How humans became intelligent -- Daniel Dennett

January 3, 2018, 2:45 am

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How humans became intelligent

Consciousness explained

Mar 9th 2017From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds. By Daniel Dennett. W.W. Norton; 496 pages; $28.95. Allen Lane; £25.

HUMAN neurons are distant relatives of tiny yeast cells, themselves descendants of even simpler microbes. Yet they are organised in structures that are capable of astonishing feats of creativity. How did the world get from bacteria to Bach, from fungus to fugues? Daniel Dennett, an American philosopher and cognitive scientist, tells the tale in his new book, revisiting and extending half a century of work on the topic.

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The story is one of Darwinian natural selection: of complexity emerging gradually as beneficial mutations are preserved and harmful ones weeded out. It requires the reader to make some “strange inversions of reasoning”—bold changes of perspective on the nature of design, purpose and consciousness—to loosen the pull of “Cartesian gravity”, or the human propensity to think of the mind as mysterious and non-physical.

One of Mr Dennett’s key slogans is “competence without comprehension”. Just as computers can perform complex calculations without understanding arithmetic, so creatures can display finely tuned behaviour without understanding why they do so. The rationale for their behaviour (diverting a predator, say, or tempting a mate) is “free-floating”—implicit in the creatures’ design but not represented in their minds. Competence without comprehension is the default in nature, Mr Dennett argues, even among higher animals.

How then did human intelligence arise? People do not have a special faculty of comprehension. Rather, the human mind has been enhanced by a process of cultural evolution operating on memes. Memes are copyable behaviour—words are a good example.

Initially, memes spread in human populations like viruses, selected simply for their infectiousness. Some were useful, however, and the human brain adapted to foster them: genetic and memetic evolution working together. Words and other memes gave humans powerful new competences—for communication, explicit representation, reflection, self-interrogation and self-monitoring. To use a computer analogy, memetic evolution provided “thinking tools”—a bit like smartphone apps—which transformed humans into comprehending, intelligent designers, triggering an explosion of civilisation and technology.

Mr Dennett sees human consciousness, too, as a product of both genetics and memetics. The need to communicate or withhold thoughts gives rise to an “edited digest” of cognitive processes, which serves as the brain’s own “user interface”. The mental items that populate consciousness are more like fictions than accurate representations of internal reality.

“From Bacteria to Bach and Back” concludes with a look ahead. Mr Dennett expects that computers will continue to increase in competence but doubts that they will soon develop genuine comprehension, since they lack the autonomy and social practices that have nurtured comprehension in humans. He worries that people may overestimate the intelligence of their artefacts and become over-reliant on them, and that the institutions and practices on which human comprehension depends may erode as a result.

This only hints at the richness of this book. Mr Dennett provides illuminating explanations of the ideas he employs and cites fascinating experimental work. Many of his claims are controversial, and some readers will be more persuaded than others. However, Mr Dennett has an excellent record of predicting developments in cognitive science, and it would be rash to bet that he is far off track. Persuaded or not, readers will find their minds enriched with many powerful thinking tools.

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Does Koregaon assembly of Dec. 2017 honour the memory of Ambedkar? -- Aravindan Nilakandan

January 3, 2018, 2:57 am

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Koregaon Memorial: What Does It Really Signify?

by Aravindan Neelakandan

- Jan 03, 2018, 1:58 pm

Snapshot

The projection of the Koregaon event of 1818 as a Dalit victory is not an alternative reading of history.
It is instead a rehashing of colonial propaganda that is not based on facts.

The so-called ‘new’ Dalit narrative celebrating the Koregaon memorial, erected for the soldiers of the 1818 Anglo-Maratha War, is a very old one. It is also not exactly an alternative or subaltern reading of history. It is only a rehashing of the colonial manipulation of Indian identities and memory.

Let us assume that the Mahar community deliberately sided with the British to defeat the Peshwa regime of the Marathas because of the latter’s casteism. Then all one has to say in historical hindsight is that the Mahars made a blunder in making that decision. However, it was not a decision that had not been taken before in the history of India – communities or chieftains of the country have sided with the British so that they could settle scores with their domestic rivals. Every time an Indic community or chieftain sided with an alien invader, the results have not worked well for them. If we assume that the Mahars intentionally sided with the British, the subsequent history shows that the same fate befell them.

The most notorious consequence of accepting such a narrative makes the Mahars complicit in the subsequent famines – called by some historians as the ‘Victorian holocaust’. Within 25 years of the British East India Company winning the war in 1818, the famines between 1826 and 1850 killed almost 500,000 people. According to William Digby, by the 1870s, the number of famine deaths had crossed a few million.

Fortunately, the narrative is more a construct than a historical reality. Almost every community had either supported or opposed the British. However, once the evil of colonialism was felt across the board, all came together to fight against it. Otherwise one cannot explain, for instance, why B R Ambedkar did not accept Christianity arguing that it would strengthen colonial stranglehold on the nation.

After the 1857 uprising, Anglophile social reform leaders like Jyotirao Phule sought to depict the Mahars as having sided with the British and even congratulated them for helping in crushing the 1857 rebellion. In reality, the British started considering the Mahars as unreliable in guarding their empire. Historian Shraddha Kumbhojkar of Savitribai Phule Pune University points out that the Mahar Regiment soldiers joining the ‘Indian Mutiny’ “added certain reluctance the British had always shown with regard to the enlistment of Mahars” and that “subsequently they were declared to be a non-martial race and their recruitment was stopped in May 1892”.

In the case of 1857, in both joining hands with the British as well as in opposing them, we find all the communities equally guilty and equally brave. For example, on 31 July 1857, in Kolhapur, when soldiers rebelled, 150 to 200 soldiers broke ranks with the British, including the Mahars. They fought a pitched battle, causing a large number of casualties for the British. But subsequently, the Purbiyas turned their backs and escaped from the rebels in favour of the British.

In the decades succeeding 1857, the British had brought in their own theories of Aryan race as well as the idea of martial races. This concept was absent in the Indian context. Shivaji, who founded the Hindu self-rule, Hindavi Swarajya, had employed the Mahars in his army. Even during the much-disliked Peshwa rule, we find that the Mahars were employed in the army in the protection of forts (R D Palsokar, T Rabi Reddy; 1995) – at least during the reign of Baji Rao-I, though we do see that their social rank had started to slide down – clearly due to local socio-political factors. Yet British colonialists as well as Anglophile social reformers seized upon the racial narrative and claimed that the Mahars were the original inhabitants, before the ‘Aryan’ invaders, and projected the Peshwa as a continuity of Aryan oppressors while the British were hailed as the liberators.

Yet the bitter truth was that Hindavi Swaraj had no classification as martial and non-martial races and for generations had recognised the Mahars as soldiers. The British, on the other hand, used them and later threw them out as ‘non-martial races’.

Historian David Omissi in his The Sepoy and the Raj (Macmillan, 1994) writes that they regained some of the lost economic ground by serving in the Indian Army, which in turn was because “some of their traditional occupations had been threatened under British rule”.

When the British declared them as a non-martial race and excluded them from military recruitment, one of the earliest Mahar leaders at the end of the nineteenth century, Baba Walangkar, who himself had worked in the army, petitioned the government against the exclusion of Mahars in 1894. Here he claimed Kshatriya origin for Mahars and this in turn was based on the widespread presence of Mahars in Shivaji’s army.

However, what exposes the colonial and ongoing anti-Hindu myth of an enlightened British army offering space to the oppressed Mahars is a petition submitted by the Conference of Deccan Mahars to the Earl of Crewe (the Secretary of State for India). Asking for full rights as citizens of the Empire, just like the “Brahminical castes and Muhammedans”, the petition said:

And it is most encouraging to know that the Honourable House of Commons, as constituted in these times, is composed, to some extent, of the representatives of the lower strata of English society, the workingmen, who, only a quarter of a century ago were regarded as but Mahars and Paryas by the more educated and affluent classes of the nation.

In other words, even in 1885, British society was as much caste-ridden and featuring social injustice as was made out to be in the case of Indian society. So whatever it was that attracted people to become soldiers of the British East India Company, it was not their democratic or egalitarian values, for they were simply not there in 1818. This was a later-day narrative developed, half to shame the freedom movement and led by the British and half by the leaders of the Scheduled Communities to fight for their rights, which were denied in a socially stagnant society.

Again, during the First World War, the British allowed the recruitment of the Mahars in the army and immediately after the war, they promptly excluded the community. In 1927, Ambedkar made attempts to make the British recruit the Mahars once again and in this, he was supported by Veer Savarkar of Hindu Mahasabha (V Longer, Forefront for Ever: The History of the Mahar Regiment, Mahar Regimental Centre, 1981). In 1929, Barrister Jayakar, again of Hindu Mahasabha, called for reservation for Scheduled Communities in the police force. In 1931, Savarkar was invited and presided over the Mahar conference held at Ratnagiri. Another prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader close to Ambedkar who fought against the pseudo-scientific martial races theory was Dr Moonje. In his presentation on the Indianisation of the army to Chetwode Committee in 1931, Moonje criticised the martial race policies as “the myth of the artificial distinction of martial and non-martial classes”.

Even in the formation of Mahar Regiment, a critical role was played by Savarkar. None other than W N Kuber, a Marxist and critical biographer of Ambedkar, points out the connection:

The Sikhs and the depressed classes resented their non-inclusion in the Executive Council of the Viceroy. Ambedkar sent a protest cablegram to Amery, the then Secretary of State for India. V.D. Savarkar upheld Ambedkar’s demand and wired to the Viceroy to include Ambedkar in the Executive Council. Ambedkar urged the Mahar youths to suspend their studies and qualify themselves for military commissions and preserve their high martial traditions. He asked the government to raise Mahar battalions and not to make distinction as martial and non-martial races.

W N Kuber, Dr Ambedkar: A Critical Study, People’s Publishing House, 1991

The rejection of this 1818 colonial ‘legacy’ of the Mahar Regiment occurred in Independent India. The last mischief was played by the British by including the Koregaon obelisk in the regiment insignia. After independence, it was removed and a dagger was presented in its place. The Indian government, with Dr Ambedkar as its law minister, made the Sanskrit statement yash siddhi (success and attainment) the logo of the regiment and its war cry in Hindustan ki Jai.

So the projection of the Koregaon event of 1818 as a Dalit victory is not an alternative reading of history. Far from it, it is a rehashing of colonial propaganda that is not rooted in facts. Ambedkar’s concluding speech in the Constituent Assembly is worth quoting here in detail.

Reading it once is enough to decide whether those who assembled at Koregaon really honoured the memory of Ambedkar or defiled his spirit.

What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people. In the invasion of Sind by Mahommed-Bin-Kasim, the military commanders of King Dahar accepted bribes from the agents of Mahommed-Bin-Kasim and refused to fight on the side of their King. It was Jaichand who invited Mahommed Gohri to invade India and fight against Prithvi Raj and promised him the help of himself and the Solanki Kings. When Shivaji was fighting for the liberation of Hindus, the other Maratha noblemen and the Rajput Kings were fighting the battle on the side of Moghul Emperors. When the British were trying to destroy the Sikh Rulers, Gulab Singh, their principal commander sat silent and did not help to save the Sikh Kingdom. In 1857, when a large part of India had declared a war of independence against the British, the Sikhs stood and watched the event as silent spectators. Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is deepened by the realization of the fact that in addition to our old enemies in the form of castes and creeds we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing political creeds. Will Indians place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country? I do not know. But this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost for ever. This eventuality we must all resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood.

Dr B R Ambedkar

Aravindan is a contributing editor at Swarajya.

https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/koregaon-memorial-what-does-it-really-signify

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What Information can be Gleaned from Cambodian Inscriptions about Practices Relating to the Transmission of Sanskrit Literature? -- Dominic Goodall (2017)

January 3, 2018, 5:40 am

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≪ Previous: Does Koregaon assembly of Dec. 2017 honour the memory of Ambedkar? -- Aravindan Nilakandan

Abstract: This is a short attempt to gather together such epigraphical clues as can be found relating to writing for the purpose of the transmission of Sanskrit literature in the ancient Khmer-speaking world. What Sanskrit works were transmitted? What were the writing materials used? Where were manuscripts kept? Portions of both famous and little-known inscriptions have been adduced, involving fresh consultation of estampages and, where possible, of the stones themselves. The first evidence dates from around 600 CE, and snippets of relevant information may be found scattered throughout the pre-Angkorian and Angkorian epigraphical record, in other words up to the 13th century. Iconographic representations have also been considered. Although no pre-modern manuscripts transmitting Sanskrit works are known to have survived to the present day, it is no surprise to find that the manuscript transmission of Sanskrit works was not only widespread, but was accorded an attention in the surviving politico-religious documents of the Khmers that seems not typical of other areas where the Sanskritic thought-world held sway. As the almost exclusive use of variants derived from Southern forms of Brāhmī script suggests, poetic imagery that alludes to writing seems to confirm that the technology was predominantly that of meridional India: letters were engraved into the surface of palm-leaves.

https://www.scribd.com/document/368324249/What-Information-can-be-Gleaned-from-Cambodian-Inscriptions-about-Practices-Relating-to-the-Transmission-of-Sanskrit-Literature-Dominic-Goodall

Indic Manuscript Cultures through the Ages

Material, Textual, and Historical Investigations

Ed. by Vergiani, Vincenzo / Cuneo, Daniele / Formigatti, Camillo Alessio (Pages 131 to 160)

https://www.academia.edu/35516622/_2017_What_Information_can_be_Gleaned_from_Cambodian_Inscriptions_about_Practices_Relating_to_the_Transmission_of_Sanskrit_Literature

What Information can be Gleaned from Cambodian Inscriptions about Practices Relating to the Transmission of... by Srini Kalyanaraman on Scribd

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Sarasvati Civilization priest, पोतृ Indus Script hypertext धवाद, name of a people is cognate धावड dhāvaḍa, 'iron smelter'

January 3, 2018, 6:59 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y7yg92co

धावडी dhāvaḍī a Relating to the class धावड. Hence 2 Composed of or relating to iron. धावड dhāvaḍa m A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. (Marathi)

The Indus Script hypertext is composed of two hieroglyphs: dhāi, dāya 'one in dice, throw of dice' PLUS vaṭa 'string' = rebus, धावड dhāvaḍa, 'iron smelter'. The fillet is read as the expression dhāvaṭa pronounced धावड dhāvaḍa.

This is signified on the fillets worn on the forehead and right shoulder of Mohenjo-daro Priest statue. The dotted circle (i.e. one in dice) adorns the shawl of the priest with one dotted circle, two dotted circles and three dotted circles to signify one mineral, two minerals, three ferrite minerals, e.g. haematite, laterite, magnetite, bicha, goṭa, poḷa.

That he is Potr̥, 'purifier' (i.e. 'purifier of metals by smelting') is signified by the shawl cloth the priest wears: pōta 'cloth'. The dotted circle can also be seen as a hieroglyph signifying a bead adorning the shawl: *pōttī ʻ glass bead ʼ. Pk. pottī -- f. ʻ glass ʼ; S. pūti f. ʻ glass bead ʼ, P. pot f.; N. pote ʻ long straight bar of jewelry ʼ; B. pot ʻ glass bead ʼ, puti, pũti ʻ small bead ʼ; Or. puti ʻ necklace of small glass beads ʼ; H. pot m. ʻ glass bead ʼ, G. M. pot f.; -- Bi. pot ʻ jeweller's polishing stone ʼ rather than < pōtrá -- 1. (CDIAL 8403) Rebus: போத்தி pōtti , n. < போற்றி. 1. Grandfather; பாட்டன். Tinn. 2. Brahman temple- priest in Malabar; மலையாளத்திலுள்ள கோயிலருச் சகன். पोतृ [p= 650,1] प्/ओतृ or पोतृ, m. " Purifier " , N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman = यज्ञस्यशोधयिट्रि Sa1y. )

RV. Br.S3rS. Hariv.; N. of विष्णु L.; पोत्री f. N. of दुर्गा Gal. (cf. पौत्री).पौत्र m. N. of दुर्गा L.

vaṭa2 ʻ string ʼ lex. [Prob. ← Drav. Tam. vaṭam, Kan. vaṭi, vaṭara, &c. DED 4268] N. bariyo ʻ cord, rope ʼ; Bi. barah ʻ rope working irrigation lever ʼ, barhā ʻ thick well -- rope ʼ, Mth. barahā ʻ rope ʼ. (CDIAL 11212) Ta. vaṭam cable, large rope, cord, bowstring, strands of a garland, chains of a necklace; vaṭi rope; vaṭṭi (-pp-, -tt-) to tie. Ma. vaṭam rope, a rope of cowhide (in plough), dancing rope, thick rope for dragging timber. Ka. vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Te. vaṭi rope, cord. Go. (Mu.) vaṭiya strong rope made of paddy straw (Voc. 3150). Cf. 3184 Ta. tār̤vaṭam. / Cf. Skt. vaṭa- string, rope, tie; vaṭāraka-, vaṭākara-, varāṭaka- cord, string; Turner, CDIAL, no. 11212.(DEDR 5220)
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)

దాయి (p. 588) dāyi dāyi. [Tel.] n. An anvil, a work. hench, or smith's form, used as a rest or prop. దాగలి. (Telugu)

धवाद

Introduction / History

The word Dhavad is from the original Marathi word Dhatu which means mineral. This group of people lived in Western Ghats in Maharashtra, and as this soil is rich in iron ore, they use to extract iron from the earth and convert into tools and pots (tawa) for daily use.

Where Are they Located?

As required to extract iron ore they were mostly located on the mountain tops of Western Ghats, mostly arround Satara, as the soil is red and rich in iron ore. A significant population lives in Mahableshwar and Matheran. Some have traveled down to the Kokan region in search of alternate trade.

What Are Their Lives Like?

At present they are all over in small groups in the Western Ghats and live below poverty line, because they could not go any further than manual extraction of iron ore. Hence the trade died and now they are diverted into various petty works for earning their daily bread.

https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19739/IN

Dhavad are a part of the larger group called Lohar, iron workers. see dhavad included in the category of Exogamous divisions (kul):

Lohar/Luhar

Synonyms: Lohar, Lohar Bhatt [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Vishwakarma [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Luhura [Orissa] Lohar Bagdi, Nar, Nar Bagdi [West Bengal]

Endogamous divisions: Gujarad, Kamaras, Kanada Loh

arsor, Konkani, Maratha, Panchal [R.E. Enthoven] Groups/subgroups: Lohar Bhatt [Bihar and/or Jharkha nd] Agariya, Bharadwaj, Jha, Mahuli, Pathuriya, Rathari a [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Ayudhyabasi, Barhai, Dhaman, Jholiya, Kanaujiya, La hauri, Laungbarsa, Mathuriya, Mauliya, Ojha, Ojha L ohar, Rawat, Siyahmaliya, Tumariya, Vishvakarma [W. Crooke]

Sections/subgroups: Gadiya Lohar, Recent Jat and

Rajput origin, Suthar-Lohar [HA Rose, D. Ibbetson]

Sub-divisions: Agarias, Ghantras, Ghisaris, Gondi

Lohars, Jhade, Kanaujia, Mahulia, Maratha, Mathuria, Ojha, Panchals [Russell & Hiralal]

Subcastes: Bagdi-Lohar in Manbhum, Bibhumia, Danda

Manjhi, Gobra, Govindpuria, Jhetia, Kamar Kalla, K amia in Nepal, Kanaujiya, Kokas, Lohandia in Lohardaga, Ang aria, Lohar Manjhi, Maghaya Mahur or Mahuliya, Munda Lohar, Pensili in Bankura, Sad Lohar, Shergarhia in Santal Parganas, Manjhal Turiya, Sisutbansi Loharia, mathuriya [H.H. Risley] Ajudhyabasi, Dhaman, Kanaujiya, Lahauri, Ojha, Rawat, Visvakarma, Mahul, Mathuriya [W. Crooke] Surnames: Misery, Vishwakarma [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Agariya, Bharadwaj, Jha, Mahule, Pathuriya, Rathari a, Tinchutiya, Vishwakarma [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Lohar [Orissa] Lohar, Majhi [West Bengal] Agar, Akus, Ambekar, Ankush, Basdiha, Bhadke, Bhora nt, Byahut, Champakarande, Chavan, Dakkhinaha, Gadekar, Gaikvad, Gamela, Gavli, Gore, Gotiya, Jadhav, Jagtap, Javane, Kale, Kalsait Kamble, Kangle, Kavare, Lo khande, Lote, Mallik, Mane, Navugire, Pavar, Popalghat, Salpe, Se ngar, Sonavane, Suryavanshi, Thorat, Tingare, Uttar aha, Vasav [W. Crooke]

Exogamous divisions (kul): Afadia, Ajgaonkar (Kanada Lohar), Akuj (Maratha), Andurlekar (Mavli), Asnolkar (Ravalnath), Asodia, Bandekar (Bandeshvar), Bardia, Bhadrakali, Bhairidevata, Bhaladye, Bhavnagri Bhutnath, Bodana, Champhekar, Chandarkar, Chandvankar (Bhavani), Chavda, Chiptada, Chitroda, Chohan, Dabulkar (Giroba), Damapurkar (Bhagvati), Deladia, Devagadkar (Mahalakshmi), Devali Devgha, Dhamnaskar (Bhavani), Dhavad, Dodia, Elingkar(Ganpati), Gaonkadevikar, Gh atkar (Ghoomkadevi), Gujarati, Gulekar, Hankonkar ( Sateri), Harsura, Hathodia, Jhilka, Kahalia, Kalsabad Kamle, Kankonkar (Nirankar), Karania, Kava, Khambhati, Kinnarkar (Mahamayi), Kolambekar, Konkani, Kuddekar (Someshvar), Machhukothia, Madkaikar (Mhalsa), Mahakali, Makvana, Maratha Maru, Masurkar, Mavli, Narayan, Na rvekar, Painjinkar (Durgadevi), Pakalghat, Panalkar, Panchal, Parjia, Parmar, Parsekar, Parvale, Parvatk ar (Chandreshwar), Pednekar (Ravalnath), Pithva Pod hyar, Rathkar, Rathod (Ravalnath), Ravut, Sandhav (Sateri), Savandekar, Shinde, Shrivankar, Sirohia, Solanki(Somnath), Sorathia (in Kathiawar), Surati, Talpankar (Ravalna th), Tingare Vaghela, Vala, Vanol [R.E. Enthoven] Exogamous units/clans: Kemaiya, Kumarha, Puraniya, Rajotra [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Hansowar, Kithwar [Orissa] Saladasi, Salsi [West Bengal] Bagh (tiger), Ban (eel), Bando (wild cat), Bans (ba mboo), Besra (hawk), Bodra, Chouria, Dhan, Gunj, Ha stuar, Hatti (elephant), Hemrom, Jalwar (net), Baroha [H.H. Risl ey] Gotra: Sandilya [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Bharadwaj, Sandilya [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattis garh] Bharadwaj, Goutam, Kashyap, Sandilya, Vasisht, Vatsa [W. Crooke] Exogamous units/lineages (gusthi): [West Bengal] Exogamous units/lineages (vans, khandan): [Bihar an d/or Jharkhand]

http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Lohar/Luhar

pōta2 m. ʻ cloth ʼ, pōtikā -- f. lex. 2. *pōtta -- 2 (sanskrit- ized as pōtra -- 2 n. ʻ cloth ʼ lex.). 3. *pōttha -- 2 ~ pavásta<-> n. ʻ covering (?) ʼ RV., ʻ rough hempen cloth ʼ AV. T. Chowdhury JBORS xvii 83. 4. pōntī -- f. ʻ cloth ʼ Divyāv. 5. *pōcca -- 2 < *pōtya -- ? (Cf. pōtyā = pōtānāṁ samūhaḥ Pāṇ.gaṇa. -- pṓta -- 1?). [Relationship with prōta -- n. ʻ woven cloth ʼ lex., plōta -- ʻ bandage, cloth ʼ Suśr. or with pavásta -- is obscure: EWA ii 347 with lit. Forms meaning ʻ cloth to smear with, smearing ʼ poss. conn. with or infl. by pusta -- 2 n. ʻ working in clay ʼ (prob. ← Drav., Tam. pūcu &c. DED 3569, EWA ii 319)]
1. Pk. pōa -- n. ʻ cloth ʼ; Paš.ar. pōwok ʻ cloth ʼ, pōg ʻ net, web ʼ (but lauṛ. dar. pāwāk ʻ cotton cloth ʼ, Gaw. pāk IIFL iii 3, 150).2. Pk. potta -- , °taga -- , °tia -- n. ʻ cotton cloth ʼ, pottī -- , °tiā -- , °tullayā -- , puttī -- f. ʻ piece of cloth, man's dhotī, woman's sāṛī ʼ, pottia -- ʻ wearing clothes ʼ; S. potī f. ʻ shawl ʼ, potyo m. ʻ loincloth ʼ; L. pot, pl. °tã f. ʻ width of cloth ʼ; P. potṛā m. ʻ child's clout ʼ, potṇā ʻ to smear a wall with a rag ʼ; N. poto ʻ rag to lay on lime -- wash ʼ, potnu ʻ to smear ʼ; Or. potā ʻ gunny bag ʼ; OAw. potaï ʻ smears, plasters ʼ; H. potā m. ʻ whitewashing brush ʼ, potī f. ʻ red cotton ʼ, potiyā m. ʻ loincloth ʼ, potṛā m. ʻ baby clothes ʼ; G. pot n. ʻ fine cloth, texture ʼ, potũ n. ʻ rag ʼ, potī f., °tiyũ n. ʻ loincloth ʼ, potṛī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; M. pot m. ʻ roll of coarse cloth ʼ, n. ʻ weftage or texture of cloth ʼ, potrẽ n. ʻ rag for smearing cowdung ʼ. 3. Pa. potthaka -- n. ʻ cheap rough hemp cloth ʼ, potthakamma -- n. ʻ plastering ʼ; Pk. pottha -- , °aya -- n.m. ʻ cloth ʼ; S. potho m. ʻ lump of rag for smearing, smearing, cloth soaked in opium ʼ. 4. Pa. ponti -- ʻ rags ʼ.5. Wg. pōč ʻ cotton cloth, muslin ʼ, Kt. puč; Pr. puč ʻ duster, cloth ʼ, pūˊčuk ʻ clothes ʼ; S. poco m. ʻ rag for plastering, plastering ʼ; P. poccā m. ʻ cloth or brush for smearing ʼ, pocṇā ʻ to smear with earth ʼ; Or. pucā̆ra,pucurā ʻ wisp of rag or jute for whitewashing with, smearing with such a rag ʼ.(CDIAL 8400)Ta. potti garment of fibres, cloth. Ka. potti cloth. Te. potti bark, a baby's linen, a sort of linen cloth; pottika a small fine cloth; podugu a baby's linen. Kol. (SSTW) pot sari. Pa. bodgid a short loincloth. / Cf. Skt. potikā-, Pkt. potti-, pottiā-, etc.; Turner, CDIAL, no. 8400. (DEDR 4515).

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

January 4, 2017

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Brains of verbal memory specialists show anatomical differences in language, memory and visual systems -- James F.Hartzell et al

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2016 May 1;131:181-92. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.027. Epub 2015 Jul 15.

Brains of verbal memory specialists show anatomical differences in language, memory and visual systems.

Hartzell JF1, Davis B2, Melcher D2, Miceli G2, Jovicich J2, Nath T3, Singh NC3, Hasson U2.

Author information

Abstract

We studied a group of verbal memory specialists to determine whether intensive oral text memory is associated with structural features of hippocampal and lateral-temporal regions implicated in language processing. Professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits in India train from childhood for around 10years in an ancient, formalized tradition of oral Sanskrit text memorization and recitation, mastering the exact pronunciation and invariant content of multiple 40,000-100,000 word oral texts. We conducted structural analysis of gray matter density, cortical thickness, local gyrification, and white matter structure, relative to matched controls. We found massive gray matter density and cortical thickness increases in Pandit brains in language, memory and visual systems, including i) bilateral lateral temporal cortices and ii) the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, regions associated with long and short-term memory. Differences in hippocampal morphometry matched those previously documented for expert spatial navigators and individuals with good verbal working memory. The findings provide unique insight into the brain organization implementing formalized oral knowledge systems.

KEYWORDS:

Cortical thickness; Diffusion tensor imaging; Gray matter density; Hippocampus; Language; Memory; Plasticity

PMID:

26188261

DOI:

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.027

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26188261

NeuroImage

Volume 131, 1 May 2016, Pages 181-192

Brains of verbal memory specialists show anatomical differences in language, memory and visual systems

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.027 et rights and content

Highlights

•: We compared professional Sanskrit verbal memory specialists and well-matched controls.
•: We measured cortical thickness (CT), gray matter density (GM), and gyrification (LGI).
•: Pandits showed increases in CT and GM in lateral temporal cortices.
•: Pandits showed relative decrease in subcortical GM and occipital LGI.
•: Findings suggest brain organization supporting intensive oral memorization/recitation.

Abstract

We studied a group of verbal memory specialists to determine whether intensive oral text memory is associated with structural features of hippocampal and lateral-temporal regions implicated in language processing. Professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits in India train from childhood for around 10 years in an ancient, formalized tradition of oral Sanskrit text memorization and recitation, mastering the exact pronunciation and invariant content of multiple 40,000–100,000 word oral texts. We conducted structural analysis of gray matter density, cortical thickness, local gyrification, and white matter structure, relative to matched controls. We found massive gray matter density and cortical thickness increases in Pandit brains in language, memory and visual systems, including i) bilateral lateral temporal cortices and ii) the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, regions associated with long and short-term memory. Differences in hippocampal morphometry matched those previously documented for expert spatial navigators and individuals with good verbal working memory. The findings provide unique insight into the brain organization implementing formalized oral knowledge systems.

Keywords

Cortical thickness

Gray matter density

Diffusion tensor imaging

Language

Memory

Plasticity

Hippocampus

Introduction

A large body of research has established that acquisition of certain long-term skill sets or knowledge is linked to plasticity in both grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in multiple cortical and subcortical regions (May, 2011; Zatorre et al., 2004). As reviewed by May (2011, see references within), various expert groups such as sportsmen, mathematicians, ballet dancers, and professional board-game players all show particular morphological features that may be related to learning and plasticity.

Our goal in the current work was to examine the potential impact of extensive memorization and verbal recital practice on brain plasticity, as identifying brain regions implicated in these functions can elucidate the functional capacities of both lateral and medial temporal regions, as detailed below. To investigate the potential impact of extensive memorization and verbal recital practice on brain plasticity we recruited a sample group of traditional Sanskrit learners—Yajurveda Sanskrit Pandits—who memorize and recite one set of the most ancient Sanskrit texts, the Vedas and their subsidiary texts (Vedāṅgas). The Sanskrit Vedas are late bronze/early iron-age oral texts passed down for over 3000 years in an unbroken tradition in India. They form the core of the ancient Sanskrit knowledge system, which developed extensive oral and later written literature in a wide range of traditional subjects still taught in India's Sanskrit institutions using traditional oral memorization and recitation methods (Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2014). Professional Vedic Pandits undergo rigorous training in exact pronunciation and invariant content of these oral texts for 7 or more years, with 8–10 h of daily practice (totaling ~ 10,080 h over the course of the initial training), starting in their childhood, and mastering multiple 40,000 to 100,000 word oral texts (compared to ~ 38,000 in the book of Genesis). The training methods strongly emphasize traditional face-to-face oral learning, and the Yajurveda recitation practice includes right hand and arm gestures to mark prosodic elements. After graduation from training, professional Yajurveda Pandits work as teachers or Vedic priests, with daily recitation reduced to ~ 3 h.

We note that while the ability of Yajurveda Pandits to perform large-scale, precise oral memorization and recitation of Vedic Sanskrit texts may, prima facie, appear extraordinary or bordering on impossible, textual memorization and recitation are in fact standard practice in traditional Sanskrit education in India (Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2014).1 Thus, while the Pandit's memorization capacity may appear unique to graduates of a Western educational system, it is one of several memorization-related study traditions current in the Indian subcontinent.

We had two predictions regarding brain systems possibly affected by the intense memorization and recitation routine practiced by the Pandits. First, we expected to see differences in cortical thickness or gray matter density of lateral temporal regions. These form the core system for speech processing at the phonemic and syllabic level (Zhuang et al., 2014), with left hemisphere regions of the superior temporal plane (STP) likely sampling information at a higher rate matching that of phonemic processing, and the right hemisphere STP sampling at a lower rate matching syllable-level processing (Giraud and Poeppel, 2012; Kotz and Schwartze, 2010; Morillon et al., 2012; Poeppel, 2003). Apart from their role in sublexical combinatorial processes, these regions also play a role in encoding sentential content to memory. Activity in these regions predicts whether sentential content will be subsequently remembered (a subsequent-memory effect, Hasson et al., 2007), and they show reduced activation for comprehension of repeated auditory sentences (repetition suppression (RS); Dehaene-Lambertz et al., 2006; Devauchelle et al., 2009). Particularly, sentential RS effects in these regions scale negatively with the temporal interval between sentence repetitions (Hasson et al., 2006). Thus, extensive memorization of language content, coupled with memory for sentential content could affect the structure of these regions.

In addition, plasticity effects linked to memory practice have been documented in the human hippocampus, which is involved in both the consolidation of prior experiences (e.g., Eichenbaum et al., 2007; Milner and Penfield, 1955; Scoville and Milner, 1957) and spatial navigation (e.g., Bird and Burgess, 2008; see also Eichenbaum and Cohen, 2014). Hippocampal plasticity has been linked to spatial navigation expertise, with greater posterior hippocampal volume and smaller anterior volume shown for expert urban navigators (Maguire et al., 2000). The hippocampus also mediates verbal memory (e.g., Fernandez et al., 1998; Grunwald et al., 1999), and is larger for individuals who perform better on declarative memory tasks for verbal materials (e.g., Ashtari et al., 2011; Pohlack et al., 2014). Poppenk and Moscovitch (2011) showed that better verbal memory for proverbs is related to greater posterior and smaller anterior hippocampal volume, a pattern similar to that seen for expert navigators. On the basis of this prior work we hypothesized that the intensive memorization demands of Pandit practice might be associated with changes to hippocampal volume or density.

To examine these issues, we studied a group of Pandits (N = 21) together with closely matched controls. We examined cortical-level data via voxel-based morphometry (VBM), cortical thickness (CT) and local gyrification index (LGI) analyses, and subcortical data via VBM and anatomically defined regional measurements. We also evaluated white matter data with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fractional anisotropy (FA) analysis, at a whole-brain level. The main purpose of the FA analysis was to evaluate whether WM changes would be found in the vicinity of areas linked to GM or CT differences. In particular, the frontal aslant tract (Catani et al., 2013) has been implicated in fluency and stuttering (Kronfeld-Duenias et al., 2014), as has the forceps minor in the anterior corpus callosum (Civier et al., 2015).

Methods

Participants

Forty-two male volunteers participated in the study conducted at the National Brain Research Center in India. Twenty-one professionally qualified Pandits were recruited from government-supported Vedic Pandit schools in the greater New Delhi (India) area. They underwent an extensive semi-structured interview prior to scanning to evaluate their extent of training, family history, current practice routines, multilingualism, handedness and eye dominance. Professional qualification constituted demonstrable mastery, i.e. complete memorization and full recitation ability, of at least the ~ 40,000 word Yajurveda Saṃhitā text. All Pandits memorized part or all of one or more additional canonical texts (the length of these texts ranged from 1013 to 165,156 words but we could not quantify precisely how much of these additional texts was memorized by each Pandit). All began their training at an early age (M = 12.33, SD = 1.59, range 9–16), trained full-time for 7 years, for a total of approximately 10,080 h, and continued training and reciting at reduced daily hours for additional years (M = 2.38, SD = 2.29, range 0–8). From the interview reports, we estimated the total practice hours after competing the training (M = 11,141 h, SD = 27,196, range 2365–129,295). Note that Pandits enter training without any entrance exams, so there is no pre-selection for memory or recital abilities, and the dropout rate from the study program is only around 5% (Shastri, 2014). Thus, graduating the studies is not indicative of self-selection either prior to or during the studies themselves. Pandits had all either graduated from or were in the final year of professional Vedic Pandit training, and all were self-rated as fluent in speaking, reading and writing Sanskrit. None of the Pandits in our participant group came from traditional family lineages of reciters (see SI Methods). See Supplementary Information (SI Methods and SI Table 1) for additional Pandit demographics and practice specifics.

Twenty-one control volunteers were recruited to match the Pandit population in gender, age (Mpandits = 21.7; SD = 2.8 vs. Mcontrols = 22.8; SD = 3.6, T-test, P = .3) and number of languages spoken (Mpandits = 3.1; SD = 0.8 vs. Mcontrols = 3.1; SD = 1.3, T-test, P = .9). Participants in the control group were members of India's National Brain Research Centre community or students from a nearby technical college. All volunteers were right-handed, right-eye dominant, with no left-handed parent or sibling (Knecht et al., 2000). Multilingualism and handedness/eye-dominance were assessed by culturally-adapted Hindi versions of the Penn State Language History Questionnaire (v.2; Li et al., 2006), and Edinburgh Handedness questionnaire (Oldfield, 1971). (Adaptations and translations by N.C.S., T.N., J.H, and a fourth native Hindi/English speaker). The protocol was approved by India's National Brain Research Centre Ethics Committee and all participants provided written informed consent.

Image acquisition

Two T1-weighted 3D-MPRAGE sequences were acquired for each participant on a Philips Achieva 3 T scanner with an 8-channel head receive coil (FOV 256 × 256 × 176 mm, voxel size 1x1x1mm), TE 3.2 ms, TR 934 ms, flip angle 9°, 176 sagittal-oriented slices, acceleration 2 (sense), total acquisition time 06:49.8. Image quality was evaluated immediately after each structural acquisition to control for motion effects or other artifacts. The two structural images of each participant were aligned using FSL's 4.1.8 FLIRT (Jenkinson et al., 2002; Jenkinson and Smith, 2001), and averaged to increase signal-to-noise ratio. Image intensity non-uniformities were corrected in AFNI (Cox, 1996). The resulting mean structural image was used for all subsequent analyses. Diffusion data were acquired for a subset of 15 Pandits and 15 controls using single-shot EPI during the same MRI session (FOV 256 × 256 × 128 mm3, voxel size 2 × 2 × 2 mm3), TE 75 ms, TR 8000 ms, flip angle 90°, 64 transverse slices, slice thickness 2 mm, fat suppression, matrix 218 × 126, 60 diffusion encoding directions (bvecs), b-value = 700 mm2/s, 10 b0 volumes (saved as a single averaged volume), parallel imaging with acceleration factor 2 (sense), total acquisition time 10:59.6. Diffusion data was evaluated immediately upon acquisition to control for motion effects or other artifacts, and re-acquired if necessary (4 scans were reacquired). The b-value of 700 was chosen to be within the range of values considered optimal for human brain matter DTI analysis while favoring high SNR to facilitate the detection and correction of artifacts in the diffusion weighted images (Alexander and Barker, 2005; Ben-Amitay et al., 2012). Mean FA of the corpus callosum body (~ 0.52) matched values reported in the literature (Jovicich et al., 2014; see their Fig. 6).

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)

Structural images were analyzed using the FSL's voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis pipeline (Ashburner and Friston, 2000; Good et al., 2001) with FSL-VBM tools (Douaud et al., 2007). Data consisted of the 21 aligned and averaged structural images acquired from Pandits and 21 from the control group. Brains were extracted using FSL's brain extraction tool (BET; Smith, 2002), with manual edits to control for extraction errors, and processed using FSL's VBM default pipeline. Note that in the FSL VBM pipeline, the single-participant data prior to alignment to common space reflects a voxel's probability of being gray matter (calculated by a combination of Hidden Markov Random Field and Expectation Maximization framework; see Zhang et al., 2001), and the final data, in common space, reflect an adjustment of that value by the Jacobian of the deformation applied to the participant's data when aligning to common space. Thus, this VBM implementation most closely reflects local volume differences. We spatially smoothed the final images by an isotropic Gaussian kernel (FWHM = 9.42 mm). Group-level statistical inference was achieved via nonparametric permutation using the FSL tool randomise. Family-wise error was controlled for at an alpha level of P < .05 by Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement (TFCE; Smith and Nichols, 2009), in which cluster extent is constrained by cluster-like local spatial support. Age and whole brain Volume were included as covariates. References to anatomically defined regions within MNI space were established by intersecting the group's MNI gray matter template mask with FSL's pre-defined atlases. (See SI Methods for additional information.) To evaluate the impact of smoothing kernel, we also implemented Gaussian kernels of 2.35 mm, 4.71 mm, and 7.06 mm (sigma of 1, 2 and 3, respectively) and repeated the main analysis.

Cortical thickness analysis

Cortical thickness (CT) analysis was implemented in FreeSurfer (Dale et al., 1999), using the default processing pipeline, except for manually bypassing FreeSurfer's automatic skull stripping routines and using instead the skull-stripped brains created in the initial step of the VBM analysis described above. FreeSurfer's GM segmentation was verified manually for each participant, and no manual corrections were needed (for example participant's segmentation, see Inline Supplementary Figure S1). The CT estimates derived for each participant were imported into AFNI's surface-based analysis module, SUMA (Saad et al., 2004) for further analyses. CT values were spatially smoothed with a conservative (Pardoe et al., 2013) 10 mm smoothing kernel on the two dimension cortical surface using an iterative Heat Kernel method (Chung, 2004). The resulting CT values on the cortical surface were interpolated to a surface mesh that maintained the same number of vertices for all participants, in similar locations (using SUMA's MapIcosahedron procedure). The resulting meshes contained 156,252 vertices per hemisphere. Statistical analysis of CT values on the group level was performed using cluster-based thresholding that was determined via a permutation procedure (following Nichols and Holmes, 2002; see SI Methods for details).

Inline Supplementary Figure S1

Quality of structural segmentation. The figure shows axial slices from a randomly chosen participant. The yellow and red boundaries reflect the outer boundaries of the white and gray matter zones.

Local gyrification index analysis

To examine potential gyrification differences between the two populations we used a method based on calculating an ‘outer surface’ (tangential to the folding points of the gyri), and then parcellating it into numerous circular patches covering the entire 2D cortical surface (Schaer et al., 2008, 2012). For each patch, the local gyrification index (LGI) computes the ratio of cortex within sulcal folds to the amount of visible cortex (tangent to the patch). Higher values indicate that a greater proportion of the pial matter under the patch is in sulci. The 2D surface maps generated by this method have, by definition, a strong degree of spatial smoothness (FWHM of ~ 30 mm) that is determined by the number of surface patches used. (Each patch has a radius of 20 mm, and the computed LGI value for each patch is propagated to all surface vertices overlapping with it, necessarily yielding less localized results than those seen for VBM or CT analyses.) Between-group statistical tests of LGI patterns were based on permutation tests as for the CT analysis. Permutation tests maintain the spatial autocorrelation of each participant's data and permit sensitivity to non-stationary changes in LGI across cortical regions.

Diffusion tensor imaging: fractional anisotropy

The 60 diffusion-encoding direction b-vectors were corrected individually for head motion using FSL's rot_bvecs, followed by eddy current and subject motion correction with affine registration to the averaged b0 image. Fractional Anisotropy (FA) images were created using FSL's Diffusion Toolbox (FDT) after brain-extraction using BET and manual edits to remove artifacts, then processed using FSL's Tract Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS; Smith et al., 2006) default settings. FSL's TBSS first erodes each participant's FA image. For registration to common space, we used an option that selects the best target image from among the subjects, performs a nonlinear alignment of all participants to that target, and then affine registers the resulting aligned files to MNI152 1 mm common space. Using the mean FA calculated from the participants' files in common space, TBSS creates a skeletonized representation of FA-derived tracts common to all subjects, by estimating the local surface perpendicular direction along the tracts and performing “non-maximum-suppression” along the perpendicular to the voxel with the highest FA value, which marks the center of the tract. The distance of each participant's FA voxel to this common skeleton is then calculated, with the distance calculation constrained to the nearest voxels, and the participant's maximum FA value in the already-calculated perpendicular to each skeleton voxel is projected into the skeleton. The aim of this method is to reduce variance from residual misalignments of each subject's FA to common space (Smith et al., 2006). Voxelwise cross-participant group-level statistics are then performed within a thresholded mean FA skeleton mask (we used a threshold of 0.3). The threshold reduces the effects of high inter-subject variability at the outer edges of the brain. We tested between group differences using 2D TFCE, controlling for family-wise error at an alpha level of P < .05 based on cluster extent constraints, with Age included as a covariate. References to anatomically defined white-matter regions within MNI space were established by intersecting the group's MNI template FA mask with FSL's predefined WM atlases (see SI Methods).

Hippocampal region-of-interest analysis

Hippocampus-optimized VBM

We also conducted a customized VBM analysis that was aimed directly at evaluating changes in the HF. This analysis consisted of the following steps. First, the initial automatic segmentations of the HF as derived by FSL's FIRST subcortical alignment and segmentation procedures (Patenaude et al., 2011) were anonymized and then further manually evaluated and modified by one of the authors (J.H.). Segmentation was performed in original space, using advanced FIRST options to optimize the segmentation by algorithm-determined vertex numbers (modes) and internal reference to the thalamus for normalization. In the second step, we performed a nonlinear registration of these edited HF segmentations to MNI space (FSL's MNI152 T1 1 mm template) using high-resolution (6 mm3) nonlinear warping (FNIRT) initialized with the affine matrix generated for each participant by FSL FIRST's subcortical alignment routine. After registration we multiplied the hippocampi by their Jacobians to modulate the GM, as in the standard VBM pipeline. Note that in contrast to the whole-brain analysis (which works with GM probabilities), the values multiplied by the Jacobian were the original T1 intensity values within the manually verified hippocampal segmentations. Steps 1 and 2 therefore provided a more precise inter-participant alignment of the HF specifically. Third, to evaluate the impact of various smoothing kernels (2.35 mm, 4.71 mm, 7.06 mm and 9.42 mm, sigma 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively), we smoothed only within these MNI-registered right and left HF. Steps 1, 2 and 3 ensured that our between group tests focused only on the HF, thus obviating the chance of impacting the results from nearby regions. Then we performed voxel-wise tests inside the right and left hippocampal intersection masks (i.e. the hippocampal masks used in the randomize routine included only voxels to which all 42 subjects contributed values). We used TFCE testing, and included Age and whole-brain Volume as covariates at all four smoothing kernels. To evaluate the impact of using manually annotated hippocampi, we compared the results to those obtained when applying the same registration and analysis pipeline but using as inputs the FIRST automatic hippocampi segmentations produced in Step 1 above, as well as automatic hippocampi segmentations obtained from FreeSurfer for these participants.

Hippocampal local-volume analysis

We conducted an additional analysis to identify whether there were areas of the hippocampus whose local volume differed between groups. The method was based on FSL FIRST's vertex analysis (Patenaude et al., 2011), but modified to allow incorporation of manual edits on the hippocampal structure (following suggestions by Jenkinson, 2014). This analysis was not based on comparison of mesh-based segmentations of the hippocampus but rather on comparisons of the outer envelope of participants' hippocampi in common space. First, using the manually annotated hippocampal segmentations from FIRST, we constructed a common core hippocampal ‘shape’ from the entire group of participants in common space (Pandits and controls). To this end, the individual hippocampal shapes from original space were projected to common space (MNI152 T1 1 mm) using a rigid body alignment to maintain size and shape differences. From the group average of these MNI-registered hippocampal shapes we then constructed a thresholded (0.9) group average boundary mask (this mask marks the outer edge of the common HF volume, in 3D space). For each voxel in this group-level boundary mask we then calculated its distance to the nearest boundary voxel of each participant's binarized hippocampal mask, whether inside or outside of the common boundary mask. This returned, for each group-level boundary-mask voxel, a vector reflecting the positive or negative distance to each participant's boundary voxel. Group-level tests were conducted on this ‘signed distance’ data. The result of this procedure, when applied to all participants, was a group-level statistical map showing those parts of the group-hippocampal boundary shape where (local) distances to the shape differed between the two groups. Note that as opposed to VBM this procedure implemented a strictly “local shape” analysis that (similarly to FSL's new vertex analysis) identifies geometric changes, is independent of any tissue-classification step, and does not involve any smoothing of the data.

Results

Evaluation of covariates

The VBM, CT, LGI and FA analyses included whole brain analyses for the Pandit group examining correlations of two covariates. These included Starting age of recitation training, and “Overall Practice Hours since Completion of Training” (OPHCT). OPHCT was included since, although all Pandits completed the common training, there was considerable variance in their subsequent practice routines, and it has been shown that even short-term cognitive and motor practice impacts neuroplasticity (e.g., Draganski et al., 2006; Driemeyer et al., 2008). None of the pair-wise correlations between Age, Start Age, and OPHCT approached significance (Correlation tests: Start Age and Age: R = 0.23, P = .39; OPHCT and Age: R = 0.06, P = .7; Start Age and OPHCT: R = 0.22, P = .32). Because age and whole brain volume are also known to correlate with changes in GM, we included Age and Volume as additional covariates in all analyses, including the between-group tests, with the exception of the CT, LGI, and FA analyses, where we used only Age as a covariate.

Voxel-based morphometry: whole brain analysis

The whole-brain VBM analysis revealed extensive GM differences in cortical, cerebellar and subcortical regions. In cortical regions Pandits demonstrated greater GM than controls in large portions of both left and right hemispheres (10.4% left and 12.5% right of total GM template cortical volume). To facilitate presentation, differences found in cortical regions were projected to an inflated cortical surface representation of a brain in MNI space (Fig. 1; see SI Tables 2 and 3 for complete cluster descriptives and local maxima). Differences were found bilaterally in both auditory and visual-stream regions, including lateral temporal cortices, ventral occipital cortices, angular gyri, pre- and post-central gyri, posterior cingulate, lingual gyri and precuneus. Greater Pandit GM was also found in large bilateral areas of the anterior cingulate (ACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortices (vmPFC). We repeated the VBM analysis with spatial smoothing kernels of 2.35 mm, 4.71 mm, and 7.06 mm. The resulting statistical maps were almost identical, apart from an additional single cluster in the base of left STG, MTG that was only found for the 4.71 mm smoothing kernel (see SI Table 6 for additional smoothing kernel cluster specifics).

Surface projection of areas where Pandits showed greater gray matter…

Within right lateral temporal cortex a large GM cluster was found that reached along the superior temporal sulcus (STS) into the STP, encompassing both the lateral transverse temporal gyrus and association cortices and extending deep into the ventral anterior temporal region. Pandits' GM was also larger in the right posteromedial insula and central operculum, the anterior and posterior parahippocampal gyrus and the right perirhinal cortex (PRC). As shown in Fig. 1 (and see SI Tables 2 and 3), in the left hemisphere GM differences in the lateral temporal cortex were found in posterior STG, MTG, and ITG, while in the STP, GM differences were found in the planum temporale (PT), extending into the angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus in the parietal lobe.

In the cerebellum Pandits showed greater GM than controls in multiple bilateral structures (Fig. 2A), encompassing 34% of the total GM in the cerebellar template. The cerebellar subregions included both left and right Crus I, Crus II, V, VI, VIIb, VIIIa, VIIIb, IX and X, as well as several midline Vermis regions. Greater GM for Pandits was most dominant in Crus 1 and Crus II, VIIb and VIIIa (the cerebellar cluster regions and relative volume in each cerebellar sub-region for which GM was higher for Pandits is reported in SI Tables 3 and 4). In subcortical regions, we found a more heterogeneous result pattern, with Pandits showing greater GM than controls in a small cluster of the posteromedial right hippocampus (Fig. 2B), whereas they showed less GM than controls in a large cluster (62% of subcortical template GM) encompassing the more anterior portions of the hippocampus bilaterally and bilateral regions of the amygdala, caudate, nucleus accumbens, putamen and, thalamus (see Figs. 2C and D, and SI Table 3).

Whole-brain VBM results in subcortical and cerebellar regions, overlaid onto…

To directly compare our hippocampus results with prior literature that documented hippocampus-related volume changes in expert spatial navigators (London taxi drivers; Maguire et al., 2000), we isolated the Pandit > control cluster within the right hippocampus, and also established its left hemisphere mirror image. In each region we then calculated the mean GM change for Pandits and controls. Following Maguire et al (2000), mean GM was also calculated for the anterior aspects of the hippocampus that fell within the large cluster where Pandits showed lower GM than controls. Fig. 3bears out the greater density for controls in the anterior hippocampus, which is markedly absent, and even reversed, in the right mid-posterior hippocampus. (Note that diverging from our analysis, Maguire et al. did not include Age as covariate in the between-group tests, and doing the same in the current study revealed even stronger similarities to their findings; see SI Discussion and SI Fig. 2 for visual comparisons). We then evaluated whether these conclusions about the hippocampus would hold up if the whole brain VBM analysis was repeated at different smoothing kernels. The anterior hippocampal results (Pandits < controls) survived tests at additional FWHM Gaussian smoothing kernels of 2.35 mm, 4.71 mm, and 7.06 mm (sigma of 1, 2 and 3, respectively), while the right posterior hippocampus result (Pandits > controls) survived at the additional Gaussian kernel of 7.06 mm (sigma 3). We also conducted a whole brain analysis within the Pandit group to test whether GM density correlated with Start Age or with total post-training hours of Pandit recitation practice (OPHTC), both with Age and total brain Volume as covariates. We found no significant correlations.

Gray matter differences in hippocampi as indicated by a Whole Brain Voxel Based…

Hippocampus-focused analyses

Given that the hippocampal data in the whole-brain analysis may reflect the impact of imperfect alignment or smoothing of data from outside the hippocampus, we implemented two additional analyses to better study hippocampal differences between the groups. Both analyses considered the hippocampus as a region of interest, and examined VBM and local-volume changes in a more circumscribed manner. The implementation details of these analyses are described in the Methods. In brief, in both analyses we used accurate hippocampal segmentations in original space, obtained from FSL's automatic subcortical segmentation (FIRST; Patenaude et al., 2011), which were then further manually annotated. For the VBM analysis we implemented a high-resolution alignment to common space, optimized for subcortical structures. We used the Jacobians of the deformation to common space in order to modulate intensity values within each person's hippocampus. For the local-volume analysis we implemented a procedure similar to FSL FIRST's vertex-based subcortical shape analysis. This analysis was based on 3 main steps: i) aligning participants' hippocampi to common space, ii) producing a ‘consensus shape’ of hippocampal areas where participants overlapped, and iii) quantifying, for each point on the consensus shape's boundary, its distance to the nearest boundary of each person's hippocampus. (This analysis is identical to FSL FIRST's vertex-wise local distance calculations, but uses boundaries in voxel space rather than derived 2D meshes). Using this procedure we could determine, for each point on the consensus shape boundary, whether the two groups differed in local volume. In contrast to VBM, this analysis is immune to any spatial smoothing effects, and reflects strictly local volume differences.

