Hieroglyphs on Dong Son drums relate to moltencast metal and other metalwork
-- arka'sun' rebus: eraka'molten, cast as metal'; kanasi'comb'; rebus: kã̄sī 'gong'; ranku'antelope' rebus: ranku'tin';
meNDaka'frog' rebus: meD 'iron'; gaNDA'four' rebus: kanda'fire-altar'
The finds of Dong Son bronze drums in an extensive area of Southeast Asia -- extending from salween river valley in Burma to the Island of New Guina -- is evidence of the renown achieved by skilled cire perdue bronze casters of Dong Son culture.
The finds also evidence the fact that the drums were involved in maritime Trans-Asiatic trade exchanges.
Dong Son bronze drums have been found in Mekong river valley dated to ca. 4th centiry BCE.
Bronze drums called Ningdong in China are in shape comparable to the Dong Son bronze drums. See the use of the drum by a community and listen to the sound the produces in a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KHNetjx6D8 [丽哉勐僚 720HD] 01 - 宁董 - 壮族铜鼓文化 (1/2) Chinese Civilization Channel 2 HD Published on May 30, 2012
In the Island of Alor in Indonesia, comparable drums have been found in ceremonial exchanges. These drums are called Moko drums.
Moko drum.
Jared Diamond rightly notes the significance of the find in New Guinea of a Dong Son bronze drum. The find is a proof of trade connections - spanning at least the past thousand years - between this region of Red River valley of northern Vietnam and China/Java. (Diamond, Jared (1997). Guns, Germs, and Steel - The Fate of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. p. 307).
Sites of Đông Sơn type drum findings
"The discovery in the late seventeenth century of large, elaborately incised drums in mainland and island Southeast Asia first alerted Western scholars to the existence in the region of distinctive early bronze-working cultures. Ranging in height from a few inches to over six feet, up to four feet in diameter, and often of considerable weight, such drums are the most widely dispersed products of the Dongson culture. Examples produced in Vietnam, in addition to works made locally, have been found in South China, throughout mainland Southeast Asia, and in Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Irian Jaya. The function of these drums, often found in burials, remains unclear: they may have been used in warfare or as part of funerary or other ceremonial rites. According to his biography in the Hou Han Shu (History of the Later Han), Ma Yuan (14 B.C.–49 CE), the Chinese general who subdued a Vietnamese uprising in 40–43 CE, confiscated and destroyed the bronze drums of the local chieftains who were his adversaries, attesting to their political significance.
Models of the drums, produced in bronze or clay, were made to be included in burials. This small bronze example has the rounded top, curved middle, and splayed base often found in drums from Vietnam. The central loop and the four small frogs on the tympanum are characteristic features of examples produced from the third century B.C. to the first century CE. The starburst pattern in the center of the tympanum, a standard motif on Dongson drums, is surrounded by a row of linked concentric circles and crosshatching. These designs are repeated around the side of the top section and just above the base. On the center of the drum, four stylized scenes showing warriors with feathered hats, some seated in boats, some on the ground, alternate with hatched areas." http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2000.284.57
Dong Xa bronze drum, discovered at Dong Xa, Kim Dong, Hung Yen province, object of Hung Yen Museum
Dong Son Drum![]()
Focus on the 'frog' hieroglyph on a Dong Son bronze drum
Dong Son Frog Drum (7) Trống đồng tượng cóc
Rebus reading of 'four''frogs or toads' hieroglyphs:
