Forget The Other Errors In Mohenjo Daro, Looks Like They Might’ve Screwed Up The Title Too

The release of Mohenjo Daro’s trailer has sparked various debates on the internet. Many have pointed out the historical inaccuracies depicted in the trailer, which includes fair-skinned people and their dressing style. Even the usage of silk and iron in the movie’s trailer has invited criticism for inaccurately depicting the lifestyle of those times.

Twitter has been flooded with reactions.

Films based on historical events usually come under scrutiny for fictional representation of actual events. And more often than not, most film makers use the comfortable cushion of creative liberty to modify facts to tell their story in a glorified setting.

Mohenjo Daro attempts to tell us the story of one of the earliest human civilizations in the world, but what has caught our attention is the name of the city itself.

In Gowariker’s trailer, we see characters referring to the city as ‘Mohenjo Daro’, and that brings us to this other theory which puts a question mark on the name of the civilization back then.

Mohenjo Daro literally means ‘Mound of the dead men’, in Sindhi.

The city was discovered almost 100 years ago in the Sindh region (now Pakistan). Mohenjo Daro, which is a Sindhi word, can be translated as ‘Mound of the dead men’ and this name was given to the site in the 1920s.

Now why would residents of a flourishing city address/name their city as something which sounds quite negative. Naming a city as ‘Mound of the dead men’ sounds just like they were waiting for doom to arrive. The residents back then must have wanted the city they lived in to prosper and certainly wouldn’t address it with a name which translates into death.

Also, the original name of the city is still unknown but one of the most popular theories suggests that the area was known by the name of ‘Kukkutarma’, the city of cockerels, back in the day. And it was only in 1920s that the city came to be known as Mohenjo Daro.

Many seals with cock inscriptions were found during the time of excavation and it is widely assumed that cocks played an important role in the city and its culture.