The hippocampal-optimized VBM procedure indicated a large portion of the posterior-middle right HF where Pandits had greater GM than controls (see Fig. 4, and see Supplementary Table 7 for cluster specifics). The volume of this region formed between 73 and 98% of the hippocampal mask (depending on smoothing kernel; FWHM 2.35 mm = 73%, FWHM 4.71 mm = 80%, FWHM 7.06 mm = 92%, FWHM 9.42 mm = 98%; note that smoothing was implemented only within the hippocampal mask, thus obviating effects of nearby regions). At larger smoothing kernels (7.06 mm and 9.42 mm), we also found a cluster in the left posterior hippocampus where Pandits had greater GM than controls.

Hippocampal region-of-interest analysis: areas within the right and left…

The hippocampal shape analysis revealed a portion of the right mid-anterior hippocampus with greater volume for the control group (see Inline Supplementary Figure S2). We then tested, within the Pandit group, whether hippocampal GM density or shape correlated with Pandit Starting age or with total post-training hours of recitation practice (OPHTC), both adjusted for Age and total brain Volume as covariates. We found no significant correlations.

Inline Supplementary Figure S2

Hippocampal region-of-interest analysis: areas within right hippocampus with…

Cortical thickness analysis

Several brain regions differed in CT between the Pandit and control group, and in all cases the Pandit group was associated with greater CT. Differences were found in right STS, right anterior temporal pole, right occipito-temporal gyrus (OTG) and in the left rostral ACC extending into dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Fig. 5 presents these regions as identified by two analyses, using two single voxel thresholds to identify both less localized clusters where all voxels passed the P < .05 threshold, and more highly localized clusters where all voxels passed a threshold of P < .005. We conducted a whole brain analysis to test, within the Pandit group, whether CT correlated with Start Age or total post-training hours of recitation practice (OPHTC), adjusted for Age as covariate. We found no significant correlations.

Areas where Pandits demonstrated greater cortical thickness than controls

Differences in local gyrification

Two areas showed differences in local gyrification between the two groups. These were found in the inferior and middle occipital gyri on the left and middle occipital gyrus on the right. In both cases these cortical regions showed reduced gyrification for the Pandit group (see Fig. 6).

Areas where Pandits showed less gyrification than controls

We also examined the relationship between the LGI and CT findings. Using the regions identified by the LGI analysis as masks, we quantified the mean CT within those regions per participant, and then evaluated these on the group level. There was absolutely no between-group difference in mean CT within those regions. In the right hemisphere LGI cluster, the mean CT for Pandits and controls was 2.65 mm (SD = 0.18) vs. 2.66 mm (SD = 0.21). In the left hemisphere cluster, the values were 2.08 mm (SD = 0.13) vs. 2.11 mm (SD = 0.13). In short, CT values were almost identical across groups in areas showing LGI differences. We also tested, within the Pandit group, for correlation of LGI with the Start Age or Practice (OPHTC) variables adjusted for Age as covariate. There were no significant correlations.

Differences in fractional anisotropy

Two adjacent clusters showed greater FA in Pandits compared to controls (see Fig. 7). No area showed the reverse pattern. The clusters were found in close proximity to the CT and GM differences we report for the left vmPFC/ACC (see Fig. 7), at the intersection of the left anterior thalamic radiation, the forceps minor, the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), the left anterior corona radiata (ACR), the genu of the corpus callosum, the left cingulum bundle, and the left uncinate fasciculus (UF). (See SI Methods, SI Table 5 for cluster details, and SI Fig. 1 for a brain map showing the location of these clusters overlaid on mean group FA map.) We also tested, within the Pandit group, whether either FA or skeletonized FA correlated with Pandit Start Age or with total post-training hours of recitation practice (OPHTC), both adjusted for Age as covariate. We found no significant correlations.

Axial slices showing clusters (in green) where Pandits showed greater…

Discussion

Overall, we found considerable differences in the organization of the brains of professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits. Specifically, they showed extensive cortical and cerebellar GM increase and subcortical GM decrease. The hippocampal GM differences followed a differential anterior/posterior pattern that has been linked to expert spatial navigation (Maguire et al., 2000), and to improved memory for verbal materials (Poppenk and Moscovitch, 2011). Cortical CT increases were extensive, and overlapped closely with GM differences in right temporal regions, left medial prefrontal, and left fusiform areas. Pandits also showed significantly less gyrification in bilateral occipital regions, and significantly larger FA in left inferior frontal WM clusters. Our findings are consistent with the possibility that the changes to medial-temporal and medial prefrontal regions, accompanied by changes to lateral temporal regions and cerebellum, reflect the impact of the Pandits' extensive verbal practices.

Hippocampus and ACC/mPFC

The Pandits' pattern of hippocampal differences as evident in a whole-brain VBM analysis were similar to those reported in the study of London taxi drivers (Maguire et al., 2000), showing a relative decrease in bilateral anterior hippocampi, and an increase in right (but not left) medial-posterior hippocampus. Our region-of-interest analyses identified a local reduction in volume in the right anterior HF for Pandits, accompanied by a VBM signature of increased GM in the medial-posterior right HF for this group, and an increased GM cluster in the posterior left hippocampus. Maguire et al (2000, p. 4398), who used whole brain VBM and HF pixel counting, suggested that the increases in the posterior hippocampus may indicate that this region stores a spatial representation for the environment and expands to accommodate this elaborated representation. A large body of subsequent research has shown, however, that the anterior and posterior hippocampi play differential roles in a large range of cognitive processes including, but not limited to novelty processing (Daselaar et al., 2006; Kohler et al., 2005; Takashima et al., 2006), encoding of ongoing and recent experiences (Hartzell et al., 2014), and simulation of future events (van Mulukom et al., 2013; see Fanselow and Dong, 2010; Poppenk et al., 2013, and Strange et al., 2014 for reviews). Better memory for verbal materials has been associated with larger posterior and smaller anterior hippocampal segments (Poppenk and Moscovitch, 2011). One study found that the volume of the anterior hippocampus correlates positively with verbal memory (Hackert et al., 2002), but this was found for an age group (60–90 y.o.a.) for which the relation may reflect variations in the normal thinning patterns that the HF undergoes with increasing age. Our results, taken together with these prior studies, support the developing evidence that hippocampal regional changes may occur in various situations, beyond those necessitating memory for complex spatial scenes. We note that the training of London Taxi Drivers does in fact involve rote memorization of a large volume of preset verbal sequences: they are required to memorize street names and place names (30,000 landmarks) in 320 set route sequences totaling ~ 120,000 words, with part-time training over ~ 3–5 years (Transport.for.London, 2014). Their oral examinations necessitate precise rote verbal recall of route details between the landmarks.

Greater Pandit GM/CT in anterior cingulate cortex and medial temporal structures is also consistent with accommodating increased memory demands. Animal studies show long-term memory encoding in the mPFC/ACC (Weible et al., 2012; Teixeira et al., 2006), with short-term encoding in the hippocampus (Takehara-Nishiuchi and McNaughton, 2008), mediated by connections between perirhinal/parahippocampus and ACC (Insel and Takehara-Nishiuchi, 2013). In humans, patients with exclusive MTL lesions perform normally on remote autobiographical memory but poorly on recent memory tests (Bayley et al., 2005), while mPFC/ACC lesions conversely disrupt long-term memory, but not short-term memory for recent experiential learning (Squire and Bayley, 2007). Neuroimaging data from healthy human participants also suggest that recall for recent vs. remote experiences differentially relies, respectively, on hippocampal vs. medial frontal cortices (Takashima et al., 2006). Taken together with these animal and human studies, our findings suggest that Vedic Sanskrit oral text information may be initially encoded via the hippocampus, then stored in the mPFC/ACC regions, but a detailed longitudinal study is necessary to examine this issue.

Lateral-temporal and parietal cortices: potential indicators of language system differences

Our left and right temporal region cortical differences showed different topographies. The left postero-medial superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri GM patterns were largely confined to gyral surfaces, reaching into the antero-medial PT. Many of these regions overlap with presurgical speech interference sites (Roux et al., 2012), suggesting the observed differences may be related, at least in part, to recitation vocalization. These left posterior lateral temporal regions are also implicated in both lexical-phonological processing and semantic-syntactic integration in current cortical speech processing models (see e.g., Hickok and Poeppel, 2007; Friederici, 2012), while the PT/pSTG/SMG changes reach into areas linked to speech production (DeWitt and Rauschecker, 2012; Fedorenko and Thompson-Schill, 2014). On the right, greater GM/CT for Pandits reached into deep STS, and into lateral Heschl's gyrus/planum polare (HG/PP), dorsal posteromedial insula, OP2/OP3 of posteromedial operculum, and right ventral anterior lobe (vATL). Right HG/PP have been shown to sample acoustic information at a rate optimized for syllable-length acoustics (Kotz and Schwartze, 2010; Morillon et al., 2012; Altmann et al., 2007) and sound patterns (Altmann et al., 2007), with right STS linked to processing of human voices (Belin, 2006) and vocal identity (Petkov et al., 2009). The human vATL/anterior fusiform bilaterally is considered a hub for multi-modal/amodal semantic knowledge (Chan et al., 2011), linked with PRC for verbal memory construction (Bozeat et al., 2000). Greater Pandit GM in right posteromedial insula and operculum may reflect speech-sound processing (Cloutman et al., 2012), vocalization tuning (Remedios et al., 2009), and/or prosody detection (van Rijn et al., 2005).

The increased GM for Pandits in parietal regions suggests the possible involvement of cortical resources subserving Vedic recitation gestures, articulation, and multilingualism. Differences in the left superior and medial postcentral gyrus covered portions of the primary somatosensory cortex (Ruben et al., 2001) for the right arm, wrist, hand and fingers, face, mouth and tongue regions (Kaas et al., 1979; Nakamura et al., 1998), including areas known to be active during right hand and arm movement (Sereno and Huang, 2014). We also considered that while the Pandits and controls were matched for number of languages, the Pandits are highly competent in Sanskrit due to their training, and several of the areas where they demonstrate greater GM have been linked to multilingual abilities. The differences we documented in inferior parietal and superior lateral temporal cortices match well with greater GM found for bilinguals compared to monolinguals (Mechelli et al., 2004), and increased vocabulary is associated with increased GM in left posterior SMG (Richardson et al., 2010).

Notably absent were morphological differences in grey matter or cortical thickness in bilateral inferior frontal regions that have been linked to higher-level language functions. The left inferior frontal region has been linked repeatedly to semantic and syntactic processing (e.g., Bookheimer, 2002) or control processes during language (e.g., Fedorenko et al., 2012; Fedorenko and Thompson-Schill, 2014), whereas the right has been linked to discourse related functions (e.g., Menenti et al., 2009). We also found no WM changes in these regions of the sort previously associated with better grammar learning (Flöel et al., 2009). The absence of differences in inferior frontal cortices could reflect the fact that the Pandits' memorization, recall and production of oral language content does not require putting ideas into words de novo, and so does not engage this particular use of these frontal regions that have been implicated in higher level language processing through studies typically not involving recited speech. Follow-up functional studies will be useful for clarifying the functional contribution of these temporal-parietal structural differences to the Pandits' verbal recitation practices.

Cerebellum

Pandit GM cerebellar differences were found in regions involved in cortico-cerebellar networks subserving language and memory (Marien et al., 2014), and executive function (Stoodley, 2012), and in which GM increases have been correlated with factors relevant to Vedic recitation: e.g. skilled hand movements with Vermis VI/VIIb (Di Paola et al., 2013) and bilingual semantic and phonemic fluency in left Crus II (Grogan et al., 2009). The large volume of Sanskrit memorized and recited by the Pandits, and their mastery of Sanskrit's complex morphology (Whitney, 1924) and semantics (Apte, 1890) may also contribute to the large increase in Pandit cerebellar GM (1/3rd of total cerebellar GM), a finding considerably larger than previously reported in cerebellar morphology analyses.

Visual system

Increased GM and CT in Pandits' visual/visual-association cortices may relate to their traditional multi-year training regimen that consists of close face-to-face oral instruction and repetition (including one-on-one training) and synchronized recitation gestures. Alternatively, or additionally, it may reflect the type of cross-modal plasticity and enhanced function previously documented in the visually impaired, such as ultra-fast speech comprehension and exceptional spatial acoustic cue detection in blind (Dietrich et al., 2013; Voss et al., 2004). One possibility, which necessitates further functional neuroimaging investigations, is that occipital regions are recruited to aid the extensive oral language-related computations performed by Pandits; these regions have been shown to have the potential for rapid functional plasticity even in healthy subjects (Merabet et al., 2008).

Subcortical and gyrification differences

To our knowledge, our study is the first to document comprehensive reduction of GM in subcortical structures in a population of healthy participants. While unexpected, one potential explanation of this finding is that it indicates a speeded maturation of these regions for Pandits. A developmental study of healthy children and adolescents (Wierenga et al., 2014) showed a linear age-related reduction of GM in caudate, putamen and nucleus accumbens (regions where Pandits had lower GM than controls), and inverted U-shaped curves in amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus and pallidum (the latter a region where we did not find clear differences between the two groups).

To our knowledge, the current work is also the first to document local gyrification differences between two healthy adult groups. Cortical gyrification complexity increases up through young adulthood with the occipital lobe showing both highest variability in preadolescents, and lowest complexity increase in adolescence (Blanton et al., 2001; Su et al., 2013). After adolescence, gyrification decreases steadily across much of the brain (Hogstrom et al., 2013). The Pandits in our study began training in late childhood or early adolescence, so their decreased occipital gyrification may indicate a training-related impact on the normal developmental curve of brain gyrification, specifically, a relatively more limited gyrification change attained in visual cortices.

WM structural differences

The WM tracts crossing through the Pandit FA clusters have been implicated in language processing. Increased FA in left forceps minor, genus of the corpus callosum, anterior thalamic radiation (ATR), and anterior corona radiata has been linked to mathematical ability (Navas-Sanchez et al., 2014), while stutterers have decreased FA in the forceps minor (Beal et al., 2013; Civier et al., 2015). Lesion studies have implicated left inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), left ATR, and left uncinate fasciculus (UF) in semantic processing (Han et al., 2013) and fluency (Almairac et al., in press), while in healthy participants left IFOF and UF are both prominently involved in amodal (domain general) semantic memory (de Zubicaray et al., 2011). As shown in Fig. 7, the FA clusters border the CT/GM Pandit increases in the mPFC/ACC, suggesting they may also be related to those structural differences.

Convergence and divergence between morphometric measures

The different measures we used provided convergent information regarding changes in several brain regions, but several also identified unique change patterns. The VBM results highlighted extensive differences in bilateral temporal regions, vmPFC and lateral occipital regions, and the CT findings documented similar changes in vmPFC, the right lateral temporal regions and right occipito-temporal regions, though less extensively than VBM. However, the right temporal pole areas identified by the CT analysis were not identified by VBM, and conversely, occipital and posterior midline regions identified by VBM were not identified by CT. With respect to FA findings, there was a good overlap between the diffusion results and the mPFC/ACC cluster identified in both the CT and VBM analysis. Finally, within the clusters showing LGI changes, we did not find any changes in CT.

While it is interesting to find convergence in some aspects of the results, it is important to note that prior work suggests that VBM, CT and LGI target at least partially different organizational aspects of structural morphometry. We first address the relation between VBM and CT. Whereas CT, as implemented in FreeSurfer, loads strictly on the local cortical thickness, FSL's VBM analysis, which includes modulation by the Jacobian to account for stretching and compression, reflects (based on GM probability metrics from the GM segmentation step) a combination of thickness, surface area and differences in folding. For this reason VBM has sometimes been interpreted as measuring “overall local volume” (Hutton et al., 2009). Prior studies that have used both VBM and CT to study a single dataset show their divergent, rather than strictly convergent nature. Blankstein et al. (2009), Voets et al. (2008), and Bermudez et al (2009) are good examples of such work. Voets et al., who compared VBM and surface-based morphometry (SBM), concluded that, “VBM-style approaches are sensitive to a combination of cortical thickness, surface area and shape measures. SBM, on the other hand, uses an explicit model of the neocortex, offering independent measures of thickness, surface area and folding patterns. Thus, areas of significant difference in VBM GM density may be found without a corresponding change in SBM-derived cortical thickness” (Voets et al., p. 667).

Formal attempts at relating VBM and CT have been only moderately successful. Voets et al. (2008)tried examining the Jacobian of the warp field, or dividing CT by change in metric distortion on the vertex wise level, but these did not account well for the divergence between VBM and CT. Palaniyappan and Liddle (2012) used a region of interest analysis and found that between-group differences in VBM data were only moderately mediated by different surface morphometry features such as CT, LGI and surface area: a large proportion of VBM-related variance (between 36% and 80%) was not accounted for by these surface measures. Furthermore, depending on brain region, different surface features accounted for the between-group VBM differences. VBM and surface measures therefore appear to target partially different aspects of brain morphometry; this may have to do with the fact that these measures are related to separate genetic traits (e.g., Winkler et al., 2010).

With respect to LGI and CT, while one might expect that the two measures would generally be negatively correlated, this relationship appears modest, and also varies spatially. As part of their study, Hogstrom et al. (2013) examined the relationship between LGI, and CT. While there was a negative relation between LGI and CT in all lobes, it was relatively weak (− 0.17 < R < − 0.08), with significant correlations limited to medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, and precuneus. In all, prior work highlights the utility of using multiple measures for understanding changes to different facets of brain morphometry, and our current findings are largely consistent with the import of that body of work.

Potential limitations and future directions

As in any cross-sectional study, one cannot claim with absolute certainty that structural differences are caused by experience-related changes, rather than reflecting a genetic predisposition. However, several unique features of the Pandit selection and training very strongly argue against explanations grounded in self-selection or genetic predisposition: there are no pre-entrance selection exams to Pandit studies so that memorization ability is not tested as a pre-condition; the attrition rate from studies is only ~ 5%, arguing against self-selection during training itself; and none of our specific participants came from Vedic Pandit families, with very few having any relatives who recite (See SI Table 1). All these are highly consistent with an experience-related explanation rather than one based on genetic predisposition (of the sort licensed for musicians, athletes, piano tuners and other special populations).

A second apparent interpretive challenge is the absence of statistically significant correlations between Pandits' practice estimate or starting age and GM/CT/LGI/FA measures. We consider power, limited range, and possible ceiling effects as the reasons for this null result. First, given the sample size (N = 21), to satisfy a single-voxel criteria of P < .005, correlations would need to exceed a level of 0.56 (Pearson's R) in each voxel within a cluster, which is a high standard that even if found would likely be an inaccurate documentation of the actual effect size in the population (Yarkoni, 2009). Second, while all the Pandits had completed the basic training course, 12 of those were within 1 year of graduation, and 5 others within 3 years of graduation, resulting in a limited range of the post-training Practice variable (OHPTC; see SI Table 1). Third, given the reported total hours of basic training of 10,080 h (See SI Methods), it is also possible that the lack of correlation is due to a ceiling or plateau effect, wherein training-driven plasticity asymptotes, as is seen in motor and cognitive skill acquisition studies (Macnamara et al., 2014, see references therein; Karni et al., 1998; Anderson, 1981). Further elucidation of the issue will require follow-up longitudinal studies during the training period, and/or recruitment of a larger subject pool of qualified Pandits with a wider ranger of post-training practice.

We note that a recent (Kalamangalam and Ellmore, 2014) smaller scale study (Pandit N = 11) examined cortical thickness differences between Pandits and a control group and reported different results for this measure (the study reports 2 clusters limited to inferior temporal and orbito-frontal cortex, regions not typically associated with speech, language or memory processing). That study could not examine hippocampal or subcortical differences due to its focus on the cortical fold, and surprisingly, did not document differences in lateral temporal regions implicated in speech processing (STG, STS, STP), or regions implicated in memory for verbal materials, concluding that those regions are not impacted by memory training (VBM analysis was not conducted). The markedly divergent results in our work are probably the result of a more powerful sample and control for confounding variables.2 For these reasons, we cannot directly compare that particular prior work with the current findings.

Summary

The data demonstrate that there exist extensive morphological differences in the brains of professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits, which are in some cases identifiable by both VBM and CT measures, and in some cases only by one of these two metrics. These findings are consistent with a role for medial temporal regions and medial prefrontal cortex in large-scale language, memory and information processing. These data further suggest that inferior frontal and lateral temporal regions play different roles in their ability to subserve rehearsed speech. Finally, the results raise interesting questions about the potential of intensive, specialized expertise training to substantially drive plasticity in healthy adult brains, and possibly alter natural developmental curves.

Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. R.K Shastri of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, for information regarding the current state of Vedic training at government-supported institutions in India. We also thank Krishna Miyapuram, India Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, for helpful discussions and assistance with translation of the survey forms. This research has received funding from the India-Trento Program for Advanced Research. U.H was supported by a European Council Starting Grant (ERC-STG #263318).

Appendix A. Supplementary data

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1: There are today in India around 150,000 students engaged in traditional Sanskrit studies at approximately 5000 government and private institutions (Mishra, 1997; Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2010-2011; Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2014; Pathashala, 2014). The topics (and texts memorized) at these institutions include Sanskrit literature, grammar, law, history, philosophy, astronomy, yoga, logic, and Vedas, subsidiary Vedic disciplines, and Vedic commentary (Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2014). There are in addition some 246 registered Ayurvedic traditional medical colleges in India where some 50,000 students memorize portions of Sanskrit root medical texts and subsidiary texts as part of their training (Central Council of Indian Medicine, 2014; Hartzell and Zysk, 1995). Specifically for Vedic studies, there are currently an estimated 34,000 Vedic Pandits in training in both government and non-government traditional Vedic schools (Shastri, 2014; Pathashala, 2014; Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2014; Mishra, 1997).

2: The study by Kalamangalam and Ellmore was conducted in Houston, Texas, with local control participants, and does not report control for eye-dominance or multilingualism in the experimental and control groups, nor Vedic lineage and assessment of Vedic competence, and does not report control for Age in the analysis pathway.

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Śiva Sūtras - tr. Subhash Kak & Shailendra Sharma

January 4, 2018, 5:59 am

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Śiva Sūtras are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 9th century C.E.

Śiva Sūtras are 77 brilliant aphorisms (in sections) on consciousness, the central problem of science and mind. -- Subhash Kak.

Kshemaraja (1911). The Shiva Sutra Vimarshini: Being the Sutras of Vasu Gupta with the Commentary Called Vimarshini

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja), Chola period (880-1279), ca. 11th century Tamil Nadu, India Copper alloy; H. 26 7/8 in. (68.3 cm); Diam. 22 1/4 in. (56.5 cm) Gift of R. H. Ellsworth Ltd., in honor of Susan Dillon, 1987 (1987.80.1)

If a single icon had to be chosen to represent the extraordinarily rich and complex cultural heritage of India, the Shiva Nataraja might well be the most remunerative candidate. It is such a brilliant iconographic invention that it comes as close to being a summation of the genius of the Indian people as any single icon can. Sculptures of Shiva dancing survive from at least as early as the fifth century, but it was under the rule of the great Chola dynasty of southern India (880-1279) that the world-famous iconographic type evolved. The setting of Shiva's dance is the golden hall of Chidambaram, at the center of the universe, in the presence of all the gods. Through symbols and dance gestures, Shiva taught the illustrious gathering that he is Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. As he danced he held in his upper right hand the "damaru," the hand drum from which issued the primordial vibrating sound of creation. With his lower right hand he made the gesture of "abhaya," removing fear, protecting, and preserving. In his upper left hand he held "agni," the consuming fire of dynamic destruction. With his right foot he trampled a dwarf like figure (apasmara purusha), the ignoble personification of illusion who leads mankind astray. In his dance of ecstasy Shiva raised his left leg, and, in a gesture known as the "gaja hasta," pointed to his lifted leg to provide refuge for the troubled soul. He thus imparted the lesson that through belief in him, the soul of mankind can be transported from the bondage of illusion and ignorance to salvation and eternal serenity. Encircling Shiva is a flaming body halo ("prabhamandala," or surrounding effulgence) that not only establishes the visual limits of this complex and dynamic composition but also symbolizes the boundaries of the cosmos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosemania/86746598

Section 1. Śāmbhavopāya

Section 2. Śaktopāya

Section 3. Anavopāya

Translations by Subhash Kak and Shailendra Sharma

Section 1. Śāmbhavopāya

चैतन्यमात्मा॥१॥ Consciousness is the Self.

Translation — Consciousness is soul.

Exposition — Consciousness of immense mind, which is manifested by means of body, is the cause of feeling of being. Consciousness of the mind is soul.

2. ज्ञानं बन्धः॥२॥

(Ordinary) knowledge is bounding. (By revealing some it hides more)

Translation — Knowledge is bondage.

Exposition — The immense mind, which is manifested by means of the body, adopts physical limitations to know the totality of its own consciousness and also the one who manifests it. Said in other words, it limits itself in a bond with the body for the sake of knowing itself.

3. योनिवर्गः कलाशरीरम्॥३॥

The emanated embodied forms change.

Translation — Body is small bit of power of the origin.

Exposition — Body is only a small bit of power of the creator of all.

4. ज्ञानाधिष्ठानं मातृका॥४॥

The basis of knowledge is in the potential. (the womb)

Translation — Origin is the basis of knowledge.

Exposition — Body, that functions as a mother for the knowledge is a creator, who awakens the entire consciousness and delivers it in its entire immensity.

5. उद्यमो भैरवः॥५॥

(In) [inspired] activity is Bhairava [annihilating + creating aspect of Śiva, for beginnings must start with ending]

Translation — Terrible truth is effort.

Exposition — Effort that a mind needs to perform by means of body for awakening the truth of its own dormant consciousness is terrible. It may be said to be extremely difficult.

6. शक्तिचक्रसन्धाने विश्वसंहारः॥६॥

The world ends with coming together of various energies.

Translation — Creation can be annihilated when Sakticakra is sought.

Exposition — Just as infinite energy prevailing inside an atom appears in its vastness when an atom is sought and disintegrated, much the same way, when the consciousness of immense mind, which is capable of knowing everything is sought by means of body and is disintegrated by means of Pranayam, the consciousness is awakened and is then manifested in its entire immensity.

One who successfully performs this practice is at liberty of applying consciousness of his boundlessly awakened mind. He may at his discretion establish a New World or annihilate the existing one.

7. जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्तभेदे तुर्याभोगसम्भवः॥७॥

In waking, dreaming, or deep sleep, one can have a sense of the fourth (deeper) state.

Translation — Experience (Direct perception) of the fourth state is possible by separating the awakened, dream and dormant states of mind.

Exposition — Consciousness of his mind that a common man is capable of applying is awake only in small measures. Thinkers call this as conscious mind or awakened mind. And infinite consciousness of mind that prevails with every embodied being in dormant state and that which causes dream like feeling about it even after its knowledge is called as sub consciousness.

When immensity of mind that appears dream like is awakened by applying consciousness that is awake in small measures, one experiences that fourth state of mind i.e. completely awakened immense consciousness of mind, which is beyond these three (viz. partly awake consciousness, dormant immense consciousness and firm determination to awaken dormant vast consciousness).

8.ज्ञानं जाग्रत्॥८॥

Knowledge is the waking state.

Translation — Only awakening is knowledge.

Exposition — A small bit of entire dormant infinite consciousness of mind that is awake, and which thinks the entire dormant consciousness to be dream like is the cause of restraining consciousness within physical limitations.

Translation — Indecision about dream is ignorance.

Exposition — A feeling that immense consciousness of mind that lies dormant within one self is only a dream and a state of being uncertain about its existence is called as ignorance.

10. .

Translation — To feel, what is there is not there, due to indiscretion is spiritual ignorance.

Exposition — The mind rejecting the existence of its own infinite consciousness by considering it as dream like, although it is dormant within itself, is called as indiscretion.

11.

Translation — One, who can enjoy the three, is great among the heroes.

Exposition — One who awakens the dormant infinite consciousness of the mind, although feeling of its existence is dream like, by means of partly awakened consciousness, or, said differently a great person who makes firm determination for realizing dream, makes awesome efforts, and realizes the dream is the bravest among the braves.

12. .

Translation — Astonishment is the basis for yoga.

Exposition — Even a guess of infinite capacity of mind that lies dormant in an apparently ordinary personality of oneself, strikes wonder and is inspirational for those who are determined to awaken it into practicing yoga.

13.

Translation — Will power is the ultimately beautiful virgin.

Exposition — A strong will power to awaken infinite consciousness of mind that lies dormant within oneself is that most beautiful virgin who is solicited and thereby one begets awakened consciousness as if he begets a son.

14. .

Translation — Visible is the body.

Exposition — The entire visible world that lies within the realm of experiences of this body is the body of Him who manifests this all.

15.

Translation — By concentrating the mind into the core it knows its invisible form and is then established beyond the visible.

Exposition — The sublime consciousness element that is manifested by means of entire visible world is also the cause of manifestation of mind. When mind concentrates into itself with a strong will power, through its own consciousness by means of a body, it experiences its immense invisible existence that lies beyond the physical limits. Subsequently it gets the experience of the existence of the element of conscious void, which lies beyond entire visible world, and is experienced through the medium of vision.

16.

Translation — An investigation of sublime element causes knowledge of one’s abilities.

Exposition — When the existence of sublime conscious void that lies beyond the visible is experienced, the feeling of being begins to grow boundlessly and one knows ones infinite existence.

17.

Translation — Deliberation causes self-realization.

Exposition — When sublime conscious void that remains beyond the body is experienced one is established in pure thought that lies beyond the visible and then self-realization takes place. Pure thought alone is the cause of there being a relation between conscious world and the corporal matter of the visible world.

18.

Translation — Enjoying Samadhi is like enjoying the world.

Exposition — When established in pure thought and having achieved self-realization, one knows the conscious void that supports the entire world. Subsequent to the knowledge of conscious void that manifests and retains the visible world on the support of visible body, there remains no difference between so-called worldly pleasures and the delight of samadhi. This is because the basic cause that is manifested and is experienced in both is one and the same – the awakened consciousness.

19.

Translation — Concentration into the void causes knowledge of creation of body.

Exposition — Supporter of the entire visible world, the conscious void, supports entire corporal matter of the world and fosters it. When mind that is replete with yogic power concentrates upon the consciousness void that contains all activities/motion, it gains the knowledge of creation of the entire visible world.

20.

Translation — By concentrating upon the one that is created, each member of the creation separately as well as their combinations become known.

Exposition — When a self-realized mind is concentrated upon corporal matter of visible world, knowledge of five elements of matter (viz. Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Sky) as separate entities as well as in combinations of various proportions take place.

21.

Translation — When creation and then existence in pure form is known, one masters this cycle.

Exposition — When knowledge of truth is gained that there exists conscious matter, which is manifested on the support of pure thought that is elicited from the conscious void, the cycle of its manifestation, existence for a while and again its assimilation in the conscious void is mastered.

22.

Translation — Exploring the great sound causes experience of the power of creator of this secret sound.

Exposition — When a self-realized mind concentrates on the great sound that pervades the conscious void it knows from whither that great sound originates. It experiences the infinite power of time, the ultimate element, the origin of all, the one that manifests and retains even the consciousness void that in turn manifests, retains and contains all activities of matter, the one who manifest that great sound, the destroyer, the time. All this is manifested only from the womb of time, only time retains it and it is only time that destroys it. When this all is destroyed this is assimilated in time itself only to be manifested later at some other time.

Section 2. Śaktopāya

23.

Translation — Most mysterious is the mind.

Exposition — It is only mind that unveils the knowledge of hidden mysteries.

24.

Translation — Effort is achiever (Sadhak).

Exposition — Effort of the mind for knowing hidden secrets is itself called as achiever. Mind together with the seed of infinite consciousness solicits a body to know itself, as such the mind is the achiever that makes efforts to cause the birth of its own consciousness.

25.

Translation — Existence of the present body itself is a hidden secret.

Exposition — The one who causes the body to exist, the one who makes efforts by taking support of body for the birth of its own consciousness, the one who avails of a body and yet remains hidden, the one who conducts everything by means of body, and the one who has the capacity to know infinite hidden mysteries, is one and the only one – The Mind.

26.

Translation — Dream is realized when growth of consciousness in the womb is distinctive.

Exposition — When mind plants a seed of consciousness in the womb- like body, it grows up and is established in its own infinite magnitude, which in the beginning appears dream- like. Said in other words infinite magnitude of consciousness that looks dream- like, grows up in the body and becomes a reality when it is born.

27.

Translation — When existence in an unsupported state that lies beyond death becomes natural, status become Shiva- like.

Exposition — The one, who conceives the conscious seed of mind in the womb, develops and then delivers through the medium of the body, the one, who is born through the medium of death after total development of consciousness beyond all physical limits, no longer needs any support for the birth of consciousness. It then establishes him in his own self without any dependence and attains union with time.

28.

Translation — This is the Great Way.

Exposition — The mind availing of a body and causing it to conceive with the seeds of consciousness, developing the foetus, delivering the totally awakened consciousness through the medium of physical death and subsequently developing consciousness up to a state of no support and uniting such consciousness with the time, this is that Great Way.

29.

Translation — The Cycle of Origin ends.

Exposition — Since mind causes the body to conceive and deliver immense consciousness, the body is the origin of consciousness. Since body delivers the consciousness after developing it, therefore body is the mother of consciousness. When birth of consciousness takes place in its completeness and the consciousness unites with time, the mind no more needs a body, since this no more remains necessary. Therefore, mind taking on a body till the birth of infinite consciousness, leaving a body even before consciousness is fully developed and when body becomes emaciated and ones again assuming a new body, this cycle disappears.

30.

Translation — Body is an offering.

Exposition — Mind availing of a body, developing consciousness using the body as womb and then delivering consciousness through the medium of physical death – in this cycle the body is offered as a sacrifice.

31.

Translation — Knowledge is food.

Exposition — The knowledge that accrues subsequent to mind taking on a body, developing consciousness using the body as a womb and then delivering it through the medium of physical death, this knowledge itself is the food of the mind.

32.

Translation — When existence is annihilated, it comes forth and experiences the dream.

Exposition — When completely developed in the womb of body, consciousness, the daughter of mind as father and body as mother, is born through the medium of death and then a consciousness that is now established without any support unites with the time. When it unites with the time, it is as if its existence becomes no more and knowledge of time that appeared like a dream before birth of developed consciousness unfolds itself after union with the time. In other words we may say that, consciousness, the daughter of mind and body marries with the time itself and after marriage, while living in the heart of her husband, she unites with him.

Section 3. Anavopāya

33.

Translation — Mind is soul.

Exposition — A mind, which takes on a body, plants a seed of consciousness using the body as a womb, develops the foetus completely and causes the birth of infinitely developed consciousness through the medium of physical death, is the one that alone is the feeling of being.

34.

Translation — Knowledge is bondage.

Exposition — The mind that has infinite capacity has to limit itself in physical limits by taking on a body to develop and deliver the consciousness.

35.

Translation — Indiscretion about real truth by the degrees is illusion.

Exposition — Prior to development of consciousness in a body that is but a small grain in the entire manifest world being unable to be judicious about time – the supreme lord, the one who manifests all, and the one who plays with the unexpressed element, the consciousness is illusion. Said differently, to believe what very much is there as not being there is illusion.

36.

Translation — Merger of degrees within body.

Exposition — When complete development of consciousness is attained by means of intense practice of yoga through the medium of body, eventually the fractured consciousness, which in the beginning is experienced piecemeal combines together and unfolds itself in its own complete vastness.

37.

Translation — Gaining Control upon elements, knowing each element separately.

Exposition — When consciousness that is above physical limits is born, knowledge of five elements of the corporal body of the world (viz. Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Sky) is begotten and then these are mastered. Eventually consciousness attains union with time, the time that manifests these elements, that which is the element of all elements, the fancy of the elements and the consciousness becomes time itself. Thereafter the body that delivers infinite consciousness also vanishes because all the five elements (viz. Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Sky) that are the basis of the body are absorbed in their origin.

38.

Translation — Attaining perfection by the envelope of ignorance.

Exposition — Mind takes on a body for causing birth of consciousness. By taking on a body, it presumably falls in an envelope of ignorance. But this body – an envelope of ignorance – itself completes the task of developing consciousness up to its totality in the womb of the body and causes its birth through the medium of physical death.

39.

Translation — Ending ignorance naturally leads to a state of infinite passiveness that endures.

Exposition — After completely developing and delivering consciousness through the medium of body, i.e. envelope of ignorance, the consciousness becomes established in infinity and is united with time. Eventually after uniting with time, having enjoyed everything, a state of passiveness or a state beyond enjoyment remains in natural existence until eternity.

40.

Translation — One who awakens becomes like a son.

Exposition — A great yogi who awakens his entire dormant consciousness through the medium of body and realizes his being in existence without corporal body becomes time conscious. And by knowing time that in the beginning appears dream like he as if becomes an offspring of time and he himself becomes omnipotent and omniscient like time.

41.

Translation — There is a feeling of one being like Shiva.

Exposition — A great person who is successful in delivering consciousness from the womb of the body becomes time conscious, and thus he behooves the son of time and becomes himself like time or Shiva.

42.

Translation — Inner self becomes a stage.

Exposition — A great person who develops consciousness that unites with time, the creator, the supporter and the annihilator of world becomes himself like time. Having united with one who manifests all, the entire world becomes an act being played on the stage of his inner self.

43.

Translation — Senses become witnesses.

Exposition — The great time — conscious person, on the stage of inner self of whom is this entire act of creation being played, all senses of such a great person become the witnesses of this omnipresent play and such time – conscious great person remains in bliss while witnessing everywhere this play of time.

44.

Translation — Consciousness becomes sublime when imagination is mastered.

Exposition — Imagination of a great person, who becomes time conscious is completely compliant to him. He has already realized that the most powerful force in this creation is imagination only and controlled force of imagination is called as will power. Practice also begins with imagination and it is only a process of developing confidence in one’s ability of doing something as per one’s imagination. Successful practice that takes place by applying controlled force of imagination is called as power. After becoming powerful, a yogi is established in sublime consciousness, the root of the consciousness that lies beyond sound and sight.

45.

Translation — Siddha (perfect being) has independent existence.

Exposition — The great man who becomes time – conscious by mastering his own imagination acquires independent existence in this world. He knows that all human beings complete the journey of their life by remaining compliant to various imaginations as they don’t master imagination and are not able even to imagine their own sublime existence until they actually realize it. He who uses his body for delivering consciousness becomes time conscious after delivering sublime consciousness through the medium of body and becoming one who has absolute existence and independence.

46.

Translation — As here, so is everywhere.

Exposition — One who applies will power i.e. a controlled flow of imagination, and by using his body as a womb for the conscious seed of the mind delivers sublime conscious presence, he becomes time–conscious and then becomes familiar with all mysteries of universe. Together with a consciousness that has united with time, a super human, during his lifetime becomes time conscious and remains in existence in this visible world. He similarly remains in existence beyond the realm of body and visible world in union with conscious time even after the journey of body is over. For him there remains no difference between existence & non-existence, birth and death, knowing and not knowing because he has realized of their relativity.

47.

Translation — Contemplation of origin.

Exposition — A great man who, by developing and delivering consciousness through medium of his body realizes the time, which creates the universe from its womb, supports it and also absorbs it in himself, the time that is origin of everything. He, while witnessing everywhere the play of time, is positioned in contemplation of entire seed of everything — the time, by becoming time conscious himself.

48.

Translation — Contended by totally knowing heart (is the mind).

Exposition — One who realizes the origin of all by applying controlled force of imagination i.e. will power, masters imagination and by delivering immensely developed consciousness from the womb of his body, he becomes time conscious. He is contended by knowing everything because he has no more yearning for knowledge and he then remains with independent existence in the visible world.

49.

Translation — His achievement is to make rules for himself.

Exposition — One who delivers his consciousness in its entire immensity by developing it through its absolute immensity in his womb of his body, remains established together with the consciousness that has united with time, the origin of all. Having united with him who manifests all, he is at liberty to do anything. He himself authors his own norms of pleasure, follows them himself and also discards those norms himself. Such time conscious super human while being established beyond all norms of visible world is established in himself.

50.

Translation — Existence is eternal but life has end.

Exposition — He, who has realized his existence beyond birth and death, i.e. he, who plants a seed of consciousness in his body using it like a womb, develops the consciousness completely and then delivers it through the medium of death. He experiences his existence in the un-manifested that lies beyond the realm of physical limitations and the limitations of the visible world. Eventually when he has united with the time together with his completely developed consciousness, he no more need to avail of another life, or said differently he doesn’t need to seek a body in order to develop consciousness

51.

Translation — “Ka” group and other words are elementary hints by worshipers of Shiva for the inane ones.

Exposition — Words present us with a great gift of memory. Great persons who worshipped Shiva, i.e. time, for knowing him in his elements, preserved by means of words in the nature of hints all their experiences with compassion, just as they realized him in his elements for all those, who, by understanding these hints would be prepared to use the controlled force of their imagination to know for themselves the great time by means of developing consciousness through the medium of the body.

(Note – “Ka” group here includes all 52 consonants in Sanskrit)

52.

Translation — Fourth, beyond the three should be extracted like essence.

Exposition — A person, who is ambitious of knowing Shiva or The Supreme Time, Mahakal in its element, along his pursuit begins to study and understand those hints that are preserved by ancient time-conscious great persons in memory by means of words. When he begins to understand those hints, he performs extremely hard practice of yoga by means of his body for developing consciousness. Mighty practice of yoga kindles intense fire of yoga in his body and his consciousness begins to stay established in the unmanifest by overcoming physical limits.

First, Study of hints preserved in memory by means of words, second, mighty practice of yoga through the medium of body, subsequent to rudimentary understanding of those hints and third, establishment of consciousness in the un-manifest subsequent to its development and its expansion beyond the physical limits.

Fourth sate i.e. the consequence of the above three is to know time in its element and by uniting with it to become time-conscious oneself. Just as the essence of a substance is extracted in the form of oil, much in the same way the essence of above three states is to be established in the fourth state that lies beyond the above three.

53.

Translation — Absorbed, he enters his own mind.

Exposition — Subsequent to knowing Shiva — the Time, the great person who becomes like Shiva or becomes time-conscious awakens his consciousness completely and by concentrating that into the sublime consciousness that manifests consciousness, he enters into it. In other words it may be said that by awakening his consciousness, he becomes time-conscious and enters into his own mind.

54.

Translation — Behavior becomes like shiva and causes equanimity.

Exposition — He unites with Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal, the soul of all, the time that manifests the entire world, supports it and then absorbs it within itself by destroying it. Then, his conduct is at par with Shiva and such visionary, beholding himself in everything beholds uniformity.

55.

Translation — At the end of middle, birth takes place.

Exposition — When consciousness develops completely while developing into the womb of body between birth and death, then along with the end of the body is born a completely developed state of consciousness and the end of the process of taking on a body takes place along with the birth omniscient of consciousness.

56.

Translation — Concentration into the origin of creation causes knowledge of why it is destroyed and created again.

Exposition — He who becomes successful in delivering consciousness through the medium of his body is established in the unmanifest that lies beyond physical limits. And after knowing the reason of creation of the body, he concentrates his awakened consciousness on to the cause of creation of the visible world and thereby he knows the cause of destruction of the entire world as also its subsequent recreation. He then remains united with the creator.

57.

Translation — He becomes like Shiva.

Exposition — The great person, who, by concentrating the total consciousness of his mind that is replete with yogic powers knows why after the creation from the conscious void through the support of corporal matter, there is a merger of entire visible world into the conscious void itself. As a consequence of this knowledge he becomes one with Time — an element, which manifests the void that pervades in the almighty void and, which through the medium of void, manifests this visible world.

58.

Translation — Existence of the body itself is obeisance.

Exposition — Existence of the body of such a great person being visible is itself an obeisance directly towards Shiva or Time. Inspired by this, other persons also become ambitious to completely develop and deliver the immense consciousness of mind through the medium of their own body to know the original cause of the creation.

59.

Translation — Description is remembrance.

Exposition — Exposition of the result of practicing the means of attaining that state by a time-conscious or a Shiva- like person is like remembrance that takes place through the medium of body of such a great person.

60.

Translation — Charity is to give self-knowledge.

Exposition — Existence of the body of a Shiva like, conscious man is an obeisance, exposition by him of the ultimate element is remembrance and inspiring others for self-realization by his own example and bestowing upon them the process of delivering consciousness through the medium of body is like gracing them with self-realization.

61.

Translation — One, who is established here, is the inspiration of knowledge.

Exposition — A great person, who by means of union of his own mind and body delivers immense consciousness in this manner, remains in visible existence and while being a source of inspiration for others he becomes a inspiration for realization.

62.

Translation — Creation is a treasure of one’s own realization.

Exposition — One who knows Him, who manifests the complete world, the essence of all, Shiva — The Supreme Time, Mahakal, in his element by concentrating omnipotent consciousness that is born out of the union of his mind and body, at last gets united with Him. He then beholds himself manifested in the entire creation and the entire visible and invisible creation becomes just like a direct evidence of his realization.

63.

Translation — Absorption (Laya) in a state.

Exposition — He, who himself knows the entire creation by means of manifestation of realization, is established with a consciousness that is in union with all and is eventually absorbed in The Supreme Time, Mahakal who manifested himself through the medium of all. Then, there remains no difference between him and The Supreme Time, Mahakal.

64.

Translation — When this experience happens, resignation sets in.

Exposition — A great man, who becomes united with time, has all his ambitions, wishes and hopes fulfilled and then he becomes resigned even to the feeling of being completely satisfied and is established above all the hopes.

65.

Translation — Imagination then remains beyond delight and distress.

Exposition — When the hope of gaining happiness from the thought of procuring something comes to an end, the great man who has already united with All, knows the basic cause of imagination. He becomes like one who has his consciousness absorbed into Him, who manifest all imagination and remains established as such.

66.

Translation — Sublime state emerges after liberation from it.

Exposition — A great person who is liberated from all thoughts knows their creator, the Time, in its element and he in a state of sublime consciousness, remains visible until the end of the journey of the body and remains invisible after the journey of the body is over. He has already known during his union with time that this entire visible creation as well as invisible creation is but an imagination of Time.

67.

Translation — Realized person is aloof from delusion.

Exposition — A yogi who is able to deliver the daughter of mind (i.e. consciousness), from the womb of body by successfully developing consciousness, is established beyond all imaginations and becomes free from all imaginary delusions. He is able to understand that, imagination may imagine up to any extent, imagination is always distinct from the reality and it is impossible to imagine reality without realizing reality and yet the imagination of knowing reality is the cause of starting action that develops consciousness in the womb of the body. He, who knows this, develops omnipotent consciousness inside the body and delivers it and beyond all attachments and delusions, he, together with omniscient consciousness unites with the Time that manifests all.

68.

Translation — Origin of the effort ends in realizing the invisible.

Exposition — In the beginning a thinker, who is inspired by the thought of knowing the truth of his existence, begins his efforts of knowing the truth. As a result of this he realizes the relationship of the body and the mind for the complete development of consciousness i.e. the daughter of mind, and the body, he is able to imagine Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal, a truth that is invisible and is beyond the realm of imagination. By knowing Shiva in essence, he becomes one who has his consciousness dissolved in time, or we may say that he realizes the invisible that is beyond the visible creation.

69.

Translation — Power of body is an experience of being.

Exposition — Mind, which remains invisible and takes on a body, is itself a means of experiencing the strength that enables one to achieve something by means of the body. Feeling of being originates in the mind. A mind, which plays with the body, and plants a seed of consciousness in the womb of the body and develops it and after the delivery of totally developed consciousness and knowing by using it, the Time that manifests all, the time that is imagination of all imaginations and the essence of all. Eventually by knowing Time he becomes like Shiva.

Those, who consider that this body is passive, do not realize that this is that root, which when sprinkled by mind, blossoms into a creeper on which blooms the flowers of knowledge that arises out of experience.

70.

Translation — Shiva is the original cause of these three.

Exposition — It is the Shiva that causes the union of mind, body and developed vast consciousness; He is the basis of all their activities. He is manifested in the body through the medium of breaths and in the mind, in the form of consciousness.

71.

Translation — The capacity of body follows the state of realization.

Exposition — By taking support of the soul through the medium of mind and body and after knowing Shiva — The Supreme Time, Mahakal that manifests all by awakening his consciousness, a yogi becomes like Shiva. His body becomes divine and is a clear indication towards Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal. Physical appearance of such a great person is an inspiration for others and is a direct indication towards the great omnipotent time – Shiva himself.

72.

Translation — Mere wishing takes them out.

Exposition — The great yogi, who has successfully developed and delivered consciousness – the daughter of mind, by means of his body and who has been able to know Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal, then becomes capable of leaving his body merely by wishing.

73.

Translation — When established in true knowledge, he is no more; thereby life also is no more.

Exposition — A yogi, who successfully delivers vast dormant consciousness of the mind through the medium of his body, becomes capable of forsaking existence of the body yogically, merely with a wish. Knowing the very cause of the birth and the death and the creation and the destruction of the entire creation, he is able to know his essence, the Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal. When such great time-conscious person leaves his body yogically, his visible physical existence is over and his mind that is the cause of birth of consciousness and the basis of relationship with the body also submerges into its origin.

74.

Translation — Then liberated from the coverings of all elements, he becomes like Maheshwar, the cause of creation and destruction of all.

Exposition — The great person, who is successful in causing birth of consciousness, i.e. the daughter of mind, by completely developing it in the womb of the body, knows in essence as the Shiva — The Supreme Time, Mahakal, and the one who supports, manifests and then destroys the entire creation. He then concentrates his awakened consciousness in Shiva and unites with him and by uniting with The Supreme Lord (Maheshwar) he becomes Supreme Lord himself.

75.

Translation — Prana (Shiva) is naturally related.

Exposition — Shiva creates the entire world, supports it and then destroys it when its time is over. That The Supreme Time, Mahakal manifests itself as Shiva. He is himself the life of the entire world. The life of great persons who realize him through the medium of death gets dissolved in him only. Everything has a natural relation with the Shiva who is, as if not there, although he is there and is experienced in the form of time in the creation.

We experience time all the time and yet it remains beyond all experiences. It is only when the consciousness is totally developed can one realize the time in its truth and can be one with time. The life of all has a natural relationship with the supreme element i.e. Time. Soul is manifested from time only and is absorbed again only in time. Mighty conscious void that supports all is also manifested from The Supreme Time, Mahakal. Void is one with time and time is the essential consciousness of that conscious void and is present in the conscious void. Coitus between the Time and the Conscious Void created the Conscious Matter, which is the body of the visible whose essence is the void that supports all movements of conscious matter that remains untouched by it. Life of matter as well as the conscious void is The Supreme Time, Mahakal itself, and Time is there in everything and yet remains beyond from all forever.

The author of these precepts, who himself realized time, has indicated in the next precept how those great yogis realized the life of all, the Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal, by developing their consciousness in the womb of the body. And then, how they proceeded to develop their consciousness and realized Him, the essence of all.

76.

Translation — Doing Sanyam (i.e. intense meditation) at the inside end of the nostril causes knowledge of mutually opposite activities of “Prana” (incoming and outgoing breath) and “Sushumma” (the lull between the two) and that of positioned “Sushumna”.

Exposition — By means of doing Sanyam into the scull cavity at the meeting point where nasal holes terminate inside the scull bowl with the help of the Khechari mudra, determined to realize Shiva – The Supreme Time, Mahakal, who is there as the essence of the conscious void inside of the scull cavity, and by concentrating the total consciousness in Shiva, one gets the result of realizing Time that is manifested through the medium of void in the form of essence of life.

In the process of realizing this consequence, the mutually opposite states of Prana (known as Prana & Apana) are realized in their truth. After realizing their natural activity that is mutually opposite to each other, becomes quiescent, and yogi experiences the quiet state of life. This quiescent state of Prana (which is described by yogis as admission of Prana in Sushumma) gives direct perception of The Supreme Time, Mahakal and is therefore itself like Time. In this quiescent state of life he directly experiences Shiva – the supreme lord, i.e., the form of Time, as brilliant as sun, the brilliance of brilliances, extremely dazzling, the essence of all and then the yogi knows Him and becomes tranquil.

77.

Translation — All doubts are absorbed into their origin.

Exposition — A yogi who directly observes him, who is the brilliance of all brilliance, the extremely brilliant, the soul of all, the supreme being, the supreme lord Shiva and knows him in his element has his consciousness united with Shiva. All doubts of such a great person, which originated from the womb of Time only, are absorbed again only in Time by being one with Time.

