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Mohenjo Daro | Official Trailer | Hrithik Roshan & Pooja Hegde | In Cinemas Aug 12, 2016. Aha, Indus Script is shown on the trailer :)--

July 11, 2016, 11:48 pm
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Don't judge 'Mohenjo Daro' with its trailer says Ashutosh Gowariker

PTI | Jul 11, 2016, 10.52 PM IST


Acclaimed filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker is not perturbed over flak from audience on trailer of his upcoming film "Mohenjo Daro" and says one needs to be open to criticism.
The 52-year-old "Lagaan" Director counselled movie-goers to be patient and form opinion after seeing the film.
Asked how does he deal with criticism over the trailer when everything is proper - from script to casting - Ashutosh says, "We are open to that. When Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) was in good career phase a film named "Alaap" came and the poster had Amitji's face that seemed poetic. I did not go for it as I was enjoying watching him in 'Don', 'Trishul'.
"We have our own image or response to a trailer. In a trailer you try to depict a story. There are certain elements that shock you but you have to be patient and form your opinion after seeing the film. I think 'Alaap' was a superb film and Amitji was great," he added.



The trailer of Hrithik Roshan-starrer "Mohenjo Daro" invited criticism with fans questioning the depiction of historical times through VFX technology.
The epic adventure-romance film, written and directed by Ashutosh, features Hrithik and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles.
Reportedly, the film is set in 2016 BC in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation. The film is about a man who falls in love with his enemy's daughter, who is a dancer.
The film, produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur and Sunita Gowariker, releases on August 12. 


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Dont-judge-Mohenjo-Daro-with-its-trailer-says-Ashutosh-Gowariker/articleshow/53161157.cms         

'Mohenjo Daro' set has been built on Lagaan's cricket ground
TNN | Jul 6, 2016, 03.29 PM IST

As Mohenjo Daro required the director to recreate a pre-historical world, Ashutosh Gowariker zeroed down on Bhuj to build the magnum opus world of Mohenjo Daro.

While the director and his team visited the location of shoot, they were surprised to notice that it was the very same location where Lagaan's climax scene was shot (the cricket match).



Producer Sunita Gowariker shares, "When we went to Bhuj for a recee, it's uncanny that the same land which was used for Lagaan, is what suited our requirement and we decided to mount our set for the Mohenjo Daro city there. But what amazed me is that the platform made for the cricket pavilion in Lagaan was still standing on that land. 15 years later no one had removed it and that's something that brought a smile to Ashutosh's face and made him reminisce about his Lagaan days."

Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro, is an action-romance set in the pre historic Era and features a love story between the lead cast, Hrithik Roshan and newbie Pooja Hegde.


Listen to the songs of Mohenjo Daro on gaana.com 


Mohenjo Daro's trailer released last week and proved to be a visual spectacle. There is also a strong social media buzz on the project with the audience awaiting Hrithik's association with Ashutosh Gowariker post Jodhaa Akbar.


Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur and Sunita Gowariker, Mohenjo Daro is Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and is slated to release on August 12th, 2016.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Mohenjo-Daro-set-has-been-built-on-Lagaans-cricket-ground/articleshowprint/53076196.cms?null

[quote] Mohenjo Daro (English: Mound of the Dead Men) is an upcoming Indian epic adventure-romance film written and directed byAshutosh Gowariker.[4][5] The film is produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur and Sunita A. Gowariker.[6] It features Hrithik Roshan andPooja Hegde in the lead roles.[7]
The film is set in 2016 BC in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation.[8][9][10] The film is about a man who falls in love with his enemy's daughter who is a dancer.[11] Centred on romance through the cultures and ancient civilisations of Mohenjo-daro, Gowariker took over three years to develop the film with the help of archaeologists who documented the discovery of Indus Valley civilisation. The film was shot in Bhuj and Mumbai with short schedules in Jabalpur and Thane.
The soundtrack album and film score are composed by A. R. Rahman[12] with song lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar.[13] The film is scheduled for a worldwide release on 12 August 2016.[14]...

...
The full music album of the film was released on 6 July 2016
Mohenjo Daro (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Mohenjo Mohenjo" A. R. Rahman, Arijit Singh, Bela Shende, Sanah Moidutty6:22
2."Sindhu Ma" A. R. Rahman, Sanah Moidutty, Megh Shah5:47
3."Sarsariya" Shashwat Singh, Shashaa Tirupati6:10
4."Tu Hai" A. R. Rahman, Sanah Moidutty3:59
5."Whispers of the Mind" Arjun Chandy4:16
6."Whispers of the Heart" Arjun Chandy3:51
7."The Shimmer of Sindhu" Keba Jeremiah, Kareem Kamalakar3:21
8."Lakh Lakh Thora" Tapas Roy, Naveen Kumar3:01
Total length:
36:47 [unquote]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohenjo_Daro_(film)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZ5FKEB02I

Mohenjo Daro | Official Trailer | Hrithik Roshan & Pooja Hegde | In Cinemas Aug 12
UTV Motion Pictures and Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Present Mohenjo Daro starring Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde The film is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and releases on August 12, 2016.

During the Pre-historic Indus Valley, in 2016 BC, the evil greed of a man is about to destroy one of the oldest cities in the ancient world, Mohenjo Daro. A young indigo farmer, Sarman, enters the city and meets Chaani, the daughter of the Priest, predicted to be the Origin of a New Society. Sarman, in his attempt to win Chaani's love, uncovers the secrets nobody was ever supposed to know - about Chaani, about Mohenjo Daro and about his own past!

MOHENJO DARO is a story of an ancient love and our past, present and future!

SUBSCRIBE UTV Motion Pictures: http://www.youtube.com/utvmotionpictures



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Dr Subramanian Swamy Speech at IIC, Rajiv Malhotra's new book Academic Hinduphobia launch

July 12, 2016, 1:13 am
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS3alUDPDxI (11:48)

Dr Subramanian Swamy Speech at IIC, Rajiv Malhotra's new book Academic Hinduphobia launch
Published on Jul 11, 2016
'India is grateful to Rajiv Malhotra for his decades of personal sacrifice and pioneering original research. He has esposed the global nexus of Hinduphobia and established the foundations of India's grand narrative.' - Dr Subrahmanian Swamy, Member of Indian Parliament

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Mysterious posters urge COAS to take over put up across country -- DAWN

July 12, 2016, 2:21 am
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Mysterious banners urging COAS to take over put up across country

SAHER BALOCH | IKRAM JUNAIDI | WASEEM AHMAD SHAH — UPDATED ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO
Pakistan poster- India Tv
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/PESHAWAR: A little-known political party of Punjab put up banners in 13 cities across the country on Monday with its leaders urging Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif to impose martial law and form a government of technocrats.
The banners have been put up in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Hyderabad, etc, by the Move on Pakistan party and unlike its earlier campaign requesting the army chief to reconsider his retirement plan due in November the message is quite ominous this time around.
A banner hanging at a traffic intersection on the thoroughfare between Chief Minister House and the Rangers headquarters in Karachi reads: Janay ki baatain hui puraani, Khuda k liye ab ajao (Talks of leaving are now old; for God’s sake now come).
Ali Hashmi, the central chief organiser of the party, told Dawn that the goal of their campaign was to suggest to the army chief that after imposing martial law a government of technocrats should be made in Pakistan and Gen Raheel should himself supervise it.
While the official mouthpiece of the army — the Inter-Services Public Relations — remained silent, analyst Amir Rana believed that the latest move strengthened the view that something was cooking up.
Interestingly, the banners sprang up overnight on all major thoroughfares in the 13 cities, even in cantonment areas, despite the presence of several checkpoints and extra security.
Mr Hashmi claimed that his party’s banners were removed in Lahore and Faisalabad in the morning.
The Move on Pakistan party — which has little grass-root support — has been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan for the past three years and a Faisalabad-based businessman, Mohammad Kamran, is its chairman. He runs a number of schools and ‘businesses’ in Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore.
The party came into the spotlight in February when it put up posters and banners across the country asking the army chief not to retire and “help in eradicating terrorism and corruption”.
Though five months back the party maintained that it was not inviting the army to take over, this time it said that “there is no choice but to enforce martial law and form a government of technocrats”.
Mr Hashmi said that the absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the country for more than 40 days proved that there was no need of a political government. “Those who have been running the country will keep running it.”
Regarding his future plans, he said: “We have been considering holding rallies from Faisalabad to Lahore and Karachi to Sukkur in the second phase to convince the army chief that he should intervene for the betterment of the country and nation.”
Analyst Rana said that there could be some forces behind the persons responsible for the latest campaign.
“Some elements always remain ready to find ways to come close to the armed forces and make an alliance with the establishment,” he said, adding: “Although a change cannot be brought with such moves, it strengthens the doubt that something is going on.”
The issue was widely discussed on TV talk shows and on the social media.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, however, was cautious in making any comment.
At a private TV programme, Minister of State for Privatisation Mohammad Zubair said that the army chief had already expressed his intention that he would not seek an extension in his tenure. “He [Gen Raheel] is the head of a great institution. I’m sure the person who will replace him will be equally professional and competent.”
He said that only legal experts could say what action be taken against those putting up such banners and posters.
Pakistan Peoples Party leader and Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Information Maula Bux Chandio said in a press talk that Gen Raheel would take a decision in the best national interest.
He, however, asked the army chief not to pay any heed towards the advice or suggestions of sycophants.
Meanwhile, when asked whether the inscription on the banners amounted to sedition, a Peshawar police official said in a lighter vein that the message on the banners was vague and the organiser of the party might be asking the army chief to come to Peshawar.
Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2016

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China has ‘no historic rights’ in South China Sea: Hague tribunal

July 12, 2016, 3:03 am
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China’s South China Sea setback

By: Dhruva Jaishankar | Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 July 2016 7:45 PM

TOTAL SHARES
China’s South China Sea setback
(Representational Picture)
On Tuesday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague released its much-awaited ruling on a case brought by the Philippines against China on the South China Sea disputes. The decision marks the most high-profile development concerning the overlapping and intensifying territorial disputes, which directly involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
The future of the South China Sea has global implications, as jurisdiction over a few seemingly minor islands legitimises control over vast amounts of sea, which in turn enables access to valuable mineral and fishing resources and denies warships from traversing waters through which a significant amount of the world’s trade passes.
In recent months, lobbying over the disputes had reached fever pitch, with China going on a global public affairs blitz to make its case heard, including by briefing academic experts and journalists and taking out full page advertisements in newspapers in India, the United States, Europe, and elsewhere.
Despite these immense efforts, the Philippines had constructed a clever legal case, invoking international law not for a judgement on the legality of China’s territorial control, but instead to assess the status of the islands claimed by China. Around islands, countries can claim territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where they can exercise sole fishing, drilling, and resource rights. But that does not apply if the feature is an uninhabitable rock or submerged during high tide. It was on this simple, yet technical, issue that the legal case against China rested.
The court’s verdict has proved a resounding rebuttal to China, essentially on four grounds.
First, the Court determined that almost all of the Philippines’ complaints fell within its jurisdiction, despite Chinese arguments that the South China Sea was a matter of territorial sovereignty, that Beijing had not agreed to such international arbitration, and that military matters fell outside the Court’s purview.
Second, the Court rubbished China’s claims to the South China Sea on historical grounds, deeming them contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the bedrock of international maritime law.
Third, it ruled that the islands claimed by China were in some cases low-tide elevations, and thus within the Philippines’ EEZ, and in other cases were rocks, incapable of “sustaining human habitation or economic life” under natural circumstances. Despite China’s reclamation and construction efforts, these were rocks, not islands. China was thus in violation of the Philippines’ EEZ, and not the other way around.
Finally, and in conclusion, the court ruled clearly that China had violated UNCLOS and other elements of international law by denying the Philippines access to fishing and other maritime resources, by constructing artificial islands, by disregarding environmental concerns, and by aggravating and expanding the dispute while resolution proceedings were underway.
Why does this case matter so much? For the first time since its rise as a global power, the People’s Republic of China finds itself in flagrant violation of international law on an issue that it deems a “core national interest,” and thus non-negotiable. There are now concerns that China might respond by further aggravating tensions with the Philippines, its backer the United States, or other regional actors directly or indirectly involved in the South China Sea disputes. As a result, the uneasy consensus in Asia may fracture, forcing various countries to take sides, either with China or against it. This is a situation that India will have to monitor carefully.
But the South China Sea ruling matters to India for other reasons as well. Much of India’s trade is maritime in nature, and the principle of freedom of navigation and overflight are therefore crucial, particularly in important commercial channels.  As Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution has pointed out, China’s handling of the South China Sea dispute also serves as an indicator of how Beijing might approach other disputes, including possibly with India. Furthermore, when it comes to arbitration under international law, India has set a positive precedent, having accepted international arbitration on the Indus Waters Treaty and in its maritime dispute with Bangladesh, and respecting the result of the latter even though it went largely against India.
These concerns may explain why several Indian leaders – including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar – have been making statements on the South China Sea issue over the past few months and years. They have all indicated their firm belief that maritime disputes should be resolved in accordance with UNCLOS. Absent that, in the words of Parrikar, “all of us will suffer, irrespective of whether we are big or small states.”
http://www.abplive.in/blog/chinas-south-china-sea-setback

(Dhruva Jaishankar is Fellow for Foreign Policy with Brookings India in New Delhi. The views reflected here are his own.)

China issues statement, reaffirming territorial sovereigntyand maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea

(Xinhua)    17:59, July 12, 2016
Following is the full text of a statement of the Chinese government on China's territorialsovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea issued on Tuesday.
Statement of the Government of the People' s Republic of China on China' sTerritorial Sovereignty and Maritime Rights and Interests in the South ChinaSea
To reaffirm China' s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the SouthChina Sea, enhance cooperation in the South China Sea with other countries,and upholdpeace and stability in the South China Sea, the Government of the People' s Republic ofChina hereby states as follows:
I. China' s Nanhai Zhudao (the South China Sea Islands) consist of Dongsha Qundao (theDongsha Islands), Xisha Qundao (the Xisha Islands), Zhongsha Qundao (the ZhongshaIslands) and Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands). The activities of the Chinese people inthe South China Sea date back to over 2,000 years ago. China is the first to havediscovered, named, and explored and exploited Nanhai Zhudao and relevant waters, andthe first to have exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them continuously, peacefullyand effectively, thus establishing territorial sovereignty and relevant rights and interests inthe South China Sea.
Following the end of the Second World War, China recovered and resumed the exercise ofsovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao which had been illegally occupied by Japan during its warof aggression against China. To strengthen the administration over Nanhai Zhudao, theChinese government in 1947 reviewed and updated the geographical names of NanhaiZhudao, compiled Nan Hai Zhu Dao Di Li Zhi Lue (A Brief Account of the Geography ofthe South China Sea Islands), and drew Nan Hai Zhu Dao Wei Zhi Tu (Location Map of theSouth China Sea Islands) on which the dotted line is marked. This map was officiallypublished and made known to the world by the Chinese government in February 1948.
II. Since its founding on 1 October 1949, the People' s Republic of China has been firm inupholding China' s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the SouthChina Sea. A series of legal instruments, such as the 1958 Declaration of the Governmentof the People' s Republic of China on China' s Territorial Sea, the 1992 Law of the People' sRepublic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, the 1998 Law of thePeople' s Republic of China on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf andthe 1996 Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People' s Congress of thePeople' s Republic of China on the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea, have further reaffirmed China' s territorial sovereignty and maritime rightsand interests in the South China Sea.
III. Based on the practice of the Chinese People and the Chinese government in the longcourse of history and the position consistently upheld by successive Chinese governments,and in accordance with national law and international law, including the United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea, China has territorial sovereignty and maritime rightsand interests in the South China Sea, including, inter alia:
i. China has sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao, consisting of Dongsha Qundao, XishaQundao, Zhongsha Qundao and Nansha Qundao;
ii. China has internal waters, territorial sea and contiguous zone, based on NanhaiZhudao;
iii. China has exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, based on Nanhai Zhudao;
iv. China has historic rights in the South China Sea.
The above positions are consistent with relevant international law and practice.
IV. China is always firmly opposed to the invasion and illegal occupation by certain statesof some islands and reefs of China' s Nansha Qundao, and activities infringing upon China's rights and interests in relevant maritime areas under China' s jurisdiction. China standsready to continue to resolve the relevant disputes peacefully through negotiation andconsultation with the states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical factsand in accordance with international law. Pending final settlement, China is also ready tomake every effort with the states directly concerned to enter into provisional arrangementsof a practical nature, including joint development in relevant maritime areas, in order toachieve win-win results and jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.
V. China respects and upholds the freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by allstates under international law in the South China Sea, and stays ready to work with othercoastal states and the international community to ensure the safety of and the unimpededaccess to the international shipping lanes in the South China Sea.
(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)

(Editor:Wu Chengliang,Bianji) http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/0712/c90000-9085054.html

China has ‘no historic rights’ in South China Sea: Hague tribunal

  • Philippines challenged China’s sea assertions in Hague court
  • China claims more than 80 percent of South China Sea




China’s assertions to more than 80 percent of the disputed South China Sea have been dealt a blow with an international tribunal ruling it has no historic rights to the resources within a 1940s map detailing its claims.
“There was no evidence that China has historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources,” the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said Tuesday in a statement. “The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the seas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’.”
The case was brought by the Philippines, arguing that China’s claims don’t comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the court says the ruling is binding, it lacks a mechanism for enforcement.





China’s assertions are based on a 1947 map showing vague dashes -- known as the nine-dash line -- looping about 1,120 miles (1,800 kilometers) south of China’s Hainan Island and covering about 1.4 million square miles. It contends its claim is grounded in “historic rights” and reclaimed reefs and islands are its indisputable territory. China boycotted the arbitration process and vowed to ignore the result.
The ruling risks inflaming tensions in a waterway that hosts about $5 trillion of trade a year and plays a vital link for global energy shipments. China has stepped up its assertions under President Xi Jinping, straining ties with fellow claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam.
“The result of the arbitration is non-binding as far as China is concerned,” Chinese Admiral Sun Jianguo said in June. “The Chinese government has already repeatedly made it clear that it will not accept it, will not attend the arbitration, does not acknowledge it and will not implement the result.”
The U.S. insists it has the right to protect freedom of navigation in the waters and has carried out voyages and flights near features claimed by China. In May, China sent fighters and warships to warn the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, when it sailed close to one of its outposts in the Spratly Islands.
Many of the court’s findings concerned the rights to territorial seas generated by various features. China has reclaimed some 3,200 acres (1,290 hectares) of land and built ports and runways. Under UNCLOS, man made islands don’t generate maritime entitlements.

Scarborough Shoal

The Philippines brought the case to the court after China’s coast guard seized the Scarborough Shoal in 2012. Beijing declined to submit formal documentation in defense of its claims, though it filed a position paper in December 2014 arguing the Philippine submission was a sovereignty dispute and outside the court’s jurisdiction. The PCA rejected that argument.
China has completed at least one of three planned airstrips on the reclaimed reefs, and has installed lighthouses, radar and other facilities it contends are mostly for civilian purposes. It landed a civilian aircraft on Fiery Cross earlier this year and a military plane collected sick workers from the reef in April. China says it has the right to install weapons to defend its sovereign territory.

While the U.S. doesn’t take a position on the claims, it worked diplomatic channels to garner support for the court’s jurisdiction ahead of the ruling.




Map of China and Philippines claims to Scarborough Shoal
Map of China and Philippines claims to Scarborough Shoal

Foreign Ministers from the Group of Seven expressed concern over the territorial tensions in April. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the G-7 shouldn’t "hype" the issue.
China’s actions have pushed some Southeast Asian nations closer to the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. started joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea in March, while Japan has been supplying patrol ships to Vietnam.
“Countries across the region have been taking action and voicing concerns publicly and privately,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said last month. “As a result, China’s actions in the South China Sea are isolating it, at a time when the entire region is coming together and networking. Unfortunately, if these actions continue, China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-12/china-no-historic-right-to-south-china-sea-resources-court-says

South China Sea ruling: Hague tribunal rules Beijing has 'no legal basis' to claim waters or resources

The Phillippines challenged the so-called 'nine-dash line' China uses to claim virtually the entire South China Sea




chinese-islands-south-china-sea.jpgChinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, November, 2015 US Navy/Reuters

China has "no legal basis" to claim historic rights to waters or resources in the South China Sea, an international tribunal has ruled.
The Phillippines challenged the so-called "nine-dash line" China uses to claim virtually the entire South China Sea.
The dispute centered on waters through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes through each year. The waters are also home to rich fishing stocks and a potential wealth of oil, gas and other resources.
The Philippines also asked the Hague-based tribunal to rule on whether several disputed areas are outcrops, reefs or islands, a move aimed at clarifying the extent of territorial waters they are entitled to or if they can project exclusive economic zones. 
22-Graphic.jpg
The court declared that “although Chinese navigators and fishermen, as well as those of other states, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources.

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“The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’.”
The panel said that any historic rights to resources that China may have had were wiped out if they are incompatible with exclusive economic zones established under a UN treaty.
The Philippines' foreign minister welcomed the ruling as a "milestone decision".
"The Philippines reiterates its abiding commitment to efforts of pursuing the peaceful resolution and management of disputes with the view of promoting and enhancing peace and stability in the region," Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay told a news conference.
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China accused of being more hostile in South China Sea
China, which has boycotted the case, has summoned its demobilized sailors and officers for training drills, state media confirmed, in exercises that apparently started just days ago. 
The People's Liberation Army Daily newspaper said on social media late Monday that Chinese navy reserves have been called up to perform "functional tasks."
The post followed online rumors that reservists in central Chinese provinces were called up for an unspecified mission from July 10 to July 22. 
The PLA Daily's post did not explicitly link the call-up to the South China Sea ruling, but said that decommissioned naval officers and reserves hold "normal trainings every year, after which they are able to proficiently operate naval vessels and equipment." 
It added: "'If there is war, we must answer the call' is the sentiment in the hearts of many demobilized veterans." 
In February, China deployed surface-to-air missiles on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
American and Taiwanese officials said missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island, part of the Paracels chain that has been under Chinese control for more than 40 years – but which is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
Additional reporting by Reuters
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/south-china-sea-ruling-philippines-wins-legal-victory-over-beijing-in-hague-tribunal-a7132316.html
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A giant quake may lurk under Bangladesh and beyond -- Nature Geoscience

July 12, 2016, 4:14 am
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A giant quake may lurk under Bangladesh and beyond

July 11, 2016

A giant quake may lurk under Bangladesh and beyond
Bangladesh, Myanmar and eastern India (all near top) are bisected by an extension of the tectonic boundary that ruptured under the Indian Ocean in 2004, killing some 230,000 people. Known quakes along the boundary's southern end are shown in different colors; the black sections nearer the top have not ruptured in historic times, but new research suggests they could. Credit: Michael Steckler/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-07-giant-quake-lurk-bangladesh.html#jCp
A huge earthquake may be building beneath Bangladesh, the most densely populated nation on earth. Scientists say they have new evidence of increasing strain there, where two tectonic plates underlie the world's largest river delta. They estimate that at least 140 million people in the region could be affected if the boundary ruptures; the destruction could come not only from the direct results of shaking, but changes in the courses of great rivers, and in the level of land already perilously close to sea level.
The newly identified threat is a , where one section of earth's crust, or a tectonic plate, is slowly thrusting under another. All of earth's biggest known earthquakes occur along such zones; these include the Indian Ocean quake and tsunami that killed some 230,000 people in 2004, and the 2011 Tohoku quake and tsunami off Japan, which swept away more than 20,000 and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Up to now, all known such zones were only under the ocean; this one appears to be entirely under the land, which greatly multiplies the threat. The findings appear in this week's issue of Nature Geoscience.
Subduction-zone quakes generally occur where plates of heavy ocean crust slowly dive offshore beneath the lighter rocks of adjoining continents, or under other parts of the seafloor. Sometimes sections get stuck against each other over years or centuries, and then finally slip, moving the earth. Scientists knew of the plate boundary in and around Bangladesh, but many assumed it to be sliding only horizontally near the surface, where it sometimes causes fairly large, but less damaging earthquakes in areas that are not as densely populated. However, the authors of the new research say movements on the surface over the past decade show that subduction is taking place below, and that part of the plate juncture is locked and loading up with stress. They are not forecasting an imminent great earthquake, but say it is an "underappreciated hazard."
"Some of us have long suspected this hazard, but we didn't have the data and a model," said lead author Michael Steckler, a geophysicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Now we have the data and a model, and we can estimate the size." He said strain between the plates has been building for at least 400 years—the span of reliable historical records, which lack reports of any mega-quake. When an inevitable release comes, the shaking is likely to be larger than 8.2, and could reach a magnitude of 9, similar to the largest known modern quakes, said Steckler. "We don't know how long it will take to build up steam, because we don't know how long it was since the last one," he said. We can't say it's imminent or another 500 years. But we can definitely see it building."
The newly identified zone is an extension of the same tectonic boundary that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean undersea quake, some 1,300 miles south. As the boundary reaches southeast Asia, the complexity of the motions along it multiply, and scientists do not completely understand all of them. But basically, they say, a giant plate comprising India and much of the Indian Ocean has been thrusting northeasterly into Asia for tens of millions of years. This collision has caused the Himalayas to rise to the north, bringing events like the 2015 Nepal quake that killed 8,000 people. Bangladesh, India's neighbor, lies on the far eastern edge of this plate, but pressure from the collision seems to be warping Asia clockwise around the top of Bangladesh, ending up largely in the next country over, Myanmar. This wraparound arrangement has resulted in a crazy quilt of faults and quakes in and around Bangladesh. Among the largest, a 1762 subduction-zone quake near the southern coast killed at least 700 people. This January, a magnitude 6.7 event in adjoining eastern India killed more than 20. There have been dozens of large quakes in between, but the assumption was that no actual subduction was taking place under Bangladesh itself, seeming to insulate the region from a truly gigantic one. The new study undercuts this idea.
Starting in 2003, U.S. and Bangladeshi researchers set up about two dozen ground-positioning (GPS) instruments linked to satellites, capable of tracking tiny ground motions. Ten years of data now show that eastern Bangladesh and a bit of eastern India are pushing diagonally into western Myanmar at a rapid clip—46 millimeters per year, or about 1.8 inches. Combined with existing GPS data from India and Myanmar, the measurements show that much of the resulting strain has been taken up by several known, slowly moving surface faults in Myanmar and India. But the rest of the movement—about 17 millimeters, or two-thirds of an inch per year—is shortening the distance from Myanmar to Bangladesh. This has been going on for a long time, and the results are clearly visible: neatly parallel north-south ranges of mountains draping the landscape, like a carpet being shoved against a wall. The researchers interpret the shortening pattern to mean that subduction is taking place below, and that a huge zone—about 250 kilometers by 250 kilometers, more than 24,000 square miles—is locked and building pressure, just a few miles below the surface. The zone includes Bangladesh's densely packed capital of Dhaka, a megalopolis of more than 15 million.
A giant quake may lurk under Bangladesh and beyond
Potential quake zone. Solid red line indicates an area of about 24,000 square miles that could move during a subduction-zone earthquake, affecting 140 million people or more. The dashed line represents a scenario in which the slip might …more
Steckler says that, assuming fairly steady motion over the last 400 years, enough strain has built for the zone to jump horizontally by about 5.5 meters, or 18 feet, if the stress is released all at once. If strain has been building longer, it could be up to 30 meters, or almost 100 feet. The land would also move vertically, to a lesser extent. This is the worst-case scenario; in the best case, only part would slip, and the quake would be smaller and farther from Dhaka, said Steckler.
In any case, Bangladesh and eastern India sit atop a landscape vulnerable even to moderate earthquakes: the vast delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. This is basically a pile of mud as deep as 12 miles, washed from the Himalayas to the coast, covering the subduction zone. In a quake, this low-lying substrate would magnify the shaking like gelatin, and liquefy in many places, sucking in buildings, roads and people, said study coauthor Syed Humayun Akhter, a geologist at Dhaka University. The great rivers—10 miles across in places—could jump their banks and switch course, drowning everything in the way; there is in fact evidence that such switches have happened in previous centuries.
Akhter says that fast-growing, poor Bangladesh is unprepared; no building codes existed before 1993, and even now, shoddy new construction flouts regulations. Past quake damages and deaths are no indicator of what could happen now, he said; population and infrastructure have grown so fast that even fairly moderate events like those of past centuries could be mega-disasters. "Bangladesh is overpopulated everywhere," he said. "All the natural gas fields, heavy industries and electric power plants are located close to potential earthquakes, and they are likely to be destroyed. In Dhaka, the catastrophic picture will be beyond our imagination, and could even lead to abandonment of the city."
Roger Bilham, a geophysicist at the University of Colorado who has studied the region but was not involved in the new paper, said its "data are unassailable, the interpretation is sound." Bilham said the research "ties an enormous amount of structural interaction together. We have seen in recent history only modest seismicity responding to those interactions. The Indian subcontinent is effectively being pushed into a tight corner."
Susan Hough, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist who also studies the region and was not involved in the study, said that in recent years, "we've been surprised by big earthquakes that have not been witnessed during historical times, or witnessed so long ago, they were forgotten. Studies like this are critical for identifying those zones."
Scientists in Bangladesh and neighboring countries continue to assess the hazards. James Ni, a seismologist at New Mexico State University, said he and colleagues hope to deploy 70 seismometers across Myanmar in 2017, to get a better image of the apparently subducting slab. "We don't have a good idea of its geometry, we don't know how far it goes down," said Ni. He said that if the study authors are right, and the slab is building strain, a quake would probably turn urban areas in eastern India "into ruins," and effects likely would extend into Myanmar and beyond. "We need more data," he said.
 Explore further: Why the Nepalese quake was so destructive
More information: "Locked and loading megathrust linked to active subduction beneath the Indo-Burman Ranges," Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2760 


http://phys.org/news/2016-07-giant-quake-lurk-bangladesh.html

NATURE GEOSCIENCE | LETTER


Topographic map of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and Indo-Burman Foldbelt showing GPS velocities.Figure 1: Topographic map of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta and Indo-Burman Foldbelt showing GPS velocities.Plate boundaries and major faults are shown in black and grey, respectively. Triangles mark the surface traces of thrusts. Hinge zone indicates the edge of the Indian Craton. Arrows show GPS velocities in an Indian frame of reference.
Analysis of GPS velocities across Indo-Burman Ranges.Figure 2: Analysis of GPS velocities across Indo-Burman Ranges.a, Sections showing foldbelt perpendicular convergence (upper, circles) and parallel dextral shear (lower, squares) components of velocity field. Red, blue and green represent Bangladesh, Indian and Myanmar data, respectively.

Locked and loading megathrust linked to active subduction beneath the Indo-Burman Ranges

Nature Geoscience
 
 
doi:10.1038/ngeo2760
Received
 
Accepted
 
Published online
 
The Indo-Burman mountain ranges mark the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, north of the Sumatra–Andaman subduction zone. Whether subduction still occurs along this subaerial section of the plate boundary, with 46 mm yr−1 of highly oblique motion, is contentious1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. About 21 mm yr−1 of shear motion is taken up along the Sagaing Fault, on the eastern margin of the deformation zone8, 9. It has been suggested that the remainder of the relative motion is taken up largely or entirely by horizontal strike-slip faulting and that subduction has stopped3, 5, 7,10. Here we present GPS measurements of plate motions in Bangladesh, combined with measurements from Myanmar9 and northeast India10, taking advantage of a more than 300 km subaerial accretionary prism spanning the Indo-Burman Ranges to the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta11. They reveal 13–17 mm yr−1 of plate convergence on an active, shallowly dipping and locked megathrust fault. Most of the strike-slip motion occurs on a few steep faults, consistent with patterns of strain partitioning in subduction zones. Our results strongly suggest that subduction in this region is active, despite the highly oblique plate motion and thick sediments. We suggest that the presence of a locked megathrust plate boundary represents an underappreciated hazard in one of the most densely populated regions of the world.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

    • Michael S. Steckler,
      •  
    • Leonardo Seeber,
      •  
    • Jonathan Gale &
      •  
    • Michael Howe

  2. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367, USA

    • Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

  3. Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10016, USA

    • Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

  4. Department of Geology, Dhaka University, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

    • Syed Humayun Akhter

  5. Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore

    • Lujia Feng &
      •  
    • Emma M. Hill

Contributions

M.S.S. planned the paper. D.R.M. did the model analysis with assistance from L.F. and E.M.H., while S.H.A. processed the GPS data. J.G. and M.H. contributed to the data projections. M.S.S., S.H.A., D.R.M. and L.S. installed and maintained the GPS network. All authors discussed the results and contributed to writing the manuscript.

