Decoding animal glyphs of Indus script

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(Free-Press-Release.com) June 6, 2010 -- Animal glyphs of Indus script in pictorial compositions

The entire corpus of Indus writing can be viewed as a set of pictorial compositions. These have been documented as a Corpus of Indus inscriptions. See the 8 slide shows of Epigraphia Sarasvatidisplaying over 3000 inscriptions.

The compositions consist of glyphs, some are signs (like fish or arrow or svastika) and some are pictorials such as those of animals, portable furnaces, troughs.

A combination of glyphs constitutes a message conveyed on inscribed materials such as a bangle, a copper plate, a weapon or tool, a seal, a tablet, a potsherd.

A remarkable characteristic of the use of animal glyphs is that an animal may be shown in isolation or in ligatures or in combination with other animals or glyphs. Thus, animal glyphs constitute an essential part of the message sought to be conveyed through the use of glyphs as pictorial motifs in compositions.

· Animal(s) are shown with a fish or bird glyph
· Animals are shown flanking svastika glyph (sign?) within a border and together with a scene showing a person seated on a leaf-less branch of a tree

· A trough is shown in front of an animal (wild animal or domesticated animal)
· Animals are showin in sets or two or more animals
· Animals are shown ligatured to one-another creating composite animalcompositions
· Animal is ligatured to or is shown carried by a person

That animals occur in such compositions is evidence that the decoding of an Indus inscription has to decode the animal glyph. Without such a decoding the reading of the message is not complete. To arbitrarily claim that the animals were totem symbols is a cop-out.

Examples of such compositions including animal glyphs may be seen athttp://www.scribd.com/doc/32588163/Animal-Glyphs-of-Indus-Script (Set of 73 powerpoint slides).

The decoding in rebus readings of mleccha lingua franca (linguistic area of the civilization) links all the animal glyphs in the context of smithy workshop and smith artisan’s repertoire.
That the animal glyph is an integral part of an inscription can be seen from the following examples taken from this set of powerpoint slides. Read on…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32588765/Animal-Glyphs
Rebus mleccha readings and meanings of animal glyph compositions in Indus writing

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32602626/Rebus-Mleccha-Readings-and-Meanings-of-Animal-Glyphs-in-Indus-Writing

Animal (trough) Blacksmith Guild, Goldsmith Guild

ḍān:gra = wooden trough or manger sufficient to feed one animal (Mundari). iṭan:kārr̤i = a capacity measure (Ma.) Rebus: ḍhan:gar ‘blacksmith’ (Bi.)

Vikalpa: பத்தல் pattal , n. 1. A wooden bucket; மரத்தாலான நீரிறைக்குங் கருவி. தீம்பிழி யெந்திரம் பத்தல் வருந்த (பதிற்றுப். 19, 23). பத்தர்¹ pattar , n. 1. See பத்தல், 1, 4, 5. 2. Wooden trough for feeding animals; தொட்டி. பன்றிக் கூழ்ப்பத்தரில் (நாலடி, 257). paṭṭar-ai community; guild as of workmen (Ta.); pattar merchants; perh. Vartaka; பத்தர்² pattar , n. < T. battuḍu. A caste title of goldsmiths; தட்டார் பட்டப்பெயருள் ஒன்று.

Person ligatured to a bow Coiner

kāmaṭhum = a bow; kāmaḍī, kāmaḍum = a chip of bamboo (G.)

kammatia ‘coiner’ (Ka.) kampaṭṭam coinage, coin (Ta.); kammaṭṭam, kammiṭṭam coinage, mint (Ma.); kammatia coiner (Ka.)(DEDR 1236) kammaṭa = coinage, mint (Ka.M.) kampaṭṭa-k-kūṭam mint; kampaṭṭa-k-kāran- coiner; kampaṭṭa- muḷai die, coining stamp (Ta.lex.)

Person (body) iron coiner, Firepit

meḍ ‘body’

Rebus: meḍ ‘iron’ (Ho.)

Vikalpa: kāṭhī = body, person; kāṭhī the make of the body; the stature of a man (G.) Homophone: kātī ‘woman who spins the thread’;

Rebus: khād. ‘trench, fire-pit’ (G.) khattar ‘attendant’ (Pali)

Woman, scarf, bunch of twigs, leaf (ligatures) Mineral, alloy smelter

kol ' woman'; rebus: kol 'metal of five alloys, pan~caloha' the glyph connotes: metal alloy furnace/workshop.

aḍaru twig; ad.iri small and thin branch of a tree; aḍari small branches (Ka.); ad.aru twig (Tu.)(DEDR 67). adar = splinter (Santali)

Rebus: adaru = native metal (Ka.) aduru = gan.iyinda tegadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in a furnace (Ka. Siddha_nti Subrahman.ya’ S’astri’s new interpretation of the Amarakos’a, Bangalore, Vicaradarpana Press, 1872, p. 330)

WPah. dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu) m. ‘scarf’ (CDIAL 6707) Rebus: Pa. dhātu ‘mineral’

kamaṛkom = fig leaf (Santali.lex.) kamarmaṛā (Has.), kamaṛkom (Nag.); the petiole or stalk of a leaf (Mundari.lex.)

kammatia ‘coiner’ (Ka.) kampaṭṭam coinage, coin (Ta.); kammaṭṭam, kammiṭṭam coinage, mint (Ma.); kammatia coiner (Ka.)(DEDR 1236) kammaṭa = coinage, mint (Ka.M.) kampaṭṭa-k-kūṭam mint; kampaṭṭa-k-kāran- coiner; kampaṭṭa- muḷai die, coining stamp (Ta.lex.)

Vikalpa: The bunch of twigs = kūdi_, kūṭī (Skt.lex.) kūdī (also written as kūṭī in manuscripts) occurs in the Atharva Veda.

http://sites.google.com/site/induswriting/ (Updated 6 June

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