Among the thousands of steatite seals found at the sites of the 7 Rivers civilization, one figure returns more often than all the others: the bull. Not the placid, massive domestic ox. The bull in all its power — prominent hump, proud head, muscular neck, engraved with a precision and economy of means that make these seals miniature masterpieces of ancient art.
In The Civilization of the 7 Rivers, I note this explicitly: among the animal figurines, the bull was the most widespread. It was used in Indus Valley seals and in many artefacts. The bull symbolized strength and fertility.
And in the Vedic spirituality that underlies this civilization: “the main gods are often called bulls.”
This is not coincidence. The bull is, in the 7 Rivers civilization, the densest symbol — the one that condenses in a single physical image an entire network of spiritual, cosmic and social meanings.
The bull on the seals: a royal portrait
The seals depicting a bull — generally a humped zebu (Bos indicus) — are the most numerous and the most carefully crafted in the entire seal production of the 7 Rivers civilization. Every detail is worked with remarkable care: the majestic hump, the curved horns, the developed chest, the strictly lateral profile that showcases the power of the animal.
In front of the bull, one almost always finds an object that archaeologists call a “rack” or “manger” — a multi-compartment structure whose exact significance remains debated. Some see in it an altar, others a food ration support, others still a ritual object associated with sacrifice.
Kenoyer, in his work on Mohenjo-Daro, emphasizes that the bull depicted on the seals is always the uncastrated male animal — in the fullness of its reproductive power. Not a dairy cow, not a draught ox. It is the generative power in its purest state.
The unicorn: a synthesis of the three kingdoms
Alongside the pure bull, the 7 Rivers civilization created an even stranger figure — which archaeologists called “the unicorn,” for lack of a better term. In The Civilization of the 7 Rivers, I describe it precisely: the unicorn is an animal composed of three animals. The body is that of a bull, the head is that of a horse, and the horn is that of an antelope.
This synthesis is not a fantastic hybrid in the Greek sense. It is a deliberate symbolic construction — an image that condenses the three forms of animal power that the 7 Rivers civilization valued.
The bull for the body: reproductive power, fertility, earthly anchoring.
The horse for the head: speed, intelligence, capacity for direction. In the glossary of The Civilization of the 7 Rivers, the horse symbolizes strength and energy.
The antelope for the horn: lightness, precision, elevation — the capacity to go where heavy animals cannot.
The unicorn is an image of totality — a being that unites in itself all qualities without identifying with any. It is perhaps the most complex symbolic animal that Antiquity produced.
The bull as god in the Rig Veda
In The Civilization of the 7 Rivers, I state that the principal gods of the Rig Veda are often called bulls. This formulation is precise — and important.
Indra is the bull par excellence. In my translation of the Rig Veda:
4.21.2 — I rejoice in you, the fighter, the bull, the self-governed, the powerful, the young, the solid, the agile, the one who does not grow old, the one who carries the Thunderbolt.
And Soma itself — the sacred drink, the purifying force of the ninth mandala — is constantly described as a bull:
9.85.9 — The bull, radiant, standing on the Sky, illuminated the Light of the Sky for the sage. The king crosses the filter bellowing.
9.86.3 — Like a spurred Horse, run toward strength. The cup of the Sky wins the Sky, through its mothers: the stones. The bull flows in the filter, on the summit of the wool.
And Agni, the sacred fire, is also a bull:
2.2.3 — A great two-voiced song, well sharpened, giving a thousand streams, given by the powerful bull, Agni.
Indra, Soma, Agni — the three most central forces in the Rig Veda — are all described as bulls. This is not decorative metaphor. It is an ontological affirmation: divine power, whatever its form of expression — warrior force, purifying force, fire force — is of a taurine nature. It is reproductive, fertilizing, irreducible.
The bull in toys and daily life
The pre-eminence of the bull in the symbolism of the 7 Rivers civilization is not limited to the official seals. It penetrates even to children’s toys.
In The Civilization of the 7 Rivers, I note that among the animal figurines that constituted children’s toys, the bull was the most widespread. Small terracotta bulls with wheels — capable of rolling on the ground — have been found in dozens of houses across dozens of sites.
This detail is revealing. In a civilization that chooses to put a symbolic figure in the hands of its children, one learns something about what it transmits from generation to generation. The child of Mohenjo-Daro rolling his terracotta bull across the floor of his home was learning, through play, to recognize and honour the figure of fertilizing power.
Continuity with Shiva’s Nandi
The symbolic continuity between the bull on the seals of Mohenjo-Daro and Nandi — Shiva’s sacred bull in Hinduism — is evident and profound.
Nandi is the guardian of Shiva’s temple. He is always depicted seated, facing the lingam, in a posture of perfect contemplation. He is the sacred animal par excellence of the Shaivite tradition — and this tradition is directly descended from Vedism, itself descended from the 7 Rivers civilization.
The so-called “Pashupati” seal from Mohenjo-Daro — which we discussed in our article on yoga and seals — depicts a figure seated in meditation posture, surrounded by animals including a bull. This figure is often interpreted as a prehistoric form of Shiva — “Pashupati,” the master of animals.
If this interpretation is correct, the bull on the seals of Mohenjo-Daro is the Nandi of Shiva — or rather, the Nandi of Shiva is the bull on the seals of Mohenjo-Daro, transmitted for four thousand years through an unbroken chain of significance.
This is not incidental continuity. It is the most tangible proof of cultural continuity between the 7 Rivers civilization and contemporary Hinduism.
