Blacksmith and language of a civilization, ca. 2600 BCE

From: kalyan97
Message: 13436
Date: 2002-04-23

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/blacksmith/blacksmith1.htm
The URL decodes two sides of an inscribed object discovered recently.

Slide 205 http://www.harappa.com [A tablet found in Harappa during
2000-2001 excavations]. One side has 24 dots (or 2 pairs of 12 short
strokes) within a rectangle.

On one side of the tablet is depicted a pair of butting (or fighting,
dan:ga) bulls, d.an:gra (blacksmith) [d.an:gra janum = prickly plant
bare of leaves depicted as a phonetic determinant; janum is a thorn,
thorny tree or bush]. He is also a san:gatara_su stone-cutter;
san:gad.i = pair. Often, the bull is shown feeding from a trough
(again, a phonetic determinant): d.a_n:gra = wooden trough or manger
sufficient to feed one animal. Thus, when a bull with a trough is
shown, the substantive is d.an:gra, blacksmith. A synonym is a tree
bare of leaves, d.an:gra. When two butting bulls are shown, he is a
d.an:gra (blacksmith) who is also a san:gatara_su, stone-cutter.

The language is paralleled by the isolate, Nahali.