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Thanks to Holly Pittman, DT Potts, Massimo Vidale and Dennys Frenez, who have described the cylinder seals of 3rd millennium BCE from Abu Dhabi (Arabia) and Konar Sandal (Iran), Indus Script hieroglyph multiplexes deployed are identified as rebus-metonymy layered cipher cataloguing metalwork -- in Prakritam. This is mlecchita vikalpa, meluhha cipher.
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/bhirrana-to-mehrgarh-and-beyond-in.html "The hypothesis which is validated in historical chronology of peoples’ movements in Eurasia is that Meluhha artisans and merchants of Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization moved to spread the archaeometallurgical initiatives of alloying. They had invented a unique writing system with hieroglyph multiplexes as signifiers to compile metalwork catalogues."
This is consistent with the evidence of Baudhāyana Śrauta Sūtra 18.44:397.9 sqq which records:
Ayu migrated eastwards. His (people) are the Kuru-Pancalas and the Kasi-Videhas.
This is the Ayava (migration). Amavasumigrated westwards. His (people) are the Ghandhari, Parsu and Aratta.
This is the Amavasu (migration).
See:
https://www.academia.edu/14548989/Bhirrana_to_Mehrgarh_and_beyond_in_the_civilization_contact_areas_from_8th_millennium_BCE
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Map showing the main sites of Middle Asia in the third millennium BC (whorls indicate the presence of Indus and Indus-likeseals bearing multiple heads of different animals arranged in whirl-like motif).
1. Abu Dhabi cylinder seal: Metalwork catalog, smelter
Pittman and Potts, The earliest cylinder seal in the Arabian Peninsula, Arab. arch. epig. 2009: 20: 109-121 (2009)
"A cylinder seal of Late Uruk (late fourth millennium BC) type from Abu Dhabi is presented and analysed. Comparisons with excavated finds from elsewhere in the Near East are discussed. An inventory of cylinder seals from sites in the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman shows that cylinder seal use,while not unknown in the region, was never very great. The ways in which the seal may have arrived at its eventual place of discovery are described and the significance of the seal is assessed...Because a number of examples (Fig. 7) were found at the single-period site of Jamdat Nasr in southern Iraq where, early in the excavation, E.J.H. Mackay found over a dozen seals associated with tablets and sealings, this type was originally associated with the ‘Jamdat Nasr’ horizon (c.3100–2900 BCE) in Mesopotamia. Roger Matthews has suggested that because there were two unfinished seals within the group discovered by Mackay, the Jamdat Nasr examples may have comefrom a seal workshop (Matthews 2002: 17)...The scene consists of two females with pigtails facing each other. Each of themis seated on a low platform, extending both arms, bent upward at the elbow, towards a spider-like figure. Behind the right-facing female (in the impres-sion) is a headless quadruped oriented vertically with its legs bent inwards, accompanied on the left by a second spider-like figure... It has been speculated by many scholars that Mesopotamian contact withsouth-eastern Arabia at this time was stimulated bya desire to acquire copper, and that objects such asthe Jamdat Nasr style jars found in the U.A.E. andOman may have been exchanged for copper ingots(e.g. Potts 1990b: 89–92). If the Abu Dhabi seal wasnot transported to its final resting place thousands of years after its manufacture, it may well have beenamongst a range of goods brought by traders fromsouthern Mesopotamia desirous of obtaining copperto take back to their homeland. Seasonal migration between the mountainous interior and the coast has been well documented for the earlier fifth-millennium BCE population of BHS 18 at Jabal Buhais in the interior of Sharjah. The excavators ‘consider BHS 18a ‘‘base camp’’ where the nomadic population spentthe spring part of its yearly cycle before moving tothe Hajar Mountains in summer and to coastal sitesin winter’. Despite the forbidding nature of the desert of western Abu Dhabi, this kind of movement could well account forthe deposition of a cylinder seal in such a sandy environment, far from the sites where other evidence of contact between Mesopotamia and the communities of south-eastern Arabia c.3000 BC has been found." https://www.academia.edu/1996505/Pittman_and_Potts_2009_The_earliest_cylinder_seal_in_the_Arabian_Peninsula
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Photograph of a modern impression of the seal from Abu Dhabi. Drawing of the scene on the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman). Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showingthe drilled and engraved form of a spider-like creature.
