Author: S. Kalyanaraman Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781548241919 Category : Languages : en Pages : 776
Book Description
Epigraphia Indus Script --Hypertexts & Meanings (Vol.3 of 3 volumes) Logical connection, anvaya, of hieroglyphs/ hypertexts of Indus Script inscriptions to artha 'wealth, business, meaning' constitutes decipherment of the script consistent with vAkyapadIya (science of grammar). Deciphered epigraphs are presented in 3 volumes. Definitions of terms Hieroglyph is a logograph, i.e. a pictorial motif to signify the associated sound of the word. Hypertext is a hieroglyph linked to a similar sounding word. Indus Script is designed with hieroglyphs composed as hypertexts. For example, a pictorial motif (hieroglyph) of a water-carrier signifies the word kuTi in Meluhha - which is a spoken form of Proto-Indic language of Bharatiya sprachbund. Wealth-creating metallurgical repertoire of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Chanhu-daro foundry metalcasts; Harappa Inscriptions (2590) deciphered Cunningham, former Director General of Archaeological Survey of India reported, an inscribed seal (about 1 in. square) found in 1872, in Harappa. (Cunningham, Alexander (1875). "Harappa." Archaeological Survey of India: Report for the Years 1872-3. 5: 105-108). Ever since that date, the challenge of Indus Script decipherment has engaged many researchers. The hypertexts on the seal and their meanings are presented below: Field symbols: sangad 'lathe, portable furnace' rebus: sangara 'trade', samgraha, samgaha 'arranger, manager'; sangad 'lathe, portable furnace' rebus: sangara 'trade', samgraha, samgaha 'arranger, manager' jAkaD 'invoiced on approval basis'.; kOnda 'young bull' rebus: kOnda 'engraver, script' kundana 'fine gold' Text: kanac 'corner' rebus: kancu 'bell-metal' PLUS sal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop'. Thus bronze/bell-metal workshop.; aya 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal' (Riggveda) PLUS dhAL 'slanted stroke' rebus: dhALako 'ingot'; karA n. pl. wristlets, bangles Rebus: khAr 'blacksmith'; dula 'two' rebus: dul 'metal casting'. Meaning, artha: Trade (and metalwork wealth production) ...PLUS (wealth/business categories cited on inscription). Inscriptions of the Indus Script Corpora are a basic resource to narrate the itihAsa (history) of an ancient Bronze Age civilization. Thousands of inscriptions from Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and all other sites along the Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa (together with meanings) have been presented. The total number of sites of Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization are over 2,600. Out of thse, 80% of sites, i.e. over 2000 are on the banks of Vedic River Sarasvati. Almost from every one of the sites smithy/forge metalwork has been evidenced. Hundreds of inscriptions from over 40 of these sites attest to 1) smithies and forges of the Tin-Bronze revolution.and 2) guilds at work contributing to the commonwealth treasury. The pictorials are as important as signs and must be 'deciphered' to understand the message conveyed by the inscription on an object. Another clue which may be surmised: A sign by itself may constitute a message and hence may be a lexeme. Considering that as many as 273 (111 + 42 + 120) inscriptions are communicated using two signs or less (with or without a pictorial motif or 'field symbol'), it may not be appropriate to assign syllabic or alphabetic values to each sign or each pictorial. Each pictorial or each sign may contain a 'word' or 'lexeme'. The 'economic activity' of metal smith includes (sic) the production of metal objects such as vessels, tools and weapons. The 'economic activity' of metal smith includes (sic) the production of metal objects such as vessels, tools and weapons. The inscriptions may (!) therefore constitute a record of 'objects' possessed by the owner of the inscribed object whether the 'owner' is a metal-smith or a guild of artisans and seafaring merchants or a customer serviced by the metal-smith.
