mleccha language (By Kalyana Raman ji)

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Dear All, The following write-up of Kalyana Raman ji about Mleccha Vikalpa is from: http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/hieroglyphs Love and regards,Sreenadh============================================

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuity of mleccha language-community and Sarasvati hieroglyphs (19 Jan. 2009)

Over 45 sites where objects with

epigraphs have been discovered – dated circa 3300 BCE to 1500 BCE. The 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. (Map after Asko Parpola and Jagatpati Joshi, 1988, Corpus

of Indus Seals and Inscriptions, Volume 1, Helsinki, Academia Scientiarum Fennica and Map 8 in:

Jane R. McIntosh, 2002, A Peaceful Realm – the Rise and Fall of the Indus

Civilization, New York, Westview Press).

 

Linguistic area: The clustering of the find sites around the

Sarasvati Sindhu river basins and the

coasts of Gulf of Khambat and Kutch point to Meluhha (mleccha) as the language underlying the epigraphs.

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.

Since the civilization which emerged on and was nurtured on the banks of Rivers

Sarasvati and Sindhu continues into the

historical periods in Bharat, the language spoken circa 5000 years Before

Present can be reconstructed from the languages of present-day Bharat and based

on the lexical work done by philologists from the days of Yaska (circa 6th

century BCE) upto the discovery of Bangani in the 20th century.

Mleccha is a word cognate with Pali Melukka which

means copper.

Mlecchita vikalpa may, therefore, be the work of metal workers and may be related to the writing

system found on many copper tablets and inscribed weapons,

apart from seals and tablets of the civilization.

Mleccha (Skt.) is milakkha

or milakku (Pali) to describe those who dwell on the outskirts of a

village. (Shendge, Malati, 1977, The civilized demons: the Harappans in

Rigveda, Abhinav Publications). A milakkhu is disconnected from va_c and

does not speak Vedic; he spoke Prakrt. na a_rya_ mlecchanti bha_s.a_bhir ma_yaya_ na caranty uta: aryas

(i.e., cultured people) do not speak with crude dialects like mlecchas, nor do

they behave with duplicity (MBh. 2.53.8). a dear friend of Vidura who was a

professional excavator is sent by Vidura to help the Pa_n.d.avas in

confinement; this friend of Vidura has a conversation with Yudhisthira, the

eldest Pa_n.d.ava: kr.s.n.apakse caturdasyàm ràtràv asya

purocanah, bhavanasya tava dvàri pradàsyati hutàsanam, màtrà saha pradagdhavyàh

pa_n.d.avàh purus.ars.abhàh, iti vyavasitam pàrtha dha_rtara_s.t.ra_sya me

šrutam, kiñcic ca vidurenkoto mleccha-vàcàsi pa_n.d.ava, tyayà ca tat tathety

uktam etad visvàsa ka_ran.am: on the fourteenth evening of the dark

fortnight, Purocana will put fire in the door of your house. `The Pandavas are

leaders of the people, and they are to be burned to death with their mother.'

This, Pa_rtha (Yudhis.t.ira), is the determined plan of Dhr.tara_s.t.ra's son,

as I have heard it. When you were leaving the city, Vidura spoke a few words to you in the dialect of the mlecchas, and

you replied to him, `So be it'. I say this to gain your trust.(MBh. 1.135.4-6). This passage shows

that there were two groups distinguished by dialects and ethnicity: Yudhis.t.ra

and Vidura – and both could understand mleccha dialect – mleccha-vàcàsi.

Melakkha, ocean island-dwellers

According to the great epic, Mlecchas lived on

islands: sa sarva_n mleccha nr.patin sa_gara dvi_pa va_sinah, aram a_ha_ryàm àsa

ratna_ni vividha_ni ca, andana aguru vastra_n.i man.i muktam anuttamam, ka_ñcanam

rajatam vajram vidrumam ca maha_ dhanam: (Bhima) arranged for all the mleccha kings, who dwell on the

ocean islands, to bring varieties of gems, sandalwood, aloe, garments, and

incomparable jewels and pearls, gold, silver, diamonds, and extremely valuable coral… great wealth. (MBh. 2.27.25-26).