Competing financial interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to: 

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http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2760.html
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ḍhāu 'red minerals' cargo on dāwa dhows and sãgaḍa (double-canoe, catamaran) of ancient Bharatam Janam on Indus Script hieroglyphs

July 12, 2016, 7:53 pm
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s’ambuka, bagala, koṭiyaare dhows, seafaring vessels. All three types of seafaring dhows are signified on Indus Script corpora as demonstrated in this monograph. s'ambuka is signified as to convoluted rings below a base with one-horned young bull held on a badari twig flagpost. The badari twig is kUTI rebus:koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. This is phonetically reinforced by the hieroglyph: one-horned young bull: koDiya rebus: koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. bagala is signified by the Pleiades on Indus Script inscriptions. All three vessels PLUS  sãgaḍa (double-canoe, catamaran) are seafaring  dāwa (Arabic) dhows. The dhows carry cargo of dhAu 'red minerals' (Rigveda) signified by dotted circle or strands of rope as on a Bogazhkoy seal.
Bogazkoy seal impression with 'twisted rope' hieroglyph eruvai 'eagle' rebus: eruvai 'copper' kambha 'wing' khambhaṛā 'fish-fin' rebus: kammaTa 'mint' dhAu 'strands' rebus: dhAu 'red minerals' (Maybe, tridhAtu 'three minerals')
Sambuc 1शम्बुक्क, शम्बुक [p= 1055,3] m. (cf. below and शाम्बुक) a bivalve shell L., any shell or conch, a snail;  शम्बूका* वर्त m. (cf. शङ्खा*व्°) the convolution of a shell.

Uruk cylinder seal. Shows one-horned young bull on a boat, a phonetic determinant: koDiya 'young bull' rebus: koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. dhatu 'scarf' rebus: dhatu 'minerals' eruvai 'european reed' rebus: eruvai 'copper'. Thus, copper mineral cargo carried on koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. The stem brow of the dhow ends in a twig: kUTI 'badari twig' rebus: kUThiya, koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. The helmsman also carries the twig. He is karNadhAra, kannahAra. karNI 'Supercargo, a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale.'
Hieroglyph on mosaic panel, Mari (Louvre Museum): शम्बुक is signified by the two curved rings below the base of ‘one-horned young bull’ held on a flagpost (Mari, Sumer) Flagpost is कूदी Badari twig rebus: kōTiya kUThiyAt. (Kuwait) ‘dhow, bagala, seafaring vessel’.
kOTiya is signified by the ‘one-horned young bull’: kōḍiya 'young bull' rebus: koṭiya, kūṭiya ’dhow, bagala, seafaring vessel’.

h097 Harappa tablet:bagala ‘pleiades’ Rebus: bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (G.) bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Ka.); bagalā (M.); bagarige, bagarage = a kind of vessel (Ka.)
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/07/seafaring-merchants-of-meluhha-dhows-of.html 


There are unambiguous Indus Script hieroglyphic hypertexts that a lateen-rigged (triangular, slanting sails) sailing ship with one or two masts was called the dhow, Arabic dāwa. 
Such a dāwa. was used by seafaring merchants of Meluhha.  
Bagala is a larger type dhow. "Bows are sharp, with a forward and upward thrust, and the sterns of the larger dhows may be windowed and decorated." https://www.britannica.com/technology/dhow 

Klein suggests a relation to Persian dav "running." 

I suggest that the word is related to Prakrtam  dhāu metal' an etymon traceable to the minerals and metals carried on such vessels (dhows and catamarans) as cargo during the Bronze Age from ca. 4th millennium BCE (cf. the discovery of the potsherd at Harappa with Indus script dated to ca. 3300 BCE). 





 A possible reconstruction of early ocean-going dhows. Their main characteristics were sewn double ended construction, steering oars at the stern and a lateen rigged sail. 
A possible reconstruction of a later dhow with stern rudders and a rope system of steering. Source: http://nabataea.net/ships.html

An Indian Ocean dhow. " The baggala is the traditional deep-sea dhow of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its distinguishing features are the five-windowed stern, which is often elaborately carved in the manner of an ancient Portuguese caravel. Baggalas have quarter-galleries, and their curved stems are surmounted by a horned figurehead. Baggalas are built now only at the pot of Sur, in Oman, and are practically extinct in Kuwait. There are probably less than fifty in existence." http://indigenousboats.blogspot.in/2008/08/too-late-to-document-dhows.html
Dhow on the Shatt-al-Arab (1958) 
Front CoverClifford W. Hawkins. 1977, The dhow: an illustrated history of the dhow and its world, Nautical Publishing Co.
imageDhow anchored off Salalah, southern Oman (Nicolas Sapieha) 
The Durable DhowVolume 50 Number 3, May/June 1997
by Tom Vosmer

"For thousands of years Omanis have plied a sea-trading thoroughfare stretching north to Mesopotamia, east to India, and southwest to Africa. Taking advantage of seasonal winds, they sailed to foreign ports during the winter, returning home in the summer. In addition, the Arabs developed a highly effective triangular sail, called a lateen, and the kamal, a navigating device that enabled them to determine latitude by gauging the height of the Pole Star above the horizon. They eventually established colonies along the African coast, in Mogadishu, Mombasa, Lamu, and Zanzibar, where

they operated lucrative clove plantations. Indigenous to the coasts of the Arabian peninsula, India, and East Africa, the earliest dhows were shell built--simple dugouts with teak planks sewn to their sides to form a hull. Gradually, larger vessels evolved, employing a keel to which planking was sewn. Shell-built construction differed from the European frame-first method, in which planking was attached to ribbing.


Shell-building allowed shipwrights to create a vessel one plank at a time. If changes were requested, one could simply alter the shape of a plank or its angle of attachment. Most dhows are known by names referring to their hull shape. The ghanjah is a large vessel with curved stem (the boat's foremost timber) and a sloping, ornately carved transom, the ship's flat back end. The baghlah, no longer built, was the traditional deep-sea dhow; it had a transom with five windows and a poop deck reminiscent of European galleons. Double-ended dhows, like the boom, have both stem and stern posts. The battil, also no longer built, featured long stems topped by large, club-shaped stem heads and stern posts decorated with cowrie shells and leather. The badan was a smaller vessel requiring a shallow draught. Without archaeological evidence--no ancient wreck of a vessel indigenous to the western Indian Ocean has ever been found--it is difficult to discern foreign influences on dhow design. We do know that iron nail fastenings began to supplant sewn planks after Portuguese and other European ships entered the region in the early sixtennth century. Many feel the majestic baghlahs and ghanjahs, with their ornate transom decoration and grand size, were the apogee of dhow building. In terms of pure design, however, the smaller, double-ended battils and badans were the finest expression of the tradition."
Model of a Sambuk

Sanbouk Al-Jalahma (Mansour)  http://www.kuwaitboom.com/history/eng_ver/sanbouk.html

"Sambuk or sambuq (صنبوق) – the largest type of dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history.[16] The word is cognate with the Greek σαμβύκη sambúkē, ultimately from Middle Persian sambūk. "(Oman, a Seafaring Nation, Oman: Ministry of Information, 1979.Agius, Dionisius A (2008), Classic Ships of Islam: From Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, p.314. loc.cit.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhow)
Sambuk or sambuq (سنبوك‎) - "The largest type of Dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history." Source: http://socheapandchic.blogspot.in/2011/11/culture-first-traditional-dhow.html


dhowA model sambuk displayed in Coir Kerala 2016

Detail of wood carving seen on Sambuq hull in Dubai Creek 

Hieroglyph:arka 'sun' rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper'
tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper'
karaDI 'safflower' rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy'
tALa 'palm tree' rebus:dhALa 'larg ingot (oxhide)'
koD 'horn' rebus: koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'

Sambuk in Aden, 1936 "Sambuk (ultimately from 

Middle Persian sambūk[1]), known in New Persian as Sunbūk (سنبوک) and 

Sambuk boatSambuc 1
in Arabic as Sambūk (سنبوك), Sambūq (سنبوق) andṢumbūq (صنبوق), is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. Formerly sambuks had ornate carvings." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambuk See: http://web.archive.org/web/20101101204044/http://www.agmgifts.co.uk/dhow%20article.html


An Arab dhow called a Sambuk. (The accent is on the 2nd syllable). These were typical dhows of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Arabia. 16th century Caravels copied the lateen sail rig, an Arab invention. The wings on the stern are copied from Caravels. This model represents a boat circa 1900. http://roberts-model-ships-and-boats.com/sambuc1.htm
Two masted ships from Satavahana (2nd cent. CE) and Pallava (6th cent. CE) coins. National Museum. Delhi.Main parts of a bivalve shell: 1: 
sagittal plane, 2: growth lines, 3: ligament, 4: umbo












This hieorglyph signifier is reinforced by the badari twig kUdI, kUTI as a flagpost rebus: kUThiyAt, koṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. The badari twig flagpost has two rings on top, below the base holding the one-horned young bull. These rings signify bivalve: sambuka rebus: sambuka 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. On hundreds of inscriptions of Indus Script Corpora, the one-horned young bull (kODiya rebus: koTiya 'dhow') is shown in front of sãgaḍa 'lathe, portable furnace' rebus: sãgaḍa 'double-canoe'. In addition to these three ships/canoes,  sambuka, koṭiya, sãgaḍa, a fourth vessel called baghlah is also signified on a unique Indus Script hieroglyph: bagala 'pleiades'.





 Badari twig



The post holding the young bull banner is signified by a twig. कूदी [p= 300,1] f. a bunch of twigs , bunch (v.l. कूट्/ई) AV. v , 19 , 12 Kaus3. accord. to Kaus3. , Sch. = बदरी, "Christ's thorn". Koliya (adj.) [fr. kola] of the fruit of the jujube tree J iii.22,  (Pali)The one-horned young bull hieroglyph is held aloft on a badarI twig (kUTI, kUDI)(Atharvaveda) signifying the young bull: కోడియ (p. 326) kōḍiya 'young bull' rebus: koṭiya, kūṭiya 'dhow, sailing vessel'.

The twig as flagstaff is topped by a base above two bivalve rings. 

I suggest that the rings suggest:  sambuka 'bivalve shell' (Pali), reinforcing the dhow, kOTiya. It is significant that Kuwai also has a phonetic variant for the dhow: kUThiyAt. 
Hieroglyph: *śumbha 'parrot': śúka m. ʻ parrot ʼ RV.Pa. suka -- , suva -- m. ʻ parrot ʼ, °vī -- f., Aś. suka -- m.; Pk. suga -- , sua -- m., sugī -- , suī -- f. ʻ parrot ʼ, suvigā<-> ʻ maina (which also can be taught to speak) ʼ; P. sūā m. ʻ parrot ʼ, WPah.jaun. śūā, Ku. suwā, gng. śua, Or. Aw.lakh. suā, H. suwā, sūā m., suī f., OG. sūa, sūḍaü m., G. suṛɔm., M. suā, suvā m., Si. suva -- yā. -- Cf. Bshk. šūṅ < *śuṅka -- AO xviii 251; Phal. šumu < *śumbha -- ?Addenda: śúka -- : WPah.kṭg. śūˊ m. (obl. śúa) ʻ parrot ʼ.(CDIAL 12503)

Parrot as Indus Script hieroglyph: śumbha 'parrot' rebus: metath. śambūˊka 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. Another hieroglyph which signified śambūˊka 'dhow' is śambūˊka 'bivalve shell'

Parrot-shaped stemhead facing inwards on a Kuwaiti cargo baghla, Photo 1999 by Agius, Dionisius A (2008), Classic Ships of Islam: From Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, p.267


Hieroglyph: jambak 'pleiades': جنبق jambaḳ, adj. Close, dense, clustered, grouped, assembled, collected, amassed; also written جمیق jambaḳ. جنبق ستوري janbaḳ storī, The Pleiades. See پیروني ستوريَ storaey, s.m. (1st) A star, constellation, Pl. يِ ī. جمبق ستوري jambaḳ storī, s.m. (1st) Pl. The Pleiades. د قطب ستوري da ḳut̤b storaey, The north-star. د سهیل ستوري da suhail storaey, The star Canopus.(Pashto)

A ghanjah at Bombay harbor in 1909  gañja2 m.n. mine  निर्मूषके राजगञ्जे Ks.43.3. (Apte) ʻ treasury ʼ Rājat., ʻ grainstore ʼ W. [← Ir. EWA i 315]
NiDoc. gaṁni -- draṁga ʻ treasure house ʼ T. Burrow BSOS vii 509; Kho. gonǰ ʻ store room ʼ.(CDIAL 3960) gañjavara m. ʻ treasurer ʼ Rājat. [← Ir. EWA i 315] NiDoc. gaṁñavara.(CDIAL 3963) गंज (p. 123) gañja m ( P) A heap, stack, rick, pile (of grain, hay, wood, bales). 2 A case, as of mathematical instruments, of writing-materials, of combs, brushes, razors, of blades, screws, prickers, of compartments for पान, सुपारी, चुना&c. 3 A box of tools or utensils. 4 A mart; a bazar. 5 A large copper vessel for holding water. (From Nágpúr.) 

शम्बुक्क, शम्बुक [p= 1055,3] m. (cf. below and शाम्बुक) a bivalve shell L., any shell or conch, a snail;  शम्बूका* वर्त m. (cf. शङ्खा*व्°) the convolution of a shell.
Hieroglyph: śambūˊka bivalve shell: śambu m. ʻ bivalve shell ʼ, śambúka -- m. lex. 2. śambukka -- m. lex., śambūˊka -- m. Suśr.1. Pa. sambuka -- m. ʻ a shell ʼ; Or. sāmba ʻ oyster shell ʼ.2. Pk. saṁbukka -- m. ʻ a shell ʼ; B. sāmuk ʻ bivalve shell, snail, cockle ʼ; Or. sāmukā ʻbivalve, snail' (CDIAL 12316)
śambūˊka 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. Another hieroglyph which signified śambūˊka 'dhow' is śambūˊka 'bivalve shell'

Indus Script hieroglyphs from a mosaic panel, Mari (Louvre Museum). The koṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'.signified by the kODiya 'one-horned young bull'. 

Trefoil ornament on the brow of a Ghanjah kotiya. The cuved ornament below the hieroglyph of the sun 'arka' is a signifier or a bivalve shell:  शम्बूका* वर्त m. (cf. शङ्खा*व्°) the convolution of a shell. thus, the hieroglyph-multiplex on the ghanjah kotiya signifies a  शम्बूक koTiya (a dhow, seafaring vessel). The rings below the ornamented brow are also signifiers of dhAu 'strands' rebus: dhAtu 'minerals'.


"The baghlah dhows had a curved prow with a stem-head, an ornately carvedstern and quarter galleries. Their average length was 100 ft (30 m) with an average weight of 275 tons. Usually they had two masts using two to three lateen sails; supplementary sails like a jibwere often added on the bowsprit, as well as on a topmast atop the main mast.As a large and heavy ship the baghlah required a crew of at least 30 sailors. Some had even up to 40." (Thabit A. J. Abdullah, The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra, SUNY series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East , 2000, loc.cit.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghlah) "Despite their historical attachment to Arab traders, dhows are essentially an Indian boat, with much of the wood for their construction coming from the forests of India. In Europe, boats names are based on the type of sail rigging the boat has. Thus, it is typical for Europeans to label all Arab boats as dhows. In the Middle East however, boats are classified according the shape of their hull. Thus, dhows with square sterns have the classifications: baghalah, ganja, sanbuuq, jihaazi. The square stern is basically a product of European influence, since Portuguese and other boats visited the Arab gulf since the sixteenth century...According to Hourani, fully stitched construction was observed by medieval writers in the Red Sea, along the east African coast, in Oman, along the Malabar and Coromandel Coasts of India and in the Maldives and Laccadive Islands...Contemporary records prove without a doubt that during the third millennium BC, Babylon carried on extensive overseas trade through the Persian Gulf southward to the east African coast and eastward to India. Hardly anything is known about the vessels used on these ambitious runs other than that they were very small; the largest mentioned has a capacity of some 28 tons. (Ships and Seamanship in The Ancient World, Lionel Casson Princeton University Press, 1971, Page 23)...A 'seagoing boat' of 300 gur is mentioned in a document of 2000 BC; see A. Oppenheim "The Seafaring Merchants of Ur." (Journal of the American Oriental Society 74, 1954, 6-17, especially 8 note 8. For the size of the gur, see Appendix 1, note 5)." http://nabataea.net/ships.html

śambūka is a character in some versions of the Ramayana. According to that version ('Uttarakanda' [Final Chapter], sargas 73-76, in the Adhyatma Ramayana version ofRamayana.) he was an ascetic slain by Rama for attempting to perform penance in violation of dharma, the bad karma resulting from which caused the death of a Brahmin's son (Government of Maharashtra, Nasik District Gazeteer: History - Ancient Period [1] (text credited to Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. V. V. Mirashi). "Lord Rama approached him and asked why are you doing penance? He replied that he had committed the great "seven" sins (such as murder, robbery, raping ...) and he didnt want to be punished by God for the sins he committed. So in order to escape the punishment, he is doing penance to purify his sins. According to vedic dharma, if a person committees "grave" sins, then he should either repent for it by pure heart before God or he should approach a guru for advise. He is not permitted to do penance to purify the sins...The Pushtimarg Vaishnavite tradition of Gujarat points out that the Ramayana refers to other Shudras, such as Shabari, who lived in the forest. Shambuka therefore deliberately violated dharma in order to get Rama's attention, and attained salvation when he was beheaded." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambuka [loc.cit. Motiramji Sastri, Ramayan (in Gujarati) (Ahmedabad, 1961)]
Polynesian catamaran
धाऊ (p. 250) dhāū m f A certain soft and red stone. See धाव. धाव (p. 250) dhāva m f A certain soft, red stone.dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Mn., ʻ ashes of the dead ʼ lex., ʻ *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.). [√dhā]
Pa. dhātu -- m. ʻ element, ashes of the dead, relic ʼ; KharI. dhatu ʻ relic ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ); -- Si. dā ʻ relic ʼ; -- S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f. (CDIAL 6773)

*dhāgga ʻ thread ʼ. 2. *dharāgga -- . [Poss. X dhara- m. ʻ flock of cotton ʼ, Pk. dhara -- n. ʻ raw cotton ʼ: but cf. *trāgga -- ]
1. S. dhāg̠o m. ʻ thread, twine ʼ; L. dhāggā m. ʻ small string by which thong attaching yoke to plough -- shaft is itself fastened to peg in shaft ʼ, awāṇ. dhāgā ʻ thread ʼ, P. dhāggā m., Ku. N. dhāgo; Or. dhāgā, ḍhāgā ʻ single stitch ʼ; H. dhāgā m. ʻ thread ʼ; G. dhāgɔ m. ʻ thread, piece of cloth ʼ, dhāgī f. ʻ patchwork quilt ʼ; M. dhāgā m. ʻ thread ʼ; -- ext. -- l -- : Ku. dhāgulo ʻ bracelet ʼ, H. dhagulā m. -- X dāˊman -- 1: Gy. eur. thav m. ʻ thread ʼ, pal. dăf, as. def?2. Pk. dharagga -- m. ʻ cotton ʼ.Addenda: *dhāgga -- [Rather †*dhārga -- ~ †*dharga -- with dial. a ~ ā < IE. o (*dhorgo -- in NPers. darz ʻ suture ʼ, darzmān ʻ thread ʼ); Pk. dharagga -- < *dhargga -- < *dharga -- T. Burrow BSOAS xxxviii 73]WPah.J. dhāgā m. ʻ thread ʼ, kṭg. dhàggɔ m., poet. dhaguḷo, °gḷo, °gḷu m. ʻ bracelet ʼ (Him.I 105).(CDIAL 6770)
h097 [Pleiades, twigs (on head), ladle, rimless pot]
Brief memoranda:
baṭa = rimless pot (Kannada) Rebus: baṭa = a kind of iron (Gujarati) 
muka ‘ladle’ (Tamil)(DEDR 4887) Rebus: mū̃h ‘ingot’ (Santali) PLUS dula'pair' Rebus: dul'cast metal'.  (See two ladles). Thus, the offering on the stool denotes: a metal ingot.
bagala ‘pleiades’ Rebus: bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (G.) bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Ka.); bagalā (M.); bagarige, bagarage = a kind of vessel (Ka.)

Hieroglyph: bahulā 'Pleiades': bahulā f. pl. ʻ the Pleiades ʼ VarBr̥S., °likā -- f. pl. lex. [bahulá -- ] Kal. bahul ʻ the Pleiades ʼ, Kho. ból, (Lor.) boul, bolh, Sh. (Lor.) b*lle.(CDIAL 9195) வாகுலை vākulai, n. < Vahulā. The six presiding 
female 
 deities of the Pleiades; அறு மீனாகிய கார்த்திகைப்பெண்கள். (யாழ். அக.)
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
July 13, 2016

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'Endless knot' hieroglyph on Indus Script mēḍhā 'twist' rebus med 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) medhā 'dhana, yajna'

July 13, 2016, 7:29 am
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Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/j35muoc

At the outset, I offer my sincere thanks to Dr. Jayasimha of Mythic Society, Bengaluru for providing insights into the abiding traditions of Ancient India in symbolic representation of 'endless knot' on an inscription of Rashtrakuta dynasty studied by Altekar in the context of the study of an Samskrtam and old Kannada inscription of Dhruva II and study of inscriptions by JF Fleet ((JF Fleet, Sanskrit and Old-Canarese Insciptions, No. CXXVII, Indian Antiquary, June 1883, pp. 156-165).
Photo of an old en:Kannada inscription (from the en:Rashtrakuta period) at the 9th century Navalinga temples in Kuknur, en:Koppal district, en:Karnataka state, India

The Rashtrakuta emblem was Garuda, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu. The rulers are often referred to as Vallabha, which is an abbreviation of Sri Prithvi - Vallabha, a title commonly sported by the Chalukyas of Badami. Such a Garuda emblem used to tie the three copper plates of Dhruva II discussed in this note.

Dhruva II Inscription Gujarat Rashtrakuta 884 CE (H. Sarkar & BM Pande)
A new copper plate of Dhruva II of the Gujarat Rashtrakuta branch, datedsaka 806 (AS Altekar, Epigraphia INdica, Vol. XXII, 1933-34, pp. 64-76).Note the signature of the king on line 69 in Kannada while the inscription is in Samskrtam.  After the signature and before the word लिखितं 'likhitam' is engraved an ornamental design. It is an Indus Script hieroglyph: 'endless knot' which occurs on a number of inscriptions which is deciphered in this monograph: .मेढा [mēḍhā] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl (Marathi). Rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper' (Munda. Slavic) mẽṛhẽt, meḍ  'iron' (Munda). Rebus: medha 'yajna'.मेध [p= 832,3] an animal-sacrifice , offering , oblation , any sacrifice (esp. ifc.) ib. MBh. &c मेधाa symbolical N. of the letter ध् Up.= धन Naigh. ii , 10. any valued object , (esp.) wealth , riches , (movable) property , money , treasure , gift RV. &c.

Consistent with Naighantuka, the word medhA also means 'कविधानम्' according to s'abdakalpadruma: I assume that medhA = dhAnam means (in the context of the hieroglyph on Dhruva II inscription): धानम् dhānam नी nī धानम् नी [धा भावे-ल्युट्] 1 A receptacle, seat; as in मसीधानी, राजधानी, यमधानी; रविं दधाने$प्यरविन्दधाने Śi.4.12. -2 Nourishing, nourishment. -नी 1 The site of a habitation.


मेधा, स्त्री, (मेधतेसङ्गच्छतेअस्यामिति।मेध् + “षिद्भिदादिभ्योऽङ्।” ३।३।१०४।इत्यङ्। टाप्।) धारणावतीबुद्धिः।इत्यमरः।१।५।२॥ धारणाशक्तियुक्ताधीर्मेधामेधतेसङ्गच्छतेऽस्यां सर्व्वंबहुश्रुतंविषयीकरोतिइतिवामेधामेधृ-ञसङ्गेमेधायांसेमक्तात्सरोरित्यःआपबहु- श्रुतविषयीकरणंधारणायदुक्तंधारणाबुद्धे- र्गुणविशेषःइति॥इतिभरतः॥ * ॥ (यथा, मुण्डकोपनिषदि।३।२।३। “नायमात्माप्रवचनेनलभ्यो नमेधयानबहुनाश्रुतेन। यमेवैषवृणुतेतेनलभ्य- स्तस्यैषआत्माविवृणुतेतनूंस्वाम्॥”) मेधाकरंऔषधंयथा, -- “शङ्खपुष्पीवचासोमाब्राह्मीब्रह्मसुवर्च्चला। अभयाचगुडूचीचअटरूषकवाकुची। एतैरक्षसमैर्भागैर्घृतंप्रस्थंविपाचयेत्॥ कण्टकार्य्यारसप्रस्थंबृहत्याचसमन्वितम्। एतद्ब्राह्मीघृतंनामस्मृतिमेधाकरंपरम्॥”तिगारुडे१९८अध्यायः॥ * ॥ मेधाकरगणोयथा।सतताध्ययनम्।तत्त्व- ज्ञानकथा।श्रेष्ठतन्त्रशास्त्रावलोकनम्।सद्द्वि- जाचार्य्यसेवाच।इतिपुराणम्॥ (दक्षप्रजा- पतिकन्याविशेषः।यथा, -- “कीर्त्तिलक्ष्मीर्धृतिर्मेघापुष्टिःश्रद्धाक्रिया मतिः॥” इतिवह्निपुराणेगणभेदनामाध्याये॥ धनम्।इतिनिघण्टुः।२।१०॥“मिधृमेधृ सङ्गमेच।चकारात्हिंसामेधयोश्च।मिधिः सङ्गत्यर्थः।इतिमाधवः।घज्।सङ्गच्छतेऽनेन सर्व्वंतद्बताहिंस्यतेवातद्वान्चौरादिभिः घ्नन्तिचैवार्थकारणात्इतिमहाभारतम्॥ यद्वा, मतौधीयतेअर्जयितव्यंरक्षितव्यंदातव्य- मितिधनवताबुद्धौधनंधार्य्यते।तत्रमति- शब्दउपपदेधातोःघञर्थेकविधानम्इति कः।पृषोदरादित्वात्मतिशब्दस्यमेभावः।” इतितद्भाष्येदेवराजयज्वा॥)

https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/शब्दकल्पद्रुमः/

The dAna referred in the grant signed by Dhruva II also includes dhana 'property, gift' signified by mēḍhā 'twist' rebus: medhA, and hence, the use of the Indus Script hieroglyph. 

The earlier rebus rendering of the hieroglyph mēḍhā 'twist' is a commodity: med 'iron'med 'copper' (Slavic) and hence, its occurrence together with svastika hieroglyph which signifies: jasta, sattva,'zinc' in the context of trade by seafaring merchants of Meluhha.

"While the history of the early Rashtrakutas has caused much debate, the history of the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (in present-dayGulbarga) of the 8th–10th centuries can be accurately constructed because numerous contemporaneous inscriptions and texts refer to them. The crux of the Manyakheta empire extended from the Kaveri river in the south to the Narmada in the north. At their peak they were the only south Indian empire that conquered regions in far northern India (Kannauj) as well as the extreme south (Tamilakam). The Lata branch of the empire (in present-day Gujarat) was an important dynasty belonging to the Manyakheta family line which later merged with the Manyakheta kingdom during the 9th century...ancient clan names such as "Rashtrika", epithets such as Ratta, Rashtrakuta, Lattalura Puravaradhiswara,..The appearance of the terms Rathika, Ristika (Rashtrika) or Lathika in conjunction with the terms Kambhoja and Gandhara in some Ashokan inscriptions of the 2nd century BCE from Mansera and Shahbazgarhi in North Western Frontier Province (present day Pakistan), Girnar (Saurashtra) and Dhavali (Kalinga) and the use of the epithet "Ratta" in many later inscriptions has prompted a claim that the earliest Rashtrakutas were descendants of the Arattas, natives of the Punjab region from the time of Mahabharata who later migrated south and set up kingdoms there" (Reu, Pandit Bisheshwar Nath (1997) [1933]. History of the Rashtrakutas (Rathodas). Jaipur: Publication Scheme) 
" A Saundatti inscription refers to an assemblage of all the people of a district headed by the guilds of the region." (Altekar, Anant Sadashiv (1934) [1934]. The Rashtrakutas And Their Times; being a political, administrative, religious, social, economic and literary history of the Deccan during C. 750 A.D. to C. 1000 A.D. Poona: Oriental Book Agency, p.368)

"Adam Hardy categorizes their building activity into three schools: Ellora, around Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal, and at Sirval near Gulbarga."Hardy, Adam (1995) [1995]. Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation-The Karnata Dravida Tradition 7th to 13th Centuries. Abhinav Publications, p.111). "According to art historian Vincent Smith, the achievement at the Kailasanath temple (King Krishna I) is considered an architectural consummation of the monolithic rock-cut temple and deserves to be considered one of the wonders of the world." Kannada was the administrative language in conjunction with Samskrtam. This explains the signature of the donor Krishna II in Kannada while the inscription is in Samskrtam, including an Indus Script hieroglyph: 'endless knot'.



In Indus Script Corpora, 'endless knot' hieroglyph can be read with two hieroglyph components: 1. strand of rope or string; 2. twist: dām 'rope, string' rebus: dhāu 'ore'  rebus: मेढा [mēḍhā] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl (Marathi). Rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper' (Munda. Slavic) mẽṛhẽt, meḍ
 'iron' (Munda).

Dotted-circle and trefoil hieroglyphs on the shawl of the statue of Mohenjo-daro priest are interpreted as orthographic signifiers, respectively, of: 1. single strand of string or rope; 2. three strands of string or rope. The glosses these hieroglyphs signify are, respectively: 1. Sindhi dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, Lahnda dhāī˜ id.; 2. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ (RigVeda). See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/priest-of-dhavad-iron-smelters-with.html 


The inscription on Mohenjo-daro copper plate m1457 shows two hieroglyphs: 1. svastika; 2. ornamental figure of twisted string. Both hieroglyphs are read rebus in Meluhha: 

satthiya 'svastika glyph' rebus: sattva, jasta 'zinc' PLUS  dām 'rope, string' rebus: dhāu 'ore'; मेढा [mēḍhā] A twist rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meD 'iron'(Santali.Mu.Ho.). The archaeo-metallurgical interpretation is that this inscription signifies zinc metallic ore, sphalerite.


Hieroglyph: मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' (Marathi) .L. meṛh f. ʻrope tying oxen to each other'. 

मेढा [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) mer.ha = twisted, crumpled, as a horn (Santali.lex.) meli, melika = a turn, a twist, a loop, entanglement; meliyu, melivad.u, meligonu = to get twisted or entwined (Te.lex.) [Note the endless knot motif]. Rebus: med. ‘iron’ (Mu.) sattva 'svastika glyph' Rebus: sattva, jasta 'zinc'.

The 'endless knot' hieroglyph on m1457 Copper plate of Mohenjo-daro has also orthographic variants of a twisted string.


The 'endless knot' hieroglyph can be interpreted as composed of two related semantics: 1. strand of rope or string; 2. twist or curl

Twisted rope as hieroglyph:

dhāˊtu *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.)  S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773 ) Rebus: dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Mn.Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ)(CDIAL 6773). 

Mohenjo-daro. m1457 Copper plate with 'twist' hieroglyph. Mohejodaro, tablet in bas relief (M-478) The first hieroglyph-multiplex on the left (twisted rope): 

m478a tablet
கோலம்¹ kōlam, n. [T. kōlamu, K. kōla, M. kōlam.] 1. Beauty, gracefulness, hand- someness; அழகு. கோலத் தனிக்கொம்பர் (திருக் கோ. 45). 2. Colour; நிறம். கார்க்கோல மேனி யானை (கம்பரா. கும்பக. 154). 3. Form, shape, external or general appearance; உருவம். மானுடக் கோலம். 4. Nature; தன்மை. 5. Costume; appropriate dress; attire, as worn by actors; trappings; equipment; habiliment; வேடம். உள்வரிக் கோலத்து (சிலப். 5, 216). 6. Ornament, as jewelry; ஆபரணம். குறங்கிணை திரண்டன கோலம் பொறாஅ (சிலப். 30, 18). 7. Adornment, decoration, embellishment; அலங்காரம். புறஞ்சுவர் கோலஞ்செய்து (திவ். திருமாலை, 6). 8. Ornamental figures drawn on floor, wall or sacrificial pots with rice-flour, white stone-powder, etc.; மா, கற்பொடி முதலியவற்றாலிடுங் கோலம். தரை மெழுகிக் கோலமிட்டு (குமர. மீனாட். குறம். 25). 

The hieroglyphs on m478a tablet are read rebus:

kuTi 'tree'Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'

bhaTa 'worshipper' Rebus: bhaTa 'furnace' baTa 'iron' (Gujarati) This hieroglyph is a phonetic deterinant of the 'rimless pot': baṭa = rimless pot (Kannada) Rebus: baṭa = a kind of iron (Gujarati) bhaṭa 'a furnace'.  Hence, the hieroglyph-multiplex of an adorant with rimless pot signifies: 'iron furnace' bhaTa. 

bAraNe ' an offering of food to a demon' (Tulu) Rebus: baran, bharat (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi. Bengali) The narrative of a worshipper offering to a tree is thus interpretable as a smelting of three minerals: copper, zinc and tin.

Numeral four: gaNDa 'four' Rebus: kand 'fire-altar'; Four 'ones': koḍa ‘one’ (Santali) Rebus: koḍ ‘artisan’s workshop'. Thus, the pair of 'four linear strokes PLUS rimless pot' signifies: 'fire-altar (in) artisan's wrkshop'. 

