Horned deity

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A depiction of a horned deity. Image on the piece of pottery found at Kuntillet Ajrud above the inscription "Berakhti etkhem..." Ajrud.jpg
A depiction of a horned deity. Image on the piece of pottery found at Kuntillet Ajrud above the inscription "Berakhti etkhem..."

Deities depicted with horns or antlers are found in numerous religions across the world. Horned bulls, goats and rams may be worshiped as deities or serve as the inspiration for a deity's appearance in religions that venerate animal deities. Many pagan religions include horned gods in their pantheons, such as Pan in Greek mythology and Ikenga in Odinala. Some neopagan religions have constructed some of these deities as the Horned God, representing the male aspect of the Wiccan views of divinity.

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In Abrahamic religions, horned deities are closely associated with demonology. Christian demons are described as having horns in the Book of Revelation, and other demons such as Satan, Baphomet, and Beelzebub are typically portrayed with horns.

Asia

Canaan

Baal with Thunderbolt, 15th-13th century BC. Stele found at Ras Shamra (ancient city of Ugarit in present-day Syria). Baal Hadad with horns.jpg
Baal with Thunderbolt, 15th–13th century BC. Stele found at Ras Shamra (ancient city of Ugarit in present-day Syria).

The Canaanite deity Moloch, according to the Bible, was often depicted as a bull, and became a bull demon in Abrahamic traditions. Other deities such as Baal and El were likely originally horned bull gods. [1] :15 [2] :28 [3] [4] [5] [6]

Israel

The depiction of a horned Moses stems from the description of Moses' face as "cornuta" ("horned") in the Latin Vulgate translation of the passage from Exodus in which Moses returns to the people after receiving the Ten Commandments for the second time. The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the Vulgate as, "And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord." [7]

Indus Valley

Several Indus seals show a fighting scene between a tiger-like beast and a man with horns, hooves and a tail, who has been compared to the Mesopotamian bull-man Enkidu, also a partner of Gilgamesh, and suggests a transmission of Mesopotamian mythology. [8] [9] [10]

The Pashupati seal, a seal discovered during the excavation of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan has drawn attention as a possible representation of a "proto-Shiva" figure. [11] This "Pashupati" (Lord of animal-like beings – Sanskrit paśupati) [12] seal shows a seated figure with horns, possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals. [13]

A divinity mentioned in Jain sources known as Harinegameshin is sometimes described as having the head of an antelope [14] or goat. [15]

Africa

Carthage

Baal-Hamon was especially associated with the ram and was worshiped also as Baʿal Qarnaim ("Lord of Two Horns") in an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Bu Kornein ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage.

Egypt

Close-up of a triad statue depicting the pharaoh Menkaura being held by the goddess Hathor MekauraHeldByGoddessHathor MuseumOfFineArtsBoston.png
Close-up of a triad statue depicting the pharaoh Menkaura being held by the goddess Hathor

In ancient Egyptian religion, bulls held significant symbolic and religious importance. The Apis bull, for instance, was one of the most revered sacred animals, associated with fertility, regeneration, and divine power. Worshiped in the Memphis region, the bull was believed to embody the spirit of Ptah, god of craftsmen, and later became linked with Osiris, the god of the afterlife. In Ptolemaic Egypt, Mnevis, another bull god, was considered the ba of Ra and the physical manifestation of Atum. Bat, the principal goddess of Hu, was depicted as woman with a cow's ears and horns. Her worship dates back to the earliest times, possibly originating from Late Paleolithic cattle herding. By the Middle Kingdom period, her identity and attributes were absorbed by Hathor, goddess of love and femininity. Like Bat, Hathor was depicted as a woman with a cow's ears and horns. The notable distinction between their depictions is that Bat's horns curve inward, while Hathor's horns curve outward slightly, which may reflect the different breeds of cattle herded in various eras.

Isis with horns Isis Enthroned-Egyptian-650-BCE.jpg
Isis with horns

Isis, another maternal goddess, was traditionally depicted with a throne on her head. However, during the Old Kingdom period, she was portrayed with cow horns framing a sun disk, specifically in the Pyramid Texts.

The ram, symbolizing fertility and war, was revered with such gods as Heryshaf in Heracleopolis and Khnum in Elephantine and Esna. Khnum's wife, Satet, is traditionally depicted with antelope horns.

