Can Indus Script be Deciphered?
Indus Valley Civilization, one of the ancient civilizations of the world, was Flourishing in the nothern part of Indian sub-continent aroung 3500 Bc - 1500 BC. Ruins of the Cities of this civilaization had been excavated. Remains of this civilization show that this had a heighly developed urban infrastructure. The extend of its spread and the similarity of the towns far apart shows a powerful central control. This would have required an efficient communication system. We all know the importance of written language in effective communication. Unlike other important civilizations of the world, only limited evidence of writing was found here.
Large number of seals, which are beleived as items connected to trade, contain various figures and symbols similar to writing have been found. These are only a few characters long. No seals or any other items have been found to contain bilingual inscriptions. Efforts of archaeologists for several decades, to decipher these writings have not met with success yet. However, according to some epigraphers involved in this effort, although the content in not known, several characteristics of the Language have been established. Following are some of them:
- The writting is from right to left.
- Text contain suffixes. Does not contain prefixes of infixes.
- Indus script belongs to the logo-syllabic type, not to syllabic or alphabetic type.
Underlaying Language
For any successful attempt to decipher the texts it is important to find out the type of underlaying language. The Indus Valley experts have no agreement in this issue. There are at least four defferent theories put forward in this connection. According to them the Language is:
- Dravidian.
- Indo-Aryan
- Other
As a fourth option a recent theory says the symbols are not a writing system at all.
The experts are still optimistic in deciphering the script in future. They think new archaeological findings will through light on this.
- Indus Script - Ancientscript.com
"......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". - HORSEPLAY IN HARAPPA - The Indus Valley Decipherment Hoax
"This was not the first claim that the writing of the Indus Valley Civilisation (fl. c. 2600-1900 BCE) had been cracked. In a 1996 book, American archaeologist Gregory Possehl reviewed thirty-five attempted decipherments, perhaps one-third the act - The Collapse of the Indus Script Thesis - Myth of the Literate Harappan Civilization
Steave Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel say Indus symbols were not even evolving in Linguistic direction after at least 600 years of use. - PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES IN PRE-ISLAMIC INDUS VALLEY
"What was the language of the Indus Valley, present-day Pakistan, in the pre-Islamic period? Did this region have one language or many? Did it have one language family or many? In which script, or scripts, were they written? These questions cannot be - Quasi-Bilingual Sources for the Decipherment of the Indus Script
The author offers readings of several Proto-Indian records. Some features of the Indus valley civilisation were preserved in cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia as well as in the Bible and the Rig-Veda. They provide a reliable basis for this deciphermen - The Hexagram, Symbol of God Murukan, with Tantric, Mantric, Astronomical and Religious potent in Art
"The six pointed hexagram stands for the six faced God Murukan and it expresses the structure of the ritual space in geometrical terms and regulates the yearly chronometry inherent in temple festivals". - ON THE DECIPHERING OF THE INDUS VALLEY SCRIPT AND THE SOLUTION OF THE BRAHUI PROBLEM
"This paper discusses the authenticity of the Indus Valley script used by the presently living tribals in eastern Bihar State in India. The explanation as to how the tribals acquired this script is detailed. In addition, the solution to the Brahui pr - The Indus Script
Writings of Asko Parpola, Iravatham Mahadevan and Ahmad Hassan Dani.
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