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Tantra yukti deciphers Indus Script
Tantra can be termed as that which discusses and details subjects and concepts; yukti is “… that which removes blemishes like impropriety, contradiction, etc., from the intended meaning and thoroughly joins the meanings together.”.
Tantra-yukti thusdenotes those devices that aid the composition of a text in a systematic manner to convey intended ideas clearly. UpamAnam (or dRSTanta or analogy), vAkyavis’eSa (completion of a sentence meaningfully even in the absence of a word which is understood), pUrvapakSa (objections, primafacie or provisional view), uttarapakSa (correct view or answers) are included as among 32 devices in Arthas’Astra list of Tantra yukti.
स्फुटता न पदैरपाकृता न च न स्वीकृत मर्थगौरवम् ‘Crispness (of an expression) is not obliterated by verbosity, nor is the depth of meaning that is intended to be conveyed is compromised (to attain crispness).
Caraka notes: तंत्रे समासव्यासोक्ते भवन्त्येता हि क्रत्स्नशः एकदेशने दृश्यन्ते समासाभिहिते तथा ‘all these tantrayukti-s occur in a scientific work in brief and in detail. But only some of them occur in a work written in brief.”
Tantrayukti devices will be elaborated by decipherment of Indus Script Corpora.
1. Adhikaraṇa (subject matter) The subject matter of Indus Script Corpora relates to metalwork in the Bronze Age across Eurasia, from Hanoi, Vietnam to Haifa, Israel
2. Yoga (arrangement) The Corpora is arranged in about 7000 inscriptions presented on seals, tablets, copper plates, metal implements, ivory rods, potsherds or as writing on pendants or sculptures in the round (e.g. gold pendant with inscription painted and statue of ‘priest’ with Indus script hieroglyphs of dotted circle and uttarIyam)
- Hetvārtha (extension of argument) The purpose achieved by the Corpora is to covey messages about the technical specifications of products (packages or cargo) which are authenticated by the messages
- Padārtha (import of words) The import of words conveyed by the hieroglyphs read rebus is to specify the resources used: e.g. minerals, furnaces or smelters used in creating the product (either an ingot or alloy of minerals or implement or weapon or a cire perdue casting in metal)
- Pradeśa (poetic adumbration) Some inscriptions are composed of narratives as semantic determinants (e.g. a tiger looking backwards connotes kola ‘tiger’ rebus: kol ‘working in iron’ PLUS krammara ‘look backwards’ rebus: kamar ‘artisan, smith’; thus signifying an artisan working in iron).
- Uddheśa (concise statement) Some inscriptions are just composite heads of animals joined to an animal or bovine body. The concise statement intends to signify three minerals which compose the product or package or cargo (e.g. combined animal with bovine body and heads of antelope, one-horned young bull, ox each signifying ranku ‘antelope’ rebus: ranku ‘tin’ PLUS 'konda 'young bull' Rebus: kondar 'turner' PLUS barad, barat ‘ox’ rebus: bharat ‘alloy of pewter, copper, tin’).
- Nirdeśa (amplification) Some inscriptions contain phonetic or semantic orthographic deteminatives to amplify the message conveyed (e.g. body of a person with legs spread out signifies two rebus renderings: meD ‘body’ rebus: meD ‘iron, copper’ karNika ‘legs spread out’ rebus: karNI ‘supercargo, engraver, scribe, account’ A Supercargo is a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale. Thus, the Supercargo is signified as in control of iron/metal merchandise on a seafaring ship.
- Vākyaśeṣa (supply of ellipsis -- the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.) Some inscriptions signify ‘fish’ as a hieroglyph. In the context of Supercargo’s responsibility, the ‘fish’ hieroglyph may have orthographic accent on ‘fins’ of fish which signify: 'khambhaṛā'‘fish fin’ rebus: kammaṭa‘portable furnace to melt metals, mint, coiner, coinage’ PLUS ayo, aya ‘fish’ rebus: aya ‘iron’ ayas ‘metal’.