Elsewhere in the Great Epic we read how Sahadeva,

the youngest of the Pa_n.d.ava brothers, continued his march of conquest till

he reached several islands in the sea (no doubt with the help of ships) and

subjugated the Mleccha inhabitants thereof.(1)

Brahma_n.d.a 2.74.11, Brahma 13.152, Harivam.s'a

1841, Matsya 48.9, Va_yu 99.11, cf. also Vis.n.u 4.17.5, Bha_gavata 9.23.15,

see Kirfel 1927: 522:

pracetasah putras'atam ra_ja_nah

sarva eva te // mlecchara_s.t.ra_dhipa_h sarve udi_ci_m dis'am a_s'rita_h

which means, of course, not that these '100' kings

conquered the 'northern countries' way beyond the Hindukus. or Himalayas, but that all these 100 kings, sons of

praceta_s (a descendant of a 'druhyu'), kings of mleccha kingdoms, are

'adjacent' (a_s'rita) to the 'northern direction,' -- which since the Vedas and

Pa_n.ini has signified Greater gandha_ra. Kirfel, W. Das Pura_n.a

Pan~calaks.an.a. Bonn

: K. Schroeder 1927.

 

Erythraen Sea and Meluhha

Fifth century BC Greek historian, Herodotus referred

to the body of water which linked Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and the

Indian subcontinent as the Erythraen sea. This sea includes the Red sea, the

Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Gulf

of Oman and the Persian or Arabian Gulf.

"The land

of Melukkha shall bring

carnelian, desirable and precious, sissoo-wood from Magan, excellent mangroves, on big-ships!" said a statement in the

Sumerian myth, Enki and Ninkhursag

(cf. lines 1-9, trans. B. Alster). "In the late Early Dynastic period

(about 2500), Ur-Nanshe, king of the Sumerian city-state Lagash, "had ships of Dilmun transport timber from foreign lands"

to his capital (modern Tell al-Hiba), just as a later governor of Lagash, named Gudea, did

in the mid-twenty-first century. In the early twenty-fourth century, Lugalbanda

and Urukagina, two kings of Lagash, imported copper from Dilmun and paid for it with

wool, silver, fat, and various milk and cereal products... That these (round

stamp) seals were used in economic transactions is proven by the discovery of

two important tablets bearing their impressions. One of these

tablets was found at Susa, and dates to the first half of the second millennium. It is a receipt

for goods, including ten minas of copper (about eleven pounds or five

kilograms). The second tablet, in the Yale Babylonian Collection, is dated to

the tenth year of Gungunum of Larsa (modern Tell Senkereh), that is, around

1925, and records a consignment of goods (wool, wheat, and sesame) prior to a trading voyage that almost certainly had

Dilmun as its goal. Dilmun seals characteristically depict two men drinking

what could be beer through straws, or two or three prancing gazelles...a

merchant named Ea-nasir, who is identified as one of the a_lik Tilmun, or

"Dilmun traders"... Ea-nasir paid for Dilmun copper with the textiles and silver

that he received from the great Nanna-Ningal temple complex at Ur...The Mari texts

contain several references to Dilmunite caravans...Melukkha was a source of

wood (including a black wood thought to have been ebony), gold, ivory, and carnelian...Melukkha

was accessible by sea...Sargon of Akkad...boasts that ships from Dilmun, Magan

and Melukkha docked at the quay of his capital Akkad...While points of contact

with other regions are attested, they can hardly have accounted for the

strength and individuality of civilization in the subcontinent...Unmistakably

Harappan cubical weights of banded chert (based on a unit of 13.63 grams)

are known from a number of sites located around the perimeter of the Arabian

GUlf, including Susa, Qalat al-Bahrain, Shimal (Ras al-Khaimah), and Tell Abraq (Umm al-Qaiwain)...an

inscribed Harappan shard has been found at Ras al Junayz... Harappan pottery has been found at several sites

throughout Oman and the United Arab Emirates...A "Melukkhan village" in the territory of the ancient

city-state of Lagash, attested in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Shulgi

(2060), may have been a settlement of Harappans, if the identification with the

civilization of the Indus Valley is correct...But...there is little evidence of

a Sumerian, Akkadian, or Babylonian presence in

the Indus Valley... That the language of Melukkha was unintelligble to

an Akkadian or Sumerian speaker is clearly shown by the fact that, on his

cylinder seal, the Akkadian functionary

Shu-ilishu is identified as a "Melukkhan translator"...the word

"Melukkha" appears occasionally as a personal name in cuneiform texts of the Old Akkadian and Ur

III periods. "(Potts, D., 1995, Distant Shores: Ancient Near Eastern

Trade, in: Jack M. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East,

Vol. I, pp. 1451-1463).