Circumscript of two linear strokes for 'body' hieroglyph: dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal' koḍa ‘one’(Santali) Rebus: koḍ ‘artisan’s workshop'. Thus, the circumscript signifies 'cast metal workshop'. meD 'body' Rebus: meD 'iron'.

khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ‘turner’ (Gujarati)

The hieroglyph may be a variant of a twisted rope.
dhāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’. Thus, metallic ore.

kōlam, n. [T. kōlamu, K. kōla, M. kōlam.]  'ornamental figure' Rebus: kol 'working in iron'

The inscription on m478 thus signifies, reading hieroglyphs from r.: 

Tree: kuThi 'smelter'

Worshipper: bhaTa 'furnace' 


Four linear strokes + rimless pot: kanda baTa 'fire-altar for iron'


Circumscript two linear strokes + body: meD koDa 'metal workshop'

Currycomb:khareḍo 'currycomb' rebus: kharādī ‘turner’; dhāu 'metal' 

PLUS mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’; kol 'working in iron'. Together, the two hieroglyphs 

signify metalworker, ironsmith turner.


m0478b tablet

erga = act of clearing jungle (Kui) [Note image showing two men carrying 
uprooted trees] thwarted by a person in the middle with outstretched hands

Aḍaru twig; aḍiri small and thin branch of a tree; aḍari small branches (Ka.); aḍaru twig (Tu.)(DEDR 67). Aḍar = splinter (Santali); rebus: aduru = native metal (Ka.) Vikalpa: kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = furnace (Santali) ḍhaṁkhara — m.n. ʻbranch without leaves or fruitʼ (Prakrit) (CDIAL 5524)

Hieroglyph: era female, applied to women only, and generally as a mark of respect, wife; hopon era a daughter; era hopon a man’s family; manjhi era the village chief’s wife; gosae era a female Santal deity; bud.hi era an old woman; era uru wife and children; nabi era a prophetess; diku era a Hindu woman (Santali)
•Rebus: er-r-a = red; eraka = copper (Ka.) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) erako molten cast (Tu.lex.)  agasa_le, agasa_li, agasa_lava_d.u = a goldsmith (Te.lex.)

kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi = (smelter) furnace (Santali) 

heraka = spy (Skt.); eraka, hero = a messenger; a spy (Gujarati); er to look at or for (Pkt.); er uk- to play 'peeping tom' (Ko.) Rebus: erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) cf. eruvai = copper (Ta.lex.) eraka, er-aka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.) eraka ‘copper’ (Kannada) 

kōṭu  branch of tree, Rebus: खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. 

Hieroglyph: Looking back: krammara 'look back' (Telugu) kamar 'smith, artisan' (Santali)

kola ‘tiger, jackal’ (Kon.); rebus: kol working in iron, blacksmith, ‘alloy of five metals, panchaloha’ (Tamil) kol ‘furnace, forge’ (Kuwi) kolami ‘smithy’ (Telugu) 

^  Inverted V, m478 (lid above rim of narrow-necked jar) The rimmed jar next to the tiger with turned head has a lid. Lid ‘ad.aren’; rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ karnika 'rim of jar' Rebus: karni 'supercargo' (Marathi) Thus, together, the jar with lid composite hieroglyhph denotes 'native metal supercargo'. karn.aka = handle of a vessel; ka_n.a_, kanna_ = rim, edge; kan.t.u = rim of a vessel; kan.t.ud.iyo = a small earthen vessel; kan.d.a kanka = rim of a water-pot; kan:kha, kankha = rim of a vessel

Comparable hieroglyph of kneeling adorant with outstretched hands occurs on a Mohenjo-daro seal m1186, m478A tablet and on Harappa tablet h177B:

Rebus readings: maṇḍa ‘ some sort of framework (?) ʼ. [In nau - maṇḍḗ n. du. ʻ the two sets of poles rising from the thwarts or the two bamboo covers of a boat (?) ʼ ŚBr. Rebus: M. mã̄ḍ m. ʻ array of instruments &c. ʼ; Si. maḍa -- ya ʻ adornment, ornament ʼ. (CDIAL 9736) kamaḍha 'penance' (Pkt.)Rebus: kampaṭṭam 'mint' (Tamil) battuḍu. n. A worshipper (Telugu) Rebus: pattar merchants (Tamil), perh. Vartaka (Skt.)

Endless knot: Yajna, Iron Mineral smelter cluster

C-49 a,b,c
+ hieroglyph in the middle with covering lines around/dots in corners poLa 'zebu' rebus: poLa 'magnetite'; dhAv 'strand' rebus: dhAv 'smelter'; kulA 'hooded snake' rebus: kolle 'blacksmith' kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter'; kolmo 'three' koD 'horn' rebus: kolimi 'smithy' koD 'workshop'. tri-dhAtu 'three strands, threefold' rebus: tri-dhAv 'three mineral ores'.
mḗdha m. ʻ sacrificial oblation ʼ RV. Pa. mēdha -- m. ʻ sacrifice ʼ; Si. mehe, mē sb. ʻ eating ʼ ES 69.(CDIAL 10327). 
Thus, mḗdha is a yajna.  गृहम् gṛham मेध a. 1 one who performs the domestic rites or sacrifices; गृह- मेधास आ गत मरुतो माप भूतन Rv.7.59.1.-2 connected with the duties of a householder. (-धः) 1 a householder. -2 a domestic sacrifice; मेधः 1 A sacrifice, as in नरमेध, अश्वमेध, एकविंशति- मेधान्ते Mb.14.29.18. (com. मेधो युद्धयज्ञः । 'यज्ञो वै मेधः'इति श्रुतेः ।). -2 A sacrificial animal or victim. -3 An offering, oblation. मेधा [मेध्-अञ्] (changed to मेधस् in Bah. comp. when preceded by सु, दुस् and the negative particle अ A sacrifice. -5 Strength, power (Ved.). मेध्य a. [मेध्-ण्यत्, मेधाय हितं यत् वा] 1 Fit for a sacrifice; अजाश्वयोर्मुखं मेध्यम् Y.1.194; Ms.5.54. -2 Relating to a sacrifice, sacrificial; मेध्येनाश्वेनेजे; R.13. 3; उषा वा अश्वस्य मेध्यस्य शिरः Bṛi. Up.1.1.1. -3 Pure, sacred, holy; भुवं कोष्णेन कुण्डोघ्नी मध्येनावमृथादपि R.1.84; 3.31;14.81 Mejjha (adj. -- nt.) [*medhya; fr. medha] 1. (adj.) [to medha1] fit for sacrifice, pure; neg. a˚ impure Sdhp 363. medha [Vedic medha, in aśva, go˚, puruṣa˚ etc.] sacrifice only in assa˚ horse -- sacrifice (Pali)

मेढा [ mēḍhā ]'twist, curl'
rebus: meD 'iron, copper,metal‘ medha ‘yajna
Fatehpur Sikri (1569-1584 CE cf. RS Bisht

Dhruva II Inscription Gujarat Rashtrakuta 884 CE [H. Sarkar & BM Pande, 1999, Symbols and Graphic Representations in Indian Inscriptions, Delhi: Aryan,] 

A3a and A3b

Hieroglyph: Endless knot
dhAtu 'strand of rope' Rebus: dhAtu 'mineral, metal, ore'धातु [p= 513,3] m. layer , stratum Ka1tyS3r. Kaus3. constituent part , ingredient (esp. [ and in RV. only] ifc. , where often = " fold " e.g. त्रि-ध्/आतु , threefold &c ; cf.त्रिविष्टि- , सप्त- , सु-) RV. TS. S3Br. &c (Monier-Williams) dhāˊtu  *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.).; S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773) tántu m. ʻ thread, warp ʼ RV. [√tan] Pa. tantu -- m. ʻ thread, cord ʼ, Pk. taṁtu -- m.; Kho. (Lor.) ton ʻ warp ʼ < *tand (whence tandeni ʻ thread between wings of spinning wheel ʼ); S. tandu f. ʻ gold or silver thread ʼ; L. tand (pl. °dũ) f. ʻ yarn, thread being spun, string of the tongue ʼ; P. tand m. ʻ thread ʼ, tanduā, °dūā m. ʻ string of the tongue, frenum of glans penis ʼ; A. tã̄t ʻ warp in the loom, cloth being woven ʼ; B. tã̄t ʻ cord ʼ; M. tã̄tū m. ʻ thread ʼ; Si. tatu, °ta ʻ string of a lute ʼ; -- with -- o, -- ā to retain orig. gender: S. tando m. ʻ cord, twine, strand of rope ʼ; N. tã̄do ʻ bowstring ʼ; H. tã̄tā m. ʻ series, line ʼ; G. tã̄tɔ m. ʻ thread ʼ; -- OG. tāṁtaṇaü m. ʻ thread ʼ < *tāṁtaḍaü, G.tã̄tṇɔ m.(CDIAL 5661)

 मेढा [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi)(CDIAL 10312).L. meṛh f. ʻrope tying oxen to each other and to post on threshing floorʼ(CDIAL 10317) Rebus: meḍ'iron'. mẽṛhet ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) 

Thus, together, a strand and a curl, the hieroglyph-multiplex of endless-knot signifies iron mineral. mRdu dhAtu (iron mineral).
m1457B Copper plate with 'twist' hieroglyph hāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’.
m1457A 2904

Line 1: ad.ar 'harrow'; rebus: aduru 'native metal, unsmelted' (Kannada) 
bhaTa 'warrior' rebus: bhaTa 'furnace' kanka, karNaka 'rim of jar' rebus: karNI 'supercargo''scribe, account'
Line 2: ad.ar 'harrow'; rebus: aduru 'native metal, unsmelted' (Kannada) 
ayo, aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal'
 Hieroglyph: karã̄ n. pl. wristlets, bangles' rebus: khAr 'blacksmith'  PLUS dhal 'slope' rebus:dhALako 'ingot' (oxhide) kolmo 'rice plant' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'
h613A

h613C dhāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’.

4259 ayo, aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal' PLUS dhal 'slope' rebus: dhALako 'large ingot (oxhide)'
m479A eragu 'bow' rebus: erako 'moltencast, copper' baTa 'rimless pot' rebus: baTa 'iron' bhaTa 'furnace' kuTi 'tree' rebus: kuThi 'smelter'. Thus, moltencast copper, iron furnace/smelter
gaNDa 'four' rebus: kaNDa 'implements' kanda 'fire-alter' baTa 'rimless pot' rebus: baTa 'iron' koDa 'one' rebus: koD 'workshop' PLUS dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metalcasting' Thus, metalcasting workshop PLUS karNika 'spread legs' meD 'body' rebus: karNI 'supercargo''scribe, account' thus, account of metalcasting workshop (products) 
khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ‘turner’ (Gujarati) kāmsako, kāmsiyo = a large sized comb (G.) Rebus: kaṁsa 'bronze' (Te.) 

dhāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’.

m479B kanka, karNaka 'rim of jar' rebus: karNI 'supercargo' adaren 'lid' rebus: aduru 'native metal' Thus, native metal handed to supercargo for shipment. kola 'tiger' rebus: kol 'working in iron' krammara 'look back' rebus: kamar 'artisan, smith' heraka 'spy' rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper' kuTi 'tree' rebus: kuThi 'smelter' Thus, copper smelter artisan. erga 'act of clearing jungle' rebus: erako 'moltencast copper'


m480A
m480B

3224

m478A

m478B

3239, 2815 Pict-77 Pict-77: Tree, generally within a railing or on a platform

Mohenjodaro, tablet in bas relief (M-478)
m0478B tablet erga = act of clearing jungle (Kui) [Note image showing two men carrying uprooted trees].
Aḍaru twig; aḍiri small and thin branch of a tree; aḍari small branches (Ka.); aḍaru twig (Tu.)(DEDR 67). Aḍar = splinter (Santali); rebus: aduru = native metal (Ka.) Vikalpa: kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = furnace (Santali) ḍhaṁkhara — m.n. ʻbranch without leaves or fruitʼ (Prakrit) (CDIAL 5524)
•era, er-a = eraka = ?nave; erako_lu = the iron axle of a carriage (Ka.M.); cf. irasu (Ka.lex.)
•era_ = claws of an animal that can do no harm (G.)
•era female, applied to women only, and generally as a mark of respect, wife; hopon era a daughter; era hopon a man’s family; manjhi era the village chief’s wife; gosae era a female Santal deity; bud.hi era an old woman; era uru wife and children; nabi era a prophetess; diku era a Hindu woman (Santali)
•Rebus: er-r-a = red; eraka = copper (Ka.) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) erako molten cast (Tu.lex.)  agasa_le, agasa_li, agasa_lava_d.u = a goldsmith (Te.lex.)
 Hieroglyph: Looking back: krammara 'look back' (Telugu) kamar 'smith, artisan' (Santali)
erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) cf. eruvai = copper (Ta.lex.) eraka, er-aka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.); 
^  Inverted V, m478 (lid above rim of narrow-necked jar)
The rimmed jar next to the tiger with turned head has a lid. Lid ‘ad.aren’; rebus: aduru ‘native metal’
karnika 'rim of jar' Rebus: karni 'supercargo' (Marathi) Thus, together, the jar with lid composite hieroglyhph denotes 'native metal supercargo'.
kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi = (smelter) furnace (Santali) 
eraka, hero = a messenger; a spy (G.lex.) kola ‘tiger, jackal’ (Kon.); rebus: kol working in iron, blacksmith, ‘alloy of five metals, panchaloha’ (Tamil) kol ‘furnace, forge’ (Kuwi) kolami ‘smithy’ (Te.) heraka = spy (Skt.); er to look at or for (Pkt.); er uk- to play 'peeping tom' (Ko.) Rebus: eraka ‘copper’ (Ka.) kōṭu  branch of tree, Rebus: खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. 
karn.aka = handle of a vessel; ka_n.a_, kanna_ = rim, edge; 
kan.t.u = rim of a vessel; kan.t.ud.iyo = a small earthen vessel
kan.d.a kanka = rim of a water-pot; kan:kha, kankha = rim of a vessel
svastika pewter (Kannada); jasta = zinc (Hindi) yasada (Jaina Pkt.)
karibha 'trunk of elephant' ibha 'elephant' Rebus: karba 'iron' (Tulu)
kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'working in iron' krammara 'turn back' Rebus: kamar 'smith'
heraka 'spy' Rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper'
meDha 'ram' Rebus: meD 'iron' (Mu.Ho)
bAraNe ' an offering of food to a demon' (Tulu) Rebus: baran, bharat (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi. Bengali) bhaTa 'worshipper' Rebus: bhaTa 'furnace' baTa 'iron' (Gujarati)
saman 'make an offering (Santali) samanon 'gold' (Santali)
minDAl 'markhor' (Torwali) meDho 'ram' (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: me~Rhet, meD 'iron' (Mu.Ho.Santali)
heraka 'spy' (Samskritam) Rebus:eraka 'molten metal, copper'
maNDa 'branch, twig' (Telugu) Rebus: maNDA 'warehouse, workshop' (Konkani)\karibha, jata kola Rebus: karba, ib, jasta, 'iron, zinc, metal (alloy of five metals)
maNDi 'kneeling position' Rebus: mADa 'shrine; mandil 'temple' (Santali)

 கோலம்¹ kōlam, n. [T. kōlamu, K. kōla, M. kōlam.] 1. Beauty, gracefulness, hand- someness; அழகு. கோலத் தனிக்கொம்பர் (திருக் கோ. 45). 2. Colour; நிறம். கார்க்கோல மேனி யானை (கம்பரா. கும்பக. 154). 3. Form, shape, external or general appearance; உருவம். மானுடக் கோலம். 4. Nature; தன்மை. 5. Costume; appropriate dress; attire, as worn by actors; trappings; equipment; habiliment; வேடம். உள்வரிக் கோலத்து (சிலப். 5, 216). 6. Ornament, as jewelry; ஆபரணம். குறங்கிணை திரண்டன கோலம் பொறாஅ (சிலப். 30, 18). 7. Adornment, decoration, embellishment; அலங்காரம். புறஞ்சுவர் கோலஞ்செய்து (திவ். திருமாலை, 6). 8. Ornamental figures drawn on floor, wall or sacrificial pots with rice-flour, white stone-powder, etc.; மா, கற்பொடி முதலியவற்றாலிடுங் கோலம். தரை மெழுகிக் கோலமிட்டு (குமர. மீனாட். குறம். 25). 

The hieroglyphs on m478a tablet are read rebus:

kuTi 'tree'Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'

bhaTa 'worshipper' Rebus: bhaTa 'furnace' baTa 'iron' (Gujarati) This hieroglyph is a phonetic deterinant of the 'rimless pot': baṭa = rimless pot (Kannada) Rebus: baṭa = a kind of iron (Gujarati) bhaṭa 'a furnace'.  Hence, the hieroglyph-multiplex of an adorant with rimless pot signifies: 'iron furnace' bhaTa. 

bAraNe ' an offering of food to a demon' (Tulu) Rebus: baran, bharat (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi. Bengali) The narrative of a worshipper offering to a tree is thus interpretable as a smelting of three minerals: copper, zinc and tin.

Numeral four: gaNDa 'four' Rebus: kand 'fire-altar'; Four 'ones': koḍa ‘one’ (Santali) Rebus: koḍ ‘artisan’s workshop'. Thus, the pair of 'four linear strokes PLUS rimless pot' signifies: 'fire-altar (in) artisan's wrkshop'. 

Circumscript of two linear strokes for 'body' hieroglyph: dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal' koḍa ‘one’(Santali) Rebus: koḍ ‘artisan’s workshop'. Thus, the circumscript signifies 'cast metal workshop'. meD 'body' Rebus: meD 'iron'.

khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ‘turner’ (Gujarati)

The hieroglyph may be a variant of a twisted rope.
dhāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’. Thus, metallic ore.

kōlam, n. [T. kōlamu, K. kōla, M. kōlam.]  'ornamental figure' Rebus: kol 'working in iron'

The inscription on m478 thus signifies, reading hieroglyphs from r.: 

Tree: kuThi 'smelter'

Worshipper: bhaTa 'furnace' 


Four linear strokes + rimless pot: kanda baTa 'fire-altar for iron'


Circumscript two linear strokes + body: meD koDa 'metal workshop'

Currycomb:khareḍo 'currycomb' rebus: kharādī ‘turner’; dhāu 'metal' 

PLUS mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’; kol 'working in iron'. Together, the two hieroglyphs 

signify metalworker, ironsmith turner.


m0478b tablet

erga = act of clearing jungle (Kui) [Note image showing two men carrying 
uprooted trees] thwarted by a person in the middle with outstretched hands

Aḍaru twig; aḍiri small and thin branch of a tree; aḍari small branches (Ka.); aḍaru twig (Tu.)(DEDR 67). Aḍar = splinter (Santali); rebus: aduru = native metal (Ka.) Vikalpa: kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = furnace (Santali) ḍhaṁkhara — m.n. ʻbranch without leaves or fruitʼ (Prakrit) (CDIAL 5524)

Hieroglyph: era female, applied to women only, and generally as a mark of respect, wife; hopon era a daughter; era hopon a man’s family; manjhi era the village chief’s wife; gosae era a female Santal deity; bud.hi era an old woman; era uru wife and children; nabi era a prophetess; diku era a Hindu woman (Santali)
•Rebus: er-r-a = red; eraka = copper (Ka.) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) erako molten cast (Tu.lex.)  agasa_le, agasa_li, agasa_lava_d.u = a goldsmith (Te.lex.)

kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi = (smelter) furnace (Santali) 

heraka = spy (Skt.); eraka, hero = a messenger; a spy (Gujarati); er to look at or for (Pkt.); er uk- to play 'peeping tom' (Ko.) Rebus: erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) cf. eruvai = copper (Ta.lex.) eraka, er-aka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.) eraka ‘copper’ (Kannada) 

kōṭu  branch of tree, Rebus: खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. 

Hieroglyph: Looking back: krammara 'look back' (Telugu) kamar 'smith, artisan' (Santali)

kola ‘tiger, jackal’ (Kon.); rebus: kol working in iron, blacksmith, ‘alloy of five metals, panchaloha’ (Tamil) kol ‘furnace, forge’ (Kuwi) kolami ‘smithy’ (Telugu) 

^  Inverted V, m478 (lid above rim of narrow-necked jar) The rimmed jar next to the tiger with turned head has a lid. Lid ‘ad.aren’; rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ karnika 'rim of jar' Rebus: karni 'supercargo' (Marathi) Thus, together, the jar with lid composite hieroglyhph denotes 'native metal supercargo'. karn.aka = handle of a vessel; ka_n.a_, kanna_ = rim, edge; kan.t.u = rim of a vessel; kan.t.ud.iyo = a small earthen vessel; kan.d.a kanka = rim of a water-pot; kan:kha, kankha = rim of a vessel

Comparable hieroglyph of kneeling adorant with outstretched hands occurs on a Mohenjo-daro seal m1186, m478A tablet and on Harappa tablet h177B:

Rebus readings: maṇḍa ‘ some sort of framework (?) ʼ. [In nau - maṇḍḗ n. du. ʻ the two sets of poles rising from the thwarts or the two bamboo covers of a boat (?) ʼ ŚBr. Rebus: M. mã̄ḍ m. ʻ array of instruments &c. ʼ; Si. maḍa -- ya ʻ adornment, ornament ʼ. (CDIAL 9736) kamaḍha 'penance' (Pkt.)Rebus: kampaṭṭam 'mint' (Tamil) battuḍu. n. A worshipper (Telugu) Rebus: pattar merchants (Tamil), perh. Vartaka (Skt.)





m1457A Copper tablet



m1457Bct Text 2904  Pict-124: Endless knot motif. The hypertext on two lines are read rebus:


Hieroglyph: मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' (Marathi) .L. meṛh f. ʻrope tying oxen to each other'.mer.ha = twisted, crumpled, as a horn (Santali.lex.) meli, melika = a turn, a twist, a loop, entanglement. Viewed as a string or strand of rope, the gloss is read rebus as dhāu ʻore (esp. of copper)ʼ. The specific ore is:

med 'copper' (Slavic languages) 

dhāˊtu *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.)  S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773 ) Rebus: dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Mn.Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ)(CDIAL 6773). 

Line 1: ad.ar 'harrow'; rebus: aduru 'native metal, unsmelted' (Kannada)
baTa 'warrior' rebus: bhaTa 'furnace'
karNika 'rim of jar' rebus: karNI 'supercargo'; karNaka 'account'. Alternative: kanka 'rim of jar' rebus: kanga 'brazier'.

Line 2: ad.ar 'harrow'; rebus: aduru 'native metal, unsmelted' (Kannada)
aya 'fish' rebus: aya, ayas 'iron''metal'
dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'cast metal' PLUS goTa 'round' rebus: goTa 'laterite ore' 
The pair of 'ovals or ellipses' are infixed with 'notches'. khANDA 'notch' rebus: khaNDa 'implement'. dhal 'slope' rebus: dhALako 'large ingot (oxhide)' PLUS Hieroglyph: karã̄ n. pl. wristlets, bangles' rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' 


mū̃h ‘ingot’ (Santali) dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal' Thus, cast metal ingot of laterite and implements.

Thus, the hieroglyph-multiplex signifies cast metal of laterite ore
pajhaṛ = to sprout from a root (Santali) Rebus: pasra 'smithy' (Santali) kolom, 
Alternative: kolma 'rice plant' rebus: kolime 'furnace' (Kannada) kolimi 'smithy, forge' (Telugu); kolame 'deep pit' (Tulu)

Decipherment

Thus, read together with Lines 1 and 2 of Hypertext, the copper plate m1457 with the 'endless knot' hieroglyph signifies: copper smithy. The descriptive glosses of the metalwork catalogue are: karNi 'supercargo' of med 'copper', dhāu 'metal'; kolimi 'furnace'; dul goTa kaNDa 'cast laterite ore implements'; ayas 'metal alloy'; furnace for aduru 'native (unsmelted) metal'.

Alternative: kanka 'rim of jar' rebus: kanga 'brazier'.

m1356 Copper plate

The endless knot is deciphered as: med 'copper', dhāu 'metal'.
The svastika is deciphered as: sattva, jasta 'zinc, sphalerite'.



Rojdi. Ax-head or knife of copper, 17.4 cm. long (After Possehl and Raval 1989: 162, fig. 77. The endless knot hieroglyph on the copper knife indicates that the alloying element is: red ore of copper: 

med 'copper', dhāu 'metal'.
m1356, m443 table मेढा [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) mer.ha = twisted, crumpled, as a horn (Santali.lex.) meli, melika = a turn, a twist, a loop, entanglement; meliyu, melivad.u, meligonu = to get twisted or entwined (Te.lex.) [Note the endless knot motif]. Rebus: med. ‘iron’ (Mu.) Rebus: medh 'yajna' sattva 'svastika glyph' Rebus: sattva, jasta 'zinc'.

The set of hieroglyphs deciphered as: 1. zinc-pewter and 2. bronze:1. jasta, sattva and 2. kuṭila

Hieroglyph: sattva 'svastika hieroglyph'; j̈asta, dasta 'five' (Kafiri) Rebus: jasta, sattva 'zinc'

Hieroglyph: kuṛuk 'coil' Rebus: kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin) cf. āra-kūṭa, 'brass'  Old English ār 'brass, copper, bronze' Old Norse eir 'brass, copper', German ehern 'brassy, bronzen'. kastīra n. ʻ tin ʼ lex. 2. *kastilla -- .1. H. kathīr m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼ; G. kathīr n. ʻ pewter ʼ.2. H. (Bhoj.?) kathīl, °lā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼ; M. kathīl n. ʻ tin ʼ, kathlẽ n. ʻ large tin vessel ʼ.(CDIAL 2984) 

Hieroglyph: kuṭi in cmpd. ʻ curve ʼ, kuṭika -- ʻ bent ʼ MBh. [√kuṭ1]
Ext. in H. kuṛuk f. ʻ coil of string or rope ʼ; M. kuḍċā m. ʻ palm contracted and hollowed ʼ, kuḍapṇẽ ʻ to curl over, crisp, contract ʼ. (CDIAL 3230)
kuṭilá ʻ bent, crooked ʼ KātyŚr., °aka -- Pañcat., n. ʻ a partic. plant ʼ lex. [√kuṭ1]
Pa. kuṭila -- ʻ bent ʼ, n. ʻ bend ʼ; Pk. kuḍila -- ʻ crooked ʼ, °illa -- ʻ humpbacked ʼ, °illaya -- ʻ bent ʼ(CDIAL 3231) kauṭilya n. ʻ crookedness ʼ Pāṇ., ʻ falsehood ʼ Pañcat. 2. *kauṭiliya -- . [kuṭilá -- ]



1. Pa. kōṭilla -- n. ʻ crookedness ʼ; Pk. kōḍilla -- m. ʻ backbiter ʼ.2. Pa. kōṭilya -- n. ʻ crookedness ʼ; Si. keḷilla, st. °ili<-> ʻ bending of the knees ʼ, °illen in̆dinavā ʻ to squat ʼ.(CDIAL 3557)



The Shahdad standard has the 'twisted strand' hieroglyph together with tree, zebu, lion, woman. kuTi 'tree' rebus: kuThi 'smelter' poLa 'zebu' rebus: poLa 'magnetite' arye 'lion' rebus: Ara 'brass' meD 'twist' rebus: meD 'iron, copper, metal'. kola 'woman' rebus: kolhe 'smelter' kol 'working in iron'.


kuṭi ‘tree’. Rebus: kuṭhi ‘smelter’ (Santali). The two trees are shown ligatured to a rectangle with ten square divisions and a dot in each square. The dot may denote an ingot in a furnace mould.

Glyph of rectangle with divisions: baṭai = to divide, share (Santali) [Note the glyphs of nine rectangles divided.] Rebus: bhaṭa = an oven, kiln, furnace (Santali) 

meṛhao = v.a.m. entwine itself; wind round, wrap round roll up (Santali); maṛhnā cover, encase (Hindi) (Santali.lex.Bodding) Rebus: meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) mẽṛh t iron; ispat m. = steel; dul m. = cast iron (Mu.)  meṛed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Munda) mẽṛhẽt ‘iron’; mẽṛhẽt icena ‘the iron is rusty’; ispat mẽṛhẽt ‘steel’, dul mẽṛhẽt ‘cast iron’;mẽṛhẽt khaṇḍa ‘iron implements’ (Santali) meḍ. (Ho.)(Santali.lex.Bodding)  meṛed, mṛed, mṛdiron; enga meṛed soft iron; sanḍi meṛed hard iron; ispāt meṛed steel; dul meṛed cast iron; i meṛed rusty iron, also the iron of which weights are cast; bica meṛed iron extracted from stone ore; bali meṛed iron extracted from sand ore (Mu.lex.)

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/10/dudu-plaque-shahdad-standard-c-2400-bce.html
File:Relief Dudu Louvre AO2394.jpg
  • Votive relief of Dudu, priest of Ningirsu, in the days of King Entemena of Lagash.
  • Mésopotamie, room 1a: La Mésopotamie du Néolithique à l'époque des Dynasties archaïques de Sumer. Richelieu, ground floor.
    • Votive bas-relief of Dudu, priest of Ningirsu in the time of Entemena, prince of Lagash C. 2400 BCE Tello (ancient Girsu) Bituminous stone H. 25 cm; W. 23 cm; Th. 8 cm De Sarzec excavations, 1881 AO 2354 
    This work is part of the collections of the Louvre (Department of Near Eastern Antiquities).Louvre Museum: excavated by Ernest de Sarzec. Place: Girsu (modern city of Telloh, Iraq). Musée du Louvre, Atlas database: entry 11378 Votive relief of Dudu, priest of Ningirsu, in the days of King Entemena of Lagash. Oil shale, ca. 2400 BC. Found in Telloh, ancient city of Girsu. |H. 25 cm (9 ¾ in.), W. 23 cm (9 in.), D. 8 cm (3 in.) 
    • Hieroglyph: dhAu 'rope strand' Rebus: dhAtu 'mineral element' Alternative: मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' (Marathi) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) rebus: medha 'yajna' eruvai 'eagle' Rebus: eruvai 'copper'. 

    • eraka 'wing' Rebus: erako 'moltencast copper'.

    • Hieroglyph: arye 'lion' (Akkadian) Rebus: Ara 'brass'

      Hieroglyph:  dām m. ʻ young ungelt ox ʼ: damya ʻ tameable ʼ, m. ʻ young bullock to be tamed ʼ Mn. [~ *dāmiya -- . -- √dam]Pa. damma -- ʻ to be tamed (esp. of a young bullock) ʼ; Pk. damma -- ʻ to be tamed ʼ; S. ḍ̠amu ʻ tamed ʼ; -- ext. -- ḍa -- : A. damrā ʻ young bull ʼ, dāmuri ʻ calf ʼ; B.dāmṛā ʻ castrated bullock ʼ; Or. dāmaṛī ʻ heifer ʼ, dāmaṛiā ʻ bullcalf, young castrated bullock ʼ, dāmuṛ, °ṛi ʻ young bullock ʼ.Addenda: damya -- : WPah.kṭg. dām m. ʻ young ungelt ox ʼ.(CDIAL 6184). This is a phonetic determinative of the 'twisted rope' hieroglyph: dhāī˜ f.dāˊman1 ʻ rope ʼ (Rigveda)

    Alternative:  kōḍe, kōḍiya. [Tel.] n. A bullcalf. Rebus: koḍ artisan’s workshop (Kuwi) kunda ‘turner’ kundār turner (Assamese) मेढा [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi)(CDIAL 10312).L. meṛh f. ʻrope tying oxen to each other and to post on threshing floorʼ(CDIAL 10317) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)    

Hieroglyph: endless knot motif
After Fig. 52, p.85 in Prudence Hopper opcit. Plaque with male figures, serpents and quadruped. Bitumen compound. H. 9 7/8 in (25 cm); w. 8 ½ in. (21.5 cm); d. 3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm). ca. 2600-2500 BCE. Acropole, temple of Ninhursag Sb 2724. The scene is described: “Two beardless, long-haired, nude male figures, their heads in profile and their bodies in three-quarter view, face the center of the composition…upper centre, where two intertwined serpents with their tails in their mouths appear above the upraised hands. At the base of the plaque, between the feet of the two figures, a small calf or lamb strides to the right. An irregular oblong cavity or break was made in the centre of the scene at a later date.”


The hieroglyphs on this plaque are: kid and endless-knot motif (or three strands of rope twisted).

Hieroglyph: 'kid': करडूं or करडें (p. 137) [ karaḍū or ṅkaraḍēṃ ] n A kid. कराडूं (p. 137) [ karāḍūṃ ] n (Commonly करडूं) A kid. Rebus: करडा (p. 137) [ karaḍā ] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c.(Marathi)

I suggest that the center of the composition is NOT set of  intertwined serpents, but an endless knot motif signifying a coiled rope being twisted from three strands of fibre.

Bogazkoy Seal impression: Two-headed eagle, a twisted cord below. From Bogazköy . 18th c. BCE (Museum Ankara). eruvai 'kite' Rebus: eruvai 'copper' dhAtu 'strands of rope' Rebus: dhAtu 'mineral' (Note the three strands of the rope hieroglyph on the seal impression from Bogazkoy; it is read: tridhAtu 'three mineral elements'). It signifies copper compound of three minerals; maybe, arsenic copper? or arsenic bronze, as distinct from tin bronze?