- Prayojana (purpose) The purpose of the entire Indus Script Corpora is to document the products which are merchandise for exchange with contact areas and provide explanatory messages to the trade representatives such as Meluhha colonies in Ancient Near East or along the Persian Gulf metalwork sites.
- Upadeśa (instruction) An example may be cited to explain how the instruction is achieved on Indus Script Corpora. A statue of a priest of Mohenjo-daro is shown wearing a fillet (dotted circle PLUS string) on the forehead and on right-shoulder. The message signified is: dhā̆vaḍ 'iron-smelter' with Indus script hieroglyphs signifies पोतृ,'
purifier' of dhāū, dhāv 'red stone minerals'. The compound phrase is broken up into two segments: dhā̆v ‘strand’ rebus: dhā̆v, dhAtu ‘mineral’ PLUS -vaḍ ‘string’ rebus:వటగ'clever, skilful' i..e. a person skilled in smelting minerals, hence an iron (red ore) smelter. - Apadeśa (advancement of reason) The choice of hieroglyphs in Indus Script Corpora is to avoid ambiguities in expressions. Thus, hieroglyphs such as elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, buffalo, fish are incorporated in inscriptions to signify: karibha ‘trunk of elephant’ rebus: karba ‘iron’ ibha ‘elephant’ rebus: ib ‘iron’, gaNDa ‘rhinoceros’ rebus: khaNDA ‘implements’, kola ‘tiger’ rebus: kol ‘working in iron’, kolle ‘blacksmith’ kolhe ‘smelter’, ranga ‘buffalo’ rebus: ranga ‘pewter’, ayo, aya ‘fish’ rebus: aya ‘iron’ ayas ‘metal’. These are further complemented by other hieroglyphs such as standing person with legs spread, rim-of-jar to signify meD ‘body’ rebus: meD ‘iron’ PLUS karNika ‘legs spread out’ rebus: karNIka ‘Supercargo, engraver, scribe, account’; kanka, karNika ‘rim of jar’ rebus: karNI ‘Supercargo’ karNIka ‘engraver, scribe, account’ PLUS kanda ‘pot’ rebus: kanda ‘fire-altar’ khaNDa ‘implements’.
- Atideśa (indication or application) On some inscriptions, an additional orthographic device is used to indicate that a metal implement is the product being managed by a Supercargo. Thus, on a Chanhudaro seal, the double-axe signifies a metal axe.
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Double-axe found in a Mesopotamian site. Comparable to the double-axe shown on Chanhudaro seal C-23. Pictorial motif of a double-axe is a Sarasvati hieroglyph (Pict-133).
- Arthāpatti (implication)
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The fact that these hieroglyph compositions occur on bronze artifacts imply that the bronze metalwork is signified.![]()
- Nirṇaya (decision) A simple seal of Daimabad which merely shows the ‘rim of jar’ hieroglyph is a decisive signifier of the rebus message: kanka ‘rim of jar’ rebus: karNika ‘Supercargo’.
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15. Prasaṅga (restatement) A remarkable device in orthography on Indus Script Corpora is duplication.For example, a markhor is reduplicated back-to-back on a gold artifact.
Fig. 96f: Failaka no. 260 Double antelope at the belly in the Levant similar doubling occurs for a lion - Ekānta (categorical statement or invariable rule) On this pectoral, the categorical emphasis is on the overflowing pot (in addition to other hieroglyphs such as standard device and one-horned young bull). The categorical message relates to lo ‘overflowing’ kaNDa ‘pot’ rebus: lokhanda ‘metal implements’. The invariable rule of Indus Script Corpora is that inscriptions are metalwork catalogues, metalwork proclamations.
