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THE DAIMABAD MAN. WHO WERE THE PEOPLE OF THE DECCAN BEFORE THE DRAVIDIANS AND ARYANS?

THE DAIMABAD MAN. WHO WERE THE PEOPLE OF THE DECCAN BEFORE THE DRAVIDIANS AND ARYANS?
“The Dancing girl of Mohenjo-daro is perhaps the most famous icon of the Harappan civilization. The priest-king, also of Mohenjo-daro is a close second - with his officious expression and embossed robes. But have you heard of the Daimabad man, who has foxed historians, archaeologists, and Indologists for long?

 Enigmatic, authoritative, and unique, this symbol of a lesser known, but as old or older, settlement further south, in Maharashtra is fascinating. More so because many believe that this may have been one of the oldest depictions of Shiva!

Along with this now consider this. The ice age ended about 9-10000 years ago. The oceans at that time were almost 40 meters lower than what they are now. This could have meant that the land masses between India and Africa were more easily traversed by foot?

Daimabad is a Chalcolithic or copper age site (2200-1000 BCE) on the left bank of Pravara, a tributary of the Godavari in the Ahmednagar district of present-day Maharashtra. The site was discovered by archaeologist BP Bopardikar in 1956 and the site was excavated three times in the span of two decades. The findings created a stir. Daimabad turned out to be the largest chalcolithic site in Maharashtra and evidence showed that the last inhabitant who lived there, deserted the site at the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE. The site had been untouched by human habitation since then!

One of the most significant discoveries at the site is what has come to be known as the Daimabad man, a bronze sculpture of an ithyphallic man riding a chariot drawn by bulls. Around 45 cm long and 16 cm wide, the sculpture is detailed. It depicts a man riding an elaborate chariot yoked with two bulls The two wheels of the chariot are solid and there is dog standing on the central pole just in front of the man. The platform on which the man rises is truncated and oval in shape and on either side of the man is a pair of birds facing opposite directions. Stylistically these are related to the terracotta bird whistles found in Harappan sites.

Daimabad man could have been a representation of a proto phallic cult - perhaps even the early depiction of a deity that became Shiva!

Interestingly the Daimabad man and other sculptures discovered in the site, didn’t come to light during the excavations. They were found later when locals of the Bhil community were digging out roots of a tree for firewood. There has of course been a lot of discussion on the sculpture. Eminent Archaeologist, the late MK Dhavaliaker who worked on the bronze sculptures of Daimabad has described the 16 cm sculpture as that of a man who was probably a proto-Australiod, similar to the terracotta figurines found in Kalibangan, a contemporary Harappan site. The man has a broad, snub nose with wide nostrils and a thick and protruding his lower lip. His hair is gathered at the back in a sort of elongated roll, but he looks more like a bald man with thick masses of hair on the side and at the back of his head.”

https://www.peepultree.world/livehistoryindia/story/art-history/daimabads-mystery-man

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