The ancient script of the Indus Valley Civilisation remains one of the most elusive puzzles in the annals of history. Despite over a century of scholarly endeavour, the script that once flourished in this advanced Bronze Age society has resisted decipherment. In a recent development, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin has announced a $1 million reward for anyone who can successfully unlock its secrets.
This bold incentive follows a recent study by the state’s Department of Archaeology that identified striking parallels between graffiti marks of South India and those found in the Indus Valley.
Challenges in deciphering the script
The difficulty in deciphering the Indus script arises from several complex factors. A primary challenge is the absence of
multilingual inscriptions, which have historically been pivotal in
decoding ancient scripts, as exemplified by the Rosetta Stone’s role in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. Unfortunately, no such inscriptions exist for the Indus script, making direct comparisons with known languages impossible.
Moreover, the language underlying the script remains unknown. Unlike scripts that correspond to known languages, which offer some reference points for scholars, the Indus script represents an entirely unfamiliar linguistic system. This ambiguity complicates efforts to assign phonetic values to its symbols.
Adding to the difficulty is the limited corpus of material. Although approximately 3,500 inscribed seals have been discovered, each containing a mere average of five characters, the scarcity of extensive texts limits the scope of linguistic analysis. Furthermore, much about the Indus Valley Civilisation itself remains shrouded in mystery. Unlike the contemporaneous Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations, our knowledge of Harappan society is fragmentary, further hindering contextual interpretations of the script.
Previous attempts and scholarly debate
Over 100 documented attempts have been made to crack the Indus code, but none have been successful. Scholars have debated the number of signs in the script, with estimates ranging from 62 to 676, reflecting the profound disagreements among experts. The nature of the script, whether it represents a language at all, has also been questioned. Some scholars, such as historian Steve Farmer, computer linguist Richard Sproat, and Indologist Michael Witzel argue that the symbols are non-linguistic, serving political or religious purposes rather than phonetic writing.
Conversely, Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola and other proponents of the Dravidian hypothesis suggest that the script is a logosyllabic system, akin to those used by major ancient cultures. Parpola posits that the signs correspond to Dravidian words, with some signs representing homophones rather than direct pictorial meanings. This theory gains some support from the existence of Brahui, a Dravidian language spoken in Balochistan, hinting at a possible linguistic continuity.
Nationalistic motives and Sanskrit connections
Some scholars, such as S. R. Rao, have attempted to link the Indus script to Sanskrit, proposing that it served as a precursor to the ancient language of the Vedic period. These efforts are often viewed within the context of a broader nationalist project, aiming to establish the Indus Valley Civilisation as a direct antecedent of the Sanskritic tradition and indigenous Indian culture.
This perspective seeks to challenge the notion of Indo-Aryan migrations and emphasise the continuity of an ancient Indian civilisation. However, such theories have been met with criticism from other experts, who argue that archaeological evidence does not support a direct connection between the Indus script and Sanskrit, given the temporal and cultural gaps between the two.
The recent announcement of a substantial reward adds excitement and urgency to this ongoing mystery. Whether the script is eventually understood as a language or a symbolic system, its decipherment promises to offer valuable insights into the lives of the people who created it.