Mleccha trade was first mentioned by

Sargon of Akkad (Mesopotamia 2370 BCE) who stated that boats

from Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha came to the quay of Akkad

(Hirsch, H., 1963, Die Inschriften der Konige Von Agade, Afo, 20, pp. 37-38;

Leemans, W.F., 1960, Foreign Trade in the Old Babylonian Period, p. 164;

Oppenheim, A.L., 1954, The seafaring merchants of Ur, JAOS, 74, pp. 6-17). The

Mesopotamian imports from Meluhha were: woods, copper (ayas), gold, silver, carnelina, cotton. Gudea sent expeditions in 2200 BCE to Makkan and Meluhha in search of

hard wood. Seal impression with the cotton cloth from Umma (Scheil, V., 1925, Un

Nouvea Sceau Hindou Pseudo-Sumerian, RA, 22/3, pp. 55-56)

and cotton cloth piece stuck to the base

of a silver vase from Mohenjodaro. (Wheeler, R.E.M., 1965, Indus

Civilization) are indicative evidence.

Umma seal impression shows a Meluhha trader in Mesopotamia; there is no comparable evidence of a Mesopotamian trader in Meluhha.

Babylonian and Greek names for cotton were: sind, sindon. This

is an apparent reference to the cotton produced in the black cotton soils of

Sind and Gujarat.

Interaction

areas. After Fig. 2 in P.R.S. Moorey, 1994, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials

and Industries, Oxford,

Clarendon Press.

Euphrates River

was a link in the maritime trade of the eastern Mediterranean

with that of the Gulf and Meluhha beyond. The Sumerian 'colonies' on the northern bend

of the Euphrates were the conduits to carry the culture of Uruk to Egypt and linked the head of the Gulf

to the Egyptian Delta through the Syrian ports (Moorey, 1990). The famous

bilingual inscription of Sargon of Akkad (ca. 2234-2279 BC) sets out

in geographical order from south-east to north-west the trading posts: Meluhha,

Magan, Dilmun, Mari, Yarmuti, and Ebla:

that is, from the Indus to the Taurus -- the Indus which was also linked with

central Asia through Afghanistan. (Hirsch 1963: 37-8).

 

Meluhha and

interaction areas

 

Ubaid: ca. 5500-4000 BCE

Uruk ca.

4000-3000 BCE

Early Dynastic

I: ca. 3000-2750 BCE

Early Dynastic

II: ca. 2750-2600 BCE

Early Dynastic

III: ca. 2600-2350 BCE

Akkadian (or Sargonic): ca. 2350-2000 BCE

 

Ur III: ca. 2100-2000

Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian: ca.

2000-1600 BCE

Kassite/Mitannian/Middle

Babylonian/Middle Assyrian: ca. 1600-1000 BCE

Neo-Assyrian:

ca. 1000-612 BCE

Neo-Babylonian:

ca. 612-539 BCE

Achaemenid

Persian: ca. 539-330 BCE

 

 

 

VratyaMleccha-s could be related to the vratya-s of Magadha. Reference to Satvants of the Chambal valley may relate to the term, satvata, used in the pan~cara_tra tradition and vra_tya-s are associated with the people

of Magadha.

 

 

"The literature is replete with the names of

clans. The most powerful among them, commanding the greatest respect, was the

Kuru-Pañcala, which incorporated the two families of Kuru and Puru (and the earlier Bharatas) and

of which the Pañcala was a confederation of lesser-known tribes. They occupied

the Upper Doab and the Kuruksetra region. In

the north the Kamboja, Gandhara, and Madra groups predominated. In the middle Ganges Valley

the neighbours and rivals of the Kuru-Pañcalas were the Kasi, Kosala, and

Videha, who worked in close cooperation with each other. The Magadha,

Anga, and Vanga peoples in the lower Ganges Valley

and delta were outside the Aryan pale and regarded as mlecchas. Magadha

(Patna

and Gaya districts of Bihar)

is also associated with the vratya people, who occupied an ambiguous

position

between the aryas and mlecchas. Other mleccha tribes frequently

mentioned

include the Satvants of the Chambal valley and, in the Vindhyan and

northern Deccan region, the Andhra, Vidarbha, Nisadha, Pulinda,

and Sabara. The location of all these tribes is of considerable

historical

interest, because they gave their names to the geographic area."

http://www.britanica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,121169+2+111197,00.html

This leads to

the formulation of two hypotheses:

A cooperative

society and a continuous culture had existed right from the chalcolithic- age

through the bronze-age

to the historical periods on the Sarasvati-Sindhu

doab and the rest of India.