Copper and arsenic ores
Ore nameChemical formula
ArsenopyriteFeAsS
EnargiteCu3AsS4
OliveniteCu2(AsO4)OH
TennantiteCu12As4S13
MalachiteCu2(OH)2CO3
AzuriteCu3(OH)2(CO3)2
Sulfide deposits frequently are a mix of different metal sulfides, such as copper, zinc, silver, lead, arsenic and other metals. (Sphalerite (ZnS2), for example, is not uncommon in copper sulfide deposits, and the metal smelted would be brass, which is both harder and more durable than bronze.)The metals could theoretically be separated out, but the alloys resulting were typically much stronger than the metals individually.
m1406 Seal using three-stranded rope: dhAtu Rebus: iron ore.

Hieroglyph:  धातु [p= 513,3] m. layer , stratum Ka1tyS3r. Kaus3. constituent part , ingredient (esp. [ and in RV. only] ifc. , where often = " fold " e.g. त्रि-ध्/आतु , threefold &c ; cf.त्रिविष्टि- , सप्त- , सु-) RV. TS. S3Br. &c (Monier-Williams) dhāˊtu  *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.).; S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773)

Rebus: M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ); dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; (CDIAL 6773) धातु  primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral, ore (esp. a mineral of a red colour) Mn. MBh. &c element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem Nir. Pra1t. MBh. &c (with the southern Buddhists धातु means either the 6 elements [see above] Dharmas. xxv ; or the 18 elementary spheres [धातु-लोक] ib. lviii ; or the ashes of the body , relics L. [cf. -गर्भ]) (Monier-Williams. Samskritam)

Indus script hieroglyphs signify dhAtu 'iron ore', Dharwar, Ib names of places in India in the iron ore belt.


There are two Railway stations in India called Dharwad and Ib. Both are related to Prakritam words with the semantic significance: iron worker, iron ore.


dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ (Marathi)(CDIAL 6773)




Svastika hieroglyph multiplex is a remarkable hypertext of Indus Script Corpora, which signify catalogus catalogorum of metalwork.

Svastika signifies zinc metal, spelter. This validates Thomas Wilson's indication --after a wide-ranging survey of migrations of the hieroglyph across Eurasia and across continents -- that svastika symbol connoted a commodity, apart from its being a hieroglyph, a sacred symbol in many cultures.

"Spelter, while sometimes used merely as a synonym for zinc, is often used to identify a zinc alloy. In this sense it might be an alloy of equal parts copper and zinc, i.e. a brass, used for hard soldering and brazing, or as an alloy, containing lead, that is used instead of bronze." 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelter


Hieroglyph: sattva 'svastika' glyph Rebus: sattu, satavu, satuvu 'pewter' (Kannada) సత్తుతపెల a vessel made of pewter ज&above;स्ति&below; । त्रपुधातुविशेषनिर्मितम्  jasth जस्थ । त्रपु m. (sg. dat. jastas जस्तस्), zinc, spelter; pewter. 

मेढा  [ mēḍhā ] m A stake, esp. as forked. 2 A dense arrangement of stakes, a palisade, a paling. 3 A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) Rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper' (Munda. Slavic)




dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’




The Meluhha gloss for 'five' is: taṭṭal Homonym is: ṭhaṭṭha brass (i.e. alloy of copper + zinc). Glosses for zinc are: sattu (Tamil), satta, sattva (Kannada) jasth जसथ् ।रपु m. (sg. dat. jastas ज्तस), zinc, spelter; pewter; zasath ् ज़स््थ् ्or zasuth ज़सुथ ्। रप m. (sg. dat. zastas ु ज़्तस),् zinc, spelter, pewter (cf. Hindī jast). jastuvu; । रपू्भवः adj. (f. jastüvü), made of zinc or pewter.(Kashmiri). Hence the hieroglyph: svastika repeated five times. Five svastika are thus read: taṭṭal sattva Rebus: zinc (for) brass (or pewter).




*ṭhaṭṭha1 ʻbrassʼ. [Onom. from noise of hammering brass?]N. ṭhaṭṭar ʻ an alloy of copper and bell metal ʼ. *ṭhaṭṭhakāra ʻ brass worker ʼ. 1.Pk. ṭhaṭṭhāra -- m., K. ṭhö̃ṭhur m., S. ṭhã̄ṭhāro m., P. ṭhaṭhiār, °rā m.2. P. ludh. ṭhaṭherā m., Ku. ṭhaṭhero m., N. ṭhaṭero, Bi. ṭhaṭherā, Mth. ṭhaṭheri, H.ṭhaṭherā m.(CDIAL 5491, 5493).








śrivatsa symbol [with its hundreds of stylized variants, depicted on Pl. 29 to 32] occurs in Bogazkoi (Central Anatolia) dated ca. 6th to 14th cent. BCE on inscriptions Pl. 33, Nandipāda-Triratna at: Bhimbetka, Sanchi, Sarnath and Mathura] Pl. 27, Svastika symbol: distribution in cultural periods] The association of śrivatsa with ‘fish’ is reinforced by the symbols binding fish in Jaina āyāgapaṭas (snake-hood?) of Mathura (late 1st cent. BCE).  śrivatsa  symbol seems to have evolved from a stylied glyph showing ‘two fishes’. In the Sanchi stupa, the fish-tails of two fishes are combined to flank the ‘śrivatsa’ glyph. In a Jaina āyāgapaṭa, a fish is ligatured within the śrivatsa  glyph,  emphasizing the association of the ‘fish’ glyph with śrivatsa glyph.(After Plates in: Savita Sharma, 1990, Early Indian symbols, numismatic evidence, Delhi, Agama Kala Prakashan; cf. Shah, UP., 1975, Aspects of Jain Art and Architecture, p.77)I suggest that it reads sattva. Its rebus rendering and meaning is zastas 'spelter or sphalerite or sulphate of zinc.'Zinc occurs in sphalerite, or sulphate of zinc in five colours.The Meluhha gloss for 'five' is: taṭṭal Homonym is: ṭhaṭṭha ʻbrassʼ(i.e. alloy of copper + zinc).Glosses for zinc are: sattu (Tamil), satta, sattva (Kannada) jasth जस्थ । त्रपु m. (sg. dat. jastas जस्तस्), zinc, spelter; pewter; zasath ज़स््थ् or zasuth ज़सुथ् । त्रपु m. (sg. dat. zastas ज़स्तस्), zinc, spelter, pewter (cf. Hindī jast). jastuvu; । त्रपूद्भवः adj. (f. jastüvü), made of zinc or pewter.(Kashmiri).Hence the hieroglyph: svastika repeated five times. Five svastika are thus read: taṭṭal sattva Rebus:  zinc (for) brass (or pewter).See five svastika on Mohenjodaro prism tablet (m488)
Ujjain, ca. 200 BCE, Copper, 1.81g, Multi-symbols with Swastika to left. Association of 'svastika' hieroglyph with 'dotted circle' indicates that the scribe intends to show that 'svastika' signifying zinc is a metal out of a smelter, kanda 'fire-altar'.
Saurashatra (Gujarat), ca. 100 BCE, Copper, 5.83g, Double Swastika with Nandi-pad arms
The svastika hieroglyph on Saurashtra (ca. 100 BCE) coin shows a variant with a 'twist' hieroglyph ligatured to each of the four arms of the svastika glyph.
This is an orthographic determinant of the nature of the object denoted by svastika, spelter, zinc ore. The tagged 'twist' glyph denotes: meḍ 'twist' rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper, metal'. Thus, zinc/spelter is identified as a metallic ore and signified as such on this hieroglyph variant on Saurashtra coin of ca. 100 BCE.
A corollary result of this exposition is that the so-called ‘nandipada’ symbol of historical period epigraphs has to be explained as ‘twist’ hieroglyph: meḍ 'twist' rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper, metal'.
Indus Script hieroglyph svastika signifies zinc metal 
For evolution of Brahmi syllabic orthography for ka-, ḍha-, dha- See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/evolution-of-brahmi-script-syllable-ka.htmlhttp://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.no/2015/11/evolution-of-brahmi-script-syllables.html?view=timeslide This monograph presents the evolution of Brahmi syllable for ma- and presents comparable deciphered hieroglyphs from Indus Script Corpora to affirm the continuum of the writing tradition of Bhāratam Janam, 'metalcaster folk'. Thus, together, four consonants ḍha- dha-, ka-, ma- signified by Brahmi syllables are traceable to the tradition of Indus Script Corpora which is a catalogus catalogorum of metalwork. Brahmi syllabic orthography and evolution over time from ca. 300 BCE is presented in the following table:Image source for Brahmi: vocalized consonant 
http://www.payer.de/exegese/exeg03.htm#5.2.2.
 Brahmi syllable ma- is a 'knot' hieroglyph, a continuum fom Indus Script Corpora wherein the 'knot' hieroglyph signified meḍ 'iron, copper, metal'. 
The orthography of ma- syllable was possibly identified as ma- for meḍ, 'iron, copper, metal'.The 'knot' hieroglyph has many variants on Indus Script Corpora.See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/ornamental-endless-knot-svastika-other.html
Mohenjo-daro. m1457 Copper plate with 'twist' hieroglyph. Mohejodaro, tablet in bas relief (M-478) 
The first hieroglyph-multiplex on the left (twisted rope): 
m478a tablet
The hieroglyph may be a variant of a twisted rope.
dhāu 'rope' rebus: dhāu 'metal' PLUS  मेढा [ mēḍhā ] 'a curl or snarl; twist in thread' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’. Thus, metallic ore.

Hieroglyph: मेढा [mēḍhā] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl (Marathi). Rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper' (Munda. Slavic) mẽṛhẽt, meD 'iron' (Mu.Ho.Santali)
meď 'copper' (Slovak)
Santali glosses:
Wilhelm von Hevesy wrote about the Finno-Ugric-Munda kinship, like "Munda-Magyar-Maori, an Indian link between the antipodes new tracks of Hungarian origins" and "Finnisch-Ugrisches aus Indien". (DRIEM, George van: Languages of the Himalayas: an ethnolinguistic handbook. 1997. p.161-162.) Sumerian-Ural-Altaic language affinities have been noted. Given the presence of Meluhha settlements in Sumer, some Meluhha glosses might have been adapted in these languages. One etyma cluster refers to 'iron' exemplified by meD (Ho.). The alternative suggestion for the origin of the gloss med 'copper' in Uralic languages may be explained by the word meD (Ho.) of Munda family of Meluhha language stream:
Sa. <i>mE~R~hE~'d</i> `iron'.  ! <i>mE~RhE~d</i>(M).
Ma. <i>mErhE'd</i> `iron'.
Mu. <i>mERE'd</i> `iron'.
  ~ <i>mE~R~E~'d</i> `iron'.  ! <i>mENhEd</i>(M).
Ho <i>meD</i> `iron'.
Bj. <i>merhd</i>(Hunter) `iron'.
KW <i>mENhEd</i>
@(V168,M080)
http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/austroasiatic/AA/Munda/ETYM/Pinnow&Munda
— Slavic glosses for 'copper'
Мед [Med]Bulgarian
Bakar Bosnian
Медзь [medz']Belarusian
Měď Czech
Bakar Croatian
KòperKashubian
Бакар [Bakar]Macedonian
Miedź Polish
Медь [Med']Russian
Meď Slovak
BakerSlovenian
Бакар [Bakar]Serbian
Мідь [mid'] Ukrainian[unquote]
http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/element.php?sym=Cu 
Miedź, med' (Northern Slavic, Altaic) 'copper'.  
One suggestion is that corruptions from the German "Schmied", "Geschmeide" = jewelry. Schmied, a smith (of tin, gold, silver, or other metal)(German) result in med ‘copper’.


Celtic knot
Stone Celtic crosses, such as this, are a major source of knowledge regarding Celtic knot design.
"The Brahmajāla Sūtra (traditional Chinese: 梵網經; ; pinyin: Fànwǎng jīng; Japanese pronunciation: Bonmōkyō), also called the Brahma's Net Sutra, is a text of Mahayana Buddhism...The Brahmajāla Sūtra is related to the important Huayan metaphor of Indra's net." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmajala_Sutra_(Mahayana)


Source: https://www.academia.edu/940118/Universal_Metaphysical_Symbols_and_their_Role_in_Cross-Cultural_Inspiration Tibetan: dpal beu (endless knot, act of binding, interconnectedness)


"At Altyn Depe, two seals of “proto-Indian type” were found in Excavation 7, the tomb of the “priest” in room 7 (Masson 1981: Pl. XXII).  One bears an inscription of two recognizable Indus signs: TRI-FORK / RAKE (5 “tines”) (Pl. XXII, no. 1a).  The other not only bears the swastika, but adds the additional stroke between the arms also seen on multiple Indus examples (Pl. XXII, no. 1b).  Among many examples of seals adorned with crosses and “X” shapes, there is also a compartmented seal in the form of a triskele or three-armed swastika (Pl. XXXVII, no. 4).  While the stamp seals might be considered imports from the Indus Valley, this compartmented seal is of a type characteristic of Central Asia itself." Rhd-157
C-49, C-50
m1356


M443A, B, 

m1356, m443 table मेढा [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) mer.ha = twisted, crumpled, as a horn (Santali.lex.) meli, melika = a turn, a twist, a loop, entanglement; meliyu, melivad.u, meligonu = to get twisted or entwined (Te.lex.) [Note the endless knot motif]. Rebus: med. ‘iron’ (Mu.) sattva 'svastika glyph' Rebus: sattva, jasta 'zinc'.

















m 478-480, 












m507, m508, Copper tablets




m1457




c23, 6402
m592


http://indusscriptmore.blogspot.in/2011/08/catch-all-group-of-indus-signs.html

S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
July 13, 2016
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UNCLOS tribunal calls out China for flagrant violation of international law in South China Sea -- Brahma Chellaney. Indian Ocean Community should stay together to counter expansionism

July 13, 2016, 9:25 pm
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Jul 14 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)
UNCLOS tribunal calls out China for flagrant violation of international law in South China Sea
Brahma Chellaney


China has been expanding its frontiers ever since it came under communist rule in 1949. Yet no country dared to haul it to an international tribunal before the Philippines in 2013 invoked the dispute-settlement mechanism of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), thereby setting in motion the arbitration proceedings that this week resulted in the stinging rebuke of China's expansive claims in the South China Sea.

The trigger for Manila approaching the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was China's capture in 2012 of Scarborough Shoal, located close to the Philippines but hundreds of miles from the Chinese coast. ITLOS then set up a five-member tribunal under The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).Despite strenuous Chinese efforts to dismiss and discredit the proceedings from the start, Beijing tried unsuccessfully to persuade the tribunal that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case.
In a strong verdict, the tribunal has rejected Beijing's claim that it has historic rights to much of the South China Sea and held that China was in violation of international law by causing ecological damage, including through its island-building spree.The panel effectively declared as illegitimate China's `nine-dash line' boundary . Yet, in the absence of a mechanism to enforce the ruling, Beijing was quick to pour scorn on the verdict and brazenly declare that it would ignore a legally binding ruling. Contrast China's contempt for the landmark verdict with India's ready acceptance of adverse rulings in recent years by PCA tribunals in two separate cases ­ its maritime-boundary dispute with Bangladesh and the Indus river-related dispute with Pakistan over the Kishenganga project. India tamely accepted the verdicts, although the Kishenganga ruling will affect all future Indian projects on the Indus and the other ruling has left a large “grey area“ where the Bangladesh-India sea borders meet.

China's disdain for the ruling shows that international law matters to the great powers only when it can serve their own interests. Otherwise, international rules are bendable and expendable. The other UN Security Council permanent members have also spurned internationaltribunal rulings, including on maritime issues. In this light, the notion that the world is governed by international law is a dangerous illusion. The powerful have repeatedly shown that the rules essentially are for weak states.
To be sure, China has never pretended that it believes in a rules-based order. In the South China Sea matter, it has repeat edly cited what it has flagrantly breached ­ the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties that it signed with the 10 Asean states in 2002. While violating the declaration's central commitment ­ to resolve “disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force“ ­ Beijing has quoted the reference to the use of “friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned“ to insist that any dispute can only be addressed bilaterally and not through international arbitration or adjudication.
Dispute settlement by peaceful means is essential to building harmonious interstate relations.However, Beijing's dismissal of the tribunal's ruling is in keeping with its broader opposition to settling disputes with its neigh bours ­ from India to Japan ­ by means of international mediation, arbitration or adjudication.Instead, China's creeping aggression in Asia reflects a “might is right“ strategy that seeks to extend its control to strategic areas and resources by altering the status quo.

Through its furious reaction to the tribunal's ruling, China is to the tribunal's ruling, China is saying it should be the judge in its own cause. More ominously , it is signalling its determination to persist with unilateralism and settle the South China Sea issue militarily . The example it is setting will not only be damaging to UNCLOS but also stoke tensions and insecurities in Asia.
The South China Sea is critical to the contest for influence in the Indian Ocean and the larger Indo-Pacific region. As China consolidates its power in the South China Sea by completing ports and airstrips and building up its military assets on manmade islands, it will do more than reduce Asean states to a tributary status: Its actions will have a direct bearing on India's interests in the Indian Ocean, where Beijing is already chipping away at India's natural geographic advantage.
The writer is a geostrategist and author


http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/unclos-tribunal-calls-out-china-for-flagrant-violation-of-international-law-in-south-china-sea/

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Rein ring on Ur and Mari standards is valgā, bāg-ḍora 'bridle' rebus bagalā 'seafaring dhow'

July 13, 2016, 11:51 pm
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Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/gpsju8l

I deeply appreciate the precise identification of the 'rein rings' on the banner upheld on the Mari standard (Louvre museum) on 
http://sumerianshakespeare.com/312101/. The 'rein rings' are read rebus: valgā, bāg-ḍora 'bridle' rebus (metath.) bagalā 'seafaring dhow'. 

Thus, all three types of dhows of ancient Bronze Age are signified by the hieroglyph-multiplexes (hypertext) on the Mari banner: bagala, shambuk and koTiya.
"The figure in the middle of the top register is the king, drawn larger than the other men to signify his greater importance. He holds a battle ensign featuring a bull statuette. The king’s soldiers are lined up behind him, and in front of him are more soldiers and a few prisoners. The bottom register is a confusing array of soldiers, prisoners, a chariot, and a clay pot (!?). The standard was found in the temple of Ishtar, in pieces scattered on the floor, which would account for the arbitrary arrangement of the figures...It's very possible that the Standard of Mari is not just a decorative mosaic panel, as is commonly supposed, but an actual royal standard like Standard of Ur, the kind carried aloft during processions of the king " http://sumerianshakespeare.com/312101/
Panel standard of Mari shell limestone and bitumen, Mari Temple of Ishtar, Early Dynastic period, w:72 cm from the Early Dynastic - Northern Mesopotamian Period, 2900 BCE - 2350 BCE.
[quote]Found in Mari (Tell Hariri) much like the standard of Ur in style and content the standard of Mari (partly shown above) depicts scenes of war and victory. Due to its fragmented nature parts of the actual reconstruction of the Mari standard have been debated by scholars.
The above reconstruction shows prisoners being led before a bald-headed figure, much like those found in sculpted stone from several Early Dynastic temples representing high-level priests or rulers.
The central figure has been reconstructed as carrying an animal standard which is in fact a rein ring similar to the electrum one found in the death pit of Puabi in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Both the Mari and Ur standards were constructed using a shell-inlay technique and bitumen.
Bernus-Taylor, Marthe and Annie Caubet. The Louvre: Near Eastern Antiquities. London: scala books, 1991, pg 23.
Source Berkley Education :Art and Archictecture of the Near East page location Northern Mesopotamia, Early Dynastic, 2900 BCE to 2350 BCE: scenes of war and victory [unquote]
http://www.newsnfo.co.uk/pages/sheeple%20war%20sheep%20emblem%20carrier%20.htm

Rein Rings atop the shaft of the ceremonial 'chariot' (sledge) found in Queen Pu-abi's tomb. valgā f. ʻ bridle ʼ Mr̥cch. [S. L. P. poss. indicate earlier *vālgā -- ]
Pk. vaggā -- f. ʻ bridle ʼ; K. wag f. ʻ rein, tether ʼ; S. vāg̠a f. ʻ rein, halter ʼ (whence vāg̠aṇu ʻ to tie up a horse ʼ); L. (Ju.) vāg̠ f. ʻ rein ʼ, awāṇ. vāg; P. vāg, bāg f. ʻ bridle ʼ, N.bāg -- ḍori; B. bāg ʻ rein ʼ; Or. bāga ʻ bridle, rein ʼ, gaja -- bāga ʻ elephant goad ʼ; Bi. bāg -- ḍor ʻ tether for horses ʼ; Mth. Bhoj. bāg ʻ rein, bridle ʼ, OAw. bāga f., H. bāg f. (→ K. bāg -- ḍora m., M. bāg -- dor); G. vāg f. ʻ rein, guiding rope of a bullock ʼ; M. vāg -- dor m. ʻ bridle ʼ.Addenda: valgā -- and *vālgā -- [Dial. a ~ ā < IE. o (Lett. valgs ʻ rope, cord ʼ) T. Burrow BSOAS xxxviii 72] (CDIAL 11420) valgulikā f. ʻ box, chest ʼ Kathās. 2. vāggulika -- m. ʻ betel -- bearer ʼ lex.1. Or. bāguḷi ʻ metal case for betel packets ʼ.2. Or. bāguḷī ʻ betel -- bearer to a king ʼ.(CDIAL 11422)  bahulā f. pl. ʻ the Pleiades ʼ VarBr̥S., °likā -- f. pl. lex. [bahulá -- ] Kal. bahul ʻ the Pleiades ʼ, Kho. ból, (Lor.) boul, bolh, Sh. (Lor.) b*lle. (CDIAL 9195) Rebus: A baghlah, bagala or baggala (Arabic: بغلة ) is a large deep-sea dhow, bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (G.) bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Ka.); bagalā (M.); bagarige, bagarage = a kind of vessel (Ka.)

davara m. ʻ string ʼ Kalpas., °aka -- Jain., dōraka -- m. ʻ leather strap ʼ KātyŚr.com., ḍōra -- , °aka -- m.n. BhavP. Pk. davara -- m., °riyā -- , dōra -- m., °rī -- f., ḍōra -- m. ʻ thread, string, mat fibre ʼ; Gy. eur. dori f. ʻ string, rope, girdle ʼ; K. ḍora m. ʻ cord ʼ, ḍūrü f. ʻ string ʼ; S. ḍ̠oro m. ʻ kite string ʼ, ḍ̠ori f. ʻ twine ʼ, ḍ̠orī f. ʻ string for drawing water ʼ; L. ḍor f. ʻ cotton rope ʼ, ḍorā m. ʻ string ʼ, P. ḍor f., ḍorā m., °rī f.; WPah.cur. ḍorā ʻ rope ʼ, bhal. ḍoro m. ʻ black woollen girdle ʼ, ḍori f. ʻ fillet in a woman's hair ʼ; Ku. ḍor, °ro, °rī ʻ string ʼ; N. ḍoro ʻ thread, line, path ʼ, ḍori ʻ rope, tether ʼ (whence ḍoryāunu ʻ to lead ʼ); A. ḍol,ḍor ʻ string ʼ, ḍorā ʻ strip of cloth ʼ, ḍuri ʻ cord on a seam ʼ; B. ḍor, ḍuri ʻ string, thread ʼ, Or. ḍora, °ri; Bi. ḍor, °rī ʻ rope ʼ; Mth. ḍor, °rī ʻ string, lace ʼ; Bhoj. ḍorā ʻ thread ʼ, ḍori ʻ rope ʼ; Aw.lakh. ḍorā ʻ threads ʼ; H. dor, daur m. ʻ strings for slinging irrigation -- basket ʼ, dorī, daurī ʻ rope to which a string of cattle are fastened (as bullocks when threshing) ʼ, ḍor, °rī f., °rā m. ʻ thread, string ʼ (whence ḍuriyānā ʻ to lead with a rope ʼ); G. dor m., °rɔ m., °rī f. ʻ string, rope ʼ, M. dor m., °rā m., °rī f., Ko. dorī, ḍo°.Addenda: davara -- [da -- reduced grade of √dā2 ʻ bind ʼ Burrow Shwa 42] S.kcch. ḍorī f. ʻ string ʼ; (CDIAL 6225)

I, therefore, suggest that the rein-rings on the Mari banner (signified on the Mari standard) is read rebus: valgā 'bridle' rebus:  bagalā 'seafaring dhow'.

Thus, the banner held aloft has hieroglyphs which signify:  bagalā, shambuka and koTiya all three names of variant designs of dhow, seafaring vessels.

The decorated ceremonial "chariot" (sledge) found in Queen Pu-abi's tomb. Atop the central shaft is the rein rings used to separate the reins between the two oxen. See the front of the sledge.
http://sumerianshakespeare.com/117701/117801.html

S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
July 14, 2016
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The Indo-European controversy -- Pereltsvalg & Lewis. Why do fallacies result in a wrong construct of IE?

July 14, 2016, 5:47 am
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LINGUIST List 27.2902

Fri Jul 08 2016 

Review: Comp Ling; Historical Ling: Lewis, Pereltsvaig (2015) 

Editor for this issue: Michael Czerniakowski <mikelinguistlist.org> 
Date: 02-Jan-2016 
From: David Stifter <david.stifternuim.ie>
Subject: The Indo-European Controversy


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-2286.html

AUTHOR: Asya Pereltsvaig
AUTHOR: Martin W. Lewis
TITLE: The Indo-European Controversy
SUBTITLE: Facts and Fallacies in Historical Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: David Stifter, 

Reviews Editor: Robert A. Cote 

SUMMARY 

“The Indo-European Controversy” by Asya Pereltsvaig and Martin Lewis takes an article (Bouckaert et al. 2012; hereafter referred to as Gray & Atkinson 2012) from the journal Science as the starting point for their wide-ranging evaluation of non-linguistic contributions to this debate. Chapter 1, “Ideology and interpretation from the 1700s to the 1970s”, contains a concise history of the reception of Indo-European studies since their beginning in the late 18th century, its (mis)use by scholars from extralinguistic disciplines, and its impact or lack thereof on political ideologies in the 19th and 20th centuries; while in Chapter 2“Anatolia vs. the Steppes”, Colin Renfrew’s influential contribution of 1987 is evaluated. His so-called ‘Anatolian hypothesis’ about the spread of the language family via demic diffusion, accompanying the spread of agriculture in the neolithic, has been fervently rejected by basically every linguistic expert conversant with the actual facts of Indo-European Studies, but it continues to exert its appeal on non-specialists. The driving force behind this debate is not so much a linguistic one than one informed by historical and archaeological ideologies, without being rooted in the hard facts of linguistics. 

In the central section of the book, “Part II. The failings of the Bayesian phylogenetic research program”, the authors take the methodological fallacies, fundamental misapprehensions, and practical errors apart that riddle Gray & Atkinson’s work. In Chapter 3, “What theory we want and what theory we get”, the authors demonstrate that creating trees of language relationships on the basis of lexical comparisons alone is an approach that is bound to lead to erroneous results. Diachronic phonology offers more reliable criteria to model language relationships. 

Chapter 4 “Linguistic fallacies of the Bayesian phylogenetic model” meticulously lists errors and misunderstandings that beset the fundamental assumptions of Gray & Atkinson’s work: the failure to distinguish innovations from retentions, including the failure to understand that because of the nature of linguistic data, especially because of universal phonological tendencies, there is in many instances an intrinsic directionality in change. Phonological change is not unlike more traditional physical events in that they are predicated by the arrow of time and their results may, mutatis mutandis, be viewed as an increase in entropy. For this reason, what is a linguistic innovation can by itself be evident for the expert, whereas a statistical calculation only based on frequencies will unavoidably lead to a wrong picture. Other potential pitfalls are an over-reliance on lexical data, which is intrinsically imprecise because its significance can be blurred by factors such as borrowing, unidentified or only inadequately identified borrowing, or divergent lexical usage, and not awarding sufficient importance to phonology and grammar, which offer more reliable and consistent information about linguistic cognacy. Another stumbling block is the unreflected use of Swadesh lists of core vocabulary for language comparison with their very subjective, if not random character of word selections. 

Chapter 5, “Dating problems of the Bayesian phylogenetic model” addresses the inherent difficulty of assigning clear-cut dates to linguistic developments. While glottochronology in the traditional sense has long fallen out of favour, the Bayesian approach advocated by Gray & Atkinson offers only little progress because distorting factors (such as undetected borrowings) can easily skew the statistics. If the amount of data is not large enough, small changes in the input will have massive repercussions on the output. The authors of the present book point out that, while Gray & Atkinson make use of ostensibly objective calibration points, i.e. historically secured events, the significance of such dates is misunderstood. While historical events may be the trigger for sociolinguistic developments that will eventually result in linguistic change, they cannot be identified with the dates of those changes as such. The inherent fuzziness of the data leads to distortions in the calculations that add up to a 3000-year timing difference between the computational model and the consensus or near-consensus view with which scholars in the field actually operate. In Chapter 6, “The historical-geographical failure of the Bayesian phylogenetic model”, Pereltsvaig & Lewis demonstrate how the static and dynamic maps produced by Gray & Atkinson (printed and online) ignore simple historical facts about the distribution of languages and their speech communities and how they end up with historically and politically bizarre scenarios. 

Chapter 7, “Unwarranted assumptions”, questions the many fundamental concepts that underlie Gray & Atkinson’s theories of languages spread, i.e. their ideas about migration vs. diffusion, how language spread interacts with population spread, topographical factors (such as sea coasts), and a simplistic view of the contiguity of languages over specific regions. Although images of mass population movements in the old sense of ‘Völkerwanderungen’ are surely simplistic, historical sources abound in evidence for migrations and transplantations of speech communities. The migration model thus receives factual support from countless real-life examples from across the globe, against the theory-driven diffusion model; the crucial point being that even diffusion requires the operation of ‘agents’ to actually take place (Vogl 2012). If the agents are human beings or groups of humans, contingencies come into play that will disrupt any neat numerical model. The final section in this chapter is devoted to those “fallacious and unexamined assumptions” (155) by which biological evolution tends to be used as an analogy for linguistic evolution. Arguing that the similarities are superficial and only pertain to the use of cladistic trees, albeit for quite different purposes in each of the two disciplines, the authors state that the fundamental procedural principles of linguistic and genetic differentiation could in fact not be further apart. 

After all the deconstruction, the third section of the book, “Searching for Indo-European origins” , is devoted to the assembling of facts that allow linguists to make constructive statements about the where and the when of the Proto-Indo-European language and its break-up. In Chapter 8, “Why linguists don’t do dates? Or do they?”, Pereltsvaig & Lewis give an introduction to linguistic paleontology and then roll out the major arguments associated with the problem of wheeled transport as an example of this approach. They arrive at the conclusion that Proto-Indo-European could not have started to break up before the origins of wheeled transport ca. 3500 B.C. Another equally important dating criterion of material culture is not mentioned here even though it pins Proto-Indo-European effectively to the same chronological horizon: the presence of the words for ‘sheep’, *h2ou̯i-, and ‘wool’, *h2u̯l̥h1/2no/eh2-, and in particular the fact that the latter word seems to be derived from the former (the initial sequence h2u̯ is identical with the consonantal skeleton of *h2ou̯i- ‘sheep’), give evidence for the acquaintance of the Proto-Indo-European people with woolly sheep. Sheep with sufficient wool for economic exploitation were not known before the 4th mill. b.c. (Mallory & Adams 2006: 238). 

Chapter 9, “Triangulating the Indo-European homeland” exploits linguistic archaeology and language contact data to find clues about the localisation of the homeland. The authors argue that, while all the evidence is not always fully conclusive, its cumulative drift is in favour of the traditional theory that Proto-Indo-European was situated in the Pontic Steppes in the 4th millennium BCE In Chapter 10, “The non-mystery of Indo-European expansion” , the authors sketch a sociolinguistic and anthropological scenario to explain the apparent ‘success’ of Indo-European languages. Chapter 11, “Whither historical linguistics?” is concerned with possible alternative methods for establishing and computing language relatedness, e.g. the Parametric Comparison Method (PCM), developed in the ‘Language and Gene Lineages project headed by Giuseppe Longobardi (University of York), a method that is based on generative syntax and that compares fundamental parameters of languages and which holds a promise for exciting future results. In the book’s conclusion, “What is at stake in the Indo-European debate”, the authors find very harsh words against Gray & Atkinson and the journal “Science” (esp. p. 230), the central accusation being that their theory is unempirical. 

EVALUATION 

A lot of professional frustration permeates the introductory pages, but it is the sting of this frustration that motivates Pereltsvaig & Lewis to engage critically with the methodological premises of the allegedly scientific approach. The authors employ a very polemic, pointedly formulated style which at times reminds the reader of lawyers pleading their cause in a criminal court. Right from the ‘Introduction’ (1–15), Pereltsvaig & Lewis leave no doubt about their own position and their intention to refute every bit of the article of contention. Speaking of “incorrect and … incoherent linguistic information” (2), they accuse Gray & Atkinson of building on “erroneous and unexamined suppositions about language differentiation, distribution, and expansion” (3). They view extralinguistic attempts at solving central questions of Indo-European antiquity in a very critical light. Pereltsvaigs’s and Lewis’s basic tenet is that the distribution of human languages is “only vaguely analogous to organic evolution”, “has nothing in common with the spread of viruses” (3), and should therefore be described with different models altogether. 

