Bharata -The Language Of The Indus Valley Civilisation (2024)

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The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-16 Vedic Sarasvati-Ganga Civilisation

vijaya bhaarati

The Harappan seals contain several linguistic symbols which have not been properly understood so far.Through my works especially- Indus script decipherment breakthrough, PaNameTa-the troy tower weight and measure system of Harappa, The Harappan Symbol Of Man+ Trident And Its Relation To Kausika Visvamitra And The Kalinga Malla MeTas( Tower Weights), The Harappan Unicorn And The Kalinga Malla MeTas(Tower Weights) , The Harappan Symbol Of Intersecting Circles And Its Relation To Kausika Visvamitra And The Kalinga Malla MeTas( Tower weights), The Harappan Contest Motif Of Nude Man With Six Locks Of Hair Fighting Two Tigers And Its Relation To The Kalinga Malla MeTas( Tower Weights), The Harappan symbols of Roots, Nuts And Cocks And Their Relation To Kausika Visvamitra And The Kalinga Malla MeTas( Tower weights), Identification Of KaNva In The Indus Script, Identification Of Troy In The Indus script,Identification Of Barley And Mustard In The Indus Script, Krishna’s Mathura And Dvaraka In The Indus Script, The Pinna In The Indus Script, The Identity Of Vedic Sarasvati And The Location Of Krishna’s Dvaraka, Identification Of Vedic Bharadvaja In The Indus Script, Krishna’s Dvaraka In The Indus Script, One Symbol Of Indus Script Can Tell A Lot About The Indus Valley Civilisation, The Identity Of Kasyapa In The Indus Valley And Sumeria, Kusa -The Son Of Rama-In Mesopotamia(Sumer),Indus -Sumer Trade, A Few “Copper” Names In The Indus Script, Janaka-King Of Mithila-In The Indus Script,The Vedic Asvins, Yama And Kartikeya In The Indus Script, The Goddess Sarasvati And The Origin Of Brahmi And Kharoshthi, The Origin Of The Roman Aes Grave From The Indus Valley Money, A Solution To The Mystery Of The Gundestrup Cauldron, The Eternal Soma Of The Vedas, Vedic Roots Of Ancient Egyptian Religion, A Veiled Visvamitra Soma Sacrifice In The New Testament , The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-1:The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-2, The Punny Plough,The Bearded Kings Of The Ancient, Bharata -The Language Of The Indus Valley Civilisation, The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation -3,The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-4,Harappan Vedic Sacrificial Feasts In Mesopotamian Art And In The Bible,The Script of Indus valley Civilisation-6 :A Vrishni Silver Coin And Its Harappan Source,The Script of Indus valley Civilisation-7: The Conversion Of Makha(Sacrifice) To Tanka(Mint) In The Indus Script,Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-8:Vedic Root Of Gudea’s Akshayapatra,Three Men In A Boat Seal Evidence Of Indus –Dilmun Trade,The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-9: The Goodluck Symbols Of The Indus Script, The script of Indus valley civilisation-10:Identification Of The True Vedic Soma From Harappan Seals Confirms The Indus Valley Civilisation As Vedic, The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-11: Daksha (Soma) Yaaga-The Vedic Eucharist -In The Indus Script , The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-12: Dāśarājñá And Dasaratha In The Indus Script, The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-13:The Silver Palm Seals Are Rosetta Stones Of The Indus Script , Vedic And Sumerian Linguistic Evidences For The Language Of Harappa, The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-14:The Difference Of Meluhha And Mlecca, The Script Of Indus Valley Civilisation-15:The Shift Of The Capital Of The Vrishnis From Mathura( Kalibangan) To Dvaraka( Mohenjodaro) - I have shown that several seals contain vedic metrological terms,names of vedic ornaments,names of people, places and gods etc. My perception is that only a comprehensive study of ancient vedic metrology can decipher the script symbols satisfactorily. A significant find herein is the existence of the Kalinga malla mana system during Harappan times challenging the common perception of its origin from the later Kalinga kingdom(Orissa).The unicorn is identified as the pala/nishka/soma/agni.Signs of intersecting circles, fish , crab,bud,tower etc. also indicate pala.The six locks of hair indicate the paNameTa weight of six barley grains.Roots and nuts indicate viira bhadra/ Drupada/ varaha/pala.We have located Lord Krishna’s Mathura and Dvaraka in the Indus valley scripts. We have confirmed Mohenjodaro as the first Dvaraka on the basis of the inscription on the copperplate B7C2 from there and textual evidences from the Rgveda, Mahabharata etc.We have located PadmakuuTa,one of the palaces of Krishna there.Also we have identified the Sindhu(Indus) as the Vedic Sarasvati river.We have gone through the symbols identifying the Bharadvajas,the clan of composers of the earliest vedic texts.In Krishna’s Dvaraka we gathered more details from the script on Lord Krishna’s Dvaraka and Sindhu/Sarasvati. We have looked into the indications of the Harappan jar symbol with three forks on each edge.We have located the Kasyapas in Hastinapura trading with Sumeria.We have decoded the Mari Standard,went deeper into the meanings of several Sumerian images and confirmed Meluhha as Vedic Harappa/Indus valley. We have located Janaka,the king of Mithila,father-in-law of Rama, in the Indus script.We have identified the names of copper in the Indus script and located the Asvins,Yama and Skanda in the Indus script.In A Model For Indus Script Decipherment we have identified the deity in the seal M-1181 and built a model for complete decipherment of the Indus script. We have seen how Brahmi and Kharoshthi evolved from the Indus Script and how the Indus script was in use along with Brahmi/Kharoshthi even into the first centuries CE.We have seen how the coins of the ancient world,including the Roman coins evolved from the Indus valley money. We have looked for and located a Rosetta Stone for the Indus script, in the varaha/gadyanaka coin form. We have gone into the relation of the Druids to the Indus valley civilisation and the role of their Gundestrup cauldron in the evolution of Christianity. We have explored the relation of the Anau seal to the Indus Valley Civilisation. We have gone into the relationship of the Egyptian and Harappan deities. We have looked into a beautiful story from the New Testament invoving the vedic soma sacrifice in A Veiled Visvamitra Soma Sacrifice In The New Testament. We have studied the indications of some of the Indus script symbols with particular reference to their use on ancient coins of India . We have looked into symbolism of the overflowing vase on the Sumerian statue of Gudea and through it we identified the indications of several Indus symbols including the Harischandra vaajapeya sacrifice. We have seen how the Harappan glyphs served as goodluck symbols . The identification of the right vedic soma has two important aspects:First, it ends the long quest for the mysterious soma. Second,it confirms the Indus valley civilisation as vedic ,beyond any doubt. We have studied the vedic Daksha Yaaga and its relation to the soma yaaga.Also we have located Dāśarājñá and Dasaratha in the Indus seals. We have explored the application of the palm seals as further rosetta stones of the Indus script . We have looked into the claim of mlecca as the language of the Indus valley civilation and concluded that Bharata,not mlecca, was the language of the Indus valley civilisation. We have gone into the shift of the vedic Yadava clans from the Ghaggar-Hakra to the Sarasvati(Sindhu) basin. In this article we are confirming the river Sindhu as the vedic river Sarasvati.

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Indus Script is linguistic hieroglyphic writing कर्णक 'rim-of-jar' rebus करण 'writer, scribe' kunda singi ‘lathe, spiny-horn’ rebus ‘fine, ornament gold’

