22. Celestials on Indus seals

Indus people appear to have considered celestials as a class of swastika beings, living in one of the four gatis

or realms of possible existence, of which various types are described in the Jain scriptures. Many Indus scholars have described the celestials as anthropomorphic beings, but they can as well be regarded as yakshas, who by nature are capable of changing their shape and who are ardent devotees of penancers who have renounced the world. Yakshas also occupy regional sites, trees, buildings and temples to guard the image of the Jina, as the Jains belief. Some seal figures could easily be assigned names as shown here below:

 big figure of a three-headed yaksha is also seen inscribed on the rock bed of the Vindhyagiri at Srawana Belagola as in Indus seals – with a faintly visible third face of a rhinoceros, as if the miniature seals are made for it by the Indus folk. They also indicate that some three more rocky hills must have had the three-headed yaksha inscribed on them with the Indus texts, and that the seals above were like souvenirs of it. These things need to be explored and sought for by epigraphists, also on other sites than Sravana Belagola.