On a positive note, the authors draw from an admirable knowledge of sources, not infrequently making reference to fairly obscure publications, and they employ a broad range of facts from diverse scientific fields. They convert their ‘ammunition’ into a forceful attack not only against Gray & Atkinson, but against the nonchalant reception and treatment of languages, and of historical linguistics in particular, by the public and big media. Their own position, on the basis of which they critically assess alternative hypotheses, reflects the broad consensus of scholars in Indo-European Studies. Therefore, the book is unlikely to change the opinion of anyone who already works in the field, simply because, judging by my own professional experience, most colleagues in the field hold this view anyway. Within the field, the authors would be preaching to the faithful. In fact, much of what is said in the book is commonplace in historical linguistics and in Indo-European Studies in particular. A big achievement of Pereltsvaig & Lewis, though, is to argue the case from so many diverse angles, and for this reason the book can be useful even to specialists. 

Bayesian methods have become a popular and powerful tool in many disciplines where large data has to be analysed. In fact, the critique which Pereltsvaig & Lewis direct against the ‘Bayesian phylogenetic model’ does not actually address the mathematical principles of the Bayesian approach as such at all, but is rather concerned with the erroneous application and the non-expert handling of the linguistic input data by Gray & Atkinson. It would, in fact, be interesting to see what results can be achieved if experts in historical linguistics, who have a well-grounded understanding of the data, work together with experts in Bayesian methods. 

I want to finish on a more positive note. New facts such as advances in scientific disciplines outside of historical linguistics (e.g. Haak 2015) lend unexpected, but very welcome support to the basic tenets Pereltsvaig & Lewis. The very fact that a book like this had to be written, even though all the facts have been on the table for decades, makes a disillusioning statement about the lack of public impact of the work of historical linguists. It is therefore to be hoped that the book’s main audience will be scholars in neighbouring disciplines, or even further away, who may easily be blinded and led astray by the outwardly shining ‘scientistic’ arguments used by Gray & Atkinson. If it achieves this objective, it will be a very important contribution to the scholarly debate about the origins and the expansion of the Indo-European languages, even though the style in which it is written may at times come across too polemically. 

Occasionally, minor errors catch the eye, e.g.: in the satem-group of Indo-European, there is no uniform outcome *s of the Proto-Indo-European palatal *k’ (p. 65), but the precise nature of the sibilant differs from language to language, ranging from plain [s] in Iranian (providing the source for the modern term ‘satem’), to a variety of palatal sounds that remained separate from s in most of the other languages in the group. The self-designation of the Spanish language is not “espagnol” (p. 111), but español. Also, the ruling house of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were the Habsburgs, not the “Hapsburgs”. The (pre-)PIE word *Hok̑tō(u̯) ‘tetrad’, the putative basis of the Proto-Kartvelian loan *otχo-‘four’, was by no means lost in later Indo-European (p. 192), but survives across the board as the numeral ‘eight’. Finally, on p. 198, the presentation of the facts is misleading: the reader gets the impression that Indo-European *pork̑os ‘piglet’ with a palatalised *k̑ had been borrowed into Proto-Finno-Ugric; however, the Proto-Finno-Ugric word is *pɔ̄rš́ɔs borrowed from already satemised Proto-Indo-Iranian. 

REFERENCES 

Bouckaert, R., Lemey, Ph., Dunn, M., Greenhill S.J., Alekseyenko A.V., Drummond A.I., Gray, R.D., Suchard M.A and Atkinson, Q.D. 2012. ‘Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family’. Science 337 no. 6097 (24.8.2012), 957–960 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1219669]. 

Haak, W. et al. 2015. ‘Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe’, Nature 522 issue 7555 (11.6.2015, publ. online 2.3.2015), 207–211 [DOI: 10.1038/nature14317]. Precis (12.2.2015) at: http://www.nature.com/news/european-languages-linked-to-migration-from-the-east-1.16919. 
Mallory, J.P. and Adams, D.Q. 2006. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press. 
Renfrew, C. 1987. Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of the Indo-European Origins. London. 

Ringe, D. et al. 2002. ‘Indo-European and computational cladistics’, Transactions of the Philological Society 100, 59–129. 

Vogl, G. 2012. ‘Fundamentals of diffusion and spread in the natural sciences and beyond’, in: Migrations. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Eds. M. Messer, R. Schroeder, R. Wodak, Wien: Springer 2012, 261–266.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

David Stifter, Professor of Old Irish at the Department of Early Irish at Maynooth University, Ireland. This review was written as part of the research project Chronologicon Hibernicum (https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/chronologiconhibernicum) that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 647351). Part of the project will be to use Bayesian methods for the dating of Early Irish language developments.
http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-2902.html
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Migrant sex attacks will spark confrontation with Islam in Europe – intelligence chief

July 14, 2016, 8:00 am
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Migrant sex attacks will spark confrontation with Islam in Europe – intelligence chief

FRANCE is on the verge of civil war that could be sparked by the mass sexual assault of women by migrants, according to the country's head of intelligence.

By LAURA MOWAT
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Study of 2000+ archaeological sites on Sarasvati River Basin: Multi-disciplinary focus

July 15, 2016, 1:50 am
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In addition to the focused, time-bound excavations – suggested by Dr. Jagmohan -- from among 2000+ archaeological sites (over 80%) on Sarasvati River basin (to be selected by ASI from the Gazetteer of over 2600 sites included in Gregory Possehl’s 1999 work Indus Age, the Beginnings), multi-disciplinary studies on aspects of the civilization include specific studies/projects such as the following:


 1. River channel provenance studies, plate tectonics and glaciology studies
     2. Material resources, trade & cultural framework: Marine archaeology (linking Sarasvati river basin to Persian Gulf and sites along the Indian Ocean coastline) and marine activities of Bharatiya civilization; herbals and ayurveda traditions, art and cultural traditions (lapidary work with semiprecious stones such as carnelian, s’ankha shells)
 3. Archaeo-metallurgy (Ancient India’s contributions to the Bronze Age Revolution),
 4. Water management
 5. Formation and evolution of Bharatiya languages from the roots of Sarasvati civilization speakers who venerated VAgdevi (Sarasvati) in the Rashtrii Suktam of Rigveda.
 6.  Dissemination of information and peoples’ participation

1. River channel provenance studies, plate tectonics and glaciology studies

The greatest water tower of the world, the Himalayan ranges stretch from Hanoi (Vietnam) to Teheran (Iran)

The ongoing northward thrust of Indian plate (at about 6 cm per year) and lifting up the Eurasian plate (about 1 cm per year) are an extraordinary geophysical reality of the Himalayan ranges. which constitute the largest water tower in the globe. The recurring plate tectonic events have impacted river migrations and changes to hydrological flows of perennial river systems of Bharatam. This reality calls for multi-disciplinary studies related to glaciology (formation/movements of glaciers) and river (glacial flow) migrations caused by plate tectonics. (as evidenced near Ropar related to Sutlej river and near Paontasaheb/Rakhigarhi related to Yamuna river which was a tributary of River Sarasvati)  See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/01/sarasvati-was-himalayan-river-ks.htmlSarasvati was a Himalayan River -- KS Valdiya (2013) rejects Giosan et al arguments 

Current Science, Vol. 104, No. 1,10 January 2013, Pages 42 to 54.  In this paper, Dr.Valdiya rgues fo a provenance study: “There is, however, no denying that a comprehensive provenance sudy is required to dispel all doubts about the source of the sediment that fill the channels and the floodplain of the Sarasvati system.” (opcit., Current Science,p.50). Such a provenance study should include glaciologists, seismologists, geologists, archaeologists.


2. Material resources, trade & cultural framework


A striking feature of over 2000 archaeological sites on Sarasvati basin in Bharatam is that there are indications of maritime trade activity across the Persian Gulf. Over 2000 Persian Gulf/Dilmun seals with Indus Script have been found. Another remarkable feature is the clustering of sites with Bronze Age industrial activity in sites close to the Rann of Kutch (en route to Persian Gulf).

In the context of marine archaeological initiatives at Dwaraka, it may be appropriate to conduct further marine archaeological studies in the Indian Ocean along the Rann of Kutch, Saurashtra and western coastlines of Bharatam to unravel the maritime activities of the civilization.

 



3. Archaeo-metallurgy (Ancient India’s contributions to the Bronze Age Revolution)


The recent discovery by ASI at a site called Bijnor (near Anupgarh) on the banks of River Sarasvati points to two features: 1. Presence of yajna kunda in the Vedic tradition evidenced by an octagonal pillar indicative of Soma yaga as prescribed in ancient Vedic texts) and 2. Metalwork activity and presence of a seal attesting to mature period of the civilization (perhaps dated to ca. 2500 BCE). Further archaeo-metallurgical studies are needed to map 1) the resources from Khetri mines which seem to have sustained sites like Bijnor, Kalibangan, Karanpura (see note below) on Sarasvati River Basin and 2) nature of contributions made by Bharatiyas to Bronze Age Revolution, with particular reference to mleccha ‘copper’.

म्लेच्छा* स्य = म्लेच्छ—मुख means ‘copper’म्लेच्छास्यं, क्ली, (म्लेच्छे म्लेच्छदेशे आस्यमुत्पत्ति-रस्य ।) ताम्रम् । इति हारावली ॥ म्लेच्छास्यं, क्ली, (म्लेच्छे म्लेच्छदेशे आस्यमुत्पत्ति-रस्य ।) ताम्रम् । इति हारावली ॥ म्लेच्छमुखं, क्ली, (म्लेच्छे म्लेच्छदेशे मुखमुत्पत्ति- रस्य । इत्यमरटीकायां रघुनाथः ।) ताम्रम् । इत्यमरः । २ । ९ । ९७ ॥ (तथास्य पर्य्यायः । “ताम्रमौदुम्बरं शुल्वमुदुम्बरमपि स्मृतम् । रविप्रियं म्लेच्छमुखं सूर्य्यपर्य्यायनामकम् ॥” इति भावप्रकाशस्य पूर्ब्बखण्डे प्रथमे भागे ॥ “ताम्रमौडुम्बरं शूल्वं विद्यात् म्लेच्छमुख- न्तथा ॥” इति गारुडे २०८ अध्याये ॥)

 https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/शब्दकल्पद्रुमः 

Prabhakar, V. N. and Majid, Jaseera C. , "Preliminary results of excavation at Karanpura, a Harappan settlement in district Hanumangarh", Man and Environment, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 13-41, 2014.

Abstract

Karanpura is located on the River Chautang (ancient Drishadvati, a tributary of River Sarasvati) nearly 60 km west of Hissar and 6 km west of Bhadra on the Bhadra-Goga Medi road in District Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. The Excavation Branch II of the Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site for two field seaso-ns, viz., 2012- 13 and 2013-14. The excavation brought to light occupational remains of Early Harappan and Mature Harap-pan phases of Harappan civilization. The occupational remains of over 3 m evidenced a continuous occupation at the site starting around circa 2800 BCE until around the end .of second millennium BCE. The upper 1.5 m of occupational deposit had been removed by local villagers for agricultural purposes and it hence could be presumed that the end of the habitation occurred towards 2000 BCE. Nevertheless the excavation has enabled us to understand the dynamics of Harappan culture and its spread into the areas watered by the tributary rivers like River Drishadvati for reasons of exploitation of various copper resources located in the northern Aravalli region. The access to these raw material sources might have been facilitated through the settlements located on the River Drishadvati to a larger extent. This paper puts forth the preliminary results of two seasons of excavation at this site

 http://repository.iitgn.ac.in/handle/123456789/1462?show=full


4. Water management


I invite attention to a remarkable Review of Studies on Sarasvati presented Central Ground Water Board in 2014. https://www.scribd.com/document/262214249/A-Review-of-Studies-on-Saraswati-Central-Ground-Water-Board-Dec-2014

This review provides a framework for the detailed design of channels for the reborn Sarasvati based on the Perspective Plan of NWDA (Min. of Water Resources) Sharda-Yamuna-Rajasthan-Sabarmati Links (with aqueducts across Ganga and Yamuna which will be engineering marvels). Hopefully, the links which will be perennial channels drawing upon the resources of Meham glacier, will be put on fast-track.


5. Formation and evolution of Bharatiya languages from the roots of Sarasvati civilization


It is important to identify the lingua franca of Bharatiya civilization which emerged on the banks of River Sarasvati. Pots and pans, implements and metal-/lapidary-work should get documented in the languages of the region. There is increasing recognition among linguists (such as Emeneau, Kuiper, Masica) that India was a linguistic area or sprachbund (language union) cutting across and absorbing words from Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan language families. Scholars like David Snow (Univ. of Hawaii) have pointed to the links of Autro-Asiatic languages of the Far East with Munda speakers of Bharatam. The multi-disciplinary initiatives for studying the roote and evolution of the civilization should include promotion of studies related to the formation and evolution of languages such as Prakrtam, Desi (Gujarati), Marathi, Maithili, Santali to identify the language speakers whose identity is closely linked to the identity of ancestors of present-day Bharatiyas.


The Indus Script Corpora which started with 2,200 inscriptions documented in Mahadevan Concordance (ASI) has now grown to over 7000 with over 4500 inscriptions discovered in two sites alone: Mohenjo-daro and Harappa PLUS over 2000 inscriptions on so-called Persian Gulf/Dilmun seals from a number of sites along the Persian Gulf. May Indus Script inscriptions have also been found in sites of Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia and also from a shipwreck in Haifa (Levant, Israel) with three inscribed tin ingots). A documentation of the inscriptions should be made available for all


6.                6.   Dissemination of information and peoples’ participation


The remarkable initiatives of Min. of Culture (ASI, in particular) should be disseminated in all Bharatiya languages to reach every students of every educational institution in the nation through multi-media presentations.


To promote participation of people in the new multi-disciplinary initiatives, Min. of Culture may consider setting up Heritage Resource Centers in the nodes of Dholavira, Kurukshetra, Chandigarh, Rakhigarhi with facilities of researchers to participate – as research fellows under the guidance of experts -- in the eco- and cultural tourism programmes suggested by Dr. Jagmohan in his letter to the PM (copy of letter attached).


Dr. S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Centre

July 15, 2016



 

Attachment (May 7, 2006 letter of Dr. Jagmohan to PM)

Jagmohan's open letter (May 7, 2006) to Prime Minister on Sarasvati civilization


A search for our lost cities


May 7, 2006


Dear Dr Manmohan Singh-ji,


This pertains to a special project, which I had conceived when I was working as Culture and Tourism Minister. The project, I thought, would have enlarged the dimensions of tourism, provided new insight into the origin of our civilization, and attracted a number of scholars and archaeologists to study the unexplored layers of our past. Unfortunately, it has since been given up.

Through this letter, I am approaching you with the request to intervene and ensure that the project is viewed in the right perspective and revived. I give below a brief backdrop of the project and the course that it intended to follow.

From the point of view of culture, the project was named as “A search For Lost Cities, A Lost Civilization and A Lost River”, and from the tourism point of view it was titled, “Travels Around Lost Cities, A Lost Civilization and a Lost River”. The river was Sarasvati and the civilization was the one known as Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati.


There were five major objectives that the project sought to achieve: 1) To undertake extensive excavations of the Harappan settlements in the basin of the now dried-up Sarasvati, and build archaeological museums at the sites.


2) Set up small tourist-cent res nearby.


3) Establish documentation-cum-multidisciplinary research units with attached pavilions, showing 5,000 years of Indian civilization through large panel-photographs, 3-D models etc.


4) Make the newly created complex attractive for residents of the neighboring towns and villages.


5) Open at each of the centres, a small window to the visitors.


The significance lay in the attempt to provide clear answers to some crucial questions, which I will answer one by one:


Was there an Aryan invasion?


It has been propagated by Western scholars and their Indian disciples that

between 1,500 to 1,000 BC, there was an invasion of India by light-skinned nomadic tribes, the Aryans, which gave birth to the Vedic civilization of India. But this hypothesis has no legs to stand upon. The study of Colin Renfrew, a noted archaeologist at Cambridge University, not only debunks the theory propounded by Mortimer Wheeler but also points at the similarities between the Aryan Vedic civilization and the Harappan one. Nor can the theory of invasion/migration provide answers to pertinent questions like: How come the ‘Aryans’, who showed strong attachment to lands, did not carry with them the memories of their previous homeland and nurse no nostalgia about their past? Is it not clear that the Rig-Vedic expressions like ‘sabha’, ‘samiti’, ‘samrat’, ‘ranjan’, ‘rajaka’, which indicate the existence of organized assemblies and rulers of different ranks, are relevant not to the nomadic invaders, but to the advanced urban society of the Vedic Aryans who were indigenous inhabitant of Harappan settlements? Was not the evolution of chariot more likely in the flat lands of North India rather than in the uneven terrain of the Central Asia?


The last nail in the coffin of the invasion/migration theory has been hammered in by the recent genetic studies, conducted by scientists in Calcutta with foreign scientists. They analyzed the Y-Chromosomes of 936 men and 77 castes, and referred to the work of the international research teams that found that the earliest modern human arrived in India from Africa, trudging along the Indian Ocean coast about 60,000 years ago. They concluded: “Our findings suggest that most modern Indians have genetic affinities to the earlier settlers and

subsequent migrants and not to central Asians or ‘Aryans’, as they are called”.


Nature of Civilization


When, in 1922, the Harappan civilization was discovered, only two major settlements — Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — had been excavated and that too partially. On this basis, views were formulated about the origin of these advanced urban civilizations. It was given out that its roots lay in Mesopotamia. Subsequent excavations of more Harappan sites have shown that these views and assertions were made without adequate evidence.


John Reader, a noted scholar of anthropology and geography, has pointed out that emergence of cities and civilizations in six widely separated places around

the world — Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China, Central America and Peru — was spontaneous and none resulted from contact with one another.


Excavations carried out by a French team, headed by Jean-Francois Jarrige, during the last 15 years, at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, have pin-pointed the beginnings

of civilization in India and shown that Indus-Sarasvati civilization had no moorings in Mesopotamia or any civilization outside India.


It has been rightly observed: “The people in Mehrgarh tradition are the people of India today”. There are similarities between the social and religious practices of the Harappan people and the people of present-day India. For example, the spiralled bangles of the type found around the figurine of the Harappan dancing
girl can still be seen on the arms of women in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc.


Again, as was the case with Harappan women, ‘sindoor’ is applied by married women of Hindu families. Some other common features of the two periods are: the practice of worshipping trees, putting of Svastika symbol at the entrance of the houses etc.


Did Sarasvati exist?


There is ample evidence that supports the view that river Sarasvati once existed.


Literary: The Rig Veda mentions the Sarasvati about 50 times, describing it as “the best mother, the best river, the best goddess”. The famous Nadi-stuti hymn mentions a set of rivers, including Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati and Sutudori (Sutlej) and places Sarasvati between Yamuna and Sutlej. Its origin is indicated in the hymn that says: “Purest among all rivers and vibrant, the Sarasvati moves on from the mountains to the ocean, manifesting immense riches of the world…” She is also called the seventh “Indus Mother”. Ancient literature also talks of when Sarasvati began to decline. The Mahabharata, the Aitareya and the Satapatha Brahamana refer to its disappearance in the desert.

Archaeological: In 1872, C.F. Oldham and R.D. Oldham undertook a detailed survey of the area where the Sarasvati and its tributaries were said to be flowing in earlier times. They concluded that it was once fed by the Sutlej and the Yamuna, and that it disappeared after the westward movement of the former and eastward movement of the latter.

Geological: A group of scientists led by V.M.K. Puri and B.C. Verma, made a detailed study of the areas from which Sarasvati could have originated. They observed: “This river was in existence during the upper Pleistocene period as it was fed by glaciers that had descended to much lower limits in Garhwal Himalaya than the present day level due to the influence of Pleistocene Ice Age.”


Hydrological: After the Pokhran nuclear explosion on May 11, 1998, the Bhabha


Atomic Research Centre conducted tests to assess the impact of the explosions on the quality of water in the area around. These tests, interalia, revealed that the water in the area was potable, about 8,000 to 14,000 years old, came from the Himalayan glaciers and was being slowly recharged through aquifers from somewhere in the north. Separately, the Central Ground Water Commission dug a number of wells on and along the dry bed. Out of 24 wells dug, 23 yielded potable water.


If all that I have said is viewed in entirety, this is the picture that will emerge: the period 6,500-3,100 BC saw the growth of pre-Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati

civilization, corresponding broadly to the times when the Rig Veda was composed; that during the period 3,100 to 1,900 BC, the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilization prevailed and these were the times when the hymns of four Vedas were composed; and that 1,900 to 1,000 BC was the time of the late Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilization which saw the decline and ultimate

disappearance of the surface water of the Sarasvati, forcing the people to move eastward towards the Gangetic plain.


While the puzzles of archaeology and ancient Indian history cannot be resolved with certainty, particularly with regard to Harappa where the script has not so far been deciphered, it could be stated with a fair degree of accuracy that the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilization was born and brought up on the soil of India and its people and Vedic people were one and the same.

A lot of additional work needs to be done to unravel a number of features of one of the most significant civilizations of the ancient world. Hundreds of sites in the

basin of now the submerged Sarasvati need to be excavated. It was this need that the special project intended to meet.


This would also be of huge benefit to the tourism sector. I request you to recommence the special project. I am confident that the project, if implemented in the spirit it was conceived, would show new facets of India’s past, new initiatives of her present and new visions for her future.


Yours sincerely,


Jagmohan

http://sanskritdocuments.org/articles/JagmohanLetterToPM.txt

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692583,0035.htm

                                                                                                                   
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Franco-Tunisian terror truck in Nice kills more than 80 on Bastille day

July 15, 2016, 2:41 am
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Published: July 15, 2016 03:06 IST | Updated: July 15, 2016 15:05 IST  PARIS, July 15, 2016
NICE TERROR ATTACK

Live: Truck attacker was Franco-Tunisian, identity papers recovered

  • Agencies
  • The truck that rammed a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing more than 80, in Nice, southern France on Thursday is seen on left.
    AP
    The truck that rammed a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing more than 80, in Nice, southern France on Thursday is seen on left.
  • A scene on the road the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, on Thursday.
    Reuters
    A scene on the road the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, on Thursday.
  • A man walks through debris on the street the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France on Friday.
    Reuters
    A man walks through debris on the street the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France on Friday.
  • In a tribute to the victims of the truck attack in Nice, France, the Senate building in Mexico City is lit up in blue, white and red, the colours of the French flag, on Thursday,
    Reuters
    In a tribute to the victims of the truck attack in Nice, France, the Senate building in Mexico City is lit up in blue, white and red, the colours of the French flag, on Thursday,
  • A woman cries asking for her son as she walks near the scene of an attack after a truck drove onto the sidewalk and ploughed through a crowd of revellers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice on Friday.
    AP
    A woman cries asking for her son as she walks near the scene of an attack after a truck drove onto the sidewalk and ploughed through a crowd of revellers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice on Friday.
  • A man runs near the scene of an attack after a truck drove onto the sidewalk and ploughed through a crowd of revellers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France, on Friday.
    AP
    A man runs near the scene of an attack after a truck drove onto the sidewalk and ploughed through a crowd of revellers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France, on Friday.
  • Forensic officers stand near a truck with its windscreen riddled with bullets, that plowed through a crowd of revelers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France.
    AP
    Forensic officers stand near a truck with its windscreen riddled with bullets, that plowed through a crowd of revelers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France.
  • Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of an attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
    AFP
    Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of an attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
  • People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area on Friday after dozens were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday.
    Reuters
    People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area on Friday after dozens were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday.

France declares three-day national mourning;

An attacker killed more than 80 people and injured many by ramming a heavy truck at high speed a crowd watching Bastille Day firework in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday, officials said. The attack comes eight months after Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in Paris.
Here is the latest:
3.05 pm:
2.15 am: France declares three-day national mourning.
2.05 pm: The attacker is a 31-year-old Franco-Tunisian, whose identity papers were recovered from the vehicle after the carnage. Police have not yet released the attacker's name, but say he lived in Nice.
1.35 pm: Nice truck attacker formally identified, AFP reports quoting a police source.
1.25 pm: A lawmaker of the region that includes Nice says some people tried to escape the attack by going into the sea.
“A person jumped onto the truck to try to stop it,” Eric Ciotti told Europe 1 radio. “It’s at that moment that the police were able to neutralise this terrorist. I won’t forget the look of this policewoman who intercepted the killer.”
1.05 pm: Russian news agencies quote Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Travel Industry, as saying that a Russian woman was killed and her friend hurt in the attack. According to the agencies, Tyurina said she got the information from insurance agencies. “Two friends from Russia were taking a walk on the Promenade des Anglais. One was killed by the truck, the other lightly injured, she’s got broken toes and some other minor injuries,” Tyurina said.
Thousands of Russian tourists are estimated to be holidaying in Nice.
12.25 pm: French ambassador ‘thanks India for solidarity," reports our correspondent Kallol Bhattacharjee. "India France together against terror".
12.15 pm

11.45 am: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he was shocked and saddened by the attack.

11.25 am: France, hit with two waves of attacks in 2015 that killed 147 people, has long known be a top target of Islamic State. In September 2014, its spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, referred to “the filthy French” in a statement telling Muslims within the country to attack them in any way they could, including “crush them with your car.”
The message was not limited to France. It addressed “disbelieving Americans or Europeans, especially the spiteful and filthy French or an Australian or a Canadian.”
11 am: The attack in Nice has left 84 dead and 18 in a "critical condition", Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says.
10.45 am: Nice truck attacker was known to French police for common law crimes, but not to intelligence services, Reuters reports, citing a police source.
10.20 am: Here is what we know about what French President Francois Hollande has declared an "undeniable" terrorist attack.
(People cross the street with their hands up as a soldier secures the area on Friday after dozens were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, when a truck rammed a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday. Photo: Reuters)
9.50 am: AFP reports: President of the Nice region Christian Estrosi says the truck driver fired from a pistol several times before being shot dead by police.
"At the moment he was shot dead by police, he had fired several times," he says.
A source close to the investigation says an "inactive" grenade was found inside the 19-tonne truck, as well as "several fake rifles".
Regional lawmaker Eric Ciotti describes "terrifying images, a scene of absolute horror, with many children among the dead".
"Families who were sharing a moment of leisure were targeted. It was a symbolic day in a symbolic place. That... motivated the attack," he says.
9.40 am: President Pranab Mukherjee strongly condemns the attack.
9.35 am: The U.N. Security Council strongly condemns the “barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack”, AFP reports.
9.30 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemns the deadly attack, terming it a “mindless act of violence”. Read more
9.15 am:

9.10 am: “We have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack," says U.S. President Barack Obama.
9.00 am: Obama strongly condemns the attack, saying it appears to be a “horrific terrorist attack”. Read more
8.45 am: “Our Ambassador in Paris is in touch with the Indian community in Nice. So far no report of any Indians affected,” External AffairsSpokesperson Vikas Swarup tweets.
8.30 am: No Indian is reported to be affected. MEA says the Indian Embassy in Paris had opened a helpline number 33—1—40507070.
8.15 am:

8.00 am: “European and Asian leaders pay respect to the victims of Nice attack. We stand united against violence and hatred,” European Council president Donald Tusk tweets. Read more
7.45 am: The state of emergency imposed since a previous attack on Paris last November to be extended for another three months, says Hollande.
7.00 am: European Council President Donald Tusk tweets weapons and grenades were found inside the 25-tonne, unmarked truck.
6.30 am: “Tragic paradox that the subject of Nice attack was the people celebrating liberty, equality and fraternity,” he says.
6.30 am: BFM TV says 80 people killed in the attack.
6.00 am: Hollande says the attack was clearly a terrorist assault.
5.45 am: Hollande says at least 77 people were killed in an attack.
5.50 am: Counter-terrorist investigators seeking to identify the driver who, a local government official says opened fire before police shot him dead.
5.30 am: “Neither the place nor the date are coincidental,” a former French intelligence agent and security consultant, Claude Moniquet, tells France-Info.
5.00 am: “The lorry came zig-zagging along the street. We ran into a hotel and hid in the toilets with lots of people,” a woman tells France Info that she and others fled in terror.
4.45 am: Police deny rumours on social media of a subsequent hostage-taking in Nice.
4.30 am: An Interior Ministry spokesman says “several dozen” died. Nice-Matin says 42 people are in critical condition and many others injured.
4.20 am: Local government leader Christian Estrosi put the death toll at 77.
4.10 am: “It's a scene of horror,” a local member of parliament, Eric Ciotti, says the France Info radio. The truck had “mown down several hundred people,” he says.
4.05 am: “I saw people go down,” says bystander Franck Sidoli, who is visibly shocked. Reuters
4.00 am: President Hollande, who raced back to Paris from the south of France after the attack, was due to address a sleepless nation on television at 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT). Hours earlier, in a traditional Bastille Day interview, he had said an eight-month state of emergency might end in two weeks time.
3.45 am: An AFP reporter describes seeing a white van driving at high speed onto the famed Promenade des Anglais as people were leaving after the annual Bastille Day celebration display. "We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around," he says.
3.40 am: Police and ambulances rush to the scene and authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urge residents to stay indoors.
3.35 am: The truck rams a crowd on the Promenade des Anglais seaside walk in the centre of town, regional newspaper Nice Matin reported, citing its own reporter at the scene.
3.30 am: At least 30 people killed in Nice when a truck rams a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday, French TV channel BFM TV said.
Printable version | Jul 15, 2016 3:09:41 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/live-nice-terror-attack-in-france-many-dead/article8851440.ece
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Prima donna National Herald ghotala: Swamy will file fresh application for documents

July 16, 2016, 6:05 pm
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 16 hours ago
NH case on schedule. Complying with DHC procedure I will re-apply for same documents. Order on Aug 20th. Why is Congi so afraid of docs??

National Herald case: Will file fresh application, Subramanian Swamy tells court

  
New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday told a Delhi court that he would file a fresh application for summoning of documents in the National Herald case in which Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and others are accused.

He told Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen that the Delhi High Court has set aside the trial court's orders summoning documents from Ministries of Finance and Urban Development, Department of Corporate Affairs and Income Tax Department and balance sheet of the Congress party for 2010-2011 but he has been permitted to file a fresh application.]
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy. PTIBJP MP Subramanian Swamy. PTI
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Indus script hieroglyphs śambūka 'bivalve shell' kōḍiya 'young bull' rebus śambūka, kōṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'

July 17, 2016, 5:01 am
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Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/h74xcud

The Mari standard proclaims a śambūka, kōṭiya'dhow, seafaring vessel'.of seafaring merchants trading smelter products.कूटी [p= 299,3].l. for कूद्/ई f. a bunch of twigs , bunch (v.l. कूट्/ई) AV. v , 19 , 12 Kaus3.accord.to Kaus3., Sch.
= बदरी, "Christ's thorn" (Samskrtam).

The presence of oxhide ingots on a Mohenjo-daro prism tablet is a surprise since such inscribed tablets are dated to the mature period of the civilization from ca.2500 to 1900 BCE. Thus,the cargo of oxhide ingots from Mohenjo-daro signified by this tablet inscription signifies the presence of oxhide ingots of the bronze age as early as the 3rd millennium BCE (instead of the dates of ca. 1200 BCE cited in the context of oxhide ingots discovered in Crete).
Banner held aloft by a Sumerian on a Mari standard. One-horned young bull is atop a rein-ring shaped like a bivalve; the flagpost is a sprout. All these are hieroglyphs in Indus Script.Bearded god in horned helmet standing on bronze ingot, Enkomi Late Cypriot 1230-1050BC : Cyprus MuseumFile:Barren-Gott, Enkomi, 12. Jh. v. Chr. C.jpg

Bronze statuette of a god standing on an ingot, Dept. of Antiquities, Cyprus Bearded god in horned helmet standing on bronze ingot, Enkomi Late Cypriot 1230-1050BC : Cyprus Museum

The bronze sculptural representation signifies in hieroglyphs a seafaring vessel and a supercargo:

Hieroglyph: kānã̄.kānī˜ f. ʻpen, small spearʼ
(CDIAL 3023) rebus: kārṇī m. ʻprime minister, supercargo of a shipʼ(Marathi)(CDIAL 3058)

Hieroglyph: ḍhāla n. ʻ shield ʼ lex. 2. *ḍhāllā -- .1. Tir. (Leech) "dàl"ʻ shield ʼ, Bshk. ḍāl, Ku. ḍhāl, gng. ḍhāw, N. A. B. ḍhāl, Or. ḍhāḷa, Mth. H. ḍhāl m.2. Sh. ḍal (pl. °le̯) f., K. ḍāl f., S. ḍhāla, L. ḍhāl (pl. °lã) f., P. ḍhāl f., G. M. ḍhāl f. Addenda: ḍhāla -- . 2. *ḍhāllā -- : WPah.kṭg. (kc.) ḍhāˋl f. (obl. -- a) ʻ shield ʼ (a word used in salutation), J. ḍhāl f.(CDIAL 5583) Rebus:  ḍhāla 'large ingot' (Gujarati) The oxhide ingot which weighs about 30 kg. may have been called ḍhāla.

