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Hieroglyphs of mleccha
June 28, 2007
Sitting postures on Sarasvati civilization artefacts
The language evolution is indigenous from proto-vedic times on the banks of River Sarasvati (Mleccha, Bha_s.a_, Prakrits, Des’i, Chandas), Rivers Tapati and Narmada (close to Bhimbhetka caves and Nahali language-speakers), along the Indian Ocean Rim (Tamil, Austric or Austro-asiatic) and River Ganga (Munda)
Glyph: kamad.ha, kamat.ha, kamad.haka, kamad.haga, kamad.haya = a type of penance (Pkt.lex.)
Buffalo’s horns. Gumla, NW Frontier province. After Sankalia 1974: 354, fig. 88: b (=b), c (=c)
Buffaloes sitting with legs bent in yogic a_sana. Susa Cc-Da, ca. 3000-2750 BC, proto-Elamite seals: (a-c) After Amiet 1972: pl. 25, no. 1017 (=a); and Amiet 1980a: pl. 38, nos. 581-2 (b-c)
m0305AC
2235 Pict-80: Three-faced, horned person (with a three-leaved pipal branch on the crown with two stars on either side), wearing bangles and armlets. Two stars adorn the curved buffalo horns of the seated person with a plaited pigtail. The pigtail connotes a pit furnace:
Glyph: kamad.ha, kamat.ha, kamad.haka, kamad.haga, kamad.haya = a type of penance (Pkt.lex.)
kamat.amu, kammat.amu = a portable furnace for melting precious metals; kammat.i_d.u = a goldsmith, a silversmith (Te.lex.) ka~pr.aut., kapr.aut. jeweller’s crucible made of rags and clay (Bi.); kapr.aut.i_ wrapping in cloth with wet clay for firing chemicals or drugs, mud cement (H.)[cf. modern compounds: kapar.mit.t.i_ wrapping in cloth and clay (H.); kapad.lep id. (H.)](CDIAL 2874). kapar-mat.t.i clay and cowdung smeared on a crucible (N.)(CDIAL 2871).
kampat.t.tam coinage, coin (Ta.); kammat.t.am, kammit.t.am coinage, mint (Ma.); kammat.i a coiner (Ka.)(DEDR 1236) kammat.a = coinage, mint (Ka.M.) kampat.t.a-k-ku_t.am mint; kampat.t.a-k-ka_ran- coiner; kampat.t.a- mul.ai die, coining stamp (Ta.lex.)
An archer is kamadha; a person sitting in a yogic posture is kamadha (Pali) The rebus is: kammata = portable gold furnace (Telugu). The meaning conveyed by penance itself can be composed as a glyph: a person seated in a yogic posture. kamad.ha, kamat.ha = a type of penance (Pkt.). This word can also be imaged like a ficus leaf,: kamat.ha (Skt.) or a bat, kabat.a (Ka.)
This sound of this word evokes meanings related to tools of trade of a professional artisan : kamat.a = a portable furnace for melting precious metals (Te.) kamat.ha_yo = a learned carpenter or mason, working on scientific principles (G.) kammat.i_d.u = a goldsmith, a silversmith (Te.) kampat.t.am = mint (Ta.)
Rebus substantive: samanom = an obsolete name for gold (Santali) hom = pom, hem = gold; hombat.t.al = a golden cup; hombara.ni = a gold jar or vase; hombar-e = go gild; hombesavu = gold soldering (Ka.) hem = a medicinal garden plant with yellow heads of flowers, spilanthes semella (Ka.) hon, honnu = gold (Ka.) honnu = gold, an old gold coin; honnittad.i = a kind of brass which has the appearance of gold (Te.) somn.a = gold (Pkt.); son.n.a = golden (Pali); suvarn.a = of bright colour, golden (RV); gold (AV); sovnakay, so_nakai, somnakay = gold (Gypsy)(CDIAL 13519) soni = jeweller (Bi.)(CDIAL 13623). Concordant with Rigveda ‘soma’ !
m1181A2222 Pict-80: Three-faced, horned person (with a three-leaved pipal branch on the crown), wearing bangles and armlets and seated, in a yogic posture, on a hoofed platform Glyph: camman.am, cappan.am = sitting cross-legged (Ta.); camman.am = id. (Ma.)(DEDR 2350).
A sinuous tree with short leaves. Terracotta tablet. Harappa H95-2523 (After Fig. 6.3 in JM Kenoyer, 1998]. Nausharo. Jar with three papal leaves. Period 1D, 2600 – 2550 BCE [After Samzun, 1992, Fig. 29.4, no.2; cf. Fig. 6.4 in JM Kenoyer, 1998]
Harappa. Two tablets. Seated figure or deity with reed house or shrine at one side. Left: H95-2524; Right: H95-2487.
Harappa. Planoconvex molded tablet found on Mound ET. A. Reverse. a female deity battling two tigers and standing above an elephant and below a six-spoked wheel; b. Obverse. A person spearing with a barbed spear a buffalo in front of a seated horned deity wearing bangles and with a plumed headdress. The person presses his foot down the buffalo’s head. An alligator with a narrow snout is on the top register. “We have found two other broken tablets at Harappa that appear to have been made from the same mold that was used to create the scene of a deity battling two tigers and standing above an elephant. One was found in a room located on the southern slope of Mount ET in 1996 and another example comes from excavations on Mound F in the 1930s. However, the flat obverse of both of these broken tablets does not show the spearing of a buffalo, rather it depicts the more well-known scene showing a tiger looking back over its shoulder at a person sitting on the branch of a tree. Several other flat or twisted rectangular terracotta tablets found at Harappa combine these two narrative scenes of a figure strangling two tigers on one side of a tablet, and the tiger looking back over its shoulder at a figure in a tree on the other side.” [JM Kenoyer, 1998, p. 115].
Slide 142. Molded tablets from Trench 11 sometimes have impressions on one, two, three or four sides. This group of molded tablets shows the complete set of motifs. One side is comprised entirely of script and has six characters, the first of which (on the very top) appears to be some sort of animal. A second side shows a human figure grappling with a short horned bull. A small plant with at least six branches is discernible behind the individual. The third panel portrays a figure seated on a charpoy or throne in a yogic position, with arms resting on the knees. Both arms are covered with bangles, and traces of a horned headdress and long hair are visible on some of the impressions. A second individual, also with long hair and wearing bangles, is seated on a short stool to the proper left of the individual on the "throne." The fourth panel shows a deity standing with both feet on the ground and wearing a horned headdress. A branch with three pipal leaves projects from the center of the headdress. Bangles on seen on both arms.
Harappa. A series of small tablets. A. man fighting a short-horned bull; a small plant with six branches; b. seated figure in yogic posture with arms resting on knees; both arms covered with bangles; traces of a horned headdress and long hair are visible on some impressions; a second individual, also with long hair and wearing bangles, sits on a short stool; ; c. standing deity with horned headdress with a curved branch with three projecting leaves; bangles visible on both arms; d. inscription with six signs; the first sign appears to be some form of an animal; the last shows a person.
Glyph: saman.a = ascetic (Pali.Pkt.); s’raman.a, s.aman.a (KharI.); s’raman.a = ascetic, religious mendicant (S’Br.)(CDIAL 12683). Root: s’ram = weary (Skt.); s’rama = labour (RV)(CDIAL 12682). Thus, s’raman.a can be semant. interpreted as a worker, a labourer. In the context of samanom ‘gold’ (Santali), s’raman.a may be elaborated as a goldsmith. Such an artisan can be represented glyptically by an ascetic, or a yogi in penance (as a horned person seated on a platform).
Elephant (ibha)
Tiger (kol)
Ibex, pair (ul.e, bar.ea)
Antelope (ranku)
Hayrick, pair (kundavum, bar.ea)
Buffalo (kad.a)
Rhino (kag)
M304A broken seal
Fragmentary horn seen on pedestal
Restored glyph (Huntington)
cu_l.a ‘tiger’s mane’
cu_d.a ‘bracelets’
krammara ‘look back’
Rebus: kamar ‘smith’
http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/Projects/Iconographic%20Discussions/harrapan%20seals/Harappan%
Apart from many seated figures on seals and tablets, there are also seated figures on toys and statuettes.
Slide 207 Tablet with inscription. Twisted terra cotta tablet (H2000-4441/2102-464) with a mold-made inscription and narrative motif from the Trench 54 area. In the center is the depiction of what is possibly a deity with a horned headdress in so-called yogic position seated on a stool under an arch.
gumat.a, gumut.a, gumuri, gummat.a, gummut.a a copula or dome (Ka.); ghumat.a (M.); gummat.a, gummad a dome; a paper lantern; a fire-baloon (H.Te.); kummat.t.a arch, vault, arched roof, pinnacle of a pagoda; globe, lantern made of paper (Ta.)(Ka.lex.); gummaṭ m. ‘dome’ (P.) CDIAL 4217
Other glyphs (glyphemes): gúlma— m. ‘clump of trees’ VS., gumba— m. ‘cluster, thicket’ (Pali); gumma— m.n. ‘thicket’ (Pkt.); S. gūmbaṭu m. ‘bullock’s hump’; gumbaṭ m., gummaṭ f. ‘bullock’s hump’ (L.) CDIAL 4217
rebus: kumpat.i = ban:gala = an:ga_ra s’akat.i_ = a chafing dish, a portable stove, a goldsmith’s portable furnace (Te.lex.) kumpiṭu-caṭṭi chafing-dish, port- able furnace, potsherd in which fire is kept by goldsmiths; kumutam oven, stove; kummaṭṭi chafing-dish (Ta.). kuppaḍige, kuppaṭe, kum- paṭe, kummaṭa, kummaṭe id. (Ka.) kumpaṭi id. (Te.) DEDR 1751. kummu smouldering ashes (Te.); kumpōḍ smoke.(Go) DEDR 1752.
ko_lemmu = the backbone (Te. Lex.)
kolmo ‘rice plant’ (Santali) Kharia <kolom>
(D``^sheaf''. #17211.
Thus, the glyphs of either a kneeling adorant (emphasizing the backbone) or a rice plant ligatured to the headdress of a person, is connoted by the phoneme: ko_lemmu or kolmo. Both glyphs are hieroglyphs.
Rebus: konimi = black- smith; Gowda); kolimi =a furnace; kolimi-titti =bellows used for a furnace (Te.lex.) kolime= furnace (Ka. kolime, kolume, kulame, kulime, kulume, kulme fire-pit, furnace (Ka. kolimi furnace (Te. pit (Te. kolame a very deep pit (Tu.).
Why does the figure at the bottom of the table (often called the ‘kneeling adorant’ in corpuses) connote the backbone?
A variant of Sign 48 (Mahadevan sign list) is Sign 47
Sign 47 is recognized on a pottery graffiti at Sanur megalithic site. (cf. B.B. Lal, 1960. From Megalithic to the Harappa: Tracing back the graffiti on pottery. Ancient India, No.16, pp.4-24.) Mahadevan also sees a link with an isolated sign occurrence on pottery graffiti at Mangudi. (Excavations at Mangudi, 2003. Department of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu.)
That this glyph connotes the ribs of the backbone is established in I. Mahadevan (Murukan in the Indus Script) Late Harappan Period at Kalibangan, the comparative glyph is a large-sized graffiti on pottery (See Fig.4 in the plate of Fig. 1-9). http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=194 Figure 6 is a pottery graffiti found in a megalithic burial at Sanur in Tamilnadu of circa 1st millennium BCE, from B.B. Lal, Pl. XXXI B-1(Megalithic) symbol No.47. The symbol also occurs in Pl. IIIA-1,3 and Pl. XXX B-1. Lal compares the Indus sign and the Megalithic symbol (Pl. XXXI B) and notes: "In the case of Sanur (rare examples elsewhere also) three symbols occur in such close proximity to one another as to give the impression of a record. It may however be added that the three symbols interchange their positions on different pots producing all possible combinations" (Lal B.B. 1960. From Megalithic to the Harappa: tracing back the graffiti on pottery. Ancient India, 16, pp. 4-24). “An exceptional variant of Sign 48 is found deeply incised (pre-firing) on the concave inner surface of a shallow terracotta dish (Fig.8).13 This variant depicts the deity with a large head and the backbone with four ribs ‘inside the body’… A unique seal, probably Late Harappan, found on the surface at Kalibangan, depicts a seated skeletal deity occupying the entire field (Fig.9).14 This pictorial representation may thus be classified as the ‘field symbol’ equivalent of Sign 48. The deity is facing right (in the original seal), leaning forward. He has a large head and a massive jaw jutting forward. The complete ribcage is shown in clear detail with almost all the ribs in position, curving naturalistically on either side of the backbone. The deity appears to be holding a ladle (?) in his right hand. His knees are drawn up and he seems to be squatting on his haunches… The details are clearly visible in the highly enlarged photograph of the seal published in Swami Oamanda Saraswati 1975, Ancient Seals of Haryana (in Hindi). Rohtak.Pl. 275.” (I. Mahadevan, ibid.)
Wearing uttariyam, right-shoulder bare
Slide 46 (Harappa.com). Male (front).
Seated male figure with head missing (45, 46). On the back of the figure, the hair style can be partially reconstructed by a wide swath of hair and a braided lock of hair or ribbon hanging along the right side of the back.
