Two bricks symbol indicates the Egyptian Goddess Meskhenet

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Two bricks symbol indicates the Egyptian goddess Meskhenet

Abstract

In Egyptian civilization, there was one goddess associated with childbirth. She was identified with a brick symbol. A similar idea

appears in the Indus valley civilization also. As seen in other articles,

there is a close connection between IVC ideas and Egyptian ideas. The concept of Meshkhenet could be one. It looks like that she was very popular; her symbol appears a considerable number of times.

The above-given symbol appears many times in the Indus script. Analyzing various ancient symbols yields a result that ancient Egyptian goddess Meshkhenet was identified with bricks logo. The above given Indus symbol is also looking like two bricks within an oval-shaped circle.

Figure 1: Indus seals showing two bricks symbol. Picture courtesy – Sue Sullivan (1)

In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Meskhenet was the goddess

of childbirth, and the creator of each child’s Ka, a part of their

soul, which she breathed into them at the moment of birth. She was worshipped from the earliest of times by Egyptians.

Figure 2: Goddess Meshkhenet. Picture courtesy – Crystalinks. (2)

Meskhenet as a woman with a symbolic cow’s uterus on her head The symbol of the goddess is Cow’s uterus

In ancient Egypt, women delivered babies while squatting on

a pair of bricks, known as birth bricks, and Meskhenet was the goddess associated with this form of delivery. Consequently, in Egyptian art, she was sometimes depicted as a brick with a

woman’s head. At other times, she was depicted as a woman with a symbolic cow’s uterus on her headdress. (3)

Figure 3: Goddess head attached to a brick. Picture courtesy -Wikipedia.

Meskhenet was a goddess who presided at childbirth. In her

form of a brick terminating in a female head (called in the Book of

the Dead “cubit-with-head”). She represents one of the bricks upon which women in ancient Egypt took a squatting position to give birth. She is present near the scales in the hall of the Two Truths, where the dead person’s heart is examined and weighed.

Her job is there to assist at a symbolic rebirth in the Afterlife.

Her symbol of two loops at the top of a vertical stroke could be indicating the two branches of the uterus of a cow. (2)

This goddess ensures the safe delivery of a child from the womb. In addition to that, she also decides on its destiny at the time of birth. Similarly, she is the force of the future that assigns to a scribe promotion among the administrators of Egypt. (2)

A hymn in the temple of Esna refers to four “Meskhenets” at the side of the creator god Khnum, whose purpose is to repel evil by their incantations.

In ancient Egypt, where child mortality was high, Egyptians called upon the help of their gods through magical objects, like birth bricks and unique ritual practices during childbirth. (2)

All the above-given narration equally fits the Indus Valley civilization also. Indus people would likely have worshipped similar goddesses during childbirth. Infant mortality would have been very high during ancient times in Indus Valley also. We do not know that goddess’s name until a consensus is reached; let us call her in the Egyptian name itself ‘Meshkhenet’.

The above-given seal inscription shows a symbol (marked by arrow mark) which looks like two bags attached to a pole. Rekha Rao proposes that it could have indicated the offering made to Vedic god Rudra, which used to be hung in a pole. (4) However, my impression is that it could be indicating the two branches of the uterus symbol only.

The above-given seal inscriptions show a single stroke within the oval circle (Marked by the arrow). There is a possibility that it could be a modified version of two brick symbols. Here only one brick is shown within the uterus symbol. (or) it could be the growing embryo symbol.

The above-given seal inscription shows a new symbol with a single stroke that separates two oval-shaped circles. There is a possibility that this symbol could be a degraded version of the uterus symbol.

The above-given seal inscription shows a uterus symbol followed by Sastha symbol . This symbol pair reads ‘Uterus Sastha’ (or) It could be read as ‘Meshkhenet Sastha’. I have already explained; the growing embryo symbol could be indicating ‘mother goddesses.’ The mother goddess could be ‘Meshkhenet’.

