Ancient metallurgists' repertoire: Sarasvati smithy

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Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@g...>

Tue Mar 1, 2005 7:15 am

Ancient metallurgists' repertoire: Sarasvati smithy

 

Ancient metallurgists' repertoire; recurring messages on tablets

using glyphs

 

Mirrored at: http://sarasvatismithy.blogspot.com/

 

The suite of Sarasvati hieroglyphs relate to smithy or artisans'

workshops.

 

At least four or five tablets are seen to contain repetitive

pictorial

glyphs on molded tablets. The following are good examples from

Harappa

discovered during the excavations between 1996 to 2000 by Kenoyer and

Meadow. The glyphs are:

 

1. A buffalo

2. Looking backwards

3. A tiger

4. A lizard

5. A tree

6. A person (woman?) seated on the branch of a tree

7. A person kicking the buffalo on its head and

8. spearing the animal with his upraised arm

9. A seated person in a yogic posture with a horned head-dress

10. A woman holding back two jackals rearing on their hindlegs

11. An elephant

12. A knave of a six-spoked wheel

 

Homonyms which depict the glyph and its rebus substantive related to

metals (copper, iron, pancaloha â€" alloy of five metals, molten

cast)

and furnaces (furnace, goldsmith's portable furnace), smithy or

blacksmith's workshop or mint or artisan's workshop are as follows;

the general appearance of animals on glyphs is related to

pasaramu 'an

animal'; rebus: pasra 'smithy':

 

buffalo: homa = bison (Ko.); soma = electrum (Skt.); hom = gold (Ka.)

 

look backwards: krammar-a = to turn, return; krammar-incu = to turn

or

send back (Te.) kamar = blacksmith (Santali) kamma_rsa_le =

blacksmith's workshop (Ka.)

 

lizard: kuduru d.okka = a kind of lizard (Pa.)(DEDR 1712) kuduru = a

goldsmith's portable furnace (Te.) [kakr.a = common lizard (Santali);

kan:gar= large brazier (K.)]

 

tree: kut.i = tree (Te.); kut.hi = furnace (Santali)

 

tiger, pair, woman: kol = metal; pancaloha (Ta.) kol = tiger

(Santali)

ko_la = woman (Nahali) kol = a pair (planets) (Ta.) sagal.a = pair

(Ka.) ; saghad.i_ = furnace (G.) kolsa = to kick the foot forward

(Santali) kola = killing (Te.) ib = two (Ka.); ib = iron (Santali)

 

yogic posture: kamad.ha = person in penance (G.) kammat.a-ku_t.am =

mint (coiner, i.e. seal-maker) workshop (Ta.)

 

mer.go = with horns twisted back (Santali) mlecchamukha = copper

(Skt.) melukka (Pali) ko_d.u = horns (Ta.); kod. = artisan's workshop

(Kuwi)

 

spy: eraka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.) heraka = spy (Skt.); eraka

(G.) er-aka = upper arm (Te.) era = female (Santali)

 

elephant: ibha = elephant (Skt.) ib = iron (Santali)

 

knave of spoked wheel: erako = nave; erako = molten cast (Tu.)

 

pasaramu = an animal (Te.); pasra = smithy (Santali.Mundari)

http://www.harappa.com/indus5/page_440.html Slide 440. Figure 440.

Indus narrative tablet. Although neither of these specific molded

terracotta tablet pieces comes from Trench 11, four less well

preserved examples from the same mold(s) were found in debris outside

of the perimeter wall in that area, clearly establishing a second

half

of Period 3B date for these tablets. Note the rear of the buffalo and

the front of the gharial in the left tablet which overlaps with the

iconography of the right tablet, although in this case they do not

seem to come from the same mold. (See also Images 89 and 90.

http://www.harappa.com/indus/slideindex.html Slide 89. Figure 89.

Molded tablet. Plano convex molded tablet showing an individual

spearing a water buffalo with one foot pressing the head down and one

arm holding the tip of a horn. A gharial is depicted above the

sacrifice scene and a figure seated in yogic position, wearing a

horned headdress, looks on. The horned headdress has a branch with

three prongs or leaves emerging from the center.

 

O n the reverse (90), a female deity is battling two tigers and

standing above an elephant. A single Indus script depicting a spoked

wheel is above the head of the deity.

 

Material: terra cotta

Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width

Harappa, Lot 4651-01

Harappa Museum, H95-2486

Meadow and Kenoyer 1997

 

http://www.harappa.com/indus/slideindex.html Slide 90. Figure 90.

Molded tablet. Plano convex molded tablet showing a female deity

battling two tigers and standing above an elephant. A single Indus

script depicting a spoked wheel is above the head of the deity.

 

On the reverse (89), an individual is spearing a water buffalo with

one foot pressing the head down and one arm holding the tip of a

horn.

A gharial [crocodile] is depicted above the sacrifice scene and a

figure seated in yogic position, wearing a horned headdress, looks

on.

The horned headdress has a branch with three prongs or leaves

emerging

from the center.

 

Material: terra cotta

Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width

Harappa, Lot 4651-01

Harappa Museum, H95-2486

Meadow and Kenoyer 1997

 

The cultural continuity of Sarasvati civilization is emphatic in

Bharat which is consistent with the code of Sarasvati hieroglyphs

which uses homonyms from the languages of Bharat in a linguistic area

circa 5300 years Before Present (when the first inscription was

created at Harappa). One example underscored by Kenoyer relates to

the

hindu tradition of wearing sindhur in the parting of the hair.

Nausharo: female figurine. Period 1B, 2800 â€" 2600 BCE. 11.6 x 30.9

cm.[After Fig. 2.19, Kenoyer, 1998]. Hair is painted black and parted

in the middle of the forehead, with traces of red pigment in the

part.This form of ornamentation may be the origin of the later Hindu

tradition where a married woman wears a streak of vermilion or

powdered cinnabar (sindur ) in the part of her hair. Choker and

pendant necklace are also painted with red pigment, possibly

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/hindu1.pdf Page 10. The find of the

figurine is by Jarrige. BB Lal also attests to this evidence of

terracotta female figurine from Nausharo as an emphatic marker of

continuity of culture from Sarasvati civilization days to present-day

hindu cultural practices.

 

The continuity of the metallurgical tradition from the days of

Sarasvati civilization in Bharat, and the code of the hieroglyphs

explain why many glyphs continue to be used on punch-marked metallic

coins -- the mint-masters continue to show their tools of trade and

raw materials used in creating wealth for the guild and providing

metallic and other tools and artefacts for trade by sea-faring

merchants, s'a_tava_hana (horse-rider caravans led by sanghvi_), for

example. It is not mere coincidence that bharatiyo in Gujarati means

'caster of metals'. Bha_ratam Janam ! invoked by Vis'vamitra Gathina

in R.gveda.

 

S. Kalyanaraman

1 March 2005