A cloak is draped over the edge of the left shoulder and covers the folded legs and lower body, leaving the right shoulder and chest bare. The left arm is clasping the left knee and the hand is visible peeking out from underneath the cloak. The right hand is resting on the right knee which is folded beneath the body.
Material: limestone Dimensions: 28 cm height, 22 cm width
Mohenjo-daro, L 950 Islamabad Museum
Terracotta toy, Mohenjodaro.
Thanks to Mayuresh Kelkar for the following note:
Article uploaded to the files section (of Indiaarchaeology yahoogroup). URL:
http://tinyurl.com/yok39h
Sculpture of a seated Acharya found at Mohenjodaro. Material: white, low fired steatite Dimensions: 17.5 cm height, 11 cm width Mohenjo-daro, DK 1909 National Museum, Karachi, 50.852 Marshall 1931: 356-7, pl. XCVIII
Terracotta toys show yogic asanas: 1-4, from Harappa; 5-6, from Mohenjo-daro.
The Indus Valley Origin of a Yoga Practice byYan Y. Dhyansky Artibus Asiae, Vol. 48, No. 1/2 (1987), pp. 89-108 doi:10.2307/3249853
me~t = eye (Santali) [The dotted circle could be rebus: min.d.a, hero; min.d. ‘iron’]. Enlarged portion of the seal m-1186 taken from Huntington. Dotted circles offered to the person standing in the ‘pipal’ vessel connote ‘iron’.
S. Kalyanaraman 27 June 2007
Mlecchita Vikalpa (2)
June 28, 2007
Signboard on the North Gate leading to the walled Dholavira. Courtesy ASI.
There is a glyph common to the Dholavira sign board, to the epigraph on the horned-tiger seal and the glyph on the button seal of Harappa. The glyph is a ‘lid, cover’ for a pot: ^ Lexemes: ad.aren, d.aren lid, cover (Santali) Rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ (Ka.). It is possible to unravel many substratum lexemes of Mleccha (Meluhhan) and at the same time, decode the epigraphs; the key is to unravel the dialectical continuum of the linguistic area circa 5500 years Before Present. Since the cultural traits of the civilization which evolved about 5500 years Before Present are present even today in Bharat, the languages of Bharat constitute the data set for decoding lexemes of such a dialectical continuum. A remarkable cultural trait which continues into the historical periods of Bharat is the use of copper plates to record epigraphs as property transactions. The epigraphs are the artifacts created by artisans of the Sarasvati civilization, the metal workers who recorded the ownership of the furnaces and trade in a civilizational resource: stones, metals and minerals. This hypothesis on language, writing system and function served by the epigraphs, will be tested further in a separate volume of the Saptathi Sarasvati, the septet of 7 volumes on Sarasvati.
era, er-a = eraka = ?nave; erako_lu = the iron axle of a carriage (Ka.M.); cf. irasu (Ka.lex.) Metal: akka, aka (Tadbhava of arka) metal; akka metal (Te.) arka = copper (Skt.) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.)
erako molten cast (Tu.lex.) agasa_le, agasa_li, agasa_lava_d.u = a goldsmith (Te.lex.)
Tin could have come from Meluhha (Sarasvati Civilization area)
The discovery of two pure tin ingots in a ship-wreck near Haifa has produced two “Rosetta”stones to decode the “Indus script”. The epigraphs on the tin ingots have been deciphered as related to ranku “antelope”, “liquid measure”; read rebus: ranku ‘tin’. As J.D. Muhly noted, the emergence of Bronze Age trade and writing system may be two related initiatives which started approximately in the Third Millennium B.C. It is surmised that the maritime-trade links between Ugarit and Meluhha might have extended from Crete to Haifa. Linking archaeology and philology is a challenging task. What language could the writings on Haifa tin ingots be? The breakthrough invention of alloying may have orthographic parallels of ligatured signs and ligatured pictorial motifs (such as a bovine body with multiple animal heads, combination of animal heads, combination of lathe and furnace on a standard device, ligaturing on a heifer, damr.a — unicorn — with one curved horn, pannier, kammarsala). A ligature of a tiger’s face to the upper body of a woman is also presented in the round. The Sumerian myth Enki and the World Order has Enki exclaiming: ‘Let the magilum-boats of Melukkha transport gold and silver for exchange!’ Enki and Ninkhursag (lines 1-9, Tr. by B. Alster) has references to the products of Melukkha: ‘The land Tukrish shall transport gold from Kharali, lapis lazuli, and bright…to you. The land Melukkha shall bring carnelian, desirable and precious, sissoo-wood from Magan, excellent mangroves, on bigships! The land Markhashi will (bring) precious stones, dus’ia-stones, (to hand) on the breast, mighty, diorite-stones, u-stones, s’umin-stones to you!’
urseal6 Cylinder seal; BM 122947; U. 16220 (cut down into Ur III mausolea from Larsa level; U. 16220), enstatite; Legrain, 1951, No. 632; Collon, 1987, Fig. 611.Humped bull stands before a plant, feeding from a round manger or a bundle of fodder (or, probably, a cactus); behind the bull is a scorpion and two snakes; above the whole a human figure, placed horizontally, with fantastically long arms and legs, and rays about his head.
t.agara = taberna montana (Skt.)
takaram tin, white lead, metal sheet, coated with tin (Ta.); tin, tinned iron plate (Ma.); tagarm tin (Ko.); tagara, tamara, tavara id. (Ka.) tamaru, tamara, tavara id. (Ta.): tagaramu, tamaramu, tavaramu id. (Te.); t.agromi tin metal, alloy (Kuwi); tamara id. (Skt.)(DEDR 3001). trapu tin (AV.); tipu (Pali); tau, taua lead (Pkt.); tu~_ tin (P.); t.au zinc, pewter (Or.); taru_aum lead (OG.); tarvu~ (G.); tumba lead (Si.)(CDIAL 5992).
ran:ga, ran: pewter is an alloy of tin, lead and antimony (an~jana) (Santali).
ran:ga ron:ga, ran:ga con:ga = thorny, spikey, armed with thorns; edel dare ran:ga con:ga dareka = this cotton tree grows with spikes on it (Santali) [Note the thorns on the round object in front of the bull on the Ur cylinder seal impression – U 16220]
adaru d.angra ‘zebu bull’ (Santali); rebus: aduru ‘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); adar = fine sand (Ta.); adaru = a sparkle (Te.); ayir – iron dust, any ore (Ma.)
d.hangar ‘smith’ (H.)
bali = iron stone sand (Santali) bal = to bore a hole, or to puncture, with a red ho iron (Santali) [Note: the dotted circle may denote rebusError! Bookmark not defined.: bali ‘iron stone sand’.]
Two tin ingots with Sarasvati epigraphs
Two other rosetta stones are the two late bronze age tin ingots from the harbor of Haifa, Israel contain glyphs used in epigraphs of Sarasvati civilization!
The picture of these two ingots was published by J.D. Muhly [New evidence for sources of and trade in bronze age tin, in: Alan D. Franklin, Jacqueline S. Olin, and Theodore A. Wertime, The Search for Ancient Tin, 1977, Seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C., March 14-15, 1977]. Muhly notes:"A long-distance tin trade is not only feasible and possible, it was an absolute necessity. Sources of tin stone or cassiterite were few and far between, and a common source must have served many widely scattered matallurgical centers. This means that the tin would have been brought to a metallurgical center utilizing a nearby source of copper. That is, copper is likely to be a local product; the tin was almost always an import…The ingots are made of a very pure tin, but what could they have to do with Cyprus? There is certainly no tin on Cyprus, so at best the ingots could have been transhipped from that island… What the ingots do demonstrate is that metallic tin was in use during the Late Bronze Age…rather extensive use of metallic tin in the ancient eastern Mediterranean, which will probably come as a surprise to many people." (p.47)
Sign 249
Sign 252 and variants
This pictograph clearly refers to an antelope as depicted on the Mohenjodaro copper plate inscription: (m-516b shown).
Sign 182 is a stylized glyph denoting a ram or antelope: tagar (Skt.); rebus: takaram ‘tin’ (Ta.)
da~_t.u = cross over; da.t.- (da.t.-t-) to cross (Kol.); da_t.isu – to cause to pass over (Ka.); da.t.- (da.t.y-) to cross (mark, stream, mountain, road)(Ko.); ta_t.t.uka to get over or through (Ma.); ta_n.t.u = to cross, surpass (Ta.)(DEDR 3158).
On each ingot, there are two signs as shown below:
[Let us refer to these signs as, ‘antelope’ and X]
[Let us refer to these signs as, X and ‘mould’ or ‘liquid measure’].
Liquid measure: ran:ku; rebus: ran:ku = tin; rebus: ran:ku = antelope. Thus both liquid measure glyph and antelope glyphs are graphonyms (graphically denoting the same rebus substantive: ran:ku, ‘tin’.
X glyph which is common to epigraphs on both the tin ingots may refer to an ‘ingot’ or a dha_tu ‘mineral’. upadha_tu an inferior metal, a semi-metal: svarn.am ma_ks.ikam ta_rama_ks.ikam tustham ka_syam rati sindu_ram s’ila_jatu (Skt.)(Skt.lex.) siddha-rasa quick-silver (Ka.lex.) siddha-dha_tu quick-silver (Skt.); ore (as gold) (Ka.lex.) cittam < kit.t.a iron dross (Ta.lex.) siddha-patra hemp-leaves for smoking etc. (Ka.lex.) dha_tu strength, courage (Ka.); dha_tu-ged.u strength to be impaired or be gone; to become deprived of strength or courage (Ka.); dha_tunas.t.a loss of strength (Ka.)(Ka.lex.) The semant. ‘strength’ points to the dha_tu being tin since the addition of tin as an alloy strengthened copper. sapta-dha_tu, tridha_tu ‘seven/three elements’ are recurrently occurring compound lexemes in R.gveda.
In RV 6.044.23 the term used is: tridha_tu divi rocanes.u = ‘three-fold amr.tam hidden in heaven’ is the metaphor; and in RV 8.044.12 the term is: tridha_tuna_ s’arman.a_.
takar sheep, ram, goat (Ta.); tagar ram (Ka.); tagaru (Tu.); tagaramu, tagaru (Te.); tagar (M.)(DEDR 3000).
m0516At
m0516Bt
3398 [Copper tablet; side B perhaps is a graphemic representation of an antelope; note the ligatured tail comparable to the tail on m273, b012 and k037] ri_r. high mountain (WPah.)(CDIAL 10749a)
c-023 Seal. Double-axe + other arms and armour me_n.d.ha = ram (Skt.)(CDIAL 10310). me_l.h goat (without etymology)(Brahui); mr..e_ka (unknown meaning)(Te.); me_~ka = goat (Te.)(DEDR 5087). Rebus: med. ‘iron’ (Mundari)
mer.ed, me~r.ed iron; enga mer.ed soft iron; sand.i mer.ed hard iron; ispa_t mer.ed steel; dul mer.ed cast iron; i mer.ed rusty iron, also the iron of which weights are cast; bicamer.ed iron extracted from stone ore; balimer.ed iron extracted from sand ore; mer.ed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Mu.lex.)
mer.go, mer.ho = adj. rimless (vessels); mi_r.u_ adj. Brimless, rimless (vessels having no outstanding lip); mi_r.u_ bat.ite han.d.i emok do ban: jutoka = it will not do to serve beer with a rimless brass cup (it will not run out properly); mi_r.u_ celan: = a brimless earthenware vessel; me_r. = border, edge (H.) (Santal.lex. Bodding) mi_d.u~ = having rims turned over (G.)(CDIAL 10120).
Liquid measure: ran:ku; rebus: ran:ku = tin (Santali).
ra~_go buffalo bull (Ku.N.)(CDIAL 10559). ra~_kat. big and boorish (M.)(CDIAL 10538). cf. ran:ka slow, dull (Skt.)(CDIAL 10538
Glyphs showing mating scenes
r-an:ku, ran:ku = fornication, adultery (Te.lex.)
A bullmating with a cow. Seal impression (BM 123059). From an antique dealer in Baghdad. Cf. Gadd 1932: no. 18.
Shown together with scorpions, the reading may refer to a smelting furnace used for iron or native metal: bica ‘scorpion’ (Assamese); bica = stone ore containing iron (Mu.) [Sand containing iron ore is has a distinct lexeme: bali (Mu.); rebus: bali ‘bull’ (Skt.)] bali_varda = a bull (Skt.lex.) bel [Hem. Des. ba-i-li_ fr. Skt.] a bull; a bullock; an ox (G.lex.)
