Indus script

<h2 id="corpus">Corpus</h2>

See also: <a href="/facts/Periodisation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation/3WdFlAFg">Periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilisation</a>
By 1977 at least 2,906 inscribed objects with legible inscriptions had been discovered,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> and by 1992 a total of approx. 4,000 inscribed objects had been found.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a> In 2025, it was reported around 5,000 inscriptions have been excavated since 1924.
<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a>
Indus script symbols have primarily been found on <a href="/facts/Stamp_seal/Ag7haVYH">stamp seals</a>, pottery, bronze, and <a href="/facts/Indian_copper_plate_inscriptions/pB5cmkxm">copper plates</a>, tools, and weapons.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a> The majority of the <a href="/facts/Textual_corpus/bYeEQQdh">textual corpus</a> consists of seals, impressions of such seals, and graffiti markings inscribed on pottery.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a> Seals and their impressions were typically small in size and portable, with most being just 2–3 centimetres in length on each side.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a> No extant examples of the Indus script have been found on perishable organic materials like <a href="/facts/Papyrus/RMbJNcXu">papyrus</a>, paper, textiles, leaves, wood, or bark.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a>

<h3>Early Harappan</h3>
Early examples of the Indus script have been found on pottery inscriptions and clay impressions of inscribed Harappan seals dating to around c. 2800–2600 BCE during the <a href="/facts/Early_Harappan_period/6xM4aK23">Early Harappan period</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a> and emerging alongside administrative objects such as seals and <a href="/facts/Indus_Valley_civilisation/6xM4aK23">standardised weights</a> during the <a href="/facts/Kot_Diji/RYw13V7v">Kot Diji</a> phase of this period.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> However, excavations at Harappa have demonstrated the development of some symbols from potter's marks and graffiti belonging to the earlier <a href="/facts/Ravi_River/5fI8WhDB">Ravi</a> phase from c. 3500–2800 BCE.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29">29</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30">30</a>

<h3>Mature Harappan</h3>
In the <a href="/facts/Mature_Harappan_period/6xM4aK23">Mature Harappan period</a>, from about c. 2600–1900 BCE, strings of Indus signs are commonly found on flat, rectangular <a href="/facts/Stamp_seal/Ag7haVYH">stamp seals</a> as well as written or inscribed on a multitude of other objects including pottery, tools, tablets, and ornaments. Signs were written using a variety of methods including carving, chiselling, embossing, and painting applied to diverse materials such as <a href="/facts/Terracotta/Yze0TnSH">terracotta</a>, <a href="/facts/Sandstone/RP8B6fqL">sandstone</a>, <a href="/facts/Soapstone/g0bAFg66">soapstone</a>, bone, shell, copper, silver, and gold.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31">31</a> As of 1977, Iravatham Mahadevan noted that about 90% of the Indus script seals and inscribed objects discovered so far were found at sites in <a href="/facts/Pakistan/cbIsvJy1">Pakistan</a> along the <a href="/facts/Indus_River/7vTRHA4t">Indus River</a> and its tributaries, such as <a href="/facts/Mohenjo-daro/aC8lQMa4">Mohenjo-daro</a> and <a href="/facts/Harappa/bKWEUjH0">Harappa</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32">32</a> while other sites located elsewhere account for the remaining 10%.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33">33</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34">34</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:35" href="#fn:35">35</a> Often, animals such as bulls, <a href="/facts/Water_buffalo/f2lsvXBv">water buffaloes</a>, elephants, rhinoceros, and the mythical "<a href="/facts/Unicorn/DSLd4tTI">unicorn</a>"<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:36" href="#fn:36">36</a> accompanied the text on seals, possibly to help the illiterate identify the origin of a particular seal.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:37" href="#fn:37">37</a>

<h3>Late Harappan</h3>
The <a href="/facts/Late_Harappan_period/xI1LLDp2">Late Harappan period</a>, from c. 1900–1300 BCE, followed the more urbanised Mature Harappan period, and was a period of fragmentation and localisation which preceded the early <a href="/facts/Iron_Age_in_India/0To7yMhA">Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent</a>. Inscriptions have been found at sites associated with the localised phases of this period. At Harappa, the use of the script largely ceased as the use of inscribed seals ended around c. 1900 BCE; however, the use of the Indus script may have endured for a longer duration in other regions such as at <a href="/facts/Rangpur%2c_Gujarat/Qu8w9LJE">Rangpur, Gujarat</a>, particularly in the form of graffiti inscribed on pottery.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:38" href="#fn:38">38</a> Seals from the <a href="/facts/Jhukar_Phase/0FVjDeYR">Jhukar phase</a> of the Late Harappan period, centred on the present-day province of <a href="/facts/Sindh/1cbCeMv8">Sindh</a> in Pakistan, lack the Indus script, however, some <a href="/facts/Potsherd/5axlcVQ4">potsherd</a> inscriptions from this phase have been noted.[31] Both seals and potsherds bearing Indus script text, dated c. 2200–1600 BCE, have been found at sites associated with the <a href="/facts/Daimabad/4YopXdj5">Daimabad</a> culture of the Late Harappan period, in present-day <a href="/facts/Maharashtra/4hAVYlb4">Maharashtra</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:39" href="#fn:39">39</a>

<h3>Post-Harappan</h3>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Megalithic_graffiti_symbols/bxrvHDUR">Megalithic graffiti symbols</a>
Numerous artefacts, particularly potsherds and tools, bearing markings inscribed into them have been found in Central India, South India, and Sri Lanka dating to the <a href="/facts/Megalith/wnyXzqda">Megalithic</a> Iron Age which followed the Late Harappan period. These markings include inscriptions in the Brahmi and <a href="/facts/Tamil-Brahmi/vHmYf1pY">Tamil-Brahmi</a> scripts, but also include non-Brahmi <a href="/facts/Megalithic_graffiti_symbols/bxrvHDUR">graffiti symbols</a> which co-existed contemporaneously with the Tamil-Brahmi script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:40" href="#fn:40">40</a> As with the Indus script, there is no scholarly consensus on the meaning of these non-Brahmi symbols. Some scholars, such as the anthropologist <a href="/facts/Gregory_Possehl/un9pVLHw">Gregory Possehl</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:41" href="#fn:41">41</a> have argued that the non-Brahmi graffiti symbols are a survival and development of the Indus script into and during the 1st millennium BCE.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:42" href="#fn:42">42</a> In 1960,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:43" href="#fn:43">43</a> archaeologist <a href="/facts/B._B._Lal_(archaeologist)/szaL4E0U">B. B. Lal</a> found that a majority<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:44" href="#fn:44">44</a> of the megalithic symbols he had surveyed were identifiably shared with the Indus script, concluding that there was a commonness of culture between the Indus Valley Civilisation and the later Megalithic period.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:45" href="#fn:45">45</a> Similarly, <a href="/facts/Early_Indian_epigraphy/azQhpsoP">Indian epigraphist</a> <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Iravatham Mahadevan</a> has argued that sequences of Megalithic graffiti symbols have been found in the same order as those on comparable Harappan inscriptions and that this is evidence that language used by the Iron Age people of south India was related to or identical with that of the late Harappans.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:46" href="#fn:46">46</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:47" href="#fn:47">47</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:48" href="#fn:48">48</a>

<h2 id="characteristics">Characteristics</h2>

The characters are largely <a href="/facts/Pictogram/6HmoV1u6">pictorial</a>, depicting objects found in the ancient world generally, found locally in Harappan culture, or derived from the natural world.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:49" href="#fn:49">49</a> However, many abstract signs have also been identified. Some signs are compounds of simpler pictorial signs, while others are not known to occur in isolation, being known only to occur as components of more complex signs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:50" href="#fn:50">50</a> Some signs resemble <a href="/facts/Tally_marks/5rNQKmnM">tally marks</a> and are often interpreted as <a href="/facts/Prehistoric_counting/pmJL5fdP">early numerals</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:51" href="#fn:51">51</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:52" href="#fn:52">52</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:53" href="#fn:53">53</a>

<h3>Number and frequency</h3>
The number of principal signs is over 400, which is considered too large a number for each character to be a <a href="/facts/Phonogram_(linguistics)/HbQQXvXx">phonogram</a>, and so the script is generally believed to be <a href="/facts/Logogram/wWYAITGc">logo-syllabic</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:54" href="#fn:54">54</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:55" href="#fn:55">55</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:56" href="#fn:56">56</a> The precise total number of signs is uncertain, as there is disagreement concerning whether particular signs are distinct or variants of the same sign.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:57" href="#fn:57">57</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:58" href="#fn:58">58</a> In the 1970s, the <a href="/facts/Early_Indian_epigraphy/azQhpsoP">Indian epigrapher</a> <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Iravatham Mahadevan</a> published a <a href="/facts/Text_corpus/bYeEQQdh">corpus</a> and <a href="/facts/Concordance_(publishing)/WDLI6MA8">concordance</a> of Indus inscriptions listing 419 distinct signs in specific patterns.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:59" href="#fn:59">59</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:60" href="#fn:60">60</a> However, in 2015, the archaeologist and epigrapher Bryan Wells estimated that were around 694 distinct signs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:61" href="#fn:61">61</a>

