Padmāsana in Harappa

Today (2022-04-18) an old tantra teacher, whose name I mention not, posted the following picture, saying “A yogin in padmasana was just unearthed. This yogin lived 2,700 years ago.”

Let us chase the origin of this image.

• 2020. A book: https://books.google.com.br/books?id=U97QDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19

  

• 2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/f7e6er/a_2700_year_old_skeletal_remains_of_a_yogi_in/
• 2021-03-16. A forum post. http://www.brahminsnet.com/forums/forum/friendship-gossip-social/social/groups-and-talks/news-knowledge-to-share/14152-
• 2016-03-26. https://www.indiadivine.org/2700-year-old-yogi-samadhi-found-indus-valley-civilization-archaeological-site/
• 2010-03-03. https://www.indiamike.com/india/rajasthan-f26/2700-year-old-samadhi-at-balathal-t105766/#post943134 This one has a comment which cites an article from Ancient Asia Journal, but this link is dead.

• 2001-03-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20010309192719/www.india-today.com/itoday/20010312/archaelogy.shtml Finally some details.

  Gwen Robbins, a biological anthropologist from the University of Oregon, USA, in her ongoing preliminary analysis of the bones, […] The fifth skeleton, from a different era, was of an adult male 35 to 40 years old, and had been buried in a seated position that resembles the modern samadhi burial of sadhus who renounce the world. The ritual of burial in ash and cowdung raises the need to look at related traditions in present-day Hindu communities such as Gosain and Jogi which bury their dead.

  Apparently the results were published here, but I didn’t get access to the article:

• Robbins, Gwen, Veena Mushrif, Virendra N. Misra, Rabi K. Mohanty, and Vasant S. Shinde. "Human skeletal remains from Balathal: A full report and inventory." Man and Environment 22, no. 2 (2007): 1-25.

  @article{robbins2007human,
  title={Human skeletal remains from Balathal: A full report and inventory},
  author={Robbins, Gwen and Mushrif, Veena and Misra, Virendra N and Mohanty, Rabi K and Shinde, Vasant S},
  journal={Man and Environment},
  volume={22},
  number={2},
  pages={1--25},
  year={2007}
      }
  
  

The “recently found” seems to mean two decades ago.