Srini Kalyanaraman

This monograph demonstrates the reason why 1) 'rim-of-jar' hieroglyph Sign 342 and 2) spiny-horned young bull + standard device as field symbols are the most frequently used hieroglyphs/hypertexts in Indus Script Corpora of over 8000 inscriptions. The inscriptions are wealth-accounting ledgers of metalwork, lapidarywork, working with minerals, metals, alloys, molten metal infusions, metal castings, metal ingots, metalware, metal equipment, metal tools, metal weapons, gems and jewels. The principal critiques and arguments which reject the Indus Script as a 'writing system' based on syllables or phonetics of a language are summarised in the references listed in Annex 5 These critiques and arguments also posit that as a 'non-script', the Indus Script artefacts with 'non-linguistic' symbols may relate to rituals and tithes offered by adorants. See: Annex 5 Critiques and arguments about Indus Script as a system of non-linguistic symbols I accept, based on the Meluhha rebus readings of the hieroglyphs and hypertexts that the symbols signify wealth resources, as demonstrated on a panel of four sculptural friezes on Shalamaneser III Black obelisk (827 BCE), showing animals which are hieroglyphs of Indus Script as tributes offered by 'the land of Musri'. For example, there is a monkey dressed as a woman offered as a tribute. This is an Indus Script hypertext. Hieroglyph: रत्नी ratnī f (रत्न) In monkey-sports. A term given to the female monkey habited as a woman. Rebus; रत्निन् mfn. possessing or receiving gifts RV.; m. pl. N. of certain persons in whose dwelling the रत्न-हविस् (q.v.) is offered by a king (viz. the ब्राह्मण , राजन्य , महिषी , परिवृक्ती , सेना-नी , सूत , ग्राम-णी , क्षत्तृ , संग्रहीतृ , भाग-दुघ , and अक्षावाप) TBr. S3Br. ( °नि-त्व n. TBr. ); रत्नn. ( √1. रा) a gift , present , goods , wealth , riches RV. AV. S3Br.a jewel , gem , treasure , precious stone (the nine jewel are pearl , ruby , topaz , diamond , emerald , lapis lazuli , coral , sapphire , गोमेद ; hence रत्न is a N. for the number 9 ; but accord. to some 14) Mn. MBh. &c; anything valuable or best of its kind (e. g. पुत्र-र्° , an excellent son)= रत्न-हविस् S3Br. (Monier-Williams) रत्नाकर ratnākara m (S) A jewel-mine. 2 A descriptive term for the ocean (as the great repository of jewels). रत्न ratna n (S) A gem, a jewel, a precious stone. 2 A common term for the fourteen precious things produced by the ocean when it was churned by the gods and giants. See चौदा रत्नें. 3 fig. A term of praise for an excellent thing in general, a jewel. 4 A cant name for a bug. रत्नखचित ratnakhacita a (S) रत्नजडीत a Set or studded with gems. रत्नदीप ratnadīpa m (S) A gem serving as a luminary; a radiant or light-yielding gem. Such gems are fabled to be in Pátál. रत्नपारखी ratnapārakhī c A judge or connoisseur of jewels and gems. रत्नवाटी ratnavāṭī f (Poetry.) A saucer-form dish with diamonds (or other jewels) attached. This monograph counters these critiques and arguments by presenting evidences of archaeological contexts and of evolution of languages in Ancient India in an Indian sprachbund (language union) or linguistic area. The critiques do not refer to or acknowledge archaeologically attested 'symbols' which relate to economic transactions of wealth-creation and trade transactions involving metalwork and lapidary artifacts such as tools, gems, jewels, etched carnelian, lapis-lazuli, agate beads.. Formation and evolution of Indus Script writing system is related to metalwork trade as seen from the archaeologically attested Susa pot containing metalwork equipment, weapons,metalware and tools. Context for use of ‘fish’ glyph. This photograph of a fish and the ‘fish’ glyph on Susa pot are comparable to the ‘fish’ glyph on Indus inscriptions. Fish hieroglyph: aya 'fish' rebus: ayas 'alloy metal'. Read on the arguments at: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2011/11/decoding-fish-and-ligatured-fish-glyphs.html A bilingual cylinder seal with an Akkadian text message provides a trade framework which explains the form and function of the Indus Script as a writing system. Richelieu Rez-de-chaussée Mésopotamie,2350 à 2000 avant J.-C. environ Salle 228 Vitrine 1: Glyptique de l'époque d'Akkad, 2340 - 2200 avant J.-C., Louvre Museum. Akkadian cylinder seal with inscription Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the Meluhhan language, Louvre Museum AO 22310. Meluhha was the Akkadian name for Indus Sarasvati Valleys. Shu-ilishu's Cylinder seal. Courtesy Department des Antiquities Orientales, Musee du Louvre, Paris. The cuneiform text reads: Shu-Ilishu EME.BAL.ME.LUH.HA.KI (interpreter of Meluhha language). The Meluhha traders carry hieroglyphs which signify their identities: mlekh 'goat' rebus: milakkhu 'copper'.(Meluhha merchant); ranku 'liquid measure' rebus: ranku 'tin' Top register of the cylinder seal shows a crucible and two storage pots. koṭhAri 'crucible' Rebus: koṭhAri 'storekeeper'. That the Meluhhan traders (shown carrying a goat and a liquid measure) are transacting for trade in tin and copper is archaeologically attested by the surprising find that most of the copper of Ancient Near East came from Gujarat and Rajasthan. Copper from Gujarat used in Mesopotmia, 3rd millennium BCE, evidenced by lead isotope analyses of tin-bronze objects; report by Begemann F. et al. 1. Title: Über das frühe Kupfer Mesopotamiens 2. Author(s): BEGEMANN, F. , SCHMITT-STRECKER, S. Journal: Iranica Antiqua Volume: 44 Date: 2009 Pages: 1-45 DOI: 10.2143/IA.44.0.2034374 2. Abstract : A lIranica Antiqua Geographical locations of sites of Mesopotamia from which artifacts were analyzed in this work (After Fig. 1 in Begemann, F. et al, 2009 loc.cit.) The conclusion is: "Unsere bleiisotopische evidenz legt nahe, das in Mesopotamien fur legierung mit zinn verwendete kupfer urudu-luh-ha stamme aus Indien, was ebenfalls vertraglich ist mit einem import via dilmun." (Trans. Our lead isotope evidence suggests that the urudu-luh-ha copper used in Mesopotamia for tin alloying is from India, which is also contracted with an import via Dilmun.)" (opcit., p.28) 3. A lead isotope study »On the Early copper of Mesopotamia« reports on copper-base artefacts ranging in age from the 4th millennium BC (Uruk period) to the Akkadian at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Arguments are presented that, in the (tin)bronzes, the lead associated with the tin used for alloying did not contribute to the total in any detectable way. Hence, the lead isotopy traces the copper and cannot address the problem of the provenance of tin. The data suggest as possible source region of the copper a variety of ore occurrences in Anatolia, Iran, Oman, Palestine and, rather unexpectedly (by us), from India. During the earliest period the isotopic signature of ores from Central and North Anatolia is dominant; during the next millennium this region loses its importance and is hardly present any more at all. Instead, southeast Anatolia, central Iran, Oman, Feinan-Timna in the rift valley between Dead Sea and Red Sea, and sources in the Caucasus are now potential suppliers of the copper. Generally, an unambiguous assignment of an artefact to any of the ores is not possible because the isotopic fingerprints of ore occurrences are not unique. In our suite of samples bronze objects become important during ED III (middle of the 3rd millennium BC) but they never make up more than 50 % of the total. They are distinguished in their lead isotopy by very high 206Pb-normalized abundance ratios. As source of such copper we suggest Gujarat/Southern Rajasthan which, on general grounds, has been proposed before to have been the most important supplier of copper in Ancient India. We propose this Indian copper to have been arsenic-poor and to be the urudu-luh-ha variety which is one of the two sorts of purified copper mentioned in contemporaneous written texts from Mesopotamia to have been in circulation there concurrently. That the source of tin for the Tin-Bronze revolution came through India is clearly seen in the decipherment of three pure tin ingots with Indus Script insciptions discovered in a shipwreck in Haifa, Israel. I suggest that the tin (cassiterite ore) was sourced from the largest tin belt of the globe which is in Himalayan river basins of Ancient Far East as seen on the Geological Survey of USA Map. Tin ore was made into tin ingots by artisans of India and traded the ingots specifying the cargo on Indus Script inscriptions written on the tin ingots.

