I l6 The Aryar6: MAth and kchaeotogp Archaeologt alTraces olthe Arym t17

invention.The earliestoccurrencein West Asia of a spokedwheel is

liom Hissar(Iran), datableto about 2300 m, and the sameis the cas€
with the north Caucasusregion (Anthony lg88: 443). Bur its
"ccurrencein Harappanscript and terracoltamodelssuggestthal
the Harappans have a better claim.
Horse domestication may have taken place in the pontic{aspian
region lrom whfre il is said ro havedillused ro other regions.buathe
systematictmining for horsemanship w?l perfecred by the Indo-Arrans.
Kikkuli. t}|e Mihnni expert in horse breedingand Lraining.who uses
in his horsemanshipmanual Sanskrit terms, which corroborate this
contention. The Mitanni manual contains Sanskrit numerals-diir,
(l), tcra (3), panza (5), satta (7t, nav (9) and expressionslike aila-
uarTanna,rarsanM$ala meaning one round of the stadium and so on.
S.S.Misra (1992)hasconvincinglyshownthat the termsusedare IndG
Artan (Sanskrioand not Indclranian.
The earliest wheeled vehicles appear in Eastern Europe and West
Asia about 3000 Bc but the dispersal of the IE speaking people srarred
during 1800-1500Bc and hence the diffusion of horse, chariot
technology and spoked wheel must have begun, according to Anthony
(1995:5581 from abour 2000 s.. Againsrr})ispre\.alenropinion. rhe
evidencefrom Harappansitesis quite eloquent.Anthony states(1995: Fis.3.11.Harappan
sealshowinsunicorn (afrerPossehl2002)
5 6 1) : complele\unlval in rhe ar,haeological record.rhcreis someevidencr:
in thc artefactual remains from excavations of Late Harappan
Abour 2000 Bc a Ds and renafkable d€haeoiosical culture appears ea.,t of
setdementswhich corroboratesthe literarv data.Someof the Dractices
U ra l , T his new s r ou p . rh e Si n h \h ra Pe rro \k a (Sp) cutrura, esrabt,shed
compact, heavily fo ified se(lements in the norrhern stepDeseast of the in tacrgo ba.k in rime ro rhe MarureHarappanphaseand aincethe
Urals, ensaged in bronze metallurgv on an unprecedenied scalej rajsed Late Harappans werc theiir successors,it can safely be presumed that
herds of cattle, sheep and hors€s; pmcris€d complex mortuary rituals thar theycontinuedto survive.The imporhnce offire in Harappanreligion
parallel in many specific details rhe Ary?n rituals described in the Ry. . . is evidentliom the depiction of fire receptaclein front of the unicorn
vehicles in sraves had ,poked wheels buried wirh two horses. and bull which is depictedon dreir seals(fig. 3.ll).
The most important aspectof the Aryan religion is hre-worship.
It shouldbe noted that theseare supposedto be the oldestchariots There werc no fire templesor public buildings for fire,worship,but
in the world for which the only early AMS dare is 2000 Bc but all orher each individual had in his house the gAfiapaEatue-altar which was
dates (uncalib.) are quite late: 3580 + 50 sc (AA 9874a), 352b + b0 circular or oval on plan \shereas Lhe Ahaltanryawas sq)arish(Kashikar
(AA 9875b); 3700 + 60 (AA 9875a); and 3740 + (AA 9874b). Thev 1977). Besides,semi-circularfire-altars were also constrxcted (van
rhusrangebetween1700-1500Ec.ln (onrrasr,the DaimabadsDecimen Buitenen 1968:fig. 2). The excellentillustntion of a fire-a.ltaris rhar
is dated to 2200-2000Bc. from a house complex at Bha${anpura, a Lare Harappan sire (fig.
3.12). To the samehousecomplex belong what have been described
llcliEion as "()vnlstnr(lrrrcs"(Sut)-pern)d IB, l'lrrN(ll) (J(,shil{)93i4l-4:},fis.
'l'ltc /iy bcing a rilual rcxl, is frrll ol irrlirrmation about the religious 7 ). S ix s u c h ( , v i t ls t r r ( t u r ' ( .w
s c r ' cc n ( ( ) u r t c l c ( 1 . ' l h c ya r c w < : l hl r r i l t ,
 The AnJd.B: Mllth a^.1A.ctmeologA
ll8
Fig 3-I ?. !'ire altar' BhagwanPura
with their lergth valving from 1.80 m to 2.30 m, aid the depth from
50 cm to 85 cm; their sides, about 10 cm thick, were bumt hard by
constant firing. One ofthem had a domical cover' They only contained
clods of bumt ea.rth and animal bones. According toJ P Joshi (1993:
43), there is no cvidence to iclendry them as fumaces or Pottery kilns
but their use may ha\€ bcen ritualistic This is Plausible because six
large furnaces or Potter'!'kilns in a small village settlement are hard to
explain. Secondly, they are in close proximitv to the large house
corlplcx wirh which lhe) can be associaled They may have been
r,rrrrirrrrrlwirlr lir. w,n\hil' Srr(hxr)i)virlstrrritrrrtirls()o(lrrrstrtNrsirf
Archaeobgin) fraces oJue Arga[s I l1)
Fig.3.13. Sacrificial pitin the citadel, Kalibansan
(Dist. Gurdaspur, Punjab) in tbe Late Harappan phase (idetn, l{)1):i:
pl. LXXVII). E (cellent examples of sacrificial fire-altars (fig. 3.lil) ol
the Mature phase occur at Kalibangan (fig. 3.14) and Lothal ar (lig.
3.15); and the one at Amri may be even pre-Harappan (I-al l9()7r l)1.
X-XXIII-A). A ditGrent type offire-pit occurred at Pirak in Bahrdrislilr
which wasin all probabilities used asa tire-altar. Itwas builr orr a s(lu:rrislr
lnud brick platform and had a srnall ca\ity in the centre haviD'{ lir'(
dogs. Similar fire-altarswere also encountered in the fi)urllr tlrir(l
millennium levels at Mehrgarh *hich had raised edges. (Jrrrigl ll)tlltl
349)
Banaua\
The anc;ent site at Banavali (Dist. tlissar, I Inryrrlr), l(xll(al i!' thr.
Sarasvativalley, was oc.llpied drrrilli{ irll rh,.tl'rcc t)l':'r(,\ i'l tl'i.
Ilalappan civilizirliorr I.lrrlv, N'lrrtrrlc
irr(l l.irl(- xr(l thr.(xrrurtir)l
hrs Iill i||tr.r.stinracvi.l(||.c. N'l;rD1ol tlrr, ho $ \ I'rxl li'r.:'lli" \,
r22 'IheAry1a's: M.qth and Arctwologa ArchaeolosicalTrucesoJthe Arsds l2t\