Hieroglyph: kuṛī f. ʻ girl, daughter ʼ: kola 'woman' (Nahali. Assamese) *kuḍa1 ʻ boy, son ʼ, °ḍī ʻ girl, daughter ʼ. [Prob. ← Mu. (Sant. Muṇḍari koṛa ʻ boy ʼ, kuṛi ʻ girl ʼ, Ho koa, kui, Kūrkū kōn, kōnjē); or ← Drav. (Tam. kur̤a ʻ young ʼ, Kan. koḍa ʻ youth ʼ) T. Burrow BSOAS xii 373. Prob. separate from RV. kŕ̊tā -- ʻ girl ʼ H. W. Bailey TPS 1955, 65. -- Cf. kuḍáti ʻ acts like a child ʼ Dhātup.] NiDoc. kuḍ'aǵa ʻ boy ʼ, kuḍ'i ʻ girl ʼ; Ash. kūˊṛə ʻ child, foetus ʼ, istrimalī -- kuṛäˊ ʻ girl ʼ; Kt. kŕū, kuŕuk ʻ young of animals ʼ; Pr. kyúru ʻ young of animals, child ʼ, kyurú ʻ boy ʼ, kurīˊ ʻ colt, calf ʼ; Dm. kúŕa ʻ child ʼ, Shum. kuṛ; Kal. kūŕ*l k ʻ young of animals ʼ; Phal. kuṛĭ̄ ʻ woman, wife ʼ; K. kūrü f. ʻ young girl ʼ, kash. kōṛī, ram. kuṛhī; L. kuṛā m. ʻ bridegroom ʼ, kuṛī f. ʻ girl, virgin, bride ʼ, awāṇ. kuṛī f. ʻ woman ʼ; P. kuṛī f. ʻ girl, daughter ʼ, P. bhaṭ.WPah. khaś. kuṛi, cur. kuḷī, cam. kǒḷā ʻ boy ʼ, kuṛī ʻ girl ʼ; -- B. ã̄ṭ -- kuṛā ʻ childless ʼ (ã̄ṭa ʻ tight ʼ)? -- X pṓta -- 1 : WPah. bhad. kō ʻ son ʼ, kūī ʻ daughter ʼ, bhal. ko m., koi f., pāḍ. kuā, kōī, paṅ. koā, kūī. (CDIAL 3245)
Thanks to Holly Pittman, DT Potts, Massimo Vidale and Dennys Frenez, who have described the cylinder seals of 3rd millennium BCE from Abu Dhabi (Arabia) and Konar Sandal (Iran), Indus Script hieroglyph multiplexes deployed are identified as rebus-metonymy layered cipher cataloguing metalwork -- in Prakritam. This is mlecchita vikalpa, meluhha cipher.
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/bhirrana-to-mehrgarh-and-beyond-in.html "The hypothesis which is validated in historical chronology of peoples’ movements in Eurasia is that Meluhha artisans and merchants of Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization moved to spread the archaeometallurgical initiatives of alloying. They had invented a unique writing system with hieroglyph multiplexes as signifiers to compile metalwork catalogues."
This is consistent with the evidence of Baudhāyana Śrauta Sūtra 18.44:397.9 sqq which records:
Ayu migrated eastwards. His (people) are the Kuru-Pancalas and the Kasi-Videhas.
This is the Ayava (migration). Amavasumigrated westwards. His (people) are the Ghandhari, Parsu and Aratta.
This is the Amavasu (migration).
See:
https://www.academia.edu/14548989/Bhirrana_to_Mehrgarh_and_beyond_in_the_civilization_contact_areas_from_8th_millennium_BCE
Map showing the main sites of Middle Asia in the third millennium BC (whorls indicate the presence of Indus and Indus-likeseals bearing multiple heads of different animals arranged in whirl-like motif).
