Module: | Society, Religion & Burial Practices
Q37: Consider the following statements regarding the famous stone statue identified as the Priest-King:
1. A prominent stone bust excavated at Mohenjodaro depicts a bearded man wearing a cloak decorated with a distinct trefoil or three-lobed pattern.
2. The nomenclature Priest-King was assigned to this statue by archaeologists because they found identical, definitively labeled statues of priest-kings in contemporary Egyptian pyramids.
3. The designation assumes that the individual possessed both temporal political authority and religious leadership over the city of Mohenjodaro.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
2. The nomenclature Priest-King was assigned to this statue by archaeologists because they found identical, definitively labeled statues of priest-kings in contemporary Egyptian pyramids.
3. The designation assumes that the individual possessed both temporal political authority and religious leadership over the city of Mohenjodaro.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
✅ Correct Answer: B
🎯 Quick Answer:
Option B is the correct answer because statement 2 incorrectly attributes the origin of the "Priest-King" label to Egyptian archaeology.Structural Breakdown: The artifact is a steatite bust showing a man with a neatly trimmed beard, a headband, and a cloak draped over his left shoulder featuring a carved trefoil motif, suggesting he was a person of immense high status.
Historical/Related Context: Early archaeologists were desperately searching for the rulers of Mohenjodaro.
They did not look to Egypt; instead, they drew direct parallels with the contemporary civilization of Mesopotamia, where the historical existence of "Priest-Kings" was heavily documented in cuneiform texts.
Causal Reasoning: Statement 2 is false.
The archaeologists who found the Mohenjodaro statue were deeply familiar with Mesopotamian history.
Because they found the Harappan statue visually commanding and ritually dressed, they borrowed the Mesopotamian term "Priest-King" and applied it to the Indus context, despite having zero textual evidence that Harappan priests actually held political power.