In Mendes, Banebdjedet was typically shown with four ram heads to represent the four souls ( Ba ) of the sun god. [21] Banebdjedet may also be linked to the first four gods to rule over Egypt, Osiris, Geb, Shu and Ra-Atum, with large granite shrines devoted to each in the Mendes sanctuary. The Book of the Heavenly Cow describes the "Ram of Mendes" as being the Ba of Osiris, but this was not an exclusive association. [21]

Libya

Ram statues line the entrance to Amun's Temple SFEC EGYPT KARNAK 2006-001.JPG
Ram statues line the entrance to Amun's Temple

Amun, the supreme Egyptian god, was often represented with a ram's head, a depiction that may have originated from other regions of North Africa since the Lithic period.

Although the most modern sources ignored the existence of Amun in the Berber mythology, he was attested to in earlier sources as a god of the Berbers. [22] In Awelimmiden Tuareg, the name Amanai is believed to have the meaning of "God". The Ancient Libyans may have worshipped the setting sun, which was personified by Amon, who was represented by the ram's horns. [23] The name of the ancient Berber tribes: Garamantes and Nasamonians are believed by some scholars to be related to the name Amun. [24]

Nigeria

Adherents of Odinani worship the Ikenga, god of honest achievement, whose two horns symbolize self-will. Small wooden statues of him are made and praised as personal altars. [25]

Europe

Greece

The cult of Amun was likely introduced to Greece early on, possibly through the Greek colony of Cyrene, and received veneration in cities such as Thebes, Sparta, Aphytis, Megalopolis, and Delphi. [26] [27] [28] Amun was identified by these Greeks as a form of Zeus, resulting in depictions of the god with horns. [29]

Silver tetradrachmon (ancient Greek coin) issued in the name of Alexander the Great, depicting him with horns. Alexander-Coin.jpg
Silver tetradrachmon (ancient Greek coin) issued in the name of Alexander the Great, depicting him with horns.

According to Arrian, Curtius, Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch, Alexander the Great visited the Oracle of Ammon at Siwa, after the battle of Issus, where he was declared the son of Amun. [30] [31] [32] Alexander styled himself as the son of Zeus-Amun and even demanded to be worshiped as a god:

He seems to have become convinced of the reality of his own divinity and to have required its acceptance by others ... The cities perforce complied, but often ironically: the Spartan decree read, 'Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be a god.' [33]

Pan was a Greek god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds and rustic music, and was depicted with the horns and hooves of a goat. The moon goddess, Selene, was also commonly described as "horned", respresenting the crescent moon, and associated with the bull.

In Orphism, Zagreus, an equivalent of Dionysus, was described as "bull-faced"; possibly influencing Dionysus' epithet Tauros ("bull") and depictions of him with horns, as attested by Plutarch. In Euripides' The Bacchae , there is a scene were King Pentheus sees a horned Dionysus, resulting in him losing his sanity.

Britain

Cernunnos on the Pillar of the Boatmen Cernunnos.jpg
Cernunnos on the Pillar of the Boatmen

Depictions in Celtic cultures of figures with antlers are often identified as Cernunnos (Gaulish: "horned one"), such as those on the Pillar of the Boatman in Paris, France, and the Gundestrup cauldron in Himmerland, Denmark. [34]

Rome

Cocidius was the name of a Romano-British war-god and local deity from the region around Hadrian's Wall, who is sometimes represented as being horned. [35] He is associated with warfare and woodland and was worshipped mostly by military personnel and the lower classes. [36]

The Americas

The Horned Serpent appears in the mythologies of many Native Americans. [37] Details vary among tribes, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning and thunder. Horned Serpents were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of North American prehistory. [38] [39]

Influence on demonology

Horns of a goat and a ram; a typical depiction of the devil in Christian art (Detail of a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw) Backer Judgment (detail).JPG
Horns of a goat and a ram; a typical depiction of the devil in Christian art (Detail of a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw)

Christian demonology

The idea that demons have horns seems to have been taken from the Book of Revelation chapter 13.[ original research? ] The book of Revelation seems to have inspired many depictions of demons.[ citation needed ] This idea has also been associated with the depiction of certain ancient gods like Moloch and the shedu, etc., which were portrayed as bulls, as men with the head of a bull, or wearing bull horns as a crown.