"Several attempts have been made to derive the name s unb q from the Greek name,  (sambúke) or the Latin sambuka, but more convincing is the argument that it comes from Persian through Middle Persian *samb k (> Neo Per sunbuk). It is possible that the Greek shipterm developed through contacts with the Red Sea and Indian Ocean thus adapting the Persian sunbuk, the source of which may be traced to Sanskrit çambuka, or Malay sampan. We find cognates of her name in Mehri, Hadrami and Amharic (samb q), and Tigré (sembuk). I can, therefore, conclude that the name of this craft is a universal type used in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and across the Indian Ocean from East Africa to as far as China."(Dionisius A. Agius, 2008, Classic ships of Islam from Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, BRILL, p.314)

Sambuka [cp. Sk. śambuka] a shell D i.84=A i.9; iii.395 (sippi˚); J ii.1 Sippī [cp. Prākrit sippī] (f.) a pearl oyster J ii.100; sippi- puṭa oyster shell J v.197, 206. sippi-- sambuka oysters and shells D i.84; M i.279; A i.9; iii.395.(Pali) śilpin ʻ skilled in art ʼ, m. ʻ artificer ʼ Gaut., śilpika<-> ʻ skilled ʼ MBh. [śílpa -- ] Pa. sippika -- m. ʻ craftsman ʼ, NiDoc. śilpiǵa, Pk. sippi -- , °ia -- m.; A. xipini ʻ woman clever at spinning and weaving ʼ; OAw. sīpī m. ʻ artizan ʼ; M. śĩpī m. ʻ a caste of tailors ʼ; Si. sipi -- yā ʻ craftsman śilpin ʻ skilled in art ʼ, m. ʻ artificer ʼ Gaut., śilpika<-> ʻ skilled ʼ MBh. [śílpa -- ]Pa. sippika -- m. ʻ craftsman ʼ, NiDoc. śilpiǵa, Pk. sippi -- , °ia -- m.; A. xipini ʻ woman clever at spinning and weaving ʼ; OAw. sīpī m. ʻ artizan ʼ; M. śĩpī m. ʻ a caste of tailors ʼ; Si. sipi -- yā ʻ craftsman (CDIAL 12471)

Hieroglyph: शम्बुः शम्बुकः शम्बुक्कः A bivalve shell. śambūkḥ शम्बूकः [शम्ब्-ऊकः Uṇ.4.43] 1 A bivalve shell (शम्बूका also in this sense). -2 A small conch-shell. -3 A snail. -4 The edge of the frontal protuberance of an elephant. (Samskrtam) śambu m. ʻ bivalve shell ʼ, śambúka -- m. lex. 2. śambukka -- m. lex., śambūˊka -- m. Suśr. 1. Pa. sambuka -- m. ʻ a shell ʼ; Or. sāmba ʻ oyster shell ʼ.2. Pk. saṁbukka -- m. ʻ a shell ʼ; B. sāmuk ʻ bivalve shell, snail, cockle ʼ; Or. sāmukā ʻ bivalve, snail ʼ (CDIAL 12316) Rebus: śambín -- m. ʻ rower, boatman ʼ AV.; K. ham m. ʻ puntingpole  (CDIAL 12311, 12315a) śambalá -- , sa° m.n. ʻ provisions for journey ʼ lex., saṁvara -- BHS ii 539. [Cf. śambayati, samb°, sāmb° ʻ saṁbandhanē ʼ Dhātup. (saṁbadhnāti ʻ furnishes, supplies ʼ Kālid.). Pa. sambala -- n. ʻ provisions ʼ, Pk. saṁbala -- n.; S. samaru m. ʻ provisions for journey ʼ, L. samal m., Ku. sāmal, gng. sāmaw, N. sāmal, A. xambal, xamal. -- Si.äm̆balayā ʻ red ant ʼ (< ʻ collecting provisions ʼ?). Addenda: śambala -- : Garh. sāmaḷ ʻ baggage ʼ.(CDIAL 12315)
Part of a funeral stele, chariot scene, Mycenae 16th cent. BCE The hieroglyphs of molluscs and bivalve shells signify शम्बुकः sippi 'dhow boatman, artisan'.
Cyprus and the ancient Mediterranean World (from British Museum Display Room 72)
Cyprus and the ancient Mediterranean World (from British Museum Display Room 72)
COMPASS Title: Copper ingot in the shape of an oxhideBritish Museum Number 1897,0401.1535 Copper oxhide-shaped ingot; mark comprising a semi-circle enclosing a horizontal line with two intersecting perpendicular lines to one end impressed on surface towards one edge.1200-1050 BCE

Findspot: 
  • Excavated/Findspot: Enkomi (foundry hoard) (Europe,Cyprus,Famagusta (district),Enkomi) Length: 70.5 centimetresWidth: 41.5 centimetresThickness: 5.2 centimetres Weight: 36.92 kilograms


































































































































































































    • Image: the Enkomi Foundry Hoard (Excavations in Cyprus, fig. 25, p. 15) 

    Copper Oxhide ingot from the Foundry Hoard, inscribed with a maker’s mark or Cypro-Minoan sign at one end (around 1200 BC-1050 BC). Catalogue number F.85

    http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/ancient_cyprus_british_museum/catalogue_image.aspx?image=foundryhoard.jpg&retpage=25808

     h181, h180 Harappa daggers
    Text 4901, 4902 on Harappa daggers    kuṭi 'curve; rebus: कुटिल kuṭila, katthīl (8 parts copper, 2 parts tin) kole.l 'temple' rebus: kole.l 'smithy, forge' kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' muhāṭh 'arch indicating threshold' rebus: muhā 'quantity of smelted metal from a furnace' eraka 'nave of wheel' rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper' arA 'spokes of wheel' rebus: Ara 'brass' sal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop'. Thus, the signifiers are: bronze, brass workshop/smithy/forge working with smelter/furnace.

     ''"
    Hieroglyphs on the oxhide ingot: 1. curve; 2. four short strokes: kuṭila ‘bent’ CDIAL 3230 kuṭi— in cmpd. ‘curve’, kuṭika— ‘bent’ MBh. Rebus: कुटिल kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin) cf. āra-kūṭa, 'brass'  Old English ār 'brass, copper, bronze' Old Norse eir 'brass, copper', German ehern 'brassy, bronzen'. kastīra n. ʻ tin ʼ lex. 2. *kastilla -- .1. H. kathīr m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼ; G. kathīr n. ʻ pewter ʼ.2. H. (Bhoj.?) kathīl, °lā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼ; M. kathīl n. ʻ tin ʼ, kathlẽ n. ʻ large tin vessel ʼ.(CDIAL 2984) PLUS gaNDa 'four' rebus: kanda 'fire-altar' kaNDa 'implements'. That is, large metal ingot for implements.
    The hoard consists of foundry workers' tools - charcoal shovels, sledgehammer, furnace spatulae, tongs, scales;  carpenter's tools, raw bronze products including a 36kg oxhide ingot,  bits and pieces of other bronze products to be recycled, including jets from previous casting, and a pair of bronze ten-spoke wheels.
    Pair of wheels, axle and attachment column from a bronze stand from the Enkomi Foundry Hoard, 1200-1050 BC height 19cm (c) British Museum
    Pair of wheels, axle and attachment column from a bronze stand from the Enkomi Foundry Hoard, 1200-1050 BC height 19cm (c) British Museum
    Sites of copper age, Cyprus

    Map of Cyprus showing major physical features and important archaeoloigcal sites (the names of ancient places are in italics)
    A clay tablet in the British Museum dating from around 1375 BC in Upper Egypt from the King of Alashiya, thought although not proven to be Cyprus, to the King of Egypt, apologies for the small quantity of copper sent to the King due to the 'hand of Nergal' (possibly pestilence that has slain all the copper workers). This suggests the great importance of the copper trade to ancient Cyprus.
    Clay tablet from around 1375 BC in Upper Egypt from the King of Alashiya to the King of Egypt detailing the Cyprus copper trade, British Museum
    Clay tablet from around 1375 BC in Upper Egypt from the King of Alashiya to the King of Egypt detailing the Cyprus copper trade, British Museum
    http://www.fergusmurraysculpture.com/cyprus/history-notes-12-pages/iv-kupros-copper/
    Cypriot 60lb 'Ox Hide' Copper Ingot recovered from the Late Bronze Age wreck of the Uluburun (Click on photo to go there)
    http://www.fergusmurraysculpture.com/cyprus/history-notes-12-pages/iv-kupros-copper/ 

    Excerpt from the lecture "Cyprus Mines Corporation and the Career of Harvey Seeley Mudd (1888-1955)" preseneted at Harvey Mudd College June 18, 2015, by James D. Muhly:

    [quote]
    We tend to forget that Cyprus was one of the great shipbuilding centers of the ancient world. This plays a central role in our understanding of all the problems concerned with the discovery of two Late Bronze Age shipwrecks off the southern coast of Turkey. Both ships went down carrying copper ingots as part of their cargo. From scientific analysis, we now know that all these ingots were made of Cypriot copper and, in shape and size, they are identical to the ingot you have here on display at the College that is also made of Cypriot copper. The first of these shipwrecks to be discovered, known as the Cape Gelidonya ship, seems to have been a merchant’s ship, with a metalworker on board. He had his cargo of copper ingots, tin ingots and metalworking tools. The ship most likely went down in a storm ca. 1200 BCE. The second wreck, the Uluburun ship, represents one of the most magnificent discoveries in the Bronze Age archaeology of the 20th century AD. That ship sank about 1320 BCE and went down with a cargo that included all the luxury and precious goods of the Bronze Age world. These included 10 tons of copper ingots and one ton of tin ingots. Here was a massive shipment of Cypriot copper, most likely destined for the Mycenaean palaces in the Argolid of southern Greece. Although this has been hotly contested over the years, I now believe that both of these ships were Cypriot ships manned by Cypriot sailors and transporting cargoes of Cypriot copper.
    Harvey Seeley Mudd acquired this copper oxhide ingot on the antiquities market around 1930 and donated it to Harvey Mudd College, where it is housed in Sprague Center.
    Harvey Seeley Mudd acquired this copper oxhide ingot on the antiquities market around 1930 and donated it to Harvey Mudd College, where it is housed in Sprague Center.
    So was Cyprus the “Copper Island,” with the name “Cyprus” meaning “copper,” the metal taking its name from the island? This has long been the common belief, but it cannot be correct. By the Early Roman Empire, the 1st century AD, copper had come to be known as aes cyprium, with “cyprium” meaning “of or pertaining to Cyprus,” but the word for copper is Latin aes, aeris. Eventually aes cyprium became simply cyprium and then cuprum so that, by Late Roman times, cuprum had become the Late Latin word for ‘copper’, giving us the modern name for the metal. But the island had been known as Cyprus since the Late Bronze Age, and there is no indication that, before Late Roman times, this name had anything to do with a word for “copper.”
    The Bronze Age use of copper was centered, as we have seen, round the production and trade of one particularly object, the copper oxhide ingot. We now know that these peculiar-shaped objects represented the form in which copper was shipped all over the ancient world, especially during the Late Bronze Age, from ancient Babylon in the east to southern France in the west, from Germany in the north to Egypt in the south. The Uluburun shipwreck is a great tribute to the industrial scale of this trade in copper ingots. Almost all of these ingots were produced on the island of Cyprus and were made of Cypriot copper that had been mined and smelted in the great mining district of Skouriotissa, the same mines later acquired by the Cyprus Mines Corporation. Harvey Seeley Mudd came into the possession of one of these ingots, purchased on the antiquities market around 1930, and donated it to Harvey Mudd College. (More on this later.) These ingots have been known since the middle of the 19th century AD. They were first discovered on Sardinia, in the 1850s, and then found on Crete and on Cyprus. Figures from Pharaonic wall paintings, especially from the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire, ca. 1450 BCE, show figures dressed as Keftiu, an Egyptian name for the island of Crete, carrying such ingots and, since the early Italian excavations at the Minoan site of Ayia Triada had produced a hoard of 19 such ingots, they became known as “Cretan ingots” (GermanKeftiubarren). That designation seemed very unlikely, however, as Crete has no copper deposits.
    The modern association of these ingots with Cyprus has come about only through recent archaeological and scientific research. Detailed study of the four stable isotopes of lead, a trace element impurity present in all copper ores, has made it possible to identify the source of the copper used in making these ingots. This research has established that almost all of these ingots, including the one here at the College, were made of Cypriot copper that had been mined in the Skouriotissa area, especially during the years ca. 1400–1200 BCE. 
    [unquote]
    “Cow-hide” or “Ox-hide" copper ingots raised from the Uluburun shipwreck, in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Though the focus of ancient coins is just that, coins, it seemed worthwhile to talk a little about money before money and about...
    “Ox-hide"  copper ingots raised from the Uluburun shipwreck, in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.
    "Complete or partial oxhide ingots have also been discovered in Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Cannatello in Sicily, Boğaközy in Turkey(ancient Hattusa, the Hittite capital), Qantir-Piramesse in Egypt, and Sozopol in Bulgaria. Archaeologists have recovered many oxhide ingots from two shipwrecks off the coast of Turkey (one off Uluburun and one in Cape Gelidonya)." 

    "(Gelidonya shipwreck) copper oxhide ingots are highly pure (approximately 99 weight percent copper) with trace element content of less than one weight percent" (Andreas Hauptmann et al., “On the Structure and Composition of Copper and Tin Ingots Excavated from the Shipwreck of Uluburun,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 328 (2002): 2., p.13).
    Copper ingot from Crete (Left), and a British Museum Ingot from the 'Foundry Hoard' at Enkomi, Cyprus
    c. 1225-1150 BC (Right).
     

















    From shipwrecks at Hishulay Carmel, Israel c.1300 BC (Left), and Uru-Burun, Turkey, (Right)
     http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/crossculturality.htm

    Another thing: Raw Material – a Bronze Age copper ingot

    by HEINRICH HALL on Apr 19, 2014 • 12:33 am
    “Another thing” is a series of occasional posts, each presenting a particularly interesting, beautiful or unusual object on display at one of the museums or sites on our tours.
    Bronze ingot from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, about 1200 BC. On display in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology at Bodrum Castle, Turkey.Bronze ingot from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, about 1200 BC. On display in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology at Bodrum Castle, Turkey.
    This object may look fairly uninteresting, even rather unsightly, at first sight. As a matter of fact, it is of great importance, illustrating a major landmark in the development of maritime archaeology on the one hand, and a hugely important aspect of Mediterranean prehistory on the other. Beyond that, it stands witness to what must have been a devastating and tragic event some 3,200 years ago.
    On display in the superb Museum of Underwater Archaeology housed in the medieval castle of St. Peter in Bodrum (Western Turkey), it is a so-called oxhide-shaped copper ingot. It was part of the cargo carried on what is now known as the Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck.
    These are household terms for a prehistorian, but quite obscure for anyone else. Time to explain:
    Cape Gelidonya is a headland in eastern Lycia, on the southern shore of Turkey; it marks the southwestern extremity of the Bay of Antalya. To all accounts, it is a treacherous place for seafarers. In 1954, a sponge diver from Bodrum, working in the area, came across some unusual objects, such as the one shown. A few years later, he described them to American reporter Peter Throckmorton, who realised this was a significant find, most probably a prehistoric shipwreck. Soon after, in 1960, Gelidonya became the site of the first ever systematic underwater excavation of a shipwreck, supervised by American archaeologist George Bass, then still a student, who subsequently became one of the fathers of nautical archaeology.
    The excavation revealed the cargo and a few structural elements of a ship that sunk around 1200 BC, most likely after hitting a rock pinnacle protruding just under the surface of the sea. It was a trading vessel of small size (probably between 10 and 20m, or 32 and 65ft, in length). Its contents indicate that it was plying its trade in the Eastern Mediterranean: they include objects from Greece, Southern Anatolia and Cyprus, but the ship’s home port was most likely somewhere on the coast of Syria or Palestine. At the time of the excavation, it was the world’s oldest known shipwreck, a place it subsequently lost to the spectacular Ulu Burun Wreck, also off Lycia and also on display in Bodrum and about a century older, outdone more recently by the Dokos Shipwreck, discovered near the Greek island of Hydra and dated to about 2200 BC.
    The Gelidonya ship carried a cargo mainly of metal, including a collection of scrap bronze objects to be melted down for reuse, and raw tin and copper in the form of ingots. Our object is just one of 34 copper ingots from the wreck, each about 65cm (40”) in length and weighing about 25 kilograms (55 pounds) – nearly a metric ton of copper!
    A fresco in the 15th century BC Tomb of Rekhmire (near Thebes in Egypt) shows very fpreign peoples bringing tribute. The fellow at the right hand of the sedond row from the top on the left is shown carrying an oxhide ingot and a typically Cretan vase.
    A fresco in the 15th century BC Tomb of Rekhmire (near Thebes in Egypt) shows various foreign peoples bringing tribute. The fellow at the right hand of the sedond row from the top on the left is shown carrying an oxhide ingot and a typically Cretan vase.
    The presence of those copper ingots is what made Gelidonya such an important discovery. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the period between roughly 3200 BC and 1150 BC is known as the Bronze Age, so defined because the most versatile and advanced material available for tools and weaponry at the time was bronze (iron metallurgy had yet to be discovered). Especially the Late Bronze Age, after 2000 BC, is an immensely important era in the area, comprising the development of complex societies, the first civilisations, the beginning of writing systems and the rise of the first states and empires in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Levant, Anatolia, Crete and, eventually, Mainland Greece.  Another key factor distinguishing that period is the existence of sustained long-distance trade contacts between those regions.
    Those contacts were a necessity. Unlike iron, produced from iron ores, which are quite widespread, bronze is difficult to procure and does not occur naturally. It is an alloy of copper and tin, both of which are not distributed widely in the region. Leaving tin aside, the main source of copper appears to have been Cyprus, perhaps complemented by Attica, Sardinia and other regions. One way or another, the production of the leading material for tools and weapons necessitated stable long-distance contacts.
    Oxhide-shaped copper ingots from the Minoan sites of Kato Zakros and Agia triada on Crete in the museum at Heraklion. (Image: Olaf Tausch)
    Oxhide-shaped copper ingots from the Minoan sites of Kato Zakros and Agia Triada on Crete in the museum at Heraklion. (Image: Olaf Tausch)
    This was known before the discovery of the Gelidonya wreck, and raw copper in the form of oxhide ingots (they were probably shaped that way to make them easier to carry) had been found at a whole range of important sites, such as Mycenae in Greece, Zakros on Crete and the Hittite capital Hattusha in Central Anatolia. Such ingots were also known from Egyptian depictions of foreign peoples bringing tribute. They must have been immensely important objects to acquire, as they were the source for most tools in the household, warfare and ceremony. Some scholars suggest that copper ingots may even have served as a currency of sorts, long before coinage was invented.
    Even though archaeologists already realised that copper must have been traded across the seas, and most likely in the form of the oxhide ingots discovered in small quantities here and there, the discovery of the Gelidonya wreck made that trade tangible for the first time. It became a major trigger for research, pioneering the techniques of underwater archaeology and contributing to the development of archaeometallurgy, the chemical study of ancient metals. One example of that field’s results is the secure sourcing of the Gelidonya ingots: they are indeed from Cyprus.
    We should be thankful for the existence of the Gelidonya wreck and for the work of those who found and studied it, but we should also keep in mind that the root of this discovery must have been tragedy for those involved in its loss. If you want to learn more about the Mediterranean Bronze Age, you should consider joining us in the Bodrum Museum on our Carian and South-East Aegean cruises, travelling with us on Cruising to the Cyclades, discovering the great Minoan civilisation on Exploring Crete, or visiting the Hittite capital Hattusha on Walking and Exploring Cappadocia and the Land of the Hittites.
    http://www.petersommer.com/blog/archaeology-history/bronze-age-ingot/

    See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/04/indus-script-inscription-on-boat-with.html?view=classic


    TThe note is presented in the following sections:

    • ·         Validation of Indus Script decipherment
    • I             Indus Script: Supercargo of copper smithywork ingots
    • ·         Ox-hide ingot on a sculptural frieze of Kushana period (Mathura         Museum)
    • ·         Ox-hide ingot hieroglyphs on Bharhut sculptural friezes
    • ·         Amaravati ox-hide ingot as capital on a pillar
    • ·         Ox-hide ingots in Ancient Near East
    • ·         Sculptural friezes from Bharhut attesting to mint-work
    • ·         Ox-hide ingot as ornament on Gudimallam Sivalinga
    • ·         Prakrtam lexis related to metalwork, mintwork


    Validation of Indus Script decipherment

    Clinching evidence to validate decipherment of Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogues, comes from hieroglyphs of ox-hide ingots carried on an Indus boat, on a unique Indus Script inscription on a prism tablet with inscriptions on 3 sides. 

    It is remarkable that the same hieroglyphs of ox-hide ingots are also signified in the context of mintwork, 1. on 4 sculptural friezes of Bharhut and 2. on a sculptural frieze of Kushana period in the Mathura Museum.
    A Bharhut sculptural frieze flanks an elephant rider signifying his palm and flanked by two ox-hide ingot hieroglyphs on both sides of the doorway. There are three other friezes which signify ox-hide ingots as hiereoglyphs flanking doorways.

    karibha 'trunk of elephant' ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba 'iron' ib 'iron' 
    தட்டல் taṭṭal Five, a slang term; ஐந்து என்பதன் குழூஉக்குறி. (J.) taṭṭal 'five' (hand) rebus:
    *ṭhaṭṭha1 ʻbrassʼ. [Onom. from noise of hammering brass?]N. ṭhaṭṭar ʻ an alloy of copper and bell metal ʼ. *ṭhaṭṭhakāra ʻ brass worker ʼ. 1.Pk. ṭhaṭṭhāra -- m., K. ṭhö̃ṭhur m., S. ṭhã̄ṭhāro m., P. ṭhaṭhiār, °rā m.2. P. ludh. ṭhaṭherā m., Ku. ṭhaṭhero m., N. ṭhaṭero, Bi. ṭhaṭherā, Mth. ṭhaṭheri, H.ṭhaṭherā m.(CDIAL 5491, 5493). taṭṭāṉ gold or silver smith (DEDR 3039)
    Thus, two types of ingots are signified: brass, iron.

    Padmanidhi, with a purse of coins in his right handSculpture of Padmanidhi. Amaravati. ca. 150 to 300 CE Scan: 0026928
    Click the image to open in full size.
    Sanchi. Three tigers with spoked wheel (lotus?) atop. tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper'; OR, eraka 'nave of wheel' rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper' arA 'spoke' rebus: Ara 'brass'. kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' kola 'tiger' rebus: kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter' kolle 'blacksmith' kole.l 'smithy, forge' rebus: kole.l 'temple'. This rebus rendering of kole.l explains why many sculptural friezes signify veneration of metawork artifacts on Sanchi and Bharhut hieroglyph signifiers..

    Sculpted beam, stupa railing, Kankali, Mathura region, 2nd century B.C.  A smith is at work on a brazier with dhAtu 'strand' rebus: dhAtu 'mineral' (Dotted circle hieroglyph) Fish and fin signify: ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal' khamhaRA 'fin' rebus: kammaTa 'mint, coiner'..


    Indus Script: Supercargo of copper smithywork ingots 

    The pair of ox-hide ingots which flank doorways on Bharhut scultpural friezes also occur on an Indus Script inscription on Mohenjo-daro prism tablet m1429. The two ox-hide ingots are shown as cargo on a boat flanked by two palm trees and twwo auatic birds.

    Hieroglyph: కారండవము [kāraṇḍavamu] n. A sort of duck. కారండవము [ kāraṇḍavamu ] kāraṇḍavamu. [Skt.] n. A sort of duck. कारंडव [kāraṇḍava ] m S A drake or sort of duck. कारंडवी f S The female. karandava [ kârandava ] m. kind of duck. कारण्ड a sort of duck R. vii , 31 , 21 கரண்டம் karaṇṭam, n. Rebus: Rebus: karaḍā ‘hard alloy’ (Marathi)

    (tamar) -- palm tree, date palm rebus: tAmra 'copper' Thus, hard alloy ingot (ox-hide shape) are signified as supercargo.


    The other two sides of the tablet also contain Indus Script inscriptions. ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas metal' PLUS karA 'crocodile' rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' Together,   Side 2: kāru ‘crocodile’ Rebus: kāru ‘artisan’. Thus, together read rebus: ayakara ‘metalsmith’.

    On side 3 of the tablt, there are 8 hieroglyphic 'signs' signifying the nature of the metalwork involved for the cargo. This is a two part inscription.

    Part 1 of the inscription from l.

    कर्णक m. du. the two legs spread out AV. xx , 133 , 3 rebus: karNI 'helmsman, supercargo'. The hieroglyph of a standing person with legs spread out is thus a semantic determinant of the adjoining hieroglyph: rim of jar: karNika 'rim of jar' rebus: karNika 'scribe, account'. The next two hieroglyphs from the left are a pair of ingots: dhALako 'ingots' dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'cast metal'. Thus, cast ingots.

    Part 2 of the inscription from l.
    karNika 'rim of jar' rebus: karNika 'scribe, account'
    ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal'
    kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'
    kolmo 'rice plant' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' PLUS circumscript of oval: dhALko 'ingot'. Thus ingot for smithy/forge work.
    m1429 Prism tablet with Indus inscriptions on 3 sides.

    Slide 24. Moulded tablet, Mohenjo-daro.Three sided molded tablet. One side shows a flat bottomed boat with a central hut that has leafy fronds at the top of two poles. Two birds sit on the deck and a large double rudder extends from the rear of the boat. On the second side is a snout nosed gharial with a fish in its mouth. The third side has eight symbols of the Indus script.

    Material: terra cotta.Dimensions: 4.6 cm length, 1.2 x 1.5 cm width Mohenjo-daro, MD 602.Islamabad Museum, NMP 1384.Dales 1965a: 147, 1968: 39

    The shape of he boat on the moulded tablet is comparable to the Bronze Age Uluburn ship which had a shipwreck.I suggest that this boat carried a supercargo (rebus: karNi Most frequently-occurring hieroglyph on Indus writing corpora: 'rim-of-jar') of copper and tin ingots, based on a rebus reading of the hieroglyphs on three sides of the prism tablet, including a text in Indus writing, apart from the ligatured hieroglyph of a crocodile catching a fish in its jaws [which is read ayakara 'blacksmith'; cf. khar 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri); karavu'crocodile' (Telugu); ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'metal (tin+ copper alloy)'.


    bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (Gujarati) bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Ka.); bagalā (M.); bagarige, bagarage = a kind of vessel (Kannada) Rebus: bangala = kumpaṭi = angāra śakaṭī = a chafing dish a portable stove a goldsmith’s portable furnace (Telugu) cf. bangaru bangaramu = gold  (Telugu) 




    Side B:







    karaṇḍa ‘duck’ (Sanskrit) karaṛa ‘a very large aquatic bird’ (Sindhi) Rebus: करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi)

    A pair of birds కారండవము [ kāraṇḍavamu ] n. A sort of duck. కారండవము [ kāraṇḍavamu ] kāraṇḍavamu. [Skt.] n. A sort of duck. कारंडव [kāraṇḍava ] m S A drake or sort of duck. कारंडवी f S The female. karandava [ kârandava ] m. kind of duck. कारण्ड a sort of duck R. vii , 31 , 21 கரண்டம் karaṇṭam, n. Rebus: karaḍa 'hard alloy (metal)'. tamar ‘palm’ (Hebrew) Rebus: tam(b)ra ‘copper’ (Santali) dula ‘pair’ Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’ (Santali)

    Rebus readings of the other 2 sides of the Mohenjo-daro tablet:

    Side A: kāru a wild crocodile or alligator (Telugu) ghariyal id. (Hindi)
    kāru 'crocodile' (Telugu) கராம் karām, n. prob. grāha. 1. A species of alligator; முதலைவகை. முதலையு மிடங்கருங் கராமும் (குறிஞ்சிப். 257). 2. Male alligator; ஆண் முதலை. (திவா.) కారుమొసలి a wild crocodile or alligator. (Telugu) Rebus: kāru ‘artisan’ (Marathi) kāruvu 'artisan' (Telugu) khār 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

    [fish = aya (G.); crocodile = kāru (Telugu)] Rebus: ayakāra ‘ironsmith’ (Pali) 

    khār 1 खार् । लोहकारः m. (sg. abl. khāra 1 खार; the pl. dat. of this word is khāran 1 खारन्, which is to be distinguished from khāran 2, q.v., s.v.), a blacksmith, an iron worker (cf. bandūka-khār, p. 111b, l. 46; K.Pr. 46; H. xi, 17); a farrier (El.) Side C: Text 3246 on the third side of the prism. kāḍ  काड् ‘, the stature of a man’ Rebus: खडा [ khaḍā ] m A small stone, a pebble (Marathi) dula ‘pair’ Rebus: dul ‘cast (metal)’shapes objects on a lathe’ (Gujarati) kanka, karṇaka ‘rim of jar’ Rebus: karṇaka ‘account scribe’. kārṇī  m. ʻsuper cargo of a ship ʼ(Marathi)
    Alloy ingots

    A pair of ingots with notches in-fixed as ligatures.

    ढाल [ ḍhāla ] f (S through H) The grand flag of an army directing its march and encampments: also the standard or banner of a chieftain: also a flag flying on forts &c. ढालकाठी [ ḍhālakāṭhī ] f ढालखांब m A flagstaff. (Paras'u?) Rebus: ḍhālako = a large metal ingot (G.) ḍhālakī = a metal heated and poured into a mould; a solid piece of metal; an ingot (Gujarati). I suggest that the gloss ḍhālako denotes the oxhide ingot.

    ḍhālako ‘large ingot’. खोट [khōṭa] ‘ingot, wedge’; A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down)(Marathi)  khoṭ f ʻalloy (Lahnda) Thus the pair of ligatured oval glyphs read: khoṭ ḍhālako ‘alloy ingots’ PLUS dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal'.


    Forge: stone, minerals, gemstones
    khaḍā ‘circumscribe’ (M.); Rebs: khaḍā ‘nodule (ore), stone’ (M.) kolom ‘cob’; rebus: kolmo ‘seedling, rice (paddy) plant’ (Munda.) kolma hoṛo = a variety of the paddy plant (Desi)(Santali.) kolmo ‘rice  plant’ (Mu.) Rebus: kolami ‘furnace,smithy’ (Telugu) Thus, the ligatured glyph reads: khaḍā ‘stone-ore nodule’kolami ‘furnace,smithy’. Alternatives: 1. koṛuŋ young shoot (Pa.) (DEDR 2149) 

    Rebus: kol iron, working in iron, blacksmith (Tamil) kollan blacksmith, artificer (Malayalam) kolhali to forge.(DEDR 2133).2. kaṇḍe A head or ear of millet or maize (Telugu) Rebus: kaṇḍa ‘stone (ore)(Gadba)’ Ga. (Oll.) kanḍ, (S.) kanḍu (pl. kanḍkil) stone (DEDR 1298).  

    kolmo ‘three’ Rebus: kolami ‘furnace,smithy’. Thus, the pair of glyphs may denote lapidary work – working with stone, mineral, gemstones.


    ayo ‘fish’ Rebus: ayas ‘metal’.
    kanka 'rim of jar' (Santali) karṇika id. (Samskritam) Rebus: kārṇī m. ʻsuper cargo of a ship ʼ(Marathi) 
    कर्णक m. du. the two legs spread out AV. xx , 133 , 3 rebus: karNI 'helmsman' करण m. writer , scribe W. m. a man of a mixed class (the son of an outcast क्षत्रिय Mn. x , 22 ; or the son of a शूद्र woman by a वैश्य Ya1jn5. i , 92; or the son of a वैश्य woman by a क्षत्रिय MBh. i , 2446 ; 4521 ; the occupation of this class is writing , accounts &c ) (Samskrtam) कारणी or 
    कारणीक [ kāraṇī or kāraṇīka ] a (कारण S) That causes, conducts, carries on, manages. Applied to the prime minister of a state, the supercargo of a ship &c. (Marathi)  [kárṇa -- , dhāra -- 1] Pa. kaṇṇadhāra -- m. ʻ helmsman ʼ; Pk. kaṇṇahāra -- m. ʻ helmsman, sailor ʼ; H. kanahār m. ʻ helmsman, fisherman (CDIAL 2836) 


    कर्णिक  A knot, round protuberance

    कारण  a number of scribes or कायस्थs W. करण m. a man of a mixed class (the son of an outcast क्षत्रिय Mn. x , 22 ; or the son of a शूद्र woman by a वैश्य Ya1jn5. i , 92 ; or the son of a वैश्य woman by a क्षत्रिय MBh. i , 2446 ; 4521 ; the occupation of this class is writing , accounts &c )m. writer , scribe W.

    karṇadhāra m. ʻ helmsman ʼ Suśr. [kárṇa -- , dhāra -- 1]Pa. kaṇṇadhāra -- m. ʻ helmsman ʼ; Pk. kaṇṇahāra -- m. ʻ helmsman, sailor ʼ; H. kanahār m. ʻ helmsman, fisherman ʼ.(CDIAl 2836)

    कर्णिक a. Having a helm. -कः A steersman.