The iconographr ofthe paintings on the cemctel'H Potto) ' 'wr'"'rrI'r

VaIsas hdi;dns a "Rgvedic pauen oI beliefl" $Ic e nllirrr(l rr' rrarrl
Thus the Ccmetery H and dre related Bara mal alsr)ri l)rr'{ rrr ''
'ullure
culture{ontrctsituadon,with perhapsm lndo dl-an aisto(fr'} rl'''r'rr'ri'rrtl
and intera(firg eith a lo(al PopulatioD.(1982:304)

Soma
.l
Som.rwas the favourite rlrink of Vcdic Aryans The idcntilici'l i()rI
il
the roma plant ith ephedra has been proposed' It is argu(rd llrrl
i"4
was in all iikelihood thc plant thejuice of l'hich tlas roma Rerrr:rirrs
"l
plant in sorne of the pottery vessels from Gonur were chenri( irlll
this
exarnined and erc identified as ephedra but N)'berg ( 191)5)<otrltl
irl
I not {ind it in his analysis.Aurel Stein is said to hale fo[nd cPhc(trir
I is s i
the coursc of his exploratrons in Central Asia ivhich 2000 veat 'lt
()ll llr('
Four differert species of the plant (Eqhedra(tJnathJ/t) occu'
(lhilral rrrrrI
hiliy slopes of north lndia, Afghanistan, han, Hindukush,
Baluchiitan (Kochhar 1999: 109) It is Presentty brought br lhc I'i"si\
t'l
of India from lran lbr their rituals (Bailey 19?2) MuiauunL a l<;trl

Fis. 3.17. Lk,hi probabty a ponable fn e-altar

decorated with zigzaglines in the upper and the lower parts. Fragments
of similar objects have also occuffed at Bara and HuLx in the Late
Harappan context.

Pottery
There is nothing particular about common pottery forms, but one
interesting vessel is the Mahavira. It was a double pot which, it is
belicved, was produced by the inverted firing technique and was
therefore a black-and-red ware pot (van Buitenen 1968: 9-15). The
Black-and-Red Ware has a high antiquity in India going back to the
pre-Harappan times at Gr{arat sitcs but not in the Late Ha.rappan in
the Sapta-Sindhu region. Two specirnens lvhich can be identilied as
the Mahalim are knoNn; both in red warc; one from Amri which may
be pre-Harappan, and the other from Jorwe (Maharashtra) of
chalcolithic date (1200 Bc) (Sankalia and Deo 1955: pl. xxX\L3).
The Mahevira pot was used in the agnicqana rite which is said to be of
non-\'edic origir (Converse 197a). It should be noted that B. Allchin
arrd F.R. Allchin t(x) havc discer"e(l Vfllic trails in thc HaraPPa"
t 'is. : t li{. Alt lr , r l, t , x'r sf llt 'r , l, ir lnt sh'wir ', at lxr o, f / l'r l) x'nt r 'r '( e'r 'r r r ( n'Y
lx,tlcry.