interesting article: Chennai scholar deciphers Indus script

[Guest guest]

Dr. Kalyanaraman, a former senior executive with the Asian Development Bank at

Manila quit his job to devote full time for the research on Inter-linking of

Indian rivers and deciphering the script of the Indus seal. Over the last 26

years, Dr Kalyanaraman has compiled a multi-lingual comparative dictionary for

over 25 ancient Indian languages with about half-a-million words and has put it

up on the internet. It was a journey in a Pakistan International Airlines

flight which made Dr Kalyanaraman to quit his high paying ADB job. "I was

presented with replicas of two seals, really paper-weights, by the PIA sincve I

was traveling by the first class on that day," said Dr Kalyanaraman. Curiosity

forced Dr Kalyanaraman to ask the PIA staff about the replicas. He was

literally shocked by the reply given by them. "They said that the seals were

from Mohenjodaro and it established the 5,000-year old history of the

civilization of Pakistan. They kept silent

when I pointed out to them that there was no Pakistan at that time," Dr

Kalyanaraman explained. "About 5000 years ago, there was only Bharat

mentioned in the Rigveda. Visvamitra, a Rigveda rishi, refers to the people of

Bharat as Bharatam Janam (that is, people of the nation of Bharata),"pointed

out Dr Kalyanaraman, author of a major book "Saraswathi". He pointed out

that the word Bharatiyo in Gujarati means 'caster of metals' and goes on to

present an array of evidence from about 4000 epigraphs on a variety of objects

from what he calls "Sarasvati Civilization". The epigraphs appear on seals,

tablets, potsherds, ivory rods, copper plates, even on metallic weapons.

The breakthrough in confirming his decipherment has come from two sources: 1.

the presence of Sarasvati hieroglyphs on two pure tin ingots discovered in a

ship-wreck in Haifa, Israel; and the presence of Sarasvati hieroglyphs on

artefacts in archaeological sites of Jiroft (Iran) and Adichanallur

(Tirunelveli, South India). According to Dr Kalyanaraman, the glyphs are

pictorials connoting homonyms (similar sounding words which could be depicted

pictorially) of metals, minerals, alloys and furnaces. "For example, a jar with

a rim, an antelope, an elephant, a rhinoceros, a heifer (bull-calf) can be

depicted pictorially. The words related to these glyphs are homonymous with

words for varieties of minerals, metals, alloys and furnaces," Dr Kalyanaraman

explained. Dr Kalyanaraman, claims that the code of the script or writing

system has been decoded simply as representation of the repertoire of smiths,

smithy, mines, and metal workshops. The arte facts are gathered from many

sites; there are about 2,000 archaeological sites on the banks of a desiccated

River Sarasvati (representing about 80% of the 2600 total archaeological sites

of the civilization

dated to between 3500 to 1900 Before Common Era, BCE). Some of the sites

are: Rakhigarhi (near Delhi), Kunal, Kalibangan, Banawali, Ropar (near

Kurukshetra, Chandigarh), Dholavira, Lothal, Surkotada, Prabhas Patan, Dwaraka

(Gujarat) and of course, Mohenjodaro, Harappa (Pakistan), Mehergarh

(Afghanistan). A woman's burial found at Mehergarh contained ornaments

including a wide bangle made of s'ankha; the surprise was that this burial was

dated to 6500 BCE. The s'ankha industry continues even today in Tiruchendur,

near Gulf of Mannar, South Indian coastline where West Bengal handicraft

corporation obtains s'ankha to make bangles which are a must for every Bengali

bride to wear during marriage. A remarkable continuity of culture and an

industry unbroken for the last 8500 years ! He quotes profusely from the

great Indian epics to substantiate his claims. "The language of the epigraphs

is said to be mleccha (Meluhha, mentioned in

cuneiform records of Mesopotamia). Vatsyayana refers to cipher writing as

mlecchita-vikalpa (alternative representation by copper workers)," according to

Dr Kalyanaraman. Mleccha is also referred to as a spoken language in

Mahabharata; Yudhishthira and Vidura converse in Mleccha about the shellac

palace (lakshagriha) constructed to trap the Pandavas with metallic and

non-metallic killer devices. An example of mleccha is 'helava, helava'

comparable to the 'elo,elo' boatmen's song by seafaring and river-faring

navigators who navigate hugging the coastline and along rivers which were the

highways of ancient times, enabling long-distance trade over very long

distances exceeding 3,000 kms., making the Sarasvati civilization the most

extensive civilization of its times. "Languages of present-day India can

be explained from a common source and the theory is called 'Proto-Vedic

Continuity Theory', "says Dr Kalyanaraman.

These claims could have a significant effect on the study of languages and

contribute to historical studies emphasizing the essential continuity and unity

of Indian civilization and culture as a continuum from 6500 BCE to the

present-day. _____ Note: Dr Kalyan also owns/moderates the indiancivilization

group -- the largest Hindu group on the net

indiancivilization/

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