A symbolism of a woman spreading her legs apart, which recurs on an SSVC inscribed object. Cylinder-seal impression from Ur showing a squatting female. L. Legrain, 1936, Ur excavations, Vol. 3, Archaic Seal Impressions.
kut.hi, kut.i (Or.; Sad. kot.hi) (1) the smelting furnace of the blacksmith; kut.ire bica duljad.ko talkena, they were feeding the furnace with ore; (2) the name of e_kut.i has been given to the fire which, in shellac factories, warms the water bath for softening the lac so that it can be spread into sheets; to make a smelting furnace; kut.hi-o of a smelting furnace, to be made; the smelting furnace of the blacksmith is made of mud, cone-shaped, 2’ 6” dia. At the base and 1’ 6” at the top. The hole in the centre, into which the mixture of charcoal and iron ore is poured, is about 6” to 7” in dia. At the base it has two holes, a smaller one into which the nozzle of the bellow is inserted, as seen in fig. 1, and a larger one on the opposite side through which the molten iron flows out into a cavity (Mundari.lex.)
kut.hi = pubes. kola ‘foetus’ [Glyph of a foetus emerging from pudendum muliebre on a Harappa tablet.] kut.hi = the pubes (lower down than pan.d.e) (Santali.lex.) kut.hi = the womb, the female sexual organ; sorrege kut.hi menaktaea, tale tale gidrakoa lit. her womb is near, she gets children continually (H. kot.hi_, the womb) (Santali.lex.Bodding)
Language and culture as intertwined, continuing legacies
The legacy of Bharatiya language community is consistent with the other cultural facets of legacy of Bharatam Janam (Bharatiya language community).
- Legacy of architectural forms
- Legacy of metallurgy and the writing system on punch-marked coins
- Legacy of continued use of cire perdue technique for making utsava bera (bronze murti)
- Legacy of the writing system on Sohgaura copper plate
- Legacy of glyphs continuing on as.t.amangalaha_ra
- Legacy of the writing system on Bharhut ligatures
- Legacy: S’rivatsa glyph metaphor; S’rivatsa and s’risuktam
- Legacy: Engraved celt tool of Sembiyan-kandiyur with Sarasvati hieroglyphs: calling-card of an artisan
- Legacy of s’ankha (turbinella pyrum) industry
- Legacy of sindhur worn by ladies on the parting of the hair
- Legacy of worshipping s’ivalinga as a metaphor of the summit of Mt. Kailas (Manasarovar)
- Legacy of acharya wearing uttariyam leaving right-shoulder bare
- Legacy of yoga and form of respectful greeting ‘namaste’ and form of addressing a person respectfully as: arya, ayya (Ravana is also referred to as arya in the Great Epic Ramayana)
This legacy is evidenced by the legacy of mlecchita vikalpa as a writing system, thus enabling the decoding of Sarasvati hieroglyphs or decipherment of the Indus Script.
(This note is based on: S. Kalyanaraman, 1982, Indian Lexicon, available on the internet at http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati; Kalyanaraman, S., 1988, Indus Script: A bibliography, Manila; S. Kalyanaraman, 2004, Sarasvati, an encyclopaedic work in 7 volumes: Sarasvati: Civilization; Sarasvati: R.gveda; Sarasvati: River; Sarasvati: Bharati; Sarasvati: Technology; Sarasvati: Language ; Sarasvati: Epigraphs, Bangalore, Babasaheb (Umakanta Keshav) Apte Smarak Samiti; S. Kalyanaraman, 2006, Bharatiya Languages — History and Formation of Jaati-bhaasha — Mlecchita Vikalpa – Sarasvati hieroglyphs (Decipherment of Indus Script), Bangalore. Babasaheb (Umakanta Keshav) Apte Smaraka Samiti which includes Protovedic Continuity Theory of Bharatiya Languages http://protovedic.blogspot.com and a comprehensive corpus of inscriptions of Sarasvati civilization – Indus Script). Cf. S. Kalyanaraman, 2006, Bronze age trade and writing system of Meluhha (Mleccha) evidenced by tin ingots from the near vicinity of Haifa, presented in: Bronze Age Trade Workshop in Fifth International Conference on Archaeology of Ancient Near East, April 2006 http://jitnasa.india-forum.com/Docs/icaane_workshop.pdf)
S. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D.,Sarasvati Research Centre, Akhila Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana, Chennai 600015 kalyan97@gmail.com 27 June 2007
Mlecchita Vikalpa (1)
June 28, 2007
Sarasvati (mleccha) hieroglyphs (Indus Script)
Abstract
About 4000 epigraphs have been discovered as related to the Saravati-Sindhu (Harappa) Civilization. About 2000 archaeological sites (that is, 80% of the total number of 2600 sites) are found on the banks of River Sarasvati (Ghaggar). Epigraphs have been discovered only on 42 sites. The epigraphs use pictorial signs and pictorial motifs. Treating these as pictorial writing, the glyphs are read as hieroglyphs. Because the majority of the civilization sites are on the Sarasvati River basin, Indus Script epigraphs are referred to as Sarasvati hieroglyphs. These are read as the repertoire of mints, smithy and metalsmiths using mleccha (meluhha), the spoken language of the linguistic area of Bharatam from circa 6500 BCE to the present-day.
Discovery sites of Sarasvati hieroglyphs
Over 45 sites where objects with epigraphs have been discovered – dated circa 3300 BCE to 1500 BCE. The Sarasvati hieroglyph discovery sites extend from Tepe Gawra on Tigris river on the west to Alamgirpur on Yamuna river on the east; from Altin Tepe in the north — east of Caspian Sea (south of Turkmenistan) to Maski on Krishna river on the south.
Neolithic and Harappan period settlements in the cradle of the Sarasvati Civilization. The delta area is now called Rann of Kutch. [After KS ValdiyaError! Bookmark not defined., 2002, Fig. 1.3]
In 2006, a stone celt with Sarasvati hieroglyphs has been discovered on the banks of Kaveri river (Sembiyan Kandiyur). Two ingots with Sarasvati hieroglyphs have also been discovered in a shipwreck in Haifa (Mediterranean).
Old Indic or Proto-Bharatiya Lingua Franca or parole (spoken tongue)
There are hundreds of lexical isolates attested in ‘Indo-Aryan’ which are not found in other branches of Indo-European. These are clearly a substratum layer of Old Indic which was spoken by the people of Bharat on the Sarasvati-Sindhu river basins and on the coastal settlements of Sindhu sa_gara (Arabian Sea). Some of these people were called Meluhhan in Mesopotamian texts. The Austroasiatic components of this substratum have to be resolved further in the context of (1) ancestors of Brahui and Elamite; and (2) other Austroasiatic groups such as those in the Brahmaputra (Lohitya)-Meghna-Barak river basins and around the Bay of Bengal.
The lingua franca (or parole, spoken tongue) of Bharat circa 5000 years ago is hypothesized as a continuum of dialects, evolving in tandem with the cultural setting and technological innovations.
There is evidence of a substrate language of anient Sumer; this language could be located in Bha_rata in the contemporaneous Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization ca. 3500 -2500 BCE. Like the influence of Celtic on ancient Gaul, Sumerian shows signs of a substrate language in the use of professional names such as sanga ‘priest’, simug ‘blacksmith’; craftsman like nangar ‘carpenter’, a:gab ‘leather worker’; agricultural terms, like engar ‘farmer’, apin ‘plow’ and absin ‘furrow’. ur ‘millstone’ (Sumerian); ur-al ‘mortar’ (Ta.); ulu_khala (Skt.) ili ‘sesame’ (Sumerian), ellu/u_lu ‘sesame oil’ (Akkadian); el., el.l.u ‘Sesamum indicum’ (Ta.); tila, jar-tila ‘sesame’ (Vedic)(Blazek, V. and C. Boisson, The Diffusion of Agricultural Terms from Mesopotamia. Archiv Orientalni 60, 1992, 16-37) It is possible that IE *kwe-kw-lo- ‘wheel’ may be related to Sumerian gilgul ‘wheel’; (GIS-); gigir ‘wagon’. a_n.i which occurs in the R.gveda as ‘lynch pin’ is considered foreign to both Dravidian and Vedic. IE rota ‘rotate’ may also relate to urut.t.u ‘roll’; urul. ‘roll’ (Ta.) tambira = copper (Pkt.) tibira = merchant (Akkadian)
Epigraphs are not names of ‘owners’
Though the corpus is limited, it is notable that there is a substantial number of duplicate inscriptions; this is confirmed from the recent report of excavations at Harappa (1993 to 1995 and 2000 seasons). Obviously, the inscriptions do not represent ‘names’ of owners. The inscriptions could simply be ‘functions’ performed by or the ‘professional title’ of the person who carried the inscribed object on his or her wrist (or as a pendant attached to a necklace) or the list of objects he/she was invoicing for trade (as bill of lading or simply possessions of property items listed).
Bharatiya tradition continues in copperError! Bookmark not defined. plate inscriptions and neolithic pottery motifs
The Sohgaura copper plate refers to a pair of kos.t.ha_ga_ra (dva_ra kot.t.haka); the two storehouses described as tri-garbha (i.e. having three rooms) are illustrated on line 1. (Fleet, JRAS, 1907). The illustrations indicate that the three rooms are in three storeys, with supporting pillars clearly seen. The inscription refers to the junction of three highways named Manavati, in two villages called Dasilimita and Usagama. The storehouses were made at this junction for the goods of people using the highways, which are indicated in line 3 by mentioning the three places to and from which they led. One of the names give is reognized by Fleet as Chanchu. (Fleet, JRAS, 63, 1894 proceedings, 86, plate, IA 25. 262; cf. Sohgaura copper plate/B.M. Barua. The Indian Historical Quarterly, ed. Narendra Nath Law. Reprint. 41) Some glyphs on line 1: kut.hi = tree; rebus: kut.hi = smelting furnace; kos.t.ha_ga_ra = storehouse; s’u_la = spear; cu_l.a = kiln; kan.d.kanka = rim of jar; rebus: copper furnace; bat.a = quail; rebus: kiln.
Hieroglyphs on the Sembiyan Kandiyur stone celt
Engraved celt tool of Sembiyan-kandiyur with Sarasvati hieroglyphs: calling-card of an artisan.
http://www.tn.gov.in/misc/Archaeological_discovery.htm
The first symbol from the left is Sign 47. This matches with the megalithic symbol identified by BB Lal, who notes: "In the case of Sanur (rare examples elsewhere also) three symbols occur in such close proximity to one another as to give the impression of a record. It may however be added that the three symbols interchange their positions on different pots producing all possible combinations" (B.B. Lal, 1960. From Megalithic to the Harappa: Tracing back the graffiti on pottery. Ancient India, No.16, p.23).
From L. Sign 47 (backbone)
ko_lemu ‘backbone’ (Te.)
kolame ‘deep pit’ (Tu.); kolame, kolme ‘smithy’ (Ka.); kolla ‘furnace’(Te.)
Sign 342 (rim of jar)
kanka = rim of pot (Santali) Rebus: kan:ka = a metal (Pali); kan- = copper(Ta.) kanaka = gold; kanaka_dhyaks.a = superintendent of gold, treasurer (Skt.) kan-n-a_r, blacksmiths, coppersmiths (Ta.)
kan.d.a = a pot of certain shape and size (Santali) Rebus: kan.d. = altar, furnace (Santali)
Sign 367 (Fig-leaf ligatured)
Allographs of a leaf sign, ligature with crab sign [After Parpola, 1994, fig. 13.15]
kampat.t.am ‘mint’ (Ta.)
kamar.kom = fig leaf (Santali.lex.) kamarmar.a_ (Has.), kamar.kom (Nag.); the petiole or stalk of a leaf (Mundari.lex.)
kama_t.hiyo = archer; ka_mat.hum = a bow; ka_mad.i_, ka_mad.um = a chip of bamboo (G.) ka_mat.hiyo a bowman; an archer (Skt.lex.)
Glyph: kamat.hi_, ka_mat.hum a bow (G.); kamat.ha a tortoise, a bamboo (Skt.)
Sign 301 (eyelash)
mendi_ = eyelashes (Halbi); kandl mindig (pl.) eyelash (Kol.); mindi, mindi_ (Go.); kon.d.a-min.di eyelid, eyelash (Go.)(DEDR 4864). mitn.e~ = to close the eyes (M.)(CDIAL 10119).
Glyph: me_d.i glomerous fig tree, ficus racemosa (Ka.); ficus glomerata (Te.); me_r.i id. (Ko.)(DEDR 5090). [Thus lo ‘iron’ + me_d.i ‘iron implement’ may be both phonetic determinants reinforcing the substantive (‘iron’) indicated by the glyph: ‘leaf’.]
med. ‘iron’ (Santali. MundariError! Bookmark not defined.) me~r.he~t iron; ispat m. = steel; dul m. = cast iron; kolhe m. iron manufactured by the Kolhes (Santali); mer.ed (Mun.d.ari); med. (Ho.)(Santali.lex.Bodding)
It is hypothesised that the inscriptions on copper plates and the symbols on punch-marked coins made in the mints of smiths are the work of inheritors of the Sarasvati brazier-smithy-tradition.
[Pl.8, Local Tribal coin symbols: Ujjayini, Tripuri, Ayodhya, Almore, Pa_n~ca_la, Arjuna_yana (1-3), Ra_janya (3,6,8), Uddehika, Audumbara, Kun.inda, Kuluta, Vr.s.n.i, Yaudheya, Ks.atrapa, S’a_tava_hana]
Hieroglyphs and frequencies of occurrence on epigraphs
One-horned heifer with a pannier
1159 + 5 (with two horns)
Short-horned bull
95 +2 (in opposition)
Zebu or Bra_hman.i bull
54
Buffalo
14
Elephant
55 + 1 (horned)
Tiger (including tiger looking back)
16 + 5 (horned)
Boar
39 + 1 (in opposition)
Goat-antelope
36 + 1 (flanking a tree)
Ox-antelope
26
Hare
10 +1 (object shaped like hare)
Ligatured animal
41
Alligator
49
Fish
14 (objects shaped like fish)\; fish also a sign
Frog
1
Serpent
10
Tree
34 + 1 (leaves); leaf also a sign
tebr.a, tebor. = thrice (Santali
ta(m)bra = copper. (Pkt.); tibira = copper merchant (Akkadian)
Dotted circle
67
ghan:ghar ghon:ghor ‘full of holes’ (Santali); rebus:. kan:gar ‘portable furnace (K.)
