Editing Indus script (section)

====Indo-Aryan language====
Perhaps the most influential proponent of the hypothesis that the Indus script records an early [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] is the Indian archaeologist [[Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao]],{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}} 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 [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] basis in the script has been that of Rao".{{sfnp|Mitchiner|1978|p=5}}{{efn|With reference to {{harvp|Rao|1973|loc=chapter 10}}.}} S.&nbsp;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 [[Proto-Sinaitic]] script.{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}}{{sfnp|Robinson|2002|p={{page needed|date=August 2022}}}} He compared it to the [[Phoenician alphabet]], and assigned sound values based on this comparison.{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}} Reading the script from left to right, as is the case with Brahmi, he concluded that Indus inscriptions included numerals{{efn|Given as ''aeka, dwi, tra, chatus, panta, happta/sapta, dasa, dvadasa, shata'' (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 100)}} and were "[[Vedic Sanskrit|Sanskritic]]".{{sfnp|Sreedharan|2007|p=268–269}} Consistent with this proposed [[Vedic Sanskrit|Sanskritic]] connection, Suzanne Redalia Sullivan has provided a near complete solution and interpretation of the Indus Valley Script.<ref>{{cite news|title=Indus Script Based on Sanskrit Language|author=Jeyakumar Ramasami|date=Feb 21, 2014 |work=sci.news|url=https://www.sci.news/othersciences/linguistics/science-indus-script-sanskrit-language-01777.html|access-date=April 6, 2025}}</ref>

S.&nbsp;R. Rao's interpretation helped to bolster [[Hindutva|Hindu nationalist]] and [[Indigenous Aryanism|Aryan indigenist]] views propagated by writers, such as [[David Frawley]], who hold the conviction that [[Indo-Aryan peoples]] are the original Bronze Age inhabitants of the [[Indian subcontinent]] and that the [[Indo-European language family]] originated in India.{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}} However, there are many problems with this hypothesis, particularly the cultural differences evident between the Indus River Civilisation and [[Indo-European culture]]s, 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".{{sfnp|Parpola|1986|p=411}} Additionally, the Indus script appears to lack evidence of [[affix]]es or [[inflection]]al endings,{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=136}} which Possehl has argued rules out an Indo-European language such as Sanskrit as the language of the Indus script.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=137}}