The material is taken from http://www.siddhasiddhanta.com/index.html

http://www.shailendrasharma.org/shiva-sutras

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Ancient DNA of Rakhigarhi, आर्य जातियों के आगमन, आक्रमण और प्रसार संबंधी विवादों पर भी विराम मिलने की संभावना है - जागरण (4.1.2018)

January 4, 2018, 6:42 am

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इस मामले में भारत का कर्जदार है समूचा यूरोप, यूं ही नहीं कहते विश्व गुरु

Publish Date:Thu, 04 Jan 2018 05:01 PM (IST) इस मामले में भारत का कर्जदार है समूचा यूरोप, यूं ही नहीं कहते विश्व गुरु

शोध में पता चला कि राखीगढ़ी में मिले ये कंकाल उन प्रजातियों के पूर्वजों के हैं जो इंडो-यूरोपियन भाषा परिवार की भाषाओं के वक्ता हैं ...मऊ, [शैलेश अस्थाना]। आनुवंशिक विज्ञान एक ऐसे प्रश्न का उत्तर देने वाला है जो एक सदी से संपूर्ण विश्व के वैज्ञानिकों और भाषाविदों के बीच बहस का कारण बना हुआ था। शीघ्र ही यह बात पूरी तरह से पूरी दुनिया के सामने आने वाली है कि इंडो-यूरोपियन भाषा परिवार का विस्तार भारत से ही हुआ था। लगभग एक वर्ष पूर्व सिंधु घाटी सभ्यता के स्थानों पर हुई नवीनतम खुदाई के बाद मिले अवशेषों की डीएनए जांच के बाद इस रहस्य पर से पर्दा उठने लगा है कि इस भाषा परिवार के वक्ताओं का मूल निवास स्थान भारत था और यहीं से उनका संपूर्ण विश्व में प्रसार हुआ।

डॉ. नीरज राययह सब संभव हुआ है मऊ जिले के थलईपुर गांव निवासी बीरबल साहनी इंस्टीट्यूट लखनऊ के युवा वैज्ञानिक डॉ. नीरज राय के नेतृत्व में लगी अंतरराष्ट्रीय डीएनए वैज्ञानिकों की टीम के शोध से। शीघ्र ही इन परीक्षणों में मिले तथ्य अंतरराष्ट्रीय जर्नल में प्रकाशित होने वाले हैं।

ऐसी है मान्यता

आयरलैंड और यूके से लेकर इटली, फ्रांस, जर्मनी, पोलैंड, रूस, ईरान और उत्तरी भारत तक, यूरेशियन भूमि के विशाल हिस्से में भारत-यूरोपीय भाषा बोली जाती है। इस भाषा के संबंध में अभी तक के सर्वमान्य तथ्य यही थे कि यह भाषा प्रोटो-इंडो-यूरोपियन या प्राचीन भाषा जिसमें से अन्य सभी इंडो-यूरोपियन भाषाएं उठीं, मध्य एशिया में पोंटिक स्टेप्स के पास से आरंभ हुई थी। वहां के निवासी सबसे पहले से घोड़े की सवारी, रथ-ड्राइविंग पेथेरलिस्ट्स में माहिर थे। उन्होंने कांस्य प्रौद्योगिकी पर सबसे पहले स्वामित्व हासिल कर लिया था।

शोध से आएगा इतिहास में बड़ा बदलाव

इन नई प्रथाओं और तकनीक को उन लाभों के साथ लगभग 3,000 ईसा पूर्व और दक्षिण एशिया के करीब 2,000 ईसा पूर्व के आसपास यूरोप में फैलना शुरू कर चुके थे। उनके साथ उनकी भाषा और संस्कृति का भी प्रसार हुआ। लेकिन डॉ. नीरज राय के नेतृत्व में हरियाणा के हिसार, राखीगढ़ी आदि इलाकों में लगी अंतरराष्ट्रीय वैज्ञानिकों की टीम ने आनुवंशिक शोधों के आधार पर इस तथ्य को झुठला दिया है। अंतरराष्ट्रीय जर्नलों में प्रकाशित होने वाला शोध सामने आते ही पूरे विश्व में चर्चा, बहस और मंथन का नया दौर तो शुरू होगा ही मानव सभ्यता के वैश्विक इतिहास में बहुत बड़ा परिवर्तन हो जाएगा।

कैसे हुआ शोध

डॉ. राय बताते हैं कि डेक्कन कॉलेज, पुणे के कुलपति प्रोफेसर वसंत शिंदे ने हड़प्पा और अन्य स्थलों पर खुदाई का नेतृत्व किया है। इस दिशा में चल रहे शोधों के क्रम में उनकी अगुआई में पुरातत्वविदों की एक टीम ने सिंधु घाटी की सभ्यता में मिले सबसे महत्वपूर्ण शहर हरियाणा के हिसार में पड़ने वाले राखीगढ़ी साइट की खुदाई की। वर्ष 2014 की शुरुआत में उन्हें चार कंकाल मिले। इन कंकालों के डीएनए परीक्षण के लिए उन्होंने तब सीसीएमबी हैदराबाद और अब बीरबल साहनी इंस्टीट्यूट लखनऊ के युवा वैज्ञानिक डॉ. नीरज राय की टीम को लगाया।

डॉ. राय की टीम में देश-विदेश के अन्य वैज्ञानिकों ने मिलकर जो शोध हासिल किया, उससे पता चला कि राखीगढ़ी में मिले ये कंकाल उन प्रजातियों के पूर्वजों के हैं जो इंडो-यूरोपियन भाषा परिवार की भाषाओं के वक्ता हैं और दुनिया में स्वयं को सर्वश्रेष्ठ प्रजाति के रूप में घोषित करने का दावा करते रहे हैं। इन कंकालों के डीएनए उत्तर भारतीय ब्राह्मणों के डीएनए से काफी मैच करते हैं। 61 वर्षीय शिंदे के लिए, यह परियोजना पुरातत्व के एक लंबे और प्रतिष्ठित कैरियर की परिणति है। इस शोध के लगभग सारे परिणाम सामने आ चुके हैं। शीघ्र ही उनके प्रकाशन के बाद आर्य जातियों के आगमन, आक्रमण और प्रसार संबंधी विवादों पर भी विराम मिलने की संभावना है।

https://m.jagran.com/news/national-jagran-special-on-indo-european-languages-17304852.html

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Narrative Indus Script hypertexts on Mohenjo-daro tablet m480, metalwork wealth accounting ledgers

January 4, 2018, 9:42 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y8okphjm

Mohenjo-daro tablet m480 reported by Ernet JH Mackay in his excavation report has two sides of narratives intermingled with hieroglyphs of Indus Script (referred to as hypertexts).
These narratives are read rebus in Indus Script Cipher using Meluhha expressions of Bhāratīya sprachbund (speech union). The messages of the rebus readings constitute documentation of metalwork wealth accounting ledgers

m480a Metwork repertoire for wealth creation

kuṭhi 'smelter' bhaṭa 'furnace'

kaṇḍa 'fire-altar' bhaṭa 'furnace'

meḍ 'body' rebus: med 'iron' dula 'two' rebus: dul 'metalcasting' koḍa 'workshop'

khareḍo 'a currycomb' (Gujarati) Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (Gujarati)

meḍ 'endless knot, twist' rebus: medhā 'dhanam, yajña' मेधा = धन Naigh. ii , 10.

Thus, together, the text message signifies smelter/furnace iron metalcasting workshop of metals turner producing dhanam, wealth.

m480b

Hieroglyph: thwarting, hindering: taṭu (Ta.) Rebus: dhatu ‘mineral’ (Santali)

erga'jungle clearance' rebus: eraka 'moltencast copper'.

Thus, together, dhatu eraka'moltencast copper mineral'.

eraka'spy' rebus: eraka'moltencast copper' PLUS kola 'tiger' rebus; kol 'working in iron' PLUS krammara'look back' rebus: kamar 'blacksmith' PLUS kuṭi 'tree' rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter'

karṇika 'rim of jar' Rebus: karṇI 'supercaro, merchant's assistant, accountant'karṇaka'helmsman'

Thus, together, eraka kol kamar'copper ironsmith; uṭhi 'smelter'; karṇI karṇaka 'helmsman, accountant'.

Thus, the entire tablet on two sides signifies 1. mineral ore (moltencast copper mineral) and metalworking in smelter/furnace wealth accounting ledger of a smith, artisan; and 2. smelter/furnace iron metalcasting workshop of metals turner producing dhanam, 'wealth'.

Steatite tablet from Mohenjodaro, dated to around 2600 BCE Source : Mackay’s report, Part I, pp-344-45, Part 2, plate no. 90, object no. D.K. 10237

bhaṭa ‘worshipper’ rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace'

The sitting pose of the worshipper is that of an archer: kamāṭhiyo 'archer’ rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'

Endless knot is: mēḍhā 'twist' rebus meḍ 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) medhā 'dhana, yajna'.

Tree and other hieroglyphs, Mohenjo-daro tablet m0480a baṭa 'rimless pot' bhaṭa 'worshipper' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace' PLUS kuṭi 'tree' rebus kuṭhi 'smelter' (Endless knot is: mēḍhā 'twist' rebus med 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) medhā 'dhanam, yajna'. gaNDa 'four' rebus:kanda 'fire-altar'baṭa 'rimless pot' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace' कर्णक kárṇaka, kannā 'legs spread' rebus: कर्णक kárṇaka 'helmsman'; dula'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' koḍa 'one' rebus: koḍ 'workshop' khareḍo'currycomb' rebus: Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (G.) kāmsako, kāmsiyo = a large sized comb (G.) Rebus: kaṁsa'bronze' (Te.) h180b erga'jungle clearance' (uprooted trees in the hands of two contending persons; a woman with outstretched arms thwarts the contenders) rebus: erako 'moltencast' eraka, arka 'copper, gold' hence agasāle'goldsmith'.

heraka ‘spy’ Rebus: eraka ‘copper’ erako ‘molten cast’. khōṇḍa ‘leafless tree’ (Marathi). Rebus: kõdār’turner’ (Bengali) kola 'tiger' rebus: kol'working in iron'kolle'blacksmith'

Looking back: krammara ‘look back’ Rebus: kamar ‘smith, artisan’

Images of thwarting

Images show a figure strangling two tigers with his bare hands.

Slide 90.

m0489A One side of a prism tablet shows: crocodile + fish glyphic above: elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, tiger looking back and up.

Glyph: ‘impeding, hindering’: taṭu (Tamil) Rebus: dhatu‘mineral’ (Santali) Tamil. taṭu (-pp-, -tt) to hinder, stop, obstruct, forbid, prohibit, resist, dam, block up, partition off, curb, check, restrain, control, ward off, avert; n. hindering, checking, resisting; taṭuppu hindering, obstructing, resisting, restraint; Kur. ṭaṇḍnā to prevent, hinder, impede. Br. taḍ power to resist. (DEDR 3031)

The rebus readings are consistent with the Indus Script hypertext conveyed by the stone sculpture of Priest of Mohenjodaro described below:

Sarasvati Civilization priest, पोतृ Indus Script hypertext धवाद, name of a people is cognate धावड dhāvaḍa, 'iron smelter'

RV. Br.S3rS. Hariv.; N. of विष्णु L.; पोत्री f. N. of दुर्गा Gal. (cf. पौत्री).पौत्र m. N. of दुर्गा L.

దాయి (p. 588) dāyi dāyi. [Tel.] n. An anvil, a work. hench, or smith's form, used as a rest or prop. దాగలి. (Telugu)

धवाद

Introduction / History

Where Are they Located?

What Are Their Lives Like?

https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19739/IN

Dhavad are a part of the larger group called Lohar, iron workers. see dhavad included in the category of Exogamous divisions (kul):

Lohar/Luhar

Synonyms: Lohar, Lohar Bhatt [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Vishwakarma [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Luhura [Orissa] Lohar Bagdi, Nar, Nar Bagdi [West Bengal]

Endogamous divisions: Gujarad, Kamaras, Kanada Loh

Sections/subgroups: Gadiya Lohar, Recent Jat and

Rajput origin, Suthar-Lohar [HA Rose, D. Ibbetson]

Sub-divisions: Agarias, Ghantras, Ghisaris, Gondi

Lohars, Jhade, Kanaujia, Mahulia, Maratha, Mathuria, Ojha, Panchals [Russell & Hiralal]

Subcastes: Bagdi-Lohar in Manbhum, Bibhumia, Danda

Exogamous divisions (kul): Afadia, Ajgaonkar (Kanada Lohar), Akuj (Maratha), Andurlekar (Mavli), Asnolkar (Ravalnath), Asodia, Bandekar (Bandeshvar), Bardia, Bhadrakali, Bhairidevata, Bhaladye, Bhavnagri Bhutnath, Bodana, Champhekar, Chandarkar, Chandvankar (Bhavani), Chavda, Chiptada, Chitroda, Chohan, Dabulkar (Giroba), Damapurkar (Bhagvati), Deladia, Devagadkar (Mahalakshmi), Devali Devgha, Dhamnaskar (Bhavani), Dhavad, Dodia, Elingkar(Ganpati), Gaonkadevikar, Gh atkar (Ghoomkadevi), Gujarati, Gulekar, Hankonkar ( Sateri), Harsura, Hathodia, Jhilka, Kahalia, Kalsabad Kamle, Kankonkar (Nirankar), Karania, Kava, Khambhati, Kinnarkar (Mahamayi), Kolambekar, Konkani, Kuddekar (Someshvar), Machhukothia, Madkaikar (Mhalsa), Mahakali, Makvana, Maratha Maru, Masurkar, Mavli, Narayan, Na rvekar, Painjinkar (Durgadevi), Pakalghat, Panalkar, Panchal, Parjia, Parmar, Parsekar, Parvale, Parvatk ar (Chandreshwar), Pednekar (Ravalnath), Pithva Pod hyar, Rathkar, Rathod (Ravalnath), Ravut, Sandhav (Sateri), Savandekar, Shinde, Shrivankar, Sirohia, Solanki(Somnath), Sorathia (in Kathiawar), Surati, Talpankar (Ravalna th), Tingare Vaghela, Vala, Vanol [R.E. Enthoven] Exogamous units/clans: Kemaiya, Kumarha, Puraniya, Rajotra [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Hansowar, Kithwar [Orissa] Saladasi, Salsi [West Bengal] Bagh (tiger), Ban (eel), Bando (wild cat), Bans (ba mboo), Besra (hawk), Bodra, Chouria, Dhan, Gunj, Ha stuar, Hatti (elephant), Hemrom, Jalwar (net), Baroha [H.H. Risl ey] Gotra: Sandilya [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Bharadwaj, Sandilya [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattis garh] Bharadwaj, Goutam, Kashyap, Sandilya, Vasisht, Vatsa [W. Crooke] Exogamous units/lineages (gusthi): [West Bengal] Exogamous units/lineages (vans, khandan): [Bihar an d/or Jharkhand]

http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Lohar/Luhar

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

January 5, 2017

↧

Indus Script hypertext of mint wealth accounting ledger on a Vaiśāli seal

January 5, 2018, 4:40 pm

≫ Next: Challenge of matching Indus Script hypertexts & identifying tin isotope fingerprints of Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa

≪ Previous: Narrative Indus Script hypertexts on Mohenjo-daro tablet m480, metalwork wealth accounting ledgers

https://tinyurl.com/ybkpzmsb

Seal. Vaiśāli dated to around Mauryan-Shunga period

The symbols are NOT from Brāhmī Kharoṣṭhī syllabay.

I suggest that the hieroglyphs constitute Indus Script hypertext, perhaps of a mint.

khareḍo a currycomb (G.) rebus: kharādī' turner' (Gujarati); karaḍaकरड 'hard alloy' (Marathi)

karṇakaकर्णक m. 'rim of jar' rebus: karṇaka 'helmsman'; karṇī, karṇīka kāraṇīka 'supecargo, a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale, accountant'

khāṇḍā m 'A jag, notch' rebus: khāṇḍa, khaṇḍa.'implements' PLUS. bhaṭa'rimless vessel' rebus: bhaṭa'furnace'; thus, together, furnace for metal implements.

The message is wealth accounting ledgers of a mint: implements furnace, hard alloy (turner), supercargo/helmsman.

S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
January 6, 2017

8000 Indus Script hypertexts discussed in the following volumes:

↧

Challenge of matching Indus Script hypertexts & identifying tin isotope fingerprints of Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa

January 5, 2018, 5:19 pm

≫ Next: Indus Script hypertexts of cobrahood & archer on Gudimallam Śivalinga

≪ Previous: Indus Script hypertext of mint wealth accounting ledger on a Vaiśāli seal

https://tinyurl.com/ybg3auhg

Tin isotope fingerprints of ore deposits and ancient bronze -- Briggman et al
https://www.academia.edu/35375020/Tin_isotope_fingerprints_of_ore_deposits_and_ancient_bronze

I suggest that such tin isotope fingerprints of ore deposits from Mekong, Irrawaddy and Salween Himalayan river valleys should be identified to resolve the problem of sources of tin for the Tin-Bronze revolution from 4th millennium BCE. I suggest this because the largest tin belt of the globe in these river valleys may explain an Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa, which predated Silk Road by 2 millennia.

These studies should invole tin-bvronze artifacts of tin ingots of Haifa shipwreck, Dong Son/Karen Bronze drum tympanums and ANE tin-bronze artifacts. The evidence of over 8000 inscriptions with Indus Script hypertexts including those on the three pure tin ingots of Haifa shipwreck can be matched.

Kalyanaraman

Tin Road between Ashur-Kultepe and Meluhha hieroglyphs

I suggest that early 3^rd millennium BCE Bronze-age, Meluhhans were involved in the tin trade for tin-bronzes, between Ashur and Kultepe and used Meluhha language of Indian linguistic area, to represent their merchandise as hieroglyphs. A lineage of the Assur can be traced to Assur (Munda), metal explorers and metal workers par excellence, in India.

After Fig. 8.1 Map of the Near East in the time of the Old-Assyrian colonies (Aubet, Maria Eugenia, 2013, Commerce and colonization in the ancient near East, Cambridge University Press, p.269)

Meluhha colonies in Ancient Near East

“...the point of intersection between the two great trading networks of Mesopotamia and the Indus, along which the lapis lazuli and the chlorite vessels passed and which no doubt operated through various intermediary centres like Aratta and Tepe Yahya. This would explain the appearance at the same dates in central Asia of a host of fortified centres engaged in lapis lazuli and turquoise production, as in Dashly, where a palace showing traces of metal production and of contacts with Harappa and Mesopotamia through Iran was discovered. Leaving aside Tepe Yahya, Susa, the Indus and the Persian Gulf, it is certain that all this wealth flowed into Sumer and, in particular, to the city of Ur. The prosperous urban centre of Shar-i-Sokhta (or Shahr-Sokteh) sitting on the caravan route between Elam and Sumer bears witness to a high degree of specialisation in the working of semi-precious stones. The craftsmen of the place imported the stone raw – lapis lazuli, turquoise and cornelian – and worked and polished it for export. Some Sumerian texts allude to the acquisition of lapis lazuli and gold in Meluhha (the Indus valley), which suggests simultaneous use of the sea route through the Persian Gulf. Many of these trans-regional routes must have been very ancient and left traces in the collective memory of Sumer and Akkad in the form of heroic myths with couriers who come and go and ‘carry lapis lazuli and silver from the mountains. In another Sumerian myth about Enki and Ninhursag, the country of Dilmun (the modern island of Bahrein) figures as the main transit point for merchandise from the Gulf and as a clear alternative to the overland route through Yahya and Susa. Dilmun-style seals have been discovered in Tepe Yahya, as have weights from the Indus in Bahrein. The Sumerian texts are unanimous in stressing timber as one of the principal commodities from Meluhha/Harappa and they allude to the existence of a ‘colony’ of merchants from Meluhha in the territory of Lagash. In Qala’at al Bahrein, a fortified town on the north coast of Bahrein with temples and a surrounding necropolis with tumuli, evidence of contacts with the Indus is seen in the presence of seals, systems of weights and pottery from Meluhha, with signs of the presence of a community of merchants from the Indus in Dilmun. Elsewhere, on the fortified site of Al-Maysar, local production of copper is combined with a local chlorite vessel industry and the importing of Mohenjo Daro-style seals. In exchange, Dilmun imported Mesopotamian cereals and textiles...karum at Kanesh in Cappadocia. The long stay of these colonists and merchants in Anatolia stimulated great creativity in the business sphere, in the drawing up of contracts and mercantile protocols...the Assyrian karu in Anatolia formed part of the provinces of the Assyrian empire, and in Landsberger’s opinion, they had functioned as colonies of merchants dependent on Assur.” (Aubet, Maria Eugenia, 2013, Commerce and colonization in the ancient near East, Cambridge University Press, p.191, 266, 268).

Clay find with impression of a cylinder seal and containing a tablet from Kanesh and a bulla from Acemhoyuk with impression of a seal (from Ozguc, 1969: 253).

“In the time of King Ziri-Lin of Mari (ca. 1780-1760BCE), the chief centres for the transit of tin to the West were the cities of Sippar, Eshnunna and Susa. Before that, however, the city of Assur was responsible for the supply of metal to the regions in the West and south. In the days of Hammurabi, the Babylonin merchants were still going north to buy tin. It is known that there were rich deposits of tin in the Kardagh Mountains in northeastern Iran, east of Tabriz, and also in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. In a letter from the time of Samshi-Adad I, it is stated that large quantities of tin could be got in Susarra in the plain of Rania in Iran, an important commercial centre on the road from Tabriz to Assur…We only know that in the time of level Ib in Kanesh (ca. 1800-1776BCE), the export of tin to Kanesh was interrupted, probably because of the closure of the Zagros route when Susarra was destroyed and abandoned. The Kanesh correspondence reveals a considerable volume of tin dispatched to Anatolia during the second period of the karum. Veenhof has calculated that over a period of some sixty years, a total of 27,000 minas – that is some 450 talents – of tin, equivalent to 13.5 tons, was dispatched to Kanesh; this would be equivalent to some 80 tons during the whole of the colonial period and to some 200 caravans carrying tin on the backs of mules from Assur to Kanesh. However, a Old-Assyrian tablet preserved in Berlin would double that quantity because it mentions a lod of 410 talents of tin transported in a single caravan, the property of the merchant Imdilum.” (Aubet, opcit., p.292).

Reconstruction of the gate and walls of Assur (after drawing by Walter Andrae, 1938, from Marzahn, Joachim and Beate Salje, 2003, Again getting instant Assur, Savern: fig. 4)

Karum could be from a substrate language: e.g. कारकुन [ kārakuna ] m ( P A factor, agent, or business-man.) A clerk, scribe, writer. सवा हात लेखणीचा का0 A term of ironical commendation for a clerk. कारु [ kāru ] m (S) An artificer or artisan. 2 A common term for the twelve बलुतेदार q. v. Also कारुनारु m pl q. v. in नारुकारु. (Marathi)

The streams of water flowing the naked, bearded person are the signature tune of the times in Ancient Near East. This glyptic or overflowing pot held by Gudea, appears on hundreds of cylinder seals and friezes of many sites.

Overflowing water from a pot is a recurrent motif in Sumer-Elam-Mesopotamian contact areas – a motif demonstrated to be of semantic significance in the context of lapidary-metallurgy life activity of the artisans.

The rebus readings are:

కాండము [ kāṇḍamu ] kānḍamu. [Skt.] n. Water. నీళ్లు (Telugu) kaṇṭhá -- : (b) ʻ water -- channel ʼ: Paš. kaṭāˊ ʻ irrigation channel ʼ, Shum. xãṭṭä. (CDIAL 14349). kāṇḍa ‘flowing water’ Rebus: kāṇḍā ‘metalware, tools, pots and pans’. lokhaṇḍ (overflowing pot) ‘metal tools, pots and pans, metalware’ lokhãḍ ‘overflowing pot’ Rebus: ʻtools, iron, ironwareʼ (Gujarati) Rebus: लोखंड lokhaṇḍ Iron tools, vessels, or articles in general. lo ‘pot to overflow’. Gu<loRa>(D)  {} ``^flowing strongly''.

கொட்டம்¹ koṭṭam Flowing, pouring; நீர் முதலியன ஒழுகுகை. கொடுங்காற் குண்டிகைக் கொட்ட மேய்ப்ப (பெருங். உஞ்சைக். 43, 130) கொட்டம் koṭṭam < gōṣṭha. Cattle- shed (Tamil)

koṭṭam flowing, pouring (Tamil). Ma. koṭṭuka to shoot out, empty a sack. ? Te. koṭṭukonipōvu to be carried along by stream or air current.(DEDR 2065).

Gudea’s link with Meluhha is clear from the elaborate texts on the two cylinders describing the construction of the Ninĝirsu temple in Lagash. An excerpt: 1143-1154. Along with copper, tin, slabs of lapis lazuli, refined silver and pure Meluḫa cornelian, he set up (?) huge copper cauldrons, huge …… of copper, shining copper goblets and shining copper jars worthy of An, for laying (?) a holy table in the open air …… at the place of regular offerings (?). Ninĝirsu gave his city, Lagaš

Chlorite vessel found at Khafajeh: Ht 11.5 cm. 2,600 BCE, Khafajeh, north-east of Baghdad (Photo from pg. 69 of D. Collon's 1995 Ancient Near Eastern Art).

Impressions of seals on tablets from Kanesh (After Larsen, Mogens Trolle and Moller Eva, Five old Assyrian texts, in: D. Charpin - Joannès F. (ed.), Marchands, Diplomates et Empereurs. Études sur la civilization Mésopotamienne offertes à Paul Garelli (Éditions research sur les Civilisations), Paris, 1991, pp. 214-245: figs. 5,6 and 10.)

Karum meant literally ‘quay’ or ‘port’ for river trading or transport activities.

Durhumid, the old Assyrian colony (northeast of Kanesh) was rich in copper deposits, the exploitation of which depended on arrival of tin from Assur. Copper of Assur came from the mines of Magan (Persian Gulf) and from the third millennium BCE, Dilmun is referred to as a place of transit perhaps from Gulf, Arabia and the Indus valley (Meluhha). A Ur text refers to one consignment of over 18 tons of copper arriving by ship from Magan. Texts document the intensive trade with Dilmun from the start of the second millennium BCE with southern Mesopotamian merchants travelling to obtain copper, cornelian and ivory. These merchandise arrived in the north of Mesopotamia through Sumer and intermediaries. (Eidem and Hojlund, 1993, Trade of diplomacy? Assyria and Dilmun in the 18^th century BCE, World Archaeology 24 (1993): 441-442). Larsen notes how old Assyrian monarchs attracted those merchants from south who went to Assur to sell copper and Akkadian cloth in exchange for tin (Larsen, MT, 1976, The Old Assyrian City-state and its Colonies, Mesopotamia 4, Copenhagen: 78).

“For some 200 years (ca. 1974-1776 BCE), the Kanesh karum was at once the main colony, the headquarters of the Anatolian branch of family firms in Assur and the administrative centre for the whole Old-Assyrian commercial circuit. Once the first tablets were known, we understood that one institution, thekarum, had played a central part in managing Assyrian external trade. In Anatolia, the term karum has a dual meaning: topographical – commercial colony and district where the merchant community resides – and organizational – organism that manages the activity of the merchants abroad. The Old-Assyrian texts make it quite clear that the lower city in Kanesh was a karum, inhabited by a permanent colony of merchants and managed by a corporate structure with executive, judicial and fiscal powers. In that sense, the karum represents the merchant community; in other words, that part of the population of Assur removed to Anatolia…the Old-Assyrian karu possessed a pyramidal and hierarchical organization because all the colonies depended on the authority of the central karum, situated in Kanesh…The Old-Assyrian karum was a multi-ethnic community. A large part of the Kanesh karum was inhabited by Anatolians. Their dwellings have been identified with their archives written in a Old-Assyrian dialect. According to the documentation, however, these residents did not acquire imported commodities but acted as moneylenders in the buying and selling of slaves and grain. They probably operated on the margins of the Assyrian commercial activity and we do not know the status of these native traders residing in the lower city…A common trading practice in Kanesh was to entrust batches of merchandise to employees of the commercial firm or to a commercial agent, the tamkarum, who sold it in distant parts of the country. The tamkarum acted as a kind of commission agent or commercial traveler who had to reimburse to the owner the value of the merchandise consigned to him on credit. For that, he signed – that is to say, sealed – a document in the form of an acknowledgement of debt, in which the quantity owed was specified in silver and also the terms of the payment or refund. This is the type of contract that figures most frequently in the Kanesh archives…Tin was a commodity of huge strategic value to the Anatolian kingdoms, whereas Assyrian priorities were silver and the security and stability of the routes, which only the local authorities could guarantee…(The two communities – Anatolian and Assyrian) certainly had the benefit of bilingual interpreters and, as some of the letters show, some of the Anatolians could write in cuneiform Assyrian, naturally with mistakes in translation. It is known that the Assyrians often called the Anatolians nu’aum, which means ‘silly, stupid’, an expression typical of people who think themselves superior.”(Aubet, Maria Eugenia, Commerce and colonization in the ancient Near East, p.331, 337, 344, 345).

Seal of Imdilum, a leading merchant of Kanesh (from Ichisar, Metin, 1981, Les Archives cappadociennes du marchand Imdilum (Recherche sur les grandes civilisations) (French Edition) by Metin Ichisar ,1981, Paris, Editions ADPF: fig. 2). “The firm had numerous collaborators, associates and scribes and it is known that it bought huge quantities of tin and textiles on Imdilum’s account. One case alludes to the dispatch of a caravan consisting of seven mules carrying eight talents and forty minas of tin for the two partners, Imdilum and Pusu-ken…On two occasions, Imdilum sends a talent of silver (30 kg) to Assur to buy tin, when we know of Assyrian merchants who needed a whole lifetime to accumulate one talent of silver! There is likewise a mention of a load of fifty-seven talents of tin for Imdilum, bought in Assur for four talents of silver and sold in the Anatolian market for eight talents of silver. These are undoubtedly huge sums, so we can consider Imdilum to be a genuine millionaire in his day.”(pp.353-355).

Images on many cylinder seals of ancient Near East were Meluhha hieroglyphs. (S. Kalyanaraman, 2013,Meluhha—A visible language Herndon, Sarasvati Research Center). Rebus readings provide new light on the ancient Tin Road between Ashur and Kultepe, Turkey which has yielded over 20,000 cuneiform tablets of merchants’ letters.

Cylinder seal. Provenience: KhafajeKh. VII 256 Jemdet Nasr (ca. 3000 - 2800 BCE) Frankfort, Henri: Stratified Cylinder Seals from the Diyala Region. Oriental Institute Publications 72. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, no. 34.

karaḍa ‘panther’; karaḍa tiger (Pkt); खरडा [ kharaḍā ] A leopard. खरड्या [ kharaḍyā ] m or खरड्यावाघ m A leopard (Marathi). Kol. keḍiak tiger. Nk. khaṛeyak panther. Go. (A.) khaṛyal tiger; (Haig) kariyāl panther Kui kṛāḍi, krānḍi tiger, leopard, hyena. Kuwi (F.) kṛani tiger; (S.) klā'ni tiger, leopard; (Su. P. Isr.) kṛaˀni (pl. -ŋa) tiger. / Cf. Pkt. (DNM) karaḍa- id. (DEDR 1132).

Pkt. karaḍa -- m. ʻ crow ʼ, °ḍā -- f. ʻ a partic. kind of bird ʼ; S. karaṛa -- ḍhī˜gu m. ʻ a very large aquatic bird ʼ; L. karṛā m., °ṛī f. ʻ the common teal ʼ(CDIAL 2787). Rebus: karaḍa ‘hard alloy’.

Allographs: Pk. karaḍa -- m. ʻ safflower ʼ; M. karḍī, °ḍaī f. ʻ safflower, Carthamus tinctorius and its seed ʼ (CDIAL 2788). Pk. karaṁḍa -- m.n. ʻ bone shaped like a bamboo ʼ, karaṁḍuya -- n. ʻ backbone ʼ (CDIAL 2670). S. karaṅgho, kaṇgho m. ʻbackbone, ridgepole ʼ; P. karaṅg m. ʻ skeleton ʼ (→ H. karaṅg m. ʻ skull, rib ʼ); N. karaṅ ʻ rib, rafter ʼ, karaṅge ʻ like a skeleton ʼ;with unexpl. ā: (CDIAL 2784).

Ka. mēke she-goat; mē the bleating of sheep or goats. Te. mē̃ka, mēka goat. Kol. me·ke id. Nk. mēke id. Pa. mēva, (S.) mēya she-goat. Ga. (Oll.)mēge, (S.) mēge goat. Go. (M) mekā, (Ko.) mēka id. ? Kur. mēxnā (mīxyas) to call, call after loudly, hail. Malt. méqe to bleat. [Te. mr̤ēka (so correct) is of unknown meaning. Br. mēḻẖ is without etymology; see MBE 1980a.] / Cf. Skt. (lex.) meka- goat. (DEDR 5087). Meluhha, mleccha (Akkadian. Sanskrit). Milakkha, Milāca ‘hillman’ (Pali) milakkhu ‘dialect’ (Pali) mleccha ‘copper’ (Prakrit).

Ta. takar sheep, ram, goat, male of certain other animals (yāḷi, elephant, shark). Ma. takaran huge, powerful as a man, bear, etc. Ka. tagar, ṭagaru,ṭagara, ṭegaru ram. Tu. tagaru, ṭagarů id. Te. tagaramu, tagaru id. / Cf. Mar. tagar id. (DEDR 3000). Allograph: tagaraka ‘tabernae montana’ fragrant tulip (Sanskrit) Rebus: tagara ‘tin’ (Kannada): Ta. takaram tin, white lead, metal sheet, coated with tin. Ma. takaram tin, tinned iron plate. Ko. tagarm (obl. tagart-) tin. Ka. tagara, tamara, tavaraid. Tu. tamarů, tamara, tavara id. Te. tagaramu, tamaramu, tavaramu id. Kuwi (Isr.) ṭagromi tin metal, alloy. / Cf. Skt. tamara- id.(DEDR 3001).

kund opening in the nave or hub of a wheel to admit the axle (Santali)

Ka. kunda a pillar of bricks, etc. Tu. kunda pillar, post. Te. kunda id. Malt. kunda block, log. ? Cf. Ta. kantu pillar, post.(DEDR 1723).

Br. kōnḍō on all fours, bent double. (DEDR 204a) khōṇḍa A stock or stump (Marathi); ‘leafless tree’ (Marathi). khoṇḍ square (Santali) khoṇḍ 'young bull-calf' (Marathi) कोंड [kōṇḍa] A circular hamlet; a division of a मौजा or village, composed generally of the huts of one caste (possibly, a turner’s hamlet)(Marathi). Ku. koṭho ʻlarge square houseʼ Rebus: kõdār ’turner’ (Bengali); kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’(Bengali). कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) khū̃ṭ ‘community, guild’ (Mu.);kunḍa ‘consecrated fire-pit’.

kāṇḍa ‘flowing water’ Rebus: kāṇḍā ‘metalware, tools, pots and pans’.

kul ‘tiger’ (Santali); kōlu id. (Telugu) kōlupuli = Bengal tiger (Te.) कोल्हा [ kōlhā ] कोल्हें [kōlhēṃ] A jackal (Marathi) Rebus: kole.l 'temple, smithy' (Kota.) kol = pañcalōha, a metallic alloy containing five metals (Tamil): copper, brass, tin, lead and iron (Sanskrit); an alternative list of five metals: gold, silver, copper, tin (lead), and iron (dhātu; Nānārtharatnākara. 82; Mangarāja’s Nighaṇṭu. 498)(Kannada) kol, kolhe, ‘the koles, iron smelters speaking a language akin to that of Santals’ (Santali)

Bronze Mycenean dagger with scene of warriors fighting lions done in gold, silver, and niello. (1500-1200BC)

Mycenaean dagger inlaid with niello, gold violence some with lilies (strong Minoan influence)http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/object-identification/deck/2349995

“Lion as both hunter and hunted” (detail of two sides of niello dagger blade)

Mycenae, Circle A, Shaft Grave IV. LH I, c. 1600-1500 BCE. http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/arth-3110-final/deck/2825141

Tin bronzes appear in the Levant at the end of third millennium BCE. An early Minoan III dagger analyzed by Buccholz was a true tin bronze.

Cappacodian tablets were evidence of trade in tin from Ashur to Kultepe. Later Mari became the tin route from Elam to the Levant. Akkadian word, annaku was translated variously as ‘lead’ or ‘tin’. It might also have denoted bronze ingots or torques/rings.

Buchholz, H.G., 1967, Analysen prahistorischer Metallfunde aus Zypern und den Nachbarlandern.Berliner Jahrbuch fur Vor und Frithgeschichte U:189-256.

Source: Dayton, JE, 1971, The problem of tin in the ancient world, in: World Archaeology, Vol. 3, No. 1, Technological Innovations, June 1971, pp. 49-70.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/124202

Bass, George F., Throckmorton, Peter, Taylor, Joan Du Plat, Hennessy, J. B., Shulman, Alan R., Buchholz, Hans-Günter, “Cape Gelidonya: A Bronze Age Shipwreck”, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 57 (8), 1967, pp. 1-177.

In Cape Gelidonya wreck, bun ingots and also slab ingots with 7% tin (bronze) were found.

“The Assyrians who had for centuries previously traded in the region, and possibly ruled small areas bordering Assyria, now established significant colonies in Cappadocia, (e.g., at Kanesh (modern Kültepe) from 2008 BC to 1740 BC. These colonies, called karum, the Akkadian word for 'port', were attached to Hattian and Hurrian cities in Anatolia, but physically separate, and had special tax status. They must have arisen from a long tradition of trade between Assyria and the Anatolian cities, but no archaeological or written records show this. The trade consisted of metal (perhaps lead or tin; the terminology is not entirely clear) and textiles from Assyria, that were traded for precious metals in Anatolia.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria

“Archaeologists now present evidence that dates the earliest international trade convoys to 2700 B.C. This trade of 5,000 years ago involved cargos of tin, brought from the mountains of Afghanistan overland across Iran to the city of Eshnunna (Tel Asmar in current-day Iraq) on the Tigris river in Mesopotamia. From there the cargos were transported overland, via the city of Mari on the Euphrates, to the port of Ugarit (current-day Ras Shamra) in northern Syria, and finally from there shipped to various destinations in the Middle East. Tin was an important commodity, as it was vital ingredient in the production of bronze. The bronze alloy formulated in the eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd Millennium BC brought about a revolution in economics, civilization and warfare. At that time, there were only two known sources of tin in the world: Afghanistan and Anatolia. Anatolian tin was used locally and the surplus was exported. The increased demand for tin for bronze production opened up trade with Afghanistan, and thus the first known trade route, the Tin Road, was born…Anatolia's connection with the Tin and Silk roads was not overland, but through its Mediterranean ports. The harbors on the Mediterranean coast were important junction points on this trade route. A route from the Syrian port of Ugarit passed through modern-day Antakya to Adana in Turkey. Tin mined in the Taurus mountains of southern Turkey was brought here for sale as well. In time, this route extended inland to Konya, by way of Niğde, eventually reaching as far as the Asian shore of the Bosphorus.THE ASSYRIAN TRADE ROADIn the 2nd Millennium BC, a well-developed trade route between Anatolia and Mesopotamia was used by Assyrian merchants. About 500 years after the establishment of the Tin Road, a second trade route developed, still in use today. It originated in upper Mesopotamia and reached Kayseri via Mardin, Diyarbakir and Malatya. Created by Assyrian merchants who were the first to initiate trade between Anatolia and the Middle East, the route later was extended from Kayseri south to Niğde and north to Sivas. It eventually connected to Persia and was responsible for making Kayseri a leading trading center of the age. ” http://www.turkishhan.org/trade.htm

Technological advances in sailing and ship building were almost certainly developed and exploited in this highly competitive environment. Iconographical evidence and the evidence of stone anchors suggest that the large round-hulled merchant ships of the type familiar from a painting in the 18th Dynasty tomb of Kenamun in Egypt and from the remains of the 14th century BC Uluburun wreck (replica shown here) were already plying the East Mediterranean in the Middle Bronze Age. It is probably only a matter of time before the wreck of a Middle Bronze Age cargo ship, similar to that of Uluburun off the coast of southern Turkey, is found.

A particularly important phenomenon of the Middle Bronze Age period (already referred to in passing) was the foundation of the Old Assyrian trading centre at Kültepe-Kanesh in Central Anatolia, where the textual archive tells us of a network of larger and smaller trading stations (karums and wabartums) throughout central Anatolia and northern Syria. This must have some bearing, directly or indirectly, on the maritime centres of the northern Levant, but its effects on these have rarely been explored.

Although the claims of Kestel, as opposed to much more distant sources in Afghanistan, to have supplied tin in the Middle Bronze Age are still the subject of heated debate, lead isotope analysis of tin ingots from the later Uluburun shipwreck points to the source of this tin being in the Taurus mountains, as does isotopic analysis by Seppi Lehner of a crucible from recent excavations in the workshop quarter of Tell Atchana (Alalakh) in the Amuq (see also Yener 2003; 2007).

http://www.archatlas.org/workshop09/works09-akar.php

Ancient tin mines, with evidence of exploitation by contemporary Andronovo groups probably in the early-mid 2nd millenium, have been identified in the Zerafshan region, to the north-east (Parzinger and Boroffka 2003); and previous work suggested Afghanistan may have been a major source of tin in antiquity (Cleuziou and Berthoud 1982).

http://www.archatlas.org/workshop09/works09-wilkinson.php

Ox-hide ingots of tin and one-third a mina of tin paid to translators, say, of Meluhha, based on Marzena Chrobak findings, 'For a tin ingot: the archaeology of oral interpretation'

Ox-hide ingots of tin and one-third a mina of tin paid to translators, say, of Meluhha, based on Marzena Chrobak findings, 'For a tin ingot: the archaeology of oral interpretation'

Mirror: https://www.academia.edu/11959885/Ox-hide_ingots_of_tin_and_one-third_a_mina_of_tin_paid_to_translators_say_of_Meluhha_based_on_Marzena_Chrobak_findings_For_a_tin_ingot_the_archaeology_of_oral_interpretation

Many vivid pictorial motifs found on hundreds of cylinder seals of Bronze Age in Ancient Near East and cylinder seal impressions on hundreds of letters of Kultepe can be explained as hieroglyphs of Meluhha orally interpreted to denote metalwork, as veritable metalwork catalogs using rebus-metonymy Indus writing cypher.

See:

Mlecchas in early India -- Aloka Parasher (1991) -- A book review. Varnam blogposts. I suggest mleccha were Meluhha of 5th millennium BCE.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2015/04/mlecchas-in-early-india-aloka-parasher.html

Marzena Chrobak makes a remarkable foray into the role played by translators, eme-bal or targumannuin facilitating trade exchanges transcending language barriers in a vast area spanned by the Tin Road. I had elsewhere documented that the Tin Road extended from ancient Far East (Hanoi) to ancient Near East (Haifa).

https://www.scribd.com/doc/261952569/Chrobak-Marzena-2013-For-a-tin-ingot-the-archaeology-of-oral-interpretation-in-Przekladaniec-A-journal-of-literary-translation

Chrobak, Marzena, 2013, For a tin ingot: the archaeology of oral interpretation in: Przekladaniec. A journa...

Chrobak, Marzena, 2013, For a tin ingot: the archaeology of oral interpretation in: Przekladaniec. A journal of literary translation, Special Issue (2013): 87-101

Abstract: This paper, based on research conducted by the pioneers of the history of oral interpreting (A. Hermann, I. Kurz) in the 1950s and on modern archaeological evidence, presents the earliest references to interpreters in the Bronze Age, in the Near East and the Mediterranean area (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, Carthage). It discusses a Sumerian Early Dynastic List, a Sumerian-Eblaic glossary from Ebla, the Shu-ilishu’s Cylinder Seal, the inscriptions and reliefs from the Tombs of the Princes of Elephantine and of Horemheb, the mention of one-third of a mina of tin dispensed at Ugarit to the interpreter of Minoan merchants and the Hanno’s stele, as well as terms used by these early civilisations to denote an interpreter: eme-bal, targumannu, jmy-r(A) aw, and mls.

shu ilishu s cylinder seal 8 feb 2014 6 12 am

Shu-ilishu cylinder seal of eme-bal, interpreter. Akkadian. Cylinder seal Impression. Inscription records that it belongs to ‘S’u-ilis’u, Meluhha interpreter’, i.e., translator of the Meluhhan language (EME.BAL.ME.LUH.HA.KI) The Meluhhan being introduced carries an goat on his arm. Musee du Louvre. Ao 22 310, Collection De Clercq 3^rd millennium BCE. The Meluhhan is accompanied by a lady carrying a kamaṇḍalu. The goat on the trader's hand is a phonetic determinant -- that he is Meluhha. This is decrypted based on the word for the goat: mlekh 'goat' (Brahui); mr..eka 'goat' (Telugu) Rebus: mleccha'copper' (Samskritam); milakkhu 'copper' (Pali) Thus the sea-faring merchant carrying the goat is a copper (and tin) trader from Meluhha. The jar carried by the accompanying person is a liquid measure:ranku 'liquid measure' Rebus: ranku 'tin'. A hieroglyph used to denote ranku may be seen on the two pure tin ingots found in a shipwreck in Haifa.

That Pali uses the term ‘milakkhu’ is significant (cf. Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10.16) and reinforces the concordance between ‘mleccha’ and ‘milakkhu’ (a pronunciation variant) and links the language with ‘meluhha’ as a reference to a language in Mesopotamian texts and in the cylinder seal of Shu-ilishu. [Possehl, Gregory, 2006, Shu-ilishu’s cylinder seal, Expedition, Vol. 48, No. 1http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/48-1/What%20in%20the%20World.pdf] This seal shows a sea-faring Meluhha merchant who needed a translator to translate meluhha speech into Akkadian. The translator’s name was Shu-ilishu as recorded in cuneiform script on the seal. This evidence rules out Akkadian as the Indus or Meluhha language and justifies the search for the proto-Indian speech from the region of the Sarasvati river basin which accounts for 80% (about 2000) archaeological sites of the civilization, including sites which have yielded inscribed objects such as Lothal, Dwaraka, Kanmer, Dholavira, Surkotada, Kalibangan, Farmana, Bhirrana, Kunal, Banawali, Chandigarh, Rupar, Rakhigarhi. The language-speakers in this basin are likely to have retained cultural memories of Indus language which can be gleaned from the semantic clusters of glosses of the ancient versions of their current lingua francaavailable in comparative lexicons and nighanṭu-s.

Marzena Chrobak sites payment made to a translator: "From the Cretan thalassocracy in the second millennium BCE, I have come across only one mention of verbal communication: 'one-third a mina of tin to the translator, chief merchant among the Cretans, dispensed at Ugarit' (Sasson 1995: 1501-1521). This passage concerns Minoan merchants on the tin trade route, doing business or perhaps even permanently residing in the Hittite Ugarit, in the early Old Palace period, i.e. around the twentieth century BCE." (Chrobak, Marzena, 2013, For a tin ingot: the archaeology of oral interpretation in: Przekladaniec. A journal of literary translation, Special Issue, pp. 95-96).

Marzena Chrobak cites my reference to Meluhha as mleccha. (p.90 ibid.) I had mentioned this in my article published in 51CAANE, April 5, 2006: Kalyanaraman, S., 2006, Bronze age trade and writing system of Meluhha (Mleccha) evidenced by tin ingots from the near vicinity of Haifa (From Bronze Age Trade Workshop in 51CAANE, April 5, 206). www.ebookuniverse.net/bronze-age-trade-and-writing-system-meluhha-(mleccha)-pdf-d21820,30.05.2013

See the arguments mirrored in the following excerpts from

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/oxhide-ingots-on-indus-wranku-liquid.html:

Archaeometallurgical affirmation of the Indus writing cipher

Given the archaeological evidence for oxhide copper and tin ingots, this key argument of rebus readings of Meluhha glosses related to the hieroglyphs is archaeometallurgical reaffirmation of the cipher: Meluhha (aka Santali-Indiansprachbund) and use of the writing system on the two pure tin ingots of a shipwreck at Haifa.

23 Tin ingots in the Museum of Ancient Art of the Municipality of Haifa, Israel (left #8251, right #8252). The ingots each bear two inscribed Cypro-Minoan markings. (Note: I have argued that the inscriptions were Meluhha hieroglyphs (Indus writing) denoting ranku 'tin' dhatu 'ore'. See: The Bronze Age Writing System of Sarasvati Hieroglyphics as Evidenced by Two “Rosetta Stones” By S. Kalyanaraman in: Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies Volume 1: Number 11 (2010), pp. 47-74.)

ranku 'liquid measure'; ranku 'antelope' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali) dhatu 'cross' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral ore' (Santali).

ran:ku = tin (Santali)

• ran:ku = liquid measure (Santali)

• ran:ku a species of deer; ran:kuka (Skt.)(CDIAL 10559).

• dāṭu = cross (Te.); dhatu = mineral (Santali)

• Hindi. dhāṭnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (CDIAL 6771).

These two hieroglyphs were inscribed on two tin ingots discovered in port of Dor south of Haifa from an ancient shipwreck. They are allographs. Both are read in Meluhha (Mleccha) of Indian sprachbund: ranku ‘liquid measure’; ranku ‘antelope’.Rebus: ranku ‘tin’. An allograph to denote tin is: tagara ‘ram’ Rebus: tagara ‘tin’. Rebus: damgar ‘merchant’ (Akkadian)

tagara ‘ram’ Rebus: tagaram ‘tin’.

Ta. takar sheep, ram, goat, male of certain other animals (yāḷi, elephant, shark). பொருநகர் தாக்கற்குப் பேருந் தகைத்து (குறள், 486).Ma. takaran huge, powerful as a man, bear, etc. Ka. tagar, ṭagaru, ṭagara, ṭegaru ram. Tu. tagaru, ṭagarů id. Te. tagaramu, tagaru id. / Cf. Mar. tagar id. (DEDR 3000). Rebus 1: tagromi 'tin, metal alloy' (Kuwi) takaram tin, white lead, metal sheet, coated with tin (Ta.); tin, tinned iron plate (Ma.); tagarm tin (Ko.); tagara, tamara, tavara id. (Ka.) tamaru, tamara, tavara id. (Ta.): tagaramu, tamaramu, tavaramu id. (Te.); ṭagromi tin metal, alloy (Kuwi); tamara id. (Skt.)(DEDR 3001). trapu tin (AV.); tipu (Pali); tau, taua lead (Pkt.); tū̃ tin (P.); ṭau zinc, pewter (Or.); tarūaum lead (OG.); tarvũ (G.); tumba lead (Si.)(CDIAL 5992). Rebus 2: damgar ‘merchant’.

tagaraka tabernae montana (Skt.) Rebus: tagara ‘tin’ (Ka.)

ranku ‘antelope’Rebus: ranku = tin (santali)

tagara ‘ram’ Rebus: tagaram ‘tin’.

ranku ‘liquid measure’. Rebus: ranku ‘tin’ (Cassiterite) (Santali)

ranga = tin (Kur.)

Another tin ingot with comparable Indus writing was reported by Artzy:

Fig. 4 Inscribed tin ingot with a moulded head, from Haifa (Artzy, 1983: 53). (Michal Artzy, 1983, Arethusa of the Tin Ingot, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, BASOR 250, pp. 51-55) https://www.academia.edu/5476188/Artzy-1983-Tin-Ignot

The two hieroglyphs incised which compare with the two pure tin ingots discovered from a shipwreck in Haifa, the moulded head can be explained also as a Meluhha hieroglyph without assuming it to be the face of goddess Arethusa in Greek tradition: Hieroglyph: mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) Rebus: mũh ‘ingot’ (Santali). The three hieroglyphs are: ranku 'antelope' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali) ranku 'liquid measure' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali). dāṭu = cross (Te.); dhatu = mineral (Santali) Hindi. dhāṭnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (CDIAL 6771). [The 'cross' or X hieroglyph is incised on both ingots.]

Source: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/ancient-history-of-bharatam-janam-along.html

The entire Indus script copora stands validated as metalwork catalogs of Meluhha artisans/traders on the Tin Road from Hanoi to Haifa, underscoring the role played by the world’s largest Tin belt of the Far East in the revolution of the Bronze Age in Ancient Near East (also Eurasia).

Tin-Bronze Age Revolution on Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa & matching revolution of Indus Script writing system

Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/zz5fo2p

The addition of tin to copper to create bronze alloy was a revolution. The tin-bronze replaed arsenical bronze (copper + arsenic) which was a natural source and in short supply.

This Tin-Bronze Revolution is matched by the revolution of a writing system called Indus Script to document ancient India's contributions to metalwork.

As yet an unresolved mystery related to the Tin-Bronze Age Revolution is the source of tin.

I have suggested a hypothesis that 1. the supply of tin was along an Ancient Maritime Tin Route from the Tin Belt of the Globe which is in the Mekong River delta in the Far East with merchants of Ancient India acting as intermediary seafaring merchants reaching tin upto Haifa, Israel and 2. the approximate date for seafaring merchants on this Tin Route is about 2 millennia prior to the famed Silk Route.

Map showing the location of known tin deposits exploited during ancient times

This hypothesis is premised on two areas of evidence: 1. Dong Son bronze drums of Vietnam and 2. Three pure tin ingots with Indus Script hieroglyphs found in a shipwreck in Haifa.

Inscribed tin ingot with a moulded head, from Haifa (Artzy, 1983: 53). (Michal Artzy, 1983, Arethusa of the Tin Ingot, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, BASOR 250, pp. 51-55) https://www.academia.edu/5476188/Artzy-1983-Tin-Ignot
Tin ingots in the Museum of Ancient Art of the Municipality of Haifa, Israel (left #8251, right #8252). The ingots each bear two inscribed Cypro-Minoan markings. (Note: I have argued that the inscriptions were Meluhha hieroglyphs (Indus writing) denoting ranku 'tin' dhatu 'ore'. See: The Bronze Age Writing System of Sarasvati Hieroglyphics as Evidenced by Two “Rosetta Stones” By S. Kalyanaraman in: Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies Volume 1: Number 11 (2010), pp. 47-74.)

"Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang have shown a flourishing bronzeworking tradition which may predate the mid-fourth millennium B.C. The earliest analysed find from Ban Chiang—a dagger which dates to about 3600 B.C.contains 2.5% tin (determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy), a figure which indicates a deliberate alloy. By 3000 B.C., ancient metalsmiths in Thailand were producing good bronze with about a 10% tin content and were competently handling casting, coldworking and annealing. The early production of bronze in Thailand may eventually be found to have some relationship with the development of alloying techniques in the Near East." http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/tin-in-the-ancient-near-east/ Tin in the Ancient Near East Old Questions and New Finds By: Robert Maddin and Tamara Stech Wheeler and James D. Muhly Expedition, Winter 1997

About the finds of two tin ingots in a Haifa shipwreck, R. Maddin, T. Wheeler and JD Muhly noted: “…it is probable that, both metals necessary in the making of bronze, were distributed by an administrative complex centred on Cyprus. Although the source of the tin is unknown, it passed through Cyprus where it received the markings, which are also found on some copper ingots of LBA date.” (Maddin et al, 1977: 46). While the markings may have been made in Cyprus, the script hieroglyphs incised on the two ingots are Meluhha hieroglyphs commonly found in Indus Script corpora. “A few years later, Artzy (1983:52) published two more ingots, which were found in a car workshop in Haifa, where they were being used for soldering broken radiators. The new ingots were not only identical in size and shape with the previous two, but they were also engraved with two marks. In fact, one of the ingots had identical marks to one of the earlier discovered ones (Artzy, 1983: 52). The four ingots, therefore, were rightly identified as belonging to the same group or cargo of a ship. There was one difference, however, and that was the presence of a moulded head on one of the two ingots, which clearly had been produced when the ingot was cast (Fig.4). On stylistic grounds Artzy (1983: 52) dated the figure to the fifth century BCE and identified her as Arethusa, a fountain goddess who appears on Syracusan coins of this period. She then proceeded to search for the engraved symbols on syllabaries of the fifth century BCE which led her to suggest that the symbols may in fact be Iberian (Artzy, 1983:53). She, therefore, cautiously suggested that the ingots might have been produced in Iberia, sometime in the first quartr of the 5^th century BCE (Artzy, 1983:54). I have not located any pubished reactions to this proposition, which refuted both the Late Bronze Age date of the tin ingots, and the allocation of the marks to the Cypro-Minoan script.” (Vasiliki Kassianidou, The trade of tin and the island of copper, in: Alessandra Giumlia-Mair, Fulvia Lo Schiavo (eds.), The problem of early tin, BAR International Series 1199, 2003, pp. 112-113).https://www.academia.edu/4038201/The_trade_of_tin_and_the_island_of_copper

Decipherment of Indus Script on Haifa tin ingots

The two hieroglyphs incised which compare with the two pure tin ingots discovered from a shipwreck in Haifa, the moulded head can be explained also as a Meluhha hieroglyph without assuming it to be the face of goddess Arethusa in Greek tradition: Hieroglyph: mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) Rebus: mũh ‘ingot’ (Santali). The three hieroglyphs are: ranku 'antelope' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali) ranku 'liquid measure' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali). dāṭu = cross (Te.); dhatu = mineral (Santali) Hindi. dhāṭnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (CDIAL 6771). [The 'cross' or X hieroglyph is incised on both ingots.]