Svastika
23 rebus:. satthiya_ ‘dagger, knife’ (Pkt.) satva ‘zinc’ (Ka.)
Endless-knot
Double-axe
4
14 (inscribed objects shaped like axe)
Standard device (lathe, portable furnace)
19
Rimmed narrow-necked jar
1395
Fish signs
1241
Leaf signs
100
Spoked wheel
203
Cart frame + wheels
26
Sprout (or, tree stylized)
800
Water-carrier
220
Scorpion
106
Claws (of crab)
130 + 90 (shaped like pincers)
Arrow (spear)
227
Rimless, wide-mouthed pot
350
Frequency range
No. of signs
Total sign occurrences
Percentage
Cumulative percentags
1000 or more
1
1395
10.43
10.43
999-500
1
649
4.85
15.28
499-100
31
6344
47.44
62.72
99-50
34
2381
17.81
80.53
49-10
86
1833
13.71
94.24
9-2
152
658
4.92
99.16
Only once
112
112
.84
100.00
Thus, only 67 signs account for a total of 80.53 percent of all occurrences of signs on inscribed objects.[After MahadevanError! Bookmark not defined., 1977: 17].
The frequencies in parenthesis are based on Mahadevan conordance (which excludes objects that do not contain a ‘sign’); the actual numbers will be higher based on the more comprehensive Parpola photo corpus which includes inscriptions containing only pictorials.
Seals (1814)
Tablets (in bas-relief or inscribed) (511)*[including Seal Impressions]
Miniature tablets (of stone, terracotta or faience) (272)
Copper tablets (plates) (135)
Bronze implements/weapons (11)
Seal Impressions*
Pottery graffitii (119)
Ivory or bone rods (29)
Inscribed on stone, bracelets (or, bangles), Ivory plaque, Ivory dice, Carnelian tablet, Terracotta ball, Brick (15)
Display-board (Dholavira or Kotda with 10 signs, possibly atop a gateway) (1)
Some examples from Hieroglyph Sign List showing the glyptic nature of writing:
Janajaati bhaasha (mleccha)
An ancient system of writing in vogue in Bharat, is referred to as mlecchita vikalpa, one of the 64 arts to be learnt and listed in Va_tsya_yana’s Ka_masutra. Mlecchita Vikalpa means: ‘writing in cipher.’ A cipher or code can be created through a system of glyphs, called rebus.
All words are semantic indicators. ella_ccollum porul. kur-ittan-ave_ (Tol. Col. Peya. 1)
The formula in this rebus methodology is:
Image = Sound = Meaning
Rebus (Latin: ‘by means of things’) is a graphemic expression of the phonetic shape of a word or syllable. Rebus uses words pronounced alike (homophones) but with different meanings. Sumerian script was phonetized using the rebus principle. So were the Egyptian hieroglyphs based on the rebus principle.
The rebus system of writing, thus, is governed by the organizing principle: all glyphs are phonetic indicators or phonetic determinants.
Janajaati-bhaasha is Bharatiya language community; des’i areal versions (regional dialects).
Mleccha vaacas, aarya vaacas
There is no reference in ancient texts to ‘Dravida’ as a language group. It appears that ‘dravida’ according to Patanjali’s Mahabhashya simply means a group of people or region where tamarind is part of the staple food habit. It has nothing to do with language or people’s ancestry. Tamarind (tamarindus indica) comes from the Arab word meaning: tamar hindi, that is, date from Hindusthan. O.Fr. tamarinde (15c.), from Arabic tamr hindi, lit. "date of India." First element cognate with Heb. tamar "palm tree, date palm." Naming a region based on flora is not uncommon. For example, jambu-dvi_pa comes from the word jambu which is a tree native to tropical regions of western Bharatam. There can be speculation if the word damira (early form of Dravida) is also related to ‘tamar’ palm (Hebrew). In Sus’ruta, the word used for trees with acid leaves is: amla-varga (flora such as lime , orange , pomegranate , tamarind , sorrel) . What could the etymology of the word amla be? In Munda, ti.tin, tentur-i means ‘tamarind’.
Hanuman speaks to Sita in the language of the common man (ma_nus.am va_kyam arthavat)
Hanuman meets Sita (Ramayana Sundarakanda, in Indian art)
A thrilling moment in Bharatiya tradition and ethos is when Hanuman meets Sitadevi in As’okavana of Lanka and hands over the ring of S’rirama and assures Sitadevi that S’rirama is coming to take her back.
Hanuman deliberates on what language he should use while addressing Sita.
16 antaram tv aham āsādya rāks.asīnām iha sthitah
śanair āśvāsayis.yāmi santāpabahulām imām
17 aham hy atitanuś caiva vanaraś ca viśes.atah
vācam codāharis.yāmi mānus.īm iha samskr.tām
18 yadi vācam pradāsyāmi dvijātir iva samskr.tām
rāvan.am manyamānā mām sītā bhītā bhavis.yati
19 avaśyam eva vaktavyam mānus.am vākyam arthavat
mayā sāntvayitum śakyā nānyatheyam aninditā
“To win her ear with soft address
And whisper hope in dire distress
Shall I, with an extreme Vaanara body, choose
The Sanskrit men delight to use?
If as a man of Bra_hman.a kind
I speak the tongue by rules refined
The lady, yielding to her fears,
Will think ‘tis Ravana’s voice she hears.
I must assume my only plan –
The language of a common man.”
[Adapted from Ralph T. Griffith’s translation of Valmiki Ramayana – Book V, Canto XXX, Hanuman’s deliberation; Muir comments in Sanskrit Texts, Part II, p. 166: ‘(the reference to language of a common man) may perhaps be understood not as a language in which words different from Sanskrit were used, but the employment of formal and elaborate diction.’ Yes, indeed, Samskr.tam as aryavaacas was differentiated from Prakrit as mlecchavaacas only by formality and grammatical refinement of diction.]
In this passage, the reference to the language of a common man is a reference to mleccha- vaacas (Prakrit) as distinct from arya-vaacas (refined Samskr.tam which was the refined language spoken by Ravana, the Bra_hman.a king of Lanka).
Ma_nus.am va_kyam arthavat, ‘meaningful speech of the common man’, deliberated Hanuman and spoke to Sita in the lingua franca of the linguistic area. The objective of this work is to delineate such a language of the common man: mlecchavaacas (ja_tibha_s.a_).
The words bha_s.a_, va_cas are semantic cognates of the lexemes of Austric: basoG ‘to speak, to say’, basoG-bi ‘to answer (a call)’, just as the Austric word jel.jal is cognate with Tamil word col: jel, zel ‘to say, to speak, to answer: jel.jal, zel.zel ‘’to discuss, to converse’. The semantic cluster may be seen from the following lexemes of Bharatiya language family: semantic cluster ‘speak; language’: bha_s.a_ speech (Mn.); bha_sa_ speech, language (Pali. Pkt.); ba_s. word (Wg.); ba_s.a language (Dm.); bas. (Sh.); ba_s. (D..); bha_s’ (Ku.); bha_s (N.B.Mth.); language (Konkan.i); bha_sa song (OG.); baha word, saying (Si.); bas, baha (Md.): dubha_siya_ interpreter (H.)(CDIAL 9479)
In the 64 arts listed by Vatsyayana in Vidyasamuddes’a, Nos.47, 48 and 49 relate to the art of communication:
The three arts to be learnt by the youth are related to communication in society:
The three arts relate to Communication systems of Ancient India: Sarasvati civilization heritage
(47) aksara-mustika-kathana–art of expressing letters/numbers with clenched hand and fingers. (48) mlecchita-vikalpa—cryptography, that is, writing system (e.g. mleccha hieroglyphs read rebus). This cryptography using mleccha language by Yudhishthira, Vidura and Khanaka (a mine worker) is described in Mahabharata jatugriha parva (shellac house with non-metallic killer devices).
(49) des’a-bhasha-jnaana—knowledge of spoken dialects or language study (mleccha is a spoken tongue, des’a-bhasha, dialect of indic language family)
Mlecchita Vikalpa (Cryptography: Vatsyayana, Mahabharata); Meluhha – Baloch
Meluhha lay to the east of Magan and linked wit carnelian and ivory. Carnelian! Gujarat was a carnelian source in the ancient world.
What was the language the sea-faring traders with Mesopotamia spoke? Mleccha, meluhhan. [quote] "Baloch" is the corrupted form of Melukhkha, Meluccha or Mleccha, which was the designation of the modern eastern Makkoran during the third and the second millennia B.C., according to the Mesopotamian texts.[J. Hansman, "A Periplus of Magan and Melukha", in BSOAS. London, 1973, p. 555; H.W. Bailey, "Mleccha, Baloc, and Gadrosia", in: BSOAS. No. 36, London, 1973, pp. 584-87.Also see, Cf. K. Kartrunen, India in Early Greek Literature. Studia Orientalia, no. 65,Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society, 1989, pp. 13-14.] [unquote] Source: Baluchistan nationalism: its origin and development –balochwarna.org
Possehl locates meluhha in the mountains of Baluchistan and meluhhan use magilum-boat (Possehl, Gregory. Meluhha. in: J. Reade (ed.) The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul Intl. 1996a, 133–208 sinda refers to date-palm. (cf. Landsberger, Die Welt des Orients 3. 261). Shu Ilishu’s personal cylinder seal showed him to be a translator of Meluhhan language. “Based on cuneiform documents from Mesopotamia we know that there was at least one Meluhhan village in Akkad at that time, with people called “Son of Meluhha” living there.…The presence in Akkad of a translator of the Meluhhan language suggests that he may have been literate and could read the undeciphered Indus script. This in turn suggests that there may be bilingual Akkadian/Meluhhan tablets somewhere in Mesopotamia. Although such documents may not exist, Shu-ilishu’s cylinder seal offers a glimmer of hope for the future in unraveling the mystery of the Indus script.” ( G. Possehl, Shu-ilishu’s cylinder seal.)
http://130.91.80.97:591/PDFs/48-1/What%20in%20the%20World.pdf
http://kalyan96.googlepages.com/brahui.pdf
Chronology and Contacts: Writing begins circa 3500 BCE
Early potters’ marks from Rehman Dheri ca. 3500-2600 BCE [After Durrani et al. 1995].
Early script from Harappa, ca. 3300-2600 BCE. [After Fig. 4.3 in JM Kenoyer, 1998].
Ravi potsherd with an early writing system (Harappa, 1998 find; after Kenoyer Slide 124).
“ca. 6500–2600 BCE Early Neolithic communities are gradually linked in extensive trading networks across the Sarasvati Sindhu Valley region. The period is characterized by the elaboration of ceramics, the beginning of s’ankha (turbinella pyrum) industry (Nausharo, 6500 BCE), copper metallurgy, stone bead making, and seal carving. The beginning of writing is seen in the form of graffiti on pottery from circa 3500 BCE. A more complicated writing system seems to have developed out of or in conjunction with this pottery-marking system; examples exist from around 2800 BCE. • ca. 2600–1400 BCE Numerous seals, some copper plates and a few weapons have been found featuring a complex writing system. A seal was found in Daimabad (1400 BCE) with the unique glyph of a rimmed, short-necked jar. Some images on these seals—of bulls, horned headdresses, and figures seated in yoga-like postures—possibly relate to later cultural and spiritual developments in Bharat and use of copper plate inscriptions for recording property/economic transactions.” (cf. Kenoyer opcit.)
Daimabad
Sign342 (1395)kan.d.kanka ‘rim of pot’; rebus: kan.d. = a furnace, altar (Santali); kan- ‘copper’ (Ta.) Hence, kan.d. kanka ‘copper furnace’.
‘Fish’ glyph on gold pendant
A fish sign, preceded by seven short numeral strokes, also appears on a gold Golden pendant with inscription from jewelry hoard at Mohenjo-daro. Drawing of inscription that encircles the gold ornament. Needle-like pendant with cylindrical body. Two other examples, one with a different series of incised signs were found together. The pendant is made from a hollow cylinder with soldered ends and perforated point. Museum No. MM 1374.50.271; Marshall 1931: 521, pl. CLI, B3. [After Fig. 4.17a, b in: JM Kenoyer, 1998, p. 196].
‘Tree’ Field Symbol 44 (Tree) 28 out of 34 occur at Harappa
h352C Field Symbol 83 (Dotted circles) 57 out of 67 occur at Harappa
bali = iron stone sand (Santali) bal = to bore a hole, or to puncture, with a red ho iron (Santali) [Note: the dotted circle may denote rebus: bali ‘iron stone sand’.]
Tell Suleimeh (level IV), Iraq; IM 87798; (al-Gailani Werr, 1983, p. 49 No. 7). A fish over a short-horned bull and a bird over a one-horned bull; cylinder sea impression, (Akkadian to early Old Babylonian). Gypsum. 2.6 cm. Long 1.6 cm. Dia. [Drawing by Larnia Al-Gailani Werr. Cf. Dominique Collon 1987, First impressions: cylinder seals in the ancient Near East, London: 143, no. 609] bai-li ‘bull’ rebus: bali ‘iron sand ore’; kola ‘fish’ rebus: kolimi ‘furnace, smithy’; damr.a ‘heifer’; ta(m)bra ‘copper’; bat.a ‘bird’; rebus: bat.a ‘kiln, furnace’.
m1135
2140 Pict-50 Composite animal: features of an ox and a rhinoceros facing the standard device. This seems to indicate that the lexeme connoting the young bull may have be cognate with a lexeme connoting a boar. badhia = castrated boar, a hog; bhator. sukri = a huge wild boar with large tusks; rata sukri = a boar in hunting parlance; sukri kud.u = a boar; datela sukri = a wide boar (Santali) bad.hi ‘a caste who work both in iron and wood’ (Santali)[i] bar.ae = a blacksmith; bar.ae kudlam = a country made hoe, in contrast to cala_ni kudlam, an imported hoe; bar.ae mer.ed – country smelted iron; bar.ae muruk = the energy of a blacksmith (Mundari.lex.) The occurrence of bari_ in Ash. (CDIAL 9464) and bar.ae in Mundari and of vardhaka in Skt. point to the early phonetic form: bard.a; semantic: worker in iron and wood, artisan. Thus, it is suggested that the depiction of the backbone, barad.o is rebus for bard.a, artisan. barduga = a man of acquirements, a proficient man (Ka.)
Thus, a svastika appears together with an elephant or a tiger. The ‘svastika’ is a pictorial and also a sign Sign 148 Glyph: sathiya_ (Pkt.); rebus: satva ‘zinc’ (Ka.) Elephant: ib; rebus: ib ‘iron’; Tiger: kol; rebus: kol ‘pan~caloha alloy of metals’
It would be a surprise indeed if, in a writing system used ca. 5000 years ago, it was possible to compose sentences using just five signs.
Hundreds of inscribed texts on tablets are repetitions; it is, therefore, unlikely that hundreds of such inscribed tablets just contained the same ‘names’ composed of just five ‘alphabets’ or ‘syllables’, even after the direction of writing is firmed up as from right to left:
barad.u, bar-ad.u = an empty pot (Ka.lex.) bhala_n.d.e~ = the half-pot or the shard which, with fire in it, the gosa_yi_ or the gondhal.i_-people hold on their hand; gondhal.i_ are musicians and singers; gondhal. = a tumultuous festivity in propitiation of devi_ (M.lex.) bha_liyo = a waterpot (G.lex.) baran.i, baran.e = the trough of a water-lift; a china jar (Tu.lex.) bhara.ni_ = a cooking pot (G.) In the Punjab, the mixed alloys were generally called, bharat (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin). In Bengal, an alloy called bharan or toul was created by adding some brass or zinc into pure bronze. Sometimes lead was added to make it soft. bharatiyo = a caster of metals; a brazier; bharatar, bharatal, bharatal. = moulded; an article made in a mould; bharata = casting metals in moulds; bharavum = to fill in; to put in; to pour into (G.lex.)
kholoe, khaloi = a fish basket (Santali); kolli = a fish (Ma.); koleji id. (Tu.)(DEDR 2139).
xola_ = tail (Kur.); qoli = id. (Malt.)(DEDR 2135).
kol ‘tiger’ (Santali) ; ko_lupuli ‘tiger’ (Te.)
kol = pan~calo_kam (five metals) (Ta.lex.) kol, kolla a furnace (Ta.) kole.l smithy, temple in Kota village (Ko.); kwala.l Kota smithy (To.); konimi blacksmith; kola id. (Ka.); kolle blacksmith (Kod.); kollusa_na_ to mend implements; kolsta_na, kulsa_na_ to forge; ko_lsta_na_ to repair (of plough-shares); kolmi smithy (Go.); kolhali to forge (Go.)(DEDR 2133).] kolimi-titti = bellows used for a furnace (Te.lex.)
krammar-a = to turn, return (Te.); krammar-ilu, krammar-illu, krammar-abad.u = to turn, return, to go back; krammar-u = again; krammar-incu = to turn or send back (Te.lex.) [Note the glyph showing an antelope or a tiger turning back]. kraman.a = act of walking or going (G.lex.)
m1452Act
m1452Bct
2912 Rebus: kamar a semi-hinduised caste of blacksmiths; kamari the work of a blacksmith, the money paid for blacksmith work; nunak ato reak in kamarieda I do the blacksmith work for so many villages (Santali) ka_rma_ra = metalsmith who makes arrows etc. of metal (RV. 9.112.2: jarati_bhih os.adhi_bhih parn.ebhih s’akuna_na_m ka_rma_ro as’mabhih dyubhih hiran.yavantam icchati_) kammar a, kamma_ra, kammaga_ra, karma_ra, karmaka_ra, kammaga_ra, kamba_ra = one who does any business; an artisan, a mechanic; a blacksmith (Ka.); kamma_l.a = an artisan, an artificer: a blacksmith, a goldsmith (Ta.Ka.); a goldsmith (Ka.)(DEDR 1236).
A zebu bull tied to a post; a bird above. Large painted storage jar discovered in burned rooms at Nausharo, ca. 2600 to 2500 BCE. Cf. Fig. 2.18, J.M. Kenoyer, 1998, Cat. No. 8.
Adaru d.angra ‘zebu or brahmani bull’ (Santali) aduru ‘native metal’ (Ka.)
It appears that the person holding back the two rearing jackals on the tablet is a woman: ko_l ‘woman’ (Nahali); dual. ko_lhilt.el (Sudhibhushan Bhattacharya, Field-notes on Nahali, Ind. Ling. 17, 1957, p. 247); kola = bride, son’s (younger brother’s) wife (Kui) ko_l is a phonetic determinative of the two jackals, kol ‘tiger’; rebus: kol ‘metal’ (Ta.)
The decoding of ‘woman’ glyph on the tablet as a phonetic determinative of kol ‘tiger’ gains surprising validation from a ligatured terracotta image of a feline tiger with a woman’s face and headdress.
Feline figurine terracotta. A woman’s face and headdress are shown. The base has a hole to display it on a stick. (After JM Kenoyer/Courtesy Dept. of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Pakistan).
The phonemes and the associated glyph evoke a meaning: kol ‘metal’ (Ta.) kola = blacksmith (Ma.); kol, kollan- (Ta.); kolime, kulime, kolume = a fire-pit or furnace (Ka.); kolime id., a pit (Te.); kulume kanda_ya = a tax on blacksmiths (Ka.) kolimi titti = bellows used for a furnace (Te.)
Ancient language and ancient writing system
Elephant (ibha)
Tiger (kol)
Ibex, pair (ul.e, bar.ea)
Antelope (ranku)
Hayrick, pair (kundavum, bar.ea)
Buffalo (kad.a)
Rhino (kag)
M304A broken seal
Fragmentary horn seen on pedestal
Restored glyph (Huntington)
cu_l.a ‘tiger’s mane’
cu_d.a ‘bracelets’
krammara ‘look back’
Rebus: kamar ‘smith’
kampat.t.am ‘mint’
bar.ea ‘merchant, smith’
med. ‘iron, implements’
kol ‘pancaloha’
ib ‘iron’
kut.hi ‘smelter furnace’
cu_lha ‘furnace’
ula ‘furnace’kang ‘furnace’
ranga ‘pewter, tin alloy’
Penance (kamad.ha)
Royal paraphernalia (ur..a)
Head-dress (cu_d.a)
Bunch of twigs (ku_ti_)
Buffalo-horns twisted (mer.ha)
Horns (kot.)
Human face (muh)
Elephant (Ib)
Neck-band (ring) (kad.um)
M229 (Parpola sealing)
Feline Bovine: (kol) (mr..eka ‘antelope’)
kod. ‘workshop’
mu_ha ‘smelted ingot’
ib ‘iron’
kha_d. ‘trench, fire-pit’
kol ‘pancaloha’
milakkha ‘copper’
The validity of the semantic contours of archaic chandas will be proved by the mlecchita vikalpa, hieroglyphs used to record inscriptions of Sarasvati civilization. The underlying spoken tongue is mleccha, the dialect used by Vidura, Yudhishthira and Kanaka (the miner) in the Mahabharata. Mlecchita vikalpa means ‘alternative representation in writing system by mleccha speakers’.
The meluhhan is shown on the Akkadian cylinder seal carrying an antelope ; this is an artistic style of depicting a phonetic determinant for the word read rebus : meluhha :
mr..eka ‘antelope, goat’ (Te.) Meluhha-speaker, merchant.
He is a copper merchant/smith.
m229 (sealing), m1186a seal
Furnace, ingot
m229 (sealing), m1186a seal
m304A seal – Face shows a tiger’s mane: cu_l.a; rebus: cu_lha furnace (Pkt.)
mleccha-mukha (Skt.) = copper; milakkha (Pali) mu~hu~ = face (S.); rebus: mu_ha ‘smelted ingot’ [mũh opening or hole (in a stove for stoking, in a handmill for filling, in a grainstore for withdrawing)(Bi.)]
S’rivatsa and makara glyph compositions
November 26, 2005
Sarasvati metaphors of wealth
The curves tying up the central fish on s’rivatsa glyph or making up the makara composition are cephalopod spirals to denote that the glyphs are maritime/riverine treaures. See picture of a fossil of cephalopod. (Picture appended).
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/earthsci/imagearchive/fossils.htmPhoto of a nautiloid. http://gpc.edu/~pgore/myphotos/fossils/nautiloid-cut.jpg
The coiled end of the nautiloid is mirrored on a makara glyph composition.
Makara Bharhut, c. 100 BC Indian Museum, Calcutta Something of the origin of the makara, or at least its early composition in India, can be seen here. The water beast, confined beneath a ledge with kneeling rams that represent the realm of land, is pictured here with the snout of a crocodile, the head and forequarters of an elephant, the body of a snake, and the fins and tail of a fish. http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/india/calcutta/cm13.html
The shell component of this motif may be read as: ha_ngi snail (K.); sa~_khi possessing or made of shells (B.); ho~gi pearl oyster shell, shell of any aquatic mollusc (K.); ha_ngi snail (K.)(CDIAL 12380). gongha = snail’s shell (Santali). Cf. conch (English). Cypraea moneta or a cowrie used as a coin. Rebus: kangar ‘portable furnace’ (K.) A possible depiction of a kaula mangra ‘blacksmith’ working with s’ankha ‘shell’ and and indicaton of jhasa ‘fish’; rebus: jasa ‘prosperity, fame’.
Evolution of endless-knot or ‘8’ motif
In an exquisite article on teuthid in Norse mythology, Adam Eli Clem tells us that teuthids (apart from nautiloids) are found in the Bay of Bengal and points to a representation of jormungander on a bronze relief. This is shown as item 6 in the illustration.
This creates a motif ‘8’ (number eight in Indian/Arabic numerals). http://www.tonmo.com/articles/midgard.php
This ‘8’ motif (or entwining on itself) is remarkable by its presents in Sarasvati hieroglyphs, in particular, on copper plates and inscised on metal objects, pointing to a close association of the motif to a smithy. Compilers of epigraphs have referred to this as an endless-knot motif.
This could indeed be a representation of a teuthid.
Endless-knot motif appears on the following objects:
1. Rojdi ax-head or knife of copper;
2. Sumerian cylinder seal (circa 2500 BCE); and
3. Early Dynastic seal from Lagash.
Rojdi. Ax-head or knife of copper, 17.4 cm. long (After Possehl and Raval 1989: 162, fig. 77
Cylinder seal impression. Sumer (ca. 2500 BCE). After Amiet 1980a: pl. 108, no. 1435
Early Dynastic seal. Lagash. After Amiet 1980a: pl. 83, no. 1099m1457Act m1457Bct 2904 Pict-124: Endless knot motif.
m1356 m443At m443Bt
m443Bt mer.ed, me~r.ed iron; enga mer.ed soft iron; sand.i mer.ed hard iron; ispa_t mer.ed steel; dul mer.ed cast iron; i mer.ed rusty iron, also the iron of which weights are cast; bicamer.ed iron extracted from stone ore; balimer.ed iron extracted from sand ore; mer.ed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Mu.lex.) me~e.he~t = iron (Santali)
mer.hao = v.a.m. entwine itself; wind round, wrap round roll up; mar.hna_ cover, encase (H) (Santali.lex.Bodding) [Note: the endless-knot motif may be a rebus representation of this semant. ‘entwine itself’]. med.ha_ = curl, snarl, twist or tangle in cord or thread (M.); meli, melika = a turn, a twist, a loop, entanglement; meliyu, melivad.u, meligonu = to get twisted or entwined (Te.lex.) merhao = twist (Mun.d.ari)
mer.go = with horns twisted back; mer.ha, m., mir.hi f.= twisted, crumpled, as a horn (Santali.lex.)
me~t = the eye
me~t me~t nepel = v. see face to face
Alternatives :
Glyph: d.on.t.ho, dhon.t.ho, dhon.t.o a knot (Santali)
d.hon.d.-phod.o [M. dhon.d.a_, a stone] a stone-cutter, a stone-mason; d.hon:d.-jhod..o [M. dhon.d.a_ a stone + jhod.avum] a stone-cutter; a stone-mason; d.hon.d.o a stone; a blockhead; a stupid person (G.)
keccu the knot which is formed by twisting; to join the end of two threads by twisting them with the fingers (Ka.); kerci a knot (Tu.)(DEDR 1965). kars.ati draws, pulls (RV.)
kacc iron, iron blade (Go.)(DEDR 1096). kars.i furrowing (Skt.); ka_rs.i ploughing (VS.); kars.u_ furrow, trench (S’Br.); ks.i_ plough iron (Pr.); kas.i mattock, hoe (Pas’.); kas.i spade, pickaxe (Shum.); khas.i_ small hoe (Dm.)(CDIAL 2909). kr.s.ika, kus’ika, kus’i, kus’ira a ploughshare (Skt.Ka.)(Ka.lex.) kes.a plough (Pas’.)(CDIAL 3444). kis’ plough (Kho.)(CDIAL 3455). ks.e plough iron (Pr.)(CDIAL 2809). Mattock, hoe: kas.i mattock, hoe (Pas’.); Spade, pickaxe: kas.i spade, pickaxe (Shum.); kars.i furrowing (Skt.); kars.u~ furrow, trench (S’Br.)(CDIAL 2909).
