Part 9/15:
The presence of the Great Bath in Mohenjo-daro implies a water ritual tradition akin to Varuna’s realm, emphasizing purification before sacrifice—paralleling Vedic rituals. This raises the provocative possibility that the city was engaged in water-based spiritual practices centuries before the composition of the earliest Vedic texts.
Rudra, the Outsider God, Inside the City?
The Pashupati Seal further deepens the mystery. Rudra—later known in the Vedas as a wild, primal god—appears here as an animal-governing figure within the city’s core, not on its margins. This internalization suggests a complex religious worldview where primal, outsider deities were integrated into the civic-religious framework.