Author: Bryan K. Wells Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited ISBN: 9781842179949 Category : Indus script Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing is a comprehensive look at one of the last undeciphered Old World scripts. It has defied decipherment for 90 years because of the terse nature of the texts and the lack of a comprehensive corpus and detailed sign list. This book presents the analysis of a comprehensive, computer-based corpus using the most detailed sign list yet compiled for the Indus script. Custom computer programs allowed the verification of the sign list and the compilation of statistics regarding sign distribution and use. Among the questions addressed are: How do you create an epigraphic database? How do you define a sign? What is the Indus number system like? Where did the Indus script come from? and What is the Indus language(s)? Bryan Wells is an archaeologist, epigrapher, and geographer who has excavated on the west and east coasts of North America and in Baluchistan (Pakistan). Wells has studied the Indus script since 1992, and holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University.
Author: Noboru Karashima Publisher: ISBN: Category : Asia, Southeastern Languages : en Pages : 360
Book Description
Papers presented at a seminar during the 31st International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, held in Tokyo and Kyoto, 1983.
Author: Bryan K. Wells Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1784910473 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 153
Book Description
A detailed examination of the Indus script. It presents new analysis based on an expansive text corpus using revolutionary analytical techniques developed specifically for the purpose of deciphering the Indus script.
Author: S. Kalyanaraman Publisher: Sarasvati Research Center ISBN: 9780991104864 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
Provides the method for making of Indus Script Dictionary matching hieroglyphs and meanings, traces the continuum of the writing system on artifacts of historical periods in the framework of Samskrta Bharati, language of a civilization of Bharatam Janam. Sanchi, Bharhut torana Indus Script hieroglyphs proclaim mint, metal engraving work. Bharati is the language of Bharatam Janam, an expression used in Rigveda by Rishi Visvamitra signifying metalcaster people. Samskrta Bharati was the language which unified Prakrtam of Bharatiya sprachbund (language union), which had many phonetic variants in an extensive area from Assam to Gujarat, from Kashmir to Sri Lanka. This is treasure, nidhi, heritage of Bharatam. Samskrtam is a structured reconstitution of the semantics, syntax, morphology and phonetics of Prakrtam. This reconstruction is documented in ancient texts such as Yaska's Niruktam, Bhartrhari's Vakyapadiya, Panini's Ashtadhyayi, Tolkappiyam, Patanjali's Mahabhashya, Bharata's Natya Sastra, various Nighantus, Hemacandra's Desinamamala, and scores of other literary evidences. These basic texts have provided the resources for scholarly studies defining Bharatam as a Linguistic Area (Indian sprachbund or language union). Ancient scripts were called Brahmi, Kharoshthi attesting the divine dispensation of Vagdevi and speech forms from the lips of artisans (khar 'smith' oshti 'lip') This discovery of the language of a civilization provides a foundation for further civilization studies including a re-assessment of general semantics, the formation and evolution of all Bharatiya language forms and cultural contacts with neighbouring cultural regions of Eurasia for nearly 8 millennia. The word Samskriti relatable to Samskrtam is the weltanschauung defining both the material resources and adhyatmika foundations for the mores of people of a vibrant region of the globe with a civilizational foundation which dates back to over 8 millennia. Bharata's Natya Sastra (c. 200 BCE), a treatise on performing arts, theatre, dance and music provides a documentation of provincial or des'I or vernacular forms of speech which may be variant pronunciation of sememes (root words of dhAtupATha). This work in 6000 karikas or verse stanzas incorporates 36 chapters three of which relate to messaging systems: Rules of Prosody and Rules on the use of languages, Modes of address and intonation. This work had united Bharatam Janam, the way Prakrtam (spoken version of Samskrta Bharati) had united Bharatam Janam in a Bharatiya sprachbund (language union). DhAtupAtha was the earliest attempt to clearly identify sememes (root morphemes, the smallest linguistic units of meaning) from among multifarious forms of pronounced words in speech forms of Prakrtam. Similarly, Indus Script was the earliest attempt to signify sememes through orthographic signifiers as hieroglyph components in a writing system for parole, speech form of language. Thus, for example, a sememe, kuTi is signified by a water-carrier hieroglyph; a sememe baTa Bhartrhari (c. 5th century CE) Vakyapadiya in Bharatiya grammatical tradition explains the theories on the word and on the sentence and elaborates on sphota, 'spurt, bursting, opening' as a framework to explain how the mind orders linguistic units into meaningful utterances. Indus Script as a writing system is a method in semiotics, a study of meaning-making together with a study of orthography. It is reasonable to hypothesise that Samskrtam in Prakrtam speech forms was the lingua franca of the civilization ca. 2500 BCE on the banks of Vedic River Sarasvati which is consistent with the assumption that Prkritam form of vAk evolved in the region from ca. 8th millennium BCE given the archaeological discoveries of cultural pointers. One pointer is the use of s'ankha turbinella pyrum bangles from ca. 6500 BCe. Another is the practice of sindhur on mang (parting of the hair) of married women on two terracotta toys.