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- Naikānta / anekānta / anekārtha (comprising statement) Using the pectoral example this tantrayukti can be demonstrated. The message conveyed: kan.d. kan-ka 'rim of jar'(Santali)karn.aka 'ear or rim of jar' (Sanskrit) kan.d. 'pot' (Santali)Rebus: karan.ika 'writer' (Telugu). kan.d.'fire-altar' (Santali). করণিক [karaṇika] n an office-clerk, a clerk. কারণিক [kāraṇika] a pertaining to cause, causal; ex amining, judging. n. an examiner; a judge; a clerk (Bengali). खनक [Monier-Williams lexicon, p= 336,3]m. one who digs , digger , excavator MBh. iii , 640 R.
18. Apavarga / apavarja (exception or restriction of a pervasive rule) While many seals and tablets are incised, the writing also occurs in paint (perhaps ferrous oxide on metal) on a gold pendant.
This 2.5 inch long gold pendant has a 0.3 inch nib; its ending is shaped like a sewing or netting needle. It bears an inscription painted in Indus Script. This inscription is deciphered as a proclamation of metalwork competence.19. Viparyaya (opposite) I would not to elaborate on the objections raised by over 150 decipherment claims. My submission is that the orthography is NOT intended to signify syllables but full words, hence the script is logographic. Second point is that it is an error to exclude pictorial motifs from the decipherments and focus only on ‘signs’. Both signs and pictorial motifs have to signify TOGETHER a message of the Bronze Age. Most decipherments prejudge that names or titles should be signified by ‘signs’. This prejudgement leads to erroneous results. The possibility that all hieroglyphs (both signs and pictorial motifs) signify metalwork catalogues should NOT be ruled out because of the imperative created by the Bronze Age revolution which resulted in surplus goods which were bartered by seafaring merchants.
20. Pūrvapakṣa (objection) The previous arguments also relate to this device of tantra yukti. There are, in Indus Script Corpora words which signify functionaries like Supercargo and also minerals such magnetite (poLa ‘zebu’ rebus:poLa ‘magnetite ferrous ore’).
21. Vidhāna (right interpretation) The right interpretation should relate to the Bronze Age economic imperative. Wealth was created by metalwork and mintwork and artifacts were created like the Nahal Mishmar cire perdue artifacts which were proclaimed in processions (as evidenced by Jasper cylinder seal).
22. Anumata (concession or agreement) There is general consensus that Indus Script Corpora is related to trade since many seals also had exact replicas as seal impressions. So, the logical extension is to review the Corpora as metalwork catalogues for trade transactions.
23. Vyākhyāna (explanation) The explanation is provided in the decipherment of almost all 7000 inscriptions in 16 volumes which also include explanations of some pictorial motifs as Indus Script hieroglyphs on Ancient Near East and Persian Gulf (Dilmun) seals.
24. Samśaya (doubt) There are linguistic arguments which raise doubts about the Meluhha (Mleccha) language. It is possible that this was the spoken version of Prakrtam which co-existed with the chandas which is the literary version of Samskrtam or Vedic diction. There is general consensus that Ancient India was a sprachbund (language union or linguistic area) wince many features of languages of ancient Bharatam Janam ‘metalcaster folk’ as self-identification by Visvamitra in Rigveda (3.53.12) are common, such as the feature of reduplication to convey semantics, e.g. kandAnmuNDAn ‘bits and pieces’.
25. Atītāpekṣaṇa / atītavekṣaṇa (retrospective reference; atikrAntAveksana ‘reference to a past statement’) The occurrence of Indus Script hieroglyphs on Dong Son bronze drums is also explained by the occurrence of Yupa inscriptions in East Borneo and occurrence of S’ivalingas in the Ancient Far East. This suggests the possibility of a Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa because the largest tin belt of the globe is in the Far East, along the Mekong delta.
26. Anāgatāvekṣaṇa (prospective reference) The continued use of Indus Script hieroglyphs on early punch-marked coins from Takshasila to Karur to Anuradhapura are indicative of an Age of Symbols coterminous with the Bronze Age. The hieroglyphs signify metalwork catalogues and in many cases together with Brahmi or Kharoshthi inscriptions which signify names or titles using the syllabic scripts which are distinct from the logographic Indus Script hieroglyphs.
