Editing Indus script (section)

===Dravidian language===
[[File:Indus script 311, harp pictogram.jpg|thumb|Indus script single sign]]
[[File:Indus sign 60.png|thumb|upright=0.9|The Indus script 'fish sign', associated with the Dravidian reading {{IAST|mīn}}, has been interpreted as its [[homophone]], meaning "star", per the [[rebus principle]] in the context of some Indus inscriptions{{sfnp|Rao|2011|loc=14:06―15:43}}]]

Although no clear consensus has been established, there are those who argue that the Indus script recorded an early form of the [[Dravidian languages]] ([[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]]).{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}} Early proponents included the archaeologist [[Henry Heras]], who suggested several readings of signs based on a [[proto-Dravidian]] assumption.{{sfnp|Heras|1953}}

Based on computer analysis,{{sfnp|Parpola|1994}} the Russian scholar [[Yuri Knorozov]] suggested that a Dravidian language is the most likely candidate for the underlying language of the script.{{sfnp|Knorozov|1965}} The Finnish scholar [[Asko Parpola]] led a Finnish team in the 1960s–80s that, like Knorozov's [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] 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".{{sfnp|Bryant|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2jfHlinW4UC&pg=PA183 183]}} A comprehensive description of Parpola's work up to 1994 is given in his book ''Deciphering the Indus Script''.{{sfnp|Parpola|1994}} Supporting this work, the archaeologist [[Walter Fairservis]] argued that Indus script text on seals could be read as names, titles, or occupations, and suggested that the animals depicted were [[totem]]s indicating [[kinship]] or possibly [[clan]]s.{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}}{{sfnp|Fairservis|1971}}{{sfnp|Fairservis|1992}} The computational linguist [[Rajesh P.&nbsp;N. Rao]], 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 [[syntax|syntactic]] structure in the Indus script, and noting that the Indus script appears to have a similar [[conditional entropy]] to [[Old Tamil]].{{sfnp|Rao|Yadav|Vahia|Joglekar|2009}}{{sfnp|Rao|Yadav|Vahia|Joglekar|2010}}

These scholars have proposed readings of many signs; one such reading was legitimised when the Dravidian [[homophone|homophonous]] words for 'fish' and 'star', {{IAST|mīn}}, were hinted at through drawings of both the things together on Harappan seals.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lo |first=Lawrence |title=Indus Script |website=ancient scripts.com |url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/indus.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219134556/http://www.ancientscripts.com/indus.html |archive-date=19 December 2019}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2022}} In a 2011 speech, Rajesh P.&nbsp;N. Rao said that [[Iravatham Mahadevan]] 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.{{sfnp|Rao|2011}}

[[File:Shiva Pashupati.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Indus script on a stamp seal depicting a buffalo-horned figure surrounded by animals, dubbed the 'Lord of the Beasts' or [[Pashupati seal|'{{IAST|Paśupati}}' seal]] ({{circa|2350–2000 BCE|lk=no}}).{{efn|Mahadevan has compared this seal to sign 7, which resembles a human figure with horns, arguing the comparison supports, among other evidence, a suggested Dravidian phonetic reading of the sign, {{IAST|kaṇṭh(a)}}.{{sfnp|Mahadevan|2008}} Numbering convention for the Indus script by [[Asko Parpola]].}}]]

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".{{sfnp|Mahadevan|2014}} 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.{{sfnp|The Hindu|2014}}