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Study makes new claims about world's oldest human civilization

Wild claims about Harappan Civilization have set social media afire.

Sohini Mitter

on December 26, 2016

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Some ancient relics never cease to pique the interest of modern societies.

Sample this: A 4,500-year-old metal figurine, one of the most critical excavations related to the Indus Valley Civilization — arguably the world's oldest human civilization — might have been something no archaeologist or historian ever thought before.

The "Dancing Girl" of Mohenjodaro, a 4.1-inch tall bronze statuette, was long thought to be a toy figurine or perhaps a prop for magic art, but now a paper written by a veteran Indian historian claims that she might have been an avatar of a widely worshiped Hindu Goddess.

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She was Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva in Hindu mythology, says this paper published by the Indian Council of Historical Research, according to a report in the Indian Express.

If true, this is an addition to the long-standing claims of several right-leaning historians that the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, was indeed a worshiper of Lord Shiva. Authored by a Banaras Hindu University professor, the report notes, “where there is Shiva, there should be Shakti”, a manifestation of Goddess Parvati, though “till date, no one has identified any idol or statue of Parvati in Harappan Civilization”.

Indians on social media got talking about it on Monday morning.