Emergence

of lingua franca in Bharat

 

Pinnow map. Austroasiatic Languages:

Munda (Eastern India) and

Mon-Khmer

(NE India, mainland SE Asia, Malaysia, Nicobars)http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/austroasiatic/ A lingua

franca had emerged in the doab ca. 3000 BCE with intense interaction and

resultant cross-borrowings of lexemes of an expansive contact zone (from Tigris-Euphrates

to Ganga,

from the Caucus mountains to the Gulf of Khambat,

from Kashmir to Kanya_kumari) constituting the Sarasvati-Sindhu

doab and the rest of Bha_rata as an Bha_rati_ya Linguistic Area.

The assumption for establishing this concordance

among lexemes removed in time, by over 1 millennium, is that the names of the

arms and armour of the linguistic area, ca. 5500 BP continued, as parole, in

the ancient languages of Bharat, by a hereditary tradition nurtured

among the artisans (vis'vakarma) and warriors (ks.atriya) alike and by the

literary tradition of Dhanurveda Sam.hita_ and related texts. The areal map of Austric

(Austro-Asiatic languages) showing regions marked by Pinnow correlates with the

bronze age settlements in Bharatam or what came to be known during the British

colonial regime as `Greater India'. The bronze age sites extend from Mehrgarh-Harappa

(Meluhha) on the west to Kayatha-Navdatoli (Nahali) close to River Narmada to

Koldihwa-Khairdih-Chirand on Ganga river basin to Mahisadal – Pandu Rajar Dhibi

in Jharia mines close to Mundari area and into the east extending into Burma,

Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicobar islands. A settlement of

Inamgaon is shown on the banks of River Godavari.

This,

together with the islands in Balochistan, Amri-Nal on the Makran coast and

settlements in the Rann of Kutch and Gujarat , broadly corresponds to the

Bharatiya Language Community of mleccha-speakers. Mleccha as island-dwellers !

 

Bronze Age sites of eastern Bha_rata and neighbouring areas: 1. Koldihwa; 2.

Khairdih; 3. Chirand; 4. Mahisadal; 5. Pandu Rajar Dhibi; 6. Mehrgarh; 7. Harappa; 8. Mohenjo-daro; 9.

Ahar; 10. Kayatha; 11. Navdatoli; 12. Inamgaon; 13. Non Pa Wai; 14. Nong Nor;

15. Ban Na Di and Ban Chiang; 16. Non Nok Tha; 17. Thanh Den; 18. Shizhaishan;

19. Ban Don Ta Phet [After Fig. 8.1 in: Charles Higham, 1996, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia,

Cambridge University Press].

 

Ca.2000

BC, there were movements of people in search of minerals and metals. From Meluhha, there were copper mining and smelting expeditions to

Oman. At Namazga IV-V (Turkmenia), a number of alloys were experimented with.

(Kohl, P., 1984, Central Asia: palaeolithic beginnings to the Iron age,

Paris,

Editions Recherchedes Civilisations, p. 113, 169; Harappan artefacts are found

at Altyn-depe in the latest levels; the suggestion is that 'contact was

strongest on the eve of the collapse of the site'). At Hissar were found

arsenic-bronze, lead-bronze, lead, silver and gold. (Tepe Hissar III, 3rd millennium BCE.: a seal shows a four-spoke

wheel). Jarrige reports the find of a vented

furnace at Sibri. On the Baluchistan and Afghanistan border, Dales

found 'miles of slag and furnaces' (Dales, G.F., 1973, Archaeological and

Radioactive chronologies for protohistoric south Asia, in: South Asian Archaeology, N. Hammond ed., London, Duckworth, p. 167).The resource base is verily

the nidhi of bharatiya bhashaa jnaana which can guide us to pursue studies in

the evolutionary history related to every bharatiya language. It is apposite to

record a tribute to the late Sudhibhushan Bhattacharya who initiated studies on

Munda etymology , to the late Kuiper for his work on Nahali etymology and to the work of Norman Zide on

Munda numerals. See full bibliography at http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/stampe/AA/Munda/BIBLIO/biblio.authors

When the River Sarasvati_ got desiccated between ca. 3900 and 3500 BP, many people of the River

Basin moved into the Ganga-Yamuna doab and south of Gujarat to the Godavari River Basin and

further south along the coast of Sindhu Sa_gara (Arabian Sea) and also moved

west of Ga_ndha_ra in Afghanistan, resulting in the naming of a small river as

Haraquaiti, in remembrance of River Sarasvati. Similar instances of cherishing

the legacy of River Sarasvati are noticed in the naming of rivers near Pus.kar

(Ajmer), and

near Little of Rann of Kutch (Siddhapura) also as Sarasvati.

