Kambala

"Achaemenid (?) cylinder seal, 5th c. BC, depicting a squatting female (?) figure holding a pair of long horned cattle (?) by the tips of the horns; between the cattle a vase with water and plants coming from the top".

Full analysis:

First, I don't think this is a female figure...Judging my the big boner and the big muscles, this is a male figure...

Second, I don't think these animals are cattle...Judging by the horns, these are wild water buffaloes...

Third, I don't think this is an Achaemenid cylinder seal. I don't think Persians depicted naked heroes on their seals...So hmmm, hmmm and hmmm about the description. 

But there is something really interesting about the scene depicted on this seal: a man riding two buffaloes...

The same scene can be seen every year in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka...

I am talking about Kambala, the annual buffalo race which takes place between Nov and Mar...  

I think that the race most likely originally only took place in Nov, because this is the time right after the kharif rice harvest season, and just before the rabi rice plowing and planting season...Check the rice agricultural calendar for India...

BTW, If you are wandering what kharif and rabi seasons are, check this article out...

Depiction of the Kharif (wet) season (May to November)  and the Rabi (dry) season (November to May) through animal and plant calendar markers on an Indus Valley civilisation vase...I talked about this in my post "Kharif and Rabi season"...

Interestingly, the water buffalo is an ideal animal calendar marker for marking the end of the kharif (wet) season and rabi (dry) season. This is because buffaloes are seasonal breeders in most of their range, and typically bread starting from Oct/Nov...

It is the wet season that brings life and prosperity to India, which are in Indian mythology attributed to devas. This is why buffalo, the animal calendar marker which marks the beginning of the dry season, became  "buffalo demon", the enemy of devas...I talked about this in my post "Proto Durga" about this clay tablet from Harappa with a "narrative scene"...

Now if we look at the climate in Mesopotamia, where our buffalo rider seal was made. 

We can see that the climate there is the opposite of the climate in India...

Because water buffalos mating season starts in Oct/Nov, at the start of the rain season, buffalos are on Mesopotamian seals used as animal calendar markers for the beginning of the wet season...

And are depicted drinking from a jar overflowing with water. I talked about this scene in my post "Buffalo licking jar" in which I analysed this Akkadian cylinder seal from the 3rd millennium BC...

BTW, it is the similarity between this Akkadian seal and the original buffalo rider seal, that makes me doubt very much if the original seal is Achaemenid seal at all...

The jar the buffalos are drinking from is the same jar held by Enki/Ea, the god (of the) the source of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. It symbolically represents Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates...Which is said to be (where) Enki (resides)...

And that source are the mountains north and east of Mesopotamia...Check this article and the linked articles for more info about Enki, who is (in) Abzu, the source of all sweet water...

Why did so many Mesopotamian "Supreme" gods have an attribute "The Great Mountain"? Cause they all wanted to be Enki...But there is only one Enki, who is (in) Abzu, "place that is a big mountain"...All the others are just imposters...I talked about this in my post "The great imposter"

Back to buffalo as an animal calendar marker. The calendar marker is derived from the time buffalos mate. Which is always at the same time, from Oct/Nov. But because of the opposite climates in Mesopotamia and India, opposite mythological meanings got associated with buffalos...

So, Zoroaster said that "daevas" were "wrong" or "false" gods that should be rejected...Were Iranian "daevas" actually Indian "devas"? And if so, what could have turned devas (good guys) into daevas (bad guys)??? Well, the opposite climate of course...I talked about this in my post "Devas vs Daevas"...

Finally, lets get back to our original seal. 

And the comment from @another_barbara: The buffalos are in fact standing on a muddy field - just like the etymology of the word kambala says. Kambala is derived from 'Kampa-Kala ' the word 'Kampa' is related slushy, muddy field...And the fields get slushy, muddy in Mesopotamia when the rains arrive...In Oct/Nov...When buffalos start to mate...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Seal with narrative scene

The seals like this one were made by people of the Indus Valley civilisation between 2200BC and 1900BC. They are called "seals with narrative scenes". Except no one has a clue what the "narrative" is about. Example: this narrative seal depicts master of the animals...

I don't know who the guy is. A god? Possibly...But I know who the two animals are and what they represent...

The agricultural year in Indus valley is divided into two parts, two harvests, with two completely different crops: 

Kharif season (May to November) - wet season in Indian subcontinent

Rabi season (November to May) - dry season in Indian subcontinent

The bottom animal is Auroch, the wild Eurasian cattle, now extinct. It marks the period end of Apr, beginning of May. The beginning of Kharif season. This is our Taurus, which marks the beginning of the calving season of the Aurochs...

They are the "unicorns" depicted on Indus Valley seals like this one dated to ca. 2000 BC.

There is another type of cattle, unrelated to Aurochs which was also depicted on Indus Valley seals: Zebu cattle. Like the bull depicted on this seal dated to ca. 2000 BC.

These two symbols are interchangeable because mating of both of these two types of wild cattle took place during the Kharif season, May-Nov...

The top animal is Markhor goat.  

With Ibex goat

it marks the period end of Oct, beginning of Nov. The beginning of Rabi season. This is because the mating season of both Markhor goats and Ibex goats starts in Oct/Nov...

Here are zebu bull and goat (ibex this time) marking two growing seasons in Indus Valley on an Indus Valley civilisation pot. I talked about this in my post "Kharif and Rabi season"...

The whole bull (summer), goat (winter) has to do with their reproductive seasons. Wild cattle mate in summer. Wild goats mate in winter...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Oh yeah, one other very important thing. The grain sowing season in Indus Valley is Oct-Nov (Goat) and the grain harvest season in Indus Valley is Apr-May (Bull)...Kind of important to know if you are an early grain farmer and have no calendar...

Also the planting of the summer crops starts in Apr-May (Bull) and the harvest of the summer crops ends in Oct-Nov (Goat)...So is the man (god) whoever, on the left telling people when to start planting for each growing season?

As for the fish, have a look at the this seal 

and the post that discusses it: "Fig with bulls"

And that's all I have to say about this narrative seal...I think we now have a bit more narrative than we had before. Oh and "the master of the animals" seems to have gone away...Here is what I think about "the master of the animals". In short, there is no such a thing as "Master of the animals"...

More "masters of the animals" to be found in this paper, where the original seal drawing is from …

I will talk about few other items from this paper soon...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...