Indus Dravidian Script PDF
Indus Dravidian Script PDF
Indus Dravidian Script PDF
Iravatham Mahadevan
Dravidian University has been established to promote research into
Dravidian languages, literature and culture. Location of the
University at Kuppam, the tri-junction of Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Tamilnadu, symbolises the objective of the
University to serve the cause of the Dravidian.
The venue and the occasion have pre-determined the subject of my
address today, namely, recent advances in the study of the Indus
Script. My field is Tamil Epigraphy, with special interest in Brahmi
and Indus scripts. I consider it providential that the present
occasion has coincided with two important landmarks in my
research career spanning more than half a century. One of them
relates to the Brahmi and the other to the Indus scripts. I shall
mention their significance briefly before proceeding with the
subject matter of today’s address.
Recent discoveries in early Tamil epigraphy
The first is the recent publication of the second and enlarged edition
of my book, Early Tamil Epigraphy. This edition includes not only
Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, but also the earliest pottery inscriptions
in Prakrit and Old Sinhala languages found from recent excavations
in Tamilnadu. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions are the earliest records in
Dravidian. Pottery inscriptions in the neighboring languages found
in Tamilnadu represent the earliest attestation of the interaction of
Dravidian with Indo-Aryan cultures in South India. Some of the
! !
………………………………………
kuṭa-muṉi aka-tt-(i)
C
A
Fig. 4.
A. Pottery inscription with three Indus-like symbols. Sanur.
B. Pottery Inscription from Kalibangan
C. Indus signs depicting a seated deity
A B
Fig. 5
A. South Indian megalithic pottery inscription found in Thailand.
B. Indus signs and texts with seated deity.
A B
Fig. 6
A. Indus Seal impression. Vaisali, Bihar.
B. Frequent Indus Text on miniature tablets from Harappa.
Non-masculine
arrow ampu –(a)mpu
Singular suffix
aṃkkapāsunṟu aṃkkapāsumbu
Since the jar and arrow signs indicate the singular, the four-stroke
modifier, the third member of the set, must stand for the epicene
(masculine and/or feminine) plural suffix –ar in Dravidian
(Mahadevan 1986, 2011).
Gender-Number Paradigm in the Indus Texts
The identification of the three grammatical suffixes discussed above
has led to a major breakthrough, the formulation of the gender-
number paradigm in the Indus Texts. The paradigm is the basic
framework of the grammar of the Indus language. Discovering the
paradigm in the Indus texts is bound to lead to rapid advances by
identifying names and titles which form the bulk of the Indus texts,
especially on the seals.
Masculine (human)
jar –(a)nṟu
singular suffix
Non-masculine singular
arrow –(a)mpu
suffix
Place signs in the Indus Script and their evolution in Old Tamil polity
assembly hall, etc. would be represented by ideograms in the Indus
Script. The place signs are likely to occur in the initial position,
judging from later parallels in Old Tamil, Telugu and Kannada
inscriptions. Place names in the Indus Script can also be interpreted
as the corresponding personal nouns. The chart shows the
ideographic identification of Indus signs depicting the city, palace/
court, assembly, exclusive and ordinary quarters.
The ideographic and linguistic identification of the place signs in
the Indus Script leads for the first time to the original significance
of the Old Tamil words when compared with the Indus signs. Thus
aka-tt-i ‘lord of the house’ was the Ruler. The cōḻa were counsellors
‘surrounding’ and ‘advising’ (cūḻ) the Ruler. The cēra or cēral were
high officials residing in exclusive quarters (kēr(-i)) with restricted
entry. The pāṇṭi were the commoners who resided in the streets,
pāṭ-i of the (lower) city (pāḻ-i). These results corroborate the
folklore that the cēra, cōḻa and pāṇṭi were brothers who lived
together in one place in ancient times (Caldwell, Reprint 1961:14). It
is significant that in the earliest Tamil tradition the names cēra, cōḻa
and pāṇṭiya preceded personal names in the manner of place
names, (e.g.) cēraṉ ceṅkuṭṭuvaṉ (Mahadevan 1981).
The Indus heritage of Andhra
The Andhras are mentioned among the non-Aryan people living
beyond the borders of the early Aryan settlements (Ai. Br. 7: 18).
Since virtually every early Dravidian masculine name or title ended
in -(a)nṟ- (see Pallava inscription on Page 18), the suffix became the
source of the ethnic name andhra through a loanword:
Dr. anṟ- > IA andr- > andhra.
Indus Signs