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Seals of Indus Valley Ancient History

Notes For UPSC
Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization is the earliest known urban civilization that flourished on the banks of river
Indus in the second half of the third millennium BCE. Numerous sculptures, jewelleries, seals, potteries
and so on have been excavated from these sites since 1921. These excavations reveal the vivid
imagination and the artistic sensibilities of the Harappan civilization.
• From the findings of various excavations conducted at the Harappan sites, it is also clear that
the sculptors of the Indus Valley Civilization were masters at handling the three-dimensional
volumes.
• The seals of Harappan Civilization were one of the remarkable and artistic creations of their
culture. Around 3500 seals have been unearthed since 1921.
In this article on seals of Harappan Civilization, we shall discuss the nature and features of the seals of
Indus Valley Civilization. UPSC aspirants should have a good understanding of this topic, as questions
related to the art and architecture of Harappan civilization are often asked in UPSC preliminary
examinations.
Check the article on Ashoka edicts from the linked article.

Overview Of Seals Of Harappan Civilization

• In the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley, small objects called seals were carved out of
stones and were burnt in order to make them durable.
• These seals were used for commercial purposes such as sealing the mouth of the jars by
pressing the seals against soft clays, to create clay tags for the sacks that carried goods to
different destinations and were also used in trading activities. A large number of seals were
discovered from the port city of the Indus Valley Civilization, Lothal.
• The several Harappan seals were also discovered in Mesopotamia, Central Asia and in the
coasts of Arabian Peninsula. Similarly, the Mesopotamia seals were found in Lothal.
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Read about Buddhist councils and texts here.

• This confirms the facts that seals were used in trading activities and trading took place between
the two great ancient civilizations of the World (Harappan and Mespotamia civilizations).
• The seals which have been unearthed from various sites of the Indus Valley Civilization are of
different sizes and shapes. The shapes of the seals include triangle, square, rectangle and
circle. However, the square shaped seals of Harappan civilization outnumbered other shapes.
• Mostly these seals were made of a material called steatite which is a relatively soft stone found
in the river beds. Apart from that, materials such as copper, terracotta, chert, faience and agate
were also used to make those seals. In recent years, archaeologists have also unearthed gold
and ivory seals from the Harappa sites.

• Some of the seals of Harappan civilization were found on the dead bodies. These seals have a
hole for thread, presumably they were used as amulets or worn as a necklace.
• Most of the seals have symbols or the pictographic script on one side, which are believed to be
the script of Indus valley Civilization. Most of these scripts were written from right to left.
However, there are some seals where bidirectional style (i.e. right to left on one line and left to
right on the following line) has been used to write those scripts.
• On the other sides of the seals, animal impressions were carved on the surfaces. Animal motifs
of tiger, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, bison, goat, unicorn, ibex, humped bull, crocodile and so
on were used.
• A most typical seal of Harappan civilization is square shaped with a set of symbols along the
top, an animal in the centre, and one or more symbols at the bottom.
• The most famous seal of Indus Valley Civilization is the Pashupati seal. It is a steatite seal in
which a human figure, possibly deity sitting cross legged, was carved. The deity is regarded as
Pashupati. In the seal, he is pictured wearing a three-horned headgear and is surrounded by
animals - an elephant and a tiger on the left side, a rhinoceros and a buffalo on the right side
and two antelopes below the figure.

Study about the Mauryan empire from the linked article.

Some of the other seals of Harappan civilization that have been unearthed so far are listed in the following
table,

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Seal Image Description

Large One of the

Unicorn seal largest seals
found in the
Harappan sites,

Intaglio seal The seal dates

with script back to 2200
and unicorn BCE

Steatite It consists of four

button seal concentric
circles.

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Faience This seal

button seal consists of a
geometric motif.

Unicorn This seal dates

seals back to the
Harappan phase
period 3B

It is a square
shaped steatite
unicorn seal
which has a
unique
inscription
carved on it. The
two sets of signs
on the right hand
side of the seal
would appear in
reverse, i.e. be
on the left, when
it was pressed

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into clay. It dates

back to 2300 BC.

It is also a
steatite seal with
Indus script in it.
It dates back to
2450 - 2200
BCE.

Seals from This seal

Mohenjodar consists of a
o multiple headed
animal which
depicts three
important
totemic animals -
bull, unicorn and
antelope. This
seal does not
consist of any
script.

This seal depicts

a deity standing
in a pipal tree
with horned
headdress and
bangles on both
arms and
looking down on
a kneeling
worshipper who
rests his head on

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a small stool. At
the bottom,
seven figures
wearing a single
plumed
headdress, long
skirts and
bangles on both
arms are
carved.
It more likely
represents a
ritual sacrifice to
a deity with 7
figures in
procession.

It depicts a nude
male deity with
three faces who
is seated on a
throne in a yogic
position. The
headdress is
made of two
outward
projecting
buffalo style
curved horns,
with two upward
projecting points
and on either
side of it, five
symbols are
carved. The left

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arm has seven

bangles while
the right arm has
six bangles and
both the hands
are resting on
the knees.

Bull seal It consisted of

from the motif of a
Harappa majestic zebu
bull which had
wide curving
horns. Possibly,
the zebu bull
symbolized the
leader of the
herd who
protects them or
it stands for a
sacrificial
animal.

Bison seal of It is a flat double

Mohenjodar sided seal
o consisting of a
swastika motif
turning
counterclockwis
e carved on one
side and four
script symbols
inscribed in
reverse above a
bison on the
other side.

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Also, check the article on folk dances of India here.

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