Upload Log In Sign Up
Browse By Type Books - FictionBooks - Non FictionBrochures & CatalogsComicsGovernment DocsHow-To Guides & ManualsNewspapers & MagazinesPresentationsMenus & RecipesResearchSchool Work By Topic Art & DesignBusinessCreative WritingEntertainmentFictionFoodGovernment & PoliticsHealth & FitnessReligionScienceLiterature Object1
Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader. See Premium Plans × Language: Choose the language in which you want to experience Scribd: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
English 中文 Español العربية Português 日本語 Deutsch Français Turkce Русский язык Tiếng việt Język polski Bahasa indonesia
Download Go BackAdd Note Link Embed Save for later of 00 Readcast Tweet
Š S u R a M a a v i 1
j a y o n d i l l
The reconfirmatio
n and reinforcement of theIndus script thesis: A logical assessment
andinquiry as to the elusive and enigmatic nature of this script Sujay Rao
Mandavilli Published in the ICFAI Journal of History and Culture, January 2011 Abstract The earliest known example of an Indus seal dates to 1873 in the form of a drawingpublished by Alexander Cunningham. Since
then, thousands of examples of the Indus script havebeen discovered, and the Indus script has been subject to very serious analysis by many scholarsfrom all over the world and still continues to fascinate, enchant and frustrate innumerableresearchers
who have made many a vain attempt to understand itstrue nature and meaning. Thenature of the Indus script remains elusive and there are currently many different schools of thought –some think it represented a Dravidian language, some think it
represented an IndoAryan language, while some are convinced it belongs to a third language group. Some argue thatit represented a languagewhile others argue it was only a complex ‘symbol system’, either with or without a linguistic content.In an earlier
paper, ‘Syncretism and Acculturation in Ancient India; Anew Nine Phase Acculturation model explaining the process of transfer of power from theHarappans to the Indo-Aryans’, which was published in two parts in the ICFAI Journal of Historyand Culture (January 2009
and 2010), we proposed methods to reconstruct the languages of theHarappans with ‘smoking guns’, and concluded that the Harappans spoke neither a Dravidianlanguage nor Sanskrit but were intensely multi-linguistic and spoke several languages
whichincluded remote ancestors of languages which much later came to be known as Prakrits. In thispaper, we take a parsimonious approach with regard to the Indus script, attempt to understand itsnature, examine the logical flaws of current theories with regard to the Indus
script and concludethat it is impossible to draw any hasty conclusions about the nature of the Indus script withoutbuilding rock solid theoretical models and that the Indus script issue is probably less simple thanthe most simplistic of theories make it out to be. More
importantly, we also refute ‘Sproat’ssmoking gun’ which cannot prove that the Indus writing system was not stable, that is was not awriting system or that it did not have a linguistic component. We will conclude, that all thingsconsidered, further research is only likely to
reinforce the idea that it was a logo-syllabic scriptand that any other scenario is highly unlikely.