Evaluating this Herodotus text to determine the sources of tin in Athens, James D. Muhly notes: "...it is nonetheless unlikely that we shall ever have exact knowledge about the sources of the tin being used to supply Minoan Crete or Mycenaean Greece...Of greater relevance is the revival of the concept of metallogenic provinces and the formation of metallic belts --copper belts, lead-zinc belts and tin-tungsten belts -- extending over wide areas, as part of the on-going research on plate tectonics and theories of continental drift. What this means for the archaeologist is that mineral deposition is unlikely to have taken place in random, isolated deposits and that theories positing the existence of such deposits are to be regarded with great skepticism. Most important of all is the absolute geological principle that tin is to be found only in association with granite rock. The concentration of tin varies within any single granite formation and among different formations, depending upon local conditions and geological heritage, but without granite there is no possibility of tin ever having been present. Therefore, large areas of the world are automatically ruled out as possible sources of tin. The island of Cyprus is one of these areas; since there is no granite there, it never could have contained deposits of tin...Tin is commonly present in association with pegmatites of quartz and feldspar. Like gold, the tin is found within veins of quartz running through the granite rock. The difference is that while gold occurs as a native metal, tin appears in the form of an oxide (SnO2) known as cassiterite. This cassiterite, again like gold, was frequently exposed and freed from its host through weathering and degradation of the quartz and granite. This degradation was often the result of action by water, the cassiterite (and gold) thus taking the form of small lumps or nuggets present in the stream bed. Although carried along by the force of the current, the cassiterite (and gold), having a specific gravity because of its density, tends to sink and concentrate in the bed of the streams. In general, concentration increases with proximity to the original deposit of the tin...This stream or alluvial tin was thus to be found in the form of small black nuggets of cassiterite known as tin-stone. Recovery involved the panning of the gravel in the stream bed, separating out the cassiterite from the worthless sand and gravel. The process was similar to that which must have also been used to recover gold, and what was done in antiquity was probably not that different from the techniques -- and even the equipment -- used by the Forty-Niners in the great Gold Rush in California and Alaska during the mid-nineteenth century. While gold was recovered as a native metal, the tin was to be found in the form of an oxide that had to be smelted together with charcoal in order to free the oxygen and reduce the oxide to metallic tin...Words for tin...are known in Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Egyptian and Ugaritic, although not in Mycenaean Greek...Sumerian AN.NA, Akkadian annaku mean tin and all Assyriologists are in agreement on this point...Mesopotamian texts...describe the addition of AN.NA/annaku to URUDU/eru in order to produce ZABAR/siparruor, in other words, of tin to copper in order to make bronze...twenty-sixth century BCE...Tin appears in the Royal Cemetery, as at Ebla, together with gold and lapis lazuli. All three materials are to be found in Afghanistan, and it is quite possible that they did all come to Mesopotamia (and to northern Syria) via an orland route across Iran...There is as yet, no hard evidence that Sumerian tin came from Afghanistan, but such a source has long been suggested on the basis of textual and archaeological evidence-- a sugestion that up to now could only be regarded as but an interesting hypothesis because of the lack of geological evidence for the existence of tin deposits in Afghanistan...east-west movement of tin is documented in the numerous Old Assyrian texts from Kultepe, the ancient karum Kanish. Again from unspecified sources to the east, the tin was brought to Assur and from there shipped overland by donkey caravan to various Assyrian merchant colonies in Anatolia...(Afghanistan's) deposits of gold and lapis lazuli, both materials highly prized by the Sumerians during the third millennium BCE, may have led ancient prospectors to tin, which was also then exported to Sumer. It is even possible that, via Mari and Ugarit, Afghan tin was carried to Middle Minoan Crete, the land of Kaptaru..." (Muhly, James D., Sources of tin and the beginnings of bronze metallurgy, in: American Journal of Archaeology, 89 (1985), pp. 277-283, 290).

Serge Cleuziou and Thierry Berthoud made a convincing case in May 1982 for identifying the sources of tin in the Near East. Their search extended upto Afghanistan and 'the land of Meluhha'.

" In the later 4th and early 3rd millennia, greater tin values occur-5.3% in a pin from Susa B; and 5% in an axe from Mundigak III, in Afghanistan; but these are still exceptional in a period characterized by the use of arsenical copper. It is only around 2700 B.C., during Early Dynastic III in Mesopotamia, that both the number of bronze artifacts and their general tin content increase significantly. Eight metal artifacts of forty-eight in the celebrated “vase a la cachette” of Susa D are bronzes; four of them—three vases and one axe—have over 7% tin. The analyses of objects from the Royal Cemetery at Ur present an even clearer picture: of twenty-four artifacts in the Iraq Museum subjected to analysis, eight containing significant quantities of tin and five with over 8% tin can be considered true bronzes in the traditional sense...We know that the tin came from the east, but from where? Mentions in ancient texts are rare, and only one of them, dating to the time of Gudea of Lagash (2150-2111 B.C.], speaks of the tin of Meluhha. Meluhha is one of the lands east of Mesopotamia, along with Dilmun (Bahrain) and Makkan (the peninsula of Oman). Its location is still controversial, but most scholars tend to place it in Afghanistan or Pakistan. The lists of goods imported to Mesopotamia from Meluhha point to the Indus Valley and the Harappan civilization, but it is not always easy to make a distinction between those which originated in Meluhha and those which passed through Meluhha...A long-distance trade in tin is of course hypothetical...If we now turn to the “land of Meluhha,” or at least to the vast area of which parts have been identified with Meluhha, the use of tin is attested already in the late 4th or early 3rd millennium at Mundigak III in southern Afghanistan. Tin appears only in small quanities in artifacts from Shahr-i Sokhta in eastern Iran and at Tepe Yahya in southern Iran (among the sites from which artifacts were studied). In the Indus Valley, the copper-tin alloy is known at Mohenjo-Daro...Among the products attributed to Meluhha, lapis lazuli and carnelian are found in sites and tombs of the 3rd millennium. We can suggest with reasonable certainty that the tin used in Oman was in transit through Meluhha and that the most likely source was western Afghanistan...The collective indications are that western Afghanistan was the zone able to provide the tin used in Southwest Asia in the 4th and 3rd millennia. The occurrence of tin with copper ores and the signs of earl; exploitation make it obligatory for us to consider the problem of tin in direct connection with the metallurgy of copper in this region. Since our original research design was to define copper sources, the information on tin deposits was looked upon only as a complement. In order to elucidate the questions raised by our findings, a project aimed specifically at tin—its sources and metallurgy—should be organized." (Expedition, Volume 25 Issue 1 October 1982).

http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/early-tin-in-the-near-east/ Early Tin in the Near East -- A Reassessment in the Light of New Evidence from Western Afghanistan By: Serge Cleuziou and Thierry Berthoud

The largest tin belt of the globe is Southeast Asia. Tin-bronze revolution of ca. 5th millennium BCE can be explained by postulating a Tin Route which linked Hanoi to Haifa, more magnificent than and rivaling the later-day Silk Road. This Tin Route of yore was traversed by Bharatam Janam.

Source: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1301/report.pdf Stanniferous ores are the key to tin-bronze revolution of 5th millennium BCE, creating the Tin Route more magnificent and stunning than the later-day Silk Road.

The task of the historian is to map this Route with Bharatam Janam at work creating the tin-bronze revolution.

Discovered in 1966 with bronze grave gifts is Ban Chiang (Thai: แหล่งโบราณคดี บ้านเชียง) an archeological site in Nong Han District,Udon Thani Province, Thailand. "Bronze making began circa 2000 BCE, as evidenced by crucibles and bronze fragments.Bronze objects include bracelets, rings, anklets, wires and rods, spearheads, axes and adzes, hooks, blades, and little bells." "White, J.C. 2008 Dating Early Bronze at Ban Chiang, Thailand. In From Homo erectus to the Living Traditions. Pautreau, J.-P.; Coupey, A.-S.; Zeitoun, V.; Rambault, E., editors. European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Chiang Mai, pp. 91-104(PDF).

Linked to this discovery is the discovery of Dong Son bronze drums in areas centered at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam. This points to the beginnings of bronze castings in the Ancient Far East. Scenes cast on to the tympanum of the drums using cire perdue (lost-wax) casting techniques are of extraordinarily remarkable skill and with some hieroglyphs paralleling the Indus Script hieroglyphs. With drums weighing upto 72 kg the quantity of copper used for each drum would have used up 1 to 7 tons of smelted copper together with the alloying of about 10% or upto .7 tons of tin.

Left to right: house depicted on a Dongson drum, Toraja houses in Sulawesi, depiction of a Tien house in Yunnan

Salavo bronze drums. Hieroglyphs: frog, peacock, elephant, palm tree.

tALa 'palm' rebus: dhALa 'large ingot'.

maraka 'peacock' (Santali. Mu.) Rebus: मारक loha 'a kind of calcining metal' (Samskritam)

Skt. mūkaka- id. (DEDR 5023) Rebus: mū̃h ‘ingot’. Muha. The quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace. (Santali) karibha 'trunk of elaphant' ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba 'iron' ib 'iron'. Hieroglyph: arka 'sun' Rebus: arka, eraka 'copper, gold, moltencast'. miṇḍāl ‘markhor’

(Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120)

Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)

maṇḍa (Sanskrit) OMarw. mīḍako m. ʻ frog ʼ, mīṁḍakī f. ʻ small frog ʼ,

G. me_ḍak, meḍ°m., me_ḍkī, meḍ° f.; M. mẽḍūk -- mukh n. ʻ frog -- like face ʼ. 1. Pa. maṇḍūka -- m., °kī -- f. ʻ frog ʼ, Pk. maṁḍū˘ka -- , °ḍūa -- , °ḍuga -- m., (CDIAL 9746) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’

(Mu.Ho.)

kaṅká m. ʻ heron ʼ VS. [← Drav. T. Burrow TPS 1945, 87; onomat. Mayrhofer EWA i 137. Drav. influence certain in o of M. and Si.: Tam. Kan. Mal. kokku ʻ crane ʼ, Tu. korṅgu, Tel. koṅga, Kuvi koṅgi, Kui kohko] Pa. kaṅka -- m. ʻ heron ʼ, Pk. kaṁka -- m., S. kaṅgu m. ʻ crane, heron ʼ (→ Bal. kang); B. kã̄k ʻ heron ʼ, Or. kāṅka; G. kã̄kṛũ n. ʻ a partic. ravenous bird ʼ; -- with o from Drav.: M. kõkā m. ʻ heron ʼ; Si. kokā, pl. kokku ʻ various kinds of crane or heron ʼ, kekī ʻ female crane ʼ, kēki ʻ a species of crane, the paddy bird ʼ (ē?).(CDIAL 2595) Ta. kokku common crane, Grus cinerea; stork, paddy bird; kuruku heron, stork, crane, bird, gallinaceous fowl, aṉṟil bird. Ma. kokku, kokkan, kocca, kuriyan paddy bird, heron; kuru heron. To.košk heron.
Ka. kokku, kokkare crane; kukku heron, crane. Tu. korṅgu crane, stork. Te. koṅga, kokkera, kokkarāyi crane; pegguru, begguru (< peru-kuru) adjutant crane. Kol. (Kin.) koŋga crane. Pa.kokkal (pl. kokkacil) id. Ga. (S) kokkāle
(pl. kokkāsil) heron; (S.2) koŋalin (pl. koŋasil), (S.3) kokalin crane. Go. (L.) koruku id. (Voc. 921); (Mu.) kokoḍal heron, duck (Voc. 870); (Ma. Ko.) koŋga crane (Voc. 874). Kui kohko paddy bird. Kuwi (S.) kongi (Ṭ.) kokoṛa crane. Br. xāxūr
demoiselle crane. / Cf. Skt. kaṅka- heron; Turner, CDIAL, no. 2595.(DEDR 2125) కొంగ (p. 0313) [ koṅga ] konga. [Tel.] n. A bird of the heron or stork kind. బకము (Telugu) Rebus: kang 'brazier' (Kashmiri)

Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel 27:12, says, "Tarshish was your (Tyre) merchant because of your many luxury goods. They gave you silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods." "The ships of Tarshish were carriers of your (Tyre's) merchandise. You were filled and very glorious in the midst of the seas. (Ezekiel 27:25)"The mountains of Wales, just north of Cornwall have been a source of all the minerals and metals listed above in Ezekiel 27:12.

http://www.globalwatchweekly.com/articlec15jul16.htm

It is likely that Tarshish was NOT the source of tin-bronzes of Ancient Near East of 4th and 3rd millennia BCE because one cuneiform text specifically refers to Meluhha as the source of tin. The oldest direct evidence of pure tin is a tin ingot from the 1300 BCE Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey which carried over 300 copper bars weighing 10 tons, and approximately 40 tin bars weighing 1 ton Another evidence comes from the three tin ingots of ca. 1200 BCE from Haifa shipwreck.

Mesopotamian EDI cuneiform texts from Ur distinguish between copper (urudu/eru) and tin=bronze (zabar/siparru). ED II/III texts from Fara (Limet 1960) mention metallic tin (AN.NA/annakum). Texts from Palace G at Ebla refer to the mixing of various ratios of 'washed' copper (a-gar(-gar)/abaru) and tin to produce bronze (Waetzoldt and Bachmann 1984; Archi 1993). The recipes are also found in the late 19th century BCE texs from Mari (Muhly 1985:282). Typical copper-tin ratios are from 6:1 to 10:1.

Two collections of cuneiform texts from Kultepe and from Mari dating to 19th and early 18th centuries BCE have references to tin trade. "These texts document a trade in which tin was moving exclusively from east to west. Arriving in Mesopotamia from the east, metallic tin was transhipped up the Euphrates to Mari, or overland to Assur. From Assur the tin (in addition to Babylonian textiles) was transported via donkey caravan to various Assyrian trading colonies such as Kanesh/Kultepe in Anatolia, where it was traded for silver and gold (Larsen 1976, 1987). From Mari, the tin was traded further west to sides in Syria and Palestine (Dossin 1970; Malamat 1971), and perhaps as far as Crete (Malamat 1971:38; Muhly 1985:282)." (p.179)

Hypothesis of an eastern source for tin; epic tale of Enmerkar and Lord of Aratta

"One text from the reign of Gudea of Lagash mentions that, in addition to lapis lazuli and carnelian, tin was also traded to Mesopotamia from the land of Meluhha. The relevant passage (Cylinder B, column XIV, lines 10-13) states that 'Gudea, the Governor of Lagash, bestowed as gifts copper, tin, blocks of lapis lazuli, [a precious metal] and bright carnelian from Meluhha. (Wilson 1996; see also Muhly 1973: 306-307). This is the only specific cuneiform reference to the trade of tin from Meluhha...'A pre-Sargonic text from Lagash published by B. Foster (1997) and described as 'a Sumerian merchant's account of the Dilmun trade' mentions obtaining from Dilmun 27.5 minas (ca. 14 kg) of an-na zabar. This phrase can be literally translated as 'tin bronze', and Foster suggested the possible reading 'tin (in/for?) bronze'...The fact that the isotopic characteristics of the Aegean tin-bronzes are so similar to those from the Gulf analyzed in this study adds further weight to the hypothesis of an eastern source for these early alloys...The possibility of tin coming from these eastern sources is supported by the occurrence of many tin deposits in modern-day Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, although evidence for tin extraction is currently limited to the central Asian sites of Karnab and Mushiston, and goes only as far back as the second millennium BCE...Yener has argued cogently against a 'on-source-for-all' model of the third millennium tin trade, and does not regard the proposed tin mining and processing in the Taurus Mountains as inconsistent with the importation of large amounts of tin into Anatolia. Taurus in production is thought to have co-existed with large-scale exchange of foreign metal in the third millennium, before the eventual 'devastation' of Anatolian tin mining operations by the availability of 'purer, already packaged, readily-available tin' from the Old Assyrian trade (Yener 2000:75)...IN particular, for regions such as Baluchistan, the Indus Valley, and the Gulf, which show significant third millennium tin-bronze use, the exclusive use of tin or tin-bronze from Afghanistan and central Asia seems highly likely. Textual sources are scarce, but highlight the trade through the Gulf linking Mesopotamia with Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun as the most common source of tin in the latter third millennium BCE, after an earlier overland Iranian tin-lapis-carnelian trade hinted at by the epic tale of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. " (pp.180-181)

Muhly, JD, 1973, Copper and tin. Transactions, The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 43: 155-535.

Muhly, J.D. (1985), "Sources of tin and the beginnings of bronze metallurgy", Journal of American Archaeology, 89 (2), pp. 275–291

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/01/meluhha-and-tracking-tin-road-after-all.html

“Almost all the third millennium BCE cuneiform texts from southern Mesopotamia which mention specific toponyms as copper sources speak of copper from either Magan or Dilmun (T. F. Potts 1994:Table 4.1). Meluhha, the third polity of the Lower Sea, is mentioned only rarely as a copper supplier, and then for amounts of only a few kilograms (Leemans 1960:161). The common association of Meluhha with the supply of carnelian, lapis lazuli, gold, precious woods, and especially ivory, suggests that the toponym is to be

related to the region between the Makran coast and Gujarat, encompassing sites of the Indus civilization (Heimpel 1993).” (p.15)

“Mesopotamia, as has often been stated, lacked resources. Its lack of metal ores required this world, at times, independent city-states and, at other times, empire, to look to distant lands in order to procure its metal/ores. Mesopotamian technology, however, was not a form of administrative or scribal concern. When it came to metal technology written texts offer limited information and are all but silent on the training, organization, and recruitment of metal smiths. Similarly, the texts are vague, or more typically silent, as to the geographical provenience from whence they obtained their metal/ore, its quantity, quality, price, or techniques of fabrication. It is left to the archaeologist and the recovered metal artifacts, workshops, associated tools, and mines, to address these questions...Decades ago VG Childe placed metallurgy on the top of his list of important crafts. He maintained that the development of early civilizations was a consequence of the invention of metallurgy (Childe 1930). Bronze-working, he believed, encouraged the manufacture of tools, which in turn led to more productive agriculture, and the growth of cities. Seventy-five years ago, Childe (1930:39) could point out that ‘Other documents from Mesopotamia, also written in the wedge-like characters called cuneiform, refer to the importation of copper from the mountainous region east of the Tigris and of metal and stones from Magan (probably Oman on the Persian Gulf)”…(Lloyd Weeks) introduces us to a new corpus of metal artifacts from the United Arab Emirates. Surprisingly, a significant percentage of these metals, recovered from the site of Tell Abraq, are tin-bronzes…his volume offers an up-to-date review of the enduring ‘tin-problem’ within the context of the greater Near East. Again, Childe (1928: 157) confronted the problem: ‘The Sumerians drew supplies of copper from Oman, from the Iranian Plateau, and even from Anatolia, but the source of their tin remains unknown’…(Lloyd Weeks) states ‘…the absolute source of the metal (tin-bronze) is likely to have been far to the north and east of Afghanistan or central Asia’. The central Asian source has been given reality by the recent discovery in Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan of Bronze Age settlements and mines involved in tin production (Parzinger and Boroffka 2003).” (From CC Lamberg-Karlovsky’s Foreword in: Weeks, Lloyd R., 2003, Early metallurgy of the Persian Gulf –Technology, trade and the bronze age world, Brill Academic Publishers, Boston, pp. vii-viii).

See full text: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4BAzCi4O_l4aWVMWVFHY25oMGs/edit?usp=sharing Early metallurgy of the Persian Gulf

Map showing major sites in the Near East

"Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12% tin and often with the addition of other metals (such as aluminium,
manganese, nickel or zinc) and sometimes non-metals or metalloids such as arsenic, phosphorus or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time; everywhere it gradually spread across regions." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze

"The Bronze Age is a time period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copperand alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BCE. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Copper ageserving as a transition. Although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic from outside the region...Bronze was independently discovered in the Maykop culture of the North Caucasus as early as the mid-4th millennium BC, which makes them the producers of the oldest known bronze. However, the Maykop culture only had arsenical bronze. Other regions developed bronze and its associated technology at different periods." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age

Map of the diffusion of metallurgy. in Europe and Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest. After M. Otte (2007) Vers la Préhistoire, de Boeck, Bruxelles
"The land between the Euphrates and Tigris is sedimentary and therefore devoid of metals...Some semi-precious stones came from an even greater distance, cornelian from the Indian subcontinent, and lapis lazuli from Central Asia...The regions furthest to the East about which the ancient Mesopotamians had some knowledge appear to be the Indus valley (Meluhha) and Turkmenistan (Shimashki). The legendary country Aratta figures in several Sumerian epics as the distant adversary of Uruk. One can find references to the alleged trade between Uruk and Aratta in the secondary literature...Of great importance are the remains of the cargo discovered in two Late Bronze Age shipwrecks off the South coast of Turkey. The wreck near Cape Gelidonya (late 13th c. BCE) is thought to have come from Phoenicia. Its cargo consisted mainly of copper, tin, and bronze: copper in the shape of 34 oxhides (averaging 25 kg each)) and a number of bun ingots (averaging 3 kg each), tin ingots, and scrap bronze tools. Beter preserved is the shipwreck of Uluburun (late 14th c.) with a cargo of an estimated 20 tons of weight, including 354 copper oxhide ingots (1bout 10 tons), 121 copper bun ingots (about 1 ton), 110 tin ingot fragmens (about 1 ton), and 175 glass ingots (about 300 kg.)...The copper used in Syria and Mesopotamia came from different sources according to the textual evidence. One route led via the southern city of Ur, which possessed a harbour giving access to the Persian Gulf and beyond. The copper obtained from Tilmun from ca. 21st-18th c. BCE came from Oman, where impressive remains of ancient copper workings have been identified dating to this period...Tin is alloyed with copper to obtain bronze. It is first attested in a pin from Tepe Gawra Level VIII (ca. 3000 BCE), with a content of 5.6% tin. At the time of the royal tombs of Ur (Early Dynastic IIIa. ca. 2700 BCE), bronze appears to be the most commonly used...Weeks contrasted the very limited presence of tin-bronzes in third millennium context in sites of the Iranian Plateau to the significant use of tin-bronze in Baluchistan, the Indus Valley, the Persian Gulf and south-western Iran during the same period. Since the use of tin will have been greatest along the trade route by which it was transported, he convincingly argues that this tin came via the Indian peninsula from one or more Central Asian sources. This is the famous trade with distant Meluhha, which started in the third millennium with the growing importance of the Indus civilisation, and lasted until its decline in about 1900 BCE. The supply of tin by sea route is suggested in a passage in one of the texts of Gudea (Cyl. B xiv 13): 'Along with copper, tin, slabs of lapis lazuli, shining metal (and) spotless Meluhha cornelian' (RIME 3/1,96). After the collapse of Meluhha, tin apparently was traded by an overland route cross Iran. It probably was via this overland route that the tin reached Susa in western Iran from where it was distributed westwards as is documented for the Old Babylonian period. One important route in Mesopotamia ran East of he Tigris to Assur in the North, from where Assyrian traders transported large quantities of tin to Anatolia (documented for the 19th-18th c.). The fact that they exported tin to Anatolia corroborates the view that workable deposits did not exist there...The latest reference to this city (Assur) as a source of tin is contained in an Old Babylonian letter found at the Middle Euphrates site of Haradum, which dates to the reign of Ammi-shaduqa (1683-1626 BCE). The passage reads: 'I entrusted 1 talent 20 minas of tin (= 40kg) to Hushunu, the Ahlami soldier, a guard of the kārum of Haradu, (in) Assur and I had him carry it to Haradum'...King Zimrilim's merchants were allowed to purchase tin and lapis lazuli in Susa. Zimrilim used the tin as diplomatic gifts to rulers in Ugarit, Hazor and other places in the Levant. The gifts made by Zimrilim and earlier by his predecessor Yasmah-Addu (to the king of Apishal) seem to be the only attested cases of tin moving to West Syria by way of Mari...The Uluburn shipwreck discovered off the Turkish coast had a cargo of almost 1,000 kg of tin and (Cypriot) copper, and apparently was heading for a western destination when it sank...tin figures among the tribute, which Neo-Assyrian kings received in North Syria and in the region around Diyarbakir. For example, king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) received tribute from Patina (near modern Antakya), which included 600 kg of silver, 30 kg of gold, 3000 kg of iron, and 3000 kg of tin (RI-MA 2, 217 f.)...end of the Neo-Assyrian period (reign of Sin-shar-ishkun, ending 612 BCE), where tin (bdl) is mentioned as payment for a horse or a gift to the god hadad of Gozan. Less than a century later, Transeuphratene was the area where Babylonian merchants from Neo-Babylonian Uruk obtained tin for the Eanna temple according to several texts...Old Assyrian trade (20th-18th c. BCE)...linked the city of Assur with Central Anatolia...(trade) profited from the development of an institutional and legal framework to acommodate trade from about 2000 BCE onwards, in which groups of merchants from a particular town forged long-term relationships with other towns and their rulers through the kārum-system (kārum 'quay, harbour, commercial district). Non-Assyrian caravans brought tons of tin, cornelian and iron to Assur, where local merchants purchased these goods. By means of donkey caravans the goods were shipped to Anatolia and sold there for silver and gold. Kanesh was the main hub of a network of some twenty Assyrian commercial settlements in or close to economically important cities or regions in Anatolia. To facilitate this trade, Assur concluded treaties with local rulers that permitted it to establish trade colonies in existing cities of economic or logistical importance. A string of settlements also existed on the main caravan route from Assur to Anatolia in northern Iraq and Syria...The amount of tin and textiles sent by individual merchants to Anatolia differed considerably. A simple donkey load consisted of some 65 kg of tin, plus some textiles. One particular letter (Kt ck 443) announces the coming to Anatolia of a large convoy consisting of 21 donkeys, carrying 300 kg of tin and 400 assorted textiles. This represented significant load. The shipwreck of Uluburn, however, had a cargo of an estimated 10 tons of copper and 1 ton of tin. The ton of tin equals some 15 donkey-loads. Small as such an amount may seem, it is almost the total estimated yield of one of the mines discovered in Tajikistan. The shipment of textiles and tin to Anatolia was an Assyrian monopoly. There were no traders from Babylon active in Kanesh, but we know that merchants from North Syria (Ebla, Hashshum) were also involved in trade with Anatolia...Obviously, not only Mesopotamian merchants went abroad. Foreign merchants also travelled to Mesopotamia to sell goods. A royal inscription of the Old Akkadian King Sargon (2300) contains a unique hint at the extent of long-distance trade, when he claims that he 'moored the ships of Meluhha, Magan, and Tilmun at the quay of Agade' (RIME 2, 28). The tin and textiles that Assyrian merchants exported to Anatolia reached Assur by means of caravans from Babylonia, and, presumably, Susa...The coastal kingdom of Ugarit was a centre from where copper, tin, alum or lapis lazuli could be sent on to Carchemish and Hatti...Two letters addressed to the king of Ugarit by Tagubli, his representative with the court of Carchemish, deal with the sending of genuine lapis lazuli as a gift to the Hittite king. Urtenu appears as a manager of the palace storage facilities and stables, able to issue horses and donkeys, as well as copper, tin, alum, blue-purple wool, and textiles."

(Jan Gerrit Dercksen, Mineral resources and demand in the Ancient Near East, in: La Natura Nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Atti del Convegno internationale, Milano, 2009, Edizioni Ares, pp. 43-75)

Ancient India (hieroglyphs, also known as Indus Script), Mesopotamia
(cuneiform) and Egypt (hieroglyphs) developed the earliest writing systems.

The decipherment of Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogues provides the framework for analyzing the documented contributions of Ancient India and Ancient Far East to the Tin-Bronze Revolution.

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Indus Script hypertexts of cobrahood & archer on Gudimallam Śivalinga

January 5, 2018, 5:55 pm

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≪ Previous: Challenge of matching Indus Script hypertexts & identifying tin isotope fingerprints of Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa

Two indus script hypertexts of Gudimallam Śiva are : kamaḍha 'archer' Rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'; (s)phaṭa-, sphaṭā- a serpent's expanded hood, Pkt. phaḍā id. rebus: phaḍā, paṭṭaḍa 'metals manufactory'. A hypertext related to cobra hood is replicated in Bharhut and Amaravati sculptural friezes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxlh-CMNy9c&feature=youtu.be

Gudimallam Temple Abhishekam

Hidden Temples

Published on Nov 14, 2015

Gudimallam is a historical temple in the Srikalahasti Mandal which lies close to the Renigunta Railway Station. A Śiva Linga, discovered between the 1st century and 2nd century BC, is installed in the garbhagriha of the Parasurameswara Temple. The main temple sanctum is situated at a lower level as compared to the main floor level of the Mukhamantapa and Antarala. It is believed that it belongs to Trimurthy, with Śiva on the top, Vishnu in the middle and Brahma at the bottom. Dating back to the third and second century BC, it is a simple structure consisting of a single semicircular chamber below ground level. Walking down the few steps into the garbha griha brings one face to face with a 1.35-metre, seven-sided monolithic lingam. The front plane has the figure of Parasurama standing on the crouching figure of a Yaksha. It rests on a base of seven concentric rings, or peethams, only two of which are visible above the surface. The main lingam and peetham, which were once out in the open under a tree, are dated 3rd century BC, while successive rulers of Pallavas, Banas, Cholas and Rayas made later additions to the temple. The semicircular shrine is a clear feature of the influx of Buddhist architecture into Hindu ones, as was common in the period. The low railing surrounding the idol has floral patterns typical of Buddhist and Jain architecture. Inscriptions on the temple walls in ancient Tamil describe the royal donations made to the temple, besides the various modifications made by rulers. A Puranic tale tells of Parasurama having beheaded his mother at the behest of his father. The sage was advised by rishis to locate the temple and to worship the lingam as a penance. After much searching, Parasurama found the temple in the middle of the forest, dug a pond nearby and began his purgation. A single divine flower used to grow miraculously in the pond each day, which the sage offered to Śiva as worship. He appointed a yaksha, Chitrasena, to guard the flower from wild beasts. Parasurama used to bring one hunted creature and toddy everyday for the yaksha. One day, Chitrasena, a devotee of Brahma, felt tempted to worship Śiva himself. An enraged Parasurama attacked Chitrasena when he found the flower missing. The battle lasted for 14 years, and was so fierce that a pallam, or pit, was created at the site. ’Gudipallam’, or ‘temple in the pit’, became Gudimallam over time. Unable to choose the victor, Śiva is finally said to have merged both into Himself, and the figures still etched show the hunted beast and toddy pot in Parasurama’s hand. Brahma as Chitrasena, Vishnu as Parasurama and Śiva as the lingam form this unique, unparalleled icon. There are smaller shrines in the courtyard, mainly for Goddess Parvati, the six-faced Kartikeya and Suryanarayana, all monoliths and over 1.25 metre tall. The sun god is shown standing erect with a flower in each hand, one of the earliest known depictions, comparable to the temples at Konark and Arasavalli in Srikakulam district. A mysterious event associated with the temple is that of the main chamber getting flooded every sixty years. A small underground tank and a duct connecting the tank to the Śiva lingam can be seen even today. These remain stone dry except during the 60 year phenomenon when water suddenly gushes through with such force that it rises over the column of the lingam, flows over the top and subsides as suddenly. The last time this happened was on December 4, 2005. Monument attendant P. Seenappa, who has recorded the incident in the temple register, says that the episode lasted just a few minutes. The water then fell and remained at six inches for four hours, after which it disappeared as though it was never there. Oldsters remember it happening earlier. Ramanaiah, a 75-year old villager said that he saw a similar phenomenon in 1945, except that the entire chamber had got flooded then. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conservation assistant Krishna Chaitanya says that the water table in the area is at a depth of 300-350 feet, so there is no tangible explanation for the phenomenon. Devotees believe that the water comes all the way from Kashi to do abhishekam to the lingam. There is yet another remarkable feature of the temple. The rising sun’s rays pass through the grills carved on the stone walls twice a year during the solstices (uttarayana and dakshinayana) and fall directly on the forehead of the main Śiva lingam.

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Kernos ring of Balochistan with Indus Script hypertext with pōḷa 'zebu' and pōladu 'black drongo' signify magnetite ore and steel

January 5, 2018, 8:24 pm

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≪ Previous: Indus Script hypertexts of cobrahood & archer on Gudimallam Śivalinga

https://tinyurl.com/y7zupcay

Thanks to @manasataramgini for exquisite images of a Kernos ring (evidenced ca. 2000 BCE from Greek pottery) said to be from Balochistan. This artifiact (now said to be in Japan) contains Indus Script hypertext of hieroglyphs, zebu abd black drongo. The Indus Script hypertext readings are: 

pōḷa'bos indicus, zebu' rebus: pōḷa'magnetite, ferrite ore'

pōladu 'black drongo bird' rebus: [pōlāda] n ( or P) [pōlādi] 'steel'.

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarssvati Research Center 

Januar 6, 2018

‏ @blog_supplement

A rare e.g. of a Kernos ring from the subcontinent. It was apprently smuggled to japan from a site in what's today Balochistan

Top view of same: Kernos rings were made frequently in bronze age and later West Asia and Greece. This e.g. from subcontinent suggests that it was made using local motifs but inspired closely by west Asian Kernos design.

Bottom view of same along with a stand alone bull from what's today Balochistan showing similar techinique of manufacture.

Background note on Kernos ring

In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the kernos (Greek κέρνος or κέρχνος, plural kernoi) is a pottery ring or stone tray to which are attached several small vessels for holding offerings. Its unusual design is described in literary sources, which also list the ritual ingredients it might contain.^[1] The kernos was used primarily in the cults of Demeter and Kore, and of Cybele and Attis.^[2]

The Greek term is sometimes applied to similar compound vessels from other cultures found in the Mediterranean, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and South Asia.^[3]

Literary description

Athenaeus preserves an ancient description of the kernos as

“

a terracotta vessel with many little bowls stuck on to it. In them there is sage, white poppy heads, wheat, barley, peas (?), vetches (?), pulse, lentils, beans, spelt (?), oats, cakes of compressed fruit, honey, olive oil, wine, milk, and unwashed sheep's wool. When one has carried this vessel, like a liknophoros, he tastes of the contents.^[4]

”

The kernos was carried in procession at the Eleusinian Mysteries atop the head of a priestess, as can be found depicted in art. A lamp was sometimes placed in the middle of a stationary kernos.^[5]

References[edit]

Jump up^ Jacquelyn Collins-Clinton, A Late Antique Shrine of Liber Pater at Cosa (Brill, 1976), pp. 29 –30 online.
Jump up^ Phillippe Borgeaud, Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, English translation 2004), passim.
Jump up^ Excavations at Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan: The Pottery (University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1986), p. 226 online.
Jump up^ Athenaeus 11.478c = Polemon, frg. 88 Preller; English translation from Homer A. Thompson, Hellenistic Pottery and Terracottas (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1987), p. 448 online.
Jump up^ The verb kernophorein means "to bear the kernos"; the noun for this is kernophoria; Stephanos Xanthoudides, "Cretan Kernoi," Annual of the British School at Athens 12 (1906), p. 9.

Terracotta kernos from the Cycladic period (ca.2000 BC), found at Melos

In this votive plaque depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a female figure (top center of rectangular portion) wears a kernos on her head

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernos
Image result for kernos ring bull bird

Ring-shaped with bull's head and three small vases, part of fourth, and place for fifth on ring. Twisted basket handle with one of pair of doves on top. Conventional decoratin of herring-bone and floral patterns in dark brown on light pinkish brown clay. Nostrils of bull pierced, and a third hole below. Amphora, 2 skyphoi painted solid. Filled arcs connected by diagonals. Chevrons, triangles. Close Style, perhaps fr. Rhodes or Cyprus (EV) Early Aegean, Helladic, Bronze Age, Late Helladic Period, about 1200–1100 B.C.E Diameter: 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.).http://educators.mfa.org/ancient/kernos-libation-vase-11183

Line-drawing of the tripartite kernos for the Heraion of Samos | Tripartite Offering Vessels

https://gath.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/close-up-view-of-2007-kernos.jpg

Terracotta tripartite kernos. Louvre Museum.https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457748749602706628/
A SYRIAN CERAMIC TRIPARTITE VESSEL WITH IBEX FIGURE

A SYRIAN CERAMIC TRIPARTITE VESSEL WITH IBEX FIGURE

Syrian ceramic tripartite vessel with ibex figure. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457748749602703821/

Terracotta ring-kernos (offering vase), Terracotta, Cypriot

Terracotta ring-kernos (offering vase)

Period:: Cypro-Geometric I

Date:: ca. 1050–950 B.C.

Culture:: Cypriot

Medium:: Terracotta

Dimensions:: H. 4 7/16 in. (11.3 cm)

Classification:: Vases

Credit Line:: The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76

Accession Number:: 74.51.659

https://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/240246

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The petro-yuan bombshell -- Pepe Escobar. It ain't over till the fat lady sings.

January 6, 2018, 12:11 am

≫ Next: Toda munda/mudhif metaphors, Indus Script Bhāratīya sprachbund hypertexts, rã̄go buffalo rebus rāṅgā 'tin, spelter, pewter' to create alloy metals

≪ Previous: Kernos ring of Balochistan with Indus Script hypertext with pōḷa 'zebu' and pōladu 'black drongo' signify magnetite ore and steel

The petro-yuan bombshell

by Pepe Escobar

on 06 Jan 2018

The new 55-page “America First” National Security Strategy (NSS), drafted over the course of 2017, defines Russia and China as “revisionist” powers, “rivals”, and for all practical purposes strategic competitors of the United States. The NSS stops short of defining Russia and China as enemies, allowing for an “attempt to build a great partnership with those and other countries”. Still, Beijing qualified it as “reckless” and “irrational.” The Kremlin noted its “imperialist character” and “disregard for a multipolar world”. Iran, predictably, is described by the NSS as “the world’s most significant state sponsor of terrorism.”

Russia, China and Iran happen to be the three key movers and shakers in the ongoing geopolitical and geo-economic process of Eurasia integration.

The NSS can certainly be regarded as a response to what happened at the BRICS summit in Xiamen last September. Then, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on “the BRIC countries’ concerns over the unfairness of the global financial and economic architecture which does not give due regard to the growing weight of the emerging economies”, and stressed the need to “overcome the excessive domination of a limited number of reserve currencies”.

That was a clear reference to the US dollar, which accounts for nearly two thirds of total reserve currency around the world and remains the benchmark determining the price of energy and strategic raw materials. And that brings us to the unnamed secret at the heart of the NSS; the Russia-China “threat” to the US dollar.

The CIPS/SWIFT face-off

The website of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) recently announced the establishment of a yuan-ruble payment system, hinting that similar systems regarding other currencies participating in the New Silk Roads, a.k.a. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will also be in place in the near future.

Crucially, this is not about reducing currency risk; after all Russia and China have increasingly traded bilaterally in their own currencies since the 2014 US-imposed sanctions on Russia. This is about the implementation of a huge, new alternative reserve currency zone, bypassing the US dollar. The decision follows the establishment by Beijing, in October 2015, of the China International Payments System (CIPS). CIPS has a cooperation agreement with the private, Belgium-based SWIFT international bank clearing system, through which virtually every global transaction must transit.

What matters in this case is that Beijing – as well as Moscow – clearly read the writing on the wall when, in 2012, Washington applied pressure on SWIFT; blocked international clearing for every Iranian bank; and froze $100 billion in Iranian assets overseas as well as Tehran’s potential to export oil. In the event Washington might decide to slap sanctions on China, bank clearing though CIPS works as a de facto sanctions-evading mechanism.

Last March, Russia’s central bank opened its first office in Beijing. Moscow is launching its first $1 billion yuan-denominated government bond sale. Moscow has made it very clear it is committed to a long term strategy to stop using the US dollar as their primary currency in global trade, moving alongside Beijing towards what could be dubbed a post-Bretton Woods exchange system. Gold is essential in this strategy. Russia, China, India, Brazil & South Africa are all either large producers or consumers of gold – or both. Following what has been extensively discussed in their summits since the early 2010s, the BRICS are bound to focus on trading physical gold.

Markets such as COMEX actually trade derivatives on gold, and are backed by an insignificant amount of physical gold. Major BRICS gold producers – especially the Russia-China partnership – plan to be able to exercise extra influence in setting up global gold prices.

The ultimate politically charged dossier

Intractable questions referring to the US dollar as top reserve currency have been discussed at the highest levels of JP Morgan for at least five years now. There cannot be a more politically charged dossier. The NSS duly sidestepped it. The current state of play is still all about the petrodollar system; since last year what used to be a key, “secret” informal deal between the US and the House of Saud is firmly in the public domain.

Even warriors in the Hindu Kush may now be aware of how oil and virtually all commodities must be traded in US dollars, and how these petrodollars are recycled into US Treasuries. Through this mechanism Washington has accumulated an astonishing $20 trillion in debt – and counting. Vast populations all across MENA (Middle East-Northern Africa) also learned what happened when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein decided to sell oil in euros, or when Muammar Gaddafi planned to issue a pan-African gold dinar.

But now it’s China who’s entering the fray, following on plans set up way back in 2012. And the name of the game is oil-futures trading priced in yuan, with the yuan fully convertible into gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong foreign exchange markets.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary, the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) have already run four production environment tests for crude oil futures. Operations were supposed to start at the end of 2017; but even if they start sometime in early 2018 the fundamentals are clear; this triple win (oil/yuan/gold) completely bypasses the US dollar. The era of the petro-yuan is at hand.

Of course there are questions on how Beijing will technically manage to set up a rival mark to Brent and WTI, or whether China’s capital controls will influence it. Beijing has been quite discreet on the triple win; the petro-yuan was not even mentioned in National Development and Reform Commission documents following the 19th CCP Congress last October.

What’s certain is that the BRICS supported the petro-yuan move at their summit in Xiamen, as diplomats confirmed to Asia Times. Venezuela is also on board. It’s crucial to remember that Russia is number two and Venezuela is number seven among the world’s Top Ten oil producers. Considering the pull of China’s economy, they may soon be joined by other producers. Yao Wei, chief China economist at Societe Generale in Paris, goes straight to the point, remarking how “this contract has the potential to greatly help China’s push for yuan internationalization.”

The hidden riches of “belt” and “road”

An extensive report by DBS in Singapore hits most of the right notes linking the internationalization of the yuan with the expansion of BRI. In 2018, six major BRI projects will be on overdrive; the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the China-Laos railway, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, the Hungary-Serbia railway, the Melaka Gateway project in Malaysia, and the upgrading of Gwadar port in Pakistan. HSBC estimates that BRI as a whole will generate no less than an additional, game-changing $2.5 trillion worth of new trade a year.

It’s important to keep in mind that the “belt” in BRI should be seen as a series of corridors connecting Eastern China with oil/gas rich regions in Central Asia and the Middle East, while the “roads” soon to be plied by high-speed rail traverse regions filled with – what else – un-mined gold.

A key determinant of the future of the petro-yuan is what the House of Saud will do about it. Should Crown Prince – and inevitable future king – MBS opt to follow Russia’s lead, to dub it as a paradigm shift would be the understatement of the century. Yuan-denominated gold contracts will be traded not only in Shanghai and Hong Kong but also in Dubai. Saudi Arabia is also considering to issue so-called Panda bonds, after the Emirate of Sharjah is set to take the lead in the Middle East for Chinese interbank bonds.

Of course the prelude to D-Day will be when the House of Saud officially announces it accepts yuan for at least part of its exports to China. A follower of the Austrian school of economics correctly asserts that for oil-producing nations, higher oil price in US dollars is not as important as market share; “They are increasingly able to choose in which currencies they want to trade.”

What’s clear is that the House of Saud simply cannot alienate China as one of its top customers; it’s Beijing who will dictate future terms. That may include extra pressure for Chinese participation in Aramco’s IPO. In parallel, Washington would see Riyadh embracing the petro-yuan as the ultimate red line.

An independent European report points to what may be the Chinese trump card; “an authorization to issue treasury bills in yuan by Saudi Arabia”; the creation of a Saudi investment fund; and the acquisition of a 5% share of Aramco. Nations under US sanctions such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela will be among the first to embrace the petro-yuan. Smaller producers such as Angola and Nigeria are already selling oil/gas to China in yuan. And if you don’t export oil but is part of BRI, such as Pakistan, the least you can do is replace the US dollar in bilateral trade, as Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal is currently evaluating.

A key feature of the geo-economic heart of the world moving from the West to Asia is that by the start of the next decade the petro-yuan and trade bypassing the US dollar will be certified facts on the ground across Eurasia.

The NSS for its part promises to preserve “peace through strength”. As Washington currently deploys no less than 291,000 troops in 183 countries and has sent Special Ops to no less than 149 nations in 2017 alone, it’s hard to argue the US is at “peace” – especially when the NSS seeks to channel even more resources to the industrial-military complex.

“Revisionist” Russia-China have committed an unpardonable sin; they have concluded that pumping the US military budget by buying US bonds that allow the US Treasury to finance a multi-trillion dollar deficit without raising interest rates is an unsustainable proposition for the Global South. Their “threat” – under the framework of the BRICS as well as the SCO, which includes prospective members Iran and Turkey – is to increasingly settle bilateral and multilateral trade bypassing the US dollar.

It ain’t over till the fat (golden) lady sings. When the beginning of the end of the petrodollar system – established by Kissinger in tandem with the House of Saud way back in 1974 – becomes a fact on the ground, all eyes will be focused on the NSS counterpunch.

- By Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author)

Courtesy http://thesaker.is/the-petro-yuan-bombshell/

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Toda munda/mudhif metaphors, Indus Script Bhāratīya sprachbund hypertexts, rã̄go buffalo rebus rāṅgā 'tin, spelter, pewter' to create alloy metals

January 6, 2018, 4:33 am

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≪ Previous: The petro-yuan bombshell -- Pepe Escobar. It ain't over till the fat lady sings.

https://tinyurl.com/y85n5drm

On a few examples from Indus Script Corpora, buffalo is signified in the context of a narrative which shows tumblers leaping over the animal. Indus Script Cipher is consistent with the Bhāratīya sprachbund (speech union) attested by the list of etyma signifying 'tin/pewter/spelter' in almost all ancient Bhāratīya languages. The Toda songs have retained a cultural memory of metalwork of their ancestors, by a remarkable style evident in the following expression,noted by Emeneau with intimations of metalwork related to gold or silver:

(Emeneau, M.B., Oral Poets of South India: The Todas, in: The Journal of American Folklore Vol. 71, No. 281, Traditional India: Structure and Change (Jul. - Sep., 1958), p.322) Ta. pīli toe-ring of a woman. Ma. pīli id. Ka. pilli silver ring worn on the second toe by married women. Tu. pilli, pillè silver ring worn on the toes. Te. pillāṇi, pillã̄ḍi sort of ring worn by women on the fourth toe. (DEDR 4227)

The veneration of the buffalo is also related to the rebus association of the word for buffalo which signifies alloying minerals such as tin or spelter or pewter.

The 'tumbling' signifies is an Indus Script hypertext: dolutsu 'tumble' rebus: dul 'metal casting'.

The buffalo as a hieroglyph signifies Hieroglyph: rã̄go ʻ buffalo bull ʼ Rebus: Pk. raṅga 'tin' P. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ pewter, tin ʼ Ku. rāṅ ʻ tin, solder ʼOr. rāṅga ʻ tin ʼ, rāṅgā ʻ solder, spelter ʼ, Bi. Mth. rã̄gā, OAw. rāṁga; H.rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼraṅgaada -- m. ʻ borax ʼ lex.Kho. (Lor.) ruṅ ʻ saline ground with white efflorescence, salt inearth ʼ *raṅgapattra ʻ tinfoil ʼ. [raṅga -- 3, páttra -- ]B. rāṅ(g)tā ʻ tinsel, copper -- foil ʼ.

Buffalo is a recurrent hieroglyph in Indus Script Corpora. The hieroglyph is also used in conjunction with Akkadian cuneiform texts as shown in the following examples:

Association of the buffalo is emphatic in the context of cultural memories of Todas in Nilgiris. In addition to the veneration of the buffalo and the dairy, the Toda hut and Toda mund (temple) are virtual replicas of the mudhif of the Iraqi marshes. This hut is also an Indus Script hieroglyph.

Image result for ibni sharrum indus script

Indus seal at Louvre. The cylinder seal impression shows a clear Indus theme among Dept. of Near Eastern Antiquities collections at the Louvre in Paris, France, among them the Cylinder Seal of Ibni-Sharrum, described as "one of the most striking examples of the perfection attained by carvers in the Agade period [2350–2170 BCE]." The theme is a kneelin adorant with an over-flowing pot in front of a water-buffalo. The scene is mirrored on the seal of Ibni-sharrum (as mentioned in the cuneiform text). The bottom register shows flowing water. "A scene testifying to relations with distant lands Buffaloes are emblematic animals in glyptic art in the Agade period. They first appear in the reign of Sargon, indicating sustained relations between the Akkadian Empire and the distant country of Meluhha, that is, the present Indus Valley, where these animals come from. These exotic creatures were probably kept in zoos and do not seem to have been acclimatized in Iraq at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Indeed, it was not until the Sassanid Empire that they reappeared. The engraver has carefully accentuated the animals' powerful muscles and spectacular horns, which are shown as if seen from above, as they appear on the seals of the Indus."

http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/cylinder-seal-ibni-sharrum

Ibni-Sharrum cylinder seal shows a kneeling person with six curls of hair.Cylinder seal of Ibni-sharrum, a scribe of Shar-kali-sharri (left) and impression (right), ca. 2183–2159 B.C.; Akkadian, reign of Shar-kali-sharri, son of Naram-sin (2250 BCE).

Six curls on the kneeling adorant's hair style: Numeral bhaṭa 'six' is an Indus Script cipher, rebus bhaṭa ‘furnace’; baṭa 'iron'.

Hieroglyph: rã̄go ʻ buffalo bull ʼ

Rebus: Pk. raṅga 'tin' P. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ pewter, tin ʼ Ku. rāṅ ʻ tin, solder ʼOr. rāṅga ʻ tin ʼ, rāṅgā ʻ solder, spelter ʼ, Bi. Mth. rã̄gā, OAw. rāṁga; H. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼraṅgaada -- m. ʻ borax ʼ lex.Kho. (Lor.) ruṅ ʻ saline ground with white efflorescence, salt in earth ʼ *raṅgapattra ʻ tinfoil ʼ. [raṅga -- 3, páttra -- ]B. rāṅ(g)tā ʻ tinsel, copper -- foil ʼ.

kāṇḍam காண்டம்² kāṇṭam, n. < kāṇḍa. 1. Water; sacred water; நீர். துருத்திவா யதுக்கிய குங்குமக் காண் டமும் (கல்லா. 49, 16). Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘metal tools, pots and pans’ (Marathi)

(B) {V} ``(pot, etc.) to ^overflow''. See `to be left over'. @B24310. #20851. Re(B) {V} ``(pot, etc.) to ^overflow''. See `to be left over'. (Munda ) Rebus: loh ‘copper’ (Hindi) The hieroglyph clearly refers to the metal tools, pots and pans of copper.

Buffalo is one of the hierroglyphs on this Mohenjo-daro seal m0304.

Integral to Toda lives is the veneration of the buffalo as divine. A buffalo's head adorns the entrance to a

Toda temple called mund (the word also means a settlement). The word for a temple is kole.l (Kota language). The same word also signifies 'smithy, forge'. The word for a Kota smithy in Toda language is: kwala.l. Cognate words in select Bhāratīya languaes are:

Ta. kol working in iron, blacksmith; kollaṉ blacksmith. Ma. kollan blacksmith, artificer. Ko. kole·l smithy, temple in Kota village. To. kwala·l Kota smithy. Ka. kolime, kolume, kulame, kulime, kulume, kulmefire-pit, furnace; (Bell.; U.P.U.) konimi blacksmith; (Gowda) kolla id. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. Te. kolimi furnace. Go. (SR.) kollusānā to mend implements; (Ph.) kolstānā, kulsānā to forge; (Tr.) kōlstānā to repair (of ploughshares); (SR.) kolmi smithy (Voc. 948). Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge. (DEDR 2133)

m0489 Obverse side of a two-sided tablet.
Slide 89 Plano convex molded tablet showing an individual spearing a water buffalo with one foot pressing the head down and one arm holding the tip of a horn. A gharial is depicted above the sacrifice scene and a figure seated in yogic position, wearing a horned headdress, looks on. The horned headdress has a branch with three prongs or leaves emerging from the center.

On the reverse (90),a female deity is battling two tigers and standing above an elephant. A single Indus script depicting a spoked wheel is above the head of the deity.

Material: terra cotta
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997 karA 'crocodile' Rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

kamaDha 'penance' (Prakritam) Rebus: kammaTa 'mint, coiner'

kUtI 'twigs' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'

muh 'face' Rebus: muhe 'ingot' (Santali)

One side of a molded tablet m 492 Mohenjo-daro (DK 8120, NMI 151. National Museum, Delhi. A person places his foot on the horns of a buffalo while spearing it in front of a cobra hood.

Hieroglyph: kolsa = to kick the foot forward, the foot to come into contact with anything when walking or running; kolsa pasirkedan = I kicked it over (Santali.lex.)mēṛsa = v.a. toss, kick with the foot, hit with the tail (Santali)

kol ‘furnace, forge’ (Kuwi) kol ‘alloy of five metals, pancaloha’ (Ta.) •kolhe (iron-smelter; kolhuyo, jackal) kol, kollan-, kollar = blacksmith (Ta.lex.)•kol‘to kill’ (Ta.)•sal ‘bos gaurus’, bison; rebus: sal ‘workshop’ (Santali)me~ṛhe~t iron; ispat m. = steel; dul m. = cast iron; kolhe m. iron manufactured by the Kolhes (Santali); meṛed (Mun.d.ari); meḍ (Ho.)(Santali.Bodding)

nAga 'serpent' Rebus: nAga 'lead'

Hieroglyph: rã̄go ʻ buffalo bull ʼ

Rebus: Pk. raṅga 'tin' P. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ pewter, tin ʼ Ku. rāṅ ʻ tin, solder ʼOr. rāṅga ʻ tin ʼ, rāṅgā ʻ solder, spelter ʼ, Bi. Mth. rã̄gā, OAw. rāṁga; H. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼraṅgaada -- m. ʻ borax ʼ lex.Kho. (Lor.) ruṅ ʻ saline ground with white efflorescence, salt in earth ʼ *raṅgapattra ʻ tinfoil ʼ. [raṅga -- 3, páttra -- ]B. rāṅ(g)tā ʻ tinsel, copper -- foil ʼ.

paTa 'hood of serpent' Rebus: padanu 'sharpness of weapon' (Telugu)

Hieroglyph: kunta1 ʻ spear ʼ. 2. *kōnta -- . [Perh. ← Gk. konto/s ʻ spear ʼ EWA i 229]1. Pk. kuṁta -- m. ʻ spear ʼ; S. kundu m. ʻ spike of a top ʼ, °dī f. ʻ spike at the bottom of a stick ʼ, °diṛī, °dirī f. ʻ spike of a spear or stick ʼ; Si. kutu ʻ lance ʼ.
2. Pa. konta -- m. ʻ standard ʼ; Pk. koṁta -- m. ʻ spear ʼ; H. kõt m. (f.?) ʻ spear, dart ʼ; -- Si. kota ʻ spear, spire, standard ʼ perh. ← Pa.(CDIAL 3289)

Rebus: kuṇṭha munda (loha) 'hard iron (native metal)'

Allograph: कुंठणें [ kuṇṭhaṇēṃ ] v i (कुंठ S) To be stopped, detained, obstructed, arrested in progress (Marathi)

Slide 90. Reverse side of the two-sided tablet

m0489A One side of a prism tablet shows: crocodile + fish glyphic above: elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, tiger looking back and up.

m0304 seal of Mohenjo-daro showing a seated person surrounded by animals has been deciphered.