“Figure 6 is a small bronze relief of Jormungander with what appears to be Thor’s hook in it’s mouth; there is a second, fainter groove cutting beneath the hook and running paralell to the jaw, but this could the result of a flawed mold. The large eye has been modeled completely, with pupil and iris, set within a head separated from the body by a series of joints or folds which encircle the cylindrical body. It is, in some respects, the most squid-like of the surveyed images, albeit one exaggerated in the other direction: rather than a grotesquely distorted manus, we see a radically stretched mantle.”
http://www.tonmo.com/articles/midgard.php Squid vs. Thor: Teuthid Imagery in Norse Mythology By Adam Eli Clem, 2003
K.
Makara, Kubera at Angkor Wat
November 26, 2005George Groslier (1887-1945):
George Groslier accumulated the titles and the functions during a very whole carirère dedicated to Kampuchea. It was at the same time protective arts, man of science, écivain, ethnologist and novelist, photographer and draughtsman…
Born, in Kampuchea, February 4, 1887, wire of an administrator of the Non-military national services of Indo-China, it made its studies in France and studied painting at the school of the fine arts of Paris. Disappointed by a second great Price of Rome, it preferred to join its family and discovered Angkor. Returned to France, it multiplied the conferences and the works to make discover the Khmer art. What was worth a mission of the Ministry for the State education and Asiatique company to him in Kampuchea in 1913 and 1914. Mobilized then, it was called in 1917 by the general governor Albert Sarraut, who wished to awake within the Indochinese people the artistic traditions of the past.
He was the creator, the organizer and the first conservative of the Museum Albert Sarraut , in Phnom Penh (today Musée national), model of traditional architecture khmère, inaugurated in 1942. He made the sanctuary of Kampuchean art of it.
Previously it had taken part in the rebirth of the local arts and crafts. The royal Manufacture of the Palate, created in 1907 by king Sisowath to gather goldsmiths with his service, had April 1912, opened a professional section, the school of decorative Arts, including/understanding workshops of drawing, sculpture of wood and ivory, of work of copper, jewellery, goldsmithery, weaving and embroidery. This school vegetated. Into December 1917, George Groslier transformed it into School of Kampuchean Arts, where in two years the last main old men formed a hundred pupils, mixing the tradition and the modern taste. The graduate pupils created a co-operative which sold the production and was quickly famous.
Geoges Groslier, recognized like the renovating one of Kampuchean arts, organized the houses of Kampuchea to the Exposure of decorative arts (1925) and to the colonial Exposure (1931) in Paris. It took part in the establishment of the Schools of art of Bien-hoa and Hanoi like to that the higher School of the Art schools de Hanoi. Lyautey called it even in Morocco. Director of Kampuchean Arts, then general Inspector of Arts in Indo-China, it published many works on archaeology, the art and the esthetics of the Khmer country.
From 1926, it added to its activities a literary work, novels and accounts, of which the goal was to show the reactions of European vis-a-vis in Asia and its mysteries.
Sarasvati metaphors of wealth Part 5.4.3
November 24, 2005Tibet – 16th century (7x6in)tempera on paper depicting a dakini with a makara-elephant trunk head. Used in tantric meditation practice. Item 73 at http://www.argainc.com/Argainc/frame.html
5.5 Cinnabar, sindhur, makaradhvaja
There is a Surya mandiram at S’ri Arasavalli (Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, 7th cent.). “The description of Lord Sun is given in great detail in the Vis’wakarma S’ilpa as follows: According to this his chariot should have one wheel and the Lord should have a lotus in each hand and seven horses should draw the chariot. According to the Bhavishya Purana, on the right side the figure of Agni should be depicted and on the left that of Skanda. The Lord’s chariot is called Makaradhwaja. His two gatekeepers Danda and Pingala have swords in their hands.” http://www.hindubooks.org/temples/andhrapradesh/arasavalli/page2.htm
Ananda Coomaraswamy has a chapter on the Makara in his book, Yaksas (1993 edn.), reviewing metaphors of vehicle of varuna, banner of kamadeva. . He describes it as a great Leviathan (serpent) moving through the waters. Given its representation as Capricorn, it has a reference to the cosmic ocean. Makara, together with gandharva, guard the gate into the sanctum, the elixir of immortality (amr.ta). Found placed together with Capricorn (makara), is Sagittarius (Krsannu) a gandharva archer protect the treasure, north of whom runs the great cleft of the Milky Way. Makara’s kala-mukha is life-devouring. He also notes that makara is vahana of Ganga (p. 143) who is also associated with the Milky Way. Makara becomes the source of lotus vegetation (of life) as it sprouts from its mouth or navel. He notes that the face of makara was not perhaps originally associated with kirtimukha (glory head). The metaphor of makara becomes a prominent feature at Angkor Wat which is samudra manthanam, the creation account. Cf. http://alignment2012.com/coom-yaksa.html In Lingaraj mandiram, Orissa, a warrior is shown, in bas relief, collecting pearls from makara mukha. Deepak Bhattacharya notes that makara may also be connected with trade, Orissa had vibrant maritime activity. (An Ancient Hindu Royal Throne by Deepak Bhattacharya, loc. cit. A K Coomarswami; Yaksas Part II, Smithsonian Inst. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1931, pp 47-56; R C Majumdar; Suvarnadwipa, Vol – I, 1986.
http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/DBhattacharya4.php?p=4
Products of two plants were traded in ancient times. One is boswellia sacra (yielding frankincense) and another was dracaena cinnabari (from which cinnabar was derived).
Dracaena cinnabari is found in Rolpa District of Nepal in the Himalayas, in what are called Skund mountains. Today, many maoist guerrillas operate in this district. http://www.reflexionphotos.com/reportage/nepal/nepal_06.swf
The fine clay that is to be found on the spot, for ever moist, where the heavenly Ganga falls down (upon the earth ) (on a space) thirty yojanas around, is called because of its fineness, `butter-clay.’ Samaneras who had overcome the asavas, brought the clay hither from that place. The king commanded that the clay be spread over the layer of stones and that bricks then be laid over the clay, over these a rough cement and over this cinnabar, and over this a network of iron, and over this sweet-scented marumba that was brought by the samaneras from the Himalaya. http://www.vipassana.com/resources/mahavamsa/mhv29.php Chapter 29, The Beginning of the Great Thupa, The Mahavamsa.
Dracaena cinnabari is an endemic species of Soqotra Island. It is one of the six species belonging to the Dragon’s blood trees group, classified as follows: Monocotyledones, Liliales, Dracaenaceae. It is registered in the IUCN Red List of the Threatened Plants 2000 with the following abbreviation: EN B1 + 2c.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_(plant)
http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/newsletter/news36/nl36_oip7.html
Dracaena cinnabari – The famous Dragon’s Blood Tree, whose resin was once a key export of the island (used in the manufacture of enamels, varnishes, tinctures, toothpastes, plaster and for dyeing horn to make it look like tortoiseshell), is on the island used mainly medicinally and as a dye or paint. The resin for export is made by boiling chunks of bark and underbark in a little water and then crushing them to a paste which is spread out on a flat rock surface to cool and dry. Before quite cold it is moulded by hand into shapes suitable for packing and onward sale. The resin most appreciated on the island, however, is that which exudes naturally from the tree itself when it comes into flower. It can only be collected by climbing into the tree and picking off the droplets where they have oozed from the base of the flowering shoots. This product is used to treat stomach problems, especially in women (for post-partum pains or for a retained placenta), as well as a variety of other complaints. The clay pottery of the island is often decorated with a vivid red paint made by warming the resin over the fire until it liquifies, and applying the paint with a bit of rag or a stick. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/soqotra/plantsPeople/page07.html
Leut. J.R. Wellstead (1835) made a survey of Soqotra for the Indian Government in 1834. He called this plant Pterocarpus draco. The finest examples of this are found on the higher slopes of the limestone mountains, particularly in the centre and east of the island.
There are four islands in the archipelago: Abd al Kuri, Samhah, Darsa and Soqotra. Soqotra is the largest island with a land area of approximately 3,500km². The other islands are a great deal smaller covering less than 400km².
http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/soqotra/geography/page02.html
Soqotra or Soqotra archipelago are islands, north-east of Somalia, 250 kilometres off the Horn of Africa. Cinnabar, the crimson red resin from the tree’s leaves and bark, was highly prized in the ancient world. It was used as a pigment in paint, for treating dysentery and burns, fastening loose teeth, enhancing the colour of precious stones and staining glass, marble and the wood for Italian violins. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/soqotra/misty/page03.html
The term ‘Dragons Blood’ refers to reddish resinous products (usually encountered as granules, powder, lumps (“cakes”), or sticks (“reed”) used in folk medicine as an astringent and for wound healing etc., and in other applications for colouring varnishes, staining marble, for jewelry and enameling work, and for photo-engraving. …Steam distilling of the resin from the tree can be carried out to produce an essential oil, and this has been sold into the aromatherapy & incense trade. http://www.cropwatch.org/dragonsblood.htm
Perhaps the most striking plant on Soqotra is the Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari), distinguished by its mushroomshaped silhouette. Dragon’s Blood forest is a common sight above 500 m on Soqotra and in global terms represents a unique vegetation type. The tree’s nearest relative, in the Canary Islands (D. draco), is now almost wiped out in the wild. Pollen records indicate that 20 million years ago the trees stretched from the Canaries to southern Russia.
Dragon’s blood, a crimson resin obtained from the bark and highly prized since ancient times, Was used as a pigment in paint, for treating dysentery and burns, fastening loose teeth, enhancing the colour of precious stones, and staining glass, marble and the wood of Italian violins. Although no longer of commercial value, dragon’s blood is still an important resource for the Soqotrans. They use it to cure stomach problems, dye wool, freshen breath, decorate pottery and houses, even as lipstick.
http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/soqotra/spectacular/page02.html Soqotra pages of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Dragon’s blood, or cinnabar, is the resin from Dracaena cinnabari, a tree that grows on Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean around 300 km south of the coast of Yemen. Socotra was also a source of spices in antiquity–aloes, frankincense and myrrh grow in abundance on this island–but the most bizarre of Socotra‘s natural resources by far is the Dragon’s blood tree. The tree is a member of the lily family. Its thick branches fan out from the trunk, each with a tuft of spiky leaves at the end, to form a cone-shaped canopy. Strangely enough, this tree is a member of the lily family. Its berries are cherry-sized and pointed and when ripe they are covered with a red resin, the Dragon’s blood, which is removed by steaming or shaking the berries or extracted by boiling the fruits. The resin is very brittle and is often sold in beads or tears, in sticks, irregular lumps, or in a reddish powder form.
Dragon’s blood was considered a very powerful medicine because it was thought to be a mixture of dragon and elephant blood. According to Pliny, the tree sprang up after a fight between an elephant and a dragon. Richard Eden, a sixteenth-century navigator, outlined the myth of how it was created:
[Elephants] have continual warre against Dragons, which desire their blood, because it is very cold: and therfore the Dragon lying awaite as the Elephant passeth by, windeth his taile, being of exceeding length, about the hinder legs of the Elephant … and when the Elephant waxeth faint, he falleth down on the serpent, being now full of blood, and with the poise of his body breaketh him: so that his owne blood with the blood of the Elephant runneth out of him mingled together, which being colde, is congealed into that substance which the Apothecaries call Sanguis Draconis, that is Dragons blood, otherwise called Cinnabaris.
Dragon’s blood is a very good dye; it was used as a colouring for varnishes and for dyeing horn to imitate tortoiseshell. In Soqotra it is used as a pigment for decorating pottery and as a remedy for eye and skin diseases and for stomach and headaches.
http://www.fathom.com/course/21701787/session4.html Spices, Gold and Precious Stones: The South Arabian Spice Trade by Alexandra Porter
Mercury is a metal that has been of great alchemical importance in ancient times. In ancient China there is evidence that mercury was used by the latter half of the first millennium BC mercury while mercury metal is reported from Hellenistic Greece. Mercury is a volatile metal which is easily produced by heating cinnabar followed by downward distillation of the mercury vapour. Some of the earliest literary references to the use of mercury distillation comes from Indian treatises such as the Arthashastra of Kautilya dating from the late first millennium BC onwards. Some evidence for mercury distillation is reported from the ancient Roman world.
