IndiaStar Review of Books
Indus Script: the Mother of All Alphabetic Scripts -- Book Review --
The Deciphered Indus Script:
Methodology, Readings, Interpretations
by
Natwar Jha
and
N. S. Rajaram(New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2000
270 pages with numerous illustrations, Rs. 950)
Reviewed by C. J. S. Wallia
Science historians have long acknowledged that the international numeral system (1,2, 3,), based on the concepts of placement and zero, as well as the decimal system were invented by the ancient Hindus. (Nonetheless many Western publications continue to call these numerals Arabic-- Arab historians themselves have always acknowledged the numerals' Hindu origins.)
An even more fundamental contribution to human knowledge-- the origin of alphabetic writing--must now be credited to the ancient Hindus. This claim arises from the deciphering of the ancient Indus script recently accomplished by Natwar Jha. In 1996, he published Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals, which briefly explained his methodology and presented readings of more than 100 seals. It was an English language summary of his monumental publications, Sindhu Mudra Lipi Bhasa, in Sanskrit, and Sindhu Sabhyata ki Mudraon ki Bhasa aur Lipi, in Hindi.
The Deciphered Indus Script, written in collaboration with Navaratna Rajaram, is a more comprehensive exposition of the methodology, readings, and interpretations. The decipherments are Jha's; the historical interpretations are Rajaram's. The authors summarize:
"Jha's decipherment tells us that the language of the seals is Vedic Sanskrit, while the writing itself is proto-alphabetical, representing an intermediate stage in the transition from a primitive consonantal (syllabic) system to the phonetically exact alphabetical writing which is the unique achievement of the Indian civilization.
"...The readings on the seals are overwhlemingly from the Vedic literature. The same is true of the symbolism of the images. From this we conclude that at least those seals that carry Vedic themes were created to serve as educational aids, as a combination of an index and a Vedic theme."
In the first part of Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals, Jha described his major insight into his deciphering efforts: the four- to five-thousand-years-old inscriptions were meant to serve as a link betweenVedic literature and archaeology. Jha's inspiration came from his reading about Rishi Yaska's search in the Mahabharata for Kashyapa's lost Sanskrit etymological composition. Jha wrote:
"The 'Moksa Dharm--Santiparv--chapter 343 of Mahabharat and its couplet no. 71, 72, 73, 88, 89, 92, and 93 are very important for understanding the subject matter as written on Indus seals. Where couplet 73 is clearly related with the Indus seals and couplet 92 records Aryan trend of considering Lord Vishnu in the form of unicorn (bull with one horn), called the Eksringah Nandivardhnhah in our epic and 'bull-bos indicus' called the Vrisha, Vrishakapi, Sipivisht, and Trk-kut. Similarly couplet 89 assimilates all above material information on varied forms of bulls with Nighantu -- the first generation Vedic glossary composition. We get information from couplet 73 that Nighantu was buried in the ground for certain reasons, like floods; and after some time, under the able guidance of Rishi Yaska an attempt was made to excavate the buried composition. And thus the recovered material formed the basis of composing Nirukta -- the second generation Vedic composition."
Natwar Jha, who serves as the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Farraka, West Bengal, spent 20 years on the Indus script project. He has deciphered more than half of the known seals and established the script as old Brahmi, a thousand years older than the Phoenician script, which was the supposed origin of all alphabetic writing. In detailed charts, the book shows stage-by-stage derived forms from the Indus script that include Phoenician, Aramaic of Taxila, Sabien Hemyaretic, and Greek.
Commenting on Jha's earlier work, Rajaratnamwrote (before they were acquainted): "I find the readings so decisive that I am convinced that all previous theories, readings, and formulations have been rendered irrelevant by Jha's work. Any changes, if needed, will only be refinements. ...In the Indus seals, we have in all probability the mother of alphabetic writing. This is only one of the revisions to our knowledge of history of science brought about by the decipherment of the Indus script."
The beautifully crafted 5,000-year-old Indus seals, discovered in 1921, long baffled scholars who attempted to decipher the script accompanying the images. The scholars failed largely because of the assumption under which they labored-- they uncritically assumed the inscriptions had to be pre-Vedic and Dravidian. These assumptions stemmed from the prevailing Eurocentric, colonial dogma that Sanskrit-speaking invaders came to India from the West and could not have composed the Vedas before 1200 B.C. This date was insisted upon by writers like Max Muller, who worked long and hard to deliberately distort the Vedas for their hidden agenda to persuade Hindus to convert to Christianity. Muller insisted on the very late date for the Rig Veda to fit into the Judeo-Christian time scale, which posited that the world itself had been created in 4004 B.C.!
The Aryan invasion theory is in tatters now. No Aryan journey to the east; instead, Sanskrit speakers migrated westwards into Kassite Iran, Hittite Anatolia, Greece, and much further. N.Rajaram and David Frawley, in their acclaimed book The Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization: A Literary and ScientificAnalysis date the composition of the Rig Veda at 3750 B.C. They base this date, in part, on Subhash Kak's brilliant work on the astronomical code contained in the Rig Veda.
In the introductory chapter ofVedic Glossary on Indus Seals, Jha discussed how the Indus civilization ended. He cited recent Indo-French LANDSAT satellite mappings of the shifting courses of the Sarasvati river over many centuries during the third millennium B.C. The final drying up of the Sarasvati occurred in 1900 B.C. because tectonic plate movements made the mighty river lose two of its tributaries, Yamuna and Sutlej. (Noting the centrality of the Sarasvati in the civilization of Sapta Sindhu or seven rivers, from 7500 B.C. to 1900 B.C., and the repeated homage this river receives in the Rig Veda, Subhash Kak has suggested that the Indus civilization be renamed as Sarasvati civilization and the script on the seals as Sarasvati script.)
approximately 37cm by 27cm, embedded in semi-precious stones on a
wooden board is deciphered and translated by Jha and Rajaram as:
"I was a thousand times victorious over avaricious raiders desirous
of my wealth of horses." A warning to would-be horse thieves!
In the second part of Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals, Jha claimed the Indus script as "the first and the oldest scientific script of the world, which later on crossed the national boundary and went to West Asia and Europe, where it developed as Semitic and Greek." Jha presented a convincing, stage-by-stage comparative study in the next 50 pages.
Some of the main features of Jha's decipherment are: the old-Brahmi script is written from left to right, although sometimes it is also written right to left like plough lines on soil ("halayudh lekhan paddhti"); there are 61 basic signs in total comprising 55 consonants, 1 Onkar, 3 Vowels, and 2 Ayogwah (combination of vowel and consonant); there are also 162 composite signs; Phoenician is a reduced subset of 22 signs from the old-Brahmi's 61 signs; some seals are inscribed with the swastika as well as a cross without arms; a few of the signs are pictographic, but most of them are alphabetic.
The Indus/Sarasvati script or old-Brahmi developed in two divergent directions in India: Devanagari and related North Indian regional variants; and Ashokan Brahmi from which derived Bhattiprolu Brahmi in South India.
Jha also charted the evolutionary stages of the five point numeral system, shown on the reverse side of several seals, into Greco-Roman numerals. Some of the seals carry mathematical formulas. One seal is carved with the formula for the circumference to diameter ratio or p from "paridhi vyas anupati"from which derived the term pi of the Greeks. Another seal shows the formula for the circumference of a circle as 2 times p times radius.
Jha cites the work of Navaratna Rajaram and A. Seidenberg, an eminent American historian of science, for establishing the source of both Egyptian and old Babylonian mathematics in the technical manuals for the construction of complex geometrical Vedic fire altars, Sulba-Sutras.
This is a landmark book!