Indus Script: Deciphering the Harappan Language and Grammar:

by Sandira Segaran

After nearly100 years, a concrete step has been taken towards a reasonable decipherment of the Indus Script. The research on Indus Script has definitely and unequivocally been taken to a higher level not hitherto explored. Phonetic schemata of Indus Script are developed step by step in a logical manner, on the models of Sumerian / Akkadian cuneiforms and Egyptian hieroglyphics, by identifying the vowels, the determinatives (phonetic and semantic) and phonetic modifiers (shortening and lengthening of vowel sounds and softening and hardening of consonant sounds) of the Indus Script. The reader himself, who conscientiously follows the logical steps described by me, would be able to decipher scores of Indus texts on his own. The book describes in great detail the new methodology adopted. It has been shown that the Indus Script was modelled on Mesopotamian Cuneiform and Egyptian Hieroglyphics with the usual ingredients of logograms (sense sign or word sign), phonograms (phonetic syllables), phonetic Indicators, determinatives (both phonetic and semantic), Rebus Principle and also The Harappan specials like Vowel Modifiers and Consonant Modifiers. Names of Hindu deities known from AncientClassical Tamil period, mostly South Indian rural ones, have been identified, such as The name of Punjab where the city state, Harappa was situated, is identified in the Indus Inscriptions as
ai āṟu ( ஐயாறு) ‘five rivers’ , and the guardian deity of Harappa or Punjab as ai āṟappan ( ஐயாறப்பன்) .
Both the above names exist today in Tamil Nadu.

The triumvirate VIPs of Indus city states are
(1) takaiyan (தகையன்) ‘aristocrat / property owner’
(2) savaiyan (சவையன்) ‘academician’
(3) usakaiyan (உசக்கையன்) ‘counsellor’

Motivated by the Egyptian hieroglyph for town, the equivalent Indus sign is found as nakar (நகர்) ‘town’.
In Mesopotamian cuneiform, town / city names are specified by use of the determinative iri / uru . In a similar way the Indus Scholars used the equivalent iru sign Û to yield the generic name for place of residence
ⱶÛ = ūr (ஊர்)

Some examples are also deciphered from Indus inscriptions such as,
āvūr (ஆவூர்)

iṟaiyūr (இறையூர்)

uṟaiyūr (உறையூர்)

and many more city/town names. There are places of the same names today in South India..

377 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2023