Of the signs identified by Mahadevan, 113 occur only once (are <a href="/facts/Hapax_legomenon/JLq2cjtJ">hapax legomena</a>), 47 occur only twice, and 59 occur fewer than five times.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:62" href="#fn:62">62</a> Just 67 signs account for 80 percent of usage across the corpus of Indus symbols.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:63" href="#fn:63">63</a> The most frequently used sign is the "jar" sign,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:64" href="#fn:64">64</a> identified by Parpola as 'sign 311'.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:65" href="#fn:65">65</a>

<h3>Writing direction</h3>
Most scholars agree that the Indus script was generally read from <a href="/facts/Right_to_left/BJEXET2w">right to left</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:66" href="#fn:66">66</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:67" href="#fn:67">67</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:68" href="#fn:68">68</a> though some exceptions wherein the script is written left to right or in a <a href="/facts/Boustrophedon/pfqxtPj7">boustrophedon</a> mode are also known.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:69" href="#fn:69">69</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:70" href="#fn:70">70</a> Although the script is undeciphered, the writing direction has been deduced from external evidence, such as instances of the symbols being compressed on the left side as if the writer is running out of space at the end of the row.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:71" href="#fn:71">71</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:72" href="#fn:72">72</a> In the case of seals, which create a <a href="/facts/Mirror_image/xkbUhBzI">mirror image</a> impression on the clay or ceramic on which the seal is affixed, the impression of the seal is read from right to left, as is this case with inscriptions in other cases.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:73" href="#fn:73">73</a>

<h3>Relationship to other scripts</h3>

Some researchers have sought to establish a relationship between the Indus script and <a href="/facts/Brahmi/Bflxwzu6">Brahmi</a>, arguing that it is a <a href="/facts/Substratum_(linguistics)/L73fjNSr">substratum</a> or ancestor to later writing systems used in the region of the Indian subcontinent. Others have compared the Indus script to roughly contemporary pictographic scripts from <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a> and the <a href="/facts/Iranian_plateau/qIVWN4aH">Iranian plateau</a>, particularly <a href="/facts/Sumerian_language/LM6x88vp">Sumerian</a> <a href="/facts/Proto-cuneiform/MgIQoGu8">proto-cuneiform</a> and <a href="/facts/Elamite/ebpHtDtc">Elamite</a> scripts.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:74" href="#fn:74">74</a> However, researchers now generally agree that the Indus script is not closely related to any other writing systems of the second and third millennia BCE, although some convergence or <a href="/facts/Cultural_diffusion/EURDJKVV">diffusion</a> with Proto-Elamite conceivably may be found.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:75" href="#fn:75">75</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:76" href="#fn:76">76</a> A new study has also noticed a relationship with scripts across the <a href="/facts/Yi_script/VE9bfJKS">Tibetian-Yi</a> corridor.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:77" href="#fn:77">77</a> A definite relationship between the Indus script and any other script remains unproven.

<h4>Comparisons with Brahmi</h4>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Brahmi/Bflxwzu6">Brahmi § Indigenous origin hypothesis</a>
Researchers have compared the Indus Valley script to the <a href="/facts/Brahmi/Bflxwzu6">Brahmi</a> and <a href="/facts/Tamil-Brahmi/vHmYf1pY">Tamil-Brahmi</a> scripts, suggesting that there may be similarities between them. These similarities were first suggested by early European scholars, such as the archaeologist <a href="/facts/John_Marshall_(archaeologist)/oFCD0eXE">John Marshall</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:78" href="#fn:78">78</a> and the <a href="/facts/Assyriology/Qbcm4UyU">Assyriologist</a> <a href="/facts/Stephen_Herbert_Langdon/gAMccmFV">Stephen Langdon</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:79" href="#fn:79">79</a> with some, such as G. R. Hunter,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:80" href="#fn:80">80</a> proposing an <a href="/facts/Brahmi_script/Bflxwzu6">indigenous origin of Brahmi</a> with a derivation from the Indus script.

<h4>Comparisons with Proto-Elamite</h4>

See also: <a href="/facts/Indus%25E2%2580%2593Mesopotamia_relations/gsV17bFQ">Indus–Mesopotamia relations</a> and <a href="/facts/Elamo-Dravidian_languages/wlCv3qoT">Elamo-Dravidian languages</a>
Researchers have also compared the Indus Valley script with the <a href="/facts/Proto-Elamite_script/2vpP1HGf">Proto-Elamite script</a> used in <a href="/facts/Elam/qzj9ATAt">Elam</a>, an ancient Pre-Iranian civilisation that was contemporaneous with the Indus Valley civilisation. Their respective scripts were contemporary to each other, and both were largely pictographic.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:81" href="#fn:81">81</a> About 35 Proto-Elamite signs may possibly be comparable to Indus signs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:82" href="#fn:82">82</a> Writing in 1932, G. R. Hunter argued, against the view of Stephen Langdon, that the number of resemblances "seem to be too close to be explained by coincidence".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:83" href="#fn:83">83</a>

<h2 id="theories-and-attempts-at-decipherment">Theories and attempts at decipherment</h2>

Further information: <a href="/facts/Harappan_language/slRECrmL">Harappan language</a>
<h3>Decipherability</h3>
The following factors are usually regarded as the biggest obstacles to successful decipherment:

<ul><li>Inscriptions are very short. The average length of the inscriptions is around five signs,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:84" href="#fn:84">84</a> and the longest only 34 characters long, found on a <a href="/facts/Indian_copper_plate_inscriptions/pB5cmkxm">copper plate</a> belonging to the mature Harappan period.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:85" href="#fn:85">85</a> Inscriptions vary between just one and seven lines, with single lines being the most common.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:86" href="#fn:86">86</a></li>
<li>67 signs account for 80 percent of the writing that has been identified.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:87" href="#fn:87">87</a></li>
<li>There are doubts whether the Indus script records a written language or is instead a system of non-linguistic signs or <a href="/facts/Proto-writing/LW2yoFHG">proto-writing</a> similar to <a href="/facts/Merchant%2527s_mark/l1xNacQ7">merchant's marks</a> and <a href="/facts/House_mark/sLJusa42">house marks</a>, and to the contemporary <a href="/facts/Accounting_token/8KxMa3sD">accounting tokens</a> and <a href="/facts/History_of_ancient_numeral_systems/8KxMa3sD">numerical</a> <a href="/facts/Clay_tablet/9mbScsAn">clay tablets</a> of Mesopotamia.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:88" href="#fn:88">88</a> Due to the brevity of inscriptions, some researchers have questioned whether Indus symbols can even express a spoken language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:89" href="#fn:89">89</a></li>
<li>The spoken <a href="/facts/Harappan_language/slRECrmL">Harappan language</a> has not been identified, so, assuming the script is a written language, the language the script is most likely to express is unknown.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:90" href="#fn:90">90</a> However, an estimated 300 loanwords in the <a href="/facts/Rigveda/7dyqIlsJ">Rigveda</a> may provide evidence of <a href="/facts/Substratum_(linguistics)/L73fjNSr">substrate</a> language(s) which may have been spoken in the region of the <a href="/facts/Indus_civilisation/6xM4aK23">Indus civilisation</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:91" href="#fn:91">91</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:92" href="#fn:92">92</a>[70]</li>
<li>No <a href="/facts/Digraphia/Du8t01rg">digraphic</a> or <a href="/facts/Bilingual_inscription/Tp9prKFm">bilingual texts</a>, like the <a href="/facts/Rosetta_Stone/8JLFP1NN">Rosetta Stone</a>, have been found.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:93" href="#fn:93">93</a></li>
<li>No names, such as those of Indus rulers or personages, are known to be attested in surviving historical records or myths, as was the case with rulers like Rameses and Ptolemy, who were known to <a href="/facts/Hieroglyph/Tr41pTYA">hieroglyphic</a> decipherers from records attested in Greek.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:94" href="#fn:94">94</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:95" href="#fn:95">95</a></li></ul>
Over the years, numerous decipherments have been proposed, but there is no established scholarly consensus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:96" href="#fn:96">96</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:97" href="#fn:97">97</a> The few points on which there exists scholarly consensus are the right-to-left direction of the majority of the inscriptions,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:98" href="#fn:98">98</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:99" href="#fn:99">99</a> numerical nature of certain stroke-like signs,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:100" href="#fn:100">100</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:101" href="#fn:101">101</a> functional homogeneity of certain terminal signs,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:102" href="#fn:102">102</a> and some generally adopted techniques of segmenting the inscriptions into initial, medial, and terminal clusters.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:103" href="#fn:103">103</a> Over 100 (mutually exclusive) attempts at decipherment have been published since the 1920s,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:104" href="#fn:104">104</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:105" href="#fn:105">105</a> and the topic is popular among amateur researchers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:106" href="#fn:106">106</a>
In 2025, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister <a href="/facts/M._K._Stalin/VoIFvUBf">M. K. Stalin</a> announced a $1 million (USD) prize for deciphering the Indus Valley Script, stating that "Archaeologists, Tamil computer software experts and computer experts across the world have been making efforts to decipher the script but it remains a mystery even after 100 years."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:107" href="#fn:107">107</a>