Baphomet of Mendes

The satanic "horned god" symbol known as the baphomet is based on an Egyptian ram deity that was worshipped in Mendes, called Banebdjed (literally Ba of the lord of djed, and titled "the Lord of Mendes"), who was the soul of Osiris. According to Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of ancient Egypt, the book's author Geraldine Harris, said the ram gods Ra-Amun (see: Cult of Ammon), and Banebdjed, were to mystically unite with the queen of Egypt to sire the heir to the throne (a theory based on depictions found in several Theban temples in Mendes).

Occultist Eliphas Levi in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855), combined the images of the Tarot of Marseilles' Devil card and refigured the ram Banebdjed as a he-goat, calling it the "Baphomet of Mendes," (or, "Goat of Mendes"). The inaccurate description can be traced back to Herodotus' Histories Book II, where Herodotus describes the deity of Mendes as having a goat's head and fleece, when Banebdjedet was really represented by a ram, not a goat.

The Devil in the Rider-Waite Tarot deck RWS Tarot 15 Devil.jpg
The Devil in the Rider–Waite Tarot deck

The Baphomet of Lévi was to become an important figure within the cosmology of Thelema, the mystical system established by Aleister Crowley in the early twentieth century. Baphomet features in the Creed of the Gnostic Catholic Church recited by the congregation in The Gnostic Mass , in the sentence: "And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mystery, in His name BAPHOMET" (see: Aleister Crowley: Occult).

Lévi's Baphomet is the source of the later Tarot image of the Devil in the Rider–Waite design. The concept of a downward-pointing pentagram on its forehead was enlarged upon by Lévi in his discussion (without illustration) of the Goat of Mendes arranged within such a pentagram, which he contrasted with the microcosmic man arranged within a similar but upright pentagram. The actual image of a goat in a downward-pointing pentagram first appeared in the 1897 book La Clef de la Magie Noire by Stanislas de Guaita, later adopted as the official symbol—called the Sigil of Baphomet—of the Church of Satan, and continues to be used among Satanists.

Neopaganism

Francisco de Goya's Witches Sabbat (1789), which depicts the Devil flanked by Satanic witches. The Witch Cult hypothesis states that such stories are based upon a real-life pagan cult that revered a horned god Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Witches' Sabbath - WGA10007.jpg
Francisco de Goya's Witches Sabbat (1789), which depicts the Devil flanked by Satanic witches. The Witch Cult hypothesis states that such stories are based upon a real-life pagan cult that revered a horned god

Few neopagan reconstructionist traditions recognize Satan or the Devil outright. However, many neopagan groups worship some sort of Horned God, for example as a consort of the Great Goddess in Wicca. These gods usually reflect mythological figures such as Cernunnos or Pan, and any similarity they may have to the Christian Devil seems to date back only to the 19th century, when a Christian reaction to Pan's growing importance in literature and art resulted in his image being translated to that of the Devil. [40]

Image of a 19th-century Sabbatic Goat Baphomet by Eliphas Levi.jpg
Image of a 19th-century Sabbatic Goat

Witch-cult hypothesis

In 1985 Classical historian Georg Luck, in his Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, theorised that the origins of the Witch-cult may have appeared in late antiquity as a faith primarily designed to worship the Horned God, stemming from the merging of Cernunnos, a horned god of the Celts, with the Greco-Roman Pan/Faunus, [41] a combination of gods which he posits created a new deity, around which the remaining pagans, those refusing to convert to Christianity, rallied and that this deity provided the prototype for later Christian conceptions of the Devil, and his worshippers were cast by the Church as witches. [41]

Beelzebub

Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots, c. 3000 BC, Mesopotamia or Iran, Metropolitan Museum of Art Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots ,ca. 3000 B.C. Mesopotamia or Iran Metropolitan Museum of Art (detail).jpg
Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots, c.3000 BC, Mesopotamia or Iran, Metropolitan Museum of Art

There is an implied connection between Satan and Beelzebub (lit. Lord of the Flies), originally a Semitic deity called Baal (lit. "lord"). Beelzebub is the most recognized demon in the Bible, whose name has become analogous to Satan. Occult and metaphysical author Michelle Belanger believes that Beelzebub (a mockery of the original name [42] ) is the horned god Ba'al Hadad, whose cult symbol was the bull. [43] According to The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca, Beelzebub reigned over the Witches' Sabbath ("synagoga" [44] ), and that witches denied Christ in his name and chanted "Beelzebub" as they danced. [45]

