Language of Harappan Civilization; funerary pottery evidence

[S.Kalyanaraman]

"<Periannan.Chandrasekaran at DELTA-AIR.COM> wrote:> In relation to the peacock
and the dotted circles, I would like to draw> your attention to the Tamil word
"poRi" which means dot/spot as well as the> eye of the peacock's feather and
the feather itself...

Dear Chandrasekaran, thanks a lot for the insight. We may perhaps, be very
close to understanding the significance of the 'trefoil' motif; this is indeed
a dominant, almost reverential motif in the Harappan culture, as it recurs:
 
(1) On the uttari_yam of a 'priest',the ancient form of the homonym may be
close to 'poRRi', priest; cf. later uses in Tamil of pORRi = to laud; Ta.
poRkai = right-shoulder bare! 
(2) On a pedestal which could have held some type of icon (lin:gam?), the
equivalence may be to some early forms of semes recorded in DEDR 4283: Kota.
por = first offering of food to god in pabm ceremony; Ta. pura (-pp-, -tt-) =
reverence; Ka. pore = to nourish... 
(3) On the so-called 'device' (which is, perhaps, a depiction of a portable
furnace, also a gimlet used to incise into, say, seals; cf. Ta. poRi = to
inscribe!) normally in front of the so-called 'unicorn', the early form of a
homonym may be related to: Ta. pori = bake on live coals; Ma. pori = a spark
(DEDR 4537); cf. also Tu. burma = gimlet; perevuni = to be perforated.

The imagery of a peacock,viewed together with the trefoil motif, on a funerary
urn, may perhaps, be related to an ancient form of the lexemes:Santali. marak
= peacock; Skt. mayu_ra; with an ancient form of a homonym relatable to:
Parji. marp- (mart-)= to lighten; Kurux. merxa_ = sky, heaven; Malto. mergu =
sky, heaven; see Te. mer_umu = flash of lightning.

Regards,
Dr. S. Kalyanaraman



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