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The Indus Valley Script: A New Interpretation

Steven C Bonta

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Inscriptions Indus Script on two seals of Rakhigarhi translated. Harappan Civilization: Current Perspective and its Contribution – By Dr. Vasant Shinde

Srini Kalyanaraman

Preface It is appropriate to add a comment on the so-called undeciphered seals of the civilization cited by Vasant Shinde in this exquisite overview of the issues and prospects related to the studies of Harappan (what I call Sarasvati) Civilization. The decipherment or rūpaka 'metaphor' or rebus translation of the inscriptions on two seals cited from Rakhigarhi is presented in this monograph. The River Sarasvati is the epicentre of the civilization with sites like Kunal, Bhirrana,Mitathal, Rakhigarhi on this river basin, taking the roots of the civilization back to ca. 7th millennium BCE. Over 80% of the sites discovered so far are on the River Sarasvati basin. Seal 1 and 2 have identical Pictorial motifs: one-horned bull PLUS standard device in front. These pictorial motifs are read as rūpaka, 'metaphors' or rebus renderings in Meluhha. I suggest that these two seals,like other 8000+ Indus Script inscriptions are wealth accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues. Hieroglyphs on pictorial motifs of two Rakhigarhi seals, Seals 1 and 2: 1. Young bull खोंड khōṇḍa 'A young bull, a bullcalf'; rebus kundaṇa, 'fine gold' (Kannada); Rebus: kō̃da कोँद 'furnace for smelting': payĕn-kō̃da पयन्-कोँद । परिपाककन्दुः f. a kiln (a potter's, a lime-kiln, and brick-kiln, or the like); a furnace (for smelting). -thöji - or -thöjü -; । परिपाक-(द्रावण-)मूषाf. a crucible, a melting-pot. -ʦañĕ -। परिपाकोपयोगिशान्ताङ्गारसमूहः f.pl. a special kind of charcoal (made from deodar and similar wood) used in smelting furnaces. -wôlu -वोलु&below; । धात्वादिद्रावण-इष्टिकादिपरिपाकशिल्पी m. a metal-smelter; a brick-baker. -wān -वान् । द्रावणचुल्ली m. a smelting furnace. 2. Standard device of two joined parts सांगड sāṅgaḍa 'joined parts' (the parts joined are: lathe PLUS portable furnace): sangaḍa 'lathe' PLUS kammata 'portable furnace' rebus: sangarh 'fortification' PLUS kammata 'mint, coiner, coinage'. (Variant rebus readings reinforcing the nature of the trade transaction recorded on the inscription: jangad ''goods invoiced on approval basis'; jangadiyo 'military guard accompanying treasure into the treasury';samgraha, 'catalogue' of shipment products.) Hypertext on text of inscription: Seal 1: Sign 397 dhāī ''a strand (Sindhi) Rebus: dhatu 'mineral ore' dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜; B. Throw of dice: dāˊtu n. ʻ share ʼ RV. [Cf. śatádātu -- , sahásradātu -- ʻ hun- dredfold, thousandfold ʼ: Pers. dāv ʻ stroke, move in a game ʼ prob. ← IA. -- √dō] K. dāv m. ʻ turn, opportunity, throw in dice ʼ; S. ḍ̠ã̄u m. ʻ mode ʼ; L. dā m. ʻ direction ʼ, (Ju.) ḍ̠ā, ḍ̠ã̄ m. ʻ way, manner ʼ; P. dāu m. ʻ ambush ʼ; Ku. dã̄w ʻ turn, opportunity, bet, throw in dice ʼ, N. dāu; B. dāu, dã̄u ʻ turn, opportunity ʼ; Or. dāu, dāũ ʻ opportunity, revenge ʼ; Mth. dāu ʻ trick (in wrestling, &c.) ʼ; OAw. dāu m. ʻ opportunity, throw in dice ʼ; H. dāū, dã̄w m. ʻ turn ʼ; G.dāv m. ʻ turn, throw ʼ, ḍāv m. ʻ throw ʼ; M. dāvā m. ʻ revenge ʼ. -- NIA. forms with nasalization (or all NIA. forms) poss. < dāmán -- 2 m. ʻ gift ʼ RV., cf. dāya -- m. ʻ gift ʼ MBh., akṣa -- dāya-- m. ʻ playing of dice ʼ Naiṣ.(CDIAL 6258) தாயம் tāyam, n. < dāya. A fall of the dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் விருத்தம். முற்பட இடுகின்ற தாயம் (கலித். 136, உரை). 5. Cubical pieces in dice-play; கவறு. (யாழ். அக.) 6. Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. rebus: dhāˊtu n. substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Mn., ʻ ashes of the dead ʼ lex., Pa. dhātu -- m. ʻ element, ashes of the dead, relic ʼ; KharI. dhatu ʻ relic ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (CDIAL 6773) Semantic determinative. Sign 162: kolmo 'rice plant' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' Sign 162 Sign 397 and possible cognates of 'strand': Seal, Rakhigarhi (Note: For readings of other Rakhigarhi seals see: http://tinyurl.com/zat4ty2 Two images of a seal remnant at Rakhigarhi. From l. to r. kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'; kuṭilika 'bent, curved' PLUS dula 'pair' rebus: kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin) PLUS dul 'metal casting'; (split parenthesis as a circumscript is a break-out of a bun-ingot or lozenge or oval shaped ingot) muh 'ingot' PLUS baṭa 'quail' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace' PLUS sal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop' bicha 'scorpion' rebus: bicha 'haematite, ferrite ore'; tutta 'goad' rebus: tuttha 'zinc sulphate'; dāṭu 'cross' rebus: dhatu 'mineral' karṇaka 'rim of jar' rebus: karṇī 'supercargo' karṇika 'helmsman, scribe,engraver'. Harappan Civilization: Current Perspective and its Contribution – By Dr. Vasant Shinde by admin | Feb 1, 2016 By Dr. Vasant Shinde Introduction The identification of the Harappan Civilization in the twenties of the twentieth century was considered to be the most significant archaeological discovery in the Indian Subcontinent, not because it was one the earliest civilizations of the world, but because it stretched back the antiquity of the settled life in Indian Subcontinent by two thousand years at one stroke. Vincent Smith (1904), one of the leading historians of the era, had written, in the beginning of the twentieth century, that there was a wide gap (Vedic Night) or a missing link between Stone Age and Early Historic periods in the Indian History and the settled life in this part of the world began only after 6-5 century BCE, probably during the Stupa (Buddhist) period. The discovery of the Harappan Civilization proved him wrong and the Indian Subcontinent brought to light the presence of the first civilization that was contemporary to the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations. This Civilization was unique compared to the two contemporary civilizations on account of its extent and town planning. Extent-wise it was much bigger in size than the Mesopotamian and the Egyptian Civilizations put together and spread beyond the Subcontinent. Its town planning consisting of citadel and lower town, both fortified and having a checkerboard type planned settlement inside them, was a unique and unparallel in the contemporary world. Intensive and extensive works have brought to light over two thousand sites till date. The distribution pattern suggests that they were not only spread over major parts of western and north-western Indian subcontinent, but its influence is seen beyond, up to the Russian border in the north and the Gulf region in the west. In true sense this was the only civilization in the contemporary world, which was an international in nature. The Indian subcontinent has all the favourable ecological conditions to give birth to the early farming community. The Southwest Asian agro pastoral system with wheat, barley, cattle, sheep and goats had spread through Iran and Afghanistan to Preceramic Mehrgarh in Baluchistan by about 7000 BC. Early Mehrgarh lithics, loaf-shaped mud bricks, female figurines and burial practices all suggest Southwest Asian influence from somewhere in the Levant or Zagros regions. The origins of village life in South Asia were first documented at Kile Ghul Mohammad in the Quetta valley (Fairservis 1956), then at the site of Mehergarh at the foothill of the Bolan pass on the Kacchi Plain on the Indus Valley (Jarrige 1984). Both these sites and numerous other in this region demonstrate cultural development from the seventh millennium BCE to the emergence of the of the Mature Harappan phase in the middle of the third millennium BCE. As far as the climatic conditions during the Early-Harappan and Harappan times are concerned there are two conflicting interpretation. The data for paleoclimate reconstruction were obtained from Rajasthan lakes such as Didwana, Lunkarsar, Sambhar and Pushkar. The studies carried out by Singh et al (1990) have suggested that the mid-Holocene climatic optimum coincides with the mature phase of the Harappan Civilization and its end with a sharp excursion into aridity. Most interesting example cited is the occurrence of Cerealia type pollen and finely comminuted pieces of charcoal found in these lakes at 7000 BP, which has been interpreted as evidence for forest clearance and the beginning of agriculture. On the other hand, the studies carried out by Enzel et al. (1999) show that there is no simple correlation between favourable climate and the archaeological data. They have suggested that the most humid phase at Lunkaransar has been dated to between 6.3-4.8 kys with abrupt drying of the late sometime around 4.8 kys. During the period between 6.3-4.8 kys the lake was freshwater and never dried up. Significant shift in the carbon isotope values are also seen in this period. The most flourishing Harappan phase (Mature) is thus does not correlate to the favourable climate but indicates that it rather developed in a period of deteriorating climatic conditions. They have concluded that the Harappan Civilization was not caused by the presence of favourable environment. More data in this respect needs to be generated in nature future.

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The Indus Tradition and the Indo-Aryans

Subhash Kak

Mankind Quarterly, 1992

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Michael Philip Oakes answers Richard Sproat, affirms statistical significance of vocabulary of Indus Script signs and field symbols. Kalyanaraman deciphers Indus Script inscriptions as wealth-accounting ledgers, Meluhha Indian sprachbund metalwork catalogues

Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

The decipherment of Indus Script inscriptions as Meluhha metalwork catalogues, wealth-accounting ledgers by S.Kalyanaraman is reinforced by the statistical analyses of Michael Philip Oakes (2017) which also provide computational refutation of the claims of Richard Sproat et al., that the script (may contain meanings but) does not encode language. S. Kalyanaraman (2018) affirms Indus Script inscriptions are wealth-accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues and has provided Meluhha -spoken dialectical variant forms of Indian sprachbund, language union -- rebus readings of over 8000 inscriptions. Some examples are cited in the context of Michael Philip Oakes' answer to Richard Sproat. Farmer, Sproat and Witzel (2004) think that Indus script symbols may simply be religious or political symbols, like totem poles or coats of arms or family names and may not encode sounds of a human language. Richard Sproat defines linguistic writing encodes a particular language and symbols refer to specific phonemes, syllablesor even words (2014, p.457) and considers the mean length of utterance to be the most basic feature which distinguishes linguistic and non-linguistic systems. Since the Indus sign sequences are short, Richard Sproat rejects Indus inscriptions to be a true linguistic script. I suggest that Indus Script is a linguistic writing system (as defined by Richard Sproat) and is composed of wealth accounting Meluhha language (dialectical, spoken forms) ledger entries which do not have to be composed of long utterances, but could signify lists from a 1000+-word set of wealth categories signified by 1000+ word set which signify hieroglyphs (e.g. animals, dotted circles)/hypertexts (e.g. ligatured signs or animals). The underlying Meluhha language has a vocabulary of dialectical forms (with variant pronunciations) of spoken words from Indian sprachbund (speech union). The decipherment results in the discovery of a wealth-accounting classification system using hieroglyphs such as young bull (to signify kundaṇa 'finegold'), zebu (to signify poḷa magnetite, ferrite ore), tiger (to signify kol 'working in iron'), crocodile (to signify khār 'blacksmith'); scorpion (to signify bicha 'haematite ore'), mr̤eka 'goat' reusb: milakkhu, mleccha 'copper'; rangā 'buffalo' rebus: rangā 'pewter'; kāṇṭā 'rhinoceros' gaṇḍá4 m. ʻ rhinoceros ʼ lex., ˚aka -- m. lex. 2. *ga- yaṇḍa -- . [Prob. of same non -- Aryan origin as khaḍgá -- 1: cf. gaṇōtsāha -- m. lex. as a Sanskritized form ← Mu. PMWS 138]1. Pa. gaṇḍaka -- m., Pk. gaṁḍaya -- m., A. gãr, Or. gaṇḍā.2. K. gö̃ḍ m., S. geṇḍo m. (lw. with g -- ), P. gaĩḍā m., ˚ḍī f., N. gaĩṛo, H. gaĩṛā m., G. gẽḍɔ m., ˚ḍī f., M. gẽḍā m.Addenda: gaṇḍa -- 4. 2. *gayaṇḍa -- : WPah.kṭg. geṇḍɔ mirg m. ʻ rhinoceros ʼ, Md. genḍā ← H.(CDIAL 4000)(to signify khaṇḍa 'metal equipment'). See three pure tin ingots found in a Haifa shipwreck with Indus script inscriptions. ranku 'antelope/liquid measure' rebus: ranku 'tin'; dāṭu 'cross (Te.) rebus: dhatu = mineral (Santali) Hindi. dhāṭnā 'to send out, pour out, cast (metal)' (CDIAL 6771); mũh 'a face' Rebus: mũh, 'ingot' or muhã 'quantity of metal produced at one time from the furnace' (Santali). 'to These results are confirmed by Michael Philip Oakes’ estimate (2017) of the total size of vocabulary of Indus Script to be 1396 signs. This estimate is arried at using the statistical analysis model of family of Large Number of Random Events (LNRE) and a parametric model, Generalized Inverse Gauss Poisson (GIGP)(Baayen, 2001, p. 89-93) to extrapolate frequencies of each character type listed in Mahadevan Concordance of Indus Script -- to arrive at the vocabulary size of underlying Indus language.(Oakes, M.P. ,2017, Statistical Analyis of the Texts in Mahadevan's Concordance of the Indus Valley Script. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 2017. Article Number: NJQL 1406294. Full text pdf embedded.) Analysing the distribution of field symbols by object types, Michael Oakes identifies the following categories of field symbols: 1 Unicorn kōnda 'young bull' rebus: ‘engraver' kunda; m. ʻ a turner's lathe ʼ lex. [Cf. *cunda -- 1] N. kũdnu ʻ to shape smoothly, smoothe, carve, hew ʼ, kũduwā ʻ smoothly shaped ʼ; A. kund ʻ lathe ʼ, kundiba ʻ to turn and smooth in a lathe ʼ, kundowā ʻsmoothed and rounded ʼ; B. kũd ʻ lathe ʼ, kũdā, kõdā ʻ to turn in a lathe ʼ; Or. kū˘nda ʻ latheʼ, kũdibā, kū̃d° ʻ to turn ʼ (→ Drav. Kur. kū̃d ʻ lathe ʼ); Bi.kund ʻ brassfounder's lathe ʼ; H. kunnā ʻ to shape on a lathe ʼ, kuniyā m. ʻ turner ʼ, kunwā m. (CDIAL 3295). kod. 'one horn'; kot.iyum [kot., kot.i_ neck] a wooden circle put round the neck of an animal (G.)kamarasa_la = waist-zone, waist-band, belt (Te.)kot.iyum [kot., kot.i_ neck] a wooden circle put round the neck of an animal (G.) [cf. the orthography of rings on the neck of one-horned young bull]. Te. kōḍiya, kōḍe young bull; adj. male (e.g. kōḍe dūḍa bull calf), young, youthful; kōḍekã̄ḍu a young man. Kol. (Haig) kōḍē bull. Nk. khoṛe male calf. Konḍa kōḍi cow; kōṛe young bullock. Pe. kōḍi cow. Manḍ.kūḍi id. Kui kōḍi id., ox. Kuwi (F.) kōdi cow; (S.) kajja kōḍi bull; (Su. P.) kōḍi cow.(DEDR 2199). Ka. gōnde bull, ox. Te. gōda ox. Kol. (SR.) kondā bull; (Kin.) kōnda bullock. Nk. (Ch.) kōnda id. Pa. kōnda bison. Ga. (Oll.) kōnde cow; (S.) kōndē bullock. Go. (Tr.) kōnḍā, (other dialects) kōnda bullock, ox (DEDR 2216). खोंड khōṇḍa m A young bull, a bullcalf. kōnda bullock (Kol.Nk.); bison (Pa.)(DEDR 2216). Te. kōḍiya, kōḍe young bull; adj. male (e.g. kōḍe dūḍa bull calf), young, youthful; kōḍekã̄ḍu a young man. Kol. (Haig) kōḍē bull. Nk. khoṛe male calf. Konḍa kōḍi cow; kōṛe young bullock. Pe. kōḍi cow. Manḍ.kūḍi id. Kui kōḍi id., ox. Kuwi (F.) kōdi cow; (S.) kajja kōḍi bull; (Su. P.) kōḍi cow (DEDR 2199) Rebus: koṭ 'artisan's workshop'.(Kuwi) koḍ = place where artisans work (G.lex.) kō̃da कोँद । कुलालादिकन्दुः f. a kiln; a potter's kiln (Rām. 1446; H. xi, 11); a brick-kiln (Śiv. 133); a lime-kiln. -bal -बल् ।कुलालादिकन्दुस्थानम् m. the place where a kiln is erected, a brick or potter's kiln (Gr.Gr. 165)(Kashmiri) kod. = place where artisans work (Gujarati) kod. = a cow-pen; a cattlepen; a byre (G.lex.) gor.a = a cow-shed; a cattleshed; gor.a orak = byre (Santali.lex.) कोंड [ kōṇḍa ] A circular hedge or field-fence. 2 A circle described around a person under adjuration. 3 The circle at marbles. 4 A circular hamlet; a division of a मौजा or village, composed generally of the huts of one caste.कोंडडाव (p. 180) [ kōṇḍaḍāva ] m Ring taw; that form of marble-playing in which lines are drawn and divisions made:--as disting. from अगळडाव The play with holes.कोंडवाड [ kōṇḍavāḍa ] n f C (कोंडणें & वाडा) A pen or fold for cattle.कोंडाळें (p. 180) [ kōṇḍāḷēṃ] n (कुंडली S) A ring or circularly inclosed space. 2 fig. A circle made by persons sitting round. कोंडण kōṇḍaṇa, 'cattlepen', Rebus: kundakara m. ʻ turner ʼ W. [Cf. *cundakāra -- : kunda -- 1, kará -- 1] A. kundār, B. kũdār, °ri, Or. kundāru; H. kũderā m. ʻ one who works a lathe, one who scrapes ʼ, °rī f., kũdernā ʻ to scrape, plane, round on a lathe ʼ.(CDIAL 3297). Ta. kuntaṉam interspace for setting gems in a jewel; fine gold (< Te.). Ka. kundaṇa setting a precious stone in fine gold; fine gold; kundana fine gold.Tu. kundaṇa pure gold. Te. kundanamu fine gold used in very thin foils in setting precious stones; setting precious stones with fine gold. (DEDR 1725). 03 Humped bull पोळ [pōḷa], 'zebu, dewlap' rebus: पोळ 'magnetite, ferrite ore' 04 Short-horned bull barad 'bull' rebus: baraDo 'alloy of pewter' 07 Elephant karibha, ibha, 'elephant'. ibbo (merchant of ib 'iron'), karba 'iron' 11 Rhinoceros generally with a trough in front kāṇṭā 'rhinoceros' rebus: khaṇḍa 'implements'.pattar 'trough' rebus: pattar 'goldsmith guild'' 13 Goat-antelope with a short tail mr̤eka 'goat' rebus: milakkhu, mleccha 'copper' 25 Fabulou animal with the body of a ram, horns of a bull, trunk of an elephant, hind legs of a tiger and an up-raised serpent-like tail A truly fascinating paper by Dennys Frenez and Massimo Vidale on composite Indus creatures and their meaning: Harappa Chimaeras as 'Symbolic Hypertexts'. Some Thoughts on Plato, Chimaera and the Indus Civilization at a.harappa.com/... Hypertext includes the following hieroglyphs rendered rebus and read as vākyapadīya, sentence composed of words : The deciphered text is: metal ingots manufactory & trade of magnetite, ferrite ore, metals mint with portable furnace, iron ores, gold, smelters' guild. The Meluhha rebus words and meanings are given below. सांगड sāṅgaḍa f A body formed of two or more (fruits, animals, men) linked or joined together. Rebus:sangara 'trade' 1. zebu पोळ [ pōḷa ] 'zebu, bos indicus' rebus: पोळ [ pōḷa ] 'magnetite, ferrite ore' 2. human face mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) ; rebus:mũh metal ingot 3. penance kamaḍha 'penance' (Prakrit) kamaḍha, kamaṭha, kamaḍhaka, kamaḍhaga, kamaḍhaya = a type of penance (Prakrit) Rebus: kamaṭamu, kammaṭamu = a portable furnace for melting precious metals; kammaṭīḍu = a goldsmith, a silversmith (Telugu) kãpṛauṭ jeweller's crucible made of rags and clay (Bi.); kampaṭṭam coinage, coin, mint (Tamil) 4. elephant karabha, ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba, ib 'iron' ibbo 'merchant' kharva 'a nidhi of nine treasures of Kubera' 5. markhor miṇḍāl markhor (Tor.wali) meḍho a ram, a sheep (G.) Rebus: meḍ (Ho.); mẽṛhet ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)mẽṛh t iron; ispat m. = steel; dul m. = cast iron (Mu.) Allograph: meḍ ‘body ' (Mu.) 6. young bull kondh ‘young bull’ rebus: kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker, engraver (writer)’ kundana 'fine gold' 7. tiger kul 'tiger' (Santali); kōlu id. (Te.) kōlupuli = Bengal tiger (Te.)Pk. kolhuya -- , kulha -- m. ʻ jackal ʼ < *kōḍhu -- ; H.kolhā, °lā m. ʻ jackal ʼ Rebus: kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter' kolle 'blacksmith' kole.l 'smithy, forge' kole.l 'temple'

