Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/nr3jjel
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/a-critique-of-general-theory-of-images.html
http://ignca.nic.in/jatak.htm Recounts Jataka tales to explain the semantics of sculptural reliefs of Bharhut.
Alternative interpretation is that Bharhut relief shows two hieroglyphs: 1. human face; 2. ox-hide ingot.
These are read as Meluhha rebus-metonymy layered rendering: dhalako; rebus: 'a large metal ingot (Gujarati) mukha 'face' muh 'face' Rebus: muha 'quantity of iron produced from a smelter' (Santali)
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Bharhut Stupa Railing relief(Sunga empire), 2nd century BCE. A face is the centerpiece on the temple door. This temple door arch is flanked by two oxhide ingot symbols. The rebus readings of hieroglyphs on the relief are: kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'; mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot'. Hence, the ingot is denoted by the symbol which flanks the doorframe, arch. muhāṭh ʻ threshold of a door frame or entrance indicated by the arch.![]()
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Tin ingots in the Museum of Ancient Art of the Municipality of Haifa, Israel (left #8251, right #8252). The ingots each bear two Indus script hieroglyphs.![Image result for tin ingots 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 This ingot has two Indus script hieroglyphs PLUS another Indus Script hieroglyph of 'face': mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot' out of smelter furnace.![OqOpK]()
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Alternative interpretation:
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Ox-hide ingot. Relief. Bharhut. Inscribed with safflower. karaDa 'safflower' Rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy' Thus, hard alloy ingot. dhalako; rebus: 'a large metal ingot (Gujarati) Displayed together with srivatsa PLUS safflower: kolA 'tail' Rebus: kol 'working in iron' kole.l 'smithy, temple'; karNika 'pericarp of lotus' Rebus: karNIka 'scribe'.
Hieroglyph: Ta. kulai (-pp-, -tt-) to shoot forth in a bunch (as a plantain); n. cluster, bunch (as of fruits, flowers); kuluṅku (kuluṅki-) to be full, abundant (Asher-Radhakrishnan, p. 65). Ma. kula bunch (esp. of coconuts and plantains, also of flowers); kulekka to bear fruit. To. kwïn bunch of fruit, esp. plantains. Ka. gole, gone cluster or bunch of fruits (plantains, mangoes, grapes, coconuts, etc.); konar(u) to get shoots, sprout; n. shoot, sprout, new branch. Koḍ. kola- (kolap-, kolat-) (plant) shoots against (one who planted it; in a proverb); kole bunch of plantains. Tu. gonè a bunch of fruits (as plantains, coconuts); (B-K.) kile, kīle a bunch. Te. gola a bunch, a cluster; gela a bunch. Kuwi (F.) gella bunch (of plantains).(DEDR 1810)
Rebus: 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).
कुठारुः 1 A tree. -2 An ape, a monkey. -3 An armourer.
कुठिः 1 A tree. -2 mountain. (Samskritam) Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'
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Medallion with Peacock and Pair of Peahens, Bharhut, Sunga 185-72 BCE maraka 'peacock' Rebus: maraka loha 'copper alloy'.
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Medallion with monkeys and elephant. Bharhut. Some monkeys carry weapons.![]()
Monkeys riding on an elephant. Bharhut.
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Monkey as water-carrier. Bharhut relief. kuTi 'water-carrier' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'
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Bas relief. Monkeys and elephant.![]()
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Bharhut Stupa railing, Indian Museum. Monkey Jataka - Medallion - 2nd Century BCE - Red Sand Stone - Bharhut
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Bharhut![]()
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Hieroglyph: mũhũ 'face' (Sindhi) To reinforce the phoneme, the face is shown on sculptural reliefs (as at Bharhut) together with detail of muhāṭh ʻ threshold of a door frame or entrance indicated by the arch. Further reinforcement of the phoneme occurs by the depiction of ox-hide ingot(s) using the shapes recognizable in the ingot-god of Enkomi (Cyprus) or on copper/tin ingots transported on ships for maritime trade as evidenced by Uluburun shipwreck, Haifa shipwreck, Cape Gelidonya shipwreck.
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I suggest that this boat carried a supercargo (rebus: karNi ![]()
Most frequently-occurring hieroglyph on Indus writing corpora: 'rim-of-jar') of copper and tin ingots, based on a rebus reading of the hieroglyphs on three sides of the prism tablet, including a text in Indus writing, apart from the ligatured hieroglyph of a crocodile catching a fish in its jaws [which is read ayakara 'blacksmith'; cf. khar 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri); karavu'crocoile' (Telugu); ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'metal (tin+ copper alloy)'.
Oxhide shaped tin ingot in Uluburn shipwreck
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See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/a-critique-of-general-theory-of-images.html
http://ignca.nic.in/jatak.htm Recounts Jataka tales to explain the semantics of sculptural reliefs of Bharhut.
Alternative interpretation is that Bharhut relief shows two hieroglyphs: 1. human face; 2. ox-hide ingot.