In India, vermilion or cinnabar i.e. mercuric sulphide has had great ritual significance, typically having been used to make the red bindi or dot on the forehead usually associated with Hinduism. Ingeniously in ancient Chinese tombs cinnabar was used successfully as a preservative to keep fine silks intact. Mercury was also at the heart many alchemical transmutation experiments in the Middle Ages in Europe as well as in Indian alchemical texts which were precursors to the development of chemistry.
http://www.metalrg.iisc.ernet.in/heritage.html Metallurgical heritage of India, S. Srinivasan and S. Ranganathan, Department of Metallurgy, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore sharada@metalrg.iisc.ernet.in
cf. Mahdihassan, S: Cinnabar–Gold as the best Alchemical Drug of Longevity, called
Makaradhwaja in India, Am. J. Chinese Med., 13:93-108, 1985.
Makara’s association with the hindu alchemical tradition points emphatically to the glyptic representation of antimony which could be alloyed with other metals (and hence, the ligaturing elements of the makara glyphs which include the fish, alligator’s snout, elephant trunk, and elephant legs).
5.6 Kubera’s navanidhi
The orthographic and s’ilpa traditions which embody the mleccha language of the times, enable an interpretation of Kubera’s navanidhi:
padma (lake in Himalaya with minerals and jewels)
mahapadma (lake double the size of padma in Himalaya with minerals and jewels)
makara (Synonym of Padmini, black antimony)
nila (Antimony)
mukunda (quicksilver)
kunda (arsenic)
kharva (cups or vessels baked in fire or iron)
kachchhapa (tortoise or turtle shell)
sankha (conch shell)
Note: Code of Sarasvati hieroglyphs are explained elsewhere in detail. Kalyanaraman, S., 2004, Sarasvati (7 volume encyclopaedic work), Bangalore, Babasaheb Apte Smarak Samiti.
S. Kalyanaraman
24 November 2005
Sarasvati metaphors of wealth Part 5.4.2
November 24, 2005Makara on a key, an insignia of guarding. Makara has the trunk of an elephant, the body of a fish, the feet of a lion, the ears of a hog, the teeth of a monkey and the tail of a swan. This enormous key is for the entrance to the Gadaladeniya Temple near Kandy, Srilanka and is looked after by the monks from a nearby monastery. http://www.palaceimages.co.uk/Sri%20Lanka/srilanka_5_frameset.htm
Jambhala, Kubera,Bihar, 9th cent. Basalt stone. 40 cm. http://www.rmv.nl/emuseum/ screen/P4000/4687-3.JPG
Karnataka Yaksha couple 9th-10th century. Schist; H69.9 cm Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Maharashtra, Ajanta Cave 2 Jambhala or Kubera with his consort late 5th century
Pawon mandiram, 2 km. east of Borobodur, Central Java,Indonesia. Mandiram for Kuvera. Many dwarves are depicted pouring riches over the entrance. http://www.hoteltravel.com/indonesia/yogyakarta/guides/sightseeing/pawon_temple.jpg
Kuber in shantinath mandiram,10th cent. Kambadahalli, Mandya, Karnataka
Kuvera yaksha. Barhut.
Murti of Kuvera, Cave 33, Ellora, 9th cent.
Kuvera and Hariti; from Sahri-Bahlol http://ignca.nic.in/asp/showbig.asp?projid=rar28
Makara as the vaahana of dikpa_la, Kubera, Prasat Phanom Rung, Khmer. A clear ligature creating a fabulous animal with the body and feet of elephant, trunk of elephant to the snout of an alligator.
At Prasat Phanom Rung, Khmer, Kuvera as guardian of the north, is shown seated on a makara. http://www.sundial.thai-isan-lao.com/tpr-astro.html
Kuvera/Jhambala 9th cent. Bronze, Java. Eight pots connote eight nidhi on the pedestal. Kuvera is seated on the ninth nidhi, padmini or Makara nidhi. “A small bronze figure from Central Java of the god of wealth. He is shown as a plump child with a fat belly: a symbol of prosperity. The god is wearing a lot of jewellery: bracelets and anklets, a broad necklace, a diadem and a cord around his neck. Adorning the plinth are eight money pots. Although the pots are sealed with cloth tied with cords, we can see jewels bulging through. The god’s lotus throneLotusThe lotus symbolises many things in the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Because the flower appears to emerge from its own root it symbolises divine birth and purity. The lotus is the attribute of Bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara). The Hindu god Vishnu is also shown with a lotus flower. Goddesses depicted as the acquiescent partner of a god are often shown holding a lotus. Deities, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas generally stand or sit on a lotus throne: a pedestal in the form of a lotus flower. rests on a stalk sprouting from a large money pot. Chains of jewels are pouring from this pot and two others under his feet which have been knocked over. This god features in two religions: in Hinduism his name is Kuvera and in Buddhism he is known as Jambhala. Which of the two is depicted here is unclear.” http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/AK-MAK-311?lang=en
Bombay museum. Provenance unknown. A yaksha and a yakshini offering prayers to a seated anthropomorph Nandi with a pot-belly. Nandi is a member of S’iva’s gan.a (army) in bharatiya tradition just as Gan.apati (with the head of an elephant) is also part of the gan.a. Sadashiv Gorashkar who delivered the Platinum Jubilee lecture (1996) on Yaksha who cites this image, seems to interpret the murti as a representation of Kubera yaksha. The face of a bull is ligatured to a seated person with a ponch belly carrying a club on one hand and possibly plumbs on the other hand. This could be a representation of Kubera as a veda purusha. S’iksha is the nose of the vedapurusa, Vyakarana his mouth, Kalpa his hand, Nirukta his ear, Chandas his foot and Jyotisa his eye. Veda purusha is shadangapurusha, with six limbs
Plumbs found in the eastern corridor of Prasat Phanom Rung, Khmer.
Plumbs are mostly regarded as construction tools… http://www.sundial.thai-isan-lao.com/tpr-astro.html
. http://www.bombaymuseum.org/powm/jubilee/30_2.jpg
Yaksha is a pan-bharatiya metaphor.
Pot-bellied dwarfs (gan.a) are shown carrying the architrave of western gate of Sanchi stupa.
An anthropomorphic murti of Nandi together with Ganes’a appears in Nanjangud mandiram, a representation of the marriage of S’iva and Parvati. Representation of Ganes’a and Nandi in comparable s’ilpa is indicative of both Ganes’a and Nandi being part of S’iva gan.a and hence, nandis’vara may be taken as a representation of Kubera, a yaksha.
A bauddha text refers to Vishnu as a yaksha (loc. cit. in the lecture by Sadashiv Gorashkar).
In the Durga mandiram at Aihole, there is a murthi of S’iva shown with a Nandi and also a dwarf representing gan.a, on the side, relating the vaahana to Kubera as the dwarf. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alainjoly1/images1.htm
A comparable sculpture is at Pattadakkal showing in Vrupaksha mandiram, Harihara, carrying a s’ankha on his left hand, with a gan.a carrying a tris’ula on the right.
Egypt Bes. depicted as a deformed dwarf. 3rd century BC.
(source: India and Egypt – edited by Saryu Doshi p. 70 – 71).
According to S’ivapurana, Nandi, Kalabhairava (Mahakala) are part of S’iva gan.a; Nandikeshwara may be an evocation of two dva_rapa_la yaksha called Nandishvara and Mahakala. “These two temple guards, Nandishvara and Mahakala, belong together. They once kept watch over a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva. Nandishvara stood guard on the left of the entrance, and Mahakala on the right…Nandishvara means: lord of Nandi. Nandi, a bull, is the animal on which the god Shiva rides… These reliefs of volcanic stone were made on the Indonesian island of Java in the ninth century. ” Riks Museum, 9th cent. Volcanic Stone. 77 cm. http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/images/aria/ak/z/ak-mak-232a.z?leftcoulisse
A yaksha (Kubera) depicted with a naravaahana shown with a deva and holding a pagoda, representing him as the builder, vis’vakarma. Gandharan sculptural tradition. http://www.marymount.k12.ny.us/marynet/TeacherResources/SILK%20ROAD/images/longmen/longdetail9.jpg
She is called yakshini chulakoka. That she is shown riding an elephant and embracing a tree trunk are significant hieroglyphs. Kut.i ‘tree’; rebus: kut.hi ‘furnace, smelter’; ibha ‘elephant’; rebus: ib ‘iron’. Chulakoka is a metaphor for an iron smelter, furnace. The two circles highlighting the nave are: eraka ‘nave’; rebus: eraka ‘copper’; san:gad.a ‘pair’; rebus; san:gad.a ‘furnace’. Cu_l.ha means a hearth, a fireplace of smiths. Yaksha, yakshini were smiths, artisans, vis’wakarma who could sculpt, work with metals and produce the monuments of Sanchi, Barhut, and rock-cuts of Ajanta, Ellora. They are the creators of a revolution in civilization with the invention of metal alloys.
Here is a yaksha and yakshini shown at Tiyambakes’war, Nasik, standing atop lotuses, metaphors of wealth. (Padmini = lotus = makara = black antimony which could have yielded kr.s.n.a_yasa mentioned in Atharvaveda).
Kubera, a yaksha and yakshini (apsara) shown on a relief at Borobodur temple, Indonesia.
The metaphor of wealth depicted by the artisans, the vis’vakarma, is the ligatured metaphor called, ‘makara’ as shown on another sculpture at Borobudur.
See gilt bronze Makara finial from Tibet (13th-14th cent.) sold at Christie auctions. http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/stern/stern4-16-5.asp
For example, at Candi Plaosan Lor of Mahayana bauddham, kala-makara is shown with a pair of kinnara atop on either side of the entrance. Candi Plaosan is a mandiram complex, a kilometer Northeast of Prambanan village on the outskirts of modern Yogyakarta
Makara at entrance of Kalasan Chandi in Prambanan. Indonesia. 9th C. http://www.moleiro.com/miniatura.v.php?codigo=330&idioma=en
Sarasvati metaphors of wealth Part 5.4.1
November 24, 20055.4 Makara means ‘alligator shaped’
Maka means ‘alligator shaped’ in Bhagavatam 3.15.41, 3.28.29.
man:gar. an alligator; man:gar. gur.ie calaoena he has gone to shepherd the alligators, i.e. he is dead and his ashes are thrown to alligators into a tank (Santali.lex.) muduga alligator, crocodile; = gra_havis’esa (Pkt.). man:guro a kind of sea-fish (S.); man:gar-macho whale (S.)> ma_ngar crocodile (Balu_ci_.Iranian); makara sea-monster (Pali); magara, mayara shark (Pkt.); makara crocodile (VS.); miyaru shark (Md.); magar crocodile (H.G.). [The NIA forms with -g- or -ng- are considered loans from Pkt. or Skt. or directly from non-Aryan sources from which these came.](CDIAL 9692). cf. maccha fish (Pkt.Pali)(CDIAL 9758). Alligator: makaram crocodile; shark (Ci_vaka. 170); one of the nine treasures of Kube_ra; a great number (Na_mati_pa. 801); a royal insignia; decorative designs about the dais built for seating the bride and bridegroom at the time of marriage; love; makarikai the figure of shark, as in ornaments (Kampara_. Nintan-ai. 1); makara-k-kot.iyo_n- Ka_ma, as having the emblem of fish on his banner; makara-san:kira_nti, makarasan:kiraman.am entrance of the sun into capricorn (I.M.P.Sm. 13; I.M.P.Cg. 1193); makara_yan-am winter soltice (Ta.lex.) makara-mi_n shark; makara-mukam a gesture with one hand in which the thumb and the forefinger are held upright while the other fingers are held together and apart from them; makara_layam sea, as the abode of fish; makari sea; makarai a sea-fish (Ta.lex.) Image: alligator; vehicle of varun.a: na_kra a kind of aquatic animal (VS.) negar.., negar..e, negar..u, nakra alligator; negar..de_ra Varun.a (Ka.lex.); negal.u id.; negaru a sea-animal, the vehicle of Varun.a (Tu.); negad.u a polypus or marine animal supposed to entangle swimmers (Te.); nakra crocodile, alligator (Mn.)(DEDR 3732). na_ga a shark (Ka.)(Ka.lex.) cf. nakula a mungoose (Vedic.Pali.lex.) cf. makara crocodile (VS.); man:gar id. (Sant.)(CDIAL 9692). naka big-nosed (K.)(CDIAL 7037). na_kk(h)u_ long-nosed (Ku.); n.akka nose (Pkt.); nakh id. (Gy.); nok (D..); naka big-nosed (K.); nakk nose (L.P.WPah.); na_ id. (N.A.); id. (B.Mth.); (Bhoj.H.G.M.); na_ka (Or.); na_kh (Ku.); nakut.u (Si.); nakra nose (Skt.)(CDIAL 6909). nakaru_t.am, nakut.am nose (Can..Aka.; Ya_r…Aka.)(Ta.lex.) nakel wooden or iron pin fixed in a camel’s nose (P.H.); bullock’s nose-rope (N.)(CDIAL 6910). { cf. vehr.a_ octopus said to be found in the Indus (Jat.ki_ lex.)} < Drav. and poss. connected with makara-).[Perhaps, the morphme: magar- clashes with naya a bait for alligators (Ma.Tu.)(DEDR 3603) yielding: nakra.] cf. na_, na_kku, na_vu tongue (Ta.Ma.); na_lika id. (Kond.a.Te.)(DEDR 3633). naka big-nosed (K.)(CDIAL 7037). nakkaram < nakra crocodile (nakkara-k-kat.ar-pur-attu : Kampara_. Nat.pu-k-ko_t.. 68)(Ta.lex.) nakkiram alligator (Civataru. Cuvarkkanaraka. 117); nakkira-p-palakai a plank supported by the image of a crocodile (nakkira-p-palakaiyu nar-uca_n tammiyum : Perum.. Ucaik. 38,171)(Ta.lex.)