1. Abu Dhabi cylinder seal: Metalwork catalog, smelter
Pittman and Potts, The earliest cylinder seal in the Arabian Peninsula, Arab. arch. epig. 2009: 20: 109-121 (2009)
"A cylinder seal of Late Uruk (late fourth millennium BC) type from Abu Dhabi is presented and analysed. Comparisons with excavated finds from elsewhere in the Near East are discussed. An inventory of cylinder seals from sites in the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman shows that cylinder seal use,while not unknown in the region, was never very great. The ways in which the seal may have arrived at its eventual place of discovery are described and the significance of the seal is assessed...Because a number of examples (Fig. 7) were found at the single-period site of Jamdat Nasr in southern Iraq where, early in the excavation, E.J.H. Mackay found over a dozen seals associated with tablets and sealings, this type was originally associated with the ‘Jamdat Nasr’ horizon (c.3100–2900 BCE) in Mesopotamia. Roger Matthews has suggested that because there were two unfinished seals within the group discovered by Mackay, the Jamdat Nasr examples may have comefrom a seal workshop (Matthews 2002: 17)...The scene consists of two females with pigtails facing each other. Each of themis seated on a low platform, extending both arms, bent upward at the elbow, towards a spider-like figure. Behind the right-facing female (in the impres-sion) is a headless quadruped oriented vertically with its legs bent inwards, accompanied on the left by a second spider-like figure... It has been speculated by many scholars that Mesopotamian contact withsouth-eastern Arabia at this time was stimulated bya desire to acquire copper, and that objects such asthe Jamdat Nasr style jars found in the U.A.E. andOman may have been exchanged for copper ingots(e.g. Potts 1990b: 89–92). If the Abu Dhabi seal wasnot transported to its final resting place thousands of years after its manufacture, it may well have beenamongst a range of goods brought by traders fromsouthern Mesopotamia desirous of obtaining copperto take back to their homeland. Seasonal migration between the mountainous interior and the coast has been well documented for the earlier fifth-millennium BCE population of BHS 18 at Jabal Buhais in the interior of Sharjah. The excavators ‘consider BHS 18a ‘‘base camp’’ where the nomadic population spentthe spring part of its yearly cycle before moving tothe Hajar Mountains in summer and to coastal sitesin winter’. Despite the forbidding nature of the desert of western Abu Dhabi, this kind of movement could well account forthe deposition of a cylinder seal in such a sandy environment, far from the sites where other evidence of contact between Mesopotamia and the communities of south-eastern Arabia c.3000 BC has been found." https://www.academia.edu/1996505/Pittman_and_Potts_2009_The_earliest_cylinder_seal_in_the_Arabian_Peninsula
Photograph of a modern impression of the seal from Abu Dhabi. Drawing of the scene on the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman). Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showingthe drilled and engraved form of a spider-like creature.
Hieroglyph: kuṛī f. ʻ girl, daughter ʼ: kola 'woman' (Nahali. Assamese) *kuḍa
Hieroglyph: spider: kōlika m. ʻ weaver ʼ Yaśast., kaulika -- Pañcat. [EWA i 273 ← *kōḍika -- (in Tam. kōṭikar ʻ weaver ʼ) ~ Mu. word for ʻ spider ʼ in Pk. mak -- kōḍā -- s.v. markaṭa -- ]
Pk. kōlia -- m. ʻ weaver, spider ʼ; S. korī m. ʻ weaver ʼ, koriaṛo m. ʻ spider ʼ; Ku. koli ʻ weaver ʼ, Or. (Sambhalpur) kuli, H. kolī, kolhī m. ʻ Hindu weaver ʼ; G. koḷī m. ʻ a partic. Śūdra caste ʼ; M. koḷī m. ʻ a caste of watercarriers, a sort of spider ʼ; -- G. karoḷiyɔ, karāliyɔ m. ʻ spider ʼ is in form the same as karoḷiyɔ ʻ potter ʼ < kaulālá -- .WPah.kṭg. koḷi m. ʻ low -- caste man ʼ, koḷəṇ, kc. koḷi ṇ f. ʻ his wife ʼ(CDIAL 3535)
Rebus: kolhe 'smelter'; 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) P. kolhār m. ʻ oil factory ʼ; Bi. kolhuār ʻ sugarcane mill and boiling house ʼ.(CDIAL 3537)
2. Konar Sandal white marble cylinder seal: metalwork repertoire catalogue
Massimo Vidale and Dennys Frenez, 2015, Indus components in the iconography of a white marble cylinder seal from Konar Sandal South (Kerman, Iran) in: South Asian Studies Vol. 31, No. 1, pp.144-154
