The Indus 'Pashupati' seal

A steatite seal found by Ernest Mackay at Mohenjo-daro in 1928–29, dated about 2350–2000 BCE, showing a horned seated figure surrounded by animals. John Marshall (1931) read it as a prototype of Shiva as Pashupati, lord of beasts, on four grounds: three faces, horns, a yogic posture and the animals. It is the loudest disputed item in the whole Shiva dossier and is recorded as a scholarly question, not a fact.