(5) Read the article, ’Yoni symbol indicates mother goddess and concept of rebirth’ for more information.

The above-given seal inscription shows another type of two brick symbol. Rekha Rao states that it could be the Pinda offering made to Pithrus (Manes/ancestors). (4) I also held a similar view earlier. However, I think now the time has come to revise that idea. This symbol requires reconsideration. Pinda is always offered in three lumps, meant for three generations of Pithrus, not in two chunks. Hence, the possibility of this symbol being Pinda offering is less. Most probably, it is a variation of the Uterus symbol (or) two bricks symbol.

These two bricks symbol appears 57 times in Indus seal inscriptions as per the data analysis of Sundar et al. (6) This high frequency shows the significance attached to this symbol.

However, one surprising thing is that Sundar has not classified these two bricks symbol as a separate category. However, he has

counted this symbol as a variation of a single brick symbol because he could not realize the significance of the ‘two bricks’

symbol.

The above-given seal inscription shows the embryo symbol.

This symbol also should be counted as part of the two bricks symbol idea.

symbol Frequency remarks
26 Rekha Rao observes that it is a pole on which offerings are hung to God

Rudra. But such an interpretation is not supported by any Vedic literature. Verification by me shows that it could be the ‘cow’s uterus’ symbol which indicated goddess Meshkhenet.

The above-given data is obtained from the research papers of Mahadevan and Sundar et al. (15) (16). However, the above-given data of individual occurrence of the symbols does not give much information.

Therefore, let us consider the data of paired characters. The data of paired characters are as provided in the below-presented table.

Symbol pair

 frequency remarks
17 The cow’s uterus symbol appears in combination with the fifth day. Thus, Meshkhenet may be the goddess of the fifth day. The fifth-day sacrifice was meant for her.
11 Sastha (God) of the fifth day, it could be Meshkhenet.
10 Kedaga (shield) sacrifice on the fifth day; the sacrifice could be for Meshkhenet for protection.
10

 This triplet of symbols occurs ten times, quite significant.

This triplet reads as ‘fifth day -kedaga-kavu.’ Sacrifice

was made on the fifth day of the fortnight for protection.

The cow’s uterus symbol appears along with the fifth day seventeen times in Indus script data. The data in the above table shows that all the signs related to Goddess Meshkhenet appear along with the fifth-day sacrifice. It looks like that fifth day was associated with Meshkhenet. Refer to my article ‘Indus numerals represent various gods as per calendar days’ for more information. (7)

Acknowledgements:

  1. All seals pictures are taken out of the book of Sue Sullivan (1)
  2. All symbols logos are taken out of the book of Asko Parpola (8)
  3. All frequency data is from papers of Iravatham Mahadevan and Sundar et al.
  4. Sullivan, Sue. Indus Script Dictionary.
  5. www.crystalinks.com. meshkhenet. www.crystalinks.com. [Online] https://www.crystalinks.com/meskhenet.html.
  6. Wilkinson, Richard H. The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London : Thames & Hudson. , 2003. ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7..
  7. Rekha. Symbolography in Indus seals. Symbolography in Indus seals(e-Book). s.l. : https://read.amazon.in/, 2015.
  8. Jeyakumar(Yoni). Yoni symbol indicates mother goddess and concept of rebirth. Academia.edu. [Online] 2018. https://www.academia.edu/22834660/Yoni_symbol_indicates_mother_goddess_and_concept_of_rebirth.
  9. Sundar. -The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context.pdf. http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/. [Online] http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/43-The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context.pdf.
  10. Jeyakumar(Indus-gods-calendar). Indus_script_Numerals_represent_various_gods_as_per_calendar_days. Academia.edu. [Online] https://www.academia.edu/31708667/Indus_script_Numerals_represent_various_gods_as_per_calendar_ days.
  11. Parpola, Asko. Deciphering the Indus Script. New Delhi : Cambridge University Press, 2000.