ANCIENT VEDIC GALLIC MOTIFS CONNECTED:

THE LINKS FOUND

IN ANCIENT

VEDIC GALLIC MOTIFS

Intriguing evidence for the continuity of Indus civilization [between about 2500 and 1700 BCE] with Vedic culture [approximately 1500 and 1000 BCE], carrying through to early European culture comes from the imagery displayed on numerous steatite [soapstone] seals that have been discovered at the archaeological site of Harappa. A number of them depict a human figure in combat with a serpent or dragon. While the theme itself is common to much Indo-European mythology, it is quite possible that it is Indra and the demon Vrtra who are being represented. The most common image is that of a “strangely-elongated” animal with one horn. If a unicorn, it can perhaps be linked to the prominence of the eka-shringa of later Hindu literature; more likely, it is a composite animal, in which case it may well be the bull-horse mount of Indra, Vrishashva. As the principal deity of the Vedic age, it would not be surprising if Indra were the reference of both designs. Also depicted in steatite is a horned male deity. Seated in yoga posture, he is generally placed upon a podium and surrounded by wild animals [this very same depiction appears on the Gunderstrup Cauldron of Gallic Denmark origin in northern Europe, circa 200 BCE]. Many scholars agree that he represents the prototype for the Hindu Lord of Beasts. Several Vedic deities are referred to by this term, but it later becomes associated with the Hindu deity Shiva Pashupati, who is the “archetypal yogi”. Additionally, the Indic scholar I. Mahadevan has suggested that seals depicting what appear to be a bull standing at a feedbag actually represent the Vedic Soma ritual. The bull symbolizes both Indra, likened often to a rutting bull, and soma, the beverage that produces his strength. The bag that hangs before him is a woolen sieve used to strain the beverage during the ritual sacrifice.