Kalibangan & Binjor evidence for Vājapeya सोमः संस्था यज्ञ, yajña yūpa, related Indus Script inscriptions, linga, skambha Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/z8vmh23

The significance of yupa and the extensive presence of mleccha in ancient Bharatam get corroborated by textual evidence of Vedic tradition. This is an indicator that the Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization archaeometallurgical heritage is a continuum of Vedic culture and reinforces the essential unity of Indian sprachbund calling for a revisit to the received wisdom of the linguistic heritage of Prakritam, the parole of Chandas.

The fillet worn on the forehead and on the right-shoulder signifies one strand; while the trefoil on the shawl signifies three strands. A hieroglyph for two strands is also signified.

 Single strand (one dotted-circle)

Two strands (pair of dotted-circles)

Three strands (three dotted-circles as a trefoil)

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, MS, 1940, Excavations at Harappa, Vol. II, Calcutta, p. 370) "In the adjoining Trench Ai, 5 ft. 6 in. below the surface, was found a stone lingam [Since then I have found two stone lingams of a larger size from Trenches III and IV in this mound. Both of them are smoothed all over]. It measures 11 in. high and 7 3/8 in. diameter at the base and is rough all over.’ (Vol. I, pp. 51-52)." Shiva Lingas at Harappa, dating more than 5,000 years old. Worship of Sivalingam has continued for millennia, uninterrupted. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/04/sivalinga-in-dholavira-depicted-as.htmlSee: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/10/skambha-sukta-in-atharva-veda-and.html

Relief with Ekamukha linga. Mathura. 1st cent. CE (Fig. 6.2). This is the most emphatic representation of linga as a pillar of fire. The pillar is embedded within a brick-kiln with an angular roof and is ligatured to a tree. Hieroglyph: kuTi 'tree' rebus: kuThi 'smelter'. In this composition, the artists is depicting the smelter used for smelting to create mũh 'face' (Hindi) rebus: mũhe 'ingot' (Santali) of mēḍha 'stake' rebus: meḍ 'iron, metal' (Ho. Munda). मेड (p. 662) [ mēḍa ] f (Usually मेढ q. v.) मेडका m A stake, esp. as bifurcated. मेढ (p. 662) [ mēḍha ] f A forked stake. Used as a post. Hence a short post generally whether forked or not. मेढा (p. 665) [ mēḍhā ] m A stake, esp. as forked. 2 A dense arrangement of stakes, a palisade, a paling. मेढी (p. 665) [ mēḍhī ] f (Dim. of मेढ) A small bifurcated stake: also a small stake, with or without furcation, used as a post to support a cross piece. मेढ्या (p. 665) [ mēḍhyā ] a (मेढ Stake or post.) A term for a person considered as the pillar, prop, or support (of a household, army, or other body), the staff or stay. मेढेजोशी (p. 665) [ mēḍhējōśī ] m A stake-जोशी; a जोशी who keeps account of the तिथि &c., by driving stakes into the ground: also a class, or an individual of it, of fortune-tellers, diviners, presagers, seasonannouncers, almanack-makers &c. They are Shúdras and followers of the मेढेमत q. v. 2 Jocosely. The hereditary or settled (quasi fixed as a stake) जोशी of a village.मेंधला (p. 665) [ mēndhalā ] m In architecture. A common term for the two upper arms of a double चौकठ (door-frame) connecting the two. Called also मेंढरी & घोडा. It answers to छिली the name of the two lower arms or connections. (Marathi)

मेंढा [ mēṇḍhā ] A crook or curved end rebus: meḍ 'iron, metal' (Ho. Munda) 

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/a-critique-of-general-theory-of-images.html for the sculpture of three stakes on Sit Shamshi bronze.

Atharva Veda (X.8.2) declares that Heaven and Earth stand fast being pillared apart by the pillar. Like the pillar, twilight of the dawn and dusk split apart the originally fused Heaven and Earth.

Light of dawn ‘divorces the coterminous regions – Sky and Earth – and makes manifest the several worlds. (RV VII.80; cf. VI.32.2, SBr. IV 6.7.9).

‘Sun is spac, for it is only when it rises that the world is seen’ (Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana I.25.1-2). When the sun sets, space returns into the void (JUB III.1.1-2).

Indra supports heavn and earth by ‘opening the shadows with the dawn and the sun’. (RV I.62.5). He ‘extends heaven by the sun; and the sun is the prp whereby he struts it.’ (RV X.111.5).

‘He who knows the Brahman in man knows the Supreme Being and he who knows the Supreme Brahman knows the Stambha’. (AV X. 7.17).

Linga-Purana (I.17.5-52; 19.8 ff.) provides a narrative. Siva appeared before Brahma and Vishnu as a fiery linga with thousands of flames. As a Goose, Brahma attempted to fly to the apex of the column; Vishnu as a Boar plunged through the earth to find the foot of the blazing column. Even after a thousand years, they couldn’t reach the destination, bow in homage to the Pillar of the Universe as the Paramaatman.

He is the ‘Pillar supporting the kindreds, that is, gods and men’. (RV I.59.1-2). He is the standard (ketu) of the yajna (equivalent of the dawn), the standard which supports heaven in the East at daybreak. (RV I.113.19; III.8.8).

Worship of linga by Gandharva, Shunga period (ca. 2nd cent. BCE), ACCN 3625, Mathura Museum. Worship signified by dwarfs, Gaṇa (hence Gaṇeśa = Gaṇa + īśa).

Architectural fragment with relief showing winged dwarfs (or gaNa) worshipping with flower garlands, Siva Linga. Bhuteshwar, ca. 2nd cent BCE. Lingam is on a platform with wall under a pipal tree encircled by railing. (Srivastava,  AK, 1999, Catalogue of Saiva sculptures in Government Museum, Mathura: 47, GMM 52.3625) The tree is a phonetic determinant of the smelter indicated by the railing around the linga: kuṭa, °ṭi -- , °ṭha -- 3, °ṭhi -- m. ʻ tree ʼ  Rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter'. kuṭa, °ṭi -- , °ṭha -- 3, °ṭhi -- m. ʻ tree ʼ lex., °ṭaka -- m. ʻ a kind of tree ʼ Kauś.Pk. kuḍa -- m. ʻ tree ʼ; Paš. lauṛ. kuṛāˊ ʻ tree ʼ, dar. kaṛék ʻ tree, oak ʼ ~ Par. kōṛ ʻ stick ʼ IIFL iii 3, 98. (CDIAL 3228). 

In Atharva Veda stambha is a celestial scaffold, supporting the cosmos and material creation.

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/12/skambha-sukta-atharva-veda-x-7-pair-of.html Full text of Atharva Veda ( X - 7,8) --- Stambha Suktam with translation (with variant pronunciation as skambha). See Annex A List of occurrences of gloss in Atharva Veda. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/05/smithy-is-temple-of-bronze-age-stambha_14.html In this text, linga is elaborated as a fiery pillar of light.