Hieroglyph: frog: <menDaka>(A) {N} ``^frog''. *Hi.<mE~dhak>, Skt.<maNDu:kam>. #21820.<poto menDka>(Z) {N} ``^toad''. |<poto> `?'. ^frog (which lives out of water). *Loan?. #27302.<o~ia mendka>(Z),,<oJa mendka>(Z) {N} ``^bullfrog''. |<o~ia> `id.'. ??RECTE D? #24562. Rebus: meṛed-bica 'iron stone-ore' ; bali-bica, iron sand ore (Munda). mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’(Munda. Ho.) (Source: Munda etyma)
gaNDa 'four' kaNDA 'furnace, fire-altar' (Santali)
http://www.toursvietnam.net/Hue_Information/68/96
Flying Birds on Bronze Drums. "Bronze drums are one of the most important archaeological artifacts to be found in southern China and Southeast Asia. Their use by many ethnic groups in that area has lasted from pre-historic times to the present. Northern Vietnam and southwestern China (especially Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) are the two areas where the majority of bronze drums have been discovered. According to a 1988 report, China has stored about 1460 bronze drums.[11 The Provincial Museum of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region actually boasts the largest collection of Bronze drums in the world. The total number of bronze drums discovered in Vietnam reached about 360 in the 1980s, among which about 140 were Dong Son drums....The flying heron is the major motif on Shizhaishan drums (Dong Son drums). There is a long tradition of decorating drums with the motif of herons in the Central Plain. The feather drums excavated from the Chu tombs in Xinyang, Henan and Jiangling, Hubei and the Zenghouyi tomb in Suixian, Hubei are all decorated with the motif of the heron...there is clear evidence to support the idea that the motif of the flying heron on the Shizhaishan drums originated in the Chu area" ( Zhongguo Gudai Tonggu Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo gudai tonggu (The Ancient Bronze Drums of China) (Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1988), 8. Hereafter, ZGTY. According to this book, the numbers of bronze drums stored in various provinces and cities are as follows: Guangxi: 560; Guangdong: 230; Shanghai: 230; Yunnan: 160; Guizhou: 88; Beijing: 84; Sichuan:51; Hunan: 27; Shandong: 8; Hubei: 6; Zhejiang: 6; Liaoning: 4. The total number of bronze drums stored in China remained unchanged in 1995. See Shijie ribao (World Journal), "Nanfang tonggu wenhua yanjiu you chengguo" (Results have been achieved in the Study of the bronze drums of southern China), 13 January 1995, 11. For a comprehensive introduction to and list of Western archaeological works on the bronze drum see Pham Minh Huyen, Nguyen Van Huyen and Trinh Sinh, Trong Dong Son (The Dong Son Drums) (Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi, 1987), 12-14, 306-309; ZGTY, 10-12. Pham, Nguyen and Trinh, 19-21; ZGTY, 10-11) ... The most popular motifs on the early drums (Heger's first two types plus the Wanjiaba) include various species of birds and other animals, as well as boats, shining entities, and geometrical lines.http://www.vanhoahoc.vn/nghien-cuu/tai-lieu-tieng-nuoc-ngoai/vietnamese-culture/2477-han-xiaorong-the-present-echoes-of-the-ancient-bronze-drum.htmlThe motif of a long boat is another very popular decoration on the surface of the Dong Son (or Shizhaishan) drums. Usually the two ends of the boat are decorated with the head and tail of a bird. In the boat are numerous ornamented human figures.
The shining entity at the centre of the top surface is the sun consistent with the tradition of worship of the sun..
"Pham Huy Thong, who wrote the prefaces to the two special issues on bronze drums in the journal Khao Co Hoc (Archaeology) writes:
"In our process of studying the dawn of human history, namely, the age of the Hung Kings, the artifact that has gradually emerged as the most deserving symbol of the Hung Kings civilization is the bronze drum. More accurately speaking, it is the Type I drum among the four types classified by Heger in the beginning of this century.[Pham Huy Thong, "Trong Dong" (The Bronze Drum), Khao Co Hoc 13 (1974), 9.]