27. Svasaṁjñā (technical nomenclature) The entire Indus Script Corpora of about 7000 inscriptions provide many examples of technical nomenclature such as poLa (zebu) ‘magnetite ore’, maraka (peacock) ‘a type of steel’, rango (buffalo) ‘pewter, an alloy of copper, zinc and tin’, sattva ‘svastika hieroglyph’ rebus: sattva, jasta ‘zinc’.
28. Ūhya (deduction or what is understood) When a string of, say, five hieroglyphs signify minerals and operations in a furnace, the inference is that the signified is the metalworker or artisan working with such minerals and furnaces (in a workshop or mint).
29. Samuccaya (specification or combination, collection of ideas) A typical example of collection of related messages occurs in hieroglyph-multiplexes or hypertexts, say, of a composite animal.
Orthographic components explained by Dennys Frenez and Massimo Vidale.30. Nidarśana (illustration) The illustration of the devices of tantra yukti used occurs on a cylinder seal from Ancient Near East, the seal of Sharkali-Sharri.
Cylinder Seal of Ibni-Sharrum Agade period, reign of Sharkali-Sharri (c. 2217-2193 BCE)Mesopotamia Serpentine H. 3.9 cm; Diam. 2.6 cm Formerly in the De Clercq collection; gift of H. de Boisgelin, 1967 AO 22303 http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/continuity-in-hieroglyph-motifs-from.htmlThe signifiers: rango ‘buffalo’ rebus: rango ‘pewter’ lo ‘overflow’ kanda ‘pot’ rebus: lokhanda ‘metal implements’ baTa ‘six’ rebus: bhaTa ‘furnace’ meD ‘curl’ rebus: meD ‘iron’. Thus, Sharkali-Sharri is a smelter working with pewter and metal implements.
31. Nirvacana (definition or derivation or etymology of terms) An Indian Lexicon provides etyma which include most of the 25+ ancient languages of Indian sprachbund. Many metalwork terms used in Indus Script Corpora are traceable to one or more of the etyma of the sprachbund.
32. Niyoga / sanniyoga (injunction) The occurrence of Indus Script hieroglyphs on 21 stoneware ceramic bangles is a pointer to the 21 types of functions identified during the Bronze Age for metalwork.
33. Vikalpana (option) It is possible to indicate alternative rebus readings for some select inscriptions. Thus, a standing person may signify meD ‘body’ rebus: meD ‘iron’ and also ‘legs spread out’: karNika rebus: ‘Supercargo’ or karNaka ‘scribe, engraver’
34. Pratyutsāra / pratyucāra (rebuttal) The decipherment of Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogues is a rebuttal of arguments spuriously made that the people who created the writing system were ‘illiterates’ and hence, suggesting that the hieroglyphs are indicative of some rituals. The stronger argument is that the writing system was necessitated by the Bronze Age revolution which resulted in the production of surplus metal artifacts for exchange or barter transactions.
35. Uddhāra (reaffirmation) Inscription after inscription continue to refer to technical terms of metalwork, furnace/smelter work, mint work. This rebus rendering occurs for over 500 hieroglyphs (called signs) and over 100 hieroglyphs (called pictorial motifs)
36. Sambhava (possibility) The Indus Script Cipher as rebus reading of ancient Prakritam words points to the possibility that the Vedic Sarasvati River Basin was the epicenter of trade and production activity along the Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa which predated the Silk Road by over 2 millennia.
37. Paripraśna (question and answer) A paripras’na is: why would even wild animals be shown in front of feeding troughs, unless both the animal and the trough are hieroglyphs? Why was the water-carrier shown in parenthesis together with star hieroglyphs on a circular Gadd seal?
