Three tokens were discovered in Kanmer with Indus Script inscriptions on both sides of the tokens. This monograph deciphers the inscriptionsand finds documentation of metalwork processes in furnace, alloying and smithy-forge. It is surmised that the three token set strung together may have resulted in the preparation on a seal of a bill of lading authenticating the products entrusted to the supercargo.
Location of Kanmer. Rann of Kuttch
Three identical Kanmer tokensInscription on obverse of Kanmer tokens: ![]()
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Three seal impressions of Kanmer are used on a string to constitute a set. The seal impressions are composed of the inscription:
Pictorial motif: khoṇḍ, kõda 'young bull-calf' खोंड [ khōṇḍa ] m A young bull, a bullcalf. (Marathi) ‘Pannier’ glyph: खोंडी [ khōṇḍī ] f An outspread shovelform sack (as formed temporarily out of a कांबळा, to hold or fend off grain, chaff &c.) Rebus: kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’ (Bengali) kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker’. कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) The pictorial motif is read rebus as: - کار کنده kār-kunda 'adroit, clever, experienced, director, manager' (Pashto)
PLUS 
These two hieroglyphs read from r. to l.: koḍa 'one' rebus: koḍ 'workshop' PLUS khareḍo 'a currycomb' rebus kharada खरडें daybook PLUS karṇaka कर्णक 'spread legs' rebus kanahār 'helmsman'. Thus, the message is: khareḍo koḍ karṇaka rebus: khareḍo 'daybook' (of) koḍ 'workshop' (of) kanahār 'helmsman'. Together, the inscription message is: daybook of workshop of helmsman. Three such seal impressions on three tokens of Kanmer constitute the consolidated cargo to be compiled on a seal message.
khareḍo 'a currycomb' (G.) Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (Gujarati) Rebus: kharada
खरडें daybook
Sign 38 is a hypertext composed of kharada खरडें daybook PLUS kanahār 'helmsman'. Thus, helmsman's daybook.
Variants of Sign 176
Sign 176 khareḍo 'a currycomb (Gujarati) Rebus: karaḍā खरडें 'daybook, wealth-कर्णक m. du. the two legs spread out AV. xx , 133 'spread legs'; (semantic determinant) Rebus: kanahār'helmsman', karNI 'scribe, account''supercargo'. कर्णक 'spread legs' rebus: 'helmsman', karNi 'supercargo'; meṛed 'iron' rebus: meḍh 'merchant' ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal'; 2. कर्णक 'spread legs' rebus: 'helmsman', karṇi 'supercargo' Indicative that the merchant is seafaring metalsmith. karṇadhāra m. ʻ helmsman ʼ Suśr. [
Kanmer seal with elephant pictorial motif PLUS Sign 38 is a hypertext: khareḍo 'a currycomb' rebus kharada खरडें daybook PLUS karṇaka कर्णक 'spread legs' rebus kanahār 'helmsman'. Pictorial motif: karibha, ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba, ib 'iron'. Thus, daybook of irnoworker, turner helmsman
Source:Kharakwal, JS, YS Rawat and Toshiki Osada, Excavations at Kanmer: A Harappan site in Kachchh, Gujarat, Puratattva, Number 39, 2009
Obverse and reverse of Kanmer tokens. Reverse has three different inscriptions. Courtesy: Toshiki Osada
Token 1 of Kanmer
Token 1 of Kanmer reverse side has a sequence of 3 signs read rebus:
ayo, hako 'fish'; a~s = scales of fish (Santali); rebus: aya = iron (G.); ayah, ayas = metal (Skt.)
Sign 343 kanda kanka 'rim of jar' कार्णिक 'relating to the ear' rebus: kanda kanka 'fire-trench account, karṇika 'scribe, account' karṇī 'supercargo',कर्णिक helmsman' PLUS खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). (Marathi) Rebus: khāṇḍā 'tools, pots and pans, metal-ware'. Thus, khāṇḍā karṇī 'metalware supercargo'.
Sign 1 karaṇa 'dance posture' rebus karaṇa 'scribe'. med 'body' rebus: med 'iron' (Mu.Ho.) It appears the orthography seeks to focus on the spread legs. कर्णक m. du. the two legs spread out AV. xx , 133 , 3 rebus: karNI 'helmsman, supercargo'.Thus, this token has the message that the cargo alloy metal product has been endorsed by the supercargo at the fire trench account stage of processing.
Token 2 of Kanmer
Enlarged view of the reverse side of one of the three Kanmer tokens. The inscription on the reverse side of this token is comparable to the two-sign sequence seen on a tablet from Khirsara1a. The sign-sequence is read rebus as:
குத்தா kuttā, குத்துவா kuttuvā, n. A herring, golden, glossed with purple, Pellona brachysoma; கடல்மீன்வகை Rebus: kōḍa 'workshop' PLUS khara 'equus hemionus' rebus: khār 'blacksmith'. Thus, one of the three tokens signifies that the cargo has been endorsed by the blacksmith workshop.Alternative reading:
Reverse side of a clay "token" from Kanmer, Kutch, with incised signs depicting (from right to left) 'wild ass' and 'ladder' (photo by Indus Project of RIHN).
khara 'equus hemionus' rebus:khār 'blacksmith
śrēṣṭrī 'ladder' Rebus: seṭh ʻ head of a guild, Members of the guild (working with a furnace). Thus, guild-master of the guild of blacksmiths.
