Early Ravi/Harappa phase: new discoveries

[S.Kalyanaraman]

"Yaroslav V. Vassilkov" <yavass at YV1041.SPB.EDU> wrote:
...> All serious studies of the Indus script (by *serious* I mean those which
> used modern scientific methodics - the works of Yuri Knorozov' group in >
Russia, Asko Parpola's group in Finland and > such scholars as I.Mahadevan in
India) - all such studies point rather in > the direction of the
Proto-Dravidian as the language of the IVC.

I agree that these scholars have theorised assuming a proto-Dravidian.
The problem, however, is similar to the earlier problems faced by the
Aryan invasion theories: the absence of archaeological evidence pointing
to the continuity of the Late Harappan with the proto-Dravidian culture.
(virtually no finds, excepting for a Daimabad round seal with the 'jar' motif
on the banks of Pravara, a tributary of Godavari river). Sarasvati
river desiccation is likely to explain the migrations eastward into the
Ganga-Yamuna doab and south/east of Surat (cf. expansion of rice cultivation);
perhaps, the tracing of proto-Dravidian substratum words in Bhojpuri (and old
Gujarati) may help identify the early forms of the language ca. 1300 BC,
assuming that some Harappans did move to Bhojpuri (and Saurashtra)... Hundreds
of settlements in Saurashtra do point to a continuity beyond 1300 BC...

Regards, Kalyanaraman



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