<h3>Dravidian language</h3>

Although no clear consensus has been established, there are those who argue that the Indus script recorded an early form of the <a href="/facts/Dravidian_languages/s8pMU64e">Dravidian languages</a> (<a href="/facts/Proto-Dravidian_language/z4JTp8mW">Proto-Dravidian</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:108" href="#fn:108">108</a> Early proponents included the archaeologist <a href="/facts/Henry_Heras/4JvW2T6j">Henry Heras</a>, who suggested several readings of signs based on a <a href="/facts/Proto-Dravidian/z4JTp8mW">proto-Dravidian</a> assumption.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:109" href="#fn:109">109</a>
Based on computer analysis,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:110" href="#fn:110">110</a> the Russian scholar <a href="/facts/Yuri_Knorozov/rusXGksz">Yuri Knorozov</a> suggested that a Dravidian language is the most likely candidate for the underlying language of the script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:111" href="#fn:111">111</a> The Finnish scholar <a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Asko Parpola</a> led a Finnish team in the 1960s–80s that, like Knorozov's <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet</a> team, worked toward investigating the inscriptions using computer analysis. Parpola similarly concluded that the Indus script and Harappan language "most likely belonged to the Dravidian family".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:112" href="#fn:112">112</a> A comprehensive description of Parpola's work up to 1994 is given in his book Deciphering the Indus Script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:113" href="#fn:113">113</a> Supporting this work, the archaeologist <a href="/facts/Walter_Fairservis/JcVWQ1fu">Walter Fairservis</a> argued that Indus script text on seals could be read as names, titles, or occupations, and suggested that the animals depicted were <a href="/facts/Totem/I9YJhRSr">totems</a> indicating <a href="/facts/Kinship/grXkJ2u7">kinship</a> or possibly <a href="/facts/Clan/xvdhrCHz">clans</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:114" href="#fn:114">114</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:115" href="#fn:115">115</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:116" href="#fn:116">116</a> The computational linguist <a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rajesh P. N. Rao</a>, along with a team of colleagues, performed an independent computational analysis and concluded that the Indus script has the structure of a written language, supporting prior evidence for <a href="/facts/Syntax/6PxSV98p">syntactic</a> structure in the Indus script, and noting that the Indus script appears to have a similar <a href="/facts/Conditional_entropy/gHzPezGB">conditional entropy</a> to <a href="/facts/Old_Tamil/czC2Nb2x">Old Tamil</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:117" href="#fn:117">117</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:118" href="#fn:118">118</a>
These scholars have proposed readings of many signs; one such reading was legitimised when the Dravidian <a href="/facts/Homophone/6zEo7t7c">homophonous</a> words for 'fish' and 'star', mīn, were hinted at through drawings of both the things together on Harappan seals.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:119" href="#fn:119">119</a>[better source needed] In a 2011 speech, Rajesh P. N. Rao said that <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Iravatham Mahadevan</a> and Asko Parpola "have been making some headway on this particular problem", namely deciphering the Indus script, but concluded that their proposed readings, although they make sense, are not yet proof.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:120" href="#fn:120">120</a>

In his 2014 publication Dravidian Proof of the Indus Script via The Rig Veda: A Case Study, the epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan identified a recurring sequence of four signs which he interpreted as an early Dravidian phrase translated as "Merchant of the City".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:121" href="#fn:121">121</a> Commenting on his 2014 publication, he stressed that he had not fully deciphered the Indus script, although he felt his effort had "attained the level of proof" with regard to demonstrating that the Indus script was a Dravidian written language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:122" href="#fn:122">122</a>

<h3>Non-Dravidian languages</h3>
<h4>Indo-Aryan language</h4>
Perhaps the most influential proponent of the hypothesis that the Indus script records an early <a href="/facts/Indo-Aryan_languages/hm2N7fYp">Indo-Aryan language</a> is the Indian archaeologist <a href="/facts/Shikaripura_Ranganatha_Rao/TljcsuRa">Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:123" href="#fn:123">123</a> who in his books, Lothal and the Indus Civilization (1973) and The Decipherment of the Indus Script, wrote that he had deciphered the script. While dismissing most such attempts at decipherment, John E. Mitchiner commented that "a more soundly-based but still greatly subjective and unconvincing attempt to discern an <a href="/facts/Indo-European_languages/L34TfgSr">Indo-European</a> basis in the script has been that of Rao".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:124" href="#fn:124">124</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:125" href="#fn:125">125</a> S. R. Rao perceived a number of similarities in shape and form between the late Harappan characters and the Phoenician letters, and argued that the Phoenician script evolved from the Harappan script, and not, as the classical theory suggests from the <a href="/facts/Proto-Sinaitic/aqPygGcT">Proto-Sinaitic</a> script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:126" href="#fn:126">126</a>[89] He compared it to the <a href="/facts/Phoenician_alphabet/Vr4smuYg">Phoenician alphabet</a>, and assigned sound values based on this comparison.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:127" href="#fn:127">127</a> Reading the script from left to right, as is the case with Brahmi, he concluded that Indus inscriptions included numerals<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:128" href="#fn:128">128</a> and were "<a href="/facts/Vedic_Sanskrit/V0fnIRdc">Sanskritic</a>".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:129" href="#fn:129">129</a> Consistent with this proposed <a href="/facts/Vedic_Sanskrit/V0fnIRdc">Sanskritic</a> connection, Suzanne Redalia Sullivan has provided a near complete solution and interpretation of the Indus Valley Script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:130" href="#fn:130">130</a>
S. R. Rao's interpretation helped to bolster <a href="/facts/Hindutva/bF3ISTht">Hindu nationalist</a> and <a href="/facts/Indigenous_Aryanism/RaIexbIF">Aryan indigenist</a> views propagated by writers, such as <a href="/facts/David_Frawley/GvMuP18F">David Frawley</a>, who hold the conviction that <a href="/facts/Indo-Aryan_peoples/Tjrybz3d">Indo-Aryan peoples</a> are the original Bronze Age inhabitants of the <a href="/facts/Indian_subcontinent/0XUWGXpx">Indian subcontinent</a> and that the <a href="/facts/Indo-European_language_family/L34TfgSr">Indo-European language family</a> originated in India.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:131" href="#fn:131">131</a> However, there are many problems with this hypothesis, particularly the cultural differences evident between the Indus River Civilisation and <a href="/facts/Indo-European_culture/t8TEcj6e">Indo-European cultures</a>, such as the role of horses in the latter; as Parpola put it, "there is no escape from the fact that the horse played a central role in the Vedic and Iranian cultures".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:132" href="#fn:132">132</a> Additionally, the Indus script appears to lack evidence of <a href="/facts/Affix/MKeAIE7e">affixes</a> or <a href="/facts/Inflection/mhXSXpmJ">inflectional</a> endings,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:133" href="#fn:133">133</a> which Possehl has argued rules out an Indo-European language such as Sanskrit as the language of the Indus script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:134" href="#fn:134">134</a>

<h4>Munda language</h4>
A less popular hypothesis suggests that the Indus script belongs to the <a href="/facts/Munda_languages/2CabKYqL">Munda family of languages</a>. This language family is spoken largely in central and eastern India, and is related to some Southeast Asian languages. However, much like the Indo-Aryan language, the reconstructed vocabulary of early Munda does not reflect the Harappan culture,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:135" href="#fn:135">135</a> therefore, its candidacy for being the language of the Indus Civilisation is dim.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:136" href="#fn:136">136</a>

