The Pashupati Seal Row: Is the Famous Harappan Icon Really Lord Shiva?
The Pashupati Seal Row: Is the Famous Harappan Icon Really Lord Shiva? The internet is currently divided over a piece of steatite (soapstone) no bigger than a couple of inches. A full-blown historical and cultural debate has erupted over the famous 4,300-year-old Harappan "Pashupati Seal" found at Mohenjo-daro. The spark? A characteristically provocative social media post by controversial American historian Audrey Truschke. When India’s Ministry of Culture shared an image of the ancient artefact, calling it a prime symbol of India's "unbroken civilisational continuity" and identifying the seated figure as "widely seen as Shiva-Pashupati," Truschke fired back. "This isn't Shiva," Truschke countered. "It's more likely adapted from proto-Elamite iconography, showing a Eurasian deity 'lord of animals'." The pushback was immediate, intense, and furious. Here is a breakdown of why this tiny seal is causing such massiv...