Societal Strata
• Social Hierarchy was evident in Harappan era.
• People were Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian.
• Games like chess, dicing, bull fighting were present. People practices yoga as well.
• Stringed musical instruments are found.
• Conditions of women were equal to men.
Political Strata
• No clear indication of the prevalent political structure exists but evidence of a centralized system is there as can be seen from planned cities, standardised weights and measures and monumental architecture.
• It seems that merchants might have been the ruling class.
• Nature of inheritance is not known either.
Faith and Belief System
• No temples were found in Harappan era.
• Goddess of Earth was worshipped in the form of terracotta figurines of women in which a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a woman.
• Pashupati Mahadeva: This male deity is represented on a seal and has three-horned heads with the sitting posture of a yogi, with one leg placed above the other. This god is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, buffalo, and deer.
• Nature worship was present. The people also worshipped trees such as Pipal and animals such as unicorn (rhinoceros), humped bull,elephant, a tiger, buffalo, and deer.
• Mythical animals like human figure with a bull’s horns, hoods and a tail; three headed chimeras; human faced goat and a semi-human demi-bovine creature.
Swastika symbol was found.
People used to worship the phallus (linga) and vulva
(yoni) too.
Faith in magic and charms can be speculated due to the use of amulets.
Three different types of burial were found which indicate the belief in afterlife:
Complete Burial: Their entire corpse was buried.
Circular and rectangular burial patterns were found.
Partial Burial: Corpse was given to birds and animals and the bones were then buried.
Urn or Pot Burial: The body was cremated, and the ashes were placed in an urn, which was subsequently buried. Over 100 pot burials were discovered during excavations around Harappa. Research indicates that typically, a single pot was used to enclose the bones, although some exceptions were found.
• Belief in Life after death:
• Dead people were buried with household pottery, ornaments and articles of daily use. Their ashes were preserved in clay urns.
