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a Herail-safa-41
One of the itecriptions excavated out of Mahenjodaros has a represcola tion of a very large sized ram with the head of a fish bearing bords on both sides. An, the Mahenjodaroan God, 13 called 'fish-eyed'. The connection of the Fish-eyed Ān, of Maben jo-Daro with the Pauranic Siva has already been established and the Fish forms one of the connecting links between them 31 The later texts like Kālikā Purana states that the Cupid (Kama) became devoted to Siva after being restored to life so much so that he installed the image of Siva in his Fish-form.2 Studied in the light of the pauranic conception of the Fish-Form of Lord Vişou, in which He appeared in one his ten Avatāras, the fish-ideology seems to have inspired the Paurānic seers with a sense of reverence for the symbol as embodying the idea of beauty and creation With the idea of creation and abundance in view the fish is also associated with the Mother-Goddess. Indeed, such a figure has been actually excavated out of the ruins at Reith in Jaipur State. The modern practice in Hindu homes, specially in Bengal and some other places, ** 18 to put a fish in the hands of a newly wedded bride on her first arrival at the place of her husband, perhaps symbolising the idea of fertility and abundance of the hopsehold In 80 remote an age as that of the Mahenjo-Daro, specific symbolism of fertility had been conveyed by the fish in that the "Spraig Fish” of one of the inscriptions of the Indus Valley civilisation has been interpreted as standing for the Spring God."
In the Gupta age, among the paintings at Ellora, there is a curious composition of two fishes above the stem of an inperted lotus touching each other at their mouths. An emblem of a Linga surmounted by two others is placed in between the two fishes This is clearly a mode of representing the other tradition of fertility as perbaps originating in the third millenium before Christ in the Indus Valley civilisation in the age of the epic beginning roughly from the 4th. Century B C the fish played a very important part in the life of the Indian peoples. The story of king Matsya in the Mabābhārata has it that the king was born along with Matsyagandha Satyavati from the womb of a fish. The Hariyansa:* corroborates the above storics along with a
30 Ibid No 42
31 A C. Karbarlar-Annals of the Bhandather Oriental Research Institute, Yol XXIV P 191 ff." The Fish an Indian Foll-fore"., -
32 Kalila Purāna, CL, 82, Vs 50-52 33 Excavations at Raih Archaсlogical Department, Jaipur, pp. 28-9
34 The custom prevails among some southern peoples e. 8, the Holeyaras of Canara that the newly wedded couple is taken to a river and made to catch fish with the wedding mat moren by brides, signifying the fertility of the couple. Sec A K. Karmarkar--The Fish in Indian Folk-lore, Annals, BOR I. loc lit.
35 Herasi Mabcnjo-Daro, the people and the land (Indian Culture, 11 ) 36 Harivansa 1, 32 91-93