The message of metalwork is from a brass-worker's mint and (अग्नि-)कुण्ड, (agni-)kuṇḍa, 'sacred fire-altar'.

This message is conveyed using Indus Script hieroglyphs.

The hieroglyph on Seal m0304 ligatured to the buffal-horns of the seated person.

Hieroglyph: thattār 'buffalo horn' Rebus: taṭṭār 'brass worker' urukku, n. < உருக்கு-. [T. ukku, K. urku, M. urukku.] 1. Steel; எஃகு. (சூடா.) 2. Anything melted, product of liquefaction; உருக் கினபொருள். செப்புருக் கனைய (கம்பரா. கார்கா. 91).உருக்குத்தட்டார் urukku-t-taṭṭār, n. < id. +. Goldsmiths; பொற்கொல்லர். (சிலப். 5, 31, உரை.)பணித்தட்டார் paṇi-t-taṭṭār, n. < id. +. Goldsmiths; பொற்கொல்லர். பணித்தட்டார் பணி பண்ணுமிடங்களில் (சிலப். 6, 135, உரை).தட்டார்பாட்டம் taṭṭār-pāṭṭam, n. < தட் டான்¹ +. Profession tax on goldsmiths; தட்டார் இறுக்கும் அரசிறைவகை. (S. I. I. ii, 117.)தட்டாரப்பாட்டம் taṭṭāra-p-pāṭṭam, n. < தட்டார் +. See தட்டார்பாட்டம். (S. I. I. iii, 115.) తట్టుముట్టు [ taṭṭumuṭṭu ] or తట్టుముట్లు taṭṭu-muṭṭu. [Tel.] n. Things, utensils, furniture, tools, household stuff. తట్టుముట్టాడు to surround (as poverty)చుట్టుకొను. తట్రపువాడు [ taṭrapuvāḍu ] taṭrapu-vāḍu. [Tel.] n. A goldsmith.

Hieroglyph: kuṇḍa3 n. ʻ clump ʼ e.g. darbha -- kuṇḍa -- Pāṇ. [← Drav. (Tam. koṇṭai ʻ tuft of hair ʼ, Kan. goṇḍe ʻ cluster ʼ, &c.) T. Burrow BSOAS xii 374] (CDIAL 3266)

Pictorial hieroglyph-multiplex: kuThi 'twig' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'

kuṁḍa 'cluster' rebus: (अग्नि-)कुण्ड, (agni-) kuṇḍa 'fire-pit'. kuṇḍa -- 1: S.kcch. kūṇḍho m. ʻ flower -- pot ʼ, kūnnī f. ʻ small earthen pot ʼ; WPah.kṭg. kv́ṇḍh m. ʻ pit or vessel used for an oblation with fire into which barley etc. is thrown ʼ; J. kũḍ m. ʻ pool, deep hole in a stream ʼ; Brj. kū̃ṛo m., °ṛī f. ʻ pot ʼ.(CDIAL 3264)

Glyph: clump between the two horns: kuṇḍa n. ʻ clump ʼ e.g. darbha-- kuṇḍa-- Pāṇ.(CDIAL 3236). kundār turner (A.)(CDIAL 3295). kuṇḍa n. ʻ clump ʼ e.g. darbha-- kuṇḍa-- Pāṇ. [← Drav. (Tam. koṇṭai ʻ tuft of hair ʼ, Kan. goṇḍe ʻ cluster ʼ, &c.) T. Burrow BSOAS xii 374] Pk. kuṁḍa-- n. ʻ heap of crushed sugarcane stalks ʼ (CDIAL 3266) Ta. koṇtai tuft, dressing of hair in large coil on the head, crest of a bird, head (as of a nail), knob (as of a cane), round top. Ma. koṇṭa tuft of hair. Ko.goṇḍ knob on end of walking-stick, head of pin; koṇḍ knot of hair at back of head. To. kwïḍy Badaga woman's knot of hair at back of head (< Badaga koṇḍe). Ka. koṇḍe, goṇḍe tuft, tassel, cluster. Koḍ. koṇḍe tassels of sash, knob-like foot of cane-stem. Tu. goṇḍè topknot, tassel, cluster. Te. koṇḍe, (K. also) koṇḍi knot of hair on the crown of the head. Cf. 2049 Ta. koṭi. / Cf. Skt. kuṇḍa- clump (e.g. darbha-kuṇḍa-), Pkt. (DNM) goṇḍī- = mañjarī-; Turner, CDIAL, no. 3266; cf. also Mar. gōḍā cluster, tuft. (DEDR 2081) kuṇḍī = crooked buffalo horns (L.) rebus: kuṇḍī = chief of village. kuṇḍi-a = village headman; leader of a village (Pkt.lex.) I.e. śreṇi jet.t.ha chief of metal-worker guild. koḍ 'horns'; rebus: koḍ 'artisan's workshop' (G.) Thus the entire glyphic composition of hieroglyphs on m1181 seal is a message conveyed from a sodagor 'merchant, trader'. The bill of lading lists a variety of repertoire of the artisan guild's trade load from a mint -- the native metal and brass workshop of blacksmith (guild) with furnace: aḍar kuṭhi 'native metal furnace'; soḍu 'fireplace'; sekra 'bell-metal and brass worker'; aya sal 'iron (metal) workshop'.

Thus, the horned crown is read together as: taṭṭār 'brass worker' PLUS kuṇḍa 'fire-pit'.

Hieroglyph: Tor. miṇḍ 'ram', miṇḍā́l 'markhor' (CDIAL 10310) Rebus: meḍ 'iron' (Ho.); med 'copper' (Slavic) kuṁḍa -- n. ʻ heap of crushed sugarcane stalks ʼ(Prakritam) Rebus: (agni-)kuṇḍa 'fire-pit'. dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'cast metal' Thus, cast iron.

maṇḍā ‘raised platform, stool’ Rebus: maṇḍā ‘warehouse’.

The person is seated in penance: kamaḍha 'penance' (Pkt.) Rebus: kammaṭi a coiner (Ka.); kampaṭṭam coinage, coin, mint (Ta.) kammaṭa = mint, gold furnace (Te.) Thus, the over-arching message of the inscription composed of many hieroglyphs (of glyphic elements) thus is a description of the offerings of a 'mint or coiner (workshop with a golf furnace)'.Thus, together the person seated in penance PLUS platform read: kammaṭa maṇḍā 'mint warehouse'.

kuṇḍī = crooked buffalo horns (L.) Rebus: kuṇḍī = chief of village. kuṇḍi-a = village headman; leader of a village (Pkt.lex.) I.e. śreṇi jeṭṭha chief of metal-worker guild.

dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting'. Thus, two hayricks and two markhors relate to 1. metalcasting furnace; and 2. copper/iron metal castings meḍ kuṁḍa 'iron furnace or fire-altar'.

There is also a semantic reinforcement: on seal m0304, stacks of hay signify mēṭa 'stack of hay' which are phonetic determinants of the platform, raised place: mēṭa 'raised place'. Rebus reading is: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron (metal)''copper' (Slavic languages).

Atharva Veda व्रात्य Vrātya is Rudra;

see:http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/mohenjodaro-pasupati-indus-script-seal.html

Hieroglyph: Pk. kuṁḍa -- n. ʻ heap of crushed sugarcane stalks ʼ; WPah. bhal. kunnū m. ʻ large heap of a mown crop ʼ; N. kunyũ ʻ large heap of grain or straw ʼ, baṛ -- kũṛo ʻ cluster of berries ʼ.

Rebus: कुण्ड [p=289,3]kuṇḍa a round hole in the ground (for receiving and preserving water or fire cf. अग्नि-कुण्ड) , pit , well , spring or basin of water (especially consecrated to some holy purpose or person) MBh. R. &c; n. [अस् m. L. ] , a bowl-shaped vessel , basin , bowl , pitcher , pot , water-pot Ka1tyS3r. MBh.&c;कुण्डी f. ( Pa1n2. 4-1 , 42) a bowl , pitcher , pot Hcat. Prasannar.; कुण्ड n. ifc. a clump (e.g. दर्भ-क्° , a clump of दर्भ grass) Pa1n2. 6-2 , 13

(Three-faced hieroglyph-multiplex)

Glyphics of shoggy, brisltles of hair on the face of the person: Shoggy hair; tiger’s mane. sodo bodo, sodro bodro adj. adv. rough, hairy, shoggy, hirsute, uneven; sodo [Persian. sodā, dealing] trade; traffic; merchandise; marketing; a bargain; the purchase or sale of goods; buying and selling; mercantile dealings (G.lex.) sodagor = a merchant, trader; sodāgor (P.B.) (Santali.lex.)

Face on m0304. Frontal PLUS Two faces in profile ligatured. I do not know if this signifies TvaSTR Tris'iras or tri-dhAtumũh 'face' Rebus mũhã̄ 'iron furnace output' kolom 'three' (faces) rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' Horns of buffalo: rango 'buffalo' rebus: rango 'pewter' (alloy of copper, zinc, tin), hence tri-dhAtu. This could be a synonym for dhAvaD 'smelter'.

Hieroglyph: dhāˊtu 'strand' Rebus: mineral: 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).

Rebus reading of the ‘face’ glyph: mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) mũh opening or hole (in a stove for stoking (Bi.); ingot (Santali) mũh metal ingot (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends; kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽt ko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali.lex.) kaula mengro ‘blacksmith’ (Gypsy) mleccha-mukha (Skt.) = milakkhu ‘copper’ (Pali) The Sanskrit loss mleccha-mukha should literally mean: copper-ingot absorbing the Santali gloss, mũh, as a suffix

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/04/indus-script-16-inscriptions-with.html

Hieroglyph: karã̄ n.pl.ʻwristlets, banglesʼ.(Gujarati)S. karāī f. ʻ wrist ʼ(CDIAL 2779) Rebus: khār खार् 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

sekeseke, sekseke covered, as the arms with ornaments; sekra those who work in brass and bell metal; sekra sakom a kind of armlet of bell metal (Santali)

Four animals (elephant, leaping tiger, rhinoceros, buffalo) PLUS image of a standing person with spread legs surround the seated person. These five hieroglyph-multiplexes are read rebus:

1. karibha 'trunk of elephant' ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba 'iron' (Tulu) ib 'iron' (Santali)

2. kANDA 'rhinoceros' rebus: kaNDa 'implements'

3. rango 'buffalo' rebus: rango 'pewter'

4. kola 'tiger'rebus: kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter' kolle 'blacksmith' kũdā kol (tiger jumping) rebus: kũdār 'turner' (Bengali) कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi)

5.meD 'body' rebus: meD 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) karNaka 'spread legs' rebus: karNI 'supercargo, merchant's responsible for the cargo of shipment')

Hypertext on m0304 (Top line of 6 hieroglyphs)

Rebus readings from R. in two parts of hypertext.

Part 1 (with four hieroglyphs):

Sign 1 (Mahadevan concordance)

1. meD 'body' rebus: meD 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) karNaka 'spread legs' rebus: karNI 'supercargo, merchant's responsible for the cargo of shipment')

2. ḍato =claws of crab (Santali) Rebus: dhātu 'mineral ore'.

3. kāru pincers, tongs. Rebus: khār खार् 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

4. sal stake, spike, splinter, thorn, difficulty (H.); sal ‘workshop’ (Santali) PLUS Glyph of ‘rim of jar’: kárṇaka m. ʻ projection on the side of a vessel, handle ʼ ŚBr. [kárṇa -- ]Pa. kaṇṇaka -- ʻ having ears or corners ʼ; (CDIAL 2831) kaṇḍa kanka; Rebus: furnace account (scribe). kaṇḍ = fire-altar (Santali); kan = copper (Tamil) khanaka m. one who digs , digger , excavator Rebus: karanikamu. Clerkship: the office of a Karanam or clerk. (Telugu) káraṇa n. ʻ act, deed ʼ RV. [√kr̥1] Pa. karaṇa -- n. ʻdoingʼ; NiDoc. karana, kaṁraṁna ʻworkʼ; Pk. karaṇa -- n. ʻinstrumentʼ(CDIAL 2790) karNI 'Supercargo'. Thus, cargo handed/accounted from workshop account to supercargo.

Part 2 with two hieroglyhs:

5. aya 'fish' Rebus: aya 'iron' (Gujarati); ayas 'metal' (Rigveda).PLUS khambhaṛā ʻfinʼ rebus:kammaTa 'mint, coiner, coinage'

6. PLUS kanka, karNaka 'rim of jar' rebus:karNI 'Supercargo' karNaka 'account,scribe'. Thus, this second part of the hypertext reads: Mintwork account (to) Supercargo, a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale.

Thus, seal m0304 Mohenjo-daro is a comprehensive metalwork catalogue of a mint documenting, using dharma saṁjñā 'responsibility markers or hieroglyphs, the tasks assigned to kuṇḍi-a = village headman' ; leader of a village (Pkt.lex.) i.e. śreṇi jet.t.ha chief of metal-worker guild.

This is an unambiguous, remarkable example proving that Indus Script is a knowledge system. There are over 7000 inscriptions on Indus Script Corpora detailing the technical specifications of the knowledge system which facilitated trade/exchange transactions by seafaring merchants of Meluhha.

m1406 Hieroglyphs: thread of three stands + drummer + tumblers

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

karaḍa 'double-drum' Rebus: karaḍa 'hard alloy'.

dhAtu, dhAv 'strands of rope' Rebus: dhAtu 'mineral, metal, ore'.

Mehrgarh. Terracotta circular button seal. (Shah, SGM & Parpola, A., 1991, Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions 2: Collections in Pakistan, Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, MR-17. A humped bull (water buffalo?) and abstract forms (one of which is like a human body) around the bull. The human body is tossed from the horns of the bovine.

Rebus readings of hieroglyphs: ‘1. arrow, 2. jag/notch, 3. buffalo, 4.acrobatics’:

Mokkhacika (m. or ˚ā f.) [see on attempt at etym. Morris in J.P.T.S. 1885, 49 who takes mokkha as fr. muc "tumbling"& cika="turning" fr. cak=cik. The word remains obscure, it must be a dialectical expression, distorted by popular analogy & taken perhaps from a designation of a place where these feats or toys had their origin. More probable than Morris' etym. is an analysis of the word (if it is Aryan) as mokkha= mokkha2, in meaning "head, top," so that it may mean "head over," top -- first"& we have to separate *mokkhac -- ika the ˚ika representing ˚iya "in the manner of, like"& -- ac being the adv. of direction as contained in Sk. prāñc=pra -- añc.] tumbling, turning somersaults, an acrobatic feat; in list of forbidden amusements at D i.6 (cp. DA i.86; samparivattaka -- kīḷanaŋ, i. e. playing with something that rolls along, continuously turning? The foll. sentence however seems to imply turning head over heels: "ākāse vā daṇḍaŋ gahetvā bhūmiyaŋ vā sīsaŋ ṭhapetvā heṭṭh -- upariya (so read!) -- bhāvena parivattana -- kīḷanaŋ"; i. e. trapeze -- performing. Cp. Dial.i.10 & Vin. Texts ii.184). The list re -- occurs at Vin ii.10 (˚āya: f.! kīḷanti); iii.180; M i.266≈and A v.203 (with important v. l. mokkhaṭika, which would imply mokkha& ending tiya, and not ˚cika at all. The Cy. on this passage expls as: daṇḍakaŋ gahetvā heṭṭh -- uppariya (sic. as DA i.86; correct to upariya?) -- bhāvena parivattana -- kīḷanaŋ). The word is found also at Vin i.275, where the boy of a Seṭṭhi in Bārāṇasī contracts injuries to his intestines by "mokkhacikāya kīḷanto," playing (with a) m. -- According to its use with kīḷati & in instr. mokkhacikena (Nd2 219) may be either a sort of game or an instrument (toy), with which children play.

mokkhacikāya kīḷanto, mokka 'tumbling' rebus: mukha 'copper''chief'

Impression of a steatite stamp seal (2300-1700 BCE) with a water-buffalo and acrobats. Buffalo attack or bull-leaping scene, Banawali (after UMESAO 2000:88, cat. no. 335). A figure is impaled on the horns of the buffalo; a woman acrobat wearing bangles on both arms and a long braid flowing from the head, leaps over the buffalo bull. The action narrative is presented in five frames of the acrobat getting tossed by the horns, jumping and falling down.Two Indus script glyphs are written in front of the buffalo. (ASI BNL 5683).

Rebus readings of hieroglyphs: ‘1. arrow, 2. jag/notch, 3. buffalo, 4.acrobatics’:

1. kaṇḍa ‘arrow’ (Skt.) H. kãḍerā m. ʻ a caste of bow -- and arrow -- makers (CDIAL 3024). Or. kāṇḍa, kã̄ṛ ʻstalk, arrow ʼ(CDIAL 3023). ayaskāṇḍa ‘a quantity of iron, excellent iron’ (Pāṇ.gaṇ)

2. खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). (Marathi) Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’.

3. rāngo ‘water buffalo bull’ (Ku.N.)(CDIAL 10559)

Rebus: rango ‘pewter’. ranga, rang pewter is an alloy of tin, lead, and antimony (anjana) (Santali).

4. ḍullu to fall off; ḍollu to roll over (DEDR 2698) Te. ḍul(u)cu, ḍulupu to cause to fall; ḍollu to fall; ḍolligillu to fall or tumble over (DEDR 2988) డొలుచు [ḍolucu] or ḍoluṭsu. [Tel.] v. n. To tumble head over heels as dancing girls do (Telugu) Rebus 1: dul ‘to cast in a mould’; dul mẽṛhẽt, dul meṛeḍ, 'cast iron'; koṭe meṛeḍ ‘forged iron’ (Santali) Bshk. ḍōl ʻ brass pot (CDIAL 6583). Rebus 2: WPah. ḍhōˋḷ m. ʻstoneʼ, ḍhòḷṭɔ m. ʻbig stone or boulderʼ, ḍhòḷṭu ʻsmall id.ʼ Him.I 87(CDIAL 5536). Rebus: K. ḍula m. ʻ rolling stoneʼ(CDIAL 6582).

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) 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)

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).

मृदु mṛdu : (page 1287) A kind of iron.-कार्ष्णायसम्,-कृष्णायसम् soft-iron, lead. (Apte. Samskritam) This gloss could link with the variant lexis of Indian sprachbund with the semantics 'iron': Bj. merhd(Hunter) `iron'. Sa. mE~R~hE~'d `iron'. ! mE~RhE~d(M).

.med 'copper' (Slavic languages)

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. mE~R~hE~'d `iron'. ! mE~RhE~d(M).

Ma. mErhE'd `iron'.

Mu. mERE'd `iron'.

~ mE~R~E~'d `iron'. ! mENhEd(M).

Ho meD `iron'.

Bj. merhd(Hunter) `iron'.

KW mENhEd

@(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’.

Buffalo attack scenes: a. bull attack scene, circular button seal, Mehrgarh (MR-17); b. buffalo attack scene, Mohenjo-daro (M-312); c. buffalo attack or bull-leaping scene, Banawali (after UMESAO 2000:88, cat. no. 335)

ṭhaṭera 'buffalo horns'. Rebus: ṭhaṭerā 'brass worker'

meḍha 'polar star' (Marathi). Rebus: meḍ 'iron' (Ho.Mu.)

dolutsu'tumble' Rebus: dul'cast metal'.

Sumerian mudhif and Sohgaura copper plate signify Indus Script hypertexts of metalwork

https://tinyurl.com/yczjracd

Abstract. Sumerian mudhif signifies Indus Script hypertexts of metalwork

-- on Inana standards, Tell al Ubaid temple of Ninhursag

-- koṭṭhaka variant is signified on Sohgaura copper plate Brāhmī inscription

In Omur Harmansah article (2012) (embedded for ready reference), a number of images are presented and discusssed in the context of analysing 'temples'.

These images are reinterpreted in this monograph as Indus Script hypertexts of metalwork.

What is the language spoken by the artisans, the artists, creators of these images? What meanings of messages do they seek to signify?

The images presented are analysed in the context of Meluhha lexis of the spoken language of Meluhha artisans who visualised the hieroglyphs and hypertexts in mlecchita vikalpa, 'meluhha coppe workers' alternative representation' of Indus Script cipher.

I suggest that the cattle pen which is an Indus Script hypertext also occurs in a variant orthographic form as the top line of Sohgaura copper plate which described in Brāhmī inscription as koṭṭhaka 'warehouses' for itinerant artisans/merchants. The same word koṭṭhaka is signified as goṭ, कोंडण kōṇḍaṇa, 'cattlepen', rebus: kundaṇa 'fine gold' kōṭhā 'warehouse'. See:

Harappa Script hieroglyph kuṭi 'tree' rebus kuṭhi 'smelter' on hundreds of friezes, inscriptions, coins metal work tradition of Bharata http://tinyurl.com/hhfejmj

Sohgaura tāmra-sāsana with Indus Script hypertexts & Brahmī epigraph to protect metalwork wealth & merchandise of traders https://tinyurl.com/ybdljjzq

Sohgaura coper plate inscription. ca. 7th cent.BCE Pre-Mauryan.

खोंड (p. 122) khōṇḍa m A young bull, a bullcalf. 2 A variety of जोंधळा. जोंधळा (p. 187) jōndhaḷā m A cereal plant or its grain, Holcus sorghum. Eight varieties are reckoned, viz. उता- वळी, निळवा, शाळू, रातडी, पिवळा जोंधळा, खुंडी, काळबोंडी जोंधळा, दूध मोगरा. There are however many others as केळी, अरगडी, डुकरी, बेंदरी, मडगूप &c. Rebus: kundār 'turner' kunda 'gold, nidhi' Ta. kuntaṉam interspace for setting gems in a jewel; fine gold (< Te.). Ka. kundaṇa setting a precious stone in fine gold; fine gold; kundana fine gold. Tu. kundaṇa pure gold. Te. kundanamu fine gold used in very thin foils in setting precious stones; setting precious stones with fine gold.(DEDR 1725)

kāṇḍa 'reeds' rebus: kaṇḍa 'fire-altar'. khaṇḍa 'implements' (Santali)
Image result for mari standard

Standard of Mari. The standard-bearer has a shaven face and head. The staff upholding the one-horned young bull is खोंड a variety of jōndhaḷā Holcus sorghum; the hieroglyph signifies karba 'culm of millet' rebus: karba 'iron'.

The standard bearer looks like the priest shown on the Tell al Ubaid temple architectural frieze.

Figure 15.6. Tell al Ubaid, Temple of Ninhursag. Tridacna shell inlaid architectural frieze with bitumen

and black shale. Early Dynastic period (ca. 2600 b.c.) (Hall and Woolley 1927)

Figure 15.5. Tell al Ubaid, Temple of Ninhursag. Tridacna shell-inlaid architectural frieze with bitumen

and black shale. Early Dynastic period (ca. 2600 b.c.e.) (© The Trustees of the British Museum)

कोंडी (p. 102) kōṇḍī f (कोंडणें) A confined place gen.; a lockup house, a pen, fold, pound; a receiving apartment or court for Bráhmans gathering for दक्षिणा; a prison at the play of आट्यापाट्या; a dammed up part of a stream &c. &c. कोंडवाड (p. 102) kōṇḍavāḍa n f C (कोंडणें & वाडा) A pen or fold for cattle. कोंडण (p. 102) kōṇḍaṇa f A fold or pen. कोंडमार (p. 102) kōṇḍamāra or -मारा m (कोंडणें & मारणें) Shutting up in a confined place and beating. Gen. used in the laxer senses of Suffocating or stifling in a close room; pressing hard and distressing (of an opponent) in disputation; straitening and oppressing (of a person) under many troubles or difficulties; कोंडाळें (p. 102) kōṇḍāḷēṃ n (कुंडली S) A ring or circularly inclosed space. 2 fig. A circle made by persons sitting round. कोंड (p. 102) kōṇḍa m C A circular hedge or field-fence. 2 A circle described around a person under adjuration. 3 The circle at marbles. 4 A circular hamlet; a division of a मौजा or village, composed generally of the huts of one caste. 5 Grounds under one occupancy or tenancy. 6 f R A deep part of a river. 7 f (Or कोंडी q. v.) A confined place gen.; a lock-up house &c.

कोंडण kōṇḍaṇa, 'cattlepen', Mesopotamia Rebus: kundaṇa 'fine gold'

Mudhif and three reed banners

Figure 15.1. Sealing with representations of reed structures with cows, calves, lambs, and ringed
bundle “standards” of Inana (drawing by Diane Gurney. After Hamilton 1967, fig. 1)

Three rings on reed posts are three dotted circles: dāya 'dotted circle' on dhā̆vaḍ priest of 'iron-smelters', signifies tadbhava from Rigveda dhāī ''a strand (Sindhi) (hence, dotted circle shoring cross section of a thread through a perorated bead);rebus: dhāū, dhāv ʻa partic. soft red ores'. 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)

Cylinder seal impression, Uruk period, Uruk?, 3500-2900 BCE. Note a load of livestock (upper), overlapping greatly (weird representation), and standard 'mudhif' reed house form common to S. Iraq (lower).

Cattle Byres c.3200-3000 B.C. Late Uruk-Jemdet Nasr period. Magnesite. Cylinder seal. In the lower field of this seal appear three reed cattle byres. Each byre is surmounted by three reed pillars topped by rings, a motif that has been suggested as symbolizing a male god, perhaps Dumuzi. Within the huts calves or vessels appear alternately; from the sides come calves that drink out of a vessel between them. Above each pair of animals another small calf appears. A herd of enormous cattle moves in the upper field. Cattle and cattle byres in Southern Mesopotamia, c. 3500 BCE. Drawing of an impression from a Uruk period cylinder seal. (After Moorey, PRS, 1999, Ancient mesopotamian materials and industries: the archaeological evidence, Eisenbrauns.)

A cow and a stable of reeds with sculpted columns in the background. Fragment of another vase of alabaster (era of Djemet-Nasr) from Uruk, Mesopotamia.

Fragment of a stele, raised standards. From Tello.
Hieroglyphs: Quadrupeds exiting the mund (or mudhif) are pasaramu, pasalamu ‘an animal, a beast, a brute, quadruped’ (Telugu) పసరము [ pasaramu ] or పసలము pasaramu. [Tel.] n. A beast, an animal. గోమహిషహాతి.

A cow and a stable of reeds with sculpted columns in the background. Fragment of another vase of alabaster (era of Djemet-Nasr) from Uruk, Mesopotamia. Limestone 16 X 22.5 cm. AO 8842, Louvre, Departement des Antiquites Orientales, Paris, France. Six circles decorated on the reed post are semantic determinants of Glyphआर [ āra ] A term in the play of इटीदांडू,--the number six. (Marathi) आर [ āra ] A tuft or ring of hair on the body. (Marathi) Rebus: āra ‘brass’. काँड् । काण्डः m. the stalk or stem of a reed, grass, or the like, straw. In the compound with dan 5 (p. 221a, l. 13) the word is spelt kāḍ. The rebus reading of the pair of reeds in Sumer standard is: khānḍa ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’.
Rebus: pasra = a smithy, place where a black-smith works, to work as a blacksmith; kamar pasra = a smithy; pasrao lagao akata se ban:? Has the blacksmith begun to work? pasraedae = the blacksmith is at his work (Santali.lex.)
pasra meṛed, pasāra meṛed = syn. of koṭe meṛed = forged iron, in contrast to dul meṛed, cast iron (Mundari.lex.) పసారము [ pasāramu ] or పసారు pasārdmu. [Tel.] n. A shop. అంగడి.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/01/meluhha-standard-compares-with-nahal.html
Both hieroglyphs together may have read rebus: *kāṇḍāra: *kāṇḍakara ʻ worker with reeds or arrows ʼ. [kāˊṇḍa -- , kará -- 1] L. kanērā m. ʻ mat -- maker ʼ; H. kãḍerā m. ʻ a caste of bow -- and arrow -- makers ʼ.(CDIAL 3024). Rebus: kaṇḍa 'fire-altar'. khaṇḍa 'implements' (Santali) लोखंड (p. 423) lōkhaṇḍa n (लोह S) Iron. लोखंडकाम (p. 423) lōkhaṇḍakāma n Iron work; that portion (of a building, machine &c.) which consists of iron. 2 The business of an ironsmith. लोखंडी (p. 423) lōkhaṇḍī a (लोखंड) Composed of iron; relating to iron.

Figure 15.2. Tell al Ubaid, Temple of Ninhursag. Isometric reconstruction. Early Dynastic period

(ca. 2600 b.c.e.) (Hall and Woolley 1927)

Figure 15.4. Tell al Ubaid, Temple of Ninhursag. Copper bull sculpture from the frieze. Early Dynastic period (ca. 2600 b.c.e.) (© The Trustees of the British Museum)

The sculpture signifies: dhangar 'bull' rebus: dhangar 'blacksmith'.

Omur Harmansah, 2012, The cattlepen and the sheepfold: cities, temples, and pastoral power in Ancient Mesopotamia, in:Deena Ragavan (ed.), Heaven on earth, temples, ritual, and cosmic symbolism in the ancient world, Oriental Institute, Univ. of Chicago, 2012, pp. 374-394
https://www.scribd.com/document/360356703/The-cattlepen-and-the-sheepfold-cities-temples-and-pastoral-power-in-Ancient-Mesopotamia-Omur-Harmansah-2012

The cattlepen and the sheepfold: cities, temples, and pastoral power in Ancient Mesopotamia (Omur Harmansah... by Srini Kalyanaraman on Scribd

Mudhif is a cattle pen.

Sumerian mudhif (reedhouse) http://www.laputanlogic.com/articles/2004/01/24-0001.html

and modern mudhif structure (Iraq) compare with the Toda mund (sacred hut)

गोटी [ gōṭī ] f (Dim. of गोटा) A roundish stone or pebble. गोदा [ gōdā ] m A circular brand or mark made by actual cautery (Marathi)गोटा [ gōṭā ] m A roundish stone or pebble. 2 A marble (of stone, lac, wood &c.) 2 A marble. 3 A large lifting stone. Used in trials of strength among the Athletæ. 4 A stone in temples described at length underउचला 5 fig. A term for a round, fleshy, well-filled body. 6 A lump of silver: as obtained by melting down lace or fringe. गोटुळा or गोटोळा [ gōṭuḷā or gōṭōḷā ] a (गोटा) Spherical or spheroidal, pebble-form. (Marathi)

Rebus: krvṛi f. ‘granary (WPah.); kuṛī, kuṛo house, building’(Ku.)(CDIAL 3232) कोठी [ kōṭhī ] f (कोष्ट S) A granary, garner, storehouse, warehouse, treasury, factory, bank. (Marathi)

कोठी The grain and provisions (as of an army); the commissariatsupplies. Ex. लशकराची कोठी चालली-उतरली- आली-लुटली. कोठ्या [ kōṭhyā ] कोठा [ kōṭhā ] m (कोष्ट S) A large granary, store-room, warehouse, water-reservoir &c. 2 The stomach. 3 The chamber of a gun, of water-pipes &c. 4 A bird's nest. 5 A cattle-shed. 6 The chamber or cell of a hunḍí in which is set down in figures the amount. कोठारें [ kōṭhārēṃ ] n A storehouse gen (Marathi)

The Uruk trough. From Uruk (Warka), southern Iraq. Late Prehistoric period, about 3300-3000 BC

A cult object in the Temple of Inanna?

This trough was found at Uruk, the largest city so far known in southern Mesopotamia in the late prehistoric period (3300-3000 BC). The carving on the side shows a procession of sheep approaching a reed hut (of a type still found in southern Iraq) and two lambs emerging. The decoration is only visible if the trough is raised above the level at which it could be conveniently used, suggesting that it was probably a cult object, rather than of practical use. It may have been a cult object in the Temple of Inana (Ishtar), the Sumerian goddess of love and fertility; a bundle of reeds (Inanna's symbol) can be seen projecting from the hut and at the edges of the scene. Later documents make it clear that Inanna was the supreme goddess of Uruk. Many finely-modelled representations of animals and humans made of clay and stone have been found in what were once enormous buildings in the centre of Uruk, which were probably temples. Cylinder seals of the period also depict sheep, cattle, processions of people and possibly rituals. Part of the right-hand scene is cast from the original fragment now in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

J. Black and A. Green, Gods, demons and symbols of -1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)

H.W.F. Saggs, Babylonians (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)

D. Collon, Ancient Near Eastern art (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)

H. Frankfort, The art and architecture of th (London, Pelican, 1970)

P.P. Delougaz, 'Animals emerging from a hut', Journal of Near Eastern Stud-1, 27 (1968), pp. 186-7 http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_uruk_trough.aspx

Life on the edge of the marshes (Edward Ochsenschlaer, 1998)

Another black & white view of the trough.

Sumerian mudhif facade, with uncut reed fonds and sheep entering, carved into a gypsum trough from Uruk, c. 3200 BCE (British Museum WA 12000). Photo source.

See also: Expedition 40:2 (1998), p. 33, fig. 5b Life on edge of the marshes.

Fig. 5B. Carved gypsum trough from Uruk. Two lambs exit a reed structure identifical to the present-day mudhif on this ceremonial trough from the site of Uruk in northern Iraq. Neither the leaves or plumes have been removed from the reds which are tied together to form the arch. As a result, the crossed-over, feathered reeds create a decorative pattern along the length of the roof, a style more often seen in modern animal shelters built by the Mi'dan. Dating to ca. 3000 BCE, the trough documents the extraordinry length of time, such arched reed buildings have been in use. (The British Museum BCA 120000, acg. 2F2077)

End of the Uruk trough. Length: 96.520 cm Width: 35.560 cm Height: 15.240 cm

284 x 190 mm. Close up view of a Toda hut, with figures seated on the stone wall in front of the building. Photograph taken circa 1875-1880, numbered 37 elsewhere. Royal Commonwealth Society Library. Cambridge University Library. University of Cambridge.

The Toda mund, from, Richard Barron, 1837, "View in India, chiefly among the Nilgiri Hills'. Oil on canvas. The architecture of Iraqi mudhif and Toda mund -- of Indian linguistic area -- is comparable.

A Toda temple in Muthunadu Mund near Ooty, India.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_people

The hut of a Toda Tribe of Nilgiris, India. Note the decoration of the front wall, and the very small door.

Rebus Meluhha readings: kōṭhā 'warehouse' kuṭhāru 'armourer, PLUS kole.l'temple' rebus: kole.l 'smithy, forge' PLUS ḍhāla 'flagstaff' rebus: ḍhālako 'large ingot'. Thus, the message is: armoury, smithy, forge ingots.

m0702 Text 2206 showing Sign 39, a glyph which compares with the Sumerian mudhif structure.

- ढालकाठी [ ḍhālakāṭhī ] f ढालखांब m A flagstaff; esp.the pole for a grand flag or standard.

ढाल [ ḍhāla ] 'flagstaff' rebus: dhalako 'a large metal ingot (Gujarati) ḍhālakī = a metal heated and poured into a mould; a solid piece of metal; an ingot (Gujarati). The mudhif flag on the inscription is read rebus: xolā 'tail' Rebus: kole.l 'smithy, temple'. The structure is goṭ 'catttle-pen' (Santali) rebus: koṭṭhaka 'warehouse'. [kōṣṭhāgāra n. ʻ storeroom, store ʼ Mn. [kṓṣṭha -- 2, agāra -- ]Pa. koṭṭhāgāra -- n. ʻ storehouse, granary ʼ; Pk. koṭṭhāgāra -- , koṭṭhāra -- n. ʻ storehouse ʼ; K. kuṭhār m. ʻ wooden granary ʼ, WPah. bhal. kóṭhār m.; A. B. kuṭharī ʻ apartment ʼ, Or. koṭhari; Aw. lakh. koṭhārʻ zemindar's residence ʼ; H. kuṭhiyār ʻ granary ʼ; G. koṭhār m. ʻ granary, storehouse ʼ, koṭhāriyũ n. ʻ small do. ʼ; M. koṭhār n., koṭhārẽ n. ʻ large granary ʼ, -- °rī f. ʻ small one ʼ; Si. koṭāra ʻ granary, store ʼ.WPah.kṭg. kəṭhāˊr, kc. kuṭhār m. ʻ granary, storeroom ʼ, J. kuṭhār, kṭhār m.; -- Md. kořāru ʻ storehouse ʼ ← Ind.(CDIAL 3550)] Rebus: kuṭhāru 'armourer,

Field symbol is zebu (bos indicus). pōḷa 'zebu, bos indicus' rebus: pōḷa 'magnetite, ferrite ore' [pōlāda] 'steel'.

Text 1330 (appears with Zebu glyph) showing Sign 39. Pictorial motif: Zebu (Bos indicus) This sign is comparable to the cattle byre of Southern Mesopotamia dated to c. 3000 BCE. Rebus Meluhha readings of gthe inscription are from r. to l.: kole.l 'temple' rebus: kole.l 'smithy, forge' PLUS goṭ 'cattle-pen' rebus: koṭṭhāra 'warehouse' PLUS sal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop' PLUS aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal' PLUS kuṭika— 'bent' MBh. Rebus: kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin) PLUS kanka, karṇika कर्णिक 'rim of jar' rebus: karṇī 'supercargo, a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale'. Read together with the fieldsymbol of the zebu,the message is: magnetite ore smithy, forge, warehouse, iron alloy metal, bronze merchandise (ready for loading as cargo).

goṭ = the place where cattle are collected at mid-day (Santali); goṭh (Brj.)(CDIAL 4336). goṣṭha (Skt.); cattle-shed (Or.) koḍ = a cow-pen; a cattlepen; a byre (G.) कोठी cattle-shed (Marathi) कोंडी [ kōṇḍī ] A pen or fold for cattle. गोठी [ gōṭhī ] f C (Dim. of गोठा) A pen or fold for calves. (Marathi)

koṭṭhaka1 (nt.) "a kind of koṭṭha," the stronghold over a gateway, used as a store -- room for various things, a chamber, treasury, granary Vin ii.153, 210; for the purpose of keeping water in it Vin ii.121=142; 220; treasury J i.230; ii.168; -- store -- room J ii.246; koṭthake pāturahosi appeared at the gateway, i. e. arrived at the mansion Vin i.291.; -- udaka -- k a bath -- room, bath cabinet Vin i.205 (cp. Bdhgh's expln at Vin. Texts ii.57); so also nahāna -- k˚ and piṭṭhi -- k˚, bath -- room behind a hermitage J iii.71; DhA ii.19; a gateway, Vin ii.77; usually in cpd. dvāra -- k˚ "door cavity," i. e. room over the gate: gharaŋ satta -- dvāra -- koṭṭhakapaṭimaṇḍitaŋ "a mansion adorned with seven gateways" J i.227=230, 290; VvA 322. dvāra -- koṭṭhakesu āsanāni paṭṭhapenti "they spread mats in the gateways" VvA 6; esp. with bahi: bahi -- dvārakoṭṭhakā nikkhāmetvā "leading him out in front of the gateway" A iv.206; ˚e thiṭa or nisinna standing or sitting in front of the gateway S i.77; M i.161, 382; A iii.30. -- bala -- k. a line of infantry J i.179. -- koṭṭhaka -- kamma or the occupation connected with a storehouse (or bathroom?) is mentioned as an example of a low occupation at Vin iv.6; Kern, Toev. s. v. "someone who sweeps away dirt." (Pali)

कोंडण kōṇḍaṇa, 'cattlepen', Mesopotamia Rebus: kundaṇa 'fine gold'

One-horned young bulls and calves are shown emerging out of कोंडण kōṇḍaṇa cattlepens heralded by Inana standards atop the mudhifs. The Inana standards are reeds with three rings. The reed standard is the same which is signified on Warka vase c. 3200–3000 BCE. Ring on a standard is also shown on Jasper cylinder seal with four standardd bearers holding aloft Indus Script hypertexts. See:

Ancient Near East jasper cylinder seal, Warka vase hieroglyphs: crucible iron, zinc, lead, copper kāṇḍa metalwork implements http://tinyurl.com/o5sozfv

Reed PLUS ring on Inanna standard on Warka vase.

Scarf on the reeds: dhaṭu 'scarf' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral' (Santali) *dhaṭa2, dhaṭī -- f. ʻ old cloth, loincloth ʼ lex. [Drav., Kan. daṭṭi ʻ waistband ʼ etc., DED 2465]Ku. dhaṛo ʻ piece of cloth ʼ, N. dharo, B. dhaṛā; Or. dhaṛā ʻ rag, loincloth ʼ, dhaṛi ʻ rag ʼ; Mth. dhariā ʻ child's narrow loincloth ʼ.Addenda: *dhaṭa-- 2. 2. †*dhaṭṭa -- : WPah.kṭg. dhàṭṭu m. ʻ woman's headgear, kerchief ʼ, kc. dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu m. ʻ scarf ʼ, J. dhāṭ(h)u m. Him.I 105).(CDIAL 6707)

Hypertexts of goat and tiger atop fire-altars (with ore pellets) mlekh 'goat' rebus: milakkhu, mleccha'copper' kola 'tiger' rebus: kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter'. Products (offerings) carried by worshippers in baskets and large storage jars and dedicated to Divinity Inanna clearly include metal ingots, as signified by the Indus Script hypertexts: copper ingots, iron (smelted) ingots.

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 meḍ (Ho.) of Munda family of Meluhha language stream. It is significant that the word med in Slavic languages signifies copper.

Sa. mE~R~hE~'d `iron'. ! mE~RhE~d(M). Ma. mErhE'd `iron'.Mu. mERE'd `iron'.~ mE~R~E~'d `iron'. ! mENhEd(M).Ho meD `iron'.Bj. merhd(Hunter) `iron'.KW mENhEd@(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’.

Inside the Toda tribe's temple in Ooty

The Hindu

Published on Jan 4, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIiZyXEGM5E

தமிழகத்தின் வித்தியாசமான தோடரினக் கோவில்கள்! |Behind the Toda tribe's temple in Ooty!

Temple Rahasyam

Published on Nov 15, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs33xdnLBZk

Behind the Toda tribe's temple in Ooty

The Hindu

Published on Jun 12, 201

The Toda tribe to this day are distinctly different from the rest of the Tamil tribes or plainsmen. This week they celebrated the renovation of their temple after 50 years.

The Toda mund, from Richard Barron, 1837, View in India, chiefly among the Neelgherry Hills. Oil on canvas.

Toda dogles in Nilgiris

According to the Todas, the goddess Teikirshy and her brother first created the sacred buffalo and then the first Toda man. The first Toda woman was created from the right rib of the first Toda man. Many rites feature the buffalo, as its milk and other products form the basis of their diet.

The Toda religion exalted high-class men as holy milkmen, giving them sacred status as priests of the holy dairy. According to Frazer in 1922 (see quote below from Golden Bough, the holy milkman was prohibited from walking across bridges while in office. He had to ford rivers by foot, or by swimming. The people are prohibited from wearing shoes or any type of foot covering.

Toda temples are constructed in a circular pit lined with stones. They are similar in appearance and construction to Toda huts. Women are not allowed to enter or go close to these huts that are designated as temples.

From Frazer's Golden Bough, 1922:

"Among the Todas of Southern India the holy milkman, who acts as priest of the sacred dairy, is subject to a variety of irksome and burdensome restrictions during the whole time of his incumbency, which may last many years. Thus he must live at the sacred dairy and may never visit his home or any ordinary village. He must be celibate; if he is married he must leave his wife. On no account may any ordinary person touch the holy milkman or the holy dairy; such a touch would so defile his holiness that he would forfeit his office. It is only on two days a week, namely Mondays and Thursdays, that a mere layman may even approach the milkman; on other days if he has any business with him, he must stand at a distance (some say a quarter of a mile) and shout his message across the intervening space. Further, the holy milkman never cuts his hair or pares his nails so long as he holds office; he never crosses a river by a bridge, but wades through a ford and only certain fords; if a death occurs in his clan, he may not attend any of the funeral ceremonies, unless he first resigns his office and descends from the exalted rank of milkman to that of a mere common mortal. Indeed it appears that in old days he had to resign the seals, or rather the pails, of office whenever any member of his clan departed this life. However, these heavy restraints are laid in their entirety only on milkmen of the very highest class".

...

The Toda language is a member of the Dravidian family. The language is typologically aberrant and phonologically difficult. Linguists have classified Toda (along with its neighbour Kota) as a member of the southern subgroup of the historical family proto-South-Dravidian. It split off from South Dravidian, after Kannada and Telugu, but before Malayalam. In modern linguistic terms, the aberration of Toda results from a disproportionately high number of syntactic and morphological rules, of both early and recent derivation, which are not found in the other South Dravidian languages (save Kota, to a small extent.)(Emeneau, Murray B. (1984), Toda Grammar and Texts, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, Pp. xiii, 410, index (16),)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_people

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Oral Poets of South India: The Todas

M. B. Emeneau

The Journal of American Folklore

Vol. 71, No. 281, Traditional India: Structure and Change (Jul. - Sep., 1958), pp. 312-324

Published by: American Folklore Society

DOI: 10.2307/538564

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/538564

Page Count: 13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS13pXTbO38

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Bogazkoy (Hittite) strand, star, eagle, wing hieroglyphs are Indus Script hypertexts, signify, ḍhāu, 'mineral' iron casting, thunderbolt hard alloys

January 6, 2018, 4:22 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/ya73yfu5

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)

Hittite, seal, Kültepe- Kaniş 1800-1730 BCE

Hittite, seal of two-headed eagle Boğazköy C.1800 BC, Museum of Anatolian civilizations, Ankara

kambha 'wing' rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'

śyēná m. ʻ hawk, falcon, eagle ʼ RV.Pa. sēna -- , °aka -- m. ʻ hawk ʼ, Pk. sēṇa -- m.; WPah.bhad. śeṇ ʻ kite ʼ; A. xen ʻ falcon, hawk ʼ, Or. seṇā, H. sen, sẽ m., M. śen m., śenī f. (< MIA. *senna -- ); Si. sen ʻ falcon, eagle, kite ʼ.(CDIAL 12674)

aśáni f. ʻ thunderbolt ʼ RV., °nī -- f. ŚBr. [Cf. áśan -- m. ʻ sling -- stone ʼ RV.] Pa. asanī -- f. ʻ thunderbolt, lightning ʼ, asana -- n. ʻ stone ʼ; Pk. asaṇi -- m.f. ʻ thunderbolt ʼ; Ash. ašĩˊ ʻ hail ʼ, Wg. ašē˜ˊ, Pr. īšĩ, Bashg. "azhir", Dm. ašin, Paš. ášen, Shum. äˊšin, Gaw. išín, Bshk. ašun, Savi išin, Phal. ã̄šun, L. (Jukes) ahin, awāṇ. &circmacrepsilon;n (both with n, not ṇ), P. āhiṇ, f., āhaṇ, aihaṇ m.f., WPah. bhad. ã̄ṇ, hiṇi f., N. asino, pl. °nā; Si. sena, heṇa ʻ thunderbolt ʼ Geiger GS 34, but the expected form would be *ā̤n; -- Sh. aĩyĕˊr f. ʻ hail ʼ (X ?). -- For ʻ stone ʼ > ʻ hailstone ʼ cf. upala -- and A. xil s.v.śilāˊ -- . (CDIAL 910) vajrāśani m. ʻ Indra's thunderbolt ʼ R. [vájra -- , aśáni -- ]Aw. bajāsani m. ʻ thunderbolt ʼ prob. ← Sk.(CDIAL 11207)

Bogazkoy Indus Script seal, sēṇa 'eagle' rebus: sena ʻvajra, thunderboltʼ PLUS dhAtu 'strands of rope' Rebus'mineral, metal, ore' (CDIAL 6773) Alternative: 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.) Alternative: pajhar 'eagle' rebus: pasra 'smithy, forge' dul 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting'

Hittite, seal, bird and gazelle, Kültepe-Kaniş, 1800 BC, Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara. karaḍū 'a kid, young antelope' Rebus: karaḍā 'hard metal alloy'.

Hittite seal 1800 BCE. mēḍhēmata ] n ( मेढ Polar star, मत Dogma or sect; meḍ'iron'. mẽṛhet ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) Alternative: pajhar 'eagle' rebus: pasra 'smithy, forge' dul 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting'

Hittite Bogazkoy seal impression. Hieroglyphs: twisted rope, pair of eagles, wings.

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Iranian seal with Indus Script hieroglyphs, three and cobra hood signify 'metals manufactory'

January 6, 2018, 5:13 pm

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≪ Previous: Bogazkoy (Hittite) strand, star, eagle, wing hieroglyphs are Indus Script hypertexts, signify, ḍhāu, 'mineral' iron casting, thunderbolt hard alloys

paśu'cow' rebus: pasra 'smithy, forge'phaḍaफड ''cobra hood' rebus: फड 'manufactory, company, guild] kolom'three' rebus: kolilmi 'smithy, forge'.

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Indus Script hypertexts on Kosala pre-Mauryan coins, Sohgaura copper plate are metalwork wealth accounting ledgers

January 6, 2018, 8:50 pm

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≪ Previous: Iranian seal with Indus Script hieroglyphs, three and cobra hood signify 'metals manufactory'

https://tinyurl.com/y9dwhb9c

Indus Script hieroglyphs on Kosala coins. The repertoire of metalwork wealth accounting ledger entries are: magnetite, ferrite ore; smelting furnace; copper alloy calcining metal; silver, alloy metal, metalcasting mint to produce hard alloys (by infusion of carbon -- wheat chaff fumes -- into molten metal).

zebu पोळ pōḷa, 'Zebu, bos indicus' rebus: पोळ pōḷa, 'magnetite, ferrite ore'
peacock maraka'peacock' Rebus: marakakaloha'copper alloy, calcining metal'.
tree kuṭi'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi 'smelting furnace'
nandipada khambhaṛā'fish-fin' rebus: kammaṭa'mint, coiner, coinage' PLUS ayo'fish' rebus: aya'iron'ayas'alloy metal' PLUS dula'two' rebus: dul 'metal casting'
round pebble: goṭa'round stone, pebble' rebus:goṭi 'silver'
Standard: skambha with caṣāla : kambha'pillar' rebus: kammaṭa'mint, coiner, coinage'

Skambha of Atharva Veda Skambha sukta, as a fiery pillar of light which topped with caṣāla, godhuma 'wheat-chaff' fumes, infuses carbon to harden metal in the fire-altar, furnace, smelter.

cobrahood (stylized)

150 B.CE-100 B.CE :: Coin by King Kumudasena of Ayodhya (Indian Museum Kolkata )

Kosala Karshapana, 5th century BCE.

Coin of ruler Muladeva, minted in Ayodhya, Kosala. Obv:Muladevasa, elephant to left facing symbol. Rev: Wreath, above symbol, below snake.

Coin of ruler Aryamitra, issued in Ayodhya, Kosala. Obv: peacock to right facing tree. Rev: NameAyyamitasa, humped bull to left facing pole.

According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa (sixteen) Mahajanapadas (powerful realms) in 6th to 5th centuries BCE...

According to the Puranas and the Ramayana epic, Ayodhya was the capital of Kosala during the reign of Ikshvaku and his descendants.^[7]Shravasti is recorded as the capital of Kosala during the Mahajanapada period (6th–5th centuries BCE),^[8] but post-Maurya (2nd–1st centuries BCE) kings issued their coins from Ayodhya...

https://thebetter.wiki/en/Kosala

Sohgaura coper plate inscription. ca. 7th cent.BCE Pre-Mauryan.

The Sohgaura copper plate inscription, probably issued during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya deals with a famine in Shravasti and the relief measures to be adopted by the officials.

Sohgaura tāmra-sāsana with Indus Script hypertexts & Brahmī epigraph to protect metalwork wealth & merchandise of traders. खोंड (p. 122) khōṇḍa m A young bull, a bullcalf. 2 A variety of जोंधळा. जोंधळा (p. 187) jōndhaḷā m A cereal plant or its grain, Holcus sorghum. Eight varieties are reckoned, viz. उता- वळी, निळवा, शाळू, रातडी, पिवळा जोंधळा, खुंडी, काळबोंडी जोंधळा, दूध मोगरा. There are however many others as केळी, अरगडी, डुकरी, बेंदरी, मडगूप &c. Rebus: kundār 'turner' kunda 'gold, nidhi' Ta. kuntaṉam interspace for setting gems in a jewel; fine gold (< Te.). Ka. kundaṇa setting a precious stone in fine gold; fine gold; kundana fine gold. Tu. kundaṇa pure gold. Te. kundanamu fine gold used in very thin foils in setting precious stones; setting precious stones with fine gold.(DEDR 1725)

kāṇḍa 'reeds' rebus: kaṇḍa 'fire-altar'. khaṇḍa 'implements' (Santali)

See:

Sumerian mudhif and Sohgaura copper plate signify Indus Script hypertexts of metalwork

https://tinyurl.com/yczjracd

Sohgaura tāmra-sāsana with Indus Script hypertexts & Brahmī epigraph to protect metalwork wealth & merchandise of traders

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Sohgaura copper plate is an edict or order concerning two storehouses. The word used is: koṭhagalani = koṭṭhāgārāni, bhalakan(i) = bhārakāni, ‘heavy loads’ (on high roads leading to Śravasti).