‘kar fish’ of Ahuramazda swims in Vourukasha, guarding the haoma tree of life. (loc.cit. Bundahis, XVIII; Yasna, XLII. 4, in: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, 1989, “What is Civilisation” and Other Essays, Cambridge: Golgosova Press, pp. 157-167.)
The sea-dragon of Marduk, Mesopotamia. This is different from a makara since it shows the body, legs and tail of a lion while the face which resembles a goat or antelope together with the snout of an alligator, is comparable to that of a makara. “That composite animal-form of the rain-god of the Euphrates people, the horned sea-goat of Marduk (immortalized as the Capricornus of our Zodiac), was also the vehicle of Varuna in India, whose relationship to Indra was in some respects analogous to that of Ea to Marduk in Babylonia. In his account of Sanchi and its ruins General Maisey, as quoted by Smith, states that: "As to the fish-incarnation of Vishnu and Sakya Buddha, and as to the makara, dragon or fish-lion, another form of which was the naga of the waters, the use of the symbol by both Brahmans and Buddhists, and their common use of the sacred barge, are proofs of the connection between both forms of religion and the far older myths of Egypt and Assyria." Havell is of the opinion that the crocodile-dragon which appears in the figure of Siva dancing in the great temple of Tanjore, may have been older than the eleventh century when the temple was built.” (Ernet Ingersoll, 1928, Dragons and dragon lore, New York, Payson and Clarke Ltd.) http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/ddl/ddl05.htm
Makara from Amaravati and makara from Chichen Itza (Heine-Geldern and G.F. Ekholm) Source: India and World Civilization – By D. P. Singhal. pp 58-59).
Makara has the properties of the crocodile, the elephant, the antelope and the dolphin. Its representation may be of combination of some, or all of these animals, therefore it may have a trunk, antelope horns or various other aspects. The association of makara with weapons is seen in the representations on hilts of ancient Malay weapons called kris in regions such as Sulawesi, Sumbava, Java, Sumatra.
Java Pedang hilt
Sumatra Pedang hilt
Sumbawa Parang hilt
Detail of Vajradhatumandala Gate with Makara. Mural of the temples of gLo sMon thang. The ancient kingdom of gLo, is also known by its Nepali name – Mustang. Vajradhatumandala (rDO rje dbyings kyi dkyil ‘khor) is the Mandala of the Thousand Buddhas.
http://www.keithdowman.net/art/lojampa/lo4.htm
Chiang Mai was the capital of the kingdom of Lanna (the kingdom of a million fields), in Thailand. Chiang Mai owes her existence to the Ping River which facilitated trade with China. “The Naga is seen pouring out of the mouth of a Makara, a creature that combines the crocodile, the elephant and the serpent. They are aquatic servants of Varuna, a powerful Vedic god. In Vedic mythology Varuna controlled not only the waters, but also controlled the means that produced the cosmos.” http://www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/naga_and_makara.shtml
Makara, 15th cent., Auckland museum
Australian aborigines consider makara to be the seven sisters who eventually became the Pleiades. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_mythology
A representation of makara (fish + elephant head) on a painting. Provenance unknown.
http://www.nichiren-etudes.net/dico/dicoimages/makara.htm
Makara Fish Earthenware Only 23 of these glazed earthenware tiles are known in the world, and the ROM now has 15 of them. In addition to a Makara-fish, these tiles show a bird with two human heads, a boar with antlers, a flying horse with four eyes, and other creatures. Northern Qi Dynasty, 2nd half of 6th century AD, Royal Ontario Museum. Tannenbaum gift. http://www.rom.on.ca/uncrated/gallery3.html
Makara giving life to an Asura, sandstone, 10th-11th century, Tra Kieu, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, Vietnam. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/vietnam/hanoi/historymuseumworks/145.jpg
MAKARA (myth.), a god ruling the tides—(loc. cit. J. White, Ancient History of the Maori, iii. 49; Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary). Makara is the name given to the wives of the stars in the Orion constellation. (Australian aboriginal: Adnyamathanha tribe).
The identity of indo-iranian speakers remains an elusive problem; C.C. Lambert-Karlovsky et al. note, after reviewing the cumulative results of archaeological investigations in Central Asia and Eurasia: “This review of recent archaeological work in Central Asia and Eurasia attempts to trace and date the movements of the Indo-Iranians speakers of languages of the eastern branch of Proto-Indo-European that later split into the Iranian and Vedic families. Russian and Central Asian scholars working on the contemporary but very different Andronovo and Bactrian Margiana archaeological complexes of the 2d millennium b.c. have identified both as Indo-Iranian, and particular sites so identified are being used for nationalist purposes. There is, however, no compelling archaeological evidence that they had a common ancestor or that either is Indo-Iranian. Ethnicity and language are not easily linked with an archaeological signature, and the identity of the Indo-Iranians remains elusive.” [C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, David Anthony, Yannis Hamilakis, Johann Knobloch, Philip L. Kohl, János Makkay, J. P. Mallory, Sandra L. Olsen, Colin Renfrew, András Róna-Tas, and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, 2002, Archaeology and Language, Current Anthropology, volume 43 (2002), pages 63–88.] http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/324130
The problem remains elusive because the IEL assumptions are wrong and methods shaky. The assumption that PIE split into Indo-Iranian and Vedic is not proven. Proto-Vedic Continuity Theory provides a a framework to isolate language interactions during neolithic (farming), chalcolithic (copper and stone) and metals-age exchanges between a dominant Sarasvati civilization area and nearby cultures. (Notes at http://spaces.msn.com/members/sarasvati97 )
That is, the bronze > iron sequence may have to be discarded given the 2nd millennium finds of iron smelters in Ganga basin (Malhar, Lohardiwa and Raja-nal-ki-tila cf. Rakesh Tewari http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/tewari/tewari.pdf ).
men~ca = fish roe (Or.) matsya fish (RV); maccha, macchi_ fish (Pali); me_c (Nin:g); mechli_ (Pah.); ma_chali_ (Omarw.); maci (Kt.)(CDIAL 9758). man~chari_ fisherman (L.)(CDIAL 9762).
maccu, maca-ppon-, maccam = piece of gold kept as a sample (Ta.); macca, maccu = little piece of gold or silver taken by the goldsmith from what was given to him and returned to the owner to be kept as a sample or test (Ka.); macca id. (Tu.); maccu = the touch of precious metals, specimen, standard, quality (Te.)(DEDR 4629). men~ca_ = lump (Or.) men.d.a_ = lump, clot (Or.) mede = a crude mass (Ka.) meduka = greasiness or dirt in the hair, clottedness (Te.) [Rebus: me_n.d.ha = ram (Skt.)(CDIAL 10310). Note the glyph of ‘fish’ ligatured on a copper anthropomorph which is orthographically a depiction of the curved horns of a ram.]
matsya = a mole on the body (M.); masa_ wart, mole (H.); maja, maje a natural speck, spot, mole (Tu.)(DEDR 4632)
Vyaala-yaksha depicted frontally grasping the tails of two makaras. The makaras are depicted in profile swallowing the vyåla-yak?a’s legs. Fish tails protrude from each side of the vyaala-yaksha’s head.Reference: Hackin 1939, p.63, fig.73, 74. Plate no. 285, 286, Begram Ivories Catalogue Number: 30.I.002 Technique: Flat Relief/Openwork Material: Bone? Size: 11.9 x 0.9 cm
http://ecai.org/begramweb/BegramASP/PlateDisplay.asp?plate=Pl.286
A vyaala-yaksha is depicted holding the tails of two makaras, different in style from the other vyaala-yakshas plaques. The tails of the makaras do not resemble fishtails but are of a leaf-like design. The figure does not appear to be wearing fishtails at the side of its head and its dhoti is made up of petal-shaped pieces.Technique: Openwork Material: Bone Size: 8.1 x 10.5 cm Motif: Yaksas Reference: Hackin 1939, p.102
http://ecai.org/begramweb/BegramASP/PlateDisplay.asp?plate=Pl.287
Makara is ligatured as an aquatic elephant. In Norse lands, a horse-headed sea-water animal or water-serpent is called Nykkur (also, Nennir); also called kelpie comparable to a naga. In old Greek, Makara means "blessed." Since many East European people accepted Christianity from the Greeks, many of these peoples have Makara in the root of their last names: Makarios (Greeks), the given name Makar gave rise to a number of last names Makarov (Russians), Makarenko (Ukrainians). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makara
The eagle motif alternates with the depiction of the vyala-yaksi. Plate 293 Begram ivories.
Animals and Makara; what is shown in the middle flanked by two lions could be s’rivatsa
Lions, elephants and other powerful or wild beasts were often shown in stupa reliefs protecting the stupa from evil spirits.
This scene shows lions and a makara. Makaras were alligator-like creature with a fish’s tail. Sometimes Makaras also had an elephant’s trunk.
Makaras were mythological crocodile-like creatures. They are sometimes represented with the head of an elephant and the tail of a fish. Makaras appear frequently in the reliefs from Amaravati to protect the Stupa from evil spirits.
http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/buddha/explore/pilo2_b5b.html
http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/buddha/explore/pili2_b6.html
Makara gargoyle, Bhaktapur, Nepal
http://www.palaceimages.co.uk/Nepal/nepal_1_frameset.htm
Architectural Piece with Makara, c.1100. Vietnam: ancient Champa kingdom Sandstone
35-1/2 x 41-3/8 in. (90.2 x 105.1 cm) Norton Simon Art Foundation M.1977.20.1.S
[lower left] Shown in profile, a mythical aquatic creature (makara) is about to swallow a male figure who holds a sword. Extracting pearls from the makara’s mouth?
[upper right] This "Celestial Female" may represent the river goddess Ganga.
http://ecai.org/begramweb/BegramASP/PlateDisplay.asp?plate=Pl.293
“The jaws of this mythical aquatic animal are wide open. It has an elephant’s trunk, ram’s horns, snake’s teeth and slit eyes. Between the impressive jaws sits a small lion. Strings of pearls pour from the lotus. The lotus symbolises many things in the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Because the flower appears to emerge from its own root it symbolises divine birth and purity. The lotus is the attribute of Bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara). The Hindu god Vishnu is also shown with a lotus flower. Goddesses depicted as the acquiescent partner of a god are often shown holding a lotus. Deities, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas generally stand or sit on a lotus throne: a pedestal in the form of a lotus flower. above the trunk. The being is a makara, a mythical animal, which features in both hindu and buddha traditions, originated in Northern India and spread to the South and later to the mainland of South-East Asia and Indonesia. The religion has no founder but developed over a period of centuries out of India‘s various pantheistic cults. Nor is it based on a single text. There are countless writings, tales, myths and legends. One key feature of Hinduism is the notion that all living beings form part of an eternal cycle of reincarnations from which humanity can only break free with immense effort. The existence of the world is also seen as part of this cycle. Creation came about, it exists and it will once more be destroyed. In the course of time a new world era will dawn again. This process continues throughout eternity. Three gods are central in Hinduism: Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. They form a divine trinity. Of these, it is Vishnu who preserves creation and Shiva who is the destroyer. The Hindu divinities are worshipped both in temples and in the home. and BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is the religion of the followers of Buddha, who lived in the plains of Northern India, around the river Ganges in the 6th century BC. The essence of Buddhism is to achieve Enlightenment. This is the state of release from the suffering of existence, of escape from the spiral of reincarnation. A Buddhist can achieve this by fulfilling life’s various functions correctly, for example by making the right decisions and by meditating in the proper manner. Buddhism spread from Northern India across large parts of Asia, to Southern India, Southeast Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, China, Korea and Japan. In the course of time numerous cults and movements emerged within Buddhism that often differed considerably. In Northern India Buddhism was replaced in the 12th century by Islam, while in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia it continued to prosper. Islam also replaced Buddhism on the Indonesian islands, but in China, Korea and Japan the latter still remains the dominant religion. art. Makaras usually flanked the entrance to a temple or adorned an alcove or either end of a flight of stairs. The decoration of a temple entrance would consist of two makaras and a kala head, a monster’s head which served to deter people with bad intentions. This makara once adorned the entrance to a ninth century temple on central Java.” Volcanic stone, 97 x 91 x 45 cm, AK-MAK-247 Rijksmuseum
Sarasvati hieroglyphs 