Author: Egbert Richter-Ushanas Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN: 9788120814059 Category : Indus script Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
The deciphering of the Indus script has met with suspicion and is exposed to ridicule even. Many people are nowadays of the opinion that the Indus script is altogether indecipherable, if not a bilingual of considerable size turns up. The approach to a decipherment presented in this volume makes avail of a bilingual, too, but its masterkey is the discovering of the symbolic connection of the Indus signs with the metaphoric language of the Rg-Veda. Nearly 200 inscriptions, among them the longest and those with the most interesting motifs, have been decoded here by setting them syllable for syllable in relation to Rg-Vedic verses. The results that were gained by this method for the pictographic values of the Indus signs are surprising and far beyond the possibilities of the most daring phantasy. At the same time many problems of the Rg-Veda could be solved or new insights be won.
Author: Asko Parpola Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521795661 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
Of the writing systems of the ancient world which still await deciphering, the Indus script is the most important. It developed in the Indus or Harappan Civilization, which flourished c. 2500-1900 BC in and around modern Pakistan, collapsing before the earliest historical records of South Asia were composed. Nearly 4,000 samples of the writing survive, mainly on stamp seals and amulets, but no translations. Professor Parpola is the chief editor of the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. His ideas about the script, the linguistic affinity of the Harappan language, and the nature of the Indus religion are informed by a remarkable command of Aryan, Dravidian, and Mesopotamian sources, archaeological materials, and linguistic methodology. His fascinating study confirms that the Indus script was logo-syllabic, and that the Indus language belonged to the Dravidian family.
Author: Srinivasan Kalyanaraman Publisher: Srinivasan Kalyanaraman ISBN: 0982897103 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 468
Book Description
This is a path-breaking work as significant as the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs by Champollion. For nearly130 years, the Indus script has remained a challenging enigma to scholars of languages, writing systems and civilization studies. The script was invented and used over an extensive area of what is called the Indus or Sindhu-Sarasvati civilization. Over 2000 or 80% of archaeological sites are found on the Sarasvati River basin, a river adored in a very old human document called the Rigveda and which dried up due to tectonic and resulting river migration causes. In 1822, history was made when Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered by Jean-Francois Champollion from parts of the Rosetta Stone. Champollion showed that the Egyptian writing system, c.3000 BCE was a combination of phonetic and ideographic glyphs. The Rosetta Stone is dated196 BCE and had a decree in three versions: one in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, one in the Egyptian demotic script, and one in ancient Greek. Since alphabets of ancient Greek were known, Champollion used the trilingual inscription to validate his historic decipherment. Indus Script Cipher makes history recording hundreds of hieroglyphs of India. Absence of a Rosetta Stone which has been the principal impediment in validating any decryption of Indus script cipher is thus overcome. Further validation comes from evidences of the historical periods in India from c. 600 BCE showing continued use of Indus script hieroglyphs which evolved from c. 3300 BCE. This book details a decipherment.of the Indus script using the same rebus method used by Champollion to read ancient phonetic hieroglyphs of Indiat. By demonstrating an Indian linguistic area of cultural and language contacts and history of language changes, this is a landmark contribution to civilization studies of the world and will promote efforts to rewrite the ancient socio-cultural and economic history of a billion people in India and neighboring regions.
Author: S. Kalyanaraman
Author: Bryan K. Wells
Author: Noboru Karashima
Author: Bryan K. Wells
Author: S. Kalyanaraman
Author: Egbert Richter-Ushanas
Author: Paul D. LeBlanc
Author: Asko Parpola
Author: B. V. Subbarayappa
Author: Srinivasan Kalyanaraman