<h3>Non-linguistic signs</h3>

An opposing hypothesis is that these symbols are nonlinguistic signs which symbolise families, clans, gods, and religious concepts, and are similar to components of <a href="/facts/Coat_of_arms/PcwQ5lH8">coats of arms</a> or <a href="/facts/Totem_pole/LXf9VzCv">totem poles</a>. In a 2004 article, Steve Farmer, <a href="/facts/Richard_Sproat/GrV6t7op">Richard Sproat</a>, and <a href="/facts/Michael_Witzel/GbwFrlQb">Michael Witzel</a> presented a number of arguments stating that the Indus script is nonlinguistic.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:137" href="#fn:137">137</a> The main ones are the extreme brevity of the inscriptions, the existence of too many rare signs (which increase over the 700-year period of the Mature Harappan civilisation), and the lack of the random-looking sign repetition that is typical of language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:138" href="#fn:138">138</a>
<a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Asko Parpola</a>, reviewing the Farmer et al. thesis in 2005, stated that their arguments "can be easily controverted".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:139" href="#fn:139">139</a> He cited the presence of a large number of rare signs in Chinese and emphasised there was "little reason for sign repetition in short seal texts written in an early logo-syllabic script". Revisiting the question in a 2008 lecture,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:140" href="#fn:140">140</a> Parpola took on each of the 10 main arguments of Farmer et al., presenting counterarguments for each.
A 2009 paper<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:141" href="#fn:141">141</a> published by <a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rajesh P. N. Rao</a>, <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Iravatham Mahadevan</a>, and others in the journal <a href="/facts/Science_(journal)/uTyzjkwD">Science</a> also challenged the argument that the Indus script might have been a nonlinguistic symbol system. The paper concluded the <a href="/facts/Conditional_entropy/gHzPezGB">conditional entropy</a> of Indus inscriptions closely matched those of linguistic systems like the Sumerian logo-syllabic system, Rig Vedic Sanskrit etc., but they are careful to stress that by itself does not imply the script is linguistic. A follow-up study presented further evidence in terms of entropies of longer sequences of symbols beyond pairs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:142" href="#fn:142">142</a> However, Sproat argued there existed a number of misunderstandings in Rao et al., including a lack of discriminative power in their model, and argued that applying their model to known non-linguistic systems such as Mesopotamian deity symbols produced similar results to the Indus script. Rao et al.'s argument against Sproat's arguments and Sproat's reply were published in <a href="/facts/Computational_Linguistics_(journal)/U13XIEg5">Computational Linguistics</a> in December 2010.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:143" href="#fn:143">143</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:144" href="#fn:144">144</a> The June 2014 issue of <a href="/facts/Language_(journal)/AnapWBqs">Language</a> carries a paper by Sproat that provides further evidence that the methodology of Rao et al. is flawed.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:145" href="#fn:145">145</a> Rao et al.'s rebuttal of Sproat's 2014 article and Sproat's response are published in the December 2015 issue of Language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:146" href="#fn:146">146</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:147" href="#fn:147">147</a>

<h2 id="unicode">Unicode</h2>

The Indus symbols have been assigned the <a href="/facts/ISO_15924/jSzSBtjf">ISO 15924</a> code "Inds". <a href="/facts/Michael_Everson/8Se2cLdz">Michael Everson</a> submitted a completed proposal for encoding the script in Unicode's <a href="/facts/Supplementary_Multilingual_Plane/TATj3rUP">Supplementary Multilingual Plane</a> in 1999,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:148" href="#fn:148">148</a> but this proposal has not been approved by the <a href="/facts/Unicode_Technical_Committee/mJQClyDW">Unicode Technical Committee</a>. As of February 2022, the <a href="/facts/Script_Encoding_Initiative/DDu3MfPV">Script Encoding Initiative</a> still lists the proposal among the list of scripts that are not yet officially encoded in the Unicode Standard (and <a href="/facts/ISO%2fIEC_10646/7Tn6LPLw">ISO/IEC 10646</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:149" href="#fn:149">149</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:150" href="#fn:150">150</a>
The Indus Script Font is a <a href="/facts/Private_Use_Areas/PyDqUQnJ">Private Use Areas</a> (PUA) <a href="/facts/Font/04Q7sE8J">font</a> representing the Indus script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:151" href="#fn:151">151</a> The font was developed based on a corpus compiled by Indologist <a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Asko Parpola</a> in his book Deciphering the Indus Script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:152" href="#fn:152">152</a> Amar Fayaz Buriro, a language engineer, and Shabir Kumbhar, a developer of fonts, were tasked by the National Fund for Mohenjo-daro to develop this font, and they presented it at an international conference on Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Valley Civilisation on 8 February 2017.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:153" href="#fn:153">153</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:154" href="#fn:154">154</a>[better source needed]

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li>Related topics
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Early_Indian_epigraphy/azQhpsoP">Early Indian epigraphy</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Lipi_(script)/67yb8TjT">Lipi (script)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Meluhha/wRfXJqa1">Meluhha</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Outline_of_ancient_India/tHLg7whz">Outline of ancient India</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Sindhology/gsSmze1a">Sindhology</a></li></ul></li>
<li>History
<ul><li><a href="/facts/History_of_ancient_numeral_systems/8KxMa3sD">History of ancient numeral systems</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/History_of_India/ntYkAYDQ">History of India</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/History_of_Pakistan/hsu8PwTw">History of Pakistan</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/History_of_writing/AX0eC1vr">History of writing</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/List_of_languages_by_first_written_account/lo8EmLAR">List of languages by first written account</a></li></ul></li>
<li>Other similar topics
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Anaikoddai_seal/X3xP0I1g">Anaikoddai seal</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Edicts_of_Ashoka/sVdwz3Tm">Edicts of Ashoka</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Protohistory/NBJPTuoy">Protohistory</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/South_Indian_Inscriptions/yqbYfULQ">South Indian Inscriptions</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Undeciphered_writing_systems/IfobxKA9">Undeciphered writing systems</a></li></ul></li></ul>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<h3>Works cited</h3>