    कर्णिन् karṇinकर्णिन् a. 1 Having ears; Av.1.1.2.-2 Long- eared.-3 Barbed (as an arrow). -m. 1 An ass.-2 A helmsman.-3 An arrow furnished with knots &c. (Apte)

    kāraṇika m. ʻ teacher ʼ MBh., ʻ judge ʼ Pañcat. [kā- raṇa -- ]Pa. usu -- kāraṇika -- m. ʻ arrow -- maker ʼ; Pk. kāraṇiya -- m. ʻ teacher of Nyāya ʼ; S. kāriṇī m. ʻ guardian, heir ʼ; N. kārani ʻ abettor in crime ʼ; M. kārṇī m. ʻ prime minister, supercargo of a ship ʼ, kul -- karṇī m. ʻ village accountant ʼ.(CDIAL 3058)
    கருணீகம் karuṇīkam, n. < karaṇa. [T. karaṇikamu.] Office of village accountant or karṇam;கிராமக்கணக்குவேலை.

    கருணீகன் karuṇīkaṉ , n. < id. 1. Village accountant; கிராமக்கணக்கன். கடுகையொருமலை யாகக் . . . காட்டுவோன் கருணீகனாம் (அறப். சத. 86). 2. A South Indian caste of accountants; கணக்குவேலைபார்க்கும் ஒருசாதி.


    गांवकुळकरणी (p. 234) [ gāṃvakuḷakaraṇī ] m The hereditary village-accountant: in contrad. from देशकुळकरणी Districtaccountant.

    देशकुळकरण [ dēśakuḷakaraṇa ] n The office of देशकुळकरणी.देशकुळकरणी [ dēśakuḷakaraṇī ] 
    m An hereditary officer of a Mahál. He frames the general account from the
    accounts of the several Khots and Kulkarn̤ís of the villages within the Mahál; 
    the district-accountant.


    meḍ  ‘body’, ‘dance’ (Santali) Rebus: meḍ ‘iron’ (Ho.)
    kāḍ  काड् ‘, the stature of a man’ Rebus: खडा [ khaḍā ] m A small stone, a pebble (Marathi)


    Ox-hide ingot on a sculptural frieze of Kushana period (Mathura Museum)

    Woman's Shringhar, Kushana period, scene on a pillar railing (Government Museum, Mathura) The centerpiece on the arch is an ox-hide ingot. The person plaiting the hair is a signifier of tri-dhAtu 'three strands' of tri-veNi to create a rope-like pigtail. dhAu 'strand' rebus: dhAu, dhAtu 'mineral ore'. The lady on the right receives on a tray the rope signifying the smelted mineral into ingots.

    Ox-hide ingot hieroglyphs on Bharhut sculptural friezes

    See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/03/ox-hide-ingot-hieroglyphs-on-bharhut.html  Ox-hide ingot hieroglyphs on Bharhut pillars are semantic determinants. Sivalinga, fiery pillar of light skambha with khambhaṛā 'fish-fins' signify kammaṭa, 'mint-, metal-work'




    WaYKK
    Veneration of tree. Face within temple arch. Flanked by hieroglyphs of two ox-hide ingots

    Bharhut Stupa Railing relief(Sunga empire), 2nd century BCE. Top of pillar. A face is the centerpiece on the temple door. This temple door arch is flanked by two oxhide ingot symbols. The rebus readings are:  mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot'. Hence, the ingot is denoted by the symbol which flanks the doorframe, arch. muhāṭh ʻ threshold of a door frame or entrance indicated by the arch.

    Bharhut sculptural frieze signifies ox-hide ingot PLUS muh 'face' rebus: muhA 'quantity of metal taken out of furnace'. 

    http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/06/an-object-lesson-for-art-historians.html?view=snapshot An object lesson for art historians.

    Bharhut sculptural frieze. Sunga period: Date: ca. 100-80 BCE, 100 BCE - 80 BCE  Indian Museum. Kolkata.



    OqOpK
    Amaravati ox-hide ingot as capital on a pillar
    \
    Chakravartin and 7 jewels

    On the top register three pillars are shown: One pillar has a spoked wheel atop (comparable to the spoked wheels on Tukulti-Ninurta I altar; see: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/01/stepped-socles-of-assur-meluhha.html#!). A second pillar has a parasol or umbrella. Third pillar has an ox-hide ingot atop. This is ligatured with 1. clouds (of square coins?) or 2. tree? If it is a tree hieroglyph, the rebus reading is: kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuTi 'smelter'.I suggest that in the context of the Cakravartin, the fourth jewel is what the standing peron, cakravartin wears on his ear. The ear-ring has components which are explained as s'rivatsa and other hieroglyphs. Cakravartin also wears a crown: uṣṇīṣa [उष्णीष-इनि] Wearing a diadem. All these hieroglyphs together with ibha elephant rebus: ib 'iron' signify wealth of the cakravartin. A sprig adorns the crown or headdress: ḍāla1 m. ʻ branch ʼ Śīl. 2. *ṭhāla -- . 3. *ḍāḍha -- . [Poss. same as *dāla -- 1 and dāra -- 1: √dal, √d&rcirclemacr;. But variation of form supports PMWS 64 ← Mu.]1. Pk. ḍāla -- n. ʻ branch ʼ; S. ḍ̠āru m. ʻ large branch ʼ, ḍ̠ārī f. ʻ branch ʼ; P. ḍāl m. ʻ branch ʼ, °lā m. ʻ large do. ʼ, °lī f. ʻ twig ʼ; WPah. bhal. ḍā m. ʻ branch ʼ; Ku. ḍālom. ʻ tree ʼ; N. ḍālo ʻ branch ʼ, A. B. ḍāl, Or. ḍāḷa; Mth. ḍār ʻ branch ʼ, °ri ʻ twig ʼ; Aw. lakh. ḍār ʻ branch ʼ, H. ḍāl, °lā m., G. ḍāḷi, °ḷī f., °ḷũ n. 2. A. ṭhāl ʻ branch ʼ, °li ʻ twig ʼ; H. ṭhāl, °lā m. ʻ leafy branch (esp. one lopped off) ʼ.3. Bhoj. ḍāṛhī ʻ branch ʼ; M. ḍāhaḷ m. ʻ loppings of trees ʼ, ḍāhḷā m. ʻ leafy branch ʼ, °ḷī f. ʻ twig ʼ, ḍhāḷā m. ʻ sprig ʼ, °ḷī f. ʻ branch ʼ. S.kcch. ḍār f. ʻ branch of a tree ʼ; WPah.kṭg. ḍāḷ m. ʻ tree ʼ, J. ḍā'l m.; kṭg. ḍaḷi f. ʻ branch, stalk ʼ, ḍaḷṭi f. ʻ shoot ʼ; A. ḍāl (phonet. d -- ) ʻ branch (CDIAL 5546). Rebus: ḍhālako = a large metal ingot (G.) ḍhālakī = a metal heated and poured into a mould; a solid piece of metal; an ingot (Gujarati).  This hieroglyph on the crown of the Cakravartin may be a phonetic signifier reinforcing the ox-hide ingot placed atop a pillar to his left. The upraised arm is also a hieroglyph: eraka 'upraised arm' Rebus: eraka 'copper, moltencast copper'. This completes the list of seven jewels: 1. eraka rebus: copper; 2. ara (spoked wheel) rebus: brass; 3. kuTa 'parasol' rebus: kuTi 'smelter';  4. ḍhālako a large metal ingot; 5.kuTi 'tree' rebus: kuTi 'smelter'; 6. ibha 'elephant' rebus: ib 'iron'; 7. s'rivatsa, 'child of wealth' hieroglyph (elaborated explanation embedded in this monograph) worn as ear-ring by the Cakravartin.
    A Chakravati, possibly Ashoka, 1st century BCE/CE. Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. Preserved at Musee Guimet
    Universal Ruler; Saptaratna; Rajakakuda;224 India 436989/Andhra/JAGGAYYAPETA STUPA,/RELIEF, SLAB, CHAKRAVARTIN/&amp; SEVEN JEWELS, det, Chintamani./Stone (Ikshvaku, ca. 3rd c.)/Jaggayyapeta, Mus.http://library.clevelandart.org/node/201473 American Council for Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) 12452. Jaggayyapeta. Analogous Chakravartin and 7 jewels versions are found in Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. Zimmer, 1955, p. 349 and pl. 37; Combas, 1935, pp. 89, fig. 35 and 89; Coomaraswamy, 1935, figs. 19 and 20.Square coins descend from the clouds? Or, is it stylized representationof a tree (branches), as a background ligature? http://library.clevelandart.org/node/201473. The standing person with outstretched right hand is flanked by two pillars. One pillar has a lotus on top. Another has an ox-hide ingot mounted on a lotus on top. tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper' ढाळा (p. 356) [ ḍhāḷā ] m A small leafy branch, spring. ढाल्या (p. 356) [ ḍhālyā ] a ढाल Armed with a Shield.Dhalako 'ingot' (Gujarati). See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/03/ox-hide-ingot-and-other-hieroglyphs-on.html

    Ox-hide ingots in Ancient Near East

    Ox-hide ingots from Capte Geldonya shipwreck





    silver ingots from ancient Rome
    One pillar has a lotus atop. Another has an ox-hide ingot atop mounted on a lotus

    Cylinder seal: man grasping an antelope, bull's head over ingot

    Period: Late Cypriot
    Date: ca. 16th–12th century B.C.
    Geography: Cyprus, Ayia Paraskevi; Cyprus
    Culture: Cypriot
    Medium: Black-grey steatite
    Dimensions: 0.63 in. (1.6 cm)
    Classification: Stone-Cylinder Seals
    Credit Line: The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
    Accession Number: 74.51.4325 Metmuseum
    The cylinder seal (unprovenanced) shows head of bull together with other hieroglyphs: 6 dotted circles, lion, eagle ligatured to a feline and an antelope with head turned backwards).

    baTa 'six' Rebus: baTa 'furnace'. eruvai 'eagle' Rebus: eraka 'moltencast copper'. ranku 'antelope' Rebus: ranku 'tin' krammara 'head turned back' Rebus: kamar 'blacksmith' arya 'lion' (Akkadian) Rebus: arA 'brass'. muh 'face (of bull)' Rebus: muh 'ingot'.Rebus: mũh ‘ingot’ (Munda) mũh ʻ opening or hole (in a stove for stoking, in a handmill for filling, in a grainstore for withdrawing) ʼ (Bihari)(CDIAL 10158)mleccha-mukha (Skt.) = copper; milakkha (Pali) mu~hu~ = face (S.); rebus: mu_ha ‘smelted ingot’ [mũh opening or hole (in a stove for stoking, in a handmill for filling, in a grainstore for withdrawing)(Bi.)] 
     
    Disegno dei tre lingotti superstiti di Serra Ilixi, Nuragus, conservati al Museo di Cagliari (5). Come si vede dalla figura 1, non tutti gli autori concordano sull'esatta trascrizione dei segni. http://monteprama.blogspot.in/2013/09/i-marchi-dei-lingotti-oxhide.html

    A bronze four sided stand showing a man carrying a copper ox-hide ingot and tree. 12th Century BC, possibly from Kourion, British Museum. "There is evidence to suggest that copper was initially smelted into rough products - bars and ox-hide ingots - close to the mines.  This was then transported for further refinement and working to the coastal settlements. 

    Ceremonial bronze stand, possibly Kourion, Cyprus. Shows a man carrying an oxhide ingot towards a tree, and another playing a Lyre. "Bronze tools and weapons were cast in double moulds. The cire perdue process was evidently employed for the sockets of the fine decorated spear-heads of the Late Minoan period. Copper was available in some parts of Crete, notably in the Asterousi mountains which border the Mesara plain on the south, but it may have been imported from Cyprus as well. The standard type of ingot found throughout the East Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age was about two or three feet long, with inward-curving sides and projections for a man to grasp as he carried it on his shoulder. Smaller bun-shaped ingots were also in use." (Sinclair Hood, 1971, The Minoans: Crete in the Bronze Age, Thames and Hudson, p. 106)

    A foundry hoard was found by a British Museum expedition at the ancient settlement of Enkomi - just behind the later settlement of Salamis - at the then mouth of the Pediaios river on the east coast of the island. The hoard consists of foundry workers' tools - charcoal shovels, sledgehammer, furnace spatulae, tongs, scales;  carpenter's tools, raw bronze products including a 36kg oxhide ingot,  bits and pieces of other bronze products to be recycled, including jets from previous casting, and a pair of bronze ten-spoke wheels."
    Bronze ingot from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, about 1200 BC. On display in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology at Bodrum Castle, Turkey.Bronze ingot from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, about 1200 BCE. On display in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology at Bodrum Castle, Turkey.
    A fresco in the 15th century BC Tomb of Rekhmire (near Thebes in Egypt) shows various foreign peoples bringing tribute. The fellow at the right hand of the sedond row from the top on the left is shown carrying an oxhide ingot and a typically Cretan vase.
    Oxhide-shaped copper ingots from the Minoan sites of Kato Zakros and Agia Triada on Crete in the museum at Heraklion. (Image: Olaf Tausch)


    Copper ox-hide ingot. Orthographically, the ingot is a mould with large, curving horns. This was also shown carried by Egyptians on a painting. A Cretan ox-hide ingot also had an incised glyph: Sarasvati hieroglyph of kolom 'graft' rebus: kolami 'smithy, forge'. Inscribed Cretan copper ox-hide ingot (After Fig.82 in: Sinclair Hood, 1971, The Minoans: Crete in the Bronze Age, Thames and Hudson)  In the Late Bronze Age, oxhide and plano-convex shaped ingots were used in the Aegean; elsewhere, only small plano-convex (bun-shaped) ingots were used."Bronze tools and weapons were cast in double moulds. The cire perdue process was evidently employed for the sockets of the fine decorated spear-heads of the Late Minoan period. Copper was available in some parts of Crete, notably in the Asterousi mountains which border the Mesara plain on the south, but it may have been imported from Cyprus as well. The standard type of ingot found throughout the East Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age was about two or three feet long, with inward-curving sides and projections for a man to grasp as he carried it on his shoulder. Smaller bun-shaped ingots were also in use." (Sinclair Hood, opcit., p. 106). A variant of the inscribed sign, a comparable logograph, like a trident or a sheaf of corn, is used in Sarasvati hieroglyphs. 

    Three hundred and fifty-four copper ox-hide ingots (four-handled and two-handled types were found. The ingots are called "ox-hide" because their shape resembles the stretched skin of an ox, drying on a rack. While 354 oxhide ingots discovered were copper ingots, it should be noted that oxhide shaped tin ingots were also discovered (Fawcett, N. & Zietsman, J.C. "Uluburun - the discovery and excavation of the world's oldest known shipwreck". Akroterion, Vol. 46 (2001): 5 - 20. , http://akrolerion.journals.za )





    Oxhide shaped tin ingot in Uluburn shipwreck


    While 354 oxhide ingots discovered were copper ingots, it should be noted that oxhide shaped tin ingots were also discovered (Fawcett, N. & Zietsman, J.C. "Uluburun - the discovery and excavation of the world's oldest known shipwreck". Akroterion, Vol. 46 (2001): 5 - 20. , http://akrolerion.journals.za )

    "Copper ingot in the shape of an oxhide. British Museum. 
    From about 1225 BC the Cypriot metal industry was tranformed under foreign influence. A number of hoards were deposited between about 1200 and 1100 BC, among then the 'Foundry Hoard' at Enkomi."
    "One ton of ox-hide tin ingots were found. (See N11 and N12 on the map of the wreck.) This raw material was rare in the ancient world but it was essential for making bronze (copper and tin). It is interesting that this ship carried both raw materials for making bronze. This shipwreck is important because archaeologists usually don’t find raw materials on land sites. As soon as these materials reached their destination, they would be made into bronze tools and weapons and it is the finished product that archaeologists usually find."

    Sculptural friezes from Bharhut attesting to mint-work

    Inscribed tablets. Third from l. Ajatasatru pillar sculptural frieze.
    click to open a full-size photo (2-7 MB)Pasenadi pillar with inscribed tablet
    Jetavana monastery on medallion. Rectangular coins spread out on field
    Soldier with long sword with kampaTTa 'mint' hieroglyph
    The sword is inscribed with a srivatsa hypertext.

    Srivatsa on a soldier's arm, together with a dotted circle dhAu 'strand' rebus: dhAu 'element, mineral ore'
    kampaTTa 'mint' hieroglyph PLUS tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper'
    Click the image to open in full size.Sanchi and Bharhut stupa reliefs on a torana. Two mahouts ride on two elephants. One mahour carries a flagpost with a standard of 'srivatsa' hieroglyphmultiplex. This has been explained as metalcraftsmanship.
    Bharhut stupa torana replicated on a Bharhut frieze. The centerpiece mollusc hypertext is flanked by two srivatsa hypertexts. The gateway entrance is adorned with a garland.
    Torana from Mathura and Mathura lion capital which incorporates many hieroglyph elements later to be found in Bharhut-Sanchi: Pair of tigers (lions?), molluscs, srivatsa, i.e. kampaTTa 'mint' PLUS sippi 'shell' rebus: sippi 'artisan, sculptor, architect'
    Sanchi torana. tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper' PLUS kampaTTa 'mint' proclamation.
    Sanchi torana. Srivatsa carried on a flagpost by an elephant-rider.
    Pupphadevi holding a bronze mirror
    Yakkhi holding a bronze mirror. Wears necklace with kammaTa 'mint' hieroglyph

    śrivatsa symbol [with its hundreds of stylized variants, depicted on Pl. 29 to 32] occurs in Bogazkoi (Central Anatolia) dated ca. 6th to 14th cent. BCE on inscriptions Pl. 33, Nandipāda-Triratna at: Bhimbetka, Sanchi, Sarnath and Mathura] Pl. 27, Svastika symbol: distribution in cultural periods] The association of śrivatsa with ‘fish’ is reinforced by the symbols binding fish in Jaina āyāgapaṭas (snake-hood?) of Mathura (late 1st cent. BCE).  śrivatsa  symbol seems to have evolved from a stylied glyph showing ‘two fishes’. In the Sanchi stupa, the fish-tails of two fishes are combined to flank the ‘śrivatsa’ glyph. In a Jaina āyāgapaṭa, a fish is ligatured within the śrivatsa  glyph,  emphasizing the association of the ‘fish’ glyph with śrivatsa glyph.

    (After Plates in: Savita Sharma, 1990, Early Indian symbols, numismatic evidence, Delhi, Agama Kala Prakashan; cf. Shah, UP., 1975, Aspects of Jain Art and Architecture, p.77)


    An ayagapata or Jain homage tablet, with small figure of a tirthankara in the centre and inscription below, from Mathura



    An ayagapata or Jain homage tablet, with small figure of a tirthankara in the centre and inscription below, from Mathura. "Photograph taken by Edmund William Smith in 1880s-90s of a Jain homage tablet. The tablet was set up by the wife of Bhadranadi, and it was found in December 1890 near the centre of the mound of the Jain stupa at Kankali Tila. Mathura has extensive archaeological remains as it was a large and important city from the middle of the first millennium onwards. It rose to particular prominence under the Kushans as the town was their southern capital. The Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jain faiths all thrived at Mathura, and we find deities and motifs from all three and others represented in sculpture. In reference to this photograph in the list of photographic negatives, Bloch wrote that, "The technical name of such a panel was ayagapata [homage panel]." The figure in the centre is described as a Tirthamkara, a Jain prophet. The piece is now in the Lucknow Museum." http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/a/largeimage58907.html






    Depiction of torana, or gateway, of stupa, a fragment of a Jaina stupa railing, Kankali Tila, near Mathura (Government Museum, Lucknow).Photo: http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2420/stories/20071019505206400.htm









    Bharhut hieroglyphs. Alexander Cunningham, London, 1879 









    Abb.: Der Mahbodhi-Baum Koṇāgamana's, Bharhut, 150/100 v. Chr. (Mahabodhi tree of Koṇāgamana)





    http://www.payer.de/mahavamsa/chronik15.htm

    Kumbhandas carrying a box of coins

    Ox-hide ingot as ornament on Gudimallam Sivalinga

    Divinely sculpted:A second century BC idol of Lingodbhava cult of Lord Shiva, the first of its kind found in South India, at Gudimallam temple in Chittoor district.— Photo: By Arrangement
    Divinely sculpted:A second century BC idol of Lingodbhava, Mahadeva Shiva, the first of its kind found in South India, at Gudimallam temple in Chittoor district. Such a form of linga as a pillar of light, a pillar of fire is the Gudimallam sculpture. This sculpture superimposes or ligatures a human form of Rudra to a linga, a pillar of stone. The form of the sculpture is anthropomorphic and seems to be a narrative of a person standing on the shoulders of an 'elephant' ligatured dwarf, gaṇa. ibha 'elephant' rebus: ib 'iron'. This metallurgical intimation is reinforced by the symbols of three 'oxhide ingots' on the ornament shown on the sculpture and also a set of oxhide ingot symbols on the fillet or armlet worn on the right shoulder of the standing person carryin an axe on the left hand and a ram on the right hand. mēṇḍha m. ʻram' Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Munda.Ho.) The oxhide ingot gloss read rebus: mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot'. Thus, the face of the anthropomorph, hunter, standing person is mũh 'face' a reinforcement of mũhe 'ingot' shown as ornaments on the person.

    Gudimallam sculpture (5 ft. tall) has motifs of oxhide ingots on ornaments worn by the hunter carrying a battle axe and idenified rebus by a ram.
    See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/01/mahadeva-siva-removes-mists-of-dravida.html


    After Fig. 1, Fig 4 (Segment showing 3 oxhide ingots) and Fig 7 in: Details of ornaments in the Gudimallam Sculpture. After Gopinatha Rao, Plate IV.
    Details of ornaments in the Gudimallam Sculpture. (After Pl. IV in TA Gopinatha Rao, 1914, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Madras, The Law Printing House) http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924071128825



    The bracelet on the right shoulder of Siva also contains images of an oxhide ingot, apart from the three oxhide ingots idetified by Gopinatha rao as shown on the figure detailing ornaments in the Gudimallam sculpture.

     Begram ivories. Plate 389 Reference: Hackin, 1954, fig.195, no catalog N°. According to an inscription on the southern gate of Sanchi stupa, See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/02/indus-script-hieroglyphs-daura-rope.html
    On Amaravati representation of the fiery pillar of light the skambha is ligatured with a capital on top. The capital is hieroglyph 'srivatsa' atop a circle (vaTTa 'round, circle') as a phonetic determinant that the  aya PLUS kambha is in fact to be pronounced, aya khambhaṛā (Lahnda) rebus: aya 'iron' PLUS kammaTa 'mint' (Kannada)== 'fish PLUS fin' rebus: ayas kammaTa 'metal mint'.

     
    See:

    Prakrtam lexis related to metalwork, mintwork

    Malt. qanu eye. Br. xan, Kannada, Tamil. kaṇ 'eye' are cognate with: kāṇá ʻ one -- eyed ʼ Rigveda.Pali. Prakrtam. kāṇa -- ʻblind of one eye, blind'. 

    kāṇá PLUS vaṭṭavṛtta are thus clearly part of lexis of Indian sprachbund. Together, the word has a recorded lexical meaning: mint. this meaning is recorded in a sacred text திருவாய்மொழி tiru-vāy-moḻi, a poem of 1000 stanzas in Nālāyira-p-pira- pantam in praise of Viṣṇu by Nammāḻvār -- elaborated in ஈடுமுப்பத்தாறாயிரம் īṭu-muppattāṟāyiram, (உபதேசரத்.), an exhaustive commentary on the Tiru-vāy-moḻi, said to have been written by Vaṭakku-t-tiru-vīti-p-piḷḷai after hearing it given out by his guru Nam-piḷḷai, consisting of 36,000 granthas. 

    The Tamil expression கண்வட்டம் kaṇ-vaṭṭam 'mint' is derived from Prakrtam and Rigveda words: kaṇ 'eye' are cognate with: kāṇá ʻ one -- eyed ʼ Rigveda.Pali. Prakrtam.வட்டம் vaṭṭam , < Pkt. vaṭṭavṛtta. vr̥ttá ʻ turned ʼ RV., ʻ rounded ʼ ŚBr. 2. ʻ completed ʼ MaitrUp. Rebus: kang 'brazier'

    The fish fins  khambhaṛā 'fin' rebus: kammaTa 'mint' 
    In the Begram ivory (Plate 389), two fins of fishes, are superscripted with two eyes. This hieroglyph reads:   கண்வட்டம் kaṇ-vaṭṭam 'mint' which is thus a semantic determinant reinforcing khambhaṛā 'fin' rebus: kammaTa 'mint' 
    kang कंग् । आवसथ्यो &1;ग्निः m. the fire-receptacle or fire-place, kept burning in former times in the courtyard of a Kāshmīrī house for the benefit of guests, etc., and distinct from the three religious domestic fires of a Hindū; (at the present day) a fire-place or brazier lit in the open air on mountain sides, etc., for the sake of warmth or for keeping off wild beasts. nāra-kang, a fire-receptacle; hence, met. a shower of sparks (falling on a person) (Rām. 182). Cf. kã̄gürü, which is the fem. of this word in a dim. sense (Gr.Gr. 33, 37).kangar 1 कंगर् m. a large portable brazier (El.). kāngürü2999 kāgni m. ʻ a small fire ʼ Vop. [ka -- 3 or kā -- , agní -- ]K. kang m. ʻ brazier, fireplace ʼ?3006 *kāṅgārikā ʻ poor or small brazier ʼ. [Cf. kāgni -- m. ʻ a small fire ʼ Vop.: ka -- 3 or kā -- , aṅgāri -- ]
    K. kã̄gürü, kã̄gar f. ʻ portable brazier ʼ whence kangar m. ʻ large do. ʼ (or < *kāṅgāra -- ?); H. kã̄grī f. ʻ small portable brazier ʼ.125 áṅgāra m. n. ʻ glowing charcoal ʼ RV., °aka -- lex. 2. *iṅgāra -- , iṅgāla -- m. Vāsav. com.
    1. Pa. aṅgāra -- m. ʻ charcoal ʼ, Pk. aṁgāra -- , °aya -- , aṁgāla -- , °aya -- m., Gy. eur. angár ʻ charcoal ʼ, wel. vaṅār m. (v -- from m. article), germ. yangar (y -- from yag, s.v.agní -- 1); Ash. aṅāˊ ʻ fire ʼ, Kt. aṅǻ, Gmb. aṅāˊ, Pr. anéye, Dm. aṅgar (a < ā NTS xii 130), Tir. Chilis Gau. K. nār (n < ṅ -- , not ← Psht. nār ← Ar. AO xii 184), Paš. aṅgāˊr, Shum. ã̄r (← Paš. NOGaw 59), Gaw. Kal. Kho. aṅgāˊr, Bshk. äṅgāˊr, Tor. aṅā, Mai. agār, Phal. aṅgṓr, Sh. agāˊr, ha° m.; S. aṅaru m. ʻ charcoal ʼ (a <ā as in Dm.), L. aṅgār m., P. aṅgyār, °rā m., EP. ãgeār (y or e from MIA. aggi < agní -- 1?), WPah. bhid. aṅgāˊrõ n., pl. -- ã, Ku. aṅār (ḍaṅār id. X ḍājṇo <dahyátē), N. aṅār, A. āṅgār, eṅgār, B. āṅgār, āṅrā, Or. aṅgāra; Bi. ãgarwāh ʻ man who cuts sugar -- cane into lengths for the mill ʼ (= pakwāh); OMth. aṁgāra, Mth. ãgor, H. ãgār, °rā m., G. ãgār, °rɔ m., M. ãgār m., Si. an̆gura. -- Wg. ãdotdot;ř, ã̄īˊ ʻ fire ʼ (as opp. to aṅarīˊk ʻ charcoal ʼ, see aṅgāryāˊ -- ) poss. < agní -- 1, Morgenstierne NTS xvii 226.2. Pa. iṅghāḷa -- ʻ glowing embers (?) ʼ, Pk. iṁgāra -- , iṁgāla, °aya -- ; K. yĕngur m. ʻ charcoal ʼ, yĕnguru m. ʻ charcoal -- burner ʼ; M. ĩgaḷ, ĩgḷā m., Ko. ĩgḷo. -- Deriv. M. ĩgḷā m. ʻ a kind of large ant ʼ, ĩgḷī f. ʻ a large black deadly scorpion ʼ.aṅgāraka -- , aṅgāri -- , aṅgāryāˊ -- ; aṅgāradhānī -- , *aṅgāravarta -- , *aṅgārasthāna -- , *aṅgr̥ṣṭha -- .Addenda: áṅgāra -- : Md. an̆guru ʻ charcoal ʼ.127 aṅgāradhānī -- , °ikā -- f. ʻ portable stove ʼ lex. [áṅgāra -- , dhāˊna -- ]Paš. aṅgarāˊn, aṅgaranīˊ ʻ fireplace ʼ.aṅgāri 130 aṅgāri f., aṅgāritā -- f. ʻ portable brazier ʼ lex. [áṅgāra -- ]H. ãgārī f.Addenda: aṅgāri -- : †*aṅgāriṣṭha -- .130a †*aṅgāriṣṭha -- ʻ portable brazier ʼ. [aṅgāri -- , stha -- : cf. agniṣṭhá -- ]WPah.kṭg. garṭhɔ m. ʻ charcoal ʼ; J. gārṭhā m. ʻ a small burning coal ʼ.131 aṅgāryāˊ -- , *aṅgāriyā -- , f. ʻ heap of embers ʼ. [Cf. aṅgā- rīya -- ʻ fit for making charcoal ʼ, aṅgārikā -- f., angāritā -- f. ʻ portable fireplace ʼ lex.: áṅgāra -- ]Wg. aṅarīˊk, aṅgríč ʻ charcoal ʼ; Paš. aṅgerík ʻ black charcoal ʼ, Shum. ãdotdot;gerík; Phal. aṅgerīˊ ʻ charcoal ʼ, aṅgerīˊṣi f. ʻ black charcoal ʼ; Ku. aṅāri ʻ sparks ʼ; G. ãgārī f. ʻ small hearth with embers in it ʼ.

    kāṇá 3019 kāṇá ʻ one -- eyed ʼ RV.Pa. Pk. kāṇa -- ʻ blind of one eye, blind ʼ; Ash. kã̄ṛa, °ṛī f. ʻ blind ʼ, Kt. kãŕ, Wg. kŕãmacrdotdot;, Pr. k&schwatildemacr;, Tir. kāˊna, Kho. kāṇu NTS ii 260, kánuBelvalkarVol 91; K. kônu ʻ one -- eyed ʼ, S. kāṇo, L. P. kāṇã̄; WPah. rudh. śeu. kāṇā ʻ blind ʼ; Ku. kāṇo, gng. kã̄&rtodtilde; ʻ blind of one eye ʼ, N. kānu; A. kanā ʻ blind ʼ; B. kāṇā ʻ one -- eyed, blind ʼ; Or. kaṇā, f. kāṇī ʻ one -- eyed ʼ, Mth. kān, °nā, kanahā, Bhoj. kān, f. °ni, kanwā m. ʻ one -- eyed man ʼ, H. kān, °nā, G. kāṇũ; M. kāṇā ʻ one -- eyed, squint -- eyed ʼ; Si. kaṇa ʻ one -- eyed, blind ʼ. -- Pk. kāṇa -- ʻ full of holes ʼ, G. kāṇũ ʻ full of holes ʼ, n. ʻ hole ʼ (< ʻ empty eyehole ʼ? Cf.ã̄dhḷũ n. ʻ hole ʼ < andhala -- ).*kāṇiya -- ; *kāṇākṣa -- .Addenda: kāṇá -- : S.kcch. kāṇī f.adj. ʻ one -- eyed ʼ; WPah.kṭg. kaṇɔ ʻ blind in one eye ʼ, J. kāṇā; Md. kanu ʻ blind ʼ.

