Philosophy of Symbolic Forms in Meluhha Cipher
Author: S Kalyanaraman
Publisher: Herndon , Rs2,490
The author has substantially documented hieroglyphs from British museum, seals as well as Sumerian and Ur inscriptions. It is a premier research work for all interested in early India, writes HARI SHANKAR
Excavations and archaeological research on Tin Route brings evidence on tin, brought from the mountains of Afghanistan to Baluchistan and Indus basins, and overland across Iran to the city of Eshnunna on the Tigris river in Mesopotamia. From Mesopotamia it was later transported overland, via the city of Mari on the Euphrates, to the port of Ugarit in northern Syria, and into the Middle East. There were two known sources of tin — Afghanistan and Anatolia. The increased demand of tin for bronze production opened up trade with Afghanistan, and thus the first known trade route, the Tin Road, was born.
S Kalyanaraman’s new book juxtaposes archaeology and hermaneutics. The philosophical hermaneutics attempted in this work provides evidence associated with Meluhha speakers of the Bronze Age. Meluhha was the name by which Harappan or Indus-Sarasvati civilisation was known to Mesopotamia. Growth of bronze technology necessitated a writing system of Meluhha cipher as evident from corpora of nearly 7000 inscriptions. Meluhha cipher was used with cuneiform syllable symbolic forms in Fertile Crescent and Ancient Near East.
Kalyanaraman argues that Meluhha is cognate of Sanskrit Mleccha. The author traces the evolution of the term in literary corpus and archaeological remains in Western India and Mesopotamia. Kalyanaraman identifies and discusses Mleccha as referred to in Sathapathabrahmana, Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharata, Matsyapurana, andArthasastra. Sathapathabrahmana provides the early evidence of the Mleccha speech. Thus a Brahmana text refers to Mleccha in terms of linguistic identity. In Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, Mleccha gets semantically associated with indistinct speech.
Proto Indic language in ancient Indian texts by Bharatamuni and also in Manusmriti are discussed by Kalyanaraman. In the Mahabharata, Pahlava, Sabara, Saka, Yavana, Pundra, Kirata, Dramila, Simbhala, Barbara and Darada are collectively referred as Mleccha. Presenting literary evidence from Mahabharata and Vishnupurana, Kalyanaraman proposes that Meluhha is the region around Gandhara. The author also discusses at length the influence of Sanskrit language and literature on Tamil Sangam literary corpus.
Presenting archaeological evidence, Kalyanaraman argues a cultural continuity in India and proposes the rechristening of over 2,000 Bronze Age sites on the Sarasvati basin as Sarasvati civilisation. The presence of Meluhha artisans in a comprehensive mercantile region extending from the foothills of the Himalayas to Pontic mountains in Turkey is supported by Meluhha hieroglyphs.
From the mid-third millennium BCE, Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform sources frequently mention Makkan, the southern shore of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea and Meluhha, the northern shore of Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea which includes the Indus valley. Further, Melukka appears occasionally in cuniform texts of the Old Akkadian and Ur III Periods referring to the region of Sarasvati civilisation. As testimony, Kalyanaraman cites Asko and Simo Parpola. The author has substantially documented hieroglyphs from British museum, seals as well as Sumerian and Ur inscriptions.
In the archaeometallurgical context, the importance of zinc is discussed by the author. Zinc smelting at Udaipur in Rajasthan is the earliest site of zinc production in the world. Copper and bronze metallurgy are discussed in Harappan context as well as Mesopotamian trade network.
Hieroglyphs on tablets from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and other Indus-Sarasvati sites are presented by the author symbolising processions of lapidary-artisan competence. Evidence of Sivalingas in terracotta and stone unearthed from Kalibangan, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are discussed in relation to pillars from Dholavira shaped as lingas.
Kalyanaraman discusses ancient Indian texts such as Vishnusamhita, Manasara Silpa and Manasollasa in support of lost wax method which was largely practiced in Ganga valley and Odisha-Andhra region. Further, the chronology of archaeological cultures of Ganga valley has gone back to 1800 BC, changing our idea of the late Vedic Period.The author highlights the importance of the Painted Grey Ware site of Purola which has yielded Syenachiti or the brickaltar associated with Vedic sacrifices. Kalyanaraman argues that reduplication as a hallmark of Indian languages, is an important feature explains the presence of many homonyms in Mleccha. It enabled symbolic forms of words to be signified by Meluhha hieroglyphs. The importance of major trade routes linking Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, Mesopotamia and central Asia are also discussed from the archaeological perspective.
Meticulously researched with wide ranging tools, Kalyanaraman has discussed the work quite comprehensively and presented in a rather thematic way. Using interdisciplinary data, it breaks our conventional concept of Mleccha. There are more than hundred figures, and also maps as well as reference and index which supplement the rather new and brilliant presentation. It is a premier research work for all interested in early India.