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Srini Kalyanaraman

-- a primary source for Bhāratīya civilization & culture studies Epigraphia Indus Script – Hypertexts & Meanings (3 Volumes) by S. Kalyanaraman (2017) Epigraphia Indus Script: Hypertexts & Meanings Vol.3 (Volume 3) Jun 20, 2017 by S. Kalyanaraman Epigraphia Indus Script: Hypertexts & Meanings Vol. 2 (Volume 2) Jun 20, 2017 by S. Kalyanaraman Epigraphia Indus Script: Hypertexts & Meanings Vol. 1 (Volume 1) Jun 20, 2017 by S. Kalyanaraman Harappa. Potsherd with Indus Script inscription dated to ca. 3300 BCE. kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' PLUS tagaraka 'tabernae montana' rebus: tagara 'tin'. This discovery makes the writing system the oldest in the world, pre-dating cuneiform writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The publication of the major source of deciphered ancient inscriptions dating from ca. 3300 BCE (date of the earliest Indus Script artificat of a potsherd with an inscription discovered at Harappa by Harvard HARP team), tour de force for Bhāratīya civilization and culture studies is the result of dedicated research performed with śraddhā 'faith and confidence' in jñāna, 'wisdom' of our ancestors and pitr̥-s. The research work by the author for 40 years since 1978 is marked by the publication of an Indian Lexicon (a multi-lingual comparative dictionary for over 25 ancient languagees of India organized in over 8000 semantic clusters), publication of 16 books on River Sarasvati, Soma in the R̥gveda and over 800 monographs on academia.edu. New light on the hypothesis of an ancient Maritime Tin Route of the Bronze Age linking Hanoi (Vietnam) to Haifa (Israel) is supported by discoveries of Indus Script hieroglyphs/hypertexts on cire perdue bronze art work on tympanums of Dong Son/Karen Tin-Bronze drums. This Tin Route heralded by the Dong Son/Karen drums, pre-dates the Silk Road by over 2 millennia. The cultural framework of over 8000 inscriptions of Indus Script discovered along the Tin Route affirms Bhāratīya sprachbund (language union) and indigenous roots of R̥gvedic people who worked on the banks of River Sarasvati. Three tin ingots discovered in a Haifa shipwreck with Indus Script epigraphs. Three pure tin ingots were found in a shipwreck in Haifa. The tin ingots described in Indus Script inscriptions in Meluhha Bhāratīya sprachbund that they were tin ore ingots: ranku, 'antelope, liquid measure' rebus: ranku, 'tin'; dāṭu, dāṇṭu 'cross' rebus: dhatu, 'mineral'; mũh 'a face' mũh, muhã 'ingot' or muhã 'quantity of metal produced at one time in a native smelting furnace.'. The re-discovery of the Vedic river Sarasvati venerated in 72 r̥ca-s of R̥gveda, is now matched by the re-discovery of 1. the documented life activities of the artisans and seafaring merchants of the civilization creting wealth of nations, and 2. their spoken language enshrined in Epigraphia Indus Script – Hypertexts & Meanings. The research findings and conclusions of the 3-volume work are tectonic shifts in Bhāratīya civilization studies, archaeometallurgy of Eurasia, peopling of Eurasia from ca. 7th millennium BCE and the role played by the Himalayan rivers like Irrawaddy, Salween and Mekong in geomorphology creating the largest tin belt of the globe grinding down granite rocks into cassiterite (tin ore) placer deposits. The creation of the tin belt is a cosmic dance of gigantic proportions described as plate tectonics still active, still uplifting the Himlayan ranges (which stretch from Hanoi to Teheran) by 1 cm. per year as the Indian palte thrusts northwards in a majestic walk of 6 cm. per year. The continuing rise and dynamism of the Himalayan ranges is a glaciological marvel exemplified by major perennial fresh-water river systems such as Yangtse, Huanghe, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween, Brahmaputra, Sindhu, Sarasvati, Ganga. This work is a harbinger of a civilizational narrative of the Economic History of Eurasia, organization of guilds creating wealth of a nation, a commonwealth, Maritime activities of seafaring merchants and artisans of Eurasia firmly anchored on the decipherment of the hypertexts of Indus Script Corpora. Hypertexts and meanings of tne entire corpora are presented in the 3 volumes of Epigraphia Indus Script – Hypertexts & Meanings. Epigraphical evidence is marshalled which debunks the false Aryan Invasion/Migration theories and the false 19th century paradigms of formation & evolution of Bhāratīya languages. The conclusions of Epigraphia Indus Script – Hypertexts & Meanings affirm the language kaleidoscope of Bhāratīya sprachbund (union of languages) exemplified by the spread of Austro-Asiatic languages into the Far East from Assur-Munda-Santali speakers in the lineage of the Meluhha sprachbund. Meluhha (cognate mleccha) is a spoken, dialectical form, a lingua franca or parole of copper workers, evidenced in the lexical repertoire marshalled by ancient linguistic works like Hemacandra's Deśīnāmamālā. The writing system invented by these copper/metal (mleccha-mukha, mleccha, milakkhu means 'copper') workers of the Bronze Age is referred to as म्लेच्छित विकल्प mlecchita vikalpa 'cryptography' (lit. alternative representation by mleccha) -- for writing Mleccha expressions as hypertexts of Indus Script. This mlecchita vikalpa is Meluhha cipher of the Indus Script Corpora. Vātsyāyana's vidyāsamuddeśa (objectives of learning) śloka lists 64 arts. This list includes three arts related to language studies: deśabhāshā jñāna; akṣara muṣṭika kathana; mlecchita vikalpa [trans. learning dialects of the linguistic area (deśa); messaging through use of fingers and wrists; cryptography (writing system)]. Hemacandra notes that Soma venerated in the R̥gveda is metal containing gold. Abhidhāna Cintāmaṇi of Hemachandra states that mleccha and mleccha-mukha are two of the twelve names for copper: tāmram (IV.105-6: tāmram mlecchamukham śulvam raktam dvaṣṭamudumbaram; mlecchaśāvarabhedākhyam markatāsyam kanīyasam; brahmavarddhanam variṣṭham sīsantu sīsapatrakam). Theragāthā in Pali refers to a banner which was dyed the colour of copper: milakkhurajanam (The Thera and Theragāthā PTS, verse 965: milakkhurajanam rattam garahantā sakam dhajam; tithiyānam dhajam keci dhāressanty avadātakam; K.R.Norman, tr., Theragāthā : Finding fault with their own banner which is dyed the colour of copper, some will wear the white banner of sectarians).[cf. Asko and Simo Parpola, On the relationship of the Sumerian Toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit Mleccha, Studia Orientalia, vol. 46, 1975, pp. 205-38).