Š S R M a
u a a v
j a y o n d i l l
i
2
Overview of the Indus Valley Civilization The Indus Valley Civilization or Harappan Civilization was anOld World Bronze Agecivilization (Early phase 3300–2600 BC and mature period 2600– 1900 BC) which covered thenorth-western part of
the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions including the whole of Pakistan,the north-western states of modern-day India, southeastern Afghanistan and theeasternmost part of Balochistan, Iran and was the largest among the old world
civilizations and insome respects the most sophisticated.Understan ding the periodization of the Indus ValleyCivilization would be of utmost importance in understanding the concepts explained in this paper,and this is given below:Early
Harappan3300 -2800 B CHarapp an 1 (Rav i Pha se ) 2800 -2600 BCHarappan 2 (Kot Diji phase, Nausharo I, Mehrgarh VII)Mature Harappan (Indus valley civilization)2 6 0 0 -2450 BCHarappan 3A2450 – 2200 BCHarappan
3B2200- 1900 BCHarappan 3C Approach followed in this paper It is like playing a game of ‘treasure hunt’. There are clues hidden in all kinds of places, and whenyou find a clue, it leads you to the next and slowly, step by step, you arrive at the treasure.-
Romila Thapar The approach followed in this paper is to build on the very detailed and apposite workdone by scholars in the recent past, most notably by Korvink and others 1
, and present atheoretical framework which can help in researching the
Indus script (or ‘script’!). We will alsoargue that any claims regarding the decipherment of the Indus script or any claims that sweepingassertions about the Indus script can be made must be met with a considerable degree of skepticism and
suspicion and instead state that future progress can come only from buildingbetter and solid theoretical models and not from drawing any hasty or a priori conclusions. This isalso important given the fact that only a small portion of the IVC has been excavated.We will also
conclude that1.It is impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions about the Indus script withoutbuilding rocksolid theoretical models and improving them as data expands.2.The very reasonable theoretical possibility that longer textsexisted in the Indus
does notin any way conflict with any existing historical models.3.The theoretical possibility that texts of the Mesopotamian type existed in the Indus inisolated pockets does not in any way conflict with any existing historical
models.4.Even Sproat (personal communication with the author) i.e.whodescribes them as‘Canting Arms’ and Witzel (Kyoto, 2009) i.e.who describes them as ‘Occasional puns’agree that the Indus system could have had a linguistic content.
This qualifies it for fullliteracy i.e. Rebus Principle and Acrophony. We must also take into account thewidespread usage of the script also and the fact that it was central to Indus society.5.The very reasonable possibility that the Indus script itself qualifies for full
literacy asstated above and not proto-literacy does not conflict with any existing historical modelseither. 1
The Indus script: A positional –statistical approach, Michael Korvink, 2007
Š S
u
j
a
y
R a M a a v i 3
o n d i l l
6.Farmer et al have said nothing substantially new. Even Asko Parpola has beenresearching the Indus script as logogramswith a
linguistic component. So Farmer et aland Parpola et al are probably saying largely the same thing with hardly any differences!7.It would be na誰ve to assume, due to several reasons that will discussed in the paper, thatthe Indus script issue is as simple as it appears to be or is
made out to be, due to variousfactors that will be discussed in the paper and as mentioned previously better theoreticalmodels would be the key to better research. 8.
There are many theoretical possibilities we cannot overlook and
identifying researchstrategies would also be extremely important. 9.
We must also bear in mind the fact that only a very small portion of the IVC has beenexcavated, and many cities have not been excavated at all i.e. Ganweriwala,
Rakhigarhiand only a very small portion of cities like Mohenjodaro has been excavated. Therefore,any hasty conclusions must be viewed with some degree of skepticism.10.Much more importantly, we will conclude that the Indus script is indeed
awriting system,as all Western and Indian scholars have always known or assumed. Anyone who wantsto prove that it is not a writing system will have to refute all the points raised in this paper.We will also discuss why Sproat’s smoking gun cannot be used to test
the complexity,maturity and stability of the system or prove that it did not have a linguistic component.The refutation of Sproat’s smoking gun is an important part of this paper.11.We will also include a discussion of writing implements and writing materials. While
theexistence of books and literature in the Indus has only been seen as a remote possibility,this does not rule out the possibility of longer documents used as administrative or accounting records. We will show that the possibility of longer records existing for at
leastaccounting and administrative use does not conflict with any theories pertaining towritingimplements and writing materials either.12.We must strongly condemn any attempts misuse terms pertaining to ‘literacy’, and usinga similar logic can instead even declare
the Indus to be one of the most literatecivilizations on earth, though both parties could still be saying the same thing.Terminology pertaining to literacy cannot be changed unless all scholars agree anddemands to change terminology must
naturally be met with suspicion.As a matter of factthe Indus possesses a unique interpretation of literacy, not found in contemporarysocieties, going both by the mass production of writing and the presence of a signboard,none of which have been observed in contemporary
civilizations.We will also lead readers through a path of introspection, and readers will themselvesconclude towards the end of the paper that the Indus script issue is not as simple as it appearsand that the non-existence of longer texts is a very unlikely scenario.