"In his work on bronze drums published posthumously in 1990, he declared that "the Dong son drums were cast on Vietnamese soil by the bearers of the Dong Son culture at the time of state formation. They were the handiwork of the forebears of the present-day Vietnamese, the ancient Viet state builders who were conscious of their ethnic and cultural identity."[ Phan Huy Thong, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam, 262.] According to Pham, the idea that the bronze drum was an original and typical artifact of the Dong Son culture was first brought up in the four-volume collective historical work Hung Vuong Duong Nuoc (The Founding of the State by the Hung Kings). Published between 1969 and 1971, it was to become the foundation on which all further studies of the Dong Son culture were based.[Phan Huy Thong, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam, 264.] A later book about how the Hung Kings built the Vietnamese nation has a picture of a bronze drum on its cover and lists the bronze drum as the most typical artifact of the Dong Son culture."[Cac Vua Hung da co cong dung nuoc..., Tap luan van ky niem 30 nam nhay Bac Ho den tham Den Hung: 19-9-1954--19-9-1984 (The Hung Kings have contributed to building our nation) (Vinh Phu: So Van Hoa-Thong Tin Vinh Phu, 1985), 133.]
"Wen You (Chinese archaeologist) lamented that traditional Chinese scholars before the Qing dynasty seldom paid serious attention to the bronze drum because it did not have inscriptions and was believed to have been made by "barbarians.[Fn. 74. opcit.]...(Charles Higham) hypothesized that the bronze drum was created by the specialized artisans of a cluster of increasingly complex polities that spread across the present day Sino-Vietnamese border to arm the warriors of their polities and signal the high status of their leaders. He concludes, "Seeking the origins of this trend and the associated changes in material culture in one or other particular region misses the point. Changes were taking place across much of what is now southern China and the lower Red River Valley by groups which were exchanging goods and ideas, and responding to the expansion from the north of an aggressive, powerful state...J.D.E. Schmeltz's (1896) theory about the Indian origin of the bronze drum, A.B. Meyer and W. Foy's (1897) theory about the Cambodian origin and R.Heine-Geldern's (1937) theory about the European origins of the Dong Son culture have all been criticised by both Vietnamese and Chinese scholars.[ZGTY, 10-11; Phan Huy Thong, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam,, 263-264.] In fact, this is probably the only significant common ground for scholars from the two countries about the origin of the bronze drum." (Charles Higham, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),134.) http://www.vanhoahoc.vn/nghien-cuu/tai-lieu-tieng-nuoc-ngoai/vietnamese-culture/2477-han-xiaorong-the-present-echoes-of-the-ancient-bronze-drum.html
An ancient bronze drum manufactured for centuries has been found in the plot of a resident Majiang district in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
With a diameter of 34 inches, drum measures 28 inches tall and weighs 18 kilos. Judging by the shape and the motives and characters that adorn its surface, the drum could belong to the Ming dynasty.
The drums of this type have been found mainly in southern and southwestern China, especially in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong. In ancient times, were used mainly in celebrations and ceremonies of sacrifice.
The Dong Son drum face found (January 2013) in n Can Loc district of Ha Tinh province
The design on a Dong Son drum shows a boat. A bird-looking-back is shown on the prow, the foremost part of the ship's bow that cuts through the water..A drum is also shown as part of the cargo of the boat, together with other images portraying boat people.
These are 'comb' hieroglyphs kanasi which read rebus as: kã̄sī 'gong' or kãsāḷa 'cymbals, drum(?)'..
Hieroglyph: 'comb': Kh<kana?si>(ABD) {NI} ``^comb''. |<<k[an]a'D-si>>, <ka'D> `to comb', <si> `to plow'. (Munda etyma) Kt. kṣë ʻ comb ʼ; Bashg. "kshē"ʻ wisp ʼ; Pr. uṣugú ʻ comb, scapula ʼ; Paš. lauṛ. kuẓeṭīˊ ʻ comb ʼ (?)