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Indus Script is a linguistic knowledge system for metallurgy in Bronze Age demonstrated in Sanchi and Bharhut proclamations

Srini Kalyanaraman

See video (35:50): https://youtu.be/nZImMokyXqg Two knowledge dissemination systems are realized during the Bronze Age by Bharatam Janam: 1. Veda (Rigveda with 10600 rica-s) is a knowledge system based in Chandas literary metaphors in multiple-layers of knowledge: 1. material phenomena; 2. vijnAnam, science & culture; and 3. adhyAtma 'self and divine'. Veda was disseminated through oral recitations in prosody and metre. 2. Indus Script (with over 7000 inscriptions) is a knowledge system based in Mleccha (spoken Prakrtam language words) rendered as orthographic metaphors (hieroglyphs rebus-metonymy) in at least two layers of knowledge: 1. flora or fauna or material objects; and 2. similar sounding (rebus) words on aspects of metallurgical advances. Indus Script was disseminated through proclamations on gateways (Dholavira, Sanchi/Bharhut, Khandagiri caves) and through coins (minwork), seal impressions, ceramic stoneware bangles (badges) distributed to artisans/traders. Indus Script is a linguistic knowledge system which continues as a legacy used in Sanchi and Bharhut sculptural monuments and sculptural extravaganza. This is demonstrated by the hieroglyphs used in the writing system on torana-s (ornamented gate-ways of Sanchi and Bharhut) of 2nd century BCE. Dantakara who created the Begram ivories which serve as models for the torana-s had gained proficiency in working with stone sculptures and metal artifacts as demonstrated by the ornamentations on the Sanchi and Bharhut torana-s and punch-marked/cast coins found innearby locations of Vidisha and Eran. Sippi 'sculptor'. Northern gate, Sanchi. This is a demonstration of Bharatiya method of rebus writing using hieroglyphs as hypertexts. The sites are Sanchi and Bharhut. The hieroglyphs are presented atop torana-s. This method is comparable to the Dholavira Sign Board method of writing a proclamation or set up a hoarding announcing the work done in the workshop. Key hieroglyphs are: fish-fin and snails and lotus. Fish-fin signifies: khambhaTA read rebus: kammaTa ‘mint, coiner, coinage’ Snail + palm spathe signifies: sippi 'snail' sippi 'palm spathe' read rebus: sippi ‘artificer, sculptor, artisan’ Lotus signifies: tAmarasa read rebus: tAmra ‘copper’. By adding two leaf petals just below the fish-fin hieroglyph-multiplex, the sculptor conveys the message: dala 'leaf petal' rebus: dala 'company'. Thus, the proclamation on Sanchi torana is: tAmra kammaTa sippi dala ‘copper mint sculptor company (guild)'. Semantic determinants are indicated on Sanchi torana by the display of a sippi ‘artisan’ and karibha ‘elephant trunk’ rebus: karba ‘iron’ ibha ‘elephant’ rebus: ib ‘iron’. These two semantic determinants confirm the message of sculptor working in iron/metal mint. Indus Script is a knowledge system conveyed on over 7000 inscriptions. The knowledge conveyes relates to the metalwork which was a revolutionary advance during the Bronze Age because of the creation of metal alloys: copper + zinc = brass; copper+tin = bronze. Work also advanced with meteoric iron, ferrite ores: magnetite, hematite and laterite. The key was the hardening of copper by adding other minerals to create karaDa 'hard alloys' which had immense utility and exchange value. Documentation of this knowledge gained with material resources (minerals, metals and alloys) processed through furnaces, smelters was done on tablets and seals. These media became effective means for dissemination of the Bronze Age metallurgical knowledge system. Thus, hieroglyphs of Indus Script is an effective knowledge dissemination devices about artisanal competence. That the Begram ivories became architectural models for final work on stone or wood becomes apparent from a comparison of the ivory model of a torana with the stone torana of Sanchi and Bharhut. Sanchi torana (Northern and Eastern gates) compared with Begram ivory: Women standing under a Toraṇa. Begram Ivory Plaque which is a prototype for Bharhut-Sanchi Stupa Toraṇa. A series dhōraṇi adorns Bharhut stupa toraṇa: sangi 'mollusc', sangi 'pilgrim'. sippi 'mollusc', śilpin, sippi 'artificer'. The architraves of Bharhut and Sanchi stupas in the tradition of the Begram ivory plaque are adorned with a series of hieroglyphs. This is a demonstration of the continuum of deployment of Indus Script cipher (rebus-metonymy-layerd-cipher in Meluhha) to signify the plain text, deciphered message. artistic style which is evidenced by a Begram ivory plaque of ca. 3rd century BCE. It is known that the ivory makers of Vidisa were the sculptors of the exquisite sculptural artifacts in Sanchi Stupa monument. Sculptors in this lineage are likely to have been the creators of the Bharhut Stupa monument and also artifacts of Mathura and Kankali-Tila with commonly-shared repertoire of orthographic motifs as powerful messaging systems for glosses of Indian sprachbund. Hieroglyph on a Begram ivory plaque: a pair of molluscs tied with a palm-spathe Hieroglyph: sippi 'spathe of palm' rebus: sippi 'artificer, sculptor' sangi 'mollusc' Rebus: sangi 'pilgrim'. Dama 'cord, tying' Rebus: dhamma 'moral conduct, religious merit'. A variant ties a fish with the hieroglyph complex: ayira, ayila 'fish' Rebus: ayira, ariya 'noble conduct'. Thus connoting ariya-dhama, ayira-dhamma; ariya-sangha, ayira-sangha (Pali). It should be underscored that the creators of these hieroglyphs were Meluhha speakers from Indian sprachbund (speech-union) and created the unique writing system deploying rebus-metonymy-layered cipher. Thus, the continued use of hieroglyphs in the early centuries of the common era are a validation of the Indus Script technique of writing. Though kharoshthi and brahmi script was used TOGETHER WITH these Meluhha hieroglyphs, the two scripts were used principally to write names or appellations using a Prakritam syllabary, the hieroglyphs continued to be used for conveying substantive adhyatmika and metalwork messages signifying life-activities of the artisans and their guilds. Hackin 1954, p.169, figs.18 Ivory? Size: 10.6 x 15.8 x 0.4 cm Begram rectangular plaque depicting three palmettos with curled-up ends, held together by rings made up of lotus petals. Between the palmettos elongated fruit is shown . This scene is bordered by a band depicting a series of four-leaved flowers set in a square frame. In this hieroglyhphic multiplex, there are three distinct orthographic components: Mollusc 1. mollusc (snail) pair depicted by a pair of antithetical S curved lines: sã̄khī Rebus: sã̄kh ʻconch-shell-cutterʼ Palmetto or Spathe 2. spathe of a palm or palmetto: sippī f. ʻspathe of date palmʼ Rebus: sippi 'artificer, craftsman'. It could also be seen as a chisel:śaṅkula Rebus: sangin 'shell-cutter'. Tied together, cord 3. a thread or cord that ties the mollusc pair and spath in the centre together into a composite orthographic unit. dām ʻropeʼ Rebus: dhamma 'dharma' dham̄a ʻemployment in the royal administrationʼ. Begram ivory sculptors ca. 3rd century BCE were knowledge-bearers of the legacy of Indus Script writing system. The Begram ivory sculptors, dantakara who donated to Sanchi monument also were sculptors of the Sanchi and Bharhut torana-s disseminating knowledge systems using Indus Script hieroglyphs as devices for transmission of words and meanings which had all the signature features of Bharatiya culture and art forms in dance-steps or karaNa 'dance postures' or sculptures. That Indus Script is a linguistic knowledge system is clear from the rebus readings using Prakrtam glosses of Indian sprachbund (language union). The underlying base for the artistic expressions of hieroglyphs as hypertexts is the words used in lingua franca of artisans and pilgrims who visited the monuments in adoration. Clearly, the legacy of Indus Script was a knowledge system known to the Begram ivory artisans and Sanchi/Bharhut sculptors of torana-s. It is a reasonable inference that the knowledge system was also known to the visitors/pilgraims who frequented the sacred monuments (i.e.viewers of the art forms could recognize and understand the meanings conveyed by the orthographic hieroglyphs on torana-s). In summary, the Indus Script is a writing system based on the lingua franca of Bharatam Janam and hence, a linguistic knowledge system which evolved ca 3300 BCE evidenced by a potsherd with three hieroglyphs discovered in Harappa by HARP team of archaeologists during 1986-2007 excavations.

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Indus Writing, an Ancient Script, potsherd with inscription dated to ca. 3300 BCE translated in Meluhha as tin smithy/forge, 3 fish hypertexts relate metalwork catalogues

Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

The earliest inscription in Indus Script stratigraphically dated from an archaeological excavation by HARP team is a potsherd dated to ca. 3300 BCE. Rebus Meluhha translation: kolmo 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' PLUS tagaraka 'tabernae montana' rebus: tagara 'tin'.Thus, the hypertext reds tagara kolimi 'tin smithy/forge'. [quote] The Harappa Archaeological Research Project or HARP was begun in 1986 as a long term program of investigations into the origins and character of Indus urban centers. It is the first multidisciplinary excavation of an ancient Indus urban center and involves scholars from all over the world. It was initiated at Harappa in Punjab Province, Pakistan by the late Professor George F. Dales and Dr. J. M. Kenoyer. In 1992, the original University of California-Berkeley project was transformed into the Harappa Archaeological Research Project, directed by Drs. R.H. Meadow (Harvard University), J. Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Rita P. Wright (New York University). Excavations by HARP are conducted in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan. HARP has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Geographic Society, the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University), Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, New York University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kress Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Harappa.com and private donors. [unquote] https://www.harappa.com/content/harp [quote] Quick Facts Type Logophonetic Genealogy Unrelated Location South Asia Time 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE Direction Variable The Indus Valley Civilization was the first major urban culture of South Asia. It reached its peak from 2600 BC to 1900 BC roughly, a period called by some archaeologists "Mature Harappan" as distinguished from the earlier Neolithic "Early Harappan" regional cultures. Spatially, it is huge, comprising of about 1000 settlements of varying sizes, and geographically includes almost all of modern Pakistan, parts of India as far east as Delhi and as far south as Bombay, and parts of Afghanistan. The main corpus of writing dated from the Indus Civilization is in the form of some two thousand inscribed seals in good, legible conditions. (In case you don't know what seals are, they are used to make impressions on malleable material like clay.) Although these seals and samples of Indus writing have been floating around the scholastic world for close to 70 years, little progress has been made on deciphering this elegant script. However, we should not blame scholars for their lack of progress, for there are some major impediments to decipherment: Very short and brief texts. The average number of symbols on the seals is 5, and the longest is only 26. The language underneath is unknown. Lack of bilingual texts. For instance, consider Champollion, who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs with all of these 3 important clues: there were very long Egyptian texts; he knew Coptic, a descendant of Egyptian; and the Rosetta Stone, a bilingual text between Greek and two written forms of Egyptian. But the script isn't as bad as undecipherable. For one, even though scholars don't have long texts and bilingual texts, they can still theorize about the language underneath the writing system. There are several competing theories about the language that the Indus script represent: The language is completely unrelated to anything else, meaning an isolate. Well, this doesn't get us anywhere. The language is "Aryan" (some form of Indian-Iranian Indo-European). The historical languages spoken in Northern India and Pakistan all belong to the Indic branch of Indo-European, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, etc., so maybe the people of the Indus valley spoke a very old Indo-European language? The major problem with this model is the fact that horses played a very important role in all Indo-European cultures, being a people constantly on the move. "There is no escape from the fact that the horse played a central role in the Vedic and Iranian cultures..." (Parpola, 1986) Sidenote: "Vedic" means from the time of the Vedas, the earliest text in India, and the Vedic culture is from around 1500 to 500 BC. However, no depiction of horses on seals nor any remains of horses have been found so far before 2000 BC. They only appear after 2000 BC. Very likely there were no Aryan speakers present before 2000 BC in the Indus Valley. The language belongs to the Munda family of languages. The Munda family is spoken largely in eastern India, and related to some Southeast Asian languages. Like Aryan, the reconstructed vocabulary of early Munda does not reflect the Harappan culture. So its candidacy for being the language of the Indus Civilization is dim. The language is Dravidian. The Dravidian family of languages is spoken in Southern Indian, but Brahui is spoken in modern Pakistan. So far this is the most promising model, as in the following points: There are many Dravidian influences visible in the Vedic texts. If the Aryan language gradually replaced the Dravidian, features from Dravidian would form a "substratum" in Aryan. One of these features is the appearance of retroflex consonants in Indian languages, both Indo-European and Dravidian. In contrast, retroflex consonants do not appear in any other Indo-European language, not even Iranian ones which are closest to Indic. (For more information on retroflex consonants please visit my Phonetics page). Another possible indication of Dravidian in the Indus texts is from structural analysis of the texts which suggests that the language underneath is possibly agglutinative, from the fact that sign groups often have the same initial signs but different final signs. The number of these final signs range between 1 to 3. The final signs possibly represent grammatical suffixes that modify the word (represented by the initial signs). Each suffix would represent one specific modification, and the entire cluster of suffixes would therefore put the word through a series of modifications. This suffix system can be found in Dravidian, but not Indo-European. Indo-European tongues tend to change the final sounds to modify the meaning of a word (a process called inflection), but repeated addition of sounds to the end of word is extremely rare. Often many suffixes in an agglutinative language correspond to a single inflectional ending in an inflectional language. The Dravidian model isn't just an unapplicable theory...But first we have to know what kind of writing system is the Indus script. A count of the number of signs reveal a lot about the type of system being used. Alphabetic systems rarely have more than 40 symbols. Syllabic systems like Linear B or Cherokee typically have 40 to 100 or so symbols. The third ranges from logophonetic to logographic, running upwards of hundreds of signs (like 500 signs in Hieroglyphic Luwian, and 5000 symbols in modern Chinese). It appears that the maximum number of Indus script symbols is 400, although there are 200 basic signs (ie signs that are not combined from others). This means that the Indus script is probably logophonetic, in that it has both signs used for their meanings, and signs used for their phonetic values. ... The number of Indus Script inscriptions now total over 8000 linking Ancient Far East and Ancient Near East along an Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi (Vietnam) to Haifa (Israel), predating Silk road by two millennia -- on Himalayan rivering waterways and Indian Ocean Rim. See the hypertexts and meaning in the 3 vols. titled Epigraphia Indus Script -- Hypertexts & Meanings, by S. Kalyanaraman (Amazon, 2018) Both 1. pictorial motifs and 2. 'signs' are logographs read rebus in Meluhha spoken form of metalwork words, wealth accounting ledgers (dabooks, karaDa) by seafaring merchants of Indian sprachbund (language union). Archaeology evidence shows 3 pure tin ingots of Haifa shipwreck with Indus Script hypertexts, obtained from the largest tin belt of the globe in AFE. Indus Script hypertexts are also inscribed on Dong Son/Karen bronze drums of AFE. Scores of anthropomorphs are also Indus Script hypertexts evidence the Maritime Tin Route along eastern Himlayan nvigable waterways of Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween, Brahmaputra, Ganga, Yamuna linked at Rakhigarhi (capital of the civilization on the water-divide, Aravalli range ridge) with Sarasvati-Sindhu-Persian gulf -- Tigris-Euphrates doab and Mediterranean Sea in ANE.

