some scholars have even hypothesized that the Indus people could have spoken a language related to tribal languages of eastern India that are connected to Mon-Khmer languages in Southeast Asia.•Some Hindus in northern India, guided by the belief that Sanskrit and its culture is very old, claim that Sanskrit was already commonly used in the Indus Valley by the time of Harappa. Thus, they claim, the Harappan religion was a precursor of classical Vedic Hinduism.