Unsealing the Indus Script : Anatomy of Its Decipherment

Contents: Acknowledgements. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. The historico-cultural background of the Indus Script. 3. Stratification of the Indus seals and graphs. 4. The invention of writing and the Indus script. 5. The relation of the Indus script with other scripts. 6. Typology of the Indus script. 7. The logic of graphic invention. 8. Graphs, their iconic originals and parallels in other scripts. 9. Graphs and their iconic originals: bird etc. representations. 10. Graphs, their iconic originals etc. (continued). 11. Graphs and their iconic originals etc. (contd.). 12. Weights and measures. 13. Numerical system of the Indus script. 14. The structure of the Indus script. 15. List of graphs, their iconic objects and meaning. 16. Application to texts. 17. Script without language. 18. The profile of possible Akkadian readings of graphs. 19. The credibility of unsealing. Appendices: i. Graphs appearing only once. ii. Stratigraphy of the seals of Harappa and Mohenjodaro: A reappraisal. iii. The decoding of the IS and the Indo-European postulate. Notes. Index.

"The book presents a decoding of the script of proto-historic civilization of the Indus Valley which flourished in the North and West of the Indian subcontinent between 3000-1850 B.C. This decoding comes after several failed attempts.

According to this book, the script belongs to the earliest type of writing invented and used by man to keep accounts. It is classified as logographic which means it is oriented to meaning rather than to sound or language. The other contemporaneous scripts in Egypt and Sumer were also of the same type. The tie-up between language and a set of symbols was not yet conceptualized. Consequently, the inscriptions found on the seals of the Indus Civilization only enlist things and their quantities transacted. The contents are thus totally mundane and secular.

The author relates the script to the earlier and later scripts and unravels the system of the script as well as the making of signs individually. Thus, when related to the iconic original, every sign yields its authentic meaning. The method and argument take the decoding to its logical end, viz. to unravel the economic system of the Harappans.

With the decline of the Indus Civilization, the script is assumed to have gone out of use, which is not confirmed by this study. The approach is altogether innovative, objective and professional. The meanings of signs--the most crucial element in the decoding--are supported by tracing the scientific traits in the icons and usage confirmed in archaeological data. With this methodology, this probably is the final decoding." (jacket)