Eternal India Encyclopedia

ARCHAEOLOGY

Eternal India

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they had lost their picture value and stood for a syllable or single

sound as in the true phonetic script. It may be noted that in picture

writing no two signs are joined.

The Harappan technique of joining basic signs and attaching

diacritics (fig:23) was followed later in 300 B.C. by the scribes of

Brahmi writing in order to form respectively conjunct consonants

(samyukta aksharas)

and indicating the vowel value of (

matra

) the

consonants. Obviously the Harappan script had already evolved

these principles in 2000 B.C. in writing a language which needed

vowel-indicators and conjunct consonants in the phonetic script of

the period which was quite distinct from all other contemporary

Egyptian and Sumerian scripts.

Phonetic value of Indus signs and the language of the

seal-inscriptions

In assigning phonetic value to basic signs two principles

namely, proceeding “from the simple to the complex” and “from

the known to the unknown” have been followed. These two were

enunciated along with the analysis of compound signs in 1973 (Rao

S.R. 1973) and later expanded and fully illustrated in the

Report on

the Excavations at Lothal

(1979) and

The Decipherment of the

Indus Script

(1982). The simple cursive inscriptions of Late Har-

appan levels of Lothal, Rojdi, Mohenjo-Daro etc., were taken into

account first and the basic signs were given phonetic value on the

basis of the value of identical cursive (alphabetic) signs of Semitic

script (Fig 25) of Gezer and Sechem (1600-1500 B.C.), Laschish

(1300-1200 B.C.), Tell-el-Hesy and Der Alla (1500-1200 B.C.).

Fig : 24 — Reading Indus Inscription of simple-cursive writing

Seventeen out of 24 signs in the Late Harappan and Semitic scripts,

both almost contemporary and both written from right to left, being

graphically similar, it stands to reason to assign the phonetic value

of the known Semitic script to the analogous Late Harappan cursive

script of 2000-1500 B.C.(fig:24). It must however be emphasised

that it is the Semitic traders including the Phoenicians, perhaps the

Panis of the

Rig Veda,

who borrowed the cursive Indus signs for

their phonetic (consonantal) value to write their tri-consonantal

script while the Harappans continued their vowel-consonant sys-

tem with a further sophistication of conjunct consonants (

samyukta

askharas

) characteristic of later Brahmi and Nagari scripts of India.

In proceeding from the simple to the complicated script of the

Harappans and in assigning phonetic value on the basis of a known

script, objectivity is strictly maintained without giving room for any

a priori

assumption that the Harappan language was Dravidian or

Aryan or Austric. The Harappan language derived from the reading

of several simple Late Harappan inscriptions (fig:26) is found to be

closely related to old Indo-Aryan (Vedic), and to a very limited

extent, to old Iranian (Avestan). The use of vowel-indicators,

unlike in Semitic and formation of conjunct consonants enabled the

Harappan scribes to write sophisticated languages such as the

Vedic and Avestan. The words for cardinal numbers occurring in

the Indus inscriptions of comparable Semitic signs are

aeka,

happta, dasa

and

sata

for one, seven, ten and hundred respectively.

Other words and names occurring are

bhaga

(God),

pat

(Lord),

para

(supreme),

ama

(power),

oma

(friend) etc. After the language

was found to be ancient Sanskrit (OIA) the phonetic value for the

frequently occurring non-Semi tic signs of fish and man which are

accented are given the value

from the word

nr/nar

for 'man' and

from

Sapha

Sahula

for a variety of fish in OIA. Nearly 400

inscriptions giving names of rishis, rulers, protectors, sacrifices etc

were deciphered.