<ul><li>Allchin, F. Raymond; Erdosy, George; et al. (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0521375479.</li>
<li>Bonta, Steven C. (2010). <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8691385">The Indus Valley script: a new interpretation</a>. Altoona: Pennsylvania State University. [self-published source?]</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Edwin_Bryant_(author)/RvCjJVxM">Bryant, Edwin Francis</a> (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. <a href="/facts/Oxford_University_Press/CYyTzzWG">Oxford University Press</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2F0195137779.001.0001">10.1093/0195137779.001.0001</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-19-513777-4.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Alexander_Cunningham/x3xfJWLJ">Cunningham, Alexander</a> (1875). <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547220">Archaeological Survey of India, Report for the Year 1872–1873, Vol. 5</a>. Calcutta: The Superintendent Of Government.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Alexander_Cunningham/x3xfJWLJ">Cunningham, Alexander</a> (1877). <a href="https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsaso00hultgoog/">Inscriptions of Asoka</a>. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Michael_Everson/8Se2cLdz">Everson, Michael</a> (29 January 1999). <a href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1999/n1959.pdf">"Proposal for encoding the Indus script in Plane 1 of the UCS"</a> (PDF). <a href="/facts/Unicode_Consortium/mJQClyDW">Unicode Consortium</a>. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N1959. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220119083021/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n1959.pdf">Archived</a> (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2010.</li>
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<li>Lawler, Andrew (2004). "The Indus script: Write or wrong?". Science. 306 (5704): 2026–2029. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.306.5704.2026">10.1126/science.306.5704.2026</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15604381">15604381</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:152563280">152563280</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (1977). <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h">The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables</a>. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2001a). "The Indus-like symbols on megalithic pottery: New evidence". Studia Orientalia Electronica. 94: 379–386.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2004). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121101092716/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf">"Megalithic pottery inscription and a Harappa tablet:A case of extraordinary resemblance"</a> (PDF). Harappa. Archived from <a href="http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 1 November 2012.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2006). <a href="https://www.harappa.com/content/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html">"A Note on the Muruku Sign of the Indus Script in light of the Mayiladuthurai Stone Axe Discovery"</a>. Harappa.com.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2008). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230212025950/https://rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/papers/31.pdf">"How did the 'great god' get a 'blue neck'? a bilingual clue to the Indus Script"</a> (PDF). Journal of Tamil Studies. 74. Archived from <a href="https://rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/papers/31.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2022.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2014). <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/dravidian-indus.pdf">"Dravidian Proof of the Indus Script via The Rig Veda: A Case Study"</a> (PDF). Bulletin of the Indus Research Centre (4).</li>
<li>Marshall, John (1931). Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927. Asian Educational Services. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-81-206-1179-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)</li>
<li>Meadow, Richard H.; <a href="/facts/Jonathan_Mark_Kenoyer/GeG9PDbq">Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark</a> (2 July 2001). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220723162854/https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2005_Excavations%20at%20Harappa%202000-2001%20New%20insights%20on.pdf">"Excavations at Harappa 2000–2001: New insights on Chronology and City Organization"</a> (PDF). In Jarrige, C.; Lefèvre, V. (eds.). South Asian Archaeology 2001: Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists. Paris: Collège de France. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-2-8653830-1-6. Archived from <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2005_Excavations%20at%20Harappa%202000-2001%20New%20insights%20on.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 23 July 2022.</li>
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<li>Mitchiner, John E. (1978). Studies in the Indus Valley Inscriptions. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH. <a href="/facts/OCLC_(identifier)/Yqad8waq">OCLC</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5940418">5940418</a>.</li>
<li>Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2018a). "Interrogating Indus Inscriptions Through Their Context, Structure and Compositional Semantics, to Understand Their Inner Logic of Message Conveyance". SSRN Electronic Journal. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.3184583">10.2139/ssrn.3184583</a>.</li>
<li>Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1">"Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance"</a>. <a href="/facts/Palgrave_Communications/KGnVpqGf">Palgrave Communications</a>. 5 (1): 1–37. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1">10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2055-1045">2055-1045</a>.</li>
<li>Newberry, John (1980). Indus script monographs, volumes 1-7.</li>
<li>Paranavitana, Senarat; Prematilleka, Leelananda; Van Lohuizen-De Leeuw, Johanna Engelberta (1978). Senarat Paranavitana Commemoration Volume. Studies in South Asian Culture, vol. 4. Brill. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004646476">10.1163/9789004646476</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 90-04-05455-3.</li>
<li>Parpola, Asko (1986). "The Indus script: A challenging puzzle". World Archaeology. 17 (3): 399–419. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00438243.1986.9979979">10.1080/00438243.1986.9979979</a>.</li>
<li>Parpola, Asko (1994). Deciphering the Indus script. Cambridge, New York: <a href="/facts/Cambridge_University_Press/fgEBSSRq">Cambridge University Press</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9780521430791.</li>
<li>Parpola, Asko (2005). <a href="http://www.helsinki.fi/~aparpola/tices_50.pdf">Study of the Indus Script</a> (PDF). 50th ICES Tokyo Session.</li>
<li>Parpola, Asko (2008). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090327045644/http://www.harappa.com/script/indus-writing.pdf">"Is the Indus script indeed not a writing system?"</a> (PDF). Airāvati, Felicitation volume in honour of Iravatham Mahadevan. Chennai: Varalaaru. pp. 111–131. Archived from <a href="http://www.harappa.com/script/indus-writing.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 27 March 2009.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Gregory_Possehl/un9pVLHw">Possehl, Gregory L.</a> (1996). Indus Age: The Writing System. <a href="/facts/University_of_Pennsylvania_Press/UXWfjeRv">University of Pennsylvania Press</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-8122-3345-2.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Gregory_Possehl/un9pVLHw">Possehl, Gregory L.</a> (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-7591-1642-9.</li>
<li>Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2006). "Inscribed pots, emerging identities". In <a href="/facts/Patrick_Olivelle/mEmhjlQA">Olivelle, Patrick</a> (ed.). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–139.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Shikaripura_Ranganatha_Rao/TljcsuRa">Rao, Shikaripur Ranganath</a> (1973). Lothal and the Indus Civilisation. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rao, Rajesh P. N.</a>; Yadav, Nisha; Vahia, Mayank N.; Joglekar, Hrishikesh; Adhikari, R.; <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2009). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120302222553/http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf">"Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script"</a> (PDF). <a href="/facts/Science_(journal)/uTyzjkwD">Science</a>. 324 (5931): 1165. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009Sci...324.1165R">2009Sci...324.1165R</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1170391">10.1126/science.1170391</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19389998">19389998</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15565405">15565405</a>. Archived from <a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 2 March 2012.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rao, Rajesh P. N.</a>; Yadav, Nisha; Vahia, Mayank N.; Joglekar, Hrishikesh; Adhikari, Ronojoy; <a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2010). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162%2Fcoli_c_00030">"Entropy, the Indus Script, and Language:A Reply to R. Sproat"</a>. Computational Linguistics. 36 (4): 795–805. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1162%2Fcoli_c_00030">10.1162/coli_c_00030</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:423521">423521</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rao, Rajesh P. N.</a> (2010). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120201095129/http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ieeeIndus.pdf">"Probabilistic Analysis of an Ancient Undeciphered Script"</a> (PDF). <a href="/facts/IEEE_Computer/WyatS2sN">IEEE Computer</a>. 43 (4): 76–80. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1109%2Fmc.2010.112">10.1109/mc.2010.112</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15353538">15353538</a>. Archived from <a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ieeeIndus.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 1 February 2012.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rao, Rajesh</a> (2011). <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/rajesh_rao_computing_a_rosetta_stone_for_the_indus_script">A Rosetta Stone for a lost language</a> (Speech). <a href="/facts/TED_(conference)/Sc3JxnA1">TED</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rajesh_P._N._Rao/PD8YFPuY">Rao, Rajesh P. N.</a>; Yadav, Nisha; Vahia, Mayank N.; Jonathan, Philip; Ziman, Pauline (2015). <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/604093">"On statistical measures and ancient writing systems"</a>. Language. 91 (4): e198 – e205. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2015.0055">10.1353/lan.2015.0055</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:146385983">146385983</a>.</li>
<li>Robinson, Andrew (2002). <a href="https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780071357432">Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts</a>. New York: McGraw-Hill. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-07-135743-2. <a href="/facts/OCLC_(identifier)/Yqad8waq">OCLC</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/48032556">48032556</a>.</li>
<li>Robinson, Andrew (2015). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a">"Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script"</a>. Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Natur.526..499R">2015Natur.526..499R</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a">10.1038/526499a</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26490603">26490603</a>.</li>
<li>Sali, S. A. (1986). <a href="https://www.indianculture.gov.in/daimabad-1976-79-masi83">Daimabad: 1976–79</a>. Archaeological Survey of India – via indianculture.gov.in.</li>
<li>Salomon, Richard (1995). "Review: On the Origin of the Early Indian Scripts". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 115 (2): 271–279. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F604670">10.2307/604670</a>. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/604670">604670</a>.</li>
<li>Sankaranarayanan, Vijayam, ed. (2007). Themes in History, Part-I. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-81-7450-651-1.</li>
<li>Shinde, Vasant; Willis, Rick J. (2014). <a href="https://doi.org/10.5334%2Faa.12317">"A New Type of Inscribed Copper Plate from Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation"</a>. Ancient Asia. 5. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.5334%2Faa.12317">10.5334/aa.12317</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Upinder_Singh/rLMLNuPn">Singh, Upinder</a> (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9788131711200.</li>
<li>Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. Routledge. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9788122411980.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Richard_Sproat/GrV6t7op">Sproat, Richard</a> (June 2014). <a href="http://www.linguisticsociety.org/files/archived-documents/Sproat_Lg_90_2.pdf">"A Statistical Comparison of Written Language and Nonlinguistic Symbol Systems"</a> (PDF). <a href="/facts/Language_(journal)/AnapWBqs">Language</a>. 90 (2): 457–481. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2014.0031">10.1353/lan.2014.0031</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:146376955">146376955</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Richard_Sproat/GrV6t7op">Sproat, Richard</a> (2015). <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/604094">"On misunderstandings and misrepresentations: A reply to Rao et al"</a>. Language. 91 (4): e206 – e208. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2015.0058">10.1353/lan.2015.0058</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:146513140">146513140</a>.</li>
<li>Sreedharan, E. (2007). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TG6PXBKwXNMC">A Manual of Historical Research Methodology</a>. Kerala: Centre for South Indian Studies. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9788190592802.</li>
<li>Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ">Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture</a> (3rd ed.). Routledge. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-134-88083-6.</li>
<li>Wells, B. K. (2015). The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing. Oxford, UK: Archaeopress. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9781784910464.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Michael_Witzel/GbwFrlQb">Witzel, M.</a> (1999). <a href="https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/article/view/828">"Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle, and Late Vedic)"</a>. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 5 (1): 1–67. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.11588%2Fejvs.1999.1.828">10.11588/ejvs.1999.1.828</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1084-7561">1084-7561</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rita_P._Wright/MzMcfMD7">Wright, Rita P.</a> (2009). The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society. <a href="/facts/Cambridge_University_Press/fgEBSSRq">Cambridge University Press</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-57219-4.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Kamil_Zvelebil/fKdYExgq">Zvelebil, Kamil</a> (1990). <a href="https://archive.org/details/zvelebildravidianlinguisticsanintroduction1990/">Dravidian Linguistics: An introduction</a>. Pondicherry: Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 81-85452-01-6. <a href="/facts/OCLC_(identifier)/Yqad8waq">OCLC</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/24332848">24332848</a>.</li></ul>