    Bharhut. Zoom: 52996 Standard carried by horse-rider. sippi 'shell' rebus: sippi 'artisan, sculptor, architect'
    Site Name: Bharhut
    Monument: Bharhut stupa
    Subject of Photo: vedika pillar with a male figure seated with a standard on a horse
    Locator Info. of Photo: 13th section from the left, back side
    Photo Orientation: view of upper portion
    Dynasty/Period: Sunga
    Date: ca. 100-80 BCE, 100 BCE - 80 BCE
    Material: brown sandstone
    Architecture: structural
    Dimensions: H - ca. 300.00 cm
    Current Location: Indian Museum, Calcutta, West Bengal, India
    Copyright Holder: Huntington, John C. and Susan L.
    Photo Year: 1970
    Scan Number: 0004771

    Model of a Sambuk

    Sanbouk Al-Jalahma (Mansour)  http://www.kuwaitboom.com/history/eng_ver/sanbouk.html

    "Sambuk or sambuq (صنبوق) – the largest type of dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history.[16] The word is cognate with the Greek σαμβύκη sambúkē, ultimately from Middle Persian sambūk. "(Oman, a Seafaring Nation, Oman: Ministry of Information, 1979.Agius, Dionisius A (2008), Classic Ships of Islam: From Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, p.314. loc.cit.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhow)
    Sambuk or sambuq (سنبوك‎) - "The largest type of Dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history." Source: http://socheapandchic.blogspot.in/2011/11/culture-first-traditional-dhow.html

    Detail of wood carving seen on Sambuq hull in Dubai Creek 

    Hieroglyph:arka 'sun' rebus: eraka 'moltencast, copper'
    tAmarasa 'lotus' rebus: tAmra 'copper'
    karaDI 'safflower' rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy'
    tALa 'palm tree' rebus:dhALa 'larg ingot (oxhide)'
    koD 'horn' rebus: koTiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'

    Sambuk in Aden, 1936 "Sambuk (ultimately from 

    Middle Persian sambūk[1]), known in New Persian as Sunbūk (سنبوک) and 

    Sambuk boatSambuc 1
    in Arabic as Sambūk (سنبوك), Sambūq (سنبوق) andṢumbūq (صنبوق), is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. Formerly sambuks had ornate carvings." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambuk See: http://web.archive.org/web/20101101204044/http://www.agmgifts.co.uk/dhow%20article.html


    An Arab dhow called a Sambuk. (The accent is on the 2nd syllable). These were typical dhows of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Arabia. 16th century Caravels copied the lateen sail rig, an Arab invention. The wings on the stern are copied from Caravels. This model represents a boat circa 1900. http://roberts-model-ships-and-boats.com/sambuc1.htm
    Two masted ships from Satavahana (2nd cent. CE) and Pallava (6th cent. CE) coins. National Museum. Delhi.Main parts of a bivalve shell: 1: 
    sagittal plane, 2: growth lines, 3: ligament, 4: umbo












    This hieorglyph signifier is reinforced by the badari twig kUdI, kUTI as a flagpost rebus: kUThiyAt, koṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. The badari twig flagpost has two rings on top, below the base holding the one-horned young bull. These rings signify bivalve: sambuka rebus: sambuka 'dhow, seafaring vessel'. On hundreds of inscriptions of Indus Script Corpora, the one-horned young bull (kODiya rebus: koTiya 'dhow') is shown in front of sãgaḍa 'lathe, portable furnace' rebus: sãgaḍa 'double-canoe'. In addition to these three ships/canoes,  sambuka, koṭiya, sãgaḍa, a fourth vessel called baghlah is also signified on a unique Indus Script hieroglyph: bagala 'pleiades'.





     Badari twig. Hieroglyph: bunch of twigs: कूटी [p= 299,3] v.l. for कूद्/ई. कूदी [p= 300,1] f. a bunch of twigs , bunch (v.l. कूट्/ई) AV. v , 19 , 12 Kaus3.accord. to Kaus3. , Sch. = बदरी, "Christ's thorn". (Samskritam) Rebus:kuṭhi ‘a furnace for smelting iron ore, to smelt iron')
    Hieroglyph: Te. kōḍiya, kōḍe young bull; adj. male (e.g. kōḍe dūḍa bull calf), young, youthful; kōḍekã̄ḍu a young an. Kol. (Haig) kōḍē bull. Nk. khoṛe male calf. Konḍakōḍi cow; kōṛe young bullock. Pe. kōḍi cow. Manḍ. kūḍi id. Kui 

    kōḍi id., ox. Kuwi (F.) kōdi cow; (S.) kajja kōḍi bull; (Su.P.) kōḍi cow. (DEDR 2199) Rebus: kōṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'.


    Hieroglyph: sprout: Ta. koṭi banner, flag, streamer; kōṭu summit of a hill, peak, mountain; kōṭai mountain; kōṭar peak, summit of a tower; kuvaṭu mountain, hill, peak; kuṭumisummit of a mountain, top of a building, crown of the head, bird's crest, tuft of hair (esp. of men), crown, projecting corners on which a door swings. Ma. koṭi top, extremity, flag, banner, sprout; kōṭu end; kuvaṭu hill, mountain-top; kuṭuma, kuṭumma narrow point, bird's crest, pivot of door used as hinge, lock of hair worn as caste distinction; koṭṭu head of a bone. Ko. koṛy flag on temple; koṭ top tuft of hair (of Kota boy, brahman), crest of bird; kuṭ clitoris. To. kwïṭ tip, nipple, child's back lock of hair. Ka. kuḍi pointed end, point, extreme tip of a creeper, sprout, end, top, flag, banner; guḍi point, flag, banner; kuḍilu sprout, shoot; kōḍu a point, the peak or top of a hill; koṭṭu a point, nipple, crest, gold ornament worn by women in their plaited hair; koṭṭa state of being extreme; koṭṭa-kone the extreme point; (Hav.)koḍi sprout; Koḍ. koḍi top (of mountain, tree, rock, table), rim of pit or tank, flag. Tu. koḍi point, end, extremity, sprout, flag; koḍipuni to bud, germinate; (B-K.)koḍipu, koḍipelů a sprout; koḍirè the top-leaf; koṭṭu cock's comb, peacock's tuft. Te. koḍi tip, top, end or point of a flame; koṭṭa-kona the very end or extremity. Kol.(Kin.) koṛi point. Pa. kūṭor cock's comb. Go. (Tr.) koḍḍī tender tip or shoot of a plant or tree; koḍḍi (S.) end, tip, (Mu.) tip of bow; (A.) koḍi point (Voc. 891). Malt. qoṛg̣o comb of a cock; ? qóru the end, the top (as of a tree).(DEDR 2029) Rebus: kōṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'.


    Hieroglyph: Ta. kōṭu (in cpds. kōṭṭu-) horn, tusk, branch of tree, cluster, bunch, coil of hair, line, diagram, bank of stream or pool; kuvaṭu branch of a tree; kōṭṭāṉ, kōṭṭuvāṉ rock horned-owl (cf. 1657 Ta. kuṭiñai). Ko. ko·ṛ (obl. ko·ṭ-) horns (one horn is kob), half of hair on each side of parting, side in game, log, section of bamboo used as fuel, line marked out. To. (obl. kwid horn, branch, path across stream in thicket. Ka. kōḍu horn, tusk, branch of a tree; kōr̤ horn.Tu. kōḍů, kōḍu horn. Te. kōḍu rivulet, branch of a river. Pa. kōḍ (pl. kōḍul) horn. Ga. (Oll.) kōr (pl. kōrgul) id. Go. (Tr.) kōr (obl. kōt-, pl. kōhk) horn of cattle or wild animals, branch of a tree; (W. Ph. A. Ch.) kōr (pl. kōhk), (S.) kōr (pl. kōhku), (Ma.) kōr̥u (pl. kōẖku) horn; (M.) kohk branch (Voc. 980); (LuS.) kogoo a horn.Kui kōju (pl. kōska) horn, antler. Cf. 2049 Ta. koṭi. (DEDR 2200) Rebus: kōṭiya 'dhow, seafaring vessel'.


    S. Kalyanaraman
    Sarasvati Research Center
    July 17, 2016




    The post holding the young bull banner is signified by a twig. कूदी [p= 300,1] f. a bunch of twigs , bunch (v.l. कूट्/ई) AV. v , 19 , 12 Kaus3. accord. to Kaus3. , Sch. = बदरी, "Christ's thorn". Koliya (adj.) [fr. kola] of the fruit of the jujube tree J iii.22,  (Pali)The one-horned young bull hieroglyph is held aloft on a badarI twig (kUTI, kUDI)(Atharvaveda) signifying the young bull: కోడియ (p. 326) kōḍiya 'young bull' rebus: koṭiya, kūṭiya 'dhow, sailing vessel'.

    The twig as flagstaff is topped by a base above two bivalve rings. 

    I suggest that the rings suggest:  sambuka 'bivalve shell' (Pali), reinforcing the dhow, kOTiya. It is significant that Kuwai also has a phonetic variant for the dhow: kUThiyAt. 



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    Three Indian sites make it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List

    July 17, 2016, 8:19 am
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    Published: July 17, 2016 19:38 IST | Updated: July 17, 2016 19:38 IST  ISTANBUL/NEW DELHI, July 17, 2016

    Three Indian sites make it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List

    • PTI
    Two days after the ruins of Nalanda University (in the picture) in Bihar made it to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites' list, the elite body also included two other Indian sites -- Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex and Sikkim’s national park, home to the world’s third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga -- in the list at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul on Sunday.
    Two days after the ruins of Nalanda University (in the picture) in Bihar made it to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites' list, the elite body also included two other Indian sites -- Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex and Sikkim’s national park, home to the world’s third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga -- in the list at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul on Sunday.

    On the list are Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, Sikkim’s national park, home to third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga, Nalanda University (Bihar)

    UNESCO on Sunday listed Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex and Sikkim’s national park, home to the world’s third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga among its World Heritage Sites, approving all three nominations linked to India this session.
    The approval comes two days after the ruins of Nalanda University in Bihar made to the elite tag at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul.
    “This is the first time that any country got three sites inscribed in the Word Heritage List at a single session of the committee meeting,” a Culture Ministry official said.
    The meeting had resumed for a day on Sunday, after being suspended a day earlier due to a failed coup bid in Turkey which claimed over 260 lives.
    “Much awaited dream come true”
    “Much awaited dream come true. CapitolComplex of Chandigarh now a WorldHeritage site. Thanks @UNESCO @RuchiraKamboj,” India’s Culture Ministry tweeted. Ruchira Kamboj is India’s Ambassador to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
    “Khangchendzonga National Park of India is now a WorldHeritage site. Thank you @UNESCO @IrinaBokova,” it said in another tweet, tagging UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
    Part of 17 sites
    The Capitol Complex is part of the group of 17 sites — across seven countries (France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Argentina, Japan and India) — designed by Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier which were included in the list by the Paris-based body.
    Le Corbusier had planned Chandigarh in the 1950s. It said the 17 sites spread over seven countries are a “testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past.”
    “The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr. Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina) and the Unite d’habitation in Marseille (France) reflect the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20th century to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society. These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalisation of architectural practice across the planet,” it said in an official statement.
    Major recognition
    In another major recognition, Sikkim’s Khangchendzonga National Park — home to the world’s third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga — made it to the list.
    Located at the heart of the Himalayan range in northern India (State of Sikkim), the Khangchendzonga National Park includes a unique diversity of plains, valleys, lakes, glaciers and spectacular, snow-capped mountains covered with ancient forests, including the world’s third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga.
    Myths linked with the mountain
    “Mythological stories are associated with this mountain and with a great number of natural elements (e.g. caves, rivers, lakes, etc.) that are the object of worship by the indigenous people of Sikkim. The sacred meanings of these stories and practices have been integrated with Buddhist beliefs and constitute the basis for Sikkimese identity,” the statement said.
    Besides these, Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites (Antigua and Barbuda) and Pampulha Modern Ensemble (Brazil) were also included in the elite list.
    A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that is listed by the UNESCO as being of ‘special cultural or physical significance.’
    Printable version | Jul 17, 2016 8:48:38 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/three-indian-sites-make-it-to-unescos-world-heritage-list/article8862487.ece
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    A defining discovery of Binjor agnikunda सोमः-संस्था on Sarasvati River basin

    July 17, 2016, 6:37 pm
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    A stunning discovery was reported in April 2015 from the excavations at Binjor (near Anupgarh, 4 MSR site) of a yajna kunda with an octagonal pillar. 

    This excavation was done by the students of Inst. of Archaeology, National Museum, New Delhi. 

    This is a humble tribute to these young students led by Dr. Sanjay Jha of ASI. who have redefined the roots of Bhāratiya Sabhyatā.

    In my view, this is a defining discovery for Bharatiya Itihaas, affirming archaeologically the vedic heritage which emerged on the Vedic Sarasvati River basin. 

    I request for wide dissemination of a preliminary report on this momentous discovery and on the site. 

    I attach herewith the photograph which appeared together with a news item. We need addl. details and excavation details, on the dimensions of the Binjor agni kunda signifying a Soma yajña with octagonal, अष्टाश्रि yūpa. 

    Read in the context of the Vedic tradition of Vajapeya as a सोमः [सू-मन् Uṇ.1.139]-संस्था a form of the Soma-sacrifice, the Binjor agnikunda evidences the performance of a Vajapeya yajna or a बहुसुवर्णकम् सोमः [सू-मन् Uṇ.1.139]-संस्था 

    Inline image 1

    ​यष्ट्वा बहुसुवर्णकम् '(performance of yajna) to possess many gold pieces' is the expression used in one of the 19 yupa inscriptions -- (see  yupa inscription B of Mulavarman at East Borneo) -- all 19 yupa are octagonal-shaped echoing the expression by Valmiki in the Ramayana.​ 

    It is significant that an Indus Script seal has also been found at the 4MSR site indicating metal-/mint-work providing a framework for approx. dating the soma yaga event at Binjor.

    Balakanda of Ramayana has this citation: nityam pramuditAh sarve yatha kRitayuge tathA as'vamedha s'atair ishTvA tathA bahusuvarNakaih (Balakanda I,95) The referene is to the as'vamedha sattra desirous of possessing many pieces of gold. 

    In reference to Meghanada's yajna, the reference reads:
    agniSTomo 's'vamedha ca yajno bahusuvarNakah
    rAjasUyas tathA yajno gomedho vaishNavas tathA mahes'vare
    (UttrakANDa, XXV, 87-9) A rajasuya yajna with prayers to mahesvara is also linked to many pieces of gold. 

    Inline image 2
    Inline image 3
    Shapes of Yupa: A. Commemorative stone yupa, Isapur – from Vogel, 1910-11, plate 23; drawing based on Vedic texts – from Madeleine Biardeau, 1988, 108, fig. 1; cf. 1989, fig. 2); C. Miniature wooden yupa and caSAla from Vaidika Samsodana Mandala Museum of Vedic sacrificial utensils – from Dharmadhikari 1989, 70) (After Fig. 5 in Alf Hiltebeitel, 1988, The Cult of Draupadi, Vol. 2, Univ. of Chicago Press, p.22)

    The significance of अष्टाश्रि yūpa (octagonal brick as the one found in Binjor) is elaborted in the ancient texts: yūpa is described as being the emblem of the sacrifice in Rigveda: (RV III.8.8 yajñasya ketu; śat. Br. V.2.1.5 aṣṭāśrir yūpo bhavati;Taitt. Sam. I.3.6.1-3; cf. śat. Br. III.7.1.5-6). Details at http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/07/binjor-yupa-inscription-on-indus-script.html

    It will be a privilege indeed to disseminate a preliminary archaeological report on 4MSR excavation for a wide audience to demonstrate the significance of this discovery which is as momentous as the discovery of the ancient channels of Vedic River Sarasvati dated to a period earlier than 3rd millennium BCE. 

    The presence of a seal in Binjor is also indicative that the date of the site is ca. 2500 to 1900 BCE (related to the mature phase of the civilization) and may open up further researches into the contributions made by Bhāratam janam (RV 3.53.12) to Bronze Age Revolution.

    S. Kalyanaraman
    Sarasvati Research Center
    July 18, 2016
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    Cong-DMK bonhomie 'kills' Raja's book. Dr. Swamy should expose the distribution of 2G kaalaadhan.

    July 17, 2016, 7:20 pm
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    CONG-DMK BONHOMIE ‘KILLS’ RAJA’S BOOK

    Monday, 18 July 2016 | Pioneer News Service | New Delhi


    The warming up of relation between the Congress and the DMK has forced former Telecom Minister A Raja to shelve the publication of his proposed ‘tell-all book’ that was supposed to carry his side of the story in the 2G scam.
    Penguin India is supposed to release the book titled In My Defence by Raja by this year end, when the 2G Court is expected to finish the final arguments in the case.
    Penguin had announced that it will release Raja’s book in their 2015 catalogue along with cover design. In several interviews, Raja boasted that he will come out with an explosive book to expose those who turned him into a scapegoat in the 2G scam. According to people close to Raja, the former Telecom Minister had came down heavily on Congress leaders, and his Cabinet colleagues in UPA like P Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the book.
    Raja had written the manuscript in Tamil language; it was translated into English by veteran journalist Paran Balakrishnan, who was declared as co-author in the Penguin’s catalogue.
    “Now for the first time, Raja tells his side of the story — defending his decision regarding 2G allotments, drawing a revelatory picture of the corridors of power and the pressure he faced from big business, Government and the bureaucracy and of his time in jail. Honest, hard-hitting and with no holds barred, this is an important and utterly absorbing book,” said the Penguin catalogue of 2015, about the 288- page book priced at Rs599.
    Raja even informed several CBI officials and lawyers who were connected with the 2G Court about his memoir. Even in the court arguments, his forthcoming memoir contents were discussed. Lawyers said Raja told them that his plan was to release the book soon after the Judge OP Saini declares reserving of judgment after the end of Final Arguments, expected to be over in October or November.
    Some CBI officials said Raja even told them that he would “expose them” for “saving top Congress leadership” and for putting all the blame on him. “I have a chapter for you people,” a CBI officer said quoting Raja.
    But Raja’s plan went for a toss when the Congress and the DMK patched up their differences and entered into alliance for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in February. According to DMK leaders, as soon as the Congress-DMK alliance was sealed, top leadership of DMK summoned Raja to abandon his plan to release the “tell-all” book. Raja again met DMK top leadership in June to impress upon them to change their decision.
    But he was told that he must drop the book to avoid embarrassment to alliance partner Congress and its leaders.This is not the first time Raja has retreated after promising to expose big guns of the Congress.  In 2011, during his Framing of Charges arguments, Raja came down heavily on Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram and said he would cross examine them as witnesses. But later he did not pursue this demand in court.
    http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/cong-dmk-bonhomie-kills-rajas-book.html
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    Bhita, UP: Rhino seal, an Indus Script hieroglyph of Mauryan times

    July 17, 2016, 8:25 pm
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    Bhita excavation. "The area of the waste land divided by a ravine into two large mounds called "Garha and Garhi (Allahabad)" http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_alphalist_uttarpradesh_lucknow.asp 
    Bhita has been identified with Bitbhaya-pattana, a town mentioned in the Viracaritra of Mahavira’s time. It is said to be the seat of King Udayana. Gen. Cunningham visited the site near Allahabad in 1872. See: ASI Annual Report, 1909-10, p. 40; 1911-12, pp. 29-94 and Allahabad Dist. Gazetteer by Nevill, p. 234; ASR Vol. III, 46-52. Loc.cit. Subodh Kapoor, 2002, Encyclopaedia of Ancient Indian Geography, Genesis Publishing Pvt. Ltd., p.146


    Rhino seal from Bhita (Thanks to Manasataramgini) kANDA 'rhino' rebus: kaNDa '(metal) implements'.

    sujawan devta, bhita, allahabad
    sujawan devta, bhita, allahabad
    Nearby cities: Naini , Jhunsi (Jhusi), Allahabad
    Coordinates:   25°19'10"N   81°47'28"E
    http://www.travelomy.com/bhita-photos-videos

    Recently an archeological site near the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers yielded a C14 dating of 7100 BC for its Neolithic levels. Historically, Jhusi was known as Prathisthanpuram.
    In 1910 Sir John Marshal did excavation at the 2nd mound where was recovered one coin of earthenware and one stone edict.
    http://allahabaddekho.com/Home/Places_jhusi_bhita_shringverpur_tons_upardaha_kaushambi_karadham_garhwa_sitamarhi_durvasa_sachababa

    S. Kalyanaraman
    Sarasvati Research Centre
    July 18, 2016
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    Mohenjo-daro and Dr. W. I say "Indus Script is a knowledge system". I look forward to Dr. W's rebuttal.

    July 17, 2016, 9:22 pm
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    [quote]“There is zero chance that the Indus valley is literate. Zero,” says Steve Farmer, an independent scholar in Palo Alto, California. “As they say, garbage in, garbage out,” says Michael Witzel of the Harvard University.[unquote] This is how, Iravatham Mahadevan summarises one thesis of which Dr. W is a co-author. 

    The title of this blogpost is taken from the movie announced for release in August 2016 and discussed at 

    Mohenjo-daro and Dr. W is truly a love-story. Zero chance? It is a very strong statement.

    What are the chances that the proponents of the thesis will respond to the rebuttals of Massimo Vidale, Asko Parpola, Iravatham Mahadevan and Vikas Saraswat? 

    I hope they will respond calmly, instead of dismissing the rebuttals with disdain. I also want them to respond why they deny my hypothesis that Indus Script is a knowledge system.

    Kalyanaraman
    Sarasvati Research Center


    Indus Script: The No Script Theory Is A Non Starter

    Vikas Saraswat - December 24, 2013, 11:52 am
    Indus Script: The no script theory is a non starter
    Did the Harappans of Indus Valley Civilization know writing? The question might come as a shock for many of us. The first retort to the question might well be “what then are the numerous Indus inscriptions retrieved from archaeological excavations?” Most of us interested in the subject have just been waiting for a consensus on the decipherment of script but none has ever contemplated the possibility of a “no script” theory. But the importance of this “no script” theory was validated by expectations and anticipations from a research paper published some time back.
    A team of researchers led by University of Washington associate professor and computer scientist Rajesh Rao confirmed in a recent study that the Indus script did encode a language. The findings of the paper titled “Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script”published in the Science journal Vol. 324 Issue 5926, April 24, 2009 and co-authored by Rajesh P. N. Rao, Nisha Yadav, Mayank N. Vahia, Hrishikesh Joglekar, R. Adhikari and Iravatham Mahadevan would have come as a mere statement of the obvious but for the significance the paper assumed in the light of an earlier  controversial research paper titled “The Collapse of the Indus Script Thesis: The myth of a literate Harappan civilization” published jointly by Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel in the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies of 02/11/2004.
    The second mentioned research paper would have also gone unnoticed had it not carried the inordinate credence that comes easily with the authority of high positions in prestigious Universities. Steve Farmer holds a Ph. D. in comparative cultural history from Stanford University. His colleague Richard Sproat of University of Illinois and the Beckman Institute is one of the leading computational linguists with a number of publications to his credit. The third of the trio, Prof. Michael Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard and editor of the prestigious Harvard Oriental Series needs no introduction amongst scholars or lay readers with the slightest interest in Indology.
    However, Farmer and Witzel, besides their scholarship, are also known for their haughty demeanour and aggression in academic circles. Both of them are arduous supporters of Aryan Invasion Theory. Witzel in particular has also become notorious for his consistent anti Hindu rants too. He has remained as much in news for his academics as for championing the cause against “communal” Hindutva forces in India and their “obnoxious” limbs in USA. The political beliefs of authors and the bearings of their convictions on scholarship can be debated but their importance, particularly in the context of Indian History establishment, cannot be denied.
    The enormous influence these authors carry with our establishment Historians is demonstrated in an instance where Prof. R.S. Sharma, founding chairman of ICHR, lapped upon a mistranslation of a verse from Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra by Prof. Witzel to claim the hitherto missing testimony of an Aryan Invasion from the corpus of Vedic literature. In a major embarrassment to Prof. Sharma and other AIT supporters, Witzel himself was forced to concede the mistake, which he later blamed on a printing error, when confronted by Belgian scholar Koenraad Elst but not before Prof. Sharma had gleefully reproduced it as “the most explicit statement of an immigration into the subcontinent” in his Advent of the Aryans.
    Coming to the paper “The Collapse of the Indus Script Thesis”, the trio makes a sensational claim that Harappans of Indus Valley Civilization were illiterates, incapable of encoding language in the form of a script. Whatever Indus Valley inscriptions have been retrieved on clay seals, steatites, pots, potsherds, metal seals, copper plates, terracotta, ivory artefacts, rocks etc., are according to the authors, nothing more than “abstract religious-political signs,” serving the utility of a multilinguistic society. The authors are also convinced that these inscriptions would have been used for invoking magic and depicting sacrificial rituals.
    The main contentions of their thesis are one, “the brevity of inscriptions”; second, the absence of archaeological evidence for possibility of writings on perishable materials and third; the “paradox between high sign repetition rates in the Indus corpus against the low sign frequency in individual inscriptions”.
    It is a fact that the average length of Indus inscriptions, according to Mahadevan’s concordance arrives at a measly 4.6 signs length. The longest inscription on one surface carries only 17 signs and less than one percent of all catalogued inscriptions have a length of more than 10 signs. In fact the typical briefness of Indus inscriptions is indeed a major impediment in the decipherment of Indus Script. Farmer et al contend that the brevity of Indus inscriptions “is unparalleled in any literate civilization represented by even a fraction of the number of inscriptions in the Indus corpus.”
    Contesting their argument, Dr Gunter Dryer, an Egyptologist holds that the mean word length of “comparable” Egyptian texts is 6.94 as against that of the Indus texts which is 7.39 showing no statistical difference. Dryer has also found phonetically readable Egyptian hieroglyphic texts with as few as two symbols. Asko Parpola, Finnish linguist from University of Helsinki with a formidable Corpus of Indus seals to his name is equally convinced that a logo-syllabic (combination of logograms and syllables) script, which many scholars hold the Indus script to be, of Sumerian type with an average sign length in Indus Script is quite sufficient to convey linguistic messages. Parpola says that even single character logo syllabic inscriptions representing composite signs consisting two or more components are enough to convey titles and nouns. Iravatham Mahadevan, the famous Dravidian linguist also dismisses the short inscription argument of Farmer et al. In his words, “seal texts tend to be short universally. Further, the Indus script appears to consist mostly of word signs (logograms). Such a script will have a lesser number of characters and repetitions than a (completely) syllabic script.”
    Farmer et al’s argument concerning the ‘absence of expected archaeological evidence to support the “lost manuscripts thesis” also doesn’t impress many scholars. Farmer et al contend that if any lengthier documents on perishable materials had existed, as suggested by archaeologists and palaeographers to compensate for the short inscriptions on seals etc., some by-products of these Indus artefacts or markers such as writing paraphernalia or representations of scribes etc. should have been found in archaeological excavations. The manuscript tradition of Indus Valley writing, however, has been attested by the appearance of Harappan signs on later Indian pottery dating to 9th century B.C.E. at least.
    BB Lal discovered that almost 90% of graffiti marks on megalithic red and black ware had affinity to Indus Valley signs. In fact it was this discovery which recommended the reading of Indus Script from right to left, a view later confirmed by Mahadevan. Parpola in his criticism of the paper mentions Yajnavalkya Smriti as well as the testimony of Alexander’s admiral Nearchus to cite the usage of cotton cloth as writing material from 500 B.C.E. onwards at least. He points out that the preserved examples of writing on cotton cloth appear, however, only after thirteenth century C.E. Similarly from the long Asokan inscriptions carved on pillars it can be safely presumed that similar or lengthier writings would have existed on perishable materials also, though no such specimens have ever been discovered.
    There is nonetheless an interesting aspect to the argumentum ad absentium employed by scholars such as Farmer and Witzel. They take recourse in it when they find it convenient to promote their pet theories and prejudices as in the above case or as in the touted case of missing Horse seals (enough evidence from excavations at Surkotada-AK Sharma, Lothal-SR Rao, Kalibangan-Sharma, Aravalli Hills-Ghosh etc. has proved the domestication of equus caballus by Harappans ). On the other hand they refuse to consider the complete absence of any archaeological or literary evidence in support of Aryan invasion or migration in India.
    In the third contention titled “paradoxical sign frequencies” of the paper which is dealt at quite a length, Farmer et al assert that “the high sign repetition rates in the Indus corpus overall contrast sharply with low sign repetition rates in individual inscriptions, which suggest that little if any sound encoding existed in the system”. The authors also note that a large number of signs in the Indus corpus (27% of Mahadevan’s concordance) occur only once in 13,372 sign occurrences and that 52% in the same concordance show up only five times or less. The authors suggest that in any evolving script the percentage of these singletons should be dropping progressively whereas this percentage, over the time, appears to be rising instead.
    Yet again this assertion is contradicted by the observance of a high percentage of signs in Chinese writing system which are rarely ever used in Chinese newspapers. The high number of singletons has also been held by many scholars as representations of derivative signs inserted for the purposes of a clearer understanding of the texts. But it isn’t only the thrilling if not altogether incontrovertible arguments propounded by Farmer et al which merit serious criticism; their curt dismissal of “positional statistical regularities” in individual inscriptions as exaggeration also does injustice to the script theory. In fact “positional statistical regularities” of signs in Indus inscriptions strongly approves of a written script. Further, the authors ignore that the twenty or so high repetition signs in the Indus script are all very simplified signs clearly implying a higher stage of evolution of written script.
    Moreover the “illiterate Harappans” model proposed by Farmer, Sproat and Witzel claims a rather asymmetric development of Harappans of Indus Valley Civilization. These Harappans had the best town planning of their times, fairly good knowledge of astronomy, an efficient transportation system as depicted in the terracotta figurines of the times, a wonderful irrigation system of canals, a perfect weights and measure system (the anna and pi) which was being followed till recently and extensive business with its literate Mesopotamian neighbours among various other accomplishments to their credit. But according to the authors, somehow, they neither could develop a written script of their own nor borrow it from their literate Sumerian or Akkadian neighbours.
    To their credit the authors do not leave the issue unaddressed. Theorising on the possible reasons which could have forced the ruling Harappan elite (amounting to a rather amazing consensus among the large number of rulers, if the authors are not considering the entire one million square area of the Civilization as one Principality) to consciously oppose writing, they attribute it “to the threats (the writing could have) posed to whatever control the symbols gave them over Indus populations.” The reader is made to wonder if the introduction of written scripts in other ancient civilizations had caused the first “revolutions”!
    The aggressive, provocative and sensational style of the paper and the brash conduct of the authors-they have announced an award of $10,000 for anyone finding an Indus inscription longer than 50 signs and termed the paper “Entropic Evidence…” as “…garbage in garbage out”-despite the faltering nature of their own hypothesis begs some explanation.
    Western Indology with its roots in German nationalism, its concomitant anti Semitism, European Colonialism and Christian Evangelism, from its very inception has invested heavily in the Aryan Invasion Theory. In India it found ready cahoots in Marxist historians who had their own socio-political axes to grind. When the invasion model was found to be completely untenable, a variant called Aryan Migration Theory (more or less on the previous lines) hypothesising the immigration of Indo European Aryans from an unidentified location in Central Asia in small groups around 1500 BCE was mooted. These migrants then despite their low numeric strength, according to the hypothesis, somehow managed to impose their language and prevail culturally over the original inhabitants (Harappans) of Indus Valley. The descendants of these immigrant Aryans then went on to compose Rig-Veda in a language they had brought with them.
    A number of bogus arguments such as the missing Horse seals, differences in the religions of Harappan and Vedic culture or the ignorance of iron amongst Harappans as against the knowledge of it and its prolific use by the Vedics have been advanced to create a cleavage between the Harappan age (before 1500 B.C.E.) and the Vedic age (after 1500 B.C.E.). However none of the arguments proffered for even an AMT can be validated. K.D. Sethna, David Frawley, Natwar Jha and N.S. Rajaram have shown that religious practices, rituals and cults of Harappans and Vedics were not unrelated and that the former, in fact, was a progression over the latter, thus completely overturning the carefully crafted chronology by invasionists and immigrationists. This reversed chronology offered by these scholars is supported by the recent multidisciplinary approach in the study of prehistoric India.
    The missing Horse seal argument stands demolished in the light of Horse skeletons found in various excavations. The argument about iron presents an interesting case study in the kind of expedient speculation peddled as serious research by invasionists. The invasionist in this case is the Harvard Professor himself giving us a glimpse of his shoddy scholarship. For long, iron and its use in making weaponry was projected as an Aryan introduction to India. Recent excavations, however, have discovered iron artefacts at various Harappan sites and substratum. But Prof. Witzel who would not allow some obscure antique pieces to upset the reputations of invasionist Indologists claimed the iron of these artefacts to be of meteoric origin!
    The entire Indo European invasion/migration theory is riddled with more of such absurdities and despite the Herculean efforts of committed scholarships the inherent paradoxes in the Harappan- Vedic relation refuse to be contained. One such apparent paradox which has come to be known as Frawley’s paradox points at a fundamental contradiction. David Frawley, Vedic scholar from U.S., points out that Harappans in the Indo European migration/invasion model have a wonderful civilization with sophisticated town planning, international trade, impressive craftsmanship, knowledge of metallurgy and what not but do not show up any literature to their credit.
    On the other hand Vedic Aryans have a world class and prolific literature without a commensurate civilized Urheimat (a mythical homeland of the Indo European Aryans proposed by scholars obsessed with the Indo European model). The picture becomes clear when we view the two as one. Such a scenario however spells the collapse of AIT/AMT and doom for the upholders of this fantastic theory. Witzel, Farmer and Sproat’s assertion that the Harappans were illiterate is an exercise in reinforcing the delineation between Harappans and Vedic Aryans.
    Rao et al’s paper uses the Markov model, a statistical method to estimate the meaning of unknown symbols in the context of known symbols, as a computational tool for investigating ancient scripts. The results of this study confirm that the Indus script signs show some order as well as flexibity. This according to the researchers is a typical feature of spoken languages which fall between the two extremes of strict order for pictorial representations and a random pattern for non-linguistic systems.
    Most scholars agree that the paper, beyond its confirmation of a language in the Indus script, may not be much useful in deciphering the script as such. But the challenge to the decipherment comes from the entrenched political biases given to competing Proto Dravidian, Vedic Sanskrit and Proto Munda hypotheses for the Harappan language. Coming around a broad consensus in such a scenario is tough but the task calls for reappraisals of existing decipherments with open minds, arriving at common grounds to pursue further efforts and if needed, altogether fresh approaches rather than yield to the bunk “no script” hypothesis by Farmer, Witzel and Sproat.
    (This response was written in 2009)
    Vikas Saraswat
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