Beelzebub was also imagined to be sowing his influence in Salem, Massachusetts: his name came up repeatedly during the Salem witch trials, the last large-scale public expression of witch hysteria in North America or Europe, and afterwards Rev. Cotton Mather wrote a pamphlet entitled Of Beelzebub and his Plot. [46]

Neopaganism

In 1933, the Egyptologist Margaret Murray published the book, The God of the Witches, in which she theorised that Pan was merely one form of a horned god who was worshipped across many European cultures. This theory influenced the Neopagan notion of the Horned God, as an archetype of male virility and sexuality. In Wicca, the archetype of the Horned God is highly important, and is thought by believers to be represented by such deities as the Celtic Cernunnos, Indian Pashupati and Greek Pan.[ citation needed ]

Horned God in Wiccan based neopagan religions represents a solar god often associated with vegetation, that's honoured as the Holly King or Oak King in Neopagan rituals. [47] Most often, the Horned God is considered a male fertility god. [48] The use of horns as a symbol for power dates back to the ancient world. From ancient Egypt and the Ba'al worshipping Cannanites, to the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and various other cultures. [49] Horns have ever been present in religious imagery as symbols of fertility and power. [50] [51] It was not until Christianity attributed horns to Satan as part of his iconography that horned gods became associated with evil in Western mythology: [52]

Many modern neo-Pagans focus their worship on a horned god, or often "the" Horned God and one or more goddesses. Deities such as Pan and Dionysus have had attributes of their worship imported into the Neopagan concept as have the Celtic Cernunnos and Gwynn ap Nudd, one of the mythological leaders of the Wild Hunt. [53] [54] [55] [56]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cernunnos</span> Celtic horned god

In ancient Celtic and Gallo-Roman religion, Cernunnos or Carnonos is a god depicted with antlers, seated cross-legged, and is associated with stags, horned serpents, dogs and bulls. He is usually shown holding or wearing a torc and sometimes holding a bag of coins and a cornucopia. He is believed to have originally been a Proto-Celtic God. There are more than fifty depictions and inscriptions referring to him, mainly in the north-eastern region of Gaul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horned God</span> Deity in Wicca and some forms of Neopaganism

The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in Wicca and some related forms of Neopaganism. The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god partly based on historical horned deities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan (god)</span> Ancient Greek god of the wilds, shepherds, and flocks

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horned Serpent</span> Mythological serpent found in the mythology of many cultures

The Horned Serpent appears in the mythologies of many cultures including Native American peoples, European, and Near Eastern mythology. Details vary among cultures, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning, thunder, and rebirth. Horned Serpents were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of North American prehistory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atum</span> Ancient Egyptian creator deity

Atum, sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is the primordial God in Egyptian mythology from whom all else arose. He created himself and is the father of Shu and Tefnut, the divine couple, who are the ancestors of the other Egyptian deities. Atum is also closely associated with the evening sun. As a primordial god and as the evening sun, Atum has chthonic and underworld connections. Atum was relevant to the ancient Egyptians throughout most of Egypt's history. He is believed to have been present in ideology as early as predynastic times, becoming even more prevalent during the Old Kingdom and continuing to be worshiped through the Middle and New Kingdom, though he becomes overshadowed by Re around this time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heh (god)</span> Ancient Egyptian personification of infinity or eternity

Ḥeḥ was the personification of infinity or eternity in the Ogdoad in ancient Egyptian religion. His name originally meant "flood", referring to the watery chaos Nu that the Egyptians believed existed before the creation of the world. The Egyptians envisioned this chaos as infinite, in contrast with the finite created world, so Heh personified this aspect of the primordial waters. Heh's female counterpart and consort was known as Hauhet, which is simply the feminine form of his name.

Mendes, the Greek name of the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in ancient Egypt as Per-Banebdjedet and Anpet, is known today as Tell El-Ruba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baphomet</span> Occult deity and symbol

Baphomet is a deity which the Knights Templar were accused of worshipping that subsequently became incorporated into various occult and Western esoteric traditions. The name Baphomet appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights Templar starting in 1307. It first came into popular English usage in the 19th century during debate and speculation on the reasons for the suppression of the Templar order. Baphomet is a symbol of balance in various occult and mystical traditions, the origin of which some occultists have attempted to link with the Gnostics and Templars, although occasionally purported to be a deity or a demon. Since 1856 the name Baphomet has been associated with the "Sabbatic Goat" image drawn by Éliphas Lévi, composed of binary elements representing the "symbolization of the equilibrium of opposites": half-human and half-animal, male and female, and good and evil. Lévi's intention was to symbolize his concept of balance, with Baphomet representing the goal of perfect social order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred bull</span> Cattle in religion