<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>

<ul><li><a href="/facts/B._B._Lal_(archaeologist)/szaL4E0U">Lal, Braj Basi</a> (1979). "On the Most Frequently Used Symbol in the Indus Script". East and West. 29 (1/4): 27–35. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0012-8376">0012-8376</a>. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756504">29756504</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (1999). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060813134846/http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=194">"Murukan In the Indus Script"</a>. Varalaaru. Archived from <a href="http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=194">the original</a> on 13 August 2006.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2001b). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070723121117/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0801/ejvs0801.txt">"Aryan or Dravidian or Neither? A Study of Recent Attempts to Decipher the Indus Script (1995–2000)"</a>. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 62: 1–23. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44155743">44155743</a>. Archived from <a href="http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0801/ejvs0801.txt">the original</a> on 23 July 2007.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Iravatham_Mahadevan/8pwQe2fy">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (4 February 2007). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140610043551/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/02/04/stories/2007020400260500.htm">"Towards a Scientific Study of the Indus Script"</a>. The Hindu. Archived from <a href="http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/02/04/stories/2007020400260500.htm">the original</a> on 10 June 2014. Adapted from an address given at the inaugural function of the Indus Research Centre at the <a href="/facts/Roja_Muthiah_Research_Library/d2YeTN7R">Roja Muthiah Research Library</a>, Chennai, on 25 January 2007.</li>
<li>Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2018b). <a href="https://osf.io/h8ct7/">"Ancient Tax Tokens, Trade Licenses and Metrological Records?: Making Sense of Indus Inscribed Objects Through Script-Internal, Contextual, Linguistic, and Ethnohistorical Lenses"</a>. SSRN Electronic Journal. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.3189473">10.2139/ssrn.3189473</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:235275002">235275002</a>.</li>
<li>Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2021). "Metal-smithy, Bead-making, Jeweler's weight, Trade-permit, Tax-stamp: Indus Script's Semasiography Partly Decoded". SSRN Electronic Journal. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.3778943">10.2139/ssrn.3778943</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:233754033">233754033</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Parpola, Asko</a>; Joshi, Jagat Pati (1987). Corpus of Indus seals and inscriptions. Vol. 1, Collections in India. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Parpola, Asko</a>; Shah, Sayid Ghulam Mustafa (1991). Corpus of Indus seals and inscriptions. Vol. 2, Collections in Pakistan. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Parpola, Asko</a>; Pande, Brij Mohan; Koskikallio, Petteri (2010). Corpus of Indus seals and inscriptions. Vol. 3, New material, untraced objects, and collections outside India and Pakistan, Part 1: Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.</li>
<li>Vidale, Massimo (2007). "The collapse melts down: a reply to Farmer, Sproat and Witzel". <a href="/facts/Philosophy_East_and_West/cUom8Glj">Philosophy East and West</a>. 57 (1–4): 333–366. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757733">29757733</a>.</li>
<li>Wells, Bryan (1998). An Introduction to Indus Writing (Master thesis). Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.11575%2FPRISM%2F23641">10.11575/PRISM/23641</a>. <a href="/facts/Hdl_(identifier)/rdebSxmC">hdl</a>:<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1880%2F25900">1880/25900</a>.</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200425031621/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/table-of-pua-codes">Text based Indus Script Signs with the table of codes</a> at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a> (archived 25 April 2020)</li>
<li>"<a href="https://www.straightdope.com/21343350/how-come-we-can-t-decipher-the-indus-script">How come we can't decipher the Indus script?</a>" (2005) The Straight Dope.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.safarmer.com/downloads/">Articles by Steve Farmer, including essays about the Indus script</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.omniglot.com/writing/indus.htm">Indus script</a> at <a href="/facts/Omniglot/hbVv0y9A">Omniglot.com</a></li>
<li><a href="https://indusscriptsdeciphered.com">Indus Symbols Dictionary</a> by Jeyakumar Ramasami - Retd IRS Officer - Govt of India.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Locklear, Mallory (25 January 2017). "Science: Machine learning could finally crack the 4,000-year-old Indus script". The Verge. Manhattan, New York, NY: Vox Media. Retrieved 25 January 2017. After a century of failing to crack an ancient script, linguists turn to machines. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14371450/indus-valley-civilization-ancient-seals-symbols-language-algorithms-ai" target="_blank">https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14371450/indus-valley-civilization-ancient-seals-symbols-language-algorithms-ai</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Possehl (1996). - Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). Indus Age: The Writing System. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3345-2. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Locklear, Mallory (25 January 2017). "Science: Machine learning could finally crack the 4,000-year-old Indus script". The Verge. Manhattan, New York, NY: Vox Media. Retrieved 25 January 2017. After a century of failing to crack an ancient script, linguists turn to machines. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14371450/indus-valley-civilization-ancient-seals-symbols-language-algorithms-ai" target="_blank">https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14371450/indus-valley-civilization-ancient-seals-symbols-language-algorithms-ai</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Wright (2009), p. 7. - Wright, Rita P. (2009). The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57219-4. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Cunningham (1875), pp. 105–108. - Cunningham, Alexander (1875). Archaeological Survey of India, Report for the Year 1872–1873, Vol. 5. Calcutta: The Superintendent Of Government. <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547220" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547220</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Fairservis (1992), p. 5. - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1992). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Brill. ISBN 978-8120404915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Ghosh (1990). - Ghosh, Amalananda, ed. (1990). "20.4 Scripts". An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Brill. pp. 361–370. ISBN 978-90-04-09264-8. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Hunter (1934). - Hunter, G. R. (1934). The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and Its Connection with Other Scripts. Studies in the history of culture. London: K. Paul, Trench, Tubner. OCLC 02042562. <a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013642/" target="_blank">http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013642/</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Newberry (1980), pp. 10–20. - Newberry, John (1980). Indus script monographs, volumes 1-7. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Ghosh (1990), p. 361–364. - Ghosh, Amalananda, ed. (1990). "20.4 Scripts". An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Brill. pp. 361–370. ISBN 978-90-04-09264-8. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Allchin & Erdosy (1995), p. 336. - Allchin, F. Raymond; Erdosy, George; et al. (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521375479. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Goody (1987), pp. 301–302, note 4. - Goody, Jack (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521332680. <a href="https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good/" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good/</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Salomon (1995). - Salomon, Richard (1995). "Review: On the Origin of the Early Indian Scripts". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 115 (2): 271–279. doi:10.2307/604670. JSTOR 604670. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F604670" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2307%2F604670</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Mahadevan (2004). - Mahadevan, Iravatham (2004). "Megalithic pottery inscription and a Harappa tablet:A case of extraordinary resemblance" (PDF). Harappa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121101092716/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121101092716/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Ray (2006), pp. 121–122. - Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2006). "Inscribed pots, emerging identities". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–139. <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Rahman, Tariq. "Peoples and languages in pre-Islamic Indus valley". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2008. most scholars have taken the 'Dravidian hypothesis' seriously <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080509053921/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080509053921/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">"The Indus Script | Harappa". harappa.com. Retrieved 22 May 2020. <a href="https://www.harappa.com/script/maha0.html" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/script/maha0.html</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 5–7. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Fairservis (1992), p. 5. - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1992). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Brill. ISBN 978-8120404915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">Pragati, K. B. (1 February 2025). "Want a Million Dollars? Get Busy Deciphering This Ancient Script". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2025. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/world/asia/india-indus-script-prize.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/world/asia/india-indus-script-prize.html</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">Possehl (2002), p. 127. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">Fairservis (1983). - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1983). "The Script of the Indus Valley Civilization". Scientific American. 248 (3): 58–67. Bibcode:1983SciAm.248c..58F. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0383-58. JSTOR 24968852. <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983SciAm.248c..58F" target="_blank">https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983SciAm.248c..58F</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">Mukhopadhyay (2018a), p. 5–6. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2018a). "Interrogating Indus Inscriptions Through Their Context, Structure and Compositional Semantics, to Understand Their Inner Logic of Message Conveyance". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3184583. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.3184583" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.3184583</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">Possehl (2002), p. 127. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">Kenoyer (2006), pp. 10–11. - Kenoyer, J M (2006). "The Origin, Context and Function of the Indus Script: Recent Insights from Harappa" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki (ed.). Proceedings of the Pre-symposium and the 7th ESCA Harvard–Kyoto Roundtable. Kyoto: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. pp. 9–27. Retrieved 25 June 2022. <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:28">Meadow & Kenoyer (2001), p. 224. - Meadow, Richard H.; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2 July 2001). "Excavations at Harappa 2000–2001: New insights on Chronology and City Organization" (PDF). In Jarrige, C.; Lefèvre, V. (eds.). South Asian Archaeology 2001: Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists. Paris: Collège de France. ISBN 978-2-8653830-1-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2022. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220723162854/https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2005_Excavations%20at%20Harappa%202000-2001%20New%20insights%20on.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220723162854/https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2005_Excavations%20at%20Harappa%202000-2001%20New%20insights%20on.