Fwd: From Indus Valley to coastal Tamil Nadu

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IndiaArchaeology , Ram Varmha <varmha wrote:

 

 

 

From Indus Valley to coastal Tamil Nadu

 

 

T.S. Subramanian

 

 

 

Strong resemblances between graffiti symbols in Tamil Nadu

and the Indus script

 

 

 

 

 

 

� Photo: M. Srinath

 

Continuity of tradition: Megalithic pots with arrow-work graffiti

found at Sembiankandiyur village in Nagapattinam district.

CHENNAI: In recent excavations in Nagapattinam district in Tamil

Nadu, megalithic pottery with graffiti symbols that have a strong

resemblance to a sign in the Indus script have been found. Indus

script expert Iravatham Mahadevan says that what is striking about the

arrow-mark graffiti on the megalithic pottery found at

Sembiyankandiyur and Melaperumpallam villages is that they are always

incised twice and together, just as they are in the Indus script.

The Hindu published on April 27 a report (�Megalithic period pottery

found�) on megalithic pottery and urns found at Sembiyankandiyur,

along with [in most of the editions] a photograph of three pots with

arrow-like graffiti symbols on each pot.

In all the three pots, the arrow-like symbol appeared two times each

and next to each other.

The Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department found these pots during

excavations at Sembiyankandiyur between February and April 2008 after

a school teacher, V. Shanmuganathan, unearthed a polished neolithic

axe from the garden of his house at Sembiyankandiyur in 2006. The axe

had engravings that resembled the Indus script.

In May 2007, the Department found several pots at Melaperumpallam

near Poompuhar during a trial excavation. Some of these had the same

arrow-like symbol occurring twice on them, and always adjacent to each

other.

According to Mr. Mahadevan, seals unearthed at Mohenjodaro (now in

Pakistan) in the 1920s have similar arrow-like signs that also occur

twice and always together. There are several seals with the Indus

script and engravings of a bull or a unicorn where the arrow-like sign

always occurs in pairs.

While the megalithic/Iron Age pottery in Tamil Nadu is datable

between the third century B.C. and third century A.D., the Indus

script belongs to the period 2600 B.C. to 1900 B.C. of the mature

Harappan period.

�In spite of the enormous gap in time and space between the Indus

civilisation sites and [the] Tamil Nadu [sites], it appears that the

megalithic graffiti of Tamil Nadu have continued the tradition of the

Indus script,� Mr. Mahadevan said.

�Despite a slight difference in the graphic of the arrow-like symbol

found on the megalithic pottery of Tamil Nadu and the sign in the

Indus script, the fact is that they always occur in double and

together. So this requires further study and investigation.�

In 1960, B.B. Lal, former Director General of the Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI), wrote a paper in the publication Ancient India

brought out by the ASI, with a photographic catalogue of the

megalithic and chalcolithic pottery with graffiti marks and comparing

them with the signs of the Indus script. �Since then, many more

examples of pottery with graffiti marks that have a strong resemblance

to the Indus signs have been found at Sanur near Tindivanam in Tamil

Nadu and Musiri (Pattanam) in Kerala,� Mr. Mahadevan said.

Particularly significant was a large megalithic terracotta plate

found at Sulur near Coimbatore, with symbols closely resembling an

inscription on a tablet found at Harappa, which is also in Pakistan

now. Hence, �there is distinct possibility that the megalithic symbols

and the corresponding signs of the Indus script have the same

significance and meaning,� he said. (The terracotta plate from Sulur

is on display at the British Museum in London).

In his paper, �A megalithic pottery inscription and a Harappa

tablet: a case of extraordinary resemblance,� published in the Journal

of Tamil Studies, Volume No.71, June 2007, Mr. Mahadevan said: �I

suggest that close resemblances are possible only if the south Indian

megalithic script is related to the Indus script. Further, the common

sequence found on the Sulur dish and the Harappa tablet may indicate

that the languages of the two inscriptions are related to each other.�

 

 

 

 

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