Seal impression, Ur (Upenn; U.16747); dia. 2.6, ht. 0.9 cm.; Gadd, PBA 18 (1932), pp. 11-12, pl. II, no. 12; Porada 1971: pl.9, fig.5; Parpola, 1994, p. 183; water carrier with a skin (or pot?) hung on each end of the yoke across his shoulders and another one below the crook of his left arm; the vessel on the right end of his yoke is over a receptacle for the water; a star on either side of the head (denoting supernatural?). The whole object is enclosed by 'parenthesis' marks. The parenthesis is perhaps a way of splitting of the ellipse (Hunter, G.R., JRAS, 1932, 476). An unmistakable example of an 'hieroglyphic' seal.38. Vyākaraṇa (grammar) Since the writing system is logographic and composed of lists of 0 to 5 terms (glosses), there is no need for grammatical expressions in the writing system on Indus Script Corpora or on devices used on early punch-marked and cast coins.
39. Vyutkrāntabhidāna (transgression) The presence of trefoils on the base of a s’ivalinga is a transgression of the adhyatmika connotations of the divine iconography of linga as a fiery pillar of light and fire. The base with trefoil may signify tri-dhAtu ‘three strands’ rebus: ‘three minerals’ which were subjected to smelting operations. The presence of a mukha ‘human face’ or Bhuteswar s’ivalinga atop a smelter is indicative of rebus: muha ‘quantity produced from a furnace, ingot’
40. Hetu (purpose)The tantrayukti devices have demonstrated the purpose of the Indus Script Corpora. They are metalwork catalogues as proclamations to promote trade. Such proclamations also occur on procession tablets or on a monolithic signboard of Dholavira.
Ten hieroglyphs on Dholavira signboard
m0490At m0490B Mohenjodaro Tablet showing Meluhha combined standard of three standards carried in a procession, comparable to Tablet m0491. m0491 Tablet. Line drawing (right). This tablet showing three hieroglyphs may be called the Meluhha standard.Combined reading for the joined or ligatured glyphs.Rebus reading is: dhatu kõdā sangaḍa ‘mineral, turner, stone-smithy guild’.
Dawn of the bronze age is best exemplified by this Mohenjo-daro tablet which shows a procession of three hieroglyphs carried on the shoulders of three persons. The hieroglyphs are: 1. Scarf carried on a pole (dhatu Rebus: mineral ore); 2. A young bull carried on a stand kõdā Rebus: turner; 3. Portable standard device (Top part: lathe-gimlet; Bottom part: portable furnace sã̄gāḍ Rebus: stone-cutter sangatarāśū ). sanghāḍo (Gujarati) cutting stone, gilding (Gujarati); sangsāru karaṇu = to stone (Sindhi) sanghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (Gujarati)
Dawn of the bronze age is best exemplified by this Mohenjo-daro tablet which shows a procession of three hieroglyphs carried on the shoulders of three persons. The hieroglyphs are: 1. Scarf carried on a pole (dhatu Rebus: mineral ore); 2. A young bull carried on a stand kõdā Rebus: turner; 3. Portable standard device (Top part: lathe-gimlet; Bottom part: portable furnace sã̄gāḍ Rebus: stone-cutter sangatarāśū ). sanghāḍo (Gujarati) cutting stone, gilding (Gujarati); sangsāru karaṇu = to stone (Sindhi) sanghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (Gujarati)
The procession is a celebration of the graduation of a stone-cutter as a metal-turner in a smithy/forge. A sangatarāśū ‘stone-cutter’ or lapidary of neolithic/chalolithic age had graduated into a metal turner’s workshop (koḍ), working with metallic minerals (dhatu) of the bronze age.
Three professions are described by the three hieroglyphs: scarf, young bull, standard device dhatu kõdāsã̄gāḍī Rebus words denote: ‘ mineral worker; metals turner-joiner (forge); worker on a lathe’ – associates (guild).
(Note: the terminology and citations are from M. Jayaraman, The doctrine of tantrayukti https://www.academia.edu/12132105/Tantrayukti )
S. Kalyanaraman Sarasvati Research Center, May 25, 2016