भारक [p= 753,1] m. (prob.) a burden , load , weight (ifc. f(इका). , loaded with ; cf. फणि-भारिका) Mn. Katha1s. (Monier-Williams) फणि-भारिका = load of tin or lead. कोष्ठा* गार [p= 314,3] n. a store-room , store Mn. ix , 280 R. &c; a treasury. kṓṣṭha2 n. ʻ pot ʼ Kauś., ʻ granary, storeroom ʼ MBh., ʻ inner apartment ʼ lex., °aka -- n. ʻ treasury ʼ, °ikā f. ʻ pan ʼ Bhpr. [Cf. *kōttha -- , *kōtthala -- : same as prec.?] Pa. koṭṭha -- n. ʻ monk's cell, storeroom ʼ, °aka<-> n. ʻ storeroom ʼ; Pk. koṭṭha -- , kuṭ°, koṭṭhaya -- m. ʻ granary, storeroom ʼ; Sv. dāntar -- kuṭha ʻ fire -- place ʼ; Sh. (Lor.) kōti (ṭh?) ʻ wooden vessel for mixing yeast ʼ; K. kōṭha m. ʻ granary ʼ, kuṭhu m. ʻ room ʼ, kuṭhü f. ʻ granary, storehouse ʼ; S. koṭho m. ʻ large room ʼ, °ṭhī f. ʻ storeroom ʼ; L. koṭhā m. ʻ hut, room, house ʼ, °ṭhī f. ʻ shop, brothel ʼ, awāṇ. koṭhā ʻ house ʼ; P. koṭṭhā, koṭhā m. ʻ house with mud roof and walls, granary ʼ, koṭṭhī, koṭhī f. ʻ big well -- built house, house for married women to prostitute themselves in ʼ; WPah. pāḍ. kuṭhī ʻ house ʼ; Ku. koṭho ʻ large square house ʼ, gng. kōṭhi ʻ room, building ʼ; N. koṭho ʻ chamber ʼ, °ṭhi ʻ shop ʼ; A. koṭhā, kõṭhā ʻ room ʼ, kuṭhī ʻ factory ʼ; B. koṭhā ʻ brick -- built house ʼ, kuṭhī ʻ bank, granary ʼ; Or. koṭhā ʻ brick -- built house ʼ, °ṭhī ʻ factory, granary ʼ; Bi. koṭhī ʻ granary of straw or brushwood in the open ʼ; Mth. koṭhī ʻ grain -- chest ʼ; OAw. koṭha ʻ storeroom ʼ; H. koṭhā m. ʻ granary ʼ, °ṭhī f. ʻ granary, large house ʼ, Marw. koṭho m. ʻ room ʼ; G. koṭhɔ m. ʻ jar in which indigo is stored, warehouse ʼ, °ṭhī f. ʻ large earthen jar, factory ʼ; M. koṭhā m. ʻ large granary ʼ, °ṭhī f. ʻ granary, factory ʼ; Si. koṭa ʻ storehouse ʼ. -- Ext. with -- ḍa -- : K. kūṭhürü f. ʻ small room ʼ; L. koṭhṛī f. ʻ small side room ʼ; P. koṭhṛī f. ʻ room, house ʼ; Ku. koṭheṛī ʻ small room ʼ; H. koṭhrī f. ʻ room, granary ʼ; M. koṭhḍī f. ʻ room ʼ; -- with -- ra -- : A. kuṭharī ʻ chamber ʼ, B. kuṭhrī, Or. koṭhari; -- with -- lla -- : Sh. (Lor.) kotul (ṭh?) ʻ wattle and mud erection for storing grain ʼ; H. koṭhlā m., °lī f. ʻ room, granary ʼ; G. koṭhlɔ m. ʻ wooden box ʼ.kōṣṭhapāla -- , *kōṣṭharūpa -- , *kōṣṭhāṁśa -- , kōṣṭhāgāra -- ; *kajjalakōṣṭha -- , *duvārakōṣṭha -- , *dēvakōṣṭha -- , dvārakōṣṭhaka -- .Addenda: kṓṣṭha -- 2: WPah.kṭg. kóṭṭhi f. ʻ house, quarters, temple treasury, name of a partic. temple ʼ, J. koṭhā m. ʻ granary ʼ, koṭhī f. ʻ granary, bungalow ʼ; Garh. koṭhu ʻ house surrounded by a wall ʼ; Md. koḍi ʻ frame ʼ, <-> koři ʻ cage ʼ (X kōṭṭa -- ). -- with ext.: OP. koṭhārī f. ʻ crucible ʼ, P. kuṭhālī f., H. kuṭhārī f.; -- Md. koṭari ʻ room ʼ.kōṣṭhapāla m. ʻ storekeeper ʼ W. [kṓṣṭha -- 2, pāla -- ]M. koṭhvaḷā m.(CDIAL 3546, 3547)

Anvaya: logical connection of words in Brahmi epigraph: Indus Script hypertexts describe the facilities associated with two storehouses (with 3 rooms each), smelter, (furnaces) for implements, smithy/forge/crucible; mint, coinage; silver & fine gold engraving. The purpose of the edict is to protect -- during days of famine and distress -- the artisans and wealth-producing itinerant workers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths of metalwork guilds.

Line 1 in Indus Script hypertexts is further elucidated in the subsequent four lines of syllabic Brāhmi epigraph, giving the locus of the tri-junction of three main roads (See readings provided by JF Fleet, BM Barua and SN Chakravarti).

1. Two storehouses: ete duve koṭhagalani tighavani = ete duve koṭṭhāgārāni trigarbhāṇi = these two storehouses with three rooms each. The Indus Script hypertext clearly delineates the two storehouses with three rooms each.

2. Tree on the left: kuṭhi 'tree; rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter'

3. మేడెము mēḍemu or మేడియము mēḍemu. [Tel.] n. A spear or dagger. ఈటె, బాకు. rebus:मृदु mṛdu, mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'metal, iron' (Samskrtam.Santali.Mu.Ho.); med 'copper' (Slavic) Alternative: Arrowhead:kaṇḍa 'arrow; rebus: kaṇḍa 'implements'

4. Mountain-range: dhanga 'mountain range' Rebus: dhangar 'blacksmith' Alternative: kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' PLUS mēṭu height, eminence, hillock; muṭṭu rising ground, high ground, heap. Ma. mēṭu 'rising' rebus: मृदु mṛdu, mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'metal, iron' (Samskrtam.Santali.Mu.Ho.); med 'copper' (Slavic) PLUS OP. koṭhārī f. ʻ crucible ʼ(CDIAL 3546) Rebus: koṭhār 'treasury, warehouse'. Thus, iron warehouse.

5.Forked stake PLUS Śrivatsa (taurine) on Yūpa skambha: मेंढा [ mēṇḍhā ] A crook or curved end (of a stick, horn &c.) and attrib. such a stick, horn, bullock. मेढा [ mēḍhā ] m A stake, esp. as forked. kambha 'pillar, Indra-dhvaja', khambhaṛā 'fish-fin' rebus: kammaṭa 'coiner, coinage, mint' aya 'fish' rebus: aya, 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal'. Thus, ayo kammaṭa, 'alloy metal mint.'

6 Leafless tree: khōṇḍa 'leafless tree' (Marathi). Rebus 1: kõdār 'turner, engraver, lapidary' (Bengali); kundana 'fine gold'.

7. Round pebble: K. goṭh f., dat. °ṭi f. ʻ chequer or chess or dice board ʼ; S. g̠oṭu m. ʻ large ball of tobacco ready for hookah ʼ, °ṭī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; P. goṭ f. ʻ spool on which gold or silver wire is wound, piece on a chequer board ʼ; N. goṭo ʻ piece ʼ, goṭi ʻ chess piece ʼ; A. goṭ ʻ a fruit, whole piece ʼ, °ṭā ʻ globular, solid ʼ, guṭi ʻ small ball, seed, kernel ʼ; B. goṭā ʻ seed, bean, whole ʼ; Or. goṭā ʻ whole, undivided ʼ, goṭi ʻ small ball, cocoon ʼ, goṭāli ʻ small round piece of chalk ʼ; Bi. goṭā ʻ seed ʼ; Mth. goṭa ʻ numerative particle ʼ; H. goṭ f. ʻ piece (at chess &c.) ʼ; G. goṭ m. ʻ cloud of smoke ʼ, °ṭɔ m. ʻ kernel of coconut, nosegay ʼ, goṭī f. ʻ lump of silver, clot of blood ʼ, °ṭilɔm. ʻ hard ball of cloth ʼ; M. goṭā m. ʻ roundish stone ʼ, °ṭī f. ʻ a marble ʼ, goṭuḷā ʻ spherical ʼ; Si. guṭiya ʻ lump, ball ʼ; -- prob. also P. goṭṭā ʻ gold or silver lace ʼ, H.goṭā m. ʻ edging of such ʼ (→ K. goṭa m. ʻ edging of gold braid ʼ, S. goṭo m. ʻ gold or silver lace ʼ); M. goṭ ʻ hem of a garment, metal wristlet ʼ. Ko. gōṭu ʻ silver or gold braid ʼ.(CDIAL 4271) Rebus: goṭī f. ʻlump of silver' (Gujarati)

The inscription has the top line showing Indus Script hypertexts and bottom lines written in Brahmi script.

Brahmi text has been deciphered as related to the facilities of two koṣṭhāgāra made available at the junction of three roads for merchants during the period of draught. The top line in Sarasvati hieroglyphs connotes these two koṣṭhāgāra (storehouses) and also indicate the facilities of furnaces made available to itinerant smiths-merchants.

"The earliest known copper-plate, known as the Sohgaura copper-plate, is a Maurya record that mentions famine relief efforts. The Sohgaura copper-plate refers to a pair of Kosthagara (granaries) to be used in the time of distress."

“JAS, Letters, Vol. XVIII, pp. 1 ff. The plate, which was not fashioned by hammering as in the case of most copper plates, was cast in a mould of sand. The letters and emblems were previously scratched into the mould with a pointed instrument. They therefore appear on the plate in relieve.” (DC Sircar, 1965, Indian Epigraphy,Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, Fn 2, p.79)

Copper plate presented in May 1894, by Dr. William Hoey, ICS and Dr. Vincet Smith to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Park Street, Kolkata. “Although scarcely more than 2 ½ inches wide and 1 ½ inches in height, the plate was in astonishingly good condition and covered in symbols and lettering that had been cast in such high relief that they were easy to make out. The writing consisted in four lines of the script that Hoey recognized as the Brahmi of the Asokan columns. But above the lettering was one line made up of seven distinct symbols representing what appeared to be two trees in railings, two buildings, a spear, a central image of three domes topped by a sun and moon and beside it a globe topped by what appeared to be a pair of horns, a familiar symbol known as taurine. It was (Vincent) Smith’s view that no plate of such antiquity had even been found in India – and in this surmise he was subsequently proved correct. He declared the characters of the writing to be ‘ancient Nagari of the Maurya period’ but confessed himself unable to make sense of the text because its language appeared to be Pali rather than Sanskrit. Dr. Rudolf Hoernle, principal of the Calcutta Madrassa College and a leading light of both the ASB and the Indian Museum, was then brought in and fared little better. The meanings of the seven symbols were equally mystifying, although the central image of three linked domes topped by a sun and moon struck Smith as undoubtedly ‘Buddhistic’ and probably represented a memorial stupa. The two structures of wooden posts and thatch roofs obviously represented three-storied buildings of some sort but perhaps the most intriguing element were the two trees, each set behind railings but distinctively different from one another. Smith thought the tree on the left was meant to represent a sal tree but offered no opinion as to what the other might be. Dr. Hoey presented the plate to the ASB – a misplaced act of generosity, as it turned out, for so chaotic was the Society’s curating in the years that followed that it was some decades before it could be officially admitted that the Sohgaura plate was missing believed stolen. The loss is incalculable, for the plate may well be the earliest copper plate ever found in India, very likely made at the time of Asoka himself – whose personal seal may well be represented by the central stupa image – if not earlier. Fortunately, a photograph of the plate was taken and a copy sent to Prof. Buhler, who published the first tentative translation in his own journal, the Vienna Oriental Journal: ‘The order of the great official of Sravasti (issued) from (their camp at) Manavasitikata: These two storehouses with three partitions (which are situated) even in famous Vamsagrama, require the storage of loads of Black Panicum, parched grain, cumin-seed and Amba for (times of) urgent (need). One should not take (any thing from the grain stored).’ In fact, Buhler was uncharasterically wide of the mark here, except in so far as he identified the plate as being some form of order about the storage of food supplies. He was equally uncertain about the significance of the line of images above the inscription, five of which he took to be mangala or auspicious symbols. He thought the railings round the two trees identified them as chaitya or sacred trees, ‘such as are often mentioned in the Buddhist canon, the Brahminical books and elsewhere – the second of them without leaves being probably one of the so-called ‘shameless’ trees which shed their leaves in winter’. The spear-like object, which Vincent Smith had thought resembled a long-handled spoon, he identified as ‘toilet mirror, as the mirror is one of the auspicious symbols and is depicted as such, together with other symbols, and is depicted as such, together with other symbols, above the entrance of the Jaina cave at Junagadh, called Bawa Pyari’s Math’. As for the supposed Buddhist symbol of combined stupas at the centre, this Buhler thought ‘may be meant for a rude representation of Mount Meru’ – the mountain at the centre of the cosmos in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmography. Lastly, there was that curious symbol of the orb linked to the pair of horns, which Vincent Smith had described as the sun and moon. This, according to Buhler, was ‘a nandipada, the footmark of Shiva’s bull Nandin’.

Bharatiya Indus Scriopt tradition continues on copper plate inscriptions.

Some glyphs on line 1: kut.hi = tree; rebus: kut.hi = smelting furnace; kos.t.ha_ga_ra = storehouse; s'u_la = spear; cu_l.a = kiln; kan.d.kanka = rim of jar; rebus: copper furnace; bat.a = quail; rebus: kiln.

The Sohgaura copper plate refers to a pair of kos.t.ha_ga_ra (dva_ra kot.t.haka); the two storehouses described as tri-garbha (i.e. having three rooms) are illustrated on line 1. (Fleet, JRAS, 1907). The illustrations indicate that the three rooms are in three storeys, with supporting pillars clearly seen. The inscription refers to the junction of three highways named Manavati, in two villages called Dasilimita and Usagama. The storehouses were made at this junction for the goods of people using the highways, which are indicated in line 3 by mentioning the three places to and from which they led. One of the names give is reognized by Fleet as Chanchu. (Fleet, JRAS, 63, 1894 proceedings, 86, plate, IA 25. 262; cf. Sohgaura copper plate/B.M. Barua. The Indian Historical Quarterly, ed. Narendra Nath Law. Reprint. 41)

Fleet, JF, 1907, The Inscription on the Sohgaura plate, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland JRAS, 509-532; JRAS, Vol. 40, Issue 3, July 1908, pp. 822-823.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25210446

The Inscription on the Sohgaura PlateAuthor(s): J. F. FleetSource:

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,

urnal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (Jan., 1908), pp. 187-188

BM Barua, 1930, The Sohgaura Copper-plate inscription, ABORI 11, 32-48

BM Barua, 1934a, The Sohgaura Copper-Plate, IHQ 10, 54-56

SN Chakravarti, 1941, Sohgaura copper plate inscription, JRASB 7, 203-205.

Charles Allen, 2008, The Buddha and Dr. Fuhrer: an archaeological scandal, London, Haus Publishing (Reprint 2010 Penguin Books, India).

Sohgaura copper plate inscription as a survival of Sarasvati hieroglyphs and writing system

Alternative readings:

Tree = kut.i; rebus: kut.hi ‘smelter, furnace’

Warehouse = kot. (kos.t.hagara)

Spear = cu_la; rebus: cu_lha ‘furnace’

Mountain-summit = ku_t.amu ; rebus : ku_t.a ‘workshop’

Wide-mouthed pot on mountain-summit = bat.i; rebus: bat.hi ‘furnace’)

Rim of jar = kan.d.; rebus: kand. ‘fire-altar’

Tree = kut.i; rebus: kut.hi ‘smelter, furnace’

Bird on branch: bat.a ‘quail’; rebus: bat.a ‘furnace’; d.a_l. ‘branch of tree’; rebus: d.ha_l.ako ‘large metal ingot’ [The glyptic composition refers to a kut.hi which can produce metal ingots]

Warehouse = kot. (kos.t.hagara)

The Brāhmi epigraph on the lines following the top line refers to two kos.t.hagara set up for itinerant merchants (smiths?) at the junction of three roads.

Some devices used on punch-marked coins also occur as the first line of the Sohgaura copper plate inscription. ( Fleet, J.F., The inscription on the Sohgaura Plate, JRAS, 1907, pp. 509-532; B.M. Barua, Sohgaura copper plate, Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. X, 41).

Non-religious nature of sign graphs on Sohgaura copper plate

“Lastly, with regard to its subject-matter, the inscription is found to be a public notification about the judicious use of certain things in two storehouses by persons carrying on traffic along the high roads leading to S’ra_vasti, or it may be, by persons carrying on traffic by all the three kinds of vehicles along the high roads, in times of urgent need…What we owe to Dr. Fleet’s study of the nature of the devices (used on the top line of the copper plate) is the recognition in all of them a significance other than that of religious symbols. To quote him in his words: ‘Two of them obviously represent the storehouses themselves, which are shown as shed with double roofs. The lower roof in each case is supported by four rows of posts; and these perhaps stand for four rows of posts, the front posts hiding, those behind them. In the other devices I recognize, not religious emblems, Buddhist or otherwise, -- (I mean, not religious emblems employed here as such), -- nor Mangalas, auspicious symbols, but the arms of the three towns mentioned in L3 of the record.’…” (BM Barua, 1929, The Sohgaura copper-plate inscription, ABORI, vol. 11, 1929, pp. 31-48).

The text of the inscription (which is considered by some to of pre-Mauryan days, i.e. circa 4th century BCE) refers to some famine relief measures and notifies the establishment of two public storehouses at a junction of three great highways of vehicular traffic to meet the needs of persons (apparently merchants and metal-workers) using these roads. The first line which is full of glyphs or devices should relate to the inscription and the facilities provided to the traders. Next to the symbol of the kos.t.haagaara is a s’u_la (spear). This is phonetically cuula ‘kiln’ for metals to be heated and copper/bronze/brass vessels and tools, worked on by metalsmiths. Similarly, the first glyph of a tree on a platform can be read as kuti ‘tree’; another word kuti in Santali means a ‘furnace’ for melting metals. The other devices are: three peaks mounted by a rimless pot, a rim of a jar, a tree branch with a bird perched on top. These can also be explained in the context of Sarasvati heiroglyphs and the context of metals/minerals-trade.

The second symbol from the left and the second symbol from the right may refer to a kos.t.haagaara. Ko.s.thaagaara is a pair of storehouses are referred to by this name in the Sohgaura plaque inscription, and illustrated on the same plaque (Fleet, The tradition about the corporeal relics of Buddha, JRAS, 1907, pp. 341-363: I find a mention of a place named Chanchu, which I take to be the same one, in the Sohgaura plate (JASB, 63, 1894. proceedings, 86, plate; IA, 25. 262). That record, as I understand it, is a public notification relating to three great highways of vehicular traffic…It notifies that at the junction, named Manavasi, of the three roads, in two villages named Dasilimata and Usagama, storehouses were made for the goods of people using the roads. It indicates the roads by mentioning in line 3, the three places to and from which they led; as regards the junction of them.). They are described as trigarbha, having three rooms; Fleet discusses this at length, but it is evident from the illustrations that these rooms are on three storeys, for the storehouses are represented as small three-storeyed pavilions; it is true that the roof of the top storey is "out of the picture," but its supporting pillars can be clearly eeen. For another use of garbha as designating chambers of a many-storeyed building, see Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Indian Architectural Terms, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 48, no. 3, SEPT 1928, pp.250-275.

The devices on the top line of the Sohgaura copper plate can be read rebus as hieroglyphs, as in the case of Sarasvati hieroglyphs: 1. tree, kut.i (as smelting furnace); 2. tree twigs, kut.i (as smelting furnace); 3. cup, bat.i (as a furnace for melting iron ore); 4. bird, bat.a (as iron or metal); 4. two kos.t.ha_ga_ra (as storehouses), comparable to a sign graph with four posts used on Sarasvati epigraphs (so called Indus inscriptions); three mountains with a U graph on top summit. The presence of furnace facilities for working with metal tools in the two warehouses can be explained in the context of the types of conveyances, parts of which may require mending and to work/tinker on metallic articles and wares of itinerant merchants who need such publicly provided facilities in times of emergency as the s’a_sana in Brahmi writing notes.

kut.hi kut.a, kut.i, kut.ha a tree (Kaus'.); kud.a tree (Pkt.); kur.a_ tree; kar.ek tree, oak (Pas;.)(CDIAL 3228). kut.ha, kut.a (Ka.), kudal (Go.) kudar. (Go.) kut.ha_ra, kut.ha, kut.aka = a tree (Skt.lex.) kut., kurun: = stump of a tree (Bond.a); khut. = id. (Or.) kut.a, kut.ha = a tree (Ka.lex.) gun.d.ra = a stump; khun.t.ut = a stump of a tree left in the ground (Santali.lex.) kut.amu = a tree (Te.lex.)

kut.i, ‘smelting furnace’ (Mundari.lex.).kut.hi, kut.i (Or.; Sad. kot.hi) (1) the smelting furnace of the blacksmith; kut.ire bica duljad.ko talkena, they were feeding the furnace with ore; (2) the name of e_kut.i has been given to the fire which, in lac factories, warms the water bath for softening the lac so that it can be spread into sheets; to make a smelting furnace; kut.hi-o of a smelting furnace, to be made; the smelting furnace of the blacksmith is made of mud, cone-shaped, 2’ 6” dia. At the base and 1’ 6” at the top. The hole in the centre, into which the mixture of charcoal and iron ore is poured, is about 6” to 7” in dia. At the base it has two holes, a smaller one into which the nozzle of the bellow is inserted, and a larger one on the opposite side through which the molten iron flows out into a cavity (Mundari.lex.) cf. kan.d.a = furnace, altar (Santali.lex.)

kut.i = a woman water-carrier (Te.lex.) kut.i = to drink; drinking, beverage (Ta.); drinking, water drunk after meals (Ma.); kud.t- to drink (To.); kud.i to drink; drinking (Ka.); kud.i to drink (Kod.); kud.i right, right hand (Te.); kut.i_ intoxicating liquor (Skt.)(DEDR 1654).

The bunch of twigs = ku_di_, ku_t.i_ (Skt.lex.) ku_di_ (also written as ku_t.i_ in manuscripts) occurs in the Atharvaveda (AV 5.19.12) and Kaus'ika Su_tra (Bloomsfield's ed.n, xliv. cf. Bloomsfield, American Journal of Philology, 11, 355; 12,416; Roth, Festgruss an Bohtlingk, 98) denotes it as a twig. This is identified as that of Badari_, the jujube tied to the body of the dead to efface their traces. (See Vedic Index, I, p. 177).

bat.i = a furnace for melting iron-ore (Santali.lex.) bhat.t.hi_ = [Skt. bhr.s.ti frying; fr. bhrasj to fry] a kiln, a furnace; an oven; a smith’s forge; a stove; the fireplace of a washer-man;a spirit still; a distillery; a brewery (G.lex.)

bat.i = a metal cup or basin; bhat.i = a still, a boiler, a copper; dhubi bhat.i = a washerman’s boiler; jhuli bhat.i = a trench in the ground used as a fireplace when cooking has to be done for a large number of people (Santali.lex.)

bat.a = a quail, or snipe, coturuix coturnix cot; bon.d.e bat.a = a large quail; dak bat.a = the painted stripe, rostraluta benghalensis bengh; gun.d.ri bat.a = a small type, coloured like a gun.d.ri (quail); ku~k bat.a = a medium-sized type; khed.ra bat.a = the smallest of all; lan.d.ha bat.a = a small type (Santali.lex.) bat.ai, (Nag.); bat.er (Has.); [H. bat.ai or bat.er perdix olivacea; Sad. bat.ai] coturnix coromandelica, the black-breasted or rain-quail; two other kinds of quail are called respectigely: hur.in bat.ai and gerea bat.ai (Mundari.lex.) vartaka = a duck (Skt.) batak = a duck (G.lex.) vartika_ = quail (RV.); wuwrc partridge (Ash.); barti = quail, partridge (Kho.); vat.t.aka_ quail (Pali); vat.t.aya (Pkt.); bat.t.ai (N.)(CDIAL 11361). varta = *circular object; *turning round (Skt.); vat.u = twist (S.)(CDIAL 11346) bat.er = quail (Ku.B.); bat.ara, batara = the grey quail (Or.)(CDIAL 11350).

bat.ai = to divide, share (Santali) [Note the glyphs of nine rectangles divided.]

bat.a; rebus, bat.a ‘iron’ bat.a = a kind of iron (G.lex.) bhat.a = a furnace, a kiln; it.a bhat.a a brick kiln (Santali)

This note has presented two continuities from Sarasvati civilization: 1. use of punches to mark devices on punch-marked coins and 2. use of copper plate to convey message related to an economic transaction.

This continuity of tradition is linked by the metallurgical tradition of s’reni/artisan guilds working with metals, minerals and furnaces to create copper/bronze artifacts and terracotta or s’ankha bangles and ornaments of silver, copper or semi-precious stones such as agate, carnelian or lapis lazuli. The code of the writing system which was employed on Sarasvati hieroglyphs with 5 or 6 sign graphs constituting an inscription, is the same code which was employed on devices of punch-marked coins (produced in mints belonging to guilds) and on copper plate s’a_s’ana-s or historical periods of pre-mauryan times in India, like the evidence presented by Sohgaura copper plate. Since this plate contains a Brahmi inscription, this constitutes a Rosetta stone to explain the meanings of the sign graphs or glyphs employed on the top line of the plate in the context of the facilities provided in two warehouses to traveling caravan merchants or rive-faring merchants.

The rulers of Kosala, forming the Deva dynasty , are: Muladeva, Vayudeva, Vishakhadeva, Dhanadeva, Naradatta, Jyesthadatta and Shivadatta.Other local rulers whose coins were found in Kosala include: a group of rulers whose name ends in "-mitra" is also known from their coins: Satyamitra, Aryamitra, Vijayamitra and Devamitra, sometimes called the "Late Mitra dynasty of Kosala". ..Other rulers known from their coins are: Kumudasena, Ajavarman and Sanghamitra.

Obv: Humped-Bull facing left; standard in front; Brahmi legend below "Ayumitasa"

Rev: Peacock to left; palm tree to right

Thanks to Anthony (THCoins) for reading the brahmi legend on the coin and attributing it to the King Ayumitra.

Very little is known about the 'Mitra' Kings of Kosala except from the inscribed coins found near Ayodhya identifying the Kings as Satyamitra, Ayumitra (or Aryamitra), Sanghamitra, Vijayamitra, Devamitra, Ajavarman and Kumudasena. The Imperial Gupta Empire annexed the Oudh region including Kosala & Ayodhya extinguishing the line of the Mitra Kings. From the coins fabric and style, the Mitra Kings of Kosala are placed somewhere between 100-300CE.
http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=27561.0

ca. 250 CE. Obverse: raja kumudasenasa - bull l., tree in enclosure
Reverse: nandipanda symbol
Nandipāda is composed of hieroglyphs: entwined pair of fish-fins atio round stone or pellet.
http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.48093

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Discovery of a temple in Mohenjo-daro, kole.l 'smithy, forge' kole.l 'temple' House 1 in HR area is a temple

January 6, 2018, 11:59 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y9fkt3rx

What is a temple in Hindu cultural tradition? Is a temple identified in Sarasvati Civilization?

I suggest that a temple in Hindu cultural tradition is a place of work which is also a place of worship, venerating the artifacts produced in workshops as the result of a cosmic dance. The note also presents evidence from ca. 3rd century BCE (Sanchi Stupa) with sculptural friezes of veneration of a tree as a temple. The justification is: kuṭi 'tree' rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter' (i.e. workplace for smelting minerals). This sacred space where mere earth and stone get transformed into wealth-producing metals is a venerated place of worship, a temple.

The Stupa mound in Mohenjo-daro is a replica of the Ur Ziggurat (21st cent BCE) and described on Sit-Shamshi Bronze (Louvre Museum, 12th cent. BCE). Sit-Shamshi Tabla de bronce que parece resumir sabiamente el ritual del antiguo Elam. Los zigurats recuerdan el arte mesopotámico, el bosque sagrado alude a la devoción semita por el árbol verde, la tinaja trae a la mente el "mar de bronce". Los dos hombres en cuclillas hacen su ablución para celebrar la salida del Sol. Una inscripción, que lleva el nombre del rey Silhak-in-Shushinak, permite fijar su datación en el siglo XII a.C.http://www.historiadelarte.us/mesopotamia%20primitiva/arte-elamita.html

Definition of kole.l 'smithy, forge, temple' from 12 Indus Script inscriptions found in and layout of House 1 (with several rooms) HR Area, Mohenjo-daro http://tinyurl.com/gsvggbd

I submit that the Great Bath in front of the Stupa is like a temple tank in front of the Stupa which is a temple.

This large temple is complemented by the House 1 in HR-Area which functioned as kole.'smithy, forge' rebus: kole.l 'temple' (Kota language). Ta. kol working in iron, blacksmith; kollaṉ blacksmith. Ma. kollan blacksmith, artificer. Ko. kole·l smithy, temple in Kota village. To. kwala·l Kota smithy. Ka. kolime, kolume, kulame, kulime, kulume, kulmefire-pit, furnace; (Bell.; U.P.U.) konimi blacksmith; (Gowda) kolla id. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. Te. kolimi furnace. Go. (SR.) kollusānā to mend implements; (Ph.) kolstānā, kulsānā to forge; (Tr.) kōlstānā to repair (of ploughshares); (SR.) kolmi smithy (Voc. 948). Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge.(DEDR 2133)

Argument justifying House 1 in HR-Area as a temple at Mohenjo-daro

I reread Prof. Chakrabarti's scintillating overview of the civilization in the magnum opus -- distribution and features mirrored as an essay at https://www.academia.edu/10640140/distribution_and_features_of_the_Indus_Civilization

Yes, the large house H1 (HR Area) with many rooms on the upper storey was a temple. The word is kole.lwhich signifies a temple in a Kota village. It also means 'smithy'.

I think this house is conclusive archaeological evidence validating the decipherment of Indus Script corpora as metalwork catalogues. Complementary evidence comes from the hieroglyphs deciphered on 22 ceramic stoneware bangles defining functions in metalwork guild.

This monograph confirms that the House 1 in HR Area of Mohenjo-daro was NOT a palace but a smithy, forge organized in several rooms surrounding the upper storey courtyard. In Kota village tradition akole.l is not merely a smithy but also a temple. This explains the discovery of a stone sculpture of a person wering a cloak on the left shoulder (comparable to the vestment of the Mohenjo-daro priest wearing a trefoil decorated cloak and fillets on forehead and right shoulder. The hieroglyphs have been deciphered as signifying dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter'). If the sculpture shown wearing a cloak also had a ribbon or fillet on his forehead, such ornamentation would signify śrēṣṭhin 'merchant guild-master'

kole·l smithy, temple in Kota village: Ta. kol working in iron, blacksmith;kollaṉ blacksmith. Ma. kollan blacksmith, artificer. Ko. kole·l smithy, temple in Kota village. To. kwala·l Kota smithy. Ka. kolime, kolume, kulame, kulime, kulume, kulme fire-pit, furnace; (Bell.; U.P.U.) konimi blacksmith (Gowda) kolla id. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. Te. kolimi furnace. Go. (SR.) kollusānā to mend implements; (Ph.) kolstānā, kulsānā to forge; (Tr.) kōlstānā to repair (of ploughshares); (SR.) kolmi smithy (Voc. 948). Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge. (DEDR 2133)Based on the decipherment of 12 inscriptions found in the rooms of the courtyard to be metalwork catalogues, it is suggested that the House 1 in HR Area was kole.l 'smithy, temple'. kúla n. ʻ herd, troop ʼ RV., ʻ race, family ʼ Pāṇ., ʻ noble family ʼ Mn., ʻ house ʼ MBh.

HR area refers to the area excavated in Mohenjo-daro by Hargreaves. HR Area is located southeast of the citadel mound. Large areas of the mound have not yet been excavated and are covered with eroding brick structures and pottery.

House I, HR area

House A1 may have been a temple or palace of an important leader. Two doorways lead to a narrow courtyard at a lower level. A double staircase leads to an upper courtyard surrounded by several rooms. This house had numerous seals and fragments of a stone sculpture depicting a seated man wearing a cloak over the left shoulder.

Western Staircase, House I, HR area

Many houses had stairs leading to upper courtyards of the building or to a second floor. This house in HR area had a double staircase that would allow people to enter and exit the upper courtyard in an orderly fashion. Some scholars feel this may have been a palace or a temple.

“A house in the HR area (numbered House 1) has been interpreted as a temple mainly because of its approach through a large gateway and he find of two stone male figures in its precincts.” (DK Chakrabarti in

https://www.academia.edu/10640140/distribution_and_features_of_the_Indus_Civilization

Man sitting, head broken at beard, alabaster statue, from Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, Indus Valley Civilisation : Stock Photo

Man sitting, hed broken at beard, alabaster statue Mohenjo-daro (See comparable images from L-Area showing a man seated in the same posture with a cloak over the left shoulder and with a ribbon (fillet) tied on the forehead).

Mohenjo-daro, a seated male figure with head missing. On the back of the figure, the hair style can be partially reconstructed by a wide swath of hair and a braided lock of hair. A cloak is draped over the edge of the left shoulder and covers the folded legs and lower body, leaving the right shoulder and chest bare. The left arm is clasping the left knee and the hand is visible peeking out from underneath the cloak. The right hand is resting on the right knee which is folded beneath the body.

If the head is comparable to that of other statues found in Mohenjo-daro, it is reasonable to assume that the missing head would have been adorned with a ribbon, fillet. If such a fillet had a dotted circle, the reading is: dhā̆vaḍ'smelter' of dhāū, vaṭṭā 'red stone, mineral (iron ore)'.

The upper courtyard of House 1 was surrounded by several rooms from where many seals and tablets with Indus Script inscriptions have been found and deciphered as metalwork catalogues.

Thus, the House 1 was a kole.l 'smithy, forge' and the assumption made by many scholars is resonable that such a smithy/forge was recognized as kole.l 'temple' where the Supercargo's worked as merchant's representatives to take charge of metalwork shipments. This inference is supported by the decipherment of 12 inscriptions found in House 1 of HR Area of Mohenjo-daro.

Steps at House I, HR area

In the lower courtyard was a circle of bricks (barely visible in the foreground), which might have been the site of a sacred tree. The walls in the right foreground may have been part of a large water tank.

Distribution of seals/tablets within House AI, Block 1, HR at Mohenjodaro (After Jansen, M., 1987, Mohenjo-daro -- a city on the Indus, in Forgotten Cities on the Indus (M. Jansen, M. Mulloy and G. Urban Eds.), Mainz, Philip Von Zabern, p. 160). Jansen speculated that the house could have been a temple.

[House I, HR-A area, Mohenjo-daro: Find spots of twelve seals together with many prestige objects, all from one house; Wheeler assumed that this was a temple; the house has rooms immediately adjacent to the exit, transit rooms having more than one door, terminal rooms with just one door; seals were found in all these rooms. After Jansen, Michael, 1986, Die Indus-Zivilisation: Wiederentdeckung einer fruhen Hochkultur, Cologne, 200f., fig. 125]

Seals have been found in almost every exposed room excavated in Mohenjodaro. In room 85 in house IX of the HR-area in Mohenjodaro were found five unicorn selas. In this room ‘a mass of shell-lay was found…along with…many waste pieces of sea-shells’ indicating this to be a shell-cutter’s room (Mackay, 1931a: I, 195).

HR area, corbelled arch drain

Many large covered drains were constructed with corbelled arches. These drains ran beneath streets and lanes and were large enough for workmen to enter and clear any obstructions.

Mohenjo-daro Lower Town: HR area and Stupa

This general view of houses in HR area shows the color of the brick walls prior to use of mud brick and clay slurry for conservation. The lower parts of the walls have the natural reddish color of fired brick.

Lime stone sculpture

Priest head Mohenjo-daro

Similarities in plan and construction between Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa indicate that they were part of a unified governmen...

The 3 L Area Mohenjodaro Statues

The 3 L-Area Mohenjo-daro Statues: The Seated Nobleman, The Stern Male, The Unknown Woman.

"In January 1927, Mackay began working in L-Area, ca. 28 meters south of the Stupa on the Mound of the Great Bath. He uncovered the so-called 'Assembly Hall' and other architectural remains that are not well understood, even today. He also found three pieces of limestone sculpture: a seated torso (L-950), a reasonably well-preserved bust (L-898) and a very poor, abraded head, possibly of a woman (L-127)." (Indus Age, p. 78)

1. The Seated Nobleman of L-Area as it was excavated. "Seated male figure with head missing (45, 46). On the back of the figure, the hair style can be partially reconstructed by a wide swath of hair and a braided lock of hair or ribbon hanging along the right side of the back. A cloak is draped over the edge of the left shoulder and covers the folded legs and lower body, leaving the right shoulder and chest bare. The left arm is clasping the left knee and the hand is visible peeking out from underneath the cloak. The right hand is resting on the right knee which is folded beneath the body." (Gregory Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, p. 78)." (Plate 2.29 in the book, facing p. 92.)

2. Male Statue . "[The Seated Nobleman was] found above pavement in N.E. corner of Chamber 75 in L-Area. (its datum was 2.5 feet below datum.) Late Period. Material, veined grey alabaster. The figure, which is 11.5 inches high, is obviously that of a male and is dressed in a thin kilt-like garment fastened round the waist. (It is not clear how Mr. Mackay infers the existence of this kilt beneath the outer garment.–[ED.].) Another garment or shawl of thin material is worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, and appears to hang down over the kilt. The left knee of the figure is raised, but there is nothing to indicate the position of the right foot beneath it. The sculptor, and not subsequent weathering, is responsible for this lack of detail. The left arm is carried around the side of the left knee, so that the hand clasps the front of the knee. This hand is only roughly indicated, and the sculptor evidently was not clear how it should be arranged. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that the same man carved both the arms and hands, for the right arm, though of rough workmanship, shows some power of modeling, whereas the left arm and hand are positively shapeless. (It should not be forgotten that the left arm is hidden beneath the mantle or shawl, while the right arm is bare. It is not to be expected, therefore, that there should be much definition in the modeling of the left arm. Probably the mantle itself was painted, and this would have made a great difference to the apparent uncouthness of the lower part of the figure.) A squarish projection at the back of the head is evidently intended to represent a knot of hair. It is, however, unfinished and shows the chisel marks of the preliminary dressing. There is somewhat more finish about what may be a rope of hair hanging down the back." (John Marshall, Mohenjo-daro, Plate C, 1-3 (L 950), pp. 358-9)

The stern man (top) and lady (bottom) of L-Area

5 The Stern Man of L Area, Mohenjo-daro, L 898.

3. The Stern Man of L Area, Mohenjo-daro, L 898. The Lady of L Area, Mohenjo-daro, L 127. [Figures]

4. Chamber 7, L Area where L 950 Male Statue was found

5. Yellow limestone head. [Stern Man of L Area] "Found 2 feet below the surface of the ground in Chamber 77 of L-Area (Its datum level is minus 2.3 feet.) It belongs to the late period. Material, yellow limestone.
This head, which is 7.75 inches high, may present either a male or females, as there is no beard; but the hair is gathered up in a knot at the back of the head in a similar way to the obviously male figure shown in illustration no. 6. This may have been the customary fashion for hair-dressing for me–a fashion which still survives in many parts of India at the present day. A cord of fillet worn round the head serves to keep the know of hair at the back of the head in place.
The arrangement of the hair knot is curious. Two oblique depressions, which run from the right to left across its uppoer portion, apparently mark off three separate twists of hair. A number of vertical lines on the lower portion of the knot suggest strands of hair lying close together." (Marshall, Mohenjo-daro, Plate XCIX, 7-9 (L 898), p. 358)

6. Female head. [Lady of L Area] "Found just below the first pavement of Chamber 100 in L Area. Late Period. This is the badly weathered head of a statue in grey limestone, now 5.7 inches high. It apparently represents a female, for there is no beard, and the hair, which is slightly curly, hangs down the back of the head. The eye beneath the receding brows are long and narrow and the original inlay of the right eye, which is made of a whiter stone than the head, is still in place.
The nose, unfortunately, is missing and the mouth too weathered for us to discern its original shape. That there was once a necklace is suggested by the presence of two holes on each side of the neck, just in front of the hair. The ears are very primitive and a deep ear-hole is drilled in each. (These holes, which are found in all these heads, seem intended for the attachment of some ornament in the middle of the ear and perhaps explain why the ears themselves are left without structural definition.) It is unfortunate that this head is in such a bad state of preservation." (Marshall, Mohenjo-daro, Plate XCIX, 1-3 (L 127), p. 358)

Indus Script hieroglyphs on priest statue of Mohenjo-daro signify dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelter', potr̥, पोतृ 'purifier'.

Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/jyfyh2c

Five earlier posts had indicated that the stone statue of the Priest of

Mohenjo-daro with Indus Script hieroglyphs (dotted circle, string, cloth)

signified dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelter' and Potr̥, पोतृ 'purifier'.

The hieroglyph signifiers are related to some etyma of Indian sprachbund in this addendum. vaṭa- string, rope, tie (Samskrtam) is signified by the string which ties the 'dotted circle' on the forehead and right-shoulder of the Priest. The rebus reading is: -vaḍ వటగ 'clever, skilful' (Telugu).

Hieroglyph: string, wisp: S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f. Rebus: dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; 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]

Thus, the 'dotted circle' dhāī˜ PLUS vaṭa 'string' is read: dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter'.

The uttarIyam worn by the Priest is potta -- , °taga -- , °tia -- n. ʻ cotton cloth ʼ (Prakrtam) potti 'cloth' (Kannada) Rebus: Potr̥, पोतृ 'purifier' Priest (Rigveda). போத்தி pōtti

, n. < போற்றி. 1. Grandfather; பாட்டன். Tinn. 2. Brahman temple- priest in Malabar; மலையாளத்திலுள்ள கோயிலருச் சகன். पोतदार (p. 303) pōtadāra m ( P) An officer under the native governments. His business was to assay all money paid into the treasury. He was also the village-silversmith. (Marathi)

1. Priest of dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelters' with Indus script ... - Bharatkalyan97

bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2015/11/priest-of-dhavad-iron-smelters-with.html

Nov 20, 2015 - Priest of dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelters' with Indus script hieroglyphs signifies पोतृ,'purifier' of dhāū, dhāv 'red stone minerals' ...

2. Statue of Potr̥, पोतृ, signifies dhā̆vaḍ; Indus ... - Bharatkalyan97

bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2016/03/statue-of-potr-signifies-dhavad-indus.html

Mar 14, 2016 - Statue of Potr̥, पोतृ, signifies dhā̆vaḍ; Indus script 'dotted circle' signifies dhā̆vaḍ'smelter' of dhāū, vaṭṭā 'red stone, mineral (iron ore)' ...

3. Ornamental 'endless knot', svastika & other ... - Bharatkalyan97

bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2015/11/ornamental-endless-knot-svastika-other.html

Nov 20, 2015 - Priest of dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelters' with Indus script hieroglyphs signifies ... See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/priest-of-dhavad-iron- ...

4. Indus Script dāya 'dotted circle' on dhā̆vaḍ priest of ... - Bharatkalyan97

bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2016/03/indus-script-daya-dotted-circle-on.html

Mar 22, 2016 - Indus Script dāya 'dotted circle' on dhā̆vaḍ priest of 'iron-smelters', signifies tadbhava from Rigveda dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻa partic. soft red colour element...

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

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/indus-script-hieroglyphs-signify-dhatu.html The place name Dharwad (Dharwar)is relatable to dhā̆vaḍ 'smelters'. Dharwad is the central town in the iron-ore belt of Sahyadri ranges.

The fillet worn on the forehead and on the right-shoulder signifies one strand; while the trefoil on the shawl signifies three-strands.

Single strand (one dotted-circle)

Two strands (pair of dotted-circles)

Three strands (three dotted-circles as a trefoil)

These orthographic variants provide semantic elucidations for a single: dhātu, dhāū, dhāv 'red stone mineral' or two minerals: dul PLUS dhātu, dhāū, dhāv 'cast minerals' or tri- dhātu, -dhāū, -dhāv 'three minerals' to create metal alloys'. The artisans producing alloys are dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻa caste of iron -- smeltersʼ, dhāvḍī ʻcomposed of or relating to ironʼ)(CDIAL 6773)..

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).

Semantics of single strand of rope and three strands of rope are: 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)

Evolution ḍha-, dha- in Brahmi script syllables are evocative of 'string' and 'circle, dotted circle' as may be seen from the following orthographic evidence of epigraphs dated from ca. 300 BCE:

It may be seen from the table of evoution of Brahmi script orthography that

1. a circle signified the Brahmi syllable 'ṭha-' and a dotted circle signified the syllable 'tha-';

2. a string with a twist signified the syllable 'da-', a string ending in a circled twist signified the syllable 'ḍha-' and a stepped string signified the syllable 'ḍa-'.

Section 4: Orthograhy of Brahmi syllabary from ca. 300 BCE

వడము (p. 1124) vaḍamu vaḍamu. [Tel.] n. A very thick rope. మోకు. A garland, దండ. సమర్థతగల. తేరివడము a rope used to drag a car. vaṭa2 ʻ string ʼ lex. [Prob. ← Drav. Tam. vaṭam, Kan. vaṭi, vaṭara,] N. bariyo ʻ cord, rope ʼ; Bi. barah ʻ rope working irrigation lever ʼ, barhā ʻ thick well -- rope ʼ, Mth. barahā ʻ rope ʼ.vaṭāraka -- , vaṭin -- ; *karṇavaṭikā -- , *yantravaṭa -- .(CDIAL 11212) vaṭāraka -- , varāṭaka -- m. ʻ string ʼ MBh. [vaṭa -- 2]Pa. sa -- vaṭākara -- ʻ having a cable ʼ; Bi. baral -- rassī ʻ twisted string ʼ; H. barrā m. ʻ rope ʼ, barārā m. ʻ thong ʼ. (CDIAL 11217) *karṇavaṭikā ʻ side -- cord ʼ. [kárṇa -- , vaṭa -- 2]WPah. bhal. k*lnɔṛi f. ʻ knots between upper and lower parts of a snow -- shoe, rope pegs to which the distaff in a spinning -- wheel is attached ʼ.(CDIAL 2842) *yantravaṭa ʻ cord of a machine ʼ. [Cf. Pa. yantasutta- n. -- yantrá -- , vaṭa -- 2]WPah.bhal. jaṇṭḷoṛ m. ʻ long string round spinning wheel ʼ.(CDIAL 10413) Ta. vaṭam cable, large rope, cord, bowstring, strands of a garland, chains of a necklace; vaṭi rope; vaṭṭi (-pp-, -tt-) to tie. Ma. vaṭam rope, a rope of cowhide (in plough), dancing rope, thick rope for dragging timber. Ka. vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Te. vaṭi rope, cord. Go. (Mu.) vaṭiya strong rope made of paddy straw (Voc.3150). Cf. 3184 Ta. tār̤vaṭam. / Cf. Skt. vaṭa- string, rope, tie; vaṭāraka-, vaṭākara-, varāṭaka- cord, string; Turner, CDIAL, no. 11212.(DEDR 5220) வடம்¹ vaṭam , n. < vaṭa. 1. Cable, large rope, as for drawing a temple-car; கனமான கயிறு. வடமற்றது (நன். 219, மயிலை.). 2. Cord; தாம்பு. (சூடா.) 3. A loop of coir rope, used for climbing palm-trees; மரமேறவுதவுங் கயிறு. Loc. 4. Bowstring; வில்லின் நாணி. (பிங்.) 5. String of jewels; மணிவடம். வடங்கள் அசையும்படி உடுத்து (திருமுரு. 204, உரை). (சூடா.) 6. Strands of a garland; chains of a necklace; சரம். இடை மங்கை கொங்கை வடமலைய (அஷ்டப். திருவேங்கடத் தந். 39). 7. Arrangement; ஒழுங்கு. தொடங்கற் காலை வடம்பட விளங்கும் (ஞானா. 14, 41). தாழ்வடம் tāḻ-vaṭam , n. < id. +. 1. [M. tāḻvaṭam.] Necklace of pearls or beads; கழுத் தணி. தாவி றாழ்வடம் தயங்க (சீவக. 2426). 2. String of Rudrākṣa beads; உருத்திராக்கமாலை. மார்பின்மீதிலே தாழ்வடங்கள் மனதிலே கரவடமாம் (தண்டலை. சத. 29).

వటగ (p. 1122) vaṭaga , వటారి or వఠారి vaṭaga. [Tel.] adj. Clever, skilful, నేర్పుగల,

वराटक [p= 921,1] a rope , cord , string (only ifc. , with f(आ).) MBh. xii , 2488 v.l. वरारका वरारक [p= 923,2] n. a diamond L.

pōta2 m. ʻ cloth ʼ, pōtikā -- f. lex. 2. *pōtta -- 2 (sanskrit- ized as pōtra -- 2 n. ʻ cloth ʼ lex.). 3. *pōttha -- 2 ~ pavásta<-> n. ʻ covering (?) ʼ RV., ʻ rough hempen cloth ʼ AV. T. Chowdhury JBORS xvii 83. 4. pōntī -- f. ʻ cloth ʼ Divyāv. 5. *pōcca -- 2 < *pōtya -- ? (Cf. pōtyā = pōtānāṁ samūhaḥ Pāṇ.gaṇa. -- pṓta -- 1?). [Relationship with prōta -- n. ʻ woven cloth ʼ lex., plōta -- ʻ bandage, cloth ʼ Suśr. or with pavásta -- is obscure: EWA ii 347 with lit. Forms meaning ʻ cloth to smear with, smearing ʼ poss. conn. with or infl. by pusta -- 2 n. ʻ working in clay ʼ (prob. ← Drav., Tam. pūcu &c. DED 3569, EWA ii 319)]
1. Pk. pōa -- n. ʻ cloth ʼ; Paš.ar. pōwok ʻ cloth ʼ, pōg ʻ net, web ʼ (but lauṛ. dar. pāwāk ʻ cotton cloth ʼ, Gaw. pāk IIFL iii 3, 150).
2. Pk. potta -- , °taga -- , °tia -- n. ʻ cotton cloth ʼ, pottī -- , °tiā -- , °tullayā -- , puttī -- f. ʻ piece of cloth, man's dhotī, woman's sāṛī ʼ, pottia -- ʻ wearing clothes ʼ; S. potī f. ʻ shawl ʼ, potyo m. ʻ loincloth ʼ; L. pot, pl. °tã f. ʻ width of cloth ʼ; P. potṛā m. ʻ child's clout ʼ, potṇā ʻ to smear a wall with a rag ʼ; N. poto ʻ rag to lay on lime -- wash ʼ,potnu ʻ to smear ʼ; Or. potā ʻ gunny bag ʼ; OAw. potaï ʻ smears, plasters ʼ; H. potā m. ʻ whitewashing brush ʼ, potī f. ʻ red cotton ʼ, potiyā m. ʻ loincloth ʼ, potṛā m. ʻ baby clothes ʼ; G. pot n. ʻ fine cloth, texture ʼ, potũ n. ʻ rag ʼ, potī f., °tiyũ n. ʻ loincloth ʼ, potṛī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; M. pot m. ʻ roll of coarse cloth ʼ, n. ʻ weftage or texture of cloth ʼ, potrẽ n. ʻ rag for smearing cowdung ʼ.
3. Pa. potthaka -- n. ʻ cheap rough hemp cloth ʼ, potthakamma -- n. ʻ plastering ʼ; Pk. pottha -- , °aya -- n.m. ʻ cloth ʼ; S. potho m. ʻ lump of rag for smearing, smearing, cloth soaked in opium ʼ.
4. Pa. ponti -- ʻ rags ʼ.
5. Wg. pōč ʻ cotton cloth, muslin ʼ, Kt. puč; Pr. puč ʻ duster, cloth ʼ, pūˊčuk ʻ clothes ʼ; S. poco m. ʻ rag for plastering, plastering ʼ; P. poccā m. ʻ cloth or brush for smearing ʼ, pocṇā ʻ to smear with earth ʼ; Or. pucā̆ra, pucurā ʻ wisp of rag or jute for whitewashing with, smearing with such a rag ʼ.
*maṣipōtta -- . pōta -- 3 ʻ boat ʼ see *plōtra -- . pōta -- 4 ʻ foundation ʼ see *pēnda -- .
*pōtara -- ʻ young ʼ, pōtalaka -- see pṓta -- 1. Addenda: pōta -- 2. 2. *pōtta -- 2: S.kcch. potyo m. ʻ small dhoti ʼ.(CDIAL 8400) Ta. potti garment of fibres, cloth. Ka. potti cloth. Te. potti bark, a baby's linen, a sort of linen cloth; pottika a small fine cloth; podugu a baby's linen. Kol. (SSTW)pot sari. Pa. bodgid a short loincloth. / Cf. Skt. potikā-, Pkt. potti-, pottiā-, etc.; Turner, CDIAL, no. 8400. (DEDR 4515)

पोत (p. 303) pōta m f A bead of glass and, sometimes, of gold and of stone. 2 m A neck-ornament of females made of these beads.
58) पोत (p. 303) pōta m ( or P) A link composed of rolls of coarse cloth. This portion, together with the विडी or iron handle, constitute the मशालor torch. 2 The head, end, point (of a tool, stick &c.): also the end or extreme portion (of a thing gen.) 3 m A seton; and fig. the hole of a फाळ or ploughshare.
59) पोत (p. 303) pōta n m ( H Quality; or formed by redup. out of सूत with which word it is generally conjoined in use.) Weftage or texture (of cloth); quality as respects closeness, firmness, body. Ex. सूत- पोत पाहून धोत्र घ्यावें.
पोंत (p. 303) pōnta m (In Konkan̤ neuter.) A seton.
61) पोतडी (p. 303) pōtaḍī f पोतडें n (पोतें) A bag, esp. the circular bag of goldsmiths, shroffs &c. containing their weights, scales, coins &c.
62) पोतंडी (p. 303) pōtaṇḍī f A little thing (as a nut, a pebble,) or a small quantity (as of sugar, flour, grain) put up in a corner of a cloth and confined by a knot; thus forming a knob or ball. 2 Medicaments tied up in a corner of a cloth, to be dabbed on the eye or other part: also a cloth rolled up into a ball, heated, and applied to foment. v दे,लाव, also पोतंडीनें or पोतंडीचा शेक.
63) पोतदार (p. 303) pōtadāra m ( P) An officer under the native governments. His business was to assay all money paid into the treasury. He was also the village-silversmith.
64) पोतदारी (p. 303) pōtadārī f ( P) The office or business of पोतदार: also his rights or fees.
65) पोतनिशी (p. 303) pōtaniśī f ( P) The office or business of पोतनीस.
66) पोतनीस (p. 303) pōtanīsa m ( P) The treasurer or cash-keeper. पोतें (p. 303) pōtēṃ n ( or P) A sack or large bag. 2 The treasury or the treasure-bags of Government. 3 The treasure-bag of a village made up for the district-treasury.
73) पोतेखाद (p. 303) pōtēkhāda f Wastage or loss on goods (as on sugar &c.) from adhesion to the containing sack or bag.
74) पोतेचाल (p. 303) pōtēcāla f (Treasury-currency.) The currency in which the public revenue is received. 2 Used as a Of that currency; as पोतेचालीचा (रूपया-पैसा- नाणें &c.) Coin or money admitted into or issued from the Government-treasury; sterling money of the realm.
75) पोतेझाडा (p. 303) pōtējhāḍā m Settlement of the accounts of the treasury.
76) पोतेरें (p. 303) pōtērēṃ n A clout or rag (as used in cowdunging floors &c.) 2 By meton. The smearing of cowdung effected by means of it. पो0 करून टाकणें To treat with exceeding slight and contumely. (Marathi)

धावड (p. 250) dhāvaḍa m A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. In these parts they are Muhammadans. धावडी (p. 250) dhāvaḍī a Relating to the class धावड. Hence 2 Composed of or relating to iron.