Cattle are prominent in some religions and mythologies. As such, numerous peoples throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In the Sumerian religion, Marduk is the "bull of Utu". In Hinduism, Shiva's steed is Nandi, the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. The bull, whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations as well as modern mentions in New Age cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal worship</span> Glorification of animal deities

Animal worship is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice. An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. Animal cults can be classified according to their formal features or by their symbolic content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apedemak</span> Ancient Nubian deity

Apedemak or Apademak was a major deity in the ancient Nubian and Kushite pantheon. Often depicted as a figure with a male human torso and a lion head, Apedemak was a war god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Kush. He has no Egyptian counterpart. As a war god, Apedemak came to symbolize martial power, military conquest, and empire. Apedemak is also closely associated with Amun, the state-sponsored Egyptian deity during the preceding Napatan period, and is assumed to hold an equal level of importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banebdjedet</span> Ancient Egyptian deity

Banebdjedet (Banebdjed) is an ancient Egyptian ram god with a cult centre at Mendes. Khnum was the equivalent god in Upper Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiccan views of divinity</span>

Wiccan views of divinity are generally theistic, and revolve around a Goddess and a Horned God, thereby being generally dualistic. In traditional Wicca, as expressed in the writings of Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, the emphasis is on the theme of divine gender polarity, and the God and Goddess are regarded as equal and opposite divine cosmic forces. In some newer forms of Wicca, such as feminist or Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is given primacy or even exclusivity. In some forms of traditional witchcraft that share a similar duotheistic theology, the Horned God is given precedence over the Goddess.

Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located Western Egypt, near the Libyan Desert remained the only oracle of Amun throughout. With the 11th Dynasty, Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ra</span> Ancient Egyptian solar deity

Ra or Re was the ancient Egyptian deity of the Sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day sun. Ra ruled in all parts of the created world: the sky, the Earth, and the underworld. He was believed to have ruled as the first pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He was the god of the sun, order, kings and the sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celtic deities</span> Gods and goddesses of the Ancient Celtic religion

The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon of deities comparable to others in Indo-European religion, each linked to aspects of life and the natural world. Epona was an exception and retained without association with any Roman deity. By a process of syncretism, after the Roman conquest of Celtic areas, most of these became associated with their Roman equivalents, and their worship continued until Christianization. Pre-Roman Celtic art produced few images of deities, and these are hard to identify, lacking inscriptions, but in the post-conquest period many more images were made, some with inscriptions naming the deity. Most of the specific information we have therefore comes from Latin writers and the archaeology of the post-conquest period. More tentatively, links can be made between ancient Celtic deities and figures in early medieval Irish and Welsh literature, although all these works were produced well after Christianization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pashupati seal</span> Steatite seal discovered at Mohenjo-daro

The Pashupati seal, is a steatite seal which was uncovered in Mohenjo-daro, now in modern day Pakistan, a major urban site of the Indus Valley civilisation ("IVC"), during excavations in 1928–29, when the region was under British rule. The excavations were carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India, the official body responsible for preservation and excavation. The seal depicts a seated figure that is possibly tricephalic. The seated figure has been thought to be ithyphallic, an interpretation that has been questioned by many, but was still held by the IVC specialist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer in a publication of 2003. The man has a horned headdress and is surrounded by animals. He may represent a horned deity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Mesopotamia relations</span>

Indus–Mesopotamia relations are thought to have developed during the second half of 3rd millennium BCE, until they came to a halt with the extinction of the Indus valley civilization after around 1900 BCE. Mesopotamia had already been an intermediary in the trade of lapis lazuli between the Indian subcontinent and Egypt since at least about 3200 BCE, in the context of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization</span> Religious practices of Indus valley civilization

The religion and belief system of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) people have received considerable attention, with many writers concerned with identifying precursors to the religious practices and deities of much later Indian religions. However, due to the sparsity of evidence, which is open to varying interpretations, and the fact that the Indus script remains undeciphered, the conclusions are partly speculative and many are largely based on a retrospective view from a much later Hindu perspective.

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  13. For a drawing of the seal see Figure 1 in: Flood (1996), p. 29.
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