Circumstances which gave birth to the Indus script: Understanding the transformation of the early to the mature Harappan phase 2600 BC The transformation from the Early Harappan phase is not wellunderstood but mostresearchers accept
it was breathtakingly rapid and occurred within a period of less than acentury.Gregory L Possehl states: 2
The immense differences between the Indus civilization as compared to the earlyHarappan can be seen as a replacement of “
the older early Harappan symbolic system with a neworder and way of life. The Indus peoples turned their backs on their own past and replaced it withthis and a new order and way of life. Archeologists see this new order or ideology expressed in 2
The Indus Civilization: A contemporary perspective, Gregory L.Possehl, 2002, Altamira press, Rowmanand Littlefield publishers Inc
Search Search History: Searching... Result 00 of 00 00 results for result for • p.
Sujay Indus Script Final Version Final Final Download or Print Add To Collection 2.5K
Reads 25 Readcasts 477 Embed Views This is a private document.
Published by sujayrao2000 Follow Search TIP Press Ctrl-F⌘F to search anywhere in the document. Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader. See Premium Plans
Info and Rating Category:
Uncategorized.
Rating: Upload Date:
01/06/2011
Copyright:
Attribution Noncommercial
lost script indus indus valley civilization indus script Tags: lost manuscript (more tags) lost script indus indus valley civilization indus script lost manuscript indus hypothesis (fewer) Free download or readfalse online for free. Flag for inappropriate content http://www.scribd.com/doc/46387240/Sujay-Indus-Script-Final-Version-Final-Final 05/08/2013 pdf text original
Download and print this document • • • • •
Read offline in your PDF viewer Edit this document in Adobe Acrobat, Notepad Keep a copy in case this version is deleted from Scribd Read and print without ads Email the file
Choose a format to download in •
●
• .TXT Download
Choose a format to download in •
●
.PDF • .TXT Download
Download and print this document Choose a format to download in •
●
.PDF • .TXT Download
Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader. See Premium Plans
Recommended 27 p. Sujay Indus Reintroducing Lost Manuscript Hypothesis sujayrao2000 1063 Reads 67 p. Sujay Npap Part Two 2542 Reads 21 p. Resolving Indus Script Debate 1846 Reads 92 p. The Writing in the Indus Script Vijaya Bhaarati 766 Reads 66 p. Sujay NPAP Part One 2759 Reads 9 p. Scribd 101: Readcast Scribd 317479 Reads 60 p. Sri Vatsa 5311 Reads 42 p. Sujay Post-Harappan Literacy and origin of Brahmi sujayrao2000 1101 Reads
More From This User 42 p. Sujay Post-Harappan Literacy and origin of Brahmi sujayrao2000 1101 Reads
27 p. Sujay Indus Reintroducing Lost Manuscript Hypothesis sujayrao2000 1063 Reads
Notes Load more
About • • • •
About Scribd Blog Join our team! Contact Us
Premium • Premium Reader • Scribd Store Advertise with us • Get started • AdChoices Support • Help • FAQ • Press Partners • Developers / API
Legal • Terms • Privacy • Copyright © Copyright 2013 Scribd Inc. Language: Choose the language in which you want to experience Scribd: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
English 中文 Español العربية Português 日本語 Deutsch Français Turkce Русский язык Tiếng việt Język polski Bahasa indonesia
Object 2
Use your Facebook login and see what your friends are reading and sharing. Other login options Login with Facebook Sign up without Facebook email address (required) create username (required) password (required) ✘
Send me the Scribd Newsletter, and occasional account related communications. Sign Up Privacy policy You will receive email notifications regarding your account activity. You can manage these notifications in your account settings. We promise to respect your privacy.
Why Sign Up? 1. 1. Discover and Connect With people of similar interests 2. 2. Publish Your Documents Quickly and easily 3. 3. Share Your Reading Interest On Scribd and social sites like Facebook and Twitter Already have a Scribd account? email address or username password Log In Trouble logging in?
Login Successful Sign Up Successful Now bringing you back...
Reset Password Back to login Please enter your email address below to reset your password. We will send you an email with instructions on how to continue. email address You need to provide a login for this account as well. login Submit
Object3