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The four hieroglyph multiplex on Mohenjo-daro seal m-857 signifies: 1. meṛed-bica = 'iron (hematite) stone ore' 2. dhatu karava karNI 'supercargo of mineral ore', scribed. (The one-horned young bull PLUS standard device is deciphered as: kondh 'young bull' Rebus: kondh 'turner'; koD 'horn' Rebus: koD 'workshop'; sangaDa 'lathe' Rebus: sangAta 'collection of materials, i.e. consignment or boat load.
It will be an act of faith to see Dravidian proof of Indus Script via Veda on the four-sign sequence of m-377 Mohenjo-daro tablet. (See:
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/iravatham-mahadevan-claims-to-have.html
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/11/dravida-maayaa-of-mahadevan-rejoinder.html) Following up on these critiques rejecting Mahadevan's decipherment, a proper decipherment of the hieroglyph multiplex is explained in this note, consitent with the entire Indus Script Corpora of about 7000 inscriptions as catalogus catalogorum of metalwork presented in mlecchita vikalpa, Meluhha cipher.
saṁghāṭa m. ʻ fitting and joining of timber ʼ R. [√ghaṭ]Pa. nāvā -- saṅghāṭa -- , dāru -- s° ʻ raft ʼ; Pk. saṁghāḍa -- , °ḍaga -- m., °ḍī -- f. ʻ pair ʼ; M. sãgaḍ f. ʻ a body formed of two or more fruits or animals or men &c. linked together, part of a turner's apparatus ʼ, m.f. ʻ float made of two canoes joined together ʼ (LM 417 compares saggarai at Limurike in the Periplus, Tam. śaṅgaḍam, Tu. jaṅgala ʻ double -- canoe ʼ), sã̄gāḍā m. ʻ frame of a building ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ lathe ʼ; Si. san̆gaḷa ʻ pair ʼ, han̆guḷa, an̆g° ʻ double canoe, raft ʼ.(CDIAL 12859)
m-377. Mohenjo-daro tablet.
Some examples of inscriptions from Indus Script Corpora which deploy the 4-hieroglyph sequence:
Mohenjodaro tablet. m-1475
Mohenjodaro seal. m-626
Mohenjodaro seal. m-38
Seal. harappa h-61
Seal. Harappa h-12
Hieroglyph as it occurs on Mohenjo-daro Seal m-1 Hunter identified the orthographic components of the sign as: 'the tail, back, two ears and hind legs of an animal'. [Hunter, GR, The script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its connection with other script, 1934 (2003), New Delhi]
It is assumed that locks of hair are superscripted on the scorpion hieroglyhph. Hieroglyph: *mēṇḍhī ʻ lock of hair, curl ʼ. [Cf. *mēṇḍha -- 1 s.v. *miḍḍa -- ]S. mī˜ḍhī f., °ḍho m. ʻ braid in a woman's hair ʼ, L. mē̃ḍhī f.; G. mĩḍlɔ, miḍ° m. ʻ braid of hair on a girl's forehead ʼ; M. meḍhā m. ʻ curl, snarl, twist or tangle in cord or thread ʼ.(CDIAL 10312). Thus, the message is : meṛed-bica = 'iron (hematite) stone ore'. Hieroglyph: Superscript of a curl to the scorpion hieroglyph: मेढा (p. 665) [ mēḍhā ] A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)
Hook hieroglyph:
M. mẽḍhā m. ʻ crook or curved end (of a horn, stick, &c.) ʼ.Thus, the 'crook' hieroglyph is a semantic determinant of the hieroglyph-multiplex composed of the 'curl PLUS crook PLUS scorpion'. Hence, Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) PLUS bicha; that is, the compound phrase meṛed-bica = 'iron (hematite) stone ore' (Santali)
Orthographic variants of the 'scorpion' hieroglyph point to the pointed end of the scorpion's stinger:
See the 'scorpion' hieroglyph on modern impression of seal M-414 from Mohenjo-daro. After CISI 1:100.