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http://www.gandhara.com.au/khmer3_bronze.html
Rebus: <ka:~sa>(B) {NI} ``^bronze''. #15851.(Munda etyma) kaṁsá1 m. ʻ metal cup ʼ AV., m.n. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ Pat. as in S., but would in Pa. Pk. and most NIA. lggs. collide with kāˊṁsya -- to which L. P. testify and under which the remaining forms for the metal are listed. 1. Pa. kaṁsa -- m. ʻ bronze dish ʼ; S. kañjho m. ʻ bellmetal ʼ; A. kã̄h ʻ gong ʼ; Or. kãsā ʻ big pot of bell -- metal ʼ; OMarw. kāso (= kã̄ -- ?) m. ʻ bell -- metal tray for food, food ʼ; G. kã̄sā m. pl. ʻ cymbals ʼ; -- perh. Woṭ. kasṓṭ m. ʻ metal pot ʼ Buddruss Woṭ 109.2. Pk. kaṁsiā -- f. ʻ a kind of musical instrument ʼ; A. kã̄hi ʻ bell -- metal dish ʼ; G. kã̄śī f. ʻ bell -- metal cymbal ʼ, kã̄śiyɔ m. ʻ open bellmetal pan ʼ.A. kã̄h also ʻ gong ʼ or < kāˊṁsya -- .(CDIAL 2576).
2987 kāˊṁsya ʻ made of bell -- metal ʼ KātyŚr., n. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ Yājñ., ʻ cup of bell -- metal ʼ MBh., °aka -- n. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ. 2. *kāṁsiya -- . [kaṁsá -- 1 ]1. Pa. kaṁsa -- m. (?) ʻ bronze ʼ, Pk. kaṁsa -- , kāsa -- n. ʻ bell -- metal, drinking vessel, cymbal ʼ; L. (Jukes) kã̄jā adj. ʻ of metal ʼ, awāṇ. kāsā ʻ jar ʼ (← E with -- s -- , notñj); N. kã̄so ʻ bronze, pewter, white metal ʼ, kas -- kuṭ ʻ metal alloy ʼ; A. kã̄h ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, B. kã̄sā, Or. kãsā, Bi. kã̄sā; Bhoj. kã̄s ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, kã̄sā ʻ base metal ʼ; H.kās, kã̄sā m. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, G. kã̄sũ n., M. kã̄sẽ n.; Ko. kã̄śẽ n. ʻ bronze ʼ; Si. kasa ʻ bell -- metal ʼ.2. L. kã̄ihã̄ m. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, P. kã̄ssī, kã̄sī f., H. kã̄sī f.A. kã̄h also ʻ gong ʼ, or < kaṁsá -- .(CDIAL 2987).*kāṁsyakara ʻ worker in bell -- metal ʼ. [See next: kāˊṁsya -- , kará -- 1 ]L. awāṇ. kasērā ʻ metal worker ʼ, P. kaserā m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ (both ← E with -- s -- ); N. kasero ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; Bi. H. kaserā m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ.(CDIAL 2988). kāṁsyakāra m. ʻ worker in bell -- metal or brass ʼ Yājñ. com., kaṁsakāra -- m. BrahmavP. [kāˊṁsya -- , kāra -- 1 ]N. kasār ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; A. kãhār ʻ worker in bell -- metal ʼ; B. kã̄sāri ʻ pewterer, brazier, coppersmith ʼ, Or. kãsārī; H. kasārī m. ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; G. kãsārɔ,kas° m. ʻ coppersmith ʼ; M. kã̄sār, kās° m. ʻ worker in white metal ʼ, kāsārḍā m. ʻ contemptuous term for the same ʼ.(CDIAL 2989). kāṁsyatāla m. ʻ cymbal ʼ Rājat. [kāˊṁsya -- , tāla -- 1 ]Pa. kaṁsatāla -- m. ʻ gong ʼ; Pk. kaṁsālā -- , °liyā -- f. ʻ cymbal ʼ, OB. kaśālā, Or. kãsāḷa; G. kã̄sāḷũ n. ʻ large bell -- metal cymbals ʼ with ã̄ after kã̄sũ ʻ bell -- metal ʼ; M.kã̄sāḷ f. ʻ large cymbal ʼ; -- Si. kastalaya ʻ metal gong ʼ (EGS 40) is Si. cmpd. or more prob. ← Pa.(CDIAL 2991). *kāṁsyabhāṇḍa ʻ bell -- metal pot ʼ. [kāˊṁsya -- , bhāṇḍa -- 1 ] Pa. kaṁsabhaṇḍa -- n. ʻ brass ware ʼ; M. kāsã̄ḍī, °sãḍī f. ʻ metal vessel of a partic. kind ʼ.(CDIAL 2992). This is what the Brief Treatise on An Nam had to say about Lạo Tử:
Lạo Tử is another name for savages. There are many in Huguang and Yunnan. Some serve Giao Chỉ.* There are also some who tattoo their foreheads and bore their teeth. There are quite a few different types of them. It was recorded in the past that there are Head-Shaped Lạo Tử, Red-Pants Lạo Tử and Nose-Drinking Lạo Tử.** They all live in cliff caverns or nest huts. They drink wine through reeds. They are fond of warring with enemies and they beat bronze drums. They value big ones. When a drum is first completed, they place it in a courtyard with wine and invite their fellow kind. Those who come fill [the courtyard] to the gates. The daughter of the notable takes a gold or silver hairpin and strikes the drum, after which she leaves it with the owner. Some say that the bronze drums were the gongs used by Zhuge Liang when he campaigned against the savages [in 225 CE].Le Minh Khai further adds:
*“Huguang” refers to the area of what is today Hunanand Guangxi Provinces. “Giao Chỉ” (Chn., Jiaozhi) is an old name for the Red River delta region. It is not clear how the Lạo Tử “served” (服役, phục dịch) Giao Chỉ as this term can refer to labor or military service.
**The name “Head-Shaped Lạo Tử” (頭形獠子, Đầu Hình Lạo Tử) is likely a mistake for the name “Flying-Head Lạo Tử” (飛頭獠子, Phi Đầu Lạo Tử). That at least is how a certain type of Lạo Tử was referred to in Chinese sources, and all of these other names are the same as names of Lạo Tử that are mentioned in Chinese sources.
This is from Lê Tắc 黎崱, An Nam chí lược 安南志略 [Brief treatise on An Nam], (Siku quanshu ed., orig. comp., 1333) 1/20a. The Vietnamese translation below is based on a slightly different version of this text which says that “most of them know how to use crossbows and beat bronze drums” where the above text has “they are fond of warring with enemies and they beat bronze drums.”
Citing Lê Tắc’s fourteenth-century Brief Treatise on An Nam (An Nam chí lược). Le Minh Khai writes in his history blog: “Lạo Tử” (獠子). This term refers to a type of people who at that time lived in an area stretching from what is today southwestern China through parts of northwestern Vietnam and eastern Laos...This first character can be pronounced Liêu in Vietnamese and Liao in Chinese. However, when referring to these peoples who inhabited an area from southwestern China into the Vietnam-Laos border regions, this character is usually pronounced Lạo/Lao. While it would be tempting to call these people “Lao,” in actuality this term probably referred to various peoples, from Lao to Black Tai to even some speakers of languages that were not part of the Tai language family....(In this treatise) Lạo Tử were “savages” who lived in areas stretching from modern Hunan Province to northern Vietnam. Lê Tắc describes some of their characteristics, and then says the following about them: “They are fond of warring with enemies and they beat bronze drums. They value big ones. When a drum is first completed, they place it in a courtyard with wine and invite their fellow kind. Those who come fill [the courtyard] to the gates. The daughter of the notable takes a gold or silver hairpin and strikes the drum, after which she leaves it with the owner.”"
https://leminhkhai.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/l%E1%BA%A1o-t%E1%BB%AD-in-giao-ch%E1%BB%89/
https://leminhkhai.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/what-do-dong-son-bronze-drums-have-to-do-with-the-viet/
It is reasonable to deduce from the renderings of Lê Tắc’s fourteenth-century Chinese text cited by Le Minh Khai that the Dong Son bronze drums were used as drums of war.
