Original message:

> Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 02:13:17 -0500
> From: "Danny Wier" <dawier@...>
>Subject: Indus script
>
>Question: has there been any progress made in deciphering Indus script, and
>I
>assume it's most likely a Dravidian language, right?

This is a highly controversial topic. There are several researchers in India
that claim to have deciphered it as a Sanskritic language. They are more or
less completely ignored outside of India. I recall seeing a book title
implying that someone else may claim to have deciphered it as Dravidic. In
general, there is a large body of work in India, on its ancient history,
through many fields, by both Indians and non-Indians, and most of it is
never mentioned outside of India, at least not by scientists and scholars.

Anyway, I have not yet had the opportunity to study any of these attempts at
the decipherment of the Indus-Sarasvati Valley script, so that I cannot
comment on whether any of them are correct, in either major hypothesis. (The
majority of currently-known "Indus" Valley sites are actually on the banks
of the dried-up river bed of the Sarasvati, which was formerly the main
river and holiest river of India. So Indus-Sarasvati is a more accurate
name.)

In a related matter, I have heard that some scholars in India think that the
Aryan-Dravidian linguistic divide is over-rated. They perceive a gradual
shift in the characteristics of the languages from north to south, and no
clear dividing line. I mention this in order to point out that even things
we assume to be clearcut and proven may be perceived quite differently by
others who are no less, and perhaps more, authoritative than we are. Should
we expect people whose first language is European to understand the
linguistics in India better than those whose languages are Sanskritic or
Dravidic? That seems rather arrogant to me...

~Mark DeFillo


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