धातु 1[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. &celement , primitive matter (= महा-भूत L. ) MBh. Hariv. &c (usually reckoned as 5 , viz. ख or आकाश , अनिल , तेजस् , जल , भू; to which is added ब्रह्म Ya1jn5. iii , 145 ; or विज्ञान Buddh. )a constituent element or essential ingredient of the body (distinct from the 5 mentioned above and conceived either as 3 humours [called also दोष] phlegm , wind and bile BhP. [cf. पुरीष , मांस , मनस् , ChUp. vi , 5 , 1] ; or as the 5 organs of sense , इन्द्रियाणि [cf. s.v. and MBh. xii , 6842 , where श्रोत्र , घ्राण , आस्य , हृदय and कोष्ठ are mentioned as the 5 धातु of the human body born from the either] and the 5 properties of the elements perceived by them , गन्ध , रस , रूप , स्पर्श andशब्द L. ; or the 7 fluids or secretions , chyle , blood , flesh , fat , bone , marrow , semen Sus3r. [ L. रसा*दि or रस-रक्ता*दि, of which sometimes 10 are given , the above 7 and hair , skin , sinews BhP. ])primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral , are (esp. a mineral of a red colour) Mn. MBh. &c element of wordsi.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 , relicsL. [cf. -गर्भ]). 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).

↧

Abiding Indus Script hypertext dotted circle is dhāv, dāya 'one in dice' + vaṭṭa 'circle' rebus धावड dhāvaḍa 'red ferrite ore smelter'

January 7, 2018, 9:12 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y8fed8xd

Meluhha artisans, Indus script writers draw circles with small radii to signify dhātu, dhāv 'mineral' hypertexts

Dotted circle as Indus Script hypertext धावड dhāvaḍa 'red ferrite ore smelter'

kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'. Thus, three dotted circles (trefoil) signify

dhāvaḍa kolimi 'smelter smithy, forge'.

वृत्त [p= 1009,2] mfn. turned , set in motion (as a wheel) RV.; a circle; vr̥ttá ʻ turned ʼ RV., ʻ rounded ʼ ŚBr. 2. ʻ completed ʼ MaitrUp., ʻ passed, elapsed (of time) ʼ KauṣUp. 3. n. ʻ conduct, matter ʼ ŚBr., ʻ livelihood ʼ Hariv. [√vr̥t1] 1. Pa. vaṭṭa -- ʻ round ʼ, n. ʻ circle ʼ; Pk. vaṭṭa -- , vatta -- , vitta -- , vutta -- ʻ round ʼ; L. (Ju.) vaṭ m. ʻ anything twisted ʼ; Si. vaṭa ʻ round ʼ, vaṭa -- ya ʻ circle, girth (esp. of trees) ʼ; Md. va'ʻ round ʼ GS 58; -- Paš.ar. waṭṭəwīˊk, waḍḍawik ʻ kidney ʼ ( -- wĭ̄k vr̥kká -- ) IIFL iii 3, 192?(CDIAL 12069) வட்டம்போர் vaṭṭam-pōr, n. < வட்டு +. Dice-play; சூதுபோர். (தொல். எழுத். 418, இளம்பூ.)வட்டச்சொச்சவியாபாரம் vaṭṭa-c-cocca-viyāpāram, n. < id. + சொச்சம் +. Money-changer's trade; நாணயமாற்று முதலிய தொழில். Pond. வட்டமணியம் vaṭṭa-maṇiyam, n. < வட் டம் +. The office of revenue collection in a division; வட்டத்து ஊர்களில் வரிவசூலிக்கும் வேலை. (R. T.) వట్ట (p. 1123) vaṭṭa vaṭṭa. [Tel.] n. The bar that turns the centre post of a sugar mill. చెరుకుగానుగ రోటినడిమిరోకలికివేయు అడ్డమాను. వట్టకాయలు or వట్టలు vaṭṭa-kāyalu. n. plu. The testicles. వృషణములు, బీజములు. వట్టలుకొట్టు to castrate. lit: to strike the (bullock's) stones, (which are crushed with a mallet, not cut out.) వట్ర (p. 1123) vaṭra or వట్రన vaṭra. [from Skt. వర్తులము.] n. Roundness. నర్తులము, గుండ్రన. వట్ర. వట్రని or వట్రముగానుండే adj. Round. గుండ్రని.

धाव (p. 250) dhāva m f A certain soft, red stone. Baboons are said to draw it from the bottom of brooks, and to besmear their faces with it. धवड (p. 249) dhavaḍa m (Or धावड) A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. धावड (p. 250) dhāvaḍa m A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. धावडी (p. 250) dhāvaḍī a Relating to the class धावड. Hence 2 Composed of or relating to iron.

A bow compass to draw smallest possible circles. Hope archaeologists discover this in Sarasvati civilization sites. The dotted circle signifies Sindhi. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres' Hindi. dhāv 'throw of dice' rebus: dhāū, dhāv 'mineral'

Indian turner at work - late 19th C.

The bow drill has been used for a long time to make beads. No one knows exactly when that started, but it was an invention of the Neolithic Period.

A woman in Channapattinam, India makes wooden beads with a bow drill used as a lathe.

http://www.thebeadsite.com/be2k-pfj.htm

Details of drilling apparatu presently used for Khambhat. A is a coconut shell used for holding and pressing the drill operated with a bow, B are the holes left by the upper pivot of the drill shaft, C; D is wooden stick bearing the traces E, left by the wear of the string of the bow. The extremity of the drill shaft is covered by string (F). The shape of the steel drill head G, bearing on the tip two minute diamonds (H) closely rsembles the shape of ernestite drills used by Indus bead makers (K). In the Moneer workshop(s), broken drill-heads were probably recycled as upper pivot for the shaft (I,J). The tip of the drill heds have distinct circular depression L. (After Fig. 9 Bhan, 2014) 2: the manufacturing sequence of ernestite drill heads (After Kenoyer & Vidale, 1992).

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/01/meluhha-drill-used-by-bharatiyo.html

Advanced Machining in Ancient Egypt

By Christopher P. Dunn

The first British Egyptologist, Sir. William Flinders Petrie, recognized that these tools were insufficient. He admitted it in his book "Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh", and expressed amazement regarding the methods the ancient Egyptians were using to cut hard igneous rocks, crediting them with methods that "......we are only now coming to understand." So why do modern Egyptologists identify this work with a few primitive copper instruments?

I am not an Egyptologist. I am a technologist. I do not have much interest in who died when and whom they may have taken with them, where they went to or when they may be coming back. No lack of respect for the mountain of work and the millions of hours of study conducted on this subject by highly intelligent scholars (professional and amateur), but my interest, therefore my focus, is elsewhere. When I look at an artifact with the view of how it was manufactured, I am unencumbered with a predisposition to filter out possibilities because of historical or chronological inequity. Having spent most of my career involved with the machinery that actually creates artifacts of the modern kind, such as jet-engine components, I am fairly well equipped to analyze and determine the methods necessary for recreating an artifact under study. I have been fortunate, also, to have training and experience in some non-conventional methods of manufacturing, such as laser processing and electrical discharge machining. That said, I should state that contrary to some popular speculations, I have not seen the work of laser cutting on the Egyptian rocks. Still, there is evidence of other non-conventional machining methods, along with more sophisticated, conventional type sawing, lathe and milling practices.

Undoubtedly, some of the artifacts that Petrie was studying were produced using lathes. There is evidence, too, in the Cairo Museum of clearly defined lathe tool marks on some "sarcophagi" lids. The Cairo Museum contains enough evidence that, when properly analyzed, will prove beyond all shadow of doubt that the ancient Egyptians used highly sophisticated manufacturing methods. For generations the focus has centered on the nature of the cutting tools that the ancient Egyptians used. While in Egypt in February 1995, I uncovered evidence that clearly moves us beyond that question to ask "what guided the cutting tool?"

Although the ancient Egyptians are not given credit for having a simple wheel, the evidence proves they had a more sophisticated use for the wheel. The evidence of lathe work is markedly distinct on some artifacts that are housed in the Cairo Museum and also those that were studied by Petrie. Two pieces of diorite in Petrie’s collection were identified by him to be the result of true turning on a lathe.

Creating Petrie’s bowl shards.

It is true that intricate objects can be created without the aid of machinery, simply by rubbing the material with an abrasive, such as sand, using a piece of bone or wood to apply pressure. The relics Petrie was looking at, however, in his words "could not be produced by any grinding or rubbing process which pressed on the surface."

To the inexperienced eye, the object Petrie was studying would hardly be considered remarkable. It was a simple bowl, made out of simple rock. Studying the bowl closely, however, Petrie found that the spherical concave radius, forming the dish, had an unusual feel to it. Closer examination revealed a sharp cusp where two radii intersected. This indicates that the radii were cut on two separate axes of rotation.

Having worked on lathes, I have witnessed the same condition when a component has been removed from the lathe and then worked on again without being recentered properly.

On examining other pieces from Giza, Petrie found another bowl shard which had the marks of true lathe-turning. This time, though, instead of shifting the workpiece’s axis of rotation, a second radius was cut by shifting the pivot point of the tool. With this radius they machined just short of the perimeter of the dish, leaving a small lip. Again, a sharp cusp defined the intersection of the two radii.

While browsing through the Cairo Museum, I found evidence of lathe turning on a large scale. A sarcophagus lid had distinctive marks of lathe turning.

Sarcophagus Lid in the Cairo Museum

The radius of the lid terminated with a blend radius at shoulders on both ends. The tool marks near these corner radii are the same as those I have witnessed when turning an object with an intermittent cut. The tool is deflected under pressure from the cut. It then relaxes when the section of cut is finished. When the workpiece comes round again to the tool, the initial pressure causes the tool to dig in. As the cut progresses, the amount of "dig in" is diminished.

On the sarcophagus lid in the Cairo Museum, tool marks indicating these conditions are exactly where one would expect to find them!

http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/egypt/articles/cdunn-2.php

Cambay Beadmaking

An Ancient Craft in Modern India

By: Gregory L. Possehl

https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/23-4/Possehl.pdf

Cambay is a small city, population about 50,000, on the coast of Gujarat state in western India. This name is an English corruption of Khambhat. It is a center for lapidary craftsmanship, its products reaching a market on four continents. The largest of these lapidary undertakings is bead-making, the focus of this paper.

The beadmaking industry is not new in this part of India. The craft seems to have started here as early as the third millennium B.C. with the founding of the Harappan settlement at Lothal (Rao 1973, 1979). This ancient town, which dates to ca. 2400-1700 B.C., had a large scale bead manufacturing operation taking a variety of raw materials —chalcedony and other agates, jasper, rock crystal and the like—and turning them into beads that were used by the Harappans themselves and shipped to places as distant as Mesopotamia. Since the Harappan era the Cambay region, if not the site of the actual town, has been an important commercial center, involving the manufacture and distribution of beads and other products, especially textiles. The historical record is uneven in informing us of the range of activities over this extensive period of time, but we can be sure that the area was always important in commerce between India, Africa and the various parts of Asia and Europe. The bibliography accompanying this paper includes a number of citations which outline this story. Thus, I can move into the manufacturing process and leave history for the moment.

Due to the recovery of extensive bead-working facilities at Lothal and Chanhudaro (Mackay 19431, another Harappan site, we can outline completely the Harappan manufacturing technology. The first step involved a two-phase chipping process which formed the beads to their rough shape. The bead was then ground to a smooth outline. The perforation of the bead was done next. This began with the gentle chipping of a small cup in both ends of the bead. The small indentation was used as a starting hole to steady the drill and act as a reservoir for the cutting abrasive, probably a hard stone grit suspended in a liquid. It is quite certain that the stone drills used in penetrating Harappan beads were propelled by a bow.

It is of considerable interest that this sequence of steps and the same basic technology are still used today in Cambay. There are some minor variations which can be noted, but the similarities are striking. First, however, let me outline the way the modern craftsmen acquire the stone with which they work.

The modern Cambay lapidary industry makes use of stone from most, if not all, of the regions of India and adjacent countries.

Women sorting agates at the mouth of a shallow pit mine on the Narmada River

Lapis lazuli from the Badakshan region of Afghanistan is as much used as is rose quartz from Tamil Nadu. There are also fuchsite from Karnataka and various corals and other silicious stones from western India. The craftsmen of Cambay use these to make a variety of products. In fact almost anything that one might think of has probably been tried at least once, including ashtrays, paper weights, plaques, cigarette holders, dishes, bowls, spoons and figurines. Thus, while I will focus on the manufacture of beads, probably the most ancient of the lapidary crafts practiced in this region, we must keep in mind that this is only one of the diverse activities in which the Cambay craftsmen are engaged.

There is a sizable body of archaeological and historical information which tells us that the beads manufactured in Gujarat have been made, for the most part, from stone found in the agate beds along the banks of the Narmada River which passes through eastern Gujarat just before entering the Gulf of Cambay. The erstwhile Princely State of Rajpipla has been particularly prominent in the production of this raw material.

The agates are associated with the Deccan Trap of central and western India, a series of Mesozoic lava flows which cover an immense area of the subcontinent. Over the millennia the high silica content stones have been eroded from the interstices of the basalt trap rock, from where they have entered the riverine system. The Narmada, with its immense catchment area, has consequently received a great deal of this material.

There are extensive strata of these agates which have been concentrated by fluvial processes into workable beds of stone. The extraction of the nodules is done with picks and shovels. In the community I visited the work force was made up of teams of three to five men and women. The men dug small holes, about three feet in diameter, to gain access to the agates. The area they were working during my visit was apparently a good one since the lode was struck within about five feet of the surface. Men working with a pick and a hoe-like implement scooped the rocks and earth matrix into metal pans, which were then lifted to the surface. After the pans were dumped near the opening of the access hole, women sorted the valuable agates from the undesirable material (Fig. 2). This frequently demanded that a small ‘window’ be chipped on the surface of the stone to remove the millennia of patina that today obscures the quality of the stone.

A small beadmaking factory in Cambay

There is apparently little effort to expand the mine entrance gallery beyond a few meters in diameter since many abandoned access holes were observed within the area I visited. With the agate beds so near the surface it is apparently worth the small additional effort to start a new access shaft rather than risk a cave-in.

Heat treatment of agates before they are chipped. Nodules are placed in small pots along with sawdust which is then lit and allowed to burn slowly

Chipping the nodules to a rough bead form

Spike anvil in the foreground; a light “second stage” chipping hammer on the floor along bead forms and detritus

Stones are sorted and graded in a preliminary way at the mine. A second, more careful, sort takes place at the village and the material is then bagged in fifty or hundred kilogram lots for shipment by truck or boat to Cambay.

A fascinating aspect of my visit to the Narmada mines came to light immediately upon my arrival, The people who mine the stones, in this locality at least, are of African descent. Such people are actually more common than one might suspect in western India and Pakistan, especially the coastal areas, where they are called Siddis. This is a result of the lively commerce between India and Africa for at least the past two thousand years.

The Narmada River agate mines are owned by the Government of India and the Siddis have to purchase a lease to dig for the stones. It seems a fair presumption to suggest that in Pre-Independence days these revenues went to the treasury of Rajpipla State.

Once the bagged raw material has reached Cambay it enters a process which will transform the smooth patinated stones into beads and other objects. The first step in the process is to heat the material in small pots filled with smoldering sawdust (Fig. 4). This causes a physical change in the stone which makes the next step, chipping, an easier one. The knapping of the agates is done in two stages, the first of which roughs out the shape of the bead (Fig. 5). This is then smoothed by finer chipping. In both cases the technique involves the use of a hammer and spike, or anvil, driven into the ground. The rough chipping hammer is made of water buffalo horn on a thin flexible bamboo handle. It was made clear to me that the horn must be buffalo and that the horn of cows was completely unsuitable. The work at the chipping stations in Cambay proceeds briskly and a final, roughed-out bead can be produced in no more than two or three minutes. Beads requiring further chipping are moved to another worker who handles this task. I have never observed a case where the same person simply took up a smaller hammer and performed the refined work himself. The small iron hammer (Fig. 6) used in the process is a marked contrast to the bulky horn hammer. It is also interesting to note that all of the chipping is done by males, a fact in agreement with the overwhelming ethnographic record documenting the working of stone in other societies from other parts of the world.

The chipped bead ‘blanks’ are then sorted and sent to be ground to their final shape. This smoothing operation takes place in a separate workshop area, and is, again, a specialized craft. The work force here, however, is composed of both males and females, generally young—evidence that the operation is one requiring little skill. The abrasive wheels against which the beads are ground are commercially made today and powered by electric motors. This is one of the few applications of a mechanical contrivance in the Cambay bead industry. The final polishing operation is also mechanized and will be described later.

Grinding the beads to their final form on a motor driven abrasive wheel

The grinding is accomplished by simply holding the face of the bead to be shaped against the wheel by hand (Fig. 7). Several individuals generally work at a single machine. The grinding of a single bead never takes more than a minute. Spherical beads are shaped on a specially formed ‘corrugated’ grinding wheel as shown in Fig. 8. This wheel is used in conjunction with a simple but specially prepared wooden implement which holds the rough chipped stones in place while they are pressed against the rapidly spinning wheel. It takes only a matter of seconds for rough chipped blanks to be transformed into nearly perfect tiny spheres.

Grinding spherical beads on a specially formed abrasive wheel

The grinding operation is dispersed throughout Cambay in many different workshops. Some of these are quite large, with twenty or thirty grinding wheels. Other shops are small. Even those with only one grinding wheel exist. I observed no workshop where both the chipping and grinding take place under the same roof, or even using the same personnel.

At this point the beads are ready to be drilled. Perforation is accomplished with a diamond-tipped bit set in a wooden shank and propelled by a bow. Rough diamond chips are purchased by individual drillers and set in the drill tip by using an awl to form a cup at the drill point. The diamond chip is then set in this indentation and the edges of the cup are closed around it.

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 show a small drilling operation and the position assumed while the craftsman is actually at work. The small clay pots seen in the photographs hold water and the grit from past drillings. This acts as a lubricant for the cutting operation. The flow of water comes not through a hollow tube but as individual drops down a wire and is regulated by the snugness of fit of the wire’s mount into a small spout, or bung, on the vessel. The grit, which steadily accumulates in this water, is seemingly also an important commodity since its presence in the cutting hole would produce some abrasion and hence further the penetration of the stone.

A small drilling shop with a young woman at work

The drilling position is interesting. The craftsman assumes a seated posture on a small rug on the floor of the shop. He cups a small (ca. 5 by 5 cm.) fragment of hard coconut shell in his right palm. This acts as the top bearing in which the drill shank turns. He then places his right arm under his right leg, turns the string of the bow around the drill shank, places the tip of the drill on the object to be perforated, adjusts the water and begins to work. His leg is positioned over the work in such a way as to allow him to use it to apply a carefully controlled downward force.

The position used when drilling a bead

The speed at which the beads are drilled is in large part determined by the hardness of the material, and there is some variety here. I have information on the cutting rates for chalcedony, a kind of banded agate. The perforation of a single spherical bead approximately one-half centimeter in diameter takes about twenty seconds, including turning the bead and initiating the cut from the end opposite the starting point. To earn a standard wage for this work a driller must drill 500 to 600 of these small beads per day. Another bead, a large rectangle 4.5 centimeters long with a square cross-section, was perforated in seven minutes. Thus, even with a simple technology the task of drilling is of no great magnitude.

No matter how small the bead, the drilling is always started from one end and completed by drilling a second hole from the opposite side. My impression is that the initial drill hole is always taken to a point somewhat beyond center so that the second hole is not as deep as the first. I interpret this procedure as a safer course of action than drilling straight through the bead, which might cause breakage and shatter around the exit hole. The precision with which the second hole is placed, and the way in which the two holes meet, are important criteria for grading the final bead. Those necklaces strung with improperly or carelessly drilled beads were described to me as looking ‘lumpy,’ with the individual elements at unattractive odd angles.

The position used when drilling a bead

The next step in this process of bead manufacture is the final polishing. There are only two shops in Cambay that do this today and both proprietors are very secretive about the process. However, the outlines are clear, and are essentially the same as those used by rock hounds in America. The beads are placed in a drum with an abrasive slurry (Fig. 12), and continuously turned until their surfaces have been smoothed and polished. This takes approximately a week. The Cambay process involves a first turning in slurry with a coarse abrasive, and a second session with a finer powder. The drums are wooden vessels containing 100 kilogram loads, and are propelled by electric motors.

Prior to the use of electricity and more elaborate mechanical contrivances, the polishing was done by hand. That is, beads and slurry were sewn into a skin bag and this was ‘rolled’ across a floor between two men. This method, while certainly not very interesting work for the labor, seems to have been every bit as effective as the one now used. It is also a good example of the way in which mechanization of beadmaking has really not altered the principles by which the task is accomplished.

Tumbling barrels used for the final polishing of the beads

Finally, polished beads are sorted by quality and enter the commercial market either as bulk packets of unstrung objects or as necklaces.

There is certainly much more to be learned about beadmaking in Cambay, and this article is a mere outline of the basic principles of the industry. But, nevertheless, I hope it has given an indication of how a simple technology can be used to mass-produce a commodity which has reached millions of people all over the world for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/cambay-beadmaking/

Artifacts from Jiroft.

Ivory combs. Turkmenistan.

Ivory objects. Sarasvati Civilization

Tablets.Ivory objects. Mohenjo-daro.

Button seal. Baror, Rajasthan.

Courtesy: ‏ @blog_supplement

Indus Script hypertext, dot + circles = dāya 'one in dice' + vaṭṭa 'circle' rebus dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter'

https://tinyurl.com/y8h49x4t

‏ @blog_supplement

A Harappan button. Note how they had an instrument to precisely mark small circles of various radii

Button tablet. Harappa. Dotted circles.

File:Musée GR de Saint-Romain-en-Gal 27 07 2011 13 Des et jetons.jpg

Dices and chips in bone, Roman time. Gallo-Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal-Vienne.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mus%C3%A9e_GR_de_Saint-Romain-en-Gal_27_07_2011_13_Des_et_jetons.jpg

Indus Script hypertext/hieroglyph: Dotted circle: दाय 1 [p= 474,2] dāya n. game , play Pan5cad.; mfn. ( Pa1n2. 3-1 , 139 ; 141) giving , presenting (cf. शत- , गो-); m. handing over , delivery Mn. viii , 165 (Monier-Williams)

தாயம் tāyam :Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. (Tamil)

rebus: 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 ʻrelic 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) धाव (p. 250) dhāva m f A certain soft, red stone. Baboons are said to draw it from the bottom of brooks, and to besmear their faces with it. धावड (p. 250) dhāvaḍa m A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. In these parts they are Muhammadans. धावडी (p. 250) dhāvaḍī a Relating to the class धावड. Hence 2 Composed of or relating to iron. (Marathi).

PLUS

Hieroglyph: vaṭṭa'circle'.

Thus, together, the hypertext reads rebus dhā̆vaḍ'smelter'

The dotted circle hypertexts link with 1. iron workers called धावड (p. 250) dhāvaḍa and 2. miners of Mosonszentjános, Hungary; 3. Gonur Tepe metalworkers, metal traders and 4. the tradition of अक्ष-- पटल [p= 3,2] n. court of law; depository of legal document Ra1jat. Thus, अक्ष on Indus Script Corpora signify documents, wealth accounting ledgers of metal work with three red ores. Akkha2 [Vedic akṣa, prob. to akṣi & Lat. oculus, "that which has eyes" i. e. a die; cp. also Lat. ālea game at dice (fr.* asclea?)] a die D i.6 (but expld at DA i.86 as ball -- game: guḷakīḷa); S i.149 = A v.171 = Sn 659 (appamatto ayaŋ kali yo akkhesu dhanaparājayo); J i.379 (kūṭ˚ a false player, sharper, cheat) anakkha one who is not a gambler J v.116 (C.: ajūtakara). Cp. also accha3. -- dassa (cp. Sk. akṣadarśaka) one who looks at (i. e. examines) the dice, an umpire, a judge Vin iii.47; Miln 114, 327, 343 (dhamma -- nagare). -- dhutta one who has the vice of gambling D ii.348; iii.183; M iii.170; Sn 106 (+ itthidhutta & surādhutta). -- vāṭa fence round an arena for wrestling J iv.81. (? read akka -- ).

దాయము (p. 588) dāyamu dāyamu. [Skt.] n. Heritage. పంచుకొనదగినతంత్రిసొమ్ము. Kinship, heirsh జ్ఞాతిత్వము. A gift, ఈవి. దాయము, దాయలు or దాయాలు dāyamu. [Tel.] n. A certain game among girls. గవ్వలాట; గవ్వలు పాచికలు మొదలగువాని సంఖ్య. (Telugu)
ஏர்த்தாயம் ēr-t-tāyam , n. < id. +. Ploughing in season; பருவகாலத்துழவு. (W.)காணித்தாயவழக்கு kāṇi-t-tāya-vaḻakku, n. < id. +. Dispute between coparceners about hereditary land; பங்காளிகளின் நிலவழக்கு. (J.)தர்மதாயம் tarma-tāyam , n. < id. + dāya. Charitable inams; தருமத்துக்கு விடப்பட்ட மானியம். (G. Sm. D. I, ii, 55.)தாயம் tāyam

, n. < dāya. 1. Patrimony, inheritance, wealth of an ancestor capable of inheritance and partition (R. F.); பாகத்திற்குரிய பிதிரார்ச்சிதப்பொருள். 2. Share; பங்கு. (யாழ். அக.) 3. Paternal relationship; தந்தைவழிச் சுற்றம். (யாழ். அக.) 4. A fall of the dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் விருத்தம். முற்பட இடுகின்ற தாயம் (கலித். 136, உரை). 5. Cubical pieces in dice-play; கவறு. (யாழ். அக.) 6. Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. 7. Gift, donation; கொடை. (யாழ். அக.) 8. Good opportunity; சமயவாய்ப்பு. (யாழ். அக.) 9. Affliction, distress; துன்பம். (யாழ். அக.) 10. Delay, stop; தாக்காட்டு. (W.) 11. A child's game played with seeds or shells on the ground; குழந்தை விளையாட்டுவகை. 12. Excellence, superiority; மேன்மை. தாயமாம் பதுமினிக்கு (கொக்கோ. 1, 28).தாயப்பதி tāya-p-pati

n. < id. +. City or town got by inheritance; தனக்கு உரிமையாகக் கிடைத்துள்ள வாழிடம்

அல்லது

ஊர். தாயப்பதிகள் தலைச்சிறந் தெங்கெங்கும் (திவ். திருவாய். 8, 6, 9).தாயபாகம் tāya-pākam

, n. < dāyabhāga. 1. Division of an estate among heirs; ஞாதிகள் தம்முள் பிரித்துக்கொள்ளும் உரிமைப்பங்கு. 2. A treatise on the Hindu law of inheritance by Jīmūtavākaṉa; பாகப்பிரிவினையைப்பற்றி ஜீமூத வாகனர் இயற்றிய நூல். 3. Chapter on the law of inheritance in the Mitākṣara of Vijñāṉēšvara, 12th c. (R. F.); பன்னிரண்டாம் நூற்றாண்டில் விஞ் ஞானேசுரர் இயற்றிய மிதாக்ஷரத்தில் தாயவுரிமை யைப்பற்றிக் கூறும் பகுதி.தாயம் tāyam, n. < dāya. 1. Patrimony, inheritance, wealth of an ancestor capable of inheritance and partition (R. F.); பாகத்திற்குரிய பிதிரார்ச்சிதப்பொருள். 2. Share; பங்கு. (யாழ். அக.) 3. Paternal relationship; தந்தைவழிச் சுற்றம். (யாழ். அக.) 4. A fall of the dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் விருத்தம். முற்பட இடுகின்ற தாயம் (கலித். 136, உரை). 5. Cubical pieces in dice-play; கவறு. (யாழ். அக.) 6. Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. 7. Gift, donation; கொடை. (யாழ். அக.) 8. Good opportunity; சமயவாய்ப்பு. (யாழ். அக.) 9. Affliction, distress; துன்பம். (யாழ். அக.) 10. Delay, stop; தாக்காட்டு. (W.) 11. A child's game played with seeds or shells on the ground; குழந்தை விளையாட்டுவகை. 12. Excellence, superiority; மேன்மை. தாயமாம் பதுமினிக்கு (கொக்கோ. 1, 28).

See the dotted circle hieroglyph on the bottom of the sacred device, sangaḍa

Kot Diji type seals with concentric circles from (a,b) Taraqai Qila (Trq-2 &3, after CISI 2: 414), (c,d) Harappa(H-638 after CISI 2: 304, H-1535 after CISI 3.1:211), and (e) Mohenjo-daro (M-1259, aftr CISI 2: 158). (From Fig. 7 Parpola, 2013).

Distribution of geometrical seals in Greater Indus Valley during the early and *Mature Harappan periods (c. 3000 - 2000 BCE). After Uesugi 2011, Development of the Inter-regional interaction system in the Indus valley and beyond: a hypothetical view towards the formation of the urban society' in: Cultural relagions betwen the Indus and the Iranian plateau during the 3rd millennium BCE, ed. Toshiki Osada & Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 7. Pp. 359-380. Cambridge, MA: Dept of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University: fig.7

Dotted circles and three lines on the obverse of many Failaka/Dilmun seals are read rebus as hieroglyphs:

Hieroglyph: ḍāv m. ʻdice-throwʼ rebus: dhāu 'ore'; dã̄u ʻtyingʼ, ḍāv m. ʻdice-throwʼ read rebus: dhāu 'ore' in the context of glosses: dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻa caste of iron -smelters', dhāvḍī ʻcomposed of or relating to ironʼ. Thus, three dotted circles signify: tri-dhāu, tri-dhātu 'three ores' (copper, tin, iron).

A (गोटा) gōṭā Spherical or spheroidal, pebble-form. (Marathi) Rebus: khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ (metal) (Marathi) खोट [khōṭa] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge (Marathi). P. khoṭ m. ʻalloyʼ (CDIAL 3931) goTa 'laterite ferrite ore'.

m0352 cdef

The + glyph of Sibri evidence is comparable to the large-sized 'dot', dotted circles and + glyph shown on this Mohenjo-daro seal m0352 with dotted circles repeated on 5 sides A to F. Mohenjo-daro Seal m0352 shows dotted circles in the four corners of a fire-altar and at the centre of the altar together with four raised 'bun' ingot-type rounded features. Rebus readings of m0352 hieroglyphs:

dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'

1. Round dot like a blob -- . Glyph: raised large-sized dot -- (gōṭī ‘round pebble);goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore)

2. Dotted circle khaṇḍa ‘A piece, bit, fragment, portion’; kandi ‘bead’;

3. A + shaped structure where the glyphs 1 and 2 are infixed. The + shaped structure is kaṇḍ ‘a fire-altar’ (which is associated with glyphs 1 and 2)..

Rebus readings are: 1. khoṭ m. ʻalloyʼgoTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); 2. khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’; 3. kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar, consecrated fire’.

Four ‘round spot’; glyphs around the ‘dotted circle’ in the center of the composition: gōṭī ‘round pebble; Rebus 1: goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); Rebus 2:L. khoṭf ʻalloy, impurityʼ, °ṭā ʻalloyedʼ, awāṇ. khoṭā ʻforgedʼ; P. khoṭ m. ʻbase, alloyʼ M.khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ (CDIAL 3931) Rebus 3: kōṭhī ] f (कोष्ट S) A granary, garner, storehouse, warehouse, treasury, factory, bank. khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ metal is produced from kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar’ yielding khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’. This word khaṇḍā is denoted by the dotted circles.

Circular seal, of steatite, from Bahrein, found at Lothal.A Stamp seal and its impression from the Harappan site of Lothal north of Bombay, of the type also found in the contemporary cultures of southern Iraq and the Persian Gulf Area. http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/archaeology-in-india/

http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/shipping-and-maritime-trade-of-the-indus-people/

See:

Dotted circles, tulips and tin-bronze revolution of 4th millennium BCE documented in Harappa Script

http://tinyurl.com/z3x7zev

These powerful narratives are also validated -- archaeologically attested -- by the discovery of Mohenjo-daro priest wearing (on his forehead and on the right shoulder) fillets of a dotted circle tied to a string and with a uttarīyam decorated with one, two, three dotted circles. The fillet is an Indus Script hypertext which reads: dhã̄i 'strand' PLUS vaṭa 'string' rebus: dhāvaḍ 'smelter'. The same dotted circles enseemble is also shown as a sacred hieroglyph on the bases of Śivalingas found in Mohenjo-dar. The dotted circles are painted with red pigment, the same way as Mosonszentjanos dice are painted with red iron oxide pigment.

वट [p= 914,3] m. (perhaps Prakrit for वृत , " surrounded , covered " ; cf. न्यग्-रोध) the Banyan or Indian fig. tree (Ficus Indica) MBh.Ka1v. &c RTL. 337 (also said to be n.); a pawn (in chess) L. (Monier-Williams) Ta. vaṭam cable, large rope, cord, bowstring, strands of a garland, chains of a necklace; vaṭi rope; vaṭṭi (-pp-, -tt-) to tie. Ma. vaṭam rope, a rope of cowhide (in plough), dancing rope, thick rope for dragging timber. Ka. vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Te. vaṭi rope, cord. Go. (Mu.) vaṭiya strong rope made of paddy straw (Voc. 3150). Cf. 3184 Ta. tār̤vaṭam. / Cf. Skt. vaṭa- string, rope, tie; vaṭāraka-, vaṭākara-, varāṭaka- cord,string; Turner, CDIAL, no. 11212. (CDIAL 5220)vaṭa2 ʻ string ʼ lex. [Prob. ← Drav. Tam. vaṭam, Kan. vaṭi, vaṭara, &c. DED 4268] N. bariyo ʻ cord, rope ʼ; Bi. barah ʻ rope working irrigation lever ʼ, barhā ʻ thick well -- rope ʼ, Mth. barahā ʻ rope ʼ. (CDIAL 11212).

See: https://tinyurl.com/y85goask Wealth of a nation...

Trefoil decorated bull; traces of red pigment remain inside the trefoils. Steatite statue fragment. Mohenjo-daro (Sd 767). After Ardeleanu-Jansen, 1989: 196, fig. 1; cf. Parpola, 1994, p. 213. Trefoils painted on steatite beads. Harappa (After Vats. Pl. CXXXIII, Fig. 2) Trefoil on the shawl of the priest. Mohenjodaro. The discovery of the King Priest acclaimed by Sir John Marshall as “the finest piece of statuary that has been found at Moenjodaro….draped in an elaborate shawl with corded or rolled over edge, worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. This shawl is decorated all over with a design of trefoils in relief interspersed occasionally with small circles, the interiors of which are filled with a red pigment “. Gold fillet with ‘standard device’ hieroglyph. Glyph ‘hole’: pottar, பொத்தல் pottal, n. < id. [Ka.poṭṭare, Ma. pottu, Tu.potre.] trika, a group of three (Skt.) The occurrence of a three-fold depiction on a trefoil may thus be a phonetic determinant, a suffix to potṛ as in potṛka.

Rebus reading of the hieroglyph: potti ‘temple-priest’ (Ma.) potR `" Purifier "'N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman), यज्ञस्य शोधयिट्रि (Vedic) Rebus reading is: potri ‘priest’; poTri ‘worship, venerate’. Language is Meluhha (Mleccha) an integral component of Indian sprachbund (linguistic area or language union). The trefoil is decoded and read as: potr(i).

Steatite statue fragment; Mohenjodaro (Sd 767); trefoil-decorated bull; traces of red pigment remain inside the trefoils. After Ardeleanu-Jansen 1989: 196, fig. 1; Parpola, 1994, p. 213.

Role of dice in Bhāratīya Itihāsa, dotted circle Indus Script hypertexts on ivory game pieces of ANE miners

https://tinyurl.com/y9oovmp8

Role of dice in Bhāratīya Itihāsa, dotted circle Indus Script hypertexts on ivory game pieces of ANE miners and a tribute to Dennys Frenez, István Koncz and Zsuzsanna Tóth for their brilliant archaeological insights and riveting, logically argued archeo-metallurgical analyses.

Mohenjo-daro (Ashmolean Museum), Harappa dice.. दाय 1 [p= 474,2] dāya n. game , play Pan5cad.; mfn. ( Pa1n2. 3-1 , 139 ; 141) giving , presenting (cf. शत- , गो-); m. handing over , delivery Mn. viii , 165 (Monier-Williams)

தாயம் tāyam :Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. (Tamil)

See:

Ancient Indian paharaṇa mudra 'struck' coins signify metalwork wealth of Bronze Age Bhāratam, as Indus script hieroglyphs & hypertext expressions

https://tinyurl.com/y7gqnuqv

dāya 'dotted circle, role of dice of one is the centre-piece of the early Gandhara punchmarked silver coin with a six-armed wheel, a vajra, thunderbolt metallic weapon, ca. 6th century BCE. The dot in the circle signifies silver. The punchmarked coin is made of silver. The circle is vaṭa. Together, with dāya, the single dot within circle, the hypertext signifier is dhāvḍī ʻdhāvaḍ 'smelting, smelter' - a key metallurgical repertoire of the Gandhara mint which issued the punchmarked coin, the paharaṇa mudrā 'struck' coins .

goṭi, ‘silver, laterite’ are signified by goṭa, ‘seed’ hieroglyph. gōṭh गोठ् । अष्टापदम्, इष्टफलम् f. (sg. dat.gōṭi गोटि), a kind of chequered cloth of thirty-six squares for playing chess, causar, or similar game, a dice-board; an aim, desired object. -- marüñü-- मर&above;ञू‍&below; । इष्टावाप्तिः f.inf. to obtain a desired object, achieve one's object.(Kashmiri)

Hieroglyph: seed, something round: *gōṭṭa ʻ something round ʼ. [Cf. guḍá -- 1. -- In sense ʻ fruit, kernel ʼ cert. ← Drav., cf. Tam. koṭṭai ʻ nut, kernel ʼ, Kan. goṟaṭe &c. listed DED 1722]K. goṭh f., dat. °ṭi f. ʻ chequer or chess or dice board ʼ; S. g̠oṭu m. ʻ large ball of tobacco ready for hookah ʼ, °ṭī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; P. goṭ f. ʻ spool on which gold or silver wire is wound, piece on a chequer board ʼ; N. goṭo ʻ piece ʼ, goṭi ʻ chess piece ʼ; A. goṭ ʻ a fruit, whole piece ʼ, °ṭā ʻ globular, solid ʼ, guṭi ʻ small ball, seed, kernel ʼ; B. goṭā ʻ seed, bean, whole ʼ; Or. goṭā ʻ whole, undivided ʼ, goṭi ʻ small ball, cocoon ʼ, goṭāli ʻ small round piece of chalk ʼ; Bi. goṭā ʻ seed ʼ; Mth. goṭa ʻ numerative particle ʼ; H. goṭf. ʻ piece (at chess &c.) ʼ; G. goṭ m. ʻ cloud of smoke ʼ, °ṭɔ m. ʻ kernel of coconut, nosegay ʼ, °ṭī f. ʻ lump of silver, clot of blood ʼ, °ṭilɔ m. ʻ hard ball of cloth ʼ; M. goṭā m. ʻ roundish stone ʼ, °ṭī f. ʻ a marble ʼ, goṭuḷā ʻ spherical ʼ; Si. guṭiya ʻ lump, ball ʼ; -- prob. also P. goṭṭā ʻ gold or silver lace ʼ, H. goṭā m. ʻ edging of such ʼ (→ K. goṭa m. ʻ edging of gold braid ʼ, S. goṭo m. ʻ gold or silver lace ʼ); M. goṭ ʻ hem of a garment, metal wristlet ʼ.*gōḍḍ -- ʻ dig ʼ see *khōdd -- .Addenda: *gōṭṭa -- : also Ko. gōṭu ʻ silver or gold braid ʼ.(CDIAL 4271) Ta. koṭṭai seed of any kind not enclosed in chaff or husk, nut, stone, kernel; testicles; (RS, p. 142, items 200, 201) koṭṭāṅkacci, koṭṭācci coconut shell. Ma. koṭṭakernel of fruit, particularly of coconut, castor-oil seed; kuṟaṭṭa, kuraṭṭa kernel; kuraṇṭi stone of palmfruit. Ko. keṭ testes; scrotum. Ka. koṭṭe, goṟaṭe stone or kernel of fruit, esp. of mangoes; goṭṭa mango stone. Koḍ. koraṇḍi id. Tu. koṭṭè kernel of a nut, testicles; koṭṭañji a fruit without flesh; koṭṭayi a dried areca-nut; koraṇtu kernel or stone of fruit, cashew-nut; goṭṭu kernel of a nut as coconut, almond, castor-oil seed. Te. kuriḍī dried whole kernel of coconut. Kol. (Kin.) goṛva stone of fruit. Nk. goṛage stone of fruit. Kur. goṭā any seed which forms inside a fruit or shell. Malt. goṭa a seed or berry. / Cf. words meaning 'fruit, kernel, seed' in Turner, CDIAL, no. 4271 (so noted by Turner).(DEDR 2069) Rebus: khōṭa 'alloy ingot' (Marathi)

ஏர்த்தாயம் ēr-t-tāyam , n. < id. +. Ploughing in season; பருவகாலத்துழவு. (W.)காணித்தாயவழக்கு kāṇi-t-tāya-vaḻakku, n. < id. +. Dispute between coparceners about hereditary land; பங்காளிகளின் நிலவழக்கு. (J.)தர்மதாயம் tarma-tāyam , n. < id. + dāya. Charitable inams; தருமத்துக்கு விடப்பட்ட மானியம். (G. Sm. D. I, ii, 55.)தாயம் tāyam

, n. < dāya. 1. Patrimony, inheritance, wealth of an ancestor capable of inheritance and partition (R. F.); பாகத்திற்குரிய பிதிரார்ச்சிதப்பொருள். 2. Share; பங்கு. (யாழ். அக.) 3. Paternal relationship; தந்தைவழிச் சுற்றம். (யாழ். அக.) 4. A fall of the dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் விருத்தம். முற்பட இடுகின்ற தாயம் (கலித். 136, உரை). 5. Cubical pieces in dice-play; கவறு. (யாழ். அக.) 6. Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. 7. Gift, donation; கொடை. (யாழ். அக.) 8. Good opportunity; சமயவாய்ப்பு. (யாழ். அக.) 9. Affliction, distress; துன்பம். (யாழ். அக.) 10. Delay, stop; தாக்காட்டு. (W.) 11. A child's game played with seeds or shells on the ground; குழந்தை விளையாட்டுவகை. 12. Excellence, superiority; மேன்மை. தாயமாம் பதுமினிக்கு (கொக்கோ. 1, 28).தாயப்பதி tāya-p-pati

n. < id. +. City or town got by inheritance; தனக்கு உரிமையாகக் கிடைத்துள்ள வாழிடம்
அல்லது

ஊர். தாயப்பதிகள் தலைச்சிறந் தெங்கெங்கும் (திவ். திருவாய். 8, 6, 9).தாயபாகம் tāya-pākam

, n. < dāyabhāga. 1. Division of an estate among heirs; ஞாதிகள் தம்முள் பிரித்துக்கொள்ளும் உரிமைப்பங்கு. 2. A treatise on the Hindu law of inheritance by Jīmūtavākaṉa; பாகப்பிரிவினையைப்பற்றி ஜீமூத வாகனர் இயற்றிய நூல். 3. Chapter on the law of inheritance in the Mitākṣara of Vijñāṉēšvara, 12th c. (R. F.); பன்னிரண்டாம் நூற்றாண்டில் விஞ் ஞானேசுரர் இயற்றிய மிதாக்ஷரத்தில் தாயவுரிமை யைப்பற்றிக் கூறும் பகுதி.தாயம் tāyam, n. < dāya. 1. Patrimony, inheritance, wealth of an ancestor capable of inheritance and partition (R. F.); பாகத்திற்குரிய பிதிரார்ச்சிதப்பொருள். 2. Share; பங்கு. (யாழ். அக.) 3. Paternal relationship; தந்தைவழிச் சுற்றம். (யாழ். அக.) 4. A fall of the dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் விருத்தம். முற்பட இடுகின்ற தாயம் (கலித். 136, உரை). 5. Cubical pieces in dice-play; கவறு. (யாழ். அக.) 6. Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண். Colloq. 7. Gift, donation; கொடை. (யாழ். அக.) 8. Good opportunity; சமயவாய்ப்பு. (யாழ். அக.) 9. Affliction, distress; துன்பம். (யாழ். அக.) 10. Delay, stop; தாக்காட்டு. (W.) 11. A child's game played with seeds or shells on the ground; குழந்தை விளையாட்டுவகை. 12. Excellence, superiority; மேன்மை. தாயமாம் பதுமினிக்கு (கொக்கோ. 1, 28).

A significant find of Mosonszentjános in Hungary reported in a brilliant, scintillating Archaeological excursus by István Koncz and Zsuzsanna Tóth is that the ivory game pieces signified by dotted circles were found in the graves of guild of mine workers.

A significant find of Dennys Frenez reported in a brilliant, scintillating analytical piece on Gonur Tepe archaeological finds of ivories with dotted circles is that the ivory came from Indian elephants. Both these reports are relatable to the most significant event narrated in Bhāratīya Itihāsa of the game of dice in Mahābhārata which resulted in two acts of adharma: Yudhiṣṭhira offering Draupadi as a wager and Duryodhana attempting to disrobe Draupadi in public. This is followed by the act of dharma by Śri Kr̥ṣṇa rescuing Draupadi from the indignity. These powerful narratives, 1. finds of Mosonzzetanos; 2. finds of Gonur Tepe and 3. dice game in Mahābhārata are matched by the fact that the Indus Script rebus words associated with dice are datable from 7th millennium BCE attested in R̥gveda.

Dices and chips in bone, Roman time. Gallo-Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal-Vienne.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mus%C3%A9e_GR_de_Saint-Romain-en-Gal_27_07_2011_13_Des_et_jetons.jpg

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 ʻrelic 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) धाव (p. 250) dhāva m f A certain soft, red stone. Baboons are said to draw it from the bottom of brooks, and to besmear their faces with it. धावड (p. 250) dhāvaḍa m A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron. In these parts they are Muhammadans. धावडी (p. 250) dhāvaḍī a Relating to the class धावड. Hence 2 Composed of or relating to iron. (Marathi).

A dotted circle (three of which constitute a trefoil) is also associated with the standard device frequently shown in front of a one-horned young bull:

Gold fillet showing sacred device--- sangaḍa.

Gold fillet depicting the standard device, Mohenjo-daro, 2600 BCE. [Source: Page 32 in: Deo Prakash Sharma, 2000, Harappan seals, sealings and copper tablets, Delhi, National Museum]. At a Marshall, MIC, Pl. CLI are specimens of fillets consisting of thin bands of beaten gold with holes for cords at their ends.
Image result for dotted circle bharatkalyan97

Image result for dotted circle bharatkalyan97

Gold fillet, Mohenjo-daro, with Indus script hypertext of dotted circles, lathe, brazier signify पोतृ purifier priest of kole.l 'smithy, temple'.

dāntā 'ivory' rebus dhāˊtu 'ore of red colour' (Rigveda)

Image result for gold pectoral mohenjodaro

See the dotted circle hieroglyph on the bottom of the sacred device, sangaḍa

Dotted circles and three lines on the obverse of many Failaka/Dilmun seals are read rebus as hieroglyphs:

Hieroglyph: ḍāv m. ʻdice-throwʼ rebus: dhāu 'ore'; dã̄u ʻtyingʼ, ḍāv m. ʻdice-throwʼ read rebus: dhāu 'ore' in the context of glosses: dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻa caste of iron -smelters', dhāvḍī ʻcomposed of or relating to ironʼ. Thus, three dotted circles signify: tri-dhāu, tri-dhātu 'three ores' (copper, tin, iron).

A (गोटा) gōṭā Spherical or spheroidal, pebble-form. (Marathi) Rebus: khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ (metal) (Marathi) खोट [khōṭa] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge (Marathi). P. khoṭ m. ʻalloyʼ (CDIAL 3931) goTa 'laterite ferrite ore'

m0352 cdef

The + glyph of Sibri evidence is comparable to the large-sized 'dot', dotted circles and + glyph shown on this Mohenjo-daro seal m0352 with dotted circles repeated on 5 sides A to F. Mohenjo-daro Seal m0352 shows dotted circles in the four corners of a fire-altar and at the centre of the altar together with four raised 'bun' ingot-type rounded features. Rebus readings of m0352 hieroglyphs:

dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'

1. Round dot like a blob -- . Glyph: raised large-sized dot -- (gōṭī ‘round pebble);goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore)
2. Dotted circle khaṇḍa ‘A piece, bit, fragment, portion’; kandi ‘bead’;
3. A + shaped structure where the glyphs 1 and 2 are infixed. The + shaped structure is kaṇḍ ‘a fire-altar’ (which is associated with glyphs 1 and 2)..
Rebus readings are: 1. khoṭ m. ʻalloyʼgoTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); 2. khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’; 3. kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar, consecrated fire’.

Four ‘round spot’; glyphs around the ‘dotted circle’ in the center of the composition: gōṭī ‘round pebble; Rebus 1: goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); Rebus 2:L. khoṭf ʻalloy, impurityʼ, °ṭā ʻalloyedʼ, awāṇ. khoṭā ʻforgedʼ; P. khoṭ m. ʻbase, alloyʼ M.khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ (CDIAL 3931) Rebus 3: kōṭhī ] f (कोष्ट S) A granary, garner, storehouse, warehouse, treasury, factory, bank. khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ metal is produced from kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar’ yielding khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’. This word khaṇḍā is denoted by the dotted circles.

Circular seal, of steatite, from Bahrein, found at Lothal.

A Stamp seal and its impression from the Harappan site of Lothal north of Bombay, of the type also found in the contemporary cultures of southern Iraq and the Persian Gulf Area. http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/archaeology-in-india/

http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/shipping-and-maritime-trade-of-the-indus-people/

See:

Dotted circles, tulips and tin-bronze revolution of 4th millennium BCE documented in Harappa Script

http://tinyurl.com/z3x7zev

These powerful narratives are also validated -- archaeologically attested -- by the discovery of Mohenjo-daro priest wearing (on his forehead and on the right shoulder) fillets of a dotted circle tied to a string and with a uttarīyam decorated with one, two, three dotted circles. The fillet is an Indus Script hypertext which reads: dhã̄i 'strand' PLUS vaṭa 'string' rebus: dhāvaḍ 'smelter'. The same dotted circles enseemble is also shown as a sacred hieroglyph on the bases of Śivalingas found in Mohenjo-dar. The dotted circles are painted with red pigment, the same way as Mosonszentjanos dice are painted with red iron oxide pigment.

वट [p= 914,3] m. (perhaps Prakrit for वृत , " surrounded , covered " ; cf. न्यग्-रोध) the Banyan or Indian fig. tree (Ficus Indica) MBh.Ka1v. &c RTL. 337 (also said to be n.); a pawn (in chess) L. (Monier-Williams) Ta. vaṭam cable, large rope, cord, bowstring, strands of a garland, chains of a necklace; vaṭi rope; vaṭṭi (-pp-, -tt-) to tie. Ma. vaṭam rope, a rope of cowhide (in plough), dancing rope, thick rope for dragging timber. Ka. vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Te. vaṭi rope, cord. Go. (Mu.) vaṭiya strong rope made of paddy straw (Voc. 3150). Cf. 3184 Ta. tār̤vaṭam. / Cf. Skt. vaṭa- string, rope, tie; vaṭāraka-, vaṭākara-, varāṭaka- cord,string; Turner, CDIAL, no. 11212. (CDIAL 5220)vaṭa2 ʻ string ʼ lex. [Prob. ← Drav. Tam. vaṭam, Kan. vaṭi, vaṭara, &c. DED 4268] N. bariyo ʻ cord, rope ʼ; Bi. barah ʻ rope working irrigation lever ʼ, barhā ʻ thick well -- rope ʼ, Mth. barahā ʻ rope ʼ. (CDIAL 11212).

See: https://tinyurl.com/y85goask Wealth of a nation...

Trefoil decorated bull; traces of red pigment remain inside the trefoils. Steatite statue fragment. Mohenjo-daro (Sd 767). After Ardeleanu-Jansen, 1989: 196, fig. 1; cf. Parpola, 1994, p. 213. Trefoils painted on steatite beads. Harappa (After Vats. Pl. CXXXIII, Fig. 2) Trefoil on the shawl of the priest. Mohenjodaro. The discovery of the King Priest acclaimed by Sir John Marshall as “the finest piece of statuary that has been found at Moenjodaro….draped in an elaborate shawl with corded or rolled over edge, worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. This shawl is decorated all over with a design of trefoils in relief interspersed occasionally with small circles, the interiors of which are filled with a red pigment “. Gold fillet with ‘standard device’ hieroglyph. Glyph ‘hole’: pottar, பொத்தல் pottal, n. < id. [Ka.poṭṭare, Ma. pottu, Tu.potre.] trika, a group of three (Skt.) The occurrence of a three-fold depiction on a trefoil may thus be a phonetic determinant, a suffix to potṛ as in potṛka.

Image result for Steatite statue fragment. Mohenjo-daro (Sd 767). After Ardeleanu-Jansen, 1989: 196, fig. 1; cf. Parpola, 1994, p. 213. Trefoils painted on steatite beads. Harappa (After Vats. Pl. CXXXIII, Fig. 2)

Steatite statue fragment; Mohenjodaro (Sd 767); trefoil-decorated bull; traces of red pigment remain inside the trefoils. After Ardeleanu-Jansen 1989: 196, fig. 1; Parpola, 1994, p. 213.