It is, therefore, NOT necessary at this stage either to evaluate if the drums had a 'religious' significance or to answer the question as to WHO the producers of Dong Son bronze drums were. This will also side-step the acrimonious nationalist debates and refutations between Vietnamese and Chinese scholars and speculations made by other scholars have speculted that the drums could be of Indian origin, or Cambodian origin, or European origin.
Most of the arguments advanced by the scholars suggesting or questioning various sources of origin start with the blunt statement that none of the drums have any inscription to resolve the question.
I submit that from a large number of Dong Son bronze drums (of all types classified by Heger), a number of hieroglyphs can be identified. These hieroglyphs DO CONVEY MEANINGS and some can be read rebus as Meluhha hieroglyphs. It should be noted that 1. Meluhha hieroglyphs were used to catalog metalwork and 2. Meluhha is a lingua franca of the Indian sprachbund which included speakers of Munda/Santali (categorized as Austro-asiatic or Austrnesian language) which had spread beyond India into Southeast Asia as demonstrated in Pinnow's map. Some linguists have suggested that the Austro-asiatic or Austronesian language was spread into Southeast Asiaout from early Munda speaker areas in South Asia.
Further researchers are needed to document the movements or maritime journeys of metalworkers and traders who had produced Bronze drums and other metal, as well as lapidary artifacts (such as carnelian beads found at Khao Sam Kaeo en Thaïlande péninsula which lead to hypotheses of Trans-Asiatic Maritime Exchanges. cf. Bellina, Bérénice, 2002, Le port préhistorique de Khao Sam Kaeo en Thaïlande péninsula. Lieu privilégié pour l’etude des premières interactions indiennes et sud-est asiatiques. Bulletin de l’École française d’ExtrêmeOrient 89:329-357.A survey revealed evidence for intensive trade in glass and stone beads between Thailand and India and Vietnam from the late centuries B.C.E., as well as the local manufacture of semi-precious stone beads using characteristic Indian techniques.). See bibliographical notes on the world' beads at:
http://www.beadresearch.org/Pages/Southeast%20Asia.pdf (Revised and updated January 2015).
Further archaeological and archaeometallurgical researches are needed to argue on the inclusion of Dong Son bronze drums in such Trans-Asiatic Maritime Exchanges either on the Tin Road crossing the Indian Ocean or on the precursor of the Silk Road reading into Eurasian demand centres of Sumer/Mesopotamia/Levant of Ancient Near East..
A Ngo Lu Bronze drum is richly decorated with hieroglyphs as may be seen from this sample of the drum's surface. The drum was discovered in Ha Nam province southeast of Hanoi. "In contrast to most other drums of the Dong Son, the tympanum bears three concentric panels, which depict animals or humans, interleaved with bands of geometric or circular patterns. The innermost panel appears to be a self-referencing depiction, as it is decorated with pictures of humans who appear to be performing a ceremony involving the drums themselves. Other musical instruments and rice growing and harvesting activities are also shown. The two outer panels are decorated with scenes of deer, hornbills and crane egrets...The inner panel repeats itself...a row of figures...led by a man holding a spear that is directed towards the ground. He is followed in the line by five more men, at least two of whom appear to playing musical instruments. One appears to be playing a khen and either cymbals or bells, while another holds a wand-like object in his left hand. The men are wearing a type of kilt and highly feathered headgear, which includes a figure in the shape of a bird's head...Two of the people are depicted threshing rice with a pole ornamented with feathers, while the other is shooing away a hornbill. A house is depicted beyond them which has decorated posts erected at a sharp angle, close to vertical, which is decorated with what appears to be feathers or streamers. The ends of the gables are further decorated with birds' heads. There are three people depicted inside the house, possibly playing percussion instruments...There is also a scene where one standing person and three seated people are brandishing long poles that appear to be used to strike a row of drums placed in front of them." (Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge World Archaeology.p.124.)