"This paper presents a detailed analysis of the iconography carved on a cylinder seal found in a metallurgical sitewithin the archaeological complex of Konar Sandal South, near Jiroft, in the Halil river valley of the Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. This seal is made of a whitish marble and even if heavily worn by use it retainstraces of different animal figures. These animals represent the translation into local style of a rare but characteristic iconography found in the seal production of the Indus Civilization. The merging into a single seal of different animals, some of which clearly belong to the standard animal series of the Indus seals, might have provided theowner with a special authority that allowed him/her to hold different administrative functions. Moreover, the discovery at Konar Sandal South of a cylinder seal bearing an Indus-related iconography might further testify to the direct interest of Indus merchants and probably craftsmen in trade exchanges with a major early urban site in south-eastern Iran."https://www.academia.edu/11850285/Indus_Components_in_the_Iconography_of_a_White_Marble_Cylinder_Seal_from_Konar_Sandal_South_Kerman_Iran_
Photographs of the cylinder seal in white marble found at Konar Sandal South in the excavation of Trench IX. Courtesy of Halil Rud Archaeological Project
Drawing of the animals carved on the cylinder seal found at Konar Sandal South.
"The cylinder seal published by Pittman is 23.97 mm long and has a maximum diameter at the base of 12.42mm. It is made of whitish marble with pale brown shadows...This seal has a zebu depicted in front of a small round object...The main subject of this seal and its iconographic arrangement are clearly Indus, but the engraving technique based on drill-holes links it to the copper seal from Konar Sandal South and with other stamp seals found in Oman, further stressing the intense cultural interactions that occurred between Eastern Arabia, Iran and the Indus Valley during the second half of the third millennium BCE...The second creature is an Indus unicorn...Image 3.3...probably belong to the head of an Indus buffalo...Image 3.4...may represent the long ears of a large, evidently disproportionate, hare or rabbit...Image 3.5...(maybe) a markhor wild goat (Capra folconeri) or a blackbuck antelope (Antilope cervicapra)...Considered all together, these animals may symbolize something more than a simple list or procession, representing instead the physical disembodiment of a concept represented on two similar Indus whirl-like images on stamp seals...In general, the Halil Rud animal imagery more directly linked to the iconography of the Indus civilization suggests a precise knowledge of very important eastern symbols, but also a strategic will of subverting their original implications, adapting them to the local style and tradition. More likely, the cylinder seal found at Konar Sandal South bears the linear translation of a similar rotatory template...The uncommon iconographies with multiple animal heads present in Indus seals production are still a mystery, but the most reasonable addumption is that animals and fantastic creatures represented different identities, social roles, and/or social segment of the developing universe...The white marble cylinder seal on study was found inthe excavation of Trench IX, a large trench (15 x 20 m)dug in a low mound c. 500 m south-east of Konar Sandal South. In the same area, eight furnaces built onceramic jars operated on massive mud-bricks platforms.As stated by the excavator: Close to the furnaces, clear evidence of craft activitywas found including nearly five kilos of copper slag,fragments of ingots, and open molds. In addition, a number of copper and bronze objects and tools suchas chisels, stone vessels in marble, and steatite/chlorite,microlithic tools, and a large number of clay objects possibly connected with pyrotechnical activities havealso been recovered. It was evidently a neighbourhood occupied by a com-munity specialized in roasting and smelting copper ores and casting various types of artefacts in moulds and thorough lost-wax processes...The presence of a cylinder sealbearing a distinctive even if rare – Indus iconographysupports the hypothesis of a specific interest and actualfrequentation of Indus merchants and craftsmen, or of families maintaining formal ties with the Indus communities, in the copper ore deposits of the Kerman-Halilriver region. (Note: Originally put forward in S. Ashtana, 'Harappans interest in Kirman', Man and Environment, 3 (1979), 55-60. See also S. Ashtana, 'Harappan trade in metals and minerals: a regional approach, in Harappan civilization: a recent perspective, ed. by GL Possehl, 2nd edn, New Delhi, Oxford & IBH, 1993, pp. 271-86)."
