Rongorongo 'tin'; taberna montana, tagaraka on Indus Script

[Guest guest]

There has been a reference to rongorongo script in comparison to Indus

script. What does rongorongo mean? It means 'tin' in Santali -- an ore

which was much sought-after during the metals age circa 5000 years

Before Present.

 

The cylinder seal which shows the brahmani bull, thorny shrub and

taberna montana, is at:

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/munda/mundan5.jpg

 

Ur cylinder seal impression (cut down into Ur III mausolea from Larsa

level; U. 16220), Iraq. BM 122947; enstatite; Legrain, 1951, No. 632;

Collon, 1987, Fig. 611. Source: Editors of Time-Life Books, 1994,

Ancient India: Land of Mystery, p. 12. The legend reads: "The seal was

discovered in a pre-2000 BCE tomb in Ur, but the bull image is

stylistically like those found in the Indus Valley. The seal and

similar ones unearthed elsewhere in Mesopotamia offer compelling

evidence of trade contacts between Harappans and Mesopotamians."

Trader who? Trading, what?

 

tagara, tabernaemontana coronaria (Skt.); tagaraka id. (VarBr.S.);

tagara (Pali); takara (Dhp.); tagara, t.ayara a kind of scented wood

(Pkt.); tuvara, to_ra a species of cassia plant (Si.)(CDIAL 5022).

Tagar = a flowering shrub; a plant in bloom (G.lex.) tagara = the

shrub tabernaemontana coronaria, and a fragrant powder or perfume

obtained from it, incense (Vin 1.203); tagara-mallika_ two kinds of

gandha_ (P.lex.) t.agara (tagara) a spec. plant; fragrant wood

(Pkt.lex.) tagara = a kind of flowering tree (Te.lex.)

 

takaram = tin (Ta.Te.lex.) t.agara. t.an:ka, t.an:kan.a, t.an:gan.a =

borax (Skt.) tagad.u = a plate sheet leaf or foil; of metal (Te.lex.)

tagara, tavara [Tbh. of tamara or trapu] tin (Ka.Te.Ta.M.)(Ka.lex.)

 

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]

 

ran:ga, ran: pewter is an alloy of tin lead and antimony (an~jana) (Santali).

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/munda/mundanine.htm

 

adar, adar d.an:gra a brahmini bull, a bull kept for breeding purposes

and not put to work; adar. odor., adar udur fat and naked, over-grown,

unwieldy; adar. odor.e calaoena he waddled away (Santali.lex.) aedhon

not fully grown as bullock, cow etc., promising profit, increasing in

value; nur do aedhon mal kanae this is property that will increase in

value; ard.u of enormous size, applied only to tigers (Santali.lex.)

a_d.ruk the hollow, bellowing noise of a bull or of an ox

(Ka.M.)(Ka.lex.)

 

d.han:gar means 'blacksmith' (WPah.) with many cognates in many

bharatiya languages; hence adar dangra, 'brahmani bull' sounds similar

to aduru + d.han:gar = native metal blacksmith. QED rebus hieroglyph.

 

aduru native metal (unsmelted) (Ka.); adaru a sparkle; dear, costly

(Te.); ayil iron; beauty; avir splendour (Ta.); ayir iron dust, any

ore (Ma.)(Ka.lex.) atar fine sand (Ta.); aduru id. (Ka.)(Ta.lex.)ayil

surgical knife, lancet (Ja_n-a_. 30); javelin, lance, ve_l (Ja_n-a_.

33); sharpness (Na_lat.i. 386); iron (Par..amo. 8)(Ta.lex.) ayil

javelin, lance (Ma.); ayiri surgical knife, lancet (Ma.)(DEDR 193).

Any ore, native metal; lancet, surgical knife: ayil iron (Ta.); ayir,

ayiram any ore (Ma.); aduru native metal (Ka.); ajirda karba very hard

iron (Tu.)(DEDR 192). ayas metal, iron (RV.); ayo_ (Pali); aya iron

(Pali.Pkt.); ya id. (Si.)(CDIAL 590). yahun.u iron filings (Si.)(CDIAL

589). yakad.a iron (Si.); ayaska_n.d.a a quantity of iron, excellent

iron (Pa_n..gan..); ayo_ku_t.a, ayaku_t.a iron hammer (Pali); yakul.a

sledge-hammer (Si.); yavul.a (< ayo_ku_t.a) (Si.)(CDIAL 592).