VR Ramachandra Dikshitar provides the following report: "According to Megasthenes, Candragupta's army was controlle by a body consisting of six divisions with five members each. One such division was the Commissariat. This was to co-operate with the superintendent of bullock-trains used for transporting war material, food-supplies for the soldiers, provender for the cattle, and other military requisites. Under the control of this division were servants who beat the drums or carried gongs, grooms for the horses, mechanics and their assistants, and foragers; to this list must be added physicians, astrologers, etc. mentioned in the Arthas'astra." (V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, 1999, War in Ancient India, Genesis Publishing Pvt. Ltd., p.186)
Hieroglyph: arka 'sun' Rebus: eraka 'copper' 861 Ta. eṟi (-pp-, -tt-) to shine, glitter; eṟippu lustre, brightness, hot sun. Ma. eṟikka to shine (as sun); eṟippu sunshine. (DEDR 861) Ka. eṟe to pour any liquids, cast (as metal); n. pouring; eṟacu, ercu to scoop, sprinkle, scatter, strew, sow; eṟaka, eraka any metal infusion; molten state, fusion. Tu. eraka molten, cast (as metal); eraguni to melt.(DEDR 866)
Source: ]Zhongguo Gudai Tonggu Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo gudai tonggu (The Ancient Bronze Drums of China), Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1988, 8.157. See: http://www.beforebc.de/600_fareast/600-06-02,%20Vietnam%20drum%20from%20Dian.htm
Prehistoric cultures ofVietnam
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Oc_Eo
Flying birds on Dong Son bronze drums
The hieroglyph 'antelope' on the second outer circle of the decorated surface of Ngoc Lu Bronze drum
ranku'antelope' Rebus: ranku'tin' (Santali)
Trống đồng Thôn Mộng (Thon Mong bronze drum)
The hieroglyph 'heron' repeated on the outermost circle on the decorated surface of Ngoc Lu Bronze drum
kanka 'heron' Rebus: kanka 'supercargo'; कारणी or कारणीक [ kāraṇī or kāraṇīka ] 'the supercargo of a ship' (Marathi) [The same gloss, kanka, karNaka is also depicted denoting a 'rim of jar' on Indus Script corpora -- as the most frequently used hieroglyph.]
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. kokkuʻ 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). Munda etyma: <Ankuku'=ra>(F),,<Gkug=ra>(H) {N} ``^heron, ^egret''. <kokoRa>(B) {N} ``^heron''. ^bird. Pl. <-le>. Syn. <Gkug-ra>(B), <Gkuku'-ra>(F). *So.<koRa> `crane'. @B06950. ??check So form. #17721.
Alternatives:
Kh. kOlE? `heron, parrot'. Rebus: kol 'smelter'(Munda. Santali) kol 'working in iron (metal)' (Tamil)
Ho<goruR>, H.<gArURA> `large species of heron, eagle', Samskritam.<gArUDA>.
Rebus 1: kharādī = turner (Gujarati.) <garei> {V} ``to ^grate, to ^scrape(D), to ^scoop out''. *De.<gar->(G) `to drill, to make a hole'. @V0281,(D). #7441.<garei> {V} ``to ^grate, to ^scrape(D), to ^scoop out''. *De.<gar->(G) `to drill, to make a hole'. @V0281,(D). #7441.(Munda etyma)
Rebus 2: Ta. karaṭi, karaṭi-ppaṟai, karaṭikai a kind of drum (said to sound like a bear, karaṭi). Ka. karaḍi, karaḍe an oblong drum beaten on both sides, a sort of double drum. / Cf. Skt. karaṭa- a kind of drum. (DEDR 1264)
barad 'bull' Rebus: bharat 'alloy of copper, pewter, tin' (Marathi)
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
February 12, 2015