Gyan Swarup Gupta
The above are the rashis of the Hindu calendar used by the astrologers. They are written in two scripts Indus script and the Hindi script, something the Indus scholars were waiting for help in deciphering the Indus script. The Indus Valley Civilisation was the oldest civilisation in the world. It had a fully developed language, fully developed ability to build new cities and a fully developed script. However, its two contemporary scripts Egyptian and Sumerian were deciphered early. In Behistoon inscription the same matter was written in three languages and with the help of one it was possible to decipher the whole of Sumerian script. Egyptian script was found written in two scripts on Rosetta stone in Egypt itself. In India too there are many such writings in two scripts found everywhere.
The mysterious Zodiac signs (called rashis in Hindu calendar) are actually letters of Indus script, the eight auspicious signs of Jains, eight auspicious signs of Bauddha religion, the signs on the statues of Tirthankars, numerous signs used in Hindu rituals, etc. are letters of Indus script. The Sumerian script and Indus script are exactly the same. Might be that both together developed it or one borrowed it from the other. There was however a dispute over language of Indus Valley. Some claimed that it was a Dravidian language and others believed it to be Sanskrit. This dispute did not allow the scholars to see that the script is already deciphered. They have just to collect such words known to us. Let us look at the real position about the language controversy and find the deciphered words.
The basis of the dispute over the language was based on the origin of Aryans and that too on the old mythology of the flood and the landing of the first man on Mount Ararat. This mythology is based on the version in Shatpath Brahman and on the Jewish mythology. Shatpath Brahman does not mention the name of the mountain while that of Jews on the version in Old Testament of the Bible mentions the name of the place where the boat landed as Mount Ararat. Where is Mount Ararat? In Mahabharat, Karna Parva, in the conversation between Karna and Shalya it was pointed out that the name of area between Satluj river and Jhelum river was known as ‘Aratta’. In the Sumerian mythology, in the story of Enmerker and the Lord of Aratta it was mentioned that there were granaries and lot of water in Aratta. Aratta is therefore the northern part of Indus Valley. Actually as the Jews were found to be in Mittany in the area near Caucasus the people thought that Mount Ararat is in Caucasus mountain while it is in India. Actually it appears that after the twentieth century BCE the whole of Middle-East became dry and a desert and the Indus Valley too became a desert. The rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati and number of other rivers too changed their courses and instead of flowing west started flowing east. Finding it the people started moving in all directions. Some went east and founded a city on the bank of Yamuna, Indraprastha. Some went north and some whom we call Jews went in boat to the area now known as Mittany taking God Mitra with them. Others took God Varun and went to the south of Mittany. Why they went to Mittany? Actually the place is the origin of Euphrates and Tigress rivers and there were a large number of tributaries of both these rivers and thus there was no dearth of water. Hence they went there. Thus, we find that there was no invasion of Aryans in India but they went out of India taking the gods and language with them. Jews went out of India but remembered the mythology and the place where they lived. When they wrote the mythology they did not forget the place of their origin. So we find that the boat landed on Mount Ararat.
We may now look at the indications of the language spoken in Indus Valley. We know that there was a lot of interaction between the people of Indus Valley and Sumerians. A number of seals of Indus Valley have been found in Sumer as Indus Valley people often used to go there. Hence there must be a number of words of the language spoken in Indus Valley in the language of Sumer. Sure enough the words are there but surprisingly they are neither of Dravidian language nor of Sanskrit. They are purely of Hindi and they are used even now in India. About 80 Hindi words are found in half of Vol. A, Sumerian Dictionary (published by University of Pennsylvania) and are listed in India: From lndus Valley Civilisation To Mauryas, appendix D – Gyan Swarup Gupta (Published by Concept publishing Co. Delhi). They are all common words used even now. In whole of Sumerian Dictionary the number may be much more. This makes Hindi the oldest language still in use in the world. Another surprising feature is that there is neither a single word of any Dravidian language nor of Sanskrit. However, Vedas were written in the same period as well as some Brahmins and probably the original Mahabharat. Nirukta by Yaska is said to be a book of etymology. But actually it is explaining the Indus script and how to read the words written but mean differently. It has neglected the words of the script which mean what is written in the earlier part of the book but wrote about the words which mean something else than written i.e. dwar meaning door actually should be read as agni or fire, or gau meaning cow or bull should be read as aditya meaning Sun. It also gives the different combination of letters of the script which can be read. We find Indra which can be written in many different combinations of words as also Shantanu which can be written in different combination of letters. All examples in Nirukta are from the Vedas, Brahmins and Mahabharat. It thus indicates that Sanskrit was also used in Indus Valley times. The letters of the Indus script as found on seals are just limited in number but as the Indus script and Sumerian script are the same we may take it that the Sumerian script will provide the missing letters of the Indus script which read along with Nirukta will give us the full script.
Letters of the Indus script are found scattered in inscriptions, religious rituals and in other places. We may look at the rashis of the Hindu Calendar or Zodiac signs mentioned earlier. They are now used in predictions only but just twelve in number are actually the names of the months of the solar year. The names of the months are now changed. With the names of the month are shown some mysterious signs. These mysterious signs are actually the letters of the Indus script which gives us the letter of the script as well as the name of the letter and are in Sanskrit.
Of these twelve signs only three are found in script used on seals, Vrishabh, Kumbh and Meen. The rest are found in the script used in Sumer. Thus we have twelve signs along with them written in Sanskrit. We may look at the Jain religion. In Jain religion there are eight auspicious signs whose names are given which are actually Indus script signs. Swastik, mirror, ghat, cane-seat, meen (two fish), two garlands, manuscript. Jain religion is split in various sects.
Two garlands are actually two circles overlapping one over the other. This is found on Indus seals. As per Sumerian Dictionary a circle represents number ten. As per Nirukta two tens make Vinsh. We do not know what Vinsh represents. Each sect has auspicious signs which are different from each other. Knowing only the names, the Jains have started painting them instead of some such signs which are neither good looking nor give any meaning. For example there is Meen meaning fish and also found in Zodiac signs. But instead we find them painted as two golden fish. We have similarly some signs on the statue of Tirthankars, which are actually names but now seen only as paintings. There are other inscriptions where we find the Indus script signs. Similarly in the Bauddha religion there are eight auspicious signs. Among the Hindus there are plenty of such signs which people paint on the walls or on the floor and worship them. The Swastik and Om are well known signs known to every Hindu household.
We find that the letters of Indus script are scattered all over the books, inscriptions, rituals in every day uses and ancient literature. They might also be present in different parts of India and in the language and script of that area. Forgetting all the controversy about the language we should collect such letters of the script along with the meaning. After collecting them we will find that we have the deciphered Indus script before us and the world.
(The writer can be contacted at E-42 Shyam Nagar Extn., Behind Sanjivini Hospital, New Sanganer Road, Jaipur–302019 gsgupta@hotmail.com)
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