 

The tagaraka motif appears on a Tell Abraq comb (TA 1649; 11x8.2x0.4

cm); decorated bone comb in a context datable to ca. 2100-2000 BCE at

Tell Abraq, emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, United Arab Emirates, on the

southern coast of the Arabian Gulf (Fig. 2 a and b in: D.T. Potts,

1993, A new Bactrian find from southeastern Arabia, Antiquity 67

(1993): 591-6) Two logographs used are: dotted circles (3) and two

flowers, long-stemmed, with lanceolate-linear leaves with undulate

margins (like Tulipa montana, Lindl. or mountain tulip). The flower

motif occurs on a Bactrian flask. [see also: D.T. Potts, South and

Central Asian elements at Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain,

United Arab Emirates), c. 2200 BC—AD 400, in Asko Parpola and Petteri

Koskikallio, South Asian Archaeology 1993: , pp. 615-666]

 

How is tagaraka linked to comb? Tagaraka is a hair fragrance, that is

why. [The homonym, takarai, or tagaraka is a five-petalled

tabernaemontana flower used as a hair-fragrance]. tagar = a flowering

shrub; a plant in bloom (G.lex.) tagara = the shrub tabernaemontana

coronaria, and a fragrant powder or perfume obtained from it, incense

(Vin 1.203); tagara-mallika_ two kinds of gandha_ (P.lex.) t.agara

(tagara) a spec. plant; fragrant wood (Pkt.lex.) tagara = a kind of

flowering tree (Te.lex.)

 

See at www.harappa.com Slide 124 Inscribed Ravi sherd (1998 find at

Harappa: Kenoyer and Meadow); the sherd contains the same sign (ca.

3300 BCE). This is perhaps the oldest writing system in the world.

http://www.harappa.com/indus2/index.html Click on Slide 124

 

The identification of tabarna montana by Daniel Potts leads to this

conclusion: Indus script was a writing system; Harappans were

literate. They were also metallurgists working with tin and native

metal.

 

Kalyanaraman

[Guest guest]

Taberna montana glyph with its characteristic five petals, also occurs

on a copper alloy axe clearly indicating its hieroglyptic use to

connote that the axe is made of a tin alloy. (See image at URL below).

 

The glyph is also shown on an ivory comb of Tell Abraq and on many

Sarasvati civilization epigraphs. The code seems to have been

developed to clearly depict the property items and tools-of-trade of

lapidaries/metalsmiths and miners working with types of ores and

metals, including faience and stones such as lapis lazuli and

carnelian.

 

Shaft-hole axe with relief decoration (both sides). Copper alloy.

Southeastern Iran. C. late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BCE 6.5 in.

long, 1980.307 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. "However, the

combined problems of unknown provenance and unparalleled features make

this attribution tentative. The symmetrical axe has a splaying blade,

an elliptical shaft hole with semicircular outline pierced by rivet

holes, and a fan-shaped butt. Both sides are ornamented with

low-relief figural decoration, cast as one with the axe. The features

of the figures were detailed by chasing that has been partially

obscured by corrosion. On one side is a male figure in a smiting

posture, with his left hand raised above his head holding a club and

his right leg extended and carrying the weight of his body. On the

butt is a three-petalled floral form with two leaves emerging from a

circular stem. On the other side are two registers: above is a

standing figure turning his head back and perhaps raising his left

hand in a plea for mercy; below, in front of a tree, is a bound,

kneeling prisoner, behind whom is the upper body of a victim falling

headfirst to the ground. The images on the axe, when both sides are

considered, suggest the commemoration of military victory… "[After

Fig. 7 in: Holly Pittman, 1984, Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern

Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, New York, The

Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 29-30]. It appears that the axe has

embossed on it not a three-petalled, but a five-petalled flower,

possibly taberna montana, tagaraka. As a homonym, tagaraka connotes a

'tin' alloyed with copper to create the bronze axe. See also the

figure at Kalyanaraman, 2003, Sarasvati: Epigraphs (Book 7),

Bangalore, p. 159.

 

IndianCivilizationtagaraka.doc