Seal depicting a deity with horned headdress and bangles on both arms, standing in a pipal (sacred fig) tree and looking down on a kneeling worshiper. A human head rests on a small stool. A giant ram and seven figures in procession complete the narrative. The figures wear a single plumed headdress, bangles on both arms and long skirts. Found in Mohenjodaro in the 1920s.
I have a question to Dr Iravatham Mahadevan. Do festivals like PONGAL (TN) or ONAM (Kerala) carry some of those aspects from Indus Valley memory? Because they are not rooted in Religion and origins are obscured from known memory. Submitted by Prakash
Iravatham Mahadevan
The Harappans would have celebrated some festivals. There are seals and sealings showing religious sacrifices, processions etc. but there is no evidence to connect them with the South Indian festival you mention.
See the Cult Object link for another ancient Indus festival scene.
Asko Parpola
I am quite sure the Harappans celebrated for instance the beginning of the new year at vernal equinox, associating this with the myth of the birth of Murugan (Skanda-Karttikeya). See my book Deciphering the Indus script (1994), p. 205-206, and my paper in Script 1 (2009).