These are read as Meluhha rebus-metonymy layered rendering: dhalako; rebus: 'a large metal ingot (Gujarati) mukha 'face' muh 'face' Rebus: muha 'quantity of iron produced from a smelter' (Santali)
Bharhut Stupa Railing relief(Sunga empire), 2nd century BCE. A face is the centerpiece on the temple door. This temple door arch is flanked by two oxhide ingot symbols. The rebus readings of hieroglyphs on the relief are: kuTi 'tree' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'; mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot'. Hence, the ingot is denoted by the symbol which flanks the doorframe, arch. muhāṭh ʻ threshold of a door frame or entrance indicated by the arch.
On this Bharhut sculpture, an elephant is placed on a pillar next to the venerated tree. There are three temple arches. Two arches with 2 bun ingots (garlanded) flank the central arch with a rectangular, inscribed slab comparable in shape to the three rectangular tin ingots found in a shipwreck in Haifa. Behind the rectangular inscribed slab is what can be described as a pillar of light or fire denoting linga: loj 'penis' (Munda) Rebus: loh 'copper' (Samskritam).
ibha 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron' Dhalako 'ingot' (Gujarati)
Tin ingots in the Museum of Ancient Art of the Municipality of Haifa, Israel (left #8251, right #8252). The ingots each bear two Indus script hieroglyphs.
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 This ingot has two Indus script hieroglyphs PLUS another Indus Script hieroglyph of 'face': mũh 'face' Rebus: mũhe 'ingot' out of smelter furnace.
Hieroglyph: खरडा [ kharaḍā ] scribbling, engraving Rebus: करडा (p. 137) [ karaḍā ] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. The symbols are safflower, a phonetic reinforcement: karaḍā 'safflower'http://anandajoti.photodharma.net/
Alternative interpretation:
Ox-hide ingot. Relief. Bharhut. Inscribed with safflower. karaDa 'safflower' Rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy' Thus, hard alloy ingot. dhalako; rebus: 'a large metal ingot (Gujarati) Displayed together with srivatsa PLUS safflower: kolA 'tail' Rebus: kol 'working in iron' kole.l 'smithy, temple'; karNika 'pericarp of lotus' Rebus: karNIka 'scribe'.Hieroglyph: Ta. kulai (-pp-, -tt-) to shoot forth in a bunch (as a plantain); n. cluster, bunch (as of fruits, flowers); kuluṅku (kuluṅki-) to be full, abundant (Asher-Radhakrishnan, p. 65). Ma. kula bunch (esp. of coconuts and plantains, also of flowers); kulekka to bear fruit. To. kwïn bunch of fruit, esp. plantains. Ka. gole, gone cluster or bunch of fruits (plantains, mangoes, grapes, coconuts, etc.); konar(u) to get shoots, sprout; n. shoot, sprout, new branch. Koḍ. kola- (kolap-, kolat-) (plant) shoots against (one who planted it; in a proverb); kole bunch of plantains. Tu. gonè a bunch of fruits (as plantains, coconuts); (B-K.) kile, kīle a bunch. Te. gola a bunch, a cluster; gela a bunch. Kuwi (F.) gella bunch (of plantains).(DEDR 1810)
Rebus: 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).
कुठारुः 1 A tree. -2 An ape, a monkey. -3 An armourer.
कुठिः 1 A tree. -2 mountain. (Samskritam) Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'
Medallion with Peacock and Pair of Peahens, Bharhut, Sunga 185-72 BCE maraka 'peacock' Rebus: maraka loha 'copper alloy'.
Medallion with monkeys and elephant. Bharhut. Some monkeys carry weapons.
Monkeys riding on an elephant. Bharhut.
Monkey as water-carrier. Bharhut relief. kuTi 'water-carrier' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'
Bas relief. Monkeys and elephant.
Bharhut
Hieroglyph: mũhũ 'face' (Sindhi) To reinforce the phoneme, the face is shown on sculptural reliefs (as at Bharhut) together with detail of muhāṭh ʻ threshold of a door frame or entrance indicated by the arch. Further reinforcement of the phoneme occurs by the depiction of ox-hide ingot(s) using the shapes recognizable in the ingot-god of Enkomi (Cyprus) or on copper/tin ingots transported on ships for maritime trade as evidenced by Uluburun shipwreck, Haifa shipwreck, Cape Gelidonya shipwreck.
On one side of the prism tablet,the shape of two ingots are shown, flanked by two palm trees and two aquatic birds on a Mohenjodaro tablet m1429. The other two sides of the prism tablet also had a composite, ligatured hieroglyph and an inscribed text:
I suggest that this boat carried a supercargo (rebus: karNi 
Most frequently-occurring hieroglyph on Indus writing corpora: 'rim-of-jar') of copper and tin ingots, based on a rebus reading of the hieroglyphs on three sides of the prism tablet, including a text in Indus writing, apart from the ligatured hieroglyph of a crocodile catching a fish in its jaws [which is read ayakara 'blacksmith'; cf. khar 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri); karavu'crocoile' (Telugu); ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'metal (tin+ copper alloy)'.Oxhide shaped tin ingot in Uluburn shipwreck
While 354 oxhide ingots discovered were copper ingots, it should be noted that oxhide shaped tin ingots were also discovered (Fawcett, N. & Zietsman, J.C. "Uluburun - the discovery and excavation of the world's oldest known shipwreck". Akroterion, Vol. 46 (2001): 5 - 20. , http://akrolerion.journals.za ).
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
June 21, 2015