidence of the Quran, there is one reference which is controversial among the commentators. There is a tradition reported from the Holy Prophet (sa) which speaks of an Indian prophet by name. In his words:
There was a prophet of God in India who was dark in color and his name was Kahan.
Enoch was a prophet who supposedly lived from 3284-3017 B. C. Prophet Enoch  was also Thoth, Hermes, Metatron, among others who supposedly wrote 'Books about the Sacred Knowledge of Creation'. These creational stories are based on patterns of geometry that repeat in cycles through the concept of TIME.
In the Qur'an, Enoch is called Idris. In the bible he is sometimes called Akhnookh. He was a man of truth and a prophet. We raised him to a high station. Surah 19: 56-57
According to the biblical narrative (Genesis 5:21-24), Enoch lived 365 years, far less than the other patriarchs in the period before the Flood. Enoch supposedly walked with God who turned him into the archangel Metatron.
He called the people back to his forefathers' religion, but only a few listened to him, while the majority turned away. According to the Talmud Selections (pp. 18-21) when the people went astray, Enoch who lived a pious life in seclusion was given prophet hood. He came among the people and by his sermons and speeches made the people give up the idolatry and obey the Command of God. Enoch ruled them and during his reign there was peace and justice.
Prophet Enoch and his followers left Babylon for Egypt. There he carried on his mission, calling people to what is just and fair, teaching them certain prayers and instructing them to fast on certain days and to give a portion of their wealth to the poor. Enoch was the first to invent books and writing, much like Thoth the scribe.
Enoch taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws. He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs.
Enoch's name signified in the Hebrew, Initiate or Initiator. The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical. That of bronze, which survived the flood, is supposed to symbolize the mysteries, of which Masonry is the legitimate successor from the earliest times the custodian and depository of the great philosophical and religious truths, unknown to the world at large, and handed down from age to age by an unbroken current of tradition, embodied in symbols, emblems, and allegories.
There was a substantial Zoroastrian Influence on Judaism when Jewish exiles were exposed to the Persian religion during the Babylonian captivity. Some Jews adopted Enochian tradition in Babylon during the Exile and brought it back to Canaan when Cyrus gave them leave to Return. The Enochian Jews were detested by the priesthood in Jerusalem, and they were forced to flee into the desert before 300 BCE. Naturally, they supported the Maccabees during the uprising of 165 BCE. The Enochians at Qumran 'updated' the text to include Judah the Hammer in the big story.
The last of the Essene stragglers buried the secret book in Cave IV at Qumran c.70 CE. The urban Christians and Jews of the Near East rejected it. The authors of the Apocalypse rewrote and retitled it, but they didn't understand the heptadic structure of the original lines, the arrangement of sevens. Only the students of the Merkabah in Babylonia possessed the key to the Enochian mystery.
The Book of Enoch is a pseudo-epigraphal work that claims to be written by a biblical character. It was not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons, but could have been considered a sacred text by the sectarians. The original Aramaic version was lost until several Dead Sea Scroll fragments were discovered in Qumran Cave 4 - providing parts of the Aramaic original.
This fragment reads;

Humankind is called on to observe how
unchanging nature follows God's will.
The Book of Enoch was first discovered in Abyssinia in the year 1773 by a Scottish explorer named James Bruce. In 1821 The Book of Enoch was translated by Richard Laurence and published in a number of successive editions, culminating in the 1883 edition.
Enoch acts as a scribe, writing up a petition on behalf of the fallen angels, or fallen ones, to be given to a higher power for ultimate judgment. Christianity adopted some ideas from Enoch, including the Final Judgment, the concept of demons, the origins of evil and the fallen angels, and the coming of a Messiah and ultimately, a Messianic kingdom. The Book of Enoch was removed from the Bible and banned by the early church. Copies of it were found to have survived in Ethiopia, and fragments in Greece and Italy.
Enoch is the supposed author of 366 books, collectively termed Enochian literature. The most famous writings bearing his name are the First, Second, and Third Books of Enoch, ranked among the large body of literature termed apocryphal and pseudepigraphical, meaning that they are noncanonical (not accepted into the body of recognized books of the Bible) and are-in the case of the pseudepigrapha-attributed to some person of note and written in the style of genuine biblical books. Most interesting of all the legends is the one in which Enoch was transported to heaven and there transformed into the angel Metatron. Once there, he was, with the divine flourish, made into Metatron, the angel of the face, high priest of the heavenly temple, and one of the supreme angels in all of the celestial hierarchy-not to mention the tallest of angels, with 36 wings and 265,000 eyes.
The three so-called pseudepigraphical works were supposedly written by or under the influence of the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, who was taken up to heaven by the Lord, an event described in the Book of Genesis (5:24); pseudepigraphical writings are those that are noncanonical (meaning not accepted into the body of biblical books) and were composed in a style intending to resemble or appear as authentic biblical literature, often assuming the title of some personage known to the audience. In the case of the Books of Enoch, the actual writers or compilers chose a figure who was the source of many legends and tales, the most notable being his transformation by God into the truly powerful angel Metatron. While decidedly uncanonical, the three books remain fascinating and colorful reading, as well as treasures of detail and fanciful images concerning angels.
1 ENOCH-Known is also as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch from the fact that the only surviving complete manuscript of it is in Ethiopic. This is the oldest of the three Enoch books, dating to the mid-second century B.C., although it actually comprises various sections, each dated differently: "The Book of Noah"; "Similitudes"; "The Dream Visions"; "Apocalypse of the Weeks"; and "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries." Aside from material on Gehenna and heaven and the nature of evil, the text is full of stories and accounts of angels. The writer covers the fall of angels, the names of the archangels, and the fire of the luminaries of heaven. The reader thus encounters such angelic personages as Raguel, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, and Saraqael.
2 ENOCH-Known also as the Slavonic Book of Enoch because the only extant version is a Slavonic translation of the Greek original text, this specific edition dates to the seventh century A. D., although it is based on a much older Jewish text of the first century. A.D. While similar in some ways to the first book of Enoch and perhaps using it as a source, the Slavonic Enoch details Enoch's journey through the seven heavens, the life of Enoch's successors, especially Methuselah, and then gives a forecast of the Great Flood that encompassed the world in later generations. There are descriptions of angels residing in the heavens.
3 ENOCH-Also called the Hebrew Apocalypse of Enoch, this is a Jewish writing dating probably to the second century A.D. It was supposedly written by the noted Rabbi Ishmael, a brilliant scholar of Palestine during the early second century A.D. He reputes to recount his journey to heaven, where he beheld the very throne of God, along with the hosts of angels. His information was granted to him by the archangel Metatron, the onetime patriarch Enoch. This work remains perhaps the single greatest compendium of angelic lore, including a comprehensive assemblage of angels, archangels, and holy creatures, such as the watchers and holy ones.