Kanmer seal impression as a token has two signs on the obverse which are repeated as a two-sign sequence on Khirsara tablet.
Khirsara tablet two-sign sequence. The sequence is read rebus: khara 'equus hemionus' rebus:khār 'blacksmith'
PLUS kuttuvā 'herring bone' rebus: kōḍa 'workshop'. Thus, together, blacksmith workshop. The same reading may relate to the obverse of Kanmer seal impression 'token'. (Many dialectical variant phonetic forms of kuttuvā 'herring bone' include: kuṭṭa, kuṭṭai 'knotty log, handcuffs', khoḍ ʻ trunk or stump of a tree ʼ, ˚ḍā m. ʻ stocks for criminals ʼ. Hence, the rebus reading kōḍa'workshop, place of work of artisans' is realised.
Three identical seal impressions of Kanmer are used on a string to constitute a set.
Token 3 of Kanmer
The hypertextsal 'splinter' rebus: sal 'workshop' ganda 'four' rebus: kanda 'equipment'
baṭa = a kind of iron (G .) baṭa = rimless pot (Kannada)
S. baṭhu m. ‘large pot in which grain is parched, large cooking fire’, baṭhī f. ‘distilling furnace’; L. bhaṭṭh m. ‘grain—parcher's oven’, bhaṭṭhī f. ‘kiln, distillery’, awāṇ. bhaṭh; P. bhaṭṭh m., °ṭhī f. ‘furnace’, bhaṭṭhā m. ‘kiln’; S. bhaṭṭhī keṇī ‘distil (spirits)’. (CDIAL 9656)
Thus, one of the three tokens signifies with an inscription on the reverse of the token, that the cargo of equipment has been subjected to furnace processes..
It is surmised that the three tokens with three distinct inscriptions signify stages of metalwork processes: 1. furnace work; 2. alloying work; 2. blacksmith workshop (smithy, forge). The three tokens strung together would have been consolidated as cargo with an inscription on a seal handed over to the supercargo, a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale.
3.. Conclusive proof from Kharaputta-Jātaka and Kanmer seal for khara as equus hemionus which draws a royal chariot; rebus khār 'blacksmith' https://tinyurl.com/y3xa9vmu
4. Design principles of pictographic Indus Script, gleaned from 'unicorn', 'rim-of-jar' https://tinyurl.com/yya6g9gf
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Khirsara1a tablet
Decipherment:Hypertext of ![]()
Sign 336 has hieroglyph components: muka 'ladle' (Tamil)(DEDR 4887) Rebus: mū̃h'ingot' (Santali).PLUS![]()
Sign 328 baṭa 'rimless pot' rebus: baṭa 'iron' bhaṭa 'furnace'. The hypertext reads: mū̃h bhaṭa 'ingot furnace'
khara 'equus hemionus' rebus:khār 'blacksmith [Alternative: ranku ‘antelope’; rebus: ranku ‘tin’ (Santali)]
Sign 177 (Mahadevan ASI 1977 COncordance Signlist)śrēṣṭrī 'ladder' Rebus: seṭh ʻ head of a guild, Members of the guild (working with a furnace). [Alternative: panǰā́r ‘ladder, stairs’ (Bshk.)(CDIAL 7760) Rebus: pasra ‘smithy’ (Santali)]
Thus, guild-master of the guild of blacksmiths.
badhi ‘to ligature, to bandage, to splice, to join by successive rolls of a ligature’ (Santali) batā bamboo slips (Kur.); bate = thin slips of bamboo (Malt.)(DEDR 3917). Rebus: baḍhi = worker in wood and metal (Santali) baṛae = blacksmith (Ash.)
kolmo ‘three’ (Mu.); rebus: kolimi ‘smithy’ (Te.)
khaṇḍ ‘division’; rebus: kaṇḍ ‘furnace’ (Santali) khaḍā ‘circumscribe’ (M.); Rebs: khaḍā ‘nodule (ore), stone’ (M.)
bharna = the name given to the woof by weavers; otor bharna = warp and weft (Santali.lex.) bharna = the woof, cross-thread in weaving (Santali); bharni_ (H.) (Santali.Boding.lex.) Rebus: bhoron = a mixture of brass and bell metal (Santali.lex.) bharan = to spread or bring out from a kiln (P.lex.) bha_ran. = to bring out from a kiln (G.) ba_ran.iyo = one whose profession it is to sift ashes or dust in a goldsmith’s workshop (G.lex.) bharant (lit. bearing) is used in the plural in Pan~cavim.s’a Bra_hman.a (18.10.8). Sa_yan.a interprets this as ‘the warrior caste’ (bharata_m – bharan.am kurvata_m ks.atriya_n.a_m). *Weber notes this as a reference to the Bharata-s. (Indische Studien, 10.28.n.2)
kuṭi = a slice, a bit, a small piece (Santali.lex.Bodding) Rebus: kuṭhi ‘iron smelter furnace’ (Santali)
Hieroglyph ḍhaṁkaṇa 'lid' rebus dhakka 'excellent, bright, blazing metal article'
meḍhi 'plait' meḍ 'iron'; daürā 'rope' Rebus dhāvḍā 'smelter'
kṣōḍa m. ʻ post to which an elephant is fastened ʼ lex. [Poss. conn. with *