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About the new book Indus Script, Rgveda, Susa Connections by S. Kalyanaraman (2020)

Srini Kalyanaraman

The Preface and Table of Contents of the book are appended to provide background information about the book. A companion book is titled Indus Script Primer (2020) with sub-titles: -- karṇika 'scribes' convey wealth account ledgers -- Meluhha words & meanings, use hieroglyphs. Thus, the books are about 8000+ Indus Script inscriptions which are simply wealth-accounting ledgers and daybooks maintained by guilds of artisans and Meluhha seafaring merchants from 4th millennium BCE. The contents of these 'national accounts' records provide glimpses of what made Ancient India a Super Economic Power of the times, a stunning fact recorded by the Cambridge Economic Historian, Angus Maddison who produced the bar-chart to trigger the formation of European Union. While this chart takes us back in time to 1CE, it does not track down the story of a civilization fully, way before 1CE, say from 4000 BCE. We have found a potsherd from Harappa dated stratigraphically by the HARP archaeology team to ca. 3300 BCE. This potsherd shows three Indus Script hieroglyphs which read: tagara kolimi 'tin smithy'. There is hope that the 8000+ deciphered Indus Script inscriptions will provide details to write an outline Civilization story, Cultural and Economic History of India from 4th millennium BCE. S.Kalyanaraman Sarasvati Research Centre Preface The excavations at Mohenjodaro and Harappa by a British-led team in the 1920s started the revelations about the Indus Valley Civilization. British-led historians and archaeologists theorized how such an advanced civilization flourished apparently 5000 years ago (between 3000 and 4000 years Before the Common Era), and what ended it. Those familiar with the scriptures of ancient India saw evidence of the Sarasvati civilization, discussed starting with the Rg Veda. A Euro-centric theory of civilization, however, insisted that the Indus Valley civilization had nothing to do with the Vedas: instead the Vedas had to be composed by the Tall, Fair and Martial Europeans (Aryans) who rode horses down the Khyber Pass, drove away the short, dark and meek cattle-herding Dravidians, and then, amazingly, decided to settle down and write the Vedas there. Much of the Indus Valley including Mohenjodaro and Harappa is in Pakistani Punjab. The author of this monograph was proudly informed by a PIA flight attendant, that the drink coasters in Business Class were replicas of seals from the Ancient Pakistani Civilization at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Following the 1974 atomic explosions at Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert, US remote sensing assets such as the LandSat satellite, focused on the Rajasthan desert, looking for effects of the explosion. Other ground agents obtained samples of ground water to seek radioactive seepage. These provided irrefutable visual proof of three facts: 1. A large, dried riverbed ran from the Himalayas to the sea in Gujarat in northwest India, well east of the Indus. 2. The groundwater below this riverbed was from isolated pools, thousands of years old, not annual flows. 3. The large, shallow river would have joined the sea near Dholavira, in India’s Gujarat, close to the legendary location of the submerged port city of Dvaraka. The frequent occurrence of intense earthquakes and landlsides in the region all show why a large, snow-fed river from the Himalayas could get redirected, leaving its previous bed dry – and displacing the settlements that depended on the navigable fresh-water river. Indian archaeologists supplemented their ancient Scriptures with modern diagnostic techniques such as ground-penetrating radar in exploration. Over 2600 sites have been excavated along the Sarasvati valley, and the larger “SaptaSindhu” region, the 7th being the long-lost Sarasvati. The submerged city of Dvaraka has been rediscovered. The above developments have some undeniable effects: 1. The “center” of the so-called Indus Valley civilization has certainly shifted east of the Sapta Sindhu region. 2. This places much of the civilization east of several waterways, further debunking the invasion theories. 3. Maritime trade has been established as a feature of this region, explaining connections to a far larger region. 4. These developments have precisely followed, and now explained, the descriptions in the ancient Scriptures, starting with the earliest identified to-date: the Rg Veda. We now shift attention to other debates. Many artifacts found in these river valley sites have been described as “seals”. But what purpose did they serve? Why did the residents make so many of these? If they were precious, as the expertise and intricate detail suggest, why were they left lying around, absent any catastrophe befalling the residents? Naturally, the academic focus of most archaeologists and historians, has been on ‘decoding the Indus Script’, seeking the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone that gave the same law decree in 3 languages. Nothing of the sort has been found: the residents, and their leaders, appear to have been people of few words, but much effort to communicate those words. Without understanding the context, efforts to decode the ‘script’ have floundered. One solution (none else have come this far!) is a radically different way of looking at these seals. The evidence is in this book. Unsurprisingly, it took the mind of a retired officer of the Asian Development Bank credentialled in public administration as well as economics, and used to seeing accounting every day, to recognize the purpose of the seals. The seals are now seen as marks used in trade and wealth accounting. No wonder that, shorn of the consignments that they guaranteed, they have little value. The intricate seals signify a superlative level of skill in working metal and stone – for metal products were the main trade that they appear to signify. In other words, the translations do not yield Royal Edicts or historical descriptions: they were prosaic statements of the provenance of goods sold, and wealth accumulated from trade. The term “Dravidians” has long been used to signify the “short dark and meek” Indus Valley inhabitants who were supposedly driven away by the Tall, Fair and Martial, but Veda-authoring scholarly Aryans from Europe. It is now seen to denote: “those who lived near/on the water” (Dravya means water). Maritime traders and river-bank dwellers. No wonder some were dark-skinned and focused on their civilizational skills and trade, rather than on predatory and insular instincts: some came from the equatorial sunshine of south India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. They were used to dealing with diverse peoples, at least from modern-day Vietnam, if not Japan, all the way to Israel if not Scandinavia, and from Indonesia to Central Asia. In short, they had better worries than that of killing the next person they saw to steal food and wealth. They were Civilized. Surely such a civilization did not survive on metals alone. But the signs of their diverse products must be gleaned from elsewhere: most of those articles would not have survived exposure or burial for 5000 years; those that survived would have been taken away and used by those who came later. The implications are stunning. The “Indus Valley” and larger Sapta Sindu region, were not a unique fount of civilization, but the trading edge, and junctions, of a massive hinterland that manufactured (and consumed) the goods traded. This extended at least through the rest of the Indian peninsula and the larger subcontinent, as well as most of South East Asia. How long had this civilization evolved, before it got to the advanced trading stage seen in the Sapta Sindhu? The extremely succinct (though massive!) distillation of knowledge in the Vedas begins to make sense, as the distillation of untold aeons of experience! To speculate on what this does to the Eurocentric narratives of the origins of civilization, is beyond the scope of this book. This two-volume set is written in a very succinct monograph style, originally intended for audiences from the community of present-day historians and archaeologists. It extensively refers to, and cites, the archaeology literature across continents Given the rigid 19th century/ 1920s textbook beliefs that appear to control “Indology” and “South Asian History”, however, many readers may be from outside these communities. Therefore, before one dives into the first chapter, a brief analogy may be useful. The key to the “code” such as it, is the term “Rebus”. An everyday example is the “Arm & Hammer” logo seen on packets of Baking Soda. These are from a corporation started by Mr. Armand Hammer. The words denoting an Arm and Hammer sound like ‘Armand Hammer’ only in English. But people who buy the products need not speak English: they just need to recognize the logo. Thus a common dialect spanning the trading region is not a pre-requisite; though evidence exists that “Meluhha” denotes such a spoken form that formed a “Sprachbund”: a union of speech, across the entire region. The elaborate and intricate seals would have been an extremely laborious and impractical system if used in everyday written communications. However, if they served as stamps to communicate a standard set of messages, they would have been convenient, secure and very efficient. The words sound familiar and intuitively evident, to native speakers of Indian languages. It takes someone steeped in native lore and scripture to make the connections, as done in this monograph. Of course any rebus could have multiple meanings, as laboriously documented in the monograph. There is much to be discovered, but a start has been made, to understand a civilization that spanned a period of at least a few thousand years, ending over 5000 years ago.

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Bharata -The Language Of The Indus Valley Civilisation (2024)
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