Hieroglyph: पोळ (p. 534) [ pōḷa ] m A bull dedicated to the gods, marked with a trident and discus, and set at large (Marathi)
Rebus: pōḷa 'magnetite' (metal)
Hieroglyph: koḍiyum ‘young bull’ (G.) koḍ ’horn’ (Kuwi) koṭiyum ‘rings on neck; a wooden circle put round the neck of an animal’ (Gujarati.) खोंडा [khōṇḍā] m A कांबळा of which one end is formed into a cowl or hood (Marathi). kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’(B.)खोंड (p. 216) [ khōṇḍa ] m A young bull, a bullcalf. कोंडवाड [ kōṇḍavāḍa ] n f C (कोंडणें & वाडा ) A pen or fold for cattle. Rebus: কুঁদ (p. 0238) [ kun̐da ] n a (turner's) lathe kundAr 'workshop of metals turner (mixer of metals to create alloys) or artisan working in a smithy/forge' -- 'a brass-worker, engraver, turner'. कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker’(Bengali) খোদকার [ khōdakāra ] n an engraver; a carver (Oriya).
Hieroglyph: combined animals: सांगड (p. 840) [ sāṅgaḍa f A body formed of two or more (fruits, animals, men) linked or joined together. (Marathi)
Hieroglyph multiplex normally shown in front of the one-horned young bull: sãghāṛɔ 'lathe' (Gujarati. Desi). Rebus: sanghāṭa 'collection, binding together, alloying'.
Rebus: Vajra Sanghāta 'binding together': Mixture of 8 lead, 2 bell-metal, 1 iron rust constitute adamantine glue. Vajra sanghāta 'alloying, binding together': Mixture of 8 lead, 2 bell-metal, 1 iron rust constitute adamantine glue. The context is clearly metallic mixing practised on a fire-altar, a furnace/smelter.
Hieroglyph: पोळ (p. 534) [ pōḷa ] m A bull dedicated to the gods, marked with a trident and discus, and set at large (Marathi)
Rebus: pōḷa 'magnetite' (metal)
Hieroglyph: combined animals: सांगड (p. 840) [ sāṅgaḍa f A body formed of two or more (fruits, animals, men) linked or joined together. (Marathi)
Hieroglyph multiplex normally shown in front of the one-horned young bull: sãghāṛɔ 'lathe' (Gujarati. Desi). Rebus: sanghāṭa 'collection, binding together, alloying'.
Rebus: Vajra Sanghāta 'binding together': Mixture of 8 lead, 2 bell-metal, 1 iron rust constitute adamantine glue. Vajra sanghāta 'alloying, binding together': Mixture of 8 lead, 2 bell-metal, 1 iron rust constitute adamantine glue. The context is clearly metallic mixing practised on a fire-altar, a furnace/smelter.
Hieroglyph: sãghāṛɔ 'lathe' (Gujarati. Desi) sangaḍa ‘lathe’ (Marathi) Rebus: जांगड [jāngaḍ] ‘a tally of products delivered into the warehouse ‘for approval’ (Marathi). Rebus: koḍ ’artisan’s workshop’ (Kuwi) cf. खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge.(Marathi) sãgaḍ, sãghāṛɔ, sangāṭh (part of turner's apparatus, lathe, collection of materials) in languages (Marathi, Gujarati, Kashmiri)
Hieroglyph: Ku. N. rã̄go ʻ buffalo bull ʼ(CDIAL 10559). Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali)
Hieroglyph: miṇḍāl markhor (Tor.wali) meḍho a ram, a sheep (G.)(CDIAL 10120) 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. amŕ n/aŕə ʻ sheep ʼ (a -- ?); Bshk. mināˊl ʻ ram ʼ; Tor. miṇḍ ʻ ram ʼ, miṇḍāˊl ʻ markhor ʼ; Chil. mindh*l l 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. me r) ʻ ram ʼ (CDIAL 10310)
Rebus: meḍh ‘helper of merchant’ (Gujarati) meḍ iron (Ho.) meṛed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Munda)
Hieroglyph: goat: 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.) mēkaid. ? 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) Rebus: milakkhu 'copper' (Pali)
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
August 2, 2015