Excavations in the Mahanadi River basin of Odisha have yielded a set of terracotta seals from the 6th century BCE. The seals contain aphorisms related to the Niti-Vahana school, an early offshoot of Vedic thought that explored the ethics of social stability. Unlike the better-known schools of the era, this tradition focused on the role of 'restraint' and 'predictability' in maintaining the moral order of urban settlements.
The inscriptions suggest that early inhabitants of the region developed a complex theory of 'social inertia,' arguing that progress must be tempered by a profound respect for the structural continuity of the family and community. This discovery offers a new counterpoint to the more radical ascetic movements that were emerging simultaneously in the Gangetic plains.