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:29">Kenoyer (2006), pp. 10–11. - Kenoyer, J M (2006). "The Origin, Context and Function of the Indus Script: Recent Insights from Harappa" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki (ed.). Proceedings of the Pre-symposium and the 7th ESCA Harvard–Kyoto Roundtable. Kyoto: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. pp. 9–27. Retrieved 25 June 2022. <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:30">Bryant (2001), p. 178. - Bryant, Edwin Francis (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0195137779.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-513777-4. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2F0195137779.001.0001" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2F0195137779.001.0001</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:31">Meadow & Kenoyer (2010), p. xlviii. - Meadow, Richard H.; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2010). "Inscribed Objects from Harappa Excavations 1986–2007" (PDF). In Parpola, Asko; Pande, B. M.; Koskikallio, Petteri (eds.). Volume 3: New material, untraced objects, and collections outside India and Pakistan, Part 1: Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, no. 96. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. pp. xliv–lviii. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2011. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110630045110/http://www.harappa.com/indus/Kenoyer-Meadow-2010-HARP.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110630045110/http://www.harappa.com/indus/Kenoyer-Meadow-2010-HARP.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:32">1540 from Mohenjodaro, 985 from Harappa, 66 from Chanhudaro <a href="/wiki/Chanhudaro" target="_blank">/wiki/Chanhudaro</a> <a href="#fnref:32" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:33">165 from Lothal, 99 from Kalibangan, 7 from Banawali, 6 from Ur in Iraq, 5 from Surkotada, 4 from Chandigarh <a href="/wiki/Lothal" target="_blank">/wiki/Lothal</a> <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:34">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 6–7. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:35">Singh (2008), p. 169. - Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education. ISBN 9788131711200. <a href="#fnref:35" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:36">The commonly depicted "unicorn" is most likely a bull drawn in profile as to obscure one horn behind the other.[29] <a href="#fnref:36" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:37">Sankaranarayanan (2007), p. 15. - Sankaranarayanan, Vijayam, ed. (2007). Themes in History, Part-I. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). ISBN 978-81-7450-651-1. <a href="#fnref:37" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:38">Kenoyer (2006), pp. 10–11. - Kenoyer, J M (2006). "The Origin, Context and Function of the Indus Script: Recent Insights from Harappa" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki (ed.). Proceedings of the Pre-symposium and the 7th ESCA Harvard–Kyoto Roundtable. Kyoto: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. pp. 9–27. Retrieved 25 June 2022. <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer2006_The%20Origin%2C%20Context%20and%20Function%20of%20the%20Indus%20Sc.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:38" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:39">Sali (1986), pp. 504–505. - Sali, S. A. (1986). Daimabad: 1976–79. Archaeological Survey of India – via indianculture.gov.in. <a href="https://www.indianculture.gov.in/daimabad-1976-79-masi83" target="_blank">https://www.indianculture.gov.in/daimabad-1976-79-masi83</a> <a href="#fnref:39" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:40">Ray (2006), p. 21-22. - Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2006). "Inscribed pots, emerging identities". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–139. <a href="#fnref:40" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:41">Possehl (1996). - Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). Indus Age: The Writing System. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3345-2. <a href="#fnref:41" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:42">Ray (2006), p. 21-22. - Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2006). "Inscribed pots, emerging identities". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–139. <a href="#fnref:42" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:43">Lal (1960). - Lal, Braj Basi (1960). "From the Megalithic to the Harappan: Tracing Back the Graffiti on the Pottery". Ancient India. 16: 4–24. <a href="#fnref:43" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:44">47 out of 61 signs surveyed. <a href="#fnref:44" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:45">Ray (2006), pp. 21–22. - Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2006). "Inscribed pots, emerging identities". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. pp. 113–139. <a href="#fnref:45" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:46">Mahadevan (2001a). - Mahadevan, Iravatham (2001a). "The Indus-like symbols on megalithic pottery: New evidence". Studia Orientalia Electronica. 94: 379–386. <a href="#fnref:46" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:47">Mahadevan (2004). - Mahadevan, Iravatham (2004). "Megalithic pottery inscription and a Harappa tablet:A case of extraordinary resemblance" (PDF). Harappa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121101092716/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121101092716/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/sulur-megalithic.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:47" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:48">Mahadevan (2006). - Mahadevan, Iravatham (2006). "A Note on the Muruku Sign of the Indus Script in light of the Mayiladuthurai Stone Axe Discovery". Harappa.com. <a href="https://www.harappa.com/content/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/content/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html</a> <a href="#fnref:48" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:49">Fairservis (1992), pp. 9–10. - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1992). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Brill. ISBN 978-8120404915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C</a> <a href="#fnref:49" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:50">Fairservis (1992), pp. 9–10. - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1992). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Brill. ISBN 978-8120404915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C</a> <a href="#fnref:50" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:51">Bonta (2010), pp. 10–11. - Bonta, Steven C. (2010). The Indus Valley script: a new interpretation. Altoona: Pennsylvania State University. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8691385" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/8691385</a> <a href="#fnref:51" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:52">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:52" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:53">Wells (2015), pp. 66–76. - Wells, B. K. (2015). The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing. Oxford, UK: Archaeopress. ISBN 9781784910464. <a href="#fnref:53" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:54">Stiebing & Helft (2018), pp. 104–105. - Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-88083-6. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:54" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:55">Possehl (2002), p. 132. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:55" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:56">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:56" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:57">Possehl (2002), p. 132. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:57" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:58">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:58" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:59">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 14–15, 24–25, 32–35. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:59" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:60">Mahadevan's 1977 sign list originally included 417 signs but in a late addendum to the list, he added 2 additional signs, identified in then recently discovered inscriptions, which he had not been able to include in the sign list before publishing. <a href="#fnref:60" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:61">Wells (2015), p. 13. - Wells, B. K. (2015). The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing. Oxford, UK: Archaeopress. ISBN 9781784910464. <a href="#fnref:61" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:62">Possehl (2002), p. 132. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:62" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:63">Possehl (2002), p. 133. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:63" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:64">Possehl (2002), p. 133. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:64" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:65">"Corpus by Asko Parpola". Mohenjodaro. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112146/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112146/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola</a> <a href="#fnref:65" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:66">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 10–14. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:66" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:67">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:67" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:68">Sen (1999), p. 35. - Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. Routledge. ISBN 9788122411980. <a href="#fnref:68" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:69">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 10–14. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:69" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:70">Possehl (2002), p. 134. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:70" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:71">Mahadevan (1977), pp. 10–14. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:71" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:72">Possehl (1996), p. 59–62. - Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). Indus Age: The Writing System. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3345-2. <a href="#fnref:72" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:73">Possehl (2002), p. 134. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:73" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:74">Possehl (2002), p. 131, 133, fig. 7.5. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:74" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:75">Zvelebil (1990), pp. 85–86, 96. - Zvelebil, Kamil (1990). Dravidian Linguistics: An introduction. Pondicherry: Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture. ISBN 81-85452-01-6. OCLC 24332848. <a href="https://archive.org/details/zvelebildravidianlinguisticsanintroduction1990/" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/zvelebildravidianlinguisticsanintroduction1990/</a> <a href="#fnref:75" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:76">Possehl (2002), p. 136. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:76" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:77">Ooha Lakkadi Reddy (2025). "Rerouting Connection: Hybrid Computer Vision Analysis Reveals Visual Similarity Between Indus and Tibetan-Yi Corridor Writing Systems". arXiv:2503.21074 [cs.CV]. <a href="/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:77" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:78">Marshall (1931), p. 423. - Marshall, John (1931). Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-1179-5. <a href="#fnref:78" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:79">Paranavitana, Prematilleka & Van Lohuizen-De Leeuw (1978), p. 119. - Paranavitana, Senarat; Prematilleka, Leelananda; Van Lohuizen-De Leeuw, Johanna Engelberta (1978). Senarat Paranavitana Commemoration Volume. Studies in South Asian Culture, vol. 4. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004646476. ISBN 90-04-05455-3. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004646476" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004646476</a> <a href="#fnref:79" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:80">Hunter (1934). - Hunter, G. R. (1934). The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and Its Connection with Other Scripts. Studies in the history of culture. London: K. Paul, Trench, Tubner. OCLC 02042562. <a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013642/" target="_blank">http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013642/</a> <a href="#fnref:80" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:81">Possehl (2002), p. 131. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:81" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:82">Zvelebil (1990), pp. 85–86, 96. - Zvelebil, Kamil (1990). Dravidian Linguistics: An introduction. Pondicherry: Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture. ISBN 81-85452-01-6. OCLC 24332848. <a href="https://archive.org/details/zvelebildravidianlinguisticsanintroduction1990/" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/zvelebildravidianlinguisticsanintroduction1990/</a> <a href="#fnref:82" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:83">Hunter (1932), p. 483. - Hunter, G. R. (1932). "Mohenjo-daro—Indus Epigraphy". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 64 (2): 466–503. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00112444. S2CID 163294522. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0035869X00112444/type/journal_article" target="_blank">https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0035869X00112444/type/journal_article</a> <a href="#fnref:83" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:84">Mahadevan (1977), p. 9. - Mahadevan, Iravatham (1977). The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. <a href="https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h</a> <a href="#fnref:84" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:85">Shinde & Willis (2014). - Shinde, Vasant; Willis, Rick J. (2014). "A New Type of Inscribed Copper Plate from Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation". Ancient Asia. 5. doi:10.5334/aa.12317. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5334%2Faa.12317" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.5334%2Faa.12317</a> <a href="#fnref:85" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:86">Possehl (2002), p. 132. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:86" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:87">Biswas, Soutik (16 January 2025). "Indus Valley: A million-dollar challenge to crack the script of early Indians". BBC Home. Retrieved 17 January 2025. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70q44zn18wo" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70q44zn18wo</a> <a href="#fnref:87" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:88">Stiebing & Helft (2018), pp. 104–105. - Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-88083-6. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:88" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:89">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:89" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:90">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:90" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:91">Witzel (1999). - Witzel, M. (1999). "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle, and Late Vedic)". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 5 (1): 1–67. doi:10.11588/ejvs.1999.1.828. ISSN 1084-7561. <a href="https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/article/view/828" target="_blank">https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/article/view/828</a> <a href="#fnref:91" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:92">Witzel (1999) underlines the prefixing nature of these words and calls them Para-Munda, a language related to but not belonging to Proto-Munda. - Witzel, M. (1999). "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle, and Late Vedic)". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 5 (1): 1–67. doi:10.11588/ejvs.1999.1.828. ISSN 1084-7561. <a href="https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/article/view/828" target="_blank">https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/article/view/828</a> <a href="#fnref:92" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:93">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:93" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:94">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:94" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:95">(..)ibra, a partial name of a king of Meluhha, a place associated with the Indus Civilisation, is briefly attested in an Akkadian inscription, but no full names are attested. <a href="/wiki/(..)ibra" target="_blank">/wiki/(..)ibra</a> <a href="#fnref:95" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:96">Stiebing & Helft (2018), pp. 104–105. - Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-88083-6. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:96" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:97">Possehl (2002), p. 136. - Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 978-0-7591-1642-9. <a href="#fnref:97" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:98">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:98" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:99">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:99" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:100">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:100" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:101">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:101" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:102">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:102" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:103">Mukhopadhyay (2019), p. 2. - Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali (2019). "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance". Palgrave Communications. 5 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0274-1. ISSN 2055-1045. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-019-0274-1</a> <a href="#fnref:103" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:104">Farmer, Sproat & Witzel (2004), pp. 19–20. - Farmer, Steve; Sproat, Richard; Witzel, Michael (2004). "The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization" (PDF). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 11 (2): 19–57. doi:10.11588/ejvs.2004.2.620. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070611142813/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs1102/ejvs1102article.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070611142813/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs1102/ejvs1102article.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:104" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:105">Robinson (2015). - Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script". Nature News. 526 (7574): 499–501. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..499R. doi:10.1038/526499a. PMID 26490603. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2F526499a</a> <a href="#fnref:105" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:106">For example, see Egbert Richter and N. S. Rajaram. <a href="/wiki/Egbert_Richter-Ushanas" target="_blank">/wiki/Egbert_Richter-Ushanas</a> <a href="#fnref:106" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:107">"Tamil Nadu CM Stalin announces $1 million prize for deciphering Indus Valley script". TheHindu.com. 5 January 2025. Retrieved 6 January 2025. <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tamil-nadu-cm-stalin-announces-1-million-prize-for-deciphering-indus-valley-script/article69064187.ece/" target="_blank">https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tamil-nadu-cm-stalin-announces-1-million-prize-for-deciphering-indus-valley-script/article69064187.ece/</a> <a href="#fnref:107" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:108">Stiebing & Helft (2018), pp. 104–105. - Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-88083-6. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:108" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:109">Heras (1953). - Heras, Henry (1953). Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture. Bombay: Indian Historical Research Institute. <a href="#fnref:109" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:110">Parpola (1994). - Parpola, Asko (1994). Deciphering the Indus script. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521430791. <a href="#fnref:110" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:111">Knorozov (1965). - Knorozov, Yuri V. (1965), Предварительное сообщение об исследовании протоиндийских текстов [Preliminary Report on the Study of Proto-Indian Texts] (in Russian), Moscow: Institut Etnografii, Akademiya Nauk SSSR <a href="#fnref:111" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:112">Bryant (2001), p. 183. - Bryant, Edwin Francis (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0195137779.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-513777-4. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2F0195137779.001.0001" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2F0195137779.001.0001</a> <a href="#fnref:112" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:113">Parpola (1994). - Parpola, Asko (1994). Deciphering the Indus script. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521430791. <a href="#fnref:113" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:114">Stiebing & Helft (2018), pp. 104–105. - Stiebing, William H. Jr.; Helft, Susan N. (2018). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-88083-6. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=C4U0DwAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:114" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:115">Fairservis (1971). - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1971). The Roots Of Ancient India: The Archaeology of Early Indian Civilisation. London: George Allen and Unwin. ISBN 9780049340015. <a href="#fnref:115" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:116">Fairservis (1992). - Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1992). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Brill. ISBN 978-8120404915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ckmzIlTQBh4C</a> <a href="#fnref:116" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:117">Rao et al. (2009). - Rao, Rajesh P. N.; Yadav, Nisha; Vahia, Mayank N.; Joglekar, Hrishikesh; Adhikari, R.; Mahadevan, Iravatham (2009). "Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script" (PDF). Science. 324 (5931): 1165. Bibcode:2009Sci...324.1165R. doi:10.1126/science.1170391. PMID 19389998. S2CID 15565405. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120302222553/http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120302222553/http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:117" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:118">Rao et al. (2010). - Rao, Rajesh P. N.; Yadav, Nisha; Vahia, Mayank N.; Joglekar, Hrishikesh; Adhikari, Ronojoy; Mahadevan, Iravatham (2010). "Entropy, the Indus Script, and Language:A Reply to R. Sproat". Computational Linguistics. 36 (4): 795–805. doi:10.1162/coli_c_00030. S2CID 423521. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162%2Fcoli_c_00030" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1162%2Fcoli_c_00030</a> <a href="#fnref:118" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:119">Lo, Lawrence. "Indus Script". ancient scripts.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191219134556/http://www.ancientscripts.com/indus.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20191219134556/http://www.ancientscripts.com/indus.html</a> <a href="#fnref:119" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:120">Rao (2011). - Rao, Rajesh (2011). A Rosetta Stone for a lost language (Speech). TED. <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/rajesh_rao_computing_a_rosetta_stone_for_the_indus_script" target="_blank">http://www.ted.com/talks/rajesh_rao_computing_a_rosetta_stone_for_the_indus_script</a> <a href="#fnref:120" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:121">Mahadevan (2014). - Mahadevan, Iravatham (2014). "Dravidian Proof of the Indus Script via The Rig Veda: A Case Study" (PDF). Bulletin of the Indus Research Centre (4). <a href="https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/dravidian-indus.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/dravidian-indus.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:121" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:122">The Hindu (2014). - "Indus script early form of Dravidian". The Hindu. 14 November 2014. <a href="#fnref:122" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:128">Given as aeka, dwi, tra, chatus, panta, happta/sapta, dasa, dvadasa, shata (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 100) <a href="#fnref:128" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:150">"Proposed New Scripts". unicode.org. <a href="http://unicode.org/pending/pending.html" target="_blank">http://unicode.org/pending/pending.html</a> <a href="#fnref:150" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:153">"Corpus by Asko Parpola". Mohenjodaro. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112146/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112146/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola</a> <a href="#fnref:153" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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</ol>

Indus script open-in-new

Indus script