The mother who nourished the forefathers of many Bha_rati_yas could not be

forgotten. When a mother prays to river godesses, she invokes the names of Gan:ga_,

Yamuna_, Sarasvati_; when she goes to a ti_rthaya_tra and notices a san:gamam

of two rivers, she learns from the folklore and folk traditions, that the

san:gamam is triven.i, the third river being the

antahsalila_ Sarasvati_ (the Sarasvati_ which flows underground). The sthala

pura_n.a of the Sarasvati_ temple at Basara (Vya_sapura) on the

banks of River Godavari (near Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh) states that

the mu_rti of Sarasvati_ was made by Vya_sa taking three mus.t.is (hand-fuls)

of sand from the river bed. There is also a temple for

Sarasvati_ on the banks of Cauvery in Ku_ttanu_r, near Swa_mimalai (the

pilgrimage centre for E_raka Subrahman.ya, Ka_rttikeya).

The formation of these hypotheses is a plea for unraveling further the

as yet untold story of the formation of Bharatiya languages, as an

exercise in general semantics.

Epigraph Discovery Sites and Epigraphs held in Museums

 

 

 

 

Alamgirpur

Allahdino

Amri

Balakot

Banawali

Bet Dwaraka

Chandigarh

Chanhudaro

Daimabad

Desalpur

Dholavira

Gharo Bhiro (Nuhato)

Gumla

Harappa

Hissam-dheri

Hulas

Jhukar

Kalibangan

Kalako-deray

Khirsara

Kot-diji

Lewandheri

Loebanr

Lohumjodaro

Lothal

Maski

Mehi

Mehrgarh

Mohenjodaro

Nindowari-damb

Nausharo

Naro-Waro-dharo

Pabumath

Prabhas Patan (Somnath)

Pirak

Rangpur

Rakhigarhi

Rahman-dheri

Rohira

Rojdi

Rupar

Shahi-tump

Sibri-damb

Surkotada

Tarkhanewala-dera

Tarakai Qila

Unknown Provenance

Museum Guimet, France

Harappa 1993-95 excavations

Proto-elamite glyptics

Mohenjodaro: other objects

West Asia

Near East

 

Ashmolean

Museum, Oxford

Tell Suleimah, Iraq

Pierport Morgan Library, New York

Tell Asmar (Eshnunna), Iraq

Gulf states

Early Harappan bowl with `fish' glyph

Nippur

Ur

Saharanpur, Western Uttar Pradesh

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Nausharo and other sites

Inscribed objects from Harappa 2000-2001

Manuscripts in Schoyen Collection

Parallels from Mesopotamia (and Anatolia)

Shaft-hole axhead (Bactria-Margiana)

Anatolia and the Caucasus

Bulla-envelope, Adab, Sumer

Royal Ontario

Museum

Burdin Fine Arts Exhibition

Steatite seals in the British MuseumHieroglyphs and

frequencies of occurrence on Sarasvati epigraphs

 

One-horned heifer with a pannier 1159 + 5 (with two horns)

 

 

 

Standard device

 

 

 

19 + ca. 1100 occurrences in front of the one-horned

heifer

 

 

 

 

Shor-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)

Dotted

circle 67

 

Svastika 23

 

Endless-knot 4

Double-axe 14 (inscribed objects shaped like

axe)

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

(Fig. 20 in Michael Pieter Kovink, 2008, The Indus script -- a positional-statistical approach, USA, Gilund Press, ISBN 978-0-6151-8239-1showing varieties of fish signs and positional sequencing on epigraphs.)ken.t.a `fish'; ke~r.e~

brass or

bell-metal

ayo, hako 'fish'; a~s = scales of fish (Santali); rebus: aya = iron (G.); ayah, ayas = metal (Skt.)Fully hieroglyptic nature of the writing system (mlecchita vikalpa)

is presented with examples of pictorial motifs and signs used on

epigraphs and with intimations of continuing tradition of glyphs on

punch-marked coin devices.Hieroglyph sign list (Mahadevan + variants), Sign list of Tuomo

Saarikivi and Bertil Tikkanen

 

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