http://timesofindia.indiatimes... 'Fish' sign in Indus script represents woman: Study. Moral of the story: anything goes, in the genre of Richard Sproat, Michael Witzel, Steve Farmer's illiteracy myth.
May 25 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)
`Fish' sign in Indus script represents woman: Study
MT Saju |
Chennai: The `fish' sign in the Indus script has been the subject of various studies, mostly relating it to the fish itself and its social and cultural implications. A group of scholars from various fields with a passion for the Indus script has come up with a new theory claiming that the sign is a symbol representing woman.To clarify their point, the team compared the symbol to some Sumerian pictographic signs where woman was represented by an inverted triangle with a small upward stroke at the apex resembling the female genitalia. “ Almost similar representations of woman using the outline of the female genitalia has been used in many cultures, including spindle or fish shape. Perhaps the Indus people used the fish like appearance to represent woman,“ said S D Fernandes, a member of the research team and associate professor in skin, STD and leprosy at SRM Medical College.
But the team was not satisfied with this logic alone. Their doubt was clarified following the study of a sign which showed a fish symbol with head-dress carrying a load on its shoulder and in another a man sign carrying a similar load.
“Fish cannot carry load on its shoulder and walk erect.We compared this sign to the women inscribed in Sumerian seals and found them to be complementary . Even their head dress matched. Some fish signs are seen in the company of man signs which is unusual. Fishes painted on early Harappan polychrome pot shows fish with scales (not limbs) in horizontal position (natural position of the fish). Based on these findings we concluded that the fish sign in the Indus script represents woman,“ said Fernades.
The Indus script (aka Harappan script) is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Ciivilisation between 3500 BC and 1900 BC. The team guided by M Francis Joseph, former associate professor of archaeology and ancient history , Arulananthar College, Madurai, examined many Indus signs but couldn't make a definite conclusion. Finally , they decided to choose a familiar sign in the Indus script.
The sign the team chose was of a man identified with a biped, erect figure with movable joints.
A short stroke pointing down from the junction of the two lower limbs identified it as an `ithyphallic' figure representing man. Having confirmed the identity of the man sign, the team looked for the `woman' sign. But there was no woman sign in the Indus texts.
The only sign which matched the man sign was the `fish' sign. But the fish like appearance of the sign apparently did not connect with woman at that time. “A detailed study revealed that the fish sign had all the properties of the man sign except the fish-like appearance. And that's how we searched for the Sumerian pictographic signs for 'woman' which helped us clarify our point,“ he said.
But the team was not satisfied with this logic alone. Their doubt was clarified following the study of a sign which showed a fish symbol with head-dress carrying a load on its shoulder and in another a man sign carrying a similar load.
“Fish cannot carry load on its shoulder and walk erect.We compared this sign to the women inscribed in Sumerian seals and found them to be complementary . Even their head dress matched. Some fish signs are seen in the company of man signs which is unusual. Fishes painted on early Harappan polychrome pot shows fish with scales (not limbs) in horizontal position (natural position of the fish). Based on these findings we concluded that the fish sign in the Indus script represents woman,“ said Fernades.
The Indus script (aka Harappan script) is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Ciivilisation between 3500 BC and 1900 BC. The team guided by M Francis Joseph, former associate professor of archaeology and ancient history , Arulananthar College, Madurai, examined many Indus signs but couldn't make a definite conclusion. Finally , they decided to choose a familiar sign in the Indus script.
The sign the team chose was of a man identified with a biped, erect figure with movable joints.
A short stroke pointing down from the junction of the two lower limbs identified it as an `ithyphallic' figure representing man. Having confirmed the identity of the man sign, the team looked for the `woman' sign. But there was no woman sign in the Indus texts.
The only sign which matched the man sign was the `fish' sign. But the fish like appearance of the sign apparently did not connect with woman at that time. “A detailed study revealed that the fish sign had all the properties of the man sign except the fish-like appearance. And that's how we searched for the Sumerian pictographic signs for 'woman' which helped us clarify our point,“ he said.
