What language did the bearded Meluhhan shown on an Akkadian
[EME.BAL.ME.LUH.HA.KI] cylinder seal [ca. 2250 BCE Musee du Louvre.
Ao 22 310, Collection De Clercq] speak?
Bha_s.a_! (as defined by Pa_n.ini). It is also called des'i_ by
ancient lexicographers of Prakr.it dictionaries.
A note 'Rebus representations in inscribed objects of the
civilization' is presented at
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/desi1.pdf (3,698kb)
The note will be elaborated further with linguistic arguments,
evidence from archaeometallurgy and category structure of the entire
corpus of over 3,900 inscribed objects and their text readings.
To start with, many des'i_ words, related to the emerging bronze age,
from Old Gujarati, Munda and Old Punjabi languages are seen to have
homonyms which are morphemic representations of many pictorial motifs
depicted on inscribed objects of the Sarasvati Sindhu Valley
Civilization.
The emerging hypotheses are:
1. the field symbols (many animals occupying the fields of inscribed
objects) are rebus representations of professions;
2. the 'signs' (many of which are glyphs, e.g. 'fish', 'bird', 'rim
of a short-necked jar') are rebus representations of (metal) weapons;
3. Munda languages were part of the linguistic area (ca. 5500 BP);
the received wisdom about the absence of Munda-speakers west of River
Sarasvati may have to be re-evaluated in the context of the Mundarica
folklore of generations arriving into Ranchi area (the land that the
Jaina Ti_rtha_n:kara-s and the Buddha walked) from the west;
4. it may be possible to unravel the pictorial motifs on many (so
far, un-decoded)cognate cylinder and lapis lazuli seals of
Mesopotamian and the Persian gulf regions;
5. the descendant languages of bha_s.a_ (carved into words on the
inscribed objects including many copper plates and inscribed weapons)
are the living languages of Bha_rata. Bha_ratam Janam!
For example, an antelope carried by the Meluhhan on the cylinder
seal, is a phonetic determinant; mer.h is an antelope; the des'i_
lexeme also means a helper (accounts clerk) of a merchant.