MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 97 of 100

Correct — B, Pipal (Ficus religiosa). The pipal leaf's distinctive heart shape recurs on Indus seals and tablets — most famously on the 'Pashupati' seal from Mohenjodaro, where a horned figure sits beneath a pipal branch, and on seals showing a figure worshipped within a pipal tree. This is read as early evidence of tree worship in Harappan religion, well before the tree's later Buddhist association (the Bodhi tree).

• (a)Mango — A common Indian fruit tree, but not the tree depicted in Indus seal iconography.
• (c)Parijat — The mythical coral-jasmine tree of later Puranic/Krishna legend — not an Indus Valley seal motif.
• (d)Sal — Significant in later Buddhist tradition (Buddha's birth and death are both linked to Sal trees) — not the tree found on Indus seals.

Indus seals — small engraved steatite tablets usually showing an animal (bull, 'unicorn') with a script line — occasionally carry religious scenes instead. The pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree recurs in these: as the backdrop to a horned/seated deity, and as a tree within which a worshipped figure stands. This is treated as the earliest attested instance of tree worship in the subcontinent.

Exams pair this with other early religious motifs — the 'proto-Shiva'/Pashupati seal and animal worship on seals — and with the later continuity of pipal reverence into Buddhism (Bodhi tree) and Hinduism. The trap is picking a tree important in a LATER Indian religious context (Sal for Buddha, Parijat for Krishna) rather than the one actually attested on Harappan seals.

• Pipal (Ficus religiosa) motif recurs on Indus Valley seals
• Seen on the Pashupati seal scene and on seals depicting worship of a figure within a pipal tree
• Read as evidence of tree worship in Harappan religion, pre-dating its Buddhist association (Bodhi tree)
• Indus seals are typically steatite, mostly engraved with animals and script; the pipal scenes are a religious subset

• Picking Sal or Parijat because they matter in LATER (Buddhist/Puranic) religion, not the Indus period
• Assuming Indus seals only show animals — some depict tree-worship/religious scenes

Usually a direct one-liner ('which tree/animal/motif is found on Indus seals'), sometimes embedded in a statement-based question on Indus religion.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The 'Pashupati seal' from Mohenjodaro shows a horned figure seated amidst animals beneath which tree?

  • (a)Sal
  • (b)Pipal
  • (c)Banyan
  • (d)Neem

  Answer(b) Pipal — the seal's religious scene is set beneath a pipal branch.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is evidence of tree worship in the Indus Valley Civilization?

  • (a)Sal-tree processions on seals
  • (b)A worshipped figure depicted within a pipal tree on seals
  • (c)Parijat groves near citadels
  • (d)Banyan-shaded assembly halls

  Answer(b) — seals show a figure standing within a pipal tree being worshipped, the clearest evidence of Harappan tree worship.