Deciphering the Harappan 'cult object'

[kalyans at ix.netcom.com]

THE 'CULT OBJECT' ON HARAPPAN SEALS

What was this 'cult object' which occurs on Harappan 
seals 'called' in the lingua franca of circa 
2500-1700 BC?

Using the 'rebus' principle for decipherment of 
glyphs is a method that proved successful in 
deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. This principle 
has been modified and extended to cope with the 
Harappan glyphs (e.g. svastika) and other pictorial 
motifs (e.g. unicorn, 'cult object', animals 
occupying the 'field' of the seals with inscribed 
sign sequences).

WHAT DOES THE 'CULT OBJECT' LOOK LIKE?

It is a portable device that could be carried with 
hands aloft the shoulder of the carrier, as evidenced 
in Harappan tablets where this object occurs also a 
field symbol by itself (without the ubiquitous 
'unicorn'). The structure has two elements.

It depicts a 'flow' or a 'churning motion' on the 
upper element. The upper element ends in a tapering, 
sharp-pointed edge as it is rests  on the lower 
element.

The lower element is a bowl which also depicts some 
'spilling' or 'drops' or alternatively, some 'smoke 
or dust' and 'dotted droplets'.

Mahadevan calls the structure a 'filter' and sees 
echoes of 'soma process.

I call it a 'drill-lathe'. It looks like a drill used 
by the lapidary to drill holes in, say, faience 
beads. 

The rationale for this interpretation is as follows: 
The upper element is the sharp-pointed drill bit 
depicted with zig-zag lines in a churning motion. 

The lower element is a portable stove depicted with 
flames or smoke emanating and bits of 'drilled' 
articles depicted with dotted circles around the 
bowl.

WHAT WAS THE 'CULT OBJECT' CALLED?

There is a morpheme in Gujarati (and cognate words of 
South asian languages which can be semantically 
clustered) which connotes both a 'drill-lathe' and a 
'portable stove'.

The morpheme is sangaDi. Rebus: jangaDi is an 
extraordinarily specific, technical-professional term 
in Gujarati. It connotes an armored guard who 
accompanies the treasure brought into or taken out of 
the treasury. A cognate Sanskritized morpheme is 
jagada = a guard. cf. also jagati = pedestal.

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman kalyans at ix.netcom.com 2 July 1995