	Statue, Uruk (W.16017), c. 3000 B.C.; bull with trefoil inlays; shell mass with inlays of lapis lazuli; 5.3 cm. long; Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin; Parpola, 1994, p. 213.
	Trefoils painted on steatite beads, Harappa (After Vats, Pl. CXXXIII, Fig.2)
	Tre-foil inlay decorated base (for linga icon?); smoothed, polished pedestal of dark red stone; National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi; After Mackay 1938: I, 411; II, pl. 107:35; Parpola, 1994, p. 218.
	Two decorated bases and a lingam, Mohenjodaro.
	Lingam, grey sandstone in situ, Harappa, Trench Ai, Mound F, Pl. X (c) (After Vats). "In an earthenware jar, No. 12414, recovered from Mound F, Trench IV, Square I... in this jar, six lingams were found along with some tiny pieces of shell, a unicorn seal, an oblong grey sandstone block with polished surface, five stone pestles, a stone palette, and a block of chalcedony..." (Vats, EH, p. 370)

One badge used had a bangle with trefoil hieroglyph.

It was suggested that this may relate to the functions of a dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter' tri-dhAtu,'‘three

minerals'.

Terracotta bangle fragments decorated with red trefoils outlined in white

on a green ground from the late Period 3C deposits in Trench 43. This image

shows both sides of the two fragments

(H98-3516/8667-01 & H98-3517/8679-01)

Detail of terracotta bangle with red and white trefoil on a green background H98-3516/8667-01 from Trench 43).

miṇḍāl markhor (Tor.wali) meḍho a ram, a sheep (G.)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: meḍ (Ho.); mẽṛhet ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)mẽṛh t iron; ispat m. = steel; dul m. = cast iron (Munda)

"Late Harappan Period dish or lid with perforation at edge for hanging or attaching to large jar. It shows a Blackbuck antelope with trefoil design made of combined circle-and-dot motifs, possibly representing stars. It is associated with burial pottery of the Cemetery H period,dating after 1900 BC.The Late Harappan Period at Harappa is represented by the Cemetery H culture (190-1300 BC) which is named after the discovery of a large cemetery filled with painted burial urns and some extended inhumations. The earlier burials in this cemetery were laid out much like Harappan coffin burials, but in the later burials, adults were cremated and the bones placed in large urns (164). The change in burial customs represents a major shift in religion and can also be correlated to important changes in economic and political organization. Cemetery H pottery and related ceramics have been found throughout northern Pakistan, even as far north as Swat, where they mix with distinctive local traditions. In the east, numerous sites in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab provide evidence for the gradual expansion of settlements into this heavily forested region. One impetus for this expansion may have been the increasing use of rice and other summer (kharif) crops that could be grown using monsoon stimulated rains. Until late in the Harappan Period (after 2200 BC) the agricultural foundation of the Harappan cities was largely winter (rabi) crops that included wheat and barley. Although the Cemetery H culture encompassed a relatively large area, the trade connections with thewestern highlands began to break down as did the trade with the coast. Lapis lazuli and turquoise beads are rarely found in the settlements, and marine shell for ornaments and ritual objects gradually disappeared. On the other hand the technology of faience manufacture becomes more refined, possibly in order to compensate for the lack of raw materials such as shell, faience and possibly even carnelian." (Kenoyer in harappa.com slide description)http://www.harappa.com/indus2/162.htm

Trefoil motifs are carved on the robe of the so-called "priest-king" statuette from Mohenjo-daro and are also known from contemporary sites in western Pakistan, Afghanistan, and southern Central Asia.dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter' tri-dhAtu,'‘three minerals". त्रिधातु mfn. consisting of 3 parts , triple , threefold (used like Lat. triplex to denote excessive)RV. S3Br. v , 5 , 5 , 6; n. the aggregate of the 3 minerals.tri त्रिधा ind. in 3 parts, ways or places; triply, ˚त्वम् tripartition; Ch. Up. -धातुः an epithet of Gaṇeśa. dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼMBh., 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)

त्रिधातुः is an epithet of Gaṇeśa. This may indicate three forms of ferrite ores: magnetite, haematite, laterite which were identified in Indus Script as poLa 'magnetite', bichi 'haematite' and goTa 'laterite'.

Rebus readings of Indus Script hieroglyphs may explain the त्रिधातुः epithet of Gaṇeśa: karibha 'elephant's trunk' rebus: karba 'iron' ibha 'elephant' rebus: ib 'iron'.

It has been suggested at

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/trefoil-of-indus-script-corpora-and.html?view=sidebar that the trefoil decorating the shawl of the 'priest-king' of Mohenjo-daro is a cross-sectional signifier of three strands of rope.

Thus, a dotted circle is signified by the word: dhāī 'wisp of fibre' (Sindhi).

Single strand (one dotted-circle)

Two strands (pair of dotted-circles)

Three strands (three dotted-circles as a trefoil)

Ta. vaṭam cable, large rope, cord, bowstring, strands of a garland, chains of a necklace; vaṭi rope; vaṭṭi (-pp-, -tt-) to tie. Ma. vaṭam rope, a rope of cowhide (in plough), dancing rope, thick rope for dragging timber. Ka. vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Te. vaṭi rope, cord. Go. (Mu.) vaṭiya strong rope made of paddy straw (Voc. 3150). Cf. 3184 Ta. tār̤vaṭam. / Cf. Skt. vaṭa- string, rope, tie; vaṭāraka-, vaṭākara-, varāṭaka- cord, string; Turner, CDIAL, no. 11212. (DEDR 5220) vaṭa2 ʻ string ʼ lex. [Prob. ← Drav. Tam. vaṭam, Kan. vaṭi, vaṭara, &c. DED 4268]N. bariyo ʻ cord, rope ʼ; Bi. barah ʻ rope working irrigation lever ʼ, barhā ʻ thick well -- rope ʼ, Mth. barahā ʻ rope ʼ.(CDIAL 11212)

I suggest that the expression dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter' signified by trefoil or three strands is a semantic duplication of the parole words: dhāī 'wisp of fibre' PLUS vaṭa, vaṭara, vaṭi string, rope, tie. Thus, it is possible that the trefoil as a hieroglyph-multiplex was signified in parole by the expression dhā̆vaḍ 'three strands' rebus: dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter'.

The shawl decorated with dhā̆vaḍ 'trefoil' is a hieroglyph: pōta 'cloth' rebus:

पोता पोतृ, 'purifier' in a yajna. போற்றி pōṟṟi, போத்தி pōtti Brahman temple- priest in Malabar; மலையாளத்திலுள்ள கோயிலருச் சகன். Marathi has a cognate in

पोतदार [pōtadāra] m ( P) An officer under the native governments. His business was to assay all money paid into the treasury. He was also the village-silversmith.

The shawl decorated with dhā̆vaḍ 'trefoil' is a hieroglyph: pōta 'cloth' rebus:

पोतदार [pōtadāra] m ( P) An officer under the native governments. His business was to assay all money paid into the treasury. He was also the village-silversmith.

पोतृ पु० पुनाति पु--तृन् । ऋत्विग्मेदे अच्छावाकशब्दे ८५ पृ० दृश्यम् । होत्रादिशब्देन द्वन्द्वे ऋत आत् । पोताहोतारौ ।

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

पोता, [ऋ] पुं, (पुनातीति । पू + “नप्तृनेष्टृ-त्वष्टृहोतृपोतृभ्रातृजामातृमातृपितृदुहितृ ।”उणा० २ । ९६ । इति तृन्प्रत्ययेन निपात्यते ।) विष्णुः । इति संक्षिप्तसारोणादिवृत्तिः ॥ऋत्विक् । इति भूरिप्रयोगः ॥ (यथा, ऋग्वेदे ।४ । ९ । ३ ।“स सद्म परि णीयते होता मन्द्रो दिविष्टिषु ।उत पोता नि षीदति ॥”)

https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/शब्दकल्पद्रुमः पोतृ [p= 650,1] प्/ओतृ or पोतृ, m. " Purifier " , N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman ; = यज्ञस्य शोधयिट्रि Sa1y. )

RV. Br. S3rS. Hariv. N. of विष्णु L. पौत्र, पोत्री f. N. of दुर्गा Gal. (cf. पौत्री). pōtṛ

पोतृ m. One of the sixteen officiating priests at a sacrifice (assistant of the priest called ब्रह्मन्). पोत्रम् [पू-त्र] The office of the Potṛi. ब्रह्मन् m. one of the 4 principal priests or ऋत्विज्as (the other three being the होतृ , अध्वर्यु and उद्गातृ ; the ब्रह्मन् was the most learned of them and was required to know the 3 वेदs , to supervise the sacrifice and to set right mistakes ; at a later period his functions were based especially on the अथर्व-वेद) RV. &c होतृ m. (fr. √1. हु) an offerer of an oblation or burnt-offering (with fire) , sacrificer , priest , (esp.) a priest who at a sacrifice invokes the gods or recites the ऋग्-वेद , a ऋग्-वेद priest (one of the 4 kinds of officiating priest »ऋत्विज् , p.224; properly the होतृ priest has 3 assistants , sometimes called पुरुषs , viz. the मैत्रा-वरुण , अच्छा-वाक, and ग्रावस्तुत् ; to these are sometimes added three others , the ब्राह्मणाच्छंसिन् , अग्नीध्र or अग्नीध् , and पोतृ , though these last are properly assigned to the Brahman priest ; sometimes the नेष्टृ is substituted for the ग्राव-स्तुत्) RV.&c नेष्टृ m. (prob. fr. √ नी aor. stem नेष् ; but cf. Pa1n2. 3-2 , 135 Va1rtt. 2 &c ) one of the chief officiating priests at aसोम sacrifice , he who leads forward the wife of the sacrificer and prepares the सुरा (त्वष्टृ so called RV. i , 15 , 3) RV. Br. S3rS. &c अध्वर्यु m. one who institutes an अध्वर any officiating priest a priest of a particular class (as distinguished from the होतृ , the उद्गातृ , and the ब्रह्मन् classes. The अध्वर्युpriests " had to measure the ground , to build the altar , to prepare the sacrificial vessels , to fetch wood and water , to light the fire , to bring the animal and immolate it " ; whilst engaged in these duties , they had to repeat the hymns of the यजुर्-वेद , hence that वेद itself is also called अध्वर्यु)pl. (अध्वर्यवस्) the adherents of the यजुर्-वेद; उद्-गातृ m. one of the four chief-priests (viz. the one who chants the hymns of the सामवेद) , a chanterRV. ii , 43 , 2 TS. AitBr. S3Br. Ka1tyS3r. Sus3r. Mn. &c

अच्छा-वाकm. " the inviter " , title of a particular priest or ऋत्विज् , one of the sixteen required to perform the great sacrifices with the सोम juice. ग्रावन् m. a stone for pressing out the सोम (originally 2 were used RV. ii , 39 , 1 ; later on 4 [ S3a1n3khBr.xxix , 1] or 5 [Sch. on S3Br. &c ]) RV. AV. VS. S3Br.= ग्राव-स्त्/उत् Hariv. 11363

pōtrá1 ʻ *cleaning instrument ʼ (ʻ the Potr̥'s soma vessel ʼ RV.). [√pū]Bi. pot ʻ jeweller's polishing stone ʼ? -- Rather < *pōttī -- .(CDIAL 8404) *pōttī ʻ glass bead ʼ.Pk. pottī -- f. ʻ glass ʼ; S. pūti f. ʻ glass bead ʼ, P. pot f.; N. pote ʻ long straight bar of jewelry ʼ; B. pot ʻ glass bead ʼ, puti, pũti ʻ small bead ʼ; Or. puti ʻ necklace of small glass beads ʼ; H. pot m. ʻ glass bead ʼ, G. M. pot f.; -- Bi. pot ʻ jeweller's polishing stone ʼ rather than < pōtrá --(CDIAL 8403) pōtana पोतन a. 1 Sacred, holy. -2 Purifying.

Hence the importance of the office of Potr̥, 'Rigvedic priest of a yajna' signified as 'purifier', an assayer of dhāˊtu 'minerals.

I suggest that this fillet (dotted circle with a connecting strand or tape is the hieroglyph which signifies धातु (Rigveda) dhāu (Prakrtam) 'a strand' rebus: element, mineral ore. This hieroglyph signifies the पोतृ,'purifier' priest of dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelters' of dhāū, dhāv 'red stone minerals'.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/priest-of-dhavad-iron-smelters-with.html Orthography of the 'dotted circle' is representation of a single strand: dhāu rebus: dhāū 'red stone minerals.

It is this signifier which occurs in the orthography of the dotted circle hieroglyph-multiplex on early punch-marked coins of Magadha -- a proclamation of the dhāū 'element, mineral ores' used in the Magadha mint. On one Silver Satamana punch-marked coin of Gandhara septa-radiate or, seven strands emerge from the dotted circle signifying the use in the mint of सप्त--धातु 'seven mineral ores'.

[After Fig. 8 in Dennys Frenez (2016) opcit. On the lower register of broken fragments of stick dice with Schreger lines visible in section forming an angle of 115 degrees characteristic of extant proboscidea (Courtesy A. Caubet)]. Indicative of Elephas Maximus.

"Schreger lines are visual artifacts that are evident in the cross-sections of ivory.They are commonly referred to as cross-hatchings, engine turnings, or stacked chevrons. Schreger lines can be divided into two categories. The easily seen lines which are closest to the cementum are the outer Schreger lines. The faintly discernible lines found around the tusk nerve or pulp cavities are the inner Schreger lines. The intersections of Schreger lines form angles, which appear in two forms: concave angles and convex angles. Concave angles have slightly concave sides and open to the medial (inner) area of the tusk. Convex angles have somewhat convex sides and open to the lateral (outer) area of the tusk. Outer Schreger angles, both concave and convex, are acute in extinct proboscidea and obtuse in extant proboscidea." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreger_line

Foot note 4 in Dennys Frenez, opcit. Tusks of both elephant and mammoth show a typical surface pattern of intersecting arcs visible on cross-sections taken perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tusk. Thispattern,first described by Bernard Schreger (1800), is termed in the gemological litera-ture Schreger lines ” and consists of rhomb-shaped curvilinear lozenges created by the regular intersections of gentle arcs of alternating brownish and yellowish striae. This surface texture is an optical eﬀect caused by the reflection of light from the extremely fine fibers of the collagen protein, which are oriented in two distinct directions in the matrix surrounding each dentine tubule. The Schreger lines are unique to elephant and mammoth ivory: the Schreger angles are obtuse in elephantine ivory (>115 degrees), while in mammoth ivory they are acute (>90 degrees) (Espinoza and Mann, 1993; Bracco et al.,2013).

The Schreger lines on Gonur Tepe ivory artifacts and on Mosonszentjános ivory dice indicate that the Gonur Tepe ivory is obtained from tusks of Indian elephants (Elephas Maximus Indicus or Asiatic elephants).

István Koncz, Zsuzsanna Tóth,, 2016, '6th century ivory game pieces from Mosonszentjános' in:
Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös Nominatae, Ser. 3, No. 4 (2016), pp. 161-178
http://dissarch.elte.hu/download.php?file=http://dissarch.elte.hu/index.php/dissarch/article/download/284/249&id=284

http://dissarch.elte.hu/public/journals/1/homeHeaderTitleImage_en_US.jpg

Schreger Lines in a Mammoth Ivory
https://www.scribd.com/document/362315298/6th-century-ivory-game-pieces-from-Mosonszentjanos-Istvan-Koncz-Zsuzsanna-Toth-2016

6th century ivory game pieces from Mosonszentjános (István Koncz,Zsuzsanna Tóth, 2016) by Srini Kalyanaraman on Scribd

Dotted circles, tulips and tin-bronze revolution of 4th millennium BCE documented in Harappa Script

Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/z3x7zev
**Dotted circles, tulips on ivory combs signify dāntā 'ivory' rebus dhāˊtu 'ore of red colour' (Rigveda) tagaraka 'tulip' rebus tagara 'tin'**
Discovery of tin-bronzes was momentous in progressing the Bronze Age Revolution of 4th millennium BCE. This discovery created hard alloys combining copper and tin. This discovery was also complemented by the discovery of writing systems to trade in the newly-produced hard alloys.The discovery found substitute hard alloys, to overcome the scarcity of naturally occurring arsenical copper or arsenical bronzes. The early hieroglyph signifiers of tin and copper on an ivory comb made by Meluhha artisans & seafaring merchants point to the contributions made by Bhāratam Janam (RV), ca. 3300 BCE to produce tin-bronzes. The abiding significance of the 'dotted circle' is noted in the continued use on early Punch-marked coins.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/10/vajra-six-angled-hypertext-of-punch.html Vajra षट्--कोण 'six-angled' hypertext of Punch-marked coins khambhaṛā 'fish-fin' rebus: kammaṭa 'mint'.
A hypertext is orthographed with three arrows emanating from the dotted circle and three ‘twists’ emanating from the dotted circle, thus signifying six-armed semantic extensions. baṭa ‘six’ rebus:baṭa 'iron' bhaṭa ‘furnce’. kaṇḍa ‘arrow’ rebus: khaṇḍa ‘implements’ मेढा mēḍhā ‘twist’ rebus: meḍ ‘iron’ med ‘copper’ (Slavic languages) medha ‘yajna, dhanam’.

This comb discovered in Tell Abraq (ca. 2200 BCE) has two Harappa Script hieroglyphs: 1. dotted circles; and 2. tabernae montana 'mountain tulip' Rebus readings: 1.Hieroglyph: dotted circles: dāntā 'ivory' rebus dhāˊtu 'ore of red colour' 2. Hieroglyph: tagaraka 'tabernae montana, mountain tulip' rebus: tagara 'tin'. Thus, two mineral ores are signified by the two hieroglyphs: ferrite, copper ores and tin ore (cassiterite).

h1522 Potsherd ca. 3300 BCE (from Indus Writing Corpora) Note: The first known examples of writing may have been unearthed at an archaeological dig in Harappa, Pakistan. So-called 'plant-like' and 'trident-shaped' markings have been found on fragments of pottery dating back 5500 years. According to Dr Richard Meadow of Harvard University, the director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project, these primitive inscriptions found on pottery may pre-date all other known writing. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/334517.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/334517.stm
A rebus reading of the hieroglyph is: tagaraka, tabernae montana. Rebus:
tagara ‘tin’ (Kannada); tamara id. (Skt.) Allograph: ṭagara ‘ram’. Since tagaraka
is used as an aromatic unguent for the hair, fragrance, the glyph gets depicted on a stone flask, an ivory comb and axe of Tell Abraq.

A soft-stone flask, 6 cm. tall, from Bactria (northern Afghanistan) showing a winged female deity (?) flanked by two flowers similar to those shown on the comb from Tell Abraq.(After Pottier, M.H., 1984, Materiel funeraire e la Bactriane meridionale de l'Age du Bronze, Paris, Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations: plate 20.150). Ivory comb with Mountain Tulip motif and dotted circles. TA 1649 Tell Abraq.(D.T. Potts, South and Central Asian elements at Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, United Arab Emirates), c. 2200 BCE—CE 400, in Asko Parpola and Petteri Koskikallio, South Asian Archaeology 1993: , pp. 615-666).

Tell Abraq axe with epigraph (‘tulip’ glyph + a person raising his arm above his shoulder and wielding a tool + dotted circles on body) [After Fig. 7 Holly Pittman, 1984, Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 29-30].

tabar = a broad axe (Punjabi). Rebus: tam(b)ra ‘copper’ tagara ‘tabernae montana’, ‘tulip’. Rebus: tagara ‘tin’.

Glyph: eṛaka ‘upraised arm’ (Tamil); rebus: eraka = copper (Kannada) erako 'molten cast'(Tulu)
Image result for Tell abraq

Found in a tomb in Tell Abraq
http://www.abc.es/cultura/arte/abci-ciudad-mitica-hallada-desierto-201604182034_noticia.html

Ivory comb (Archaeological Collection. Ministry of Heritage and Culture Muscat 2009: 30) Ras al-Jinz, Building I, Room 1 Ivory 2400 BCE Among the luxury imported objects discovered in Ras al-Jinz, along the Omani coast, there is this beautiful comb made of elephant ivory. As well as pots, beads and a copper stamp seal, the comb comes from Harappa, one of the main sites of the Indus civilization. It represents a clear proof of the relations between Oman and the Indus Valley during the 3rd Millennium BC. A similar but fragmentary object has been discover at Tell Abraq. (AP)
http://ancientoman.cfs.unipi.it/index.php?id=399
Findings from Salut, Oman strongly corroborate the evidence of an intense interaction between the local communities and the greater Indus Valley. kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' sal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop'. Thus, smithy workshop. dāntā 'tooth, tusk' rebus: dhāˊtu 'ore of red colour' (ferrite ores, copper ores). ranku 'liquid measure' rebus: ranku 'tin'. ti 'ox' rebus: bharata 'alloy of pewter, copper, tin'.

This seal, dated to the last centuries of the 3rd millennium, is one of them. Although made from local chlorite, its shape, iconography, and the presence of a line of Harappan script, clearly indicate that the seal was inspired by Indus examples, if not made itself by some engraver of Indian origin.

Trading place. Arabia was perfectly positioned to be the linchpin of trade among the world’s first great civilizations. Locations of Tell Abraq and R'as al Jinz

http://www.andrewlawler.com/a-forgotten-corridor-rediscovered/

Ras al-Jinz, distribution of bitumen and imported objects in Building I and II (Cleuziou S., Tosi M., In the shadow of the Ancestors, Muscat 2007: 237, fig. 253)

தந்தம்¹ tantam , n. < danta. 1. Tooth; பல். (திவா.) 2. Tusk, as of elephant; யானை முதலியவற்றின் கொம்பு. காழுற்ற தந்த மின்ன (கந்தபு. தெய்வயா. 105).

dantín ʻ tusked ʼ MaitrS., m. ʻ elephant ʼ MBh. [dánta -- ] Pk. daṁti -- m. ʻ elephant ʼ; S. ḍ̠andyo m. ʻ a species of fish ʼ; WPah.jaun. dãdiau ʻ harrow ʼ < dãdi hau, (< halá -- ); Ku. danīṛo m. ʻ harrow ʼ; N. dã̄deʻ toothed ʼ sb. ʻ harrow ʼ; A. dãtīyā ʻ having new teeth in place of the first ʼ, dã̄tinī ʻ woman with projecting teeth ʼ; Or. dāntiā ʻ toothed ʼ; H. dã̄tī f. ʻ harrow ʼ; G. dã̄tiyɔ m. ʻ semicircular comb ʼ, dãtiyɔ m. ʻ harrow ʼ.(CDIAL 6163) *dantāla ʻ toothed ʼ. [dánta -- ] Pk. daṁtāla -- m., °lī -- f. ʻ grass -- cutting instrument ʼ; S. ḍ̠andārī f. ʻ rake ʼ, L. (Ju.) ḍ̠ãdāl m., °lī f.; Ku. danyālo m. ʻ harrow ʼ, gng. danyāw (y fromdanīṛo < dantín -- ); N. dãtār ʻ tusked ʼ (← a Bi. form); A. dãtāl adj. ʻ tusked ʼ, sb. ʻ spade ʼ; B. dã̄tāl ʻ toothed ʼ; G. dãtāḷ n., °ḷī f. ʻ harrow ʼ; M. dã̄tāḷʻ having projecting teeth ʼ, dã̄tāḷ, °ḷē, dãtāḷ n. ʻ harrow, rake ʼ.Addenda: *dantāla -- : Garh. dãdāḷu ʻ forked implement ʼ, Brj. dãtāl, dãtāro ʻ toothed ʼ, m. ʻ elephant ʼ.(CDIAL 6160) dantaka (a) ʻ *having teeth ʼ. (b) in cmpd. ʻ tooth ʼ TS. (c) m. ʻ projection on a rock ʼ lex. [dánta -- ] (a) K. dondu ʻ tusked ʼ; Or. dāntā ʻ having teeth ʼ; G. dã̄tɔ m. ʻ a kind of rake or harrow ʼ. -- (b) Pa. dantaka<-> m. ʻ ivory pin ʼ; S. ḍ̠ando m. ʻ tooth of an instrument ʼ; L. ḍandā m. ʻ tooth (of rake &c.) ʼ, dandī f. ʻ milk -- tooth ʼ; Or. dāntī ʻ toothlike projection ʼ; H. dã̄tā m. ʻ large tooth, tooth (of comb &c.) ʼ, dã̄tī f. ʻ tooth, cog ʼ; G. dã̄tɔ ʻ cog ʼ, dã̄tī f. ʻ wedge between the teeth of a comb ʼ; M. dã̄tā ʻ tooth (of rake &c.), cog ʼ; Si. dätta, st. däti<-> ʻ tooth (of a saw) ʼ. -- (c) L. dandī f. ʻ cliff ʼ; N. dã̄ti ʻ edge of a hole used in a game ʼ; A. dã̄ti ʻ edge ʼ; -- ext. -- r -- : L.awāṇ. dandrī ʻ edge ʼ, A. dã̄tri ʻ edge of platform ʼ. <-> S. ḍ̠andi f. ʻ selvage of a web ʼ, L. dand f. ʻ precipice ʼ < *dantī -- ? (CDIAL 6153) dánta m. ʻ tooth ʼ RV. [dánt -- RV.] Pa. danta -- m. ʻ tooth, tusk ʼ; Pk. daṁta -- m. ʻ tooth, part of a mountain ʼ; Gy. eur. dand m. ʻ tooth ʼ, pal. dṓndă, Ash. dō˘nt, Kt. dut, Wg. dō̃t, dū̃t, Pr.letum, lätəm, 'ätəm ʻ my (?) tooth ʼ, Dm. dan, Tir. d*lndə, Paš. lauṛ. dan(d), uzb. dōn, Niṅg. daṅ, Shum. dandem ʻ my tooth ʼ, Woṭ. dan m., Gaw. dant, Kal.urt. d*ln, rumb. dh*lndōŕy*lk (lit. ʻ front and back teeth ʼ? -- see *dāṁṣṭra -- ); Kho. don, Bshk. d*lndə, Tor. d*ln, Kand. dɔdi, Mai. dān, Sv. dānd, Phal. dān, pl. dānda, Sh.gil. do̯n, pl. dōnye̯ m. (→ Ḍ. don m.), pales. d*ln, jij. dɔn, K. dand m., rām. pog. ḍoḍ. dant, S. ḍ̠andu m.; L. dand, mult. ḍand, (Ju.) ḍ̠ãd m., khet. dant ʻ tooth ʼ, (Shahpur) dãd f. ʻ cliff, precipice ʼ; P. dand m. ʻ tooth, ʼ WPah.bhad. bhal. paṅ. cur. dant, cam. dand, pāḍ. dann, Ku. N. dã̄t (< *dã̄d in N. dã̄de ʻ harrow, a kind of grass ʼ), A. B. dã̄t, Or. dānta, Mth. Bhoj. Aw.lakh. H. Marw. G. M. dã̄t m., Ko. dāntu, Si. data. -- Ext. --ḍa -- : Dm. dandə́ŕi, dánduri ʻ horse's bit ʼ, Phal. dándaṛi. --

Addenda: dánta -- : S.kcch. ḍandh m.pl. ʻ teeth ʼ; WPah.kṭg. (kc.) dānd m., J. dã̄d m., Garh. dã̄t, Md. dat.(CDIAL 6152)

Rebus: 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. ḍhāuʻ 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)

Ivory rod, ivory plaques with dotted circles. Mohenjo-daro (Musee National De Arts Asiatiques, Guimet, 1988-1989, , Les cites oubliees de l’Indus Archeologie du Pakistan.] dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'. dATu 'cross' rebus: dhatu 'mineral'. Thus, the message signified by dotted circles and X hieroglyph refers to dhā̆vaḍ priest of 'iron-smelters'. The aquatic duck shown atop an ivory rod is: karaṇḍa 'duck' (Sanskrit) karaṛa 'a very large aquatic bird' (Sindhi) Rebus: करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi) Thus, the metalworker (smelter) works with hard alloys (using carburization process). Three dotted circles: kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'. Thus working with minerals and hard alloys for smithy, forge.

m1651 Ivory stick A, D, F

Hypertext 2947 Dotted circle hieroglyphs at the ends of the rod: dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'.(smelter) dATu 'cross' rebus: dhatu 'mineral'. Fish-fin: ayo, aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal' PLUS khambhaṛā ʻfinʼ rebus: kammaTa 'mint, coiner, coinage'.muh 'ingot' PLUS khANDA 'notch' rebus: kaNDa 'implements' (Thus, ingot implements) koḍa 'sluice'; Rebus: koḍ 'artisan's workshop (Kuwi) karNaka, kanka 'rim of jar' rebus: karNI 'Supercargo' karNaka 'scribe, account' khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (G.). thus the message is: Working with dhatu (minerals), mint (coiner), ingot implements workshop, Supercargo (scribe, account), Turner (alloys) of metal, Smelter.

m1653 ivory plaque

Hypertext 1905 bhaṭa 'warrior' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace' kuṭila 'bent' CDIAL 3230) Rebus:kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin).Thus, a bronze furnace worker.

Ivory inscription

m1654 Ivory cube with dotted circles Dotted circle hieroglyphs on each side of the cube (one dotted circle surrounded by 7 dotted circles): dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'.(smelter).
Ivory inscription

Ivory is also used to record an inscription in Harappa:

h101 Ivory stick Hypertext 4561 dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore'.(smelter) koDa 'one' rebus: koD 'workshop' khANDA 'notch' rebus: kaNDa 'implements'. Thus, Smelter (ores) and implements workshop.

Fillets with Indus script hieroglyphs of dotted circles, lathe, brazier signify पोतृ purifier priest of kole.l 'smithy, temple'

http://tinyurl.com/nacgzus

Indus Script Corpora are sangara 'proclamations'. This is signified by sangada 'hieroglyph-multiplex of lathe and brazier.' The proclamation is also recorded on a gold fillet of Mohenjodaro which most likely was worn on the forehead of a leader of the guild, community of metalworkers. This decipherment is consistent with the trefoil and dotted circle fillet which adorn the statue of a Potr, purifier in kole.l'smithy, temple'. The dotted circles also adorn the 'standard device' of lathe and brazier hieroglyph-multiplex. This decipherment is also a determinative of Indus Script Corpora as catalogus catalogorum of metalwork.

Dotted circles are used on head-bands or fillets to signify priests of Mohenjo-daro.

Standard device is a hieroglyph-multiplex composed of lathe, brazier and dotted circles signified on gold fillets of the civilization to signify sãgaḍ rebus: sangara 'proclamation'. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/set-theory-venn-diagram-set.html

What do the headbands or fillets on artefacts, say, of statues of eminent persons, signify? paṭṭa is a badge of distinction. The wearer of the badge is recognized as a guide. It is an appellation of dignity, of high office in a community. Hence, the priests, purifiers, Potr̥, पोतृ, are identified by the paṭṭa 'badge' or fillet. Potr̥, पोतृ, are signified by trefoils: kolom 'three' Rebus: kolimi 'smithy,forge' PLUS Dotted circle khaṇḍa ‘A piece, bit, fragment, portion’; kandi ‘bead’ Rebus: khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’; kanda 'fire-altar'. pot ʻ glass bead ʼ (Bengali) Rebus: पोतृ [p= 650,1] प्/ओतृ or पोतृ, m. " Purifier " , N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman ; = यज्ञस्य शोधयिट्रि Sa1y. ) RV. Br. S3rS. Hariv. Rebus: போற்றி pōṟṟi, < id. n. 1. Praise, applause, commendation; புகழ்மொழி. (W.) 2.Brahman temple-priest of Malabar; கோயிற் பூசைசெய்யும் மலையாளநாட்டுப் பிராமணன். (W.) 3. See போத்தி, 1.--int. Exclamation of praise; துதிச்சொல்வகை. பொய்தீர் காட்சிப் புரையோய் போற்றி (சிலப். 13, 92).போத்தி pōtti, n. < போற்றி. 1. Grandfather; பாட்டன். Tinn. 2.Brahman temple- priest in Malabar; மலையாளத்திலுள்ள கோயிலருச் சகன்.

sangada 'lathe' PLUS 'portable furnace' PLUS dotted circles are hieroglyph-multiplexes shown on gold fillets.

Gold fillet. Punctuated design on both ends. Mohenjodaro. http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/mohenjodaro/gold-fillet.html

http://www.harappa.com/indus/79.html

Straight and curved gold fillet. Mohenjodaro (Kenoyer)

Male head (back and side) Mohenjodaro http://www.harappa.com/indus/40.html

Male head probably broken from a seated sculpture. Finely braided or wavy combed hair tied into a double bun on the back of the head and a plain fillet or headband with two hanging ribbons falling down the back (40).

The upper lip is shaved and a closely cropped and combed beard lines the pronounced lower jaw. The stylized almond shaped eyes are framed by long eyebrows. The wide mouth is very similar to that on the "Priest-King" sculpture. Stylized ears are made of a double curve with a central knob.

Material: sandstone

Dimensions: 13.5 cm height

Mohenjo-daro, DK-B 1057

Mohenjo-daro Museum, MM 431

Dales 1985: pl. IIb; Ardeleanu-Jansen 1984: 139-157

Focus on the center-piece: brazier PLUS eye PLUS eyelid PLUS horns of markhor: Pe. kaṇga (pl. -ŋ, kaṇku) eye. Rebus: kanga ' large portable brazier, fire-place' (Kashmiri).Rebus: large furnace, fireplace: 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). kan:gar `portable furnace' (Kashmiri)

Pe. kaṇga (pl. -ŋ, kaṇku) eye. Rebus: kanga ' large portable brazier

पात [ pāta ],पातें [ pātēṃ ] n (पातं) An eyelid.(Marathi)

पात [ pāta ],पातें [ pātēṃ ] n A blade (of a weapon or a tool). (Marathi)

mē̃ḍh 'antelope, ram'; rebus: mē̃ḍ 'iron' (Mu.)

baṭa = quail (Santali) Rebus: baṭa = furnace, kiln (Santali) bhrāṣṭra = furnace (Skt.) baṭa = a kind of iron (G.) bhaṭa ‘furnace’ (Gujarati)

rāngo ‘water buffalo bull’ (Ku.N.)(CDIAL 10559) Rebus: rango ‘pewter’. ranga, rang pewter is an alloy of tin, lead, and antimony (anjana) (Santali).

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/indus-script-hieroglyph-multiplex.html?view=mosaic

पाती [ pātī ] f A share of some joint concern. Ex. ह्या सावकारींत चौघांची पाती आहे. 2 A slip of solder or of leaf-metal; a slip or bar (of iron &c.) 3 The cross piece or bar of a फरा over which the strickle moves. 4 A short slip of bamboo, over which is wound the जानवें &c. 5 A pinnate or long-shaped leaf (as of the sugarcane, cocoanut-palm, onion-plant, certain grasses &c.)(Marathi)

पांती [ pāntī ] f (Or पाती) A share of some joint concern.पातीदार or पांतीदार [ pātīdāra or pāntīdāra ] c An associate in some joint or common concern, a partner.(Marathi)

पट्टापट्टी (p. 484) [ paṭṭāpaṭṭī ] f (पट्टा by redup.) Drawing of stripes or lines, as with ashes, over the body.पट्टी (p. 484) [ paṭṭī ] f (S) A strip, slip, shred; a narrow and long piece (of cloth, metal, wood &c.) 2 A slip (of ground or land.) 3 A clamp. 4 A roll or list of a general collection, as by Government from a village; of a general contribution for a charitable or other purpose; of an assessment, amercement, or exaction in general. Note. The idea of Roll or list being dropped, पट्टी comes to signify simply Cess or tax (the subject-matter of the roll); and, with the designating noun prefixed, forms compounds quite numberless. The examples subjoined therefore, and the few instances occurring in marginal order, are as specimens only; but they will be accepted as ample:--खारी- पट्टी Cess to defray the expenses of a jaunt or an excursion of the Raja or other grandee; पालखी- पट्टी Exaction, for a service, of the pálkhís of the people; गोसावीपट्टी Cess to meet the wants of a swarm of Gosávís arrived at a village;खुशालपट्टी Cess to defray the expenses of some festal occasion (as the birth of a son &c.); लग्नपट्टी Cess to pay a marriage; केरपट्टी Cess to pay the sweepers entertained for a village, or for an occasion; कोंबडी- पट्टी Exaction of fowls or a fowl; black mail; घर- पट्टी, झाडपट्टी, म्हैसपट्टी Tax upon houses, trees, buffaloes &c. &c. 5 The paper containing the list of a general assessment or collection or contribution. 6 A fold, plait, ply, ruffle (as of a turban &c.) 7 A roll (of the betel-leaf &c.) 8 A division of a village; a part, a quarter, a region. 9 The front-portion of a side of the hair of women as combed smoothly towards the two sides and divided by a line in the middle. 10 The flowered or ornamental edge (of a garment or cloth), the border. 11 A string of flowers. See under तुरा. 12 A line or row (of the doctors and literati) in a सभा, as assembled to chant the Veda &c.: also a row of Bráhmans at a meal. 13 With पट्टी, in a humorously figurative application of the fourth sense, very numerous compounds occur, all bearing the general import of Vehement vituperation or scolding. See खडसपट्टी, खरडपट्टी, झाडपट्टी, भोसडपट्टी, फोदलपट्टी, धूळपट्टी, उधळपट्टी, भादरपट्टी, झवरपट्टी, घसरपट्टी. पट्टी काढणेंg. of o. To take the conceit out of. पट्टी चालली or लागली The general impost or the general contribution is under collection, is proceeding. पट्टी फाडणें orतासणें To draw up a list of names, attaching to each the sum to be demanded. पट्ट्या देणें To pack off or turn out.

पट्टीचा वैदिक (p. 484) [ paṭṭīcā vaidika ] m A वैदिक or doctor of the Vedas worthy to sit in the पट्टी (assembly or line of the learned). Hence a term for a skilful disputant, or a scholar, savant, or erudite person gen.
पट्टींतला (p. 484) [ paṭṭīntalā ] a Competent to sit in the पट्टी or row of Bráhmans to read the Vedas. Hence Competent, capable, proficient, smart gen.;--used of कारकून -कारभारी -गाणार -वाजंत्री -कथेकरी -सोदा- शिंदळ -लबाड &c.पट्टीपासोडी (p. 484) [ paṭṭīpāsōḍī ] f (पट्टी & पासोडी as an alliterative reduplication or term of amplification.) A general assessment, amercement, or collection of other kind.

पट [ paṭa ] m f (पट्ट S) A chequered board or cloth (to play at chess, songṭyá &c.) 2 A roll, list, catalogue (as of names): a roll, record, chronicle: a writing registering particulars or exhibiting the rule and practice; a table or a schedule: also, as संक्रांतिपट, ग्रहणपट, लग्नपट, मुहूर्त्तपट, a paper detailing (with astrological reference) the points and items connected with the sun's passage through the signs; with eclipses, auspicious periods and conjunctions &c.: also a string of pictures pasted one to another. 3 S Cloth. 4 n A fold (of a door or window-shutter). 5 A confederate or banded body.

पट्टा [ paṭṭā ] m ( H) A kind of sword. It is long, two-edged, and has a hilt protecting the whole fore arm. Applied also to a wooden sword for practice and sports. 2 A stripe, streak, line. 3 A slip or long piece of ground. 4 A strip (as of lace or cloth, of border or edging). 5 A cincture (of silver or gold) for the waist: also a zone, girdle, or belt more generally. 6 A deed of lease or tenure. पट्टा ओढणें-घालणें-पाडणें (To draw a stripe.) To draw the razor rudely along the head (in head-tonsure). Hence, generally, (कामाचा पट्टा ओढणें &c.) To perform rudely or roughly: also (i.e. to draw the lines indicative of commencement) to make a rude or rough beginning. पट्ट्याचा हात फिरविणें To brandish the पट्टा.

நெற்றிப்பட்டம் neṟṟi-p-paṭṭam, n. < id. +. Thin plate of metal worn on the forehead, as an ornament or badge of distinction; நுதலி லணியும் பட்டம். (W.)

பட்டம்² paṭṭam, n. < paṭṭa. 1. Plate of gold worn on the forehead, as an ornament or badge of distinction; சிறப்புக்கு அறிகுறியாக நெற்றி யிலணியும் பொற்றகடு. பட்டமுங் குழையு மின்ன (சீவக. 472). 2. An ornament worn on the forehead by women; மாதர் நுதலணி. பட்டங் கட்டிப்பொற்றோடு பெய்து (திவ். பெரியாழ். 3, 7, 6). 3. Title, appellation of dignity, title of office; பட்டப்பெயர். பட்டமும் பசும்பொற் பூணும் பரந்து (சீவக. 112). 4. Regency; reign; ஆட்சி. 5. Fasteners, metal clasp; சட்டங்களை இணைக்க உதவும் தகடு. ஆணிகளும் பட்டங்களுமாகிய பரிய இரும்பாலேகட்டி (நெடுநல். 80, உரை). High position; உயர் பதவி. (பிங்.)

பட்டை² paṭṭai

, n. < paṭṭa. [T. K. paṭṭe, M. paṭṭam.] 1. Plate, slab, tablet; தகடு. 2. Flatness; தட்டையான தன்மை. 3. Lace-border; சரிகைப்பட்டை. 4. Painted stripe, as on a temple wall; பட்டைக்கோடு. 5. Dapple, piebald colour;

தட்டார்பாட்டம் taṭṭār-pāṭṭam

, n. < தட் டான்¹ +. Profession tax on goldsmiths; தட்டார் இறுக்கும் அரசிறைவகை. (S. I. I. ii, 117.)

3878 Ta. paṭṭai flatness; paṭṭam flat or level surface of anything, flat piece (as of bamboo). Ko. paṭ flatness (of piece of iron, of head); paṭm (obl.paṭt-) ground for house. To. poṭ site of dairy or house. ? Koḍ. paṭṭi space before house, spreading space; maṇa-paṭṭi sandbank. Nk. paṛ place. Pa.paḍ place, site. Pe. paṭ kapṛa top of the head. Manḍ. paṭ kapṛa id. Malt. paṭa numeral classifier of flat objects.

3865 Ta. paṭṭaṭai, paṭṭaṟai anvil, smithy, forge. Ka. paṭṭaḍe, paṭṭaḍi anvil, workshop. Te. paṭṭika, paṭṭeḍa anvil; paṭṭaḍa workshop

3866 Ta. paṭṭaṭai neck-ornament (< Te.). Tu. paṭṭaḍi a kind of necklace. Te. paṭṭeḍa a sort of ornament worn by women round the neck.

Image result for gold fillet mohenjodaro

http://www.harappa.com/indus/43.html Seated male sculpture, or "Priest King" from Mohenjo-daro (41, 42, 43). Fillet or ribbon headband with circular inlay ornament on the forehead and similar but smaller ornament on the right upper arm. The two ends of the fillet fall along the back and though the hair is carefully combed towards the back of the head, no bun is present. The flat back of the head may have held a separately carved bun as is traditional on the other seated figures, or it could have held a more elaborate horn and plumed headdress.

Two holes beneath the highly stylized ears suggest that a necklace or other head ornament was attached to the sculpture. The left shoulder is covered with a cloak decorated with trefoil, double circle and single circle designs that were originally filled with red pigment. Drill holes in the center of each circle indicate they were made with a specialized drill and then touched up with a chisel. Eyes are deeply incised and may have held inlay. The upper lip is shaved and a short combed beard frames the face. The large crack in the face is the result of weathering or it may be due to original firing of this object.

Material: white, low fired steatite
Dimensions: 17.5 cm height, 11 cm width
Mohenjo-daro, DK 1909
National Museum, Karachi, 50.852
Marshall 1931: 356-7, pl. XCVIII

Ardeleanu-Jansen's reconstruction of the Priest-king

(After Ardeleanu-Jansen, A., 'The sculptural art of the Harappan culture' in M Jansen et al, ed., Forgotten cities on the Indus: early cvilization in Pakistan from the 8th to the 2nd millennium BCE, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1991.)

Dholavira. Stone statue.

http://tinyurl.com/qetwb4l

Seated male figure with head missing (45, 46). On the back of the figure, the hair style can be partially reconstructed by a wide swath of hair and a braided lock of hair or ribbon hanging along the right side of the back.

A cloak is draped over the edge of the left shoulder and covers the folded legs and lower body, leaving the right shoulder and chest bare. The left arm is clasping the left knee and the hand is visible peeking out from underneath the cloak. The right hand is resting on the right knee which is folded beneath the body.

Material: limestone

Dimensions: 28 cm height, 22 cm width

Mohenjo-daro, L 950

Islamabad Museum

Marshall 1931:358-9, pl. C, 1-3 http://www.harappa.com/indus/46.html

Harappan male ornament styles. After Fig.6.7 in Kenoyer, JM, 1991, Ornament styles of the Indus valley tradition: evidence from recent excavations at Harappa, Pakistan in: Paleorient, vol. 17/2 -1991, p.93 Source: Marshall, 1931: Pl. CXVIII
http://a.harappa.com/sites/g/files/g65461/f/Kenoyer1992_Ornament%20Styles%20of%20the%20Indus%20Valley%20Tradition%20Ev.pdf

Clearly, the wearing a fillet on the shoulder and wearing a dress with trefoil hieroglyphs made the figure of some significance to the community.

"Inlaid bead. No. 53 (L445). (See also Pl. CLII,17) Steatite. An exceptionally fine bead. The interiors of the trefoils were probably filled in with either paste or colour. The former is the more probable, for in the base of each foil there is a small pitting that may been used for keying a coloured paste. The depth of the cutting is 0.05 inch. Level, 3 feet below surface. late Period. Found in Chamber 27, Block 4, L Area. The most interesting of these beads are those with the trefoil pattern, which also occurs on the robe worn by the statue pictured in Pl. XCVIII. The trefoils on both the beads and statue are irregular in shape and in this respect differ from the pattern as we ordinarily know it. (For another example of this ornamentation, see the bull illustrated in Jastrow, Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria, pl. liii, and the Sumerian bull from Warka shown in Evans, Palace of Minos, vol. ii, pt. 1, p.261, fig. 156. Sir Arthus Evans has justly compared the trefoil markings on this latter bull with the quatrefoil markings of Minoan 'rytons', and also with the star-crosses on Hathor's cow. Ibid., vol. i, p.513. Again, the same trefoil motif is perhaps represented on a painted sherd from Tchechme-Ali in the environs of Teheran. Mem. Del. en Perse, t.XX, p. 118, fig. 6)."(John Marshall, opcit., p.517)

Trefoil Decorated bead. Pl. CXLVI, 53 (Marshall, opcit.)

Hieroglyph-multiplex of dotted circles as 'beads': kandi 'bead' Rebus: kanda 'fire-altar' khaNDa 'metal implements'

Trefoil Hieroglyph-multiplex as three dotted circles: kolom 'three' Rebus: kole.l kanda 'temple fire-altar'

(After Fig. 18.10 Parpola, 2015, p. 232) (a) Neo-Sumerian steatite bowl from Ur (U.239), bearing symbols of the sun, the moon (crucible), stars and trefoils (b) Fragmentary steatite statuette from Mohenjo-daro. After Ardeleanu-Jansen 1989-205, fig. 19 and 196, fig. 1

A finely polished pedestal. Dark red stone. Trefoils. (DK 4480, cf. Mackay 1938: I, 412 and II, pl. 107.35). National Museum, Karachi.

Hieroglyph: kolmo 'three' Rebus: kolimi 'smithy'; kolle

'blacksmith'; kole.l 'smithy, temple' (Kota)

Trefoils painted on steatite beads, Harappa (After Vats, Pl. CXXXIII, Fig.2)

Late Harappan Period dish or lid with perforation at edge for hanging or attaching to large jar. It shows a Blackbuck antelope with trefoil design made of combined circle-and-dot motifs, possibly representing stars. It is associated with burial pottery of the Cemetery H period, dating after 1900 BC. Credit Harappa.com

Hieroglyph markhor, ram: mēṇḍha2 m. ʻ ram ʼ, °aka -- , mēṇḍa -- 4, miṇḍha -- 2, °aka -- , mēṭha -- 2, mēṇḍhra -- , mēḍhra -- 2, °aka -- m. lex. 2. *mēṇṭha- (mēṭha -- m. lex.). 3. *mējjha -- . [r -- forms (which are not attested in NIA.) are due to further sanskritization of a loan -- word prob. of Austro -- as. origin (EWA ii 682 with lit.) and perh. related to the group s.v. bhēḍra -- ]1. Pa. meṇḍa -- m. ʻ ram ʼ, °aka -- ʻ made of a ram's horn (e.g. a bow) ʼ; Pk. meḍḍha -- , meṁḍha -- (°ḍhī -- f.), °ṁḍa -- , miṁḍha -- (°dhiā -- f.), °aga -- m. ʻ ram ʼ, Dm. Gaw. miṇ Kal.rumb. amŕn/aŕə ʻ sheep ʼ (a -- ?); Bshk. mināˊl ʻ ram ʼ; Tor. miṇḍ ʻ ram ʼ, miṇḍāˊl ʻ markhor ʼ; Chil. mindh*ll ʻ ram ʼ AO xviii 244 (dh!), Sv. yēṛo -- miṇ; Phal. miṇḍ, miṇ ʻ ram ʼ, miṇḍṓl m. ʻ yearling lamb, gimmer ʼ; P. mẽḍhā m.,°ḍhī f., ludh. mīḍḍhā, mī˜ḍhā m.; N. meṛho, meṛo ʻ ram for sacrifice ʼ; A. mersāg ʻ ram ʼ ( -- sāg < *chāgya -- ?), B. meṛā m., °ṛi f., Or. meṇḍhā, °ḍā m., °ḍhi f., H. meṛh, meṛhā, mẽḍhā m., G. mẽḍhɔ, M.mẽḍhā m., Si. mäḍayā.2. Pk. meṁṭhī -- f. ʻ sheep ʼ; H. meṭhā m. ʻ ram ʼ.3. H. mejhukā m. ʻ ram ʼ.A. also mer (phonet. mer) ʻ ram ʼ (CDIAL 10310). Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Munda.Ho.)

Trefoil inlay decorated on a bull calf. Uruk (W.16017) ca. 3000 BCE. kõdā 'young bull calf' Rebus: kõdā 'turner-joiner' (forge),

damkom = a bull calf (Santali) Rebus: damha = a fireplace; dumhe = to heap, to collect together (Santali)

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/rearming-bharatam-janam-with-literary.html

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Read on https://tinyurl.com/y8fed8xd

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ISRO's findings should put at rest pseudo-liberal historians'& MSM claims of the Sarasvati River being a 'myth' -- Mlessp

January 8, 2018, 12:50 am

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ISRO’s findings should put an end to the myth of the Saraswati river being a ‘myth’

Bymlessp

Posted onJanuary 7, 2018

There have been concerted efforts in mainstream media to deny the existence, or even a possibility of the existence of the Saraswati river. The zeal to label Saraswati river as a mythical river has been on top of the agenda of leftists and Marxist historians of India.

The river Saraswati is called naditama (most sacred river in Sanskrit) in the Rig Veda. The Saraswati river is mentioned some fifty times in the hymns of the Rig Veda. It is closely related to the ancient Rig Vedic society and Hinduism. Calling it mythical, in their opinion, would considerably hit the credibility of Vedic texts which are still a part of Hindu faith.

On 5th January 2018, Scroll.in reported the formation of a permanent panel to study the mythical Saraswati river. The concluding paragraph of the article, as usual, casts aspersions on the existence of the river itself.

This has been the subject of a great deal of debate for decades. While some Hindu groups and historians believe the “lost river” once flowed through the region that is now Haryana, other historians say the Vedas themselves have not been validated, and therefore, the river only exists in myth.

Death of Rivers in Recent Past : An Example From Canada

Before going in to the answer given by ISRO to Parliament, we need to answer a simple question : can rivers be lost? Are there any recent examples of dead rivers? The answer is yes. In April 2017 a river named ‘Slims’ in Canada, disappeared due to a receding glacier. The report by The Guardian on the same incident gave a map of the change in direction. The phenomenon observed in this case is called river piracy or stream capture .

If rivers can disappear in 2017, why can’t the same phenomenon have occurred in the Vedic age ?

Map describing change of Slims river’s course (Source :The Guardian )

Answer to the Parliament Question on Saraswati River by ISRO
An unstarred question was asked by Harish Chaudhary in Lok Sabha about Saraswati River. Since ISRO functions directly under PMO, the answer was addressed to the Prime Minister. The answer to it is available on the ISRO website at this link. So, here is a in toto reproduction of the question asked and the answer given by ISRO (emphasis added) .

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
DEPARTMENT OF SPACE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3722
TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2013
MYTHICAL SARASWATI RIVER
3722. SHRI HARISH CHAUDHARY:
Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has made efforts to trace the origin of Saraswati river and has also constituted a committee for this purpose;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether satellite images are of any help in this regard;
(d) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY):
(a) Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has studied the palaeochannels in North West India and related them to the channels of River Saraswati. ISRO has not constituted any committee for this purpose.
(b) An integrated palaeochannel map of River Saraswati has been prepared from the origin in Himalayas to Rann of Kutchch. The origin of the mapped course of the River Saraswati palaeochannel in North West India was linked to Himalayan perennial source through Sutlej and Yamuna Rivers.
(c) Yes, Madam.
(d) The work on delineation of entire course of river ‘Saraswati’ in North West India was carried out using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data along with digital elevation model. Satellite images are multi spectral, multitemporal and have advantages of synoptic view, which are useful to detect palaeochannels. The palaeochannels are validated using historical maps, archaeological sites, hydro-geological and drilling data. It was observed that major Harappan sites of Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) lie along the River Saraswati.

This evidence suggests that the Harappan civilisation could have ended due to the death of Saraswati river. The people who lived in those cities might have moved eastwards to the Gangetic plains after the death of Saraswati river. None of the textbooks published by CBSE give information about this possibility. Recent excavations support this theory.

The same hypothesis has been well presented in Sanjeev Sanyal’s book “The Land of Seven Rivers“ with a map, that shows the possible course of the Saraswati River. He also comments that tectonic shifts may have played a role in the shift of the river’s course. The site Dholavira (Gujarat) is located in Rann of Kutch. Surely, no civilisation could have built a city and lived there if there was no water source nearby.

Let us stop calling Saraswati a ‘Mythical’ River

Source : The Land of Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal

Whenever the discussion of Saraswati River is carried out in pseudo – secular media, there is a strong attempt to brand it as a mythical river. The evidence supporting its existence, which comes from ISRO is often hidden under the carpet. Otherwise how can they peddle the lies of a mythicalSaraswati River?

There is nothing wrong in conducting more research on Saraswati River and its link to the Harappan and Vedic cultures. Awareness about the evidence available on the ancient river is the need of the hour. For starters, we can stop calling it a mythical river and start using the phrase ‘dead-river’ when talking about Saraswati. After all, Vedic Rishis were not foolish to include the name of a mythical river in their sacred hymns.

http://www.opindia.com/2018/01/isros-findings-should-put-an-end-to-the-myth-of-the-saraswati-river-being-a-myth/

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