Hieroglyph Ka. koṇḍi the sting of a scorpion. Tu. koṇḍi a sting. Te. koṇḍi the sting of a scorpion.(DEDR 2080). Rebus: kuṇḍī = chief of village. kuṇḍi-a = village headman; leader of a village (Pkt.lex.) i.e. śreṇi jeṭṭha chief of metal-worker guild. khŏḍ m. ‘pit’, khö̆ḍü f. ‘small pit’ (Kashmiri. CDIAL 3947), kuṭhi‘smelter furnace’ (Mu.) kuṇḍamu ‘a pit for receiving and preserving consecrated fire’ (Te.) kundār turner (A.); kũdār, kũdāri (B.); kundāru (Or.); kundau to turn on a lathe, to carve, to chase; kundau dhiri = a hewn stone; kundau murhut = a graven image (Santali)
bicha 'scorpion' (Assamese) Rebus: bica 'stone ore' as in: meṛed-bica = 'iron stone ore', in contrast to bali-bica, 'iron sand ore' (Munda). bichi , ‘hematite’(Asuri)
byucu scorpion (Kashmiri): vŕ̊ścika m. (vr̥ścana -- m. lex.) ʻ scorpion ʼ RV., ʻ cater- pillar covered with bristles ʼ lex. [Variety of form for ʻ scorpion ʼ in MIA. and NIA. due to taboo? <-> √vraśc ?]Pa. vicchika -- m. ʻ scorpion ʼ, Pk. vicchia -- , viṁchia -- m., Sh.koh. bičh m. (< *vr̥ści -- ?), Ku. bichī, A. bisā (also ʻ hairy caterpillar ʼ: -- ī replaced by m. ending -- ā), B. Or. bichā, Mth. bīch, Bhoj. Aw.lakh. bīchī, H. poet. bīchī f., bīchā m., G. vīchī, vĩchī m.; -- *vicchuma -- : Paš.lauṛ. uċúm, dar. učum, S. vichū̃ m., (with greater deformation) L.mult. vaṭhũhã, khet. vaṭṭhũha; -- Pk. vicchua -- ,viṁchua -- m., L. vichū m., awāṇ. vicchū, P. bicchū m., Or. (Sambhalpur) bichu, Mth. bīchu, H. bicchū, bīchū m., G. vīchu m.; -- Pk.viccu -- , °ua -- , viṁcua -- m., K. byucu m. (← Ind.), P.bhaṭ. biccū, WPah.bhal. biċċū m., cur. biccū, bhiḍ. biċċoṭū n. ʻ young scorpion ʼ, M. vīċũ, vĩċū m. (vĩċḍā m. ʻ large scorpion ʼ), vĩċvī, °ċvīṇ, °ċīṇ f., Ko. viccu, viṁcu, iṁcu. -- N. bacchiũ ʻ large hornet ʼ? (Scarcely < *vapsi -- ~ *vaspi -- ).Addenda: vŕ̊ścika -- : Garh. bicchū, °chī ʻ scorpion ʼ, A. also bichā (phonet. -- s -- )(CDIAL 12081).
mer.ed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Mundari) samr.obica, stones containing gold (Mundari.lex.)bicamer.ed iron extracted from stone ore; balimer.ed iron extracted from sand ore (Mu.lex.) kut.ire bica duljad.ko talkena, they were feeding the furnace with ore (Mundari)
A Meluhha gloss for hard stone ore or iron stone is mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) which is denoted by the hieroglyph, 'markhor'. miṇḍāl ‘markhor’ (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) Meluhha glosses are annexed which indicate association with cire perdue (or lost wax) method of casting metals using beeswax, particularly in the glosses for miedź, med' 'copper' in Northern Slavic and Altaic languages.
Wilhelm von Hevesy wrote about the Finno-Ugric-Munda kinship, like "Munda-Magyar-Maori, an Indian link between the antipodes new tracks of Hungarian origins" and "Finnisch-Ugrisches aus Indien". (DRIEM, George van: Languages of the Himalayas: an ethnolinguistic handbook. 1997. p.161-162.) Sumerian-Ural-Altaic language affinities have been noted. Given the presence of Meluhha settlements in Sumer, some Meluhha glosses might have been adapted in these languages. One etyma cluster refers to 'iron' exemplified by meD (Ho.). The alternative suggestion for the origin of the gloss med 'copper' in Uralic languages may be explained by the word meD (Ho.) of Munda family of Meluhha language stream:
Sa. <i>mE~R~hE~'d</i> `iron'. ! <i>mE~RhE~d</i>(M).
Ma. <i>mErhE'd</i> `iron'.
Mu. <i>mERE'd</i> `iron'.
~ <i>mE~R~E~'d</i> `iron'. ! <i>mENhEd</i>(M).
Ho <i>meD</i> `iron'.
Bj. <i>merhd</i>(Hunter) `iron'.
KW <i>mENhEd</i>
@(V168,M080)
— 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]
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’.
Hieroglyph: X signifies crossing or passing over (Note: the hieroglyph also occurs on Haifa pure tin ingots to signify a mineral element: dhatu).
Te. dã̄ṭu to leap, jump, cross over, pass over, go beyond, transgress; n. a leap, jump, crossing or passing over. Kol. da·ṭ- (da·ṭt-) to cross; da·ṭip- (da·ṭipt-) to make to cross; Ka. dāṭu, dāṇṭu to jump, pass or step over, cross, ford, go beyond, exceed, transgress, pass away, expire; n. passing over, jump across, etc.; dāṭisu, dāṇṭisu to cause to pass over. Koḍ. (Kar.) da·ṭ- (-i-) to cross. Tu.dāṇṭuni to cross, ford, pass by. (DEDR 3158)
Rebus: dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Pa. dhātu -- m. ʻ element' 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 (CDIAL 6773)
Sign 342 variants
Hieroglyph: karava 'narrow-necked pot' Koḍ. karava clay pot with narrow neck. Go. (Ma.) karvi narrow-mouthed earthen vessel for oil or liquor (Voc. 564). karṇaka 'rim of jar' (Samskritam) Rebus: kharva 'wealth, nidhi'; karba 'iron' karNI 'supercargo' karNIka 'scribe'.
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
August 15, 2015