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Corpus of Inscriptions of Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization

This website devoted to promote the decipherment of the inscriptions, presents an Indian Lexicon, the metallurgical repertoire of the civilization, the entire corpus of objects and the full set of inscriptions on the objects, courtesy the magnificent aids provided by Vats, Marshall, Mackay, Hunter, Parpola and Mahadevan, among others who have compiled sign lists and concordances and archaeological reports.
[See acknowledgements; Sarasvati River bibliography (pdf format) and Indian Lexicon bibliography.]

 

The pictorials (field symbols) on hundreds of messages of the civilization are vivid and varied and occupy a major segment of the object containing the message.

Many signs of the inscriptions are also pictorial with distinct pictorial variants.

Bull (ibex, urus) with one curved horn and a standard 

This pectoral exemplifies the basic method of depiction of messages on seals or tablets: a pictorial motif is generally combined with a sign or cluster of about five signs.

This pectoral shows a one-horned animal (bull/ibex/urus) and a device (standard) placed in front of the animal. This pectoral has just one inscription with one pictogram on the upper register: 'an overflowing vessel'.

The civilization has yielded a statistically small corpus of messages inscribed on seals, tablets, metal (bronze-copper) objects, pottery graffiti and one monumental sign which might have adorned a gateway in Kotda (Dholavira, Rann of Kutch).

Ten signs presented on a monolithic sign-board of Dholavira (Kotda) read as follows:

Dholavira (Kotda) on Kadir island, Kutch, Gujarat22; 10 signs inscription found near the western chamber of the northern gate of the citadel high mound (Bisht, 1991: 81, Pl. IX); each sign is 37 cm. high and 25 to 27 cm. wide and made of pieces of white crystalline rock; the signs were apparently inlaid in a wooden plank ca. 3 m. long; maybe, the plank was mounted on the facade of the gate to command the view of the entire cityscape.

These ten in-laid, large-sized signs on the board are read from left to right. The 'spoked circle' sign seems to be the divider of the three-part message.

Orthographic analyses of:

The one-horned ibex/urus

The standard

Some samples of inscriptions: (These and more are presented in a slideshow to view each object on larger resolution)

Organizing (Clustering) the Corpus of Inscriptions
(Slide Shows and Preliminary Inferences) : To start with, a method to cluster the inscriptions to facilitate decipherment is explained.

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