Deciphered!!! (was: Harappan Deciphered?!)

[Michael Witzel]

Arun Gupta:

>So, while I have little trust in the scholarship of the Hindutva folks, I
>have lost trust in the "mainstream" scholars as well.

I do not wish to enter that discussion since it is almost entirely political.

However:

>Re: decipherment of the Harappan script -- you people will make it like
>Fermat's last theorem in mathematics -- no respectable academic will be able
>to admit in public to working on the problem.  You all should be ashamed
>of yourself.

I think if we indeed have to talk of 'shame' here  is is to be assumed by
all those who broadcast earth shattering discoveries, though these are
based on VERY limited foundations -- as shown repeatedly in this list, and
by those who in  doing so rewrite the history of S. Asia as it pleases
them.

Rather,
what needs to be done, is not to engage in  lofty speculations but to start
from square one: a proper list of characters and of sign combinations.
800, not 400 signs.  The Indus matter *may* indeed be unsolvable with
present materials in hand.

But, so was the Maya script, or so some scholars insisted, while others
published similar grand decipherments, -- until gradual progress was made
through a step-by step approach and *cooperation* of a few scholars. Once
read, the peaceful Maya turned out to be as warlike and bloodthursty as
everybody else everywhere anytime.

The great difference between the Maya decipherment and that of the Indus
script is  of course that we have still their descendants, only 500 years
later, speaking various Maya languages, in the same area, and that we even
have a contemporaneous mythological text (Popol Vuh) that is already
written in Latin characters. Basically, it came down to decipher the
admittedly difficult script . None of the such materials exist for the
Indus script.

Neither the language nor the meaning of script is known.
In that sense, you have your Fermat's theorem.

But, both the script as well as the possibly underlying languages can be
put to a number of tests, starting with a definite character list. Second,
no languages except Pseudo-Vedic Sanskrit and Proto-Dravidian (erroneoausly
called: a language never spoken by a people that never existed, to
parapharase Rajaram) have been tried out in detail, with some of the
results seen on this list. Both languages MAY have indeed been spoken in
the Indus area by *some* people, we cannot be sure at this time.

However,  there are scores of other languages that need to be tested, from
Burushaski to Para-Munda (preserved in some 300  loan words  in the
Rgveda), Masica's language X of the Gangetic plains,  Pre-Nahali,
Pre-Tharu, Proto-Kusunda, Pre-Kashmiri, and the loans of the BMAC language
(in Rgveda/Old Iranian) --- all of them either surviving as modern
languages or as substrates in the areas that neighbor the Indus
Civilization. As I have pointed out, nobody has looked in to the substrate
of Panjabi and Sindhi  - the two  most likely candidates for some
restricted survivals of the Indus language(s).

These languages  have not been studied for that purpose.  And why don't the
various 'decipherers" take an interest in this? They already KNOW what the
characters of the script mean and WHICH language they represent. That is,
however, optimism at best or  (self-)delusion at worst.

Test and re-test! That will at least allow us to say: "we have a possible
solution" or: "there is not enough evidence to be sure." Everything else is
speculation.

It is of course our duty to point out such wong turns or phantasies.
Scholarship progresses dialectically.

For details of past failures one should read  G. Possehl's list &
discussion of failed atttempts:
Indus Age, The Writing System . New Delhi/Calcutta 1996.

I hope that clears the air.

-------------------------


========================================================
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies:  http://www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs