What do you understand by the term “Shamans”?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Men and women who claim magical and healing powers, as well as an ability to communicate with the other world
All four options come from the discussion of Harappan religion, so each is worth telling apart.
Option (1) A polished stone that is worshipped as a symbol of “proto-Shiva” — Incorrect. This describes a linga, a polished stone worshipped as a symbol of Shiva. Some conical stones found at Harappan sites have been classified as lingas.
Option (2) A figure shown seated cross-legged in a “yogic” posture, sometimes surrounded by animals — Incorrect. This is the figure on the so-called ‘proto-Shiva’ seals. Because Rudra in the Rigveda is neither a yogi nor a lord of animals, some scholars suggest that this figure may be a shaman, but the figure itself is not what the word means.
Option (3) Men and women who claim magical and healing powers, as well as an ability to communicate with the other world — Correct. This is the meaning of shamans.
Option (4) Rare stone statuary of men in an almost standardised posture, seated with one hand on the knee – such as the “priest-king” — Incorrect. This describes the rare Harappan stone statues such as the ‘priest-king’, which early archaeologists, like the female figurines they called mother goddesses, took to have a religious meaning.
NCERT (2025-26): “11.2 Problems of interpretation … Rare stone statuary of men in an almost standardised posture, seated with one hand on the knee – such as the ‘priest-king’ – was also similarly classified. In other instances, structures have been assigned ritual significance. These include the Great Bath and fire altars found at Kalibangan and Lothal. Attempts have also been made to reconstruct religious beliefs and practices by examining seals, some of which seem to depict ritual scenes. Others, with plant motifs, are thought to indicate nature worship. Some animals – such as the one-horned animal, often called the ‘unicorn’ – depicted on seals seem to be mythical, composite creatures. In some seals, a figure shown seated cross-legged in a ‘yogic’ posture, sometimes surrounded by animals, has been regarded as a depiction of ‘proto-Shiva’, that is, an early form of one of the major deities of Hinduism. Besides, conical stone objects have been classified as lingas. Many reconstructions of Harappan religion are made on the assumption that later traditions provide parallels with earlier ones. This is because archaeologists often move from the known to the unknown, that is, from the present to the past. While this is plausible in the case of stone querns and pots, it becomes more speculative when we extend it to ‘religious’ symbols. Let us look, for instance, at the ‘proto-Shiva’ seals. The earliest religious text, the Rigveda (compiled c. 1500-1000 BCE) mentions a god named Rudra, which is a name used for Shiva in later Puranic traditions (in the first millennium CE ; see also Chapter 4). However, unlike Shiva, Rudra in the Rigveda is neither depicted as Pashupati (lord of animals in general and cattle in particular), nor as a yogi. In other words, this depiction does not match the description of Rudra in the Rigveda. Is this, then, possibly a shaman as some scholars have suggested?…”
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