Editing Indus script (section)

==Characteristics==
[[File:Indus script sign 4.png|thumb|upright=0.9|Variations of 'sign 4';{{efn|'Sign 4' is a compound of 'sign 1', depicting a person carrying two burdens, and 'sign 311', the "jar" sign. Numbering convention for the Indus script by [[Asko Parpola]].<ref name="Parpola numbering">{{cite web |title=Corpus by Asko Parpola |website=Mohenjodaro |language=en-gb |url=http://www.mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112146/http://mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola |archive-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> For an alternative numbering scheme, refer to {{harvp|Mahadevan|1977}}.}} such variation makes distinguishing signs from [[allograph]]ical variants difficult, and scholars have proposed different ways to classify elements of the Indus script.{{sfnp|Mahadevan|1977|pp=14–15}}]]

The characters are largely [[pictogram|pictorial]], depicting objects found in the ancient world generally, found locally in Harappan culture, or derived from the natural world.{{sfnp|Fairservis|1992|pp=9–10}} However, many abstract signs have also been identified. Some signs are compounds of simpler pictorial signs, while others are not known to occur in isolation, being known only to occur as components of more complex signs.{{sfnp|Fairservis|1992|pp=9–10}} Some signs resemble [[tally marks]] and are often interpreted as [[prehistoric counting|early numerals]].{{sfnp|Bonta|2010|pp=10–11}}{{sfnp|Mukhopadhyay|2019|p=2}}{{sfnp|Wells|2015|pp=66–76}}

===Number and frequency===
The number of principal signs is over 400, which is considered too large a number for each character to be a [[phonogram (linguistics)|phonogram]], and so the script is generally believed to be [[logogram|logo-syllabic]].{{sfnp|Stiebing|Helft|2018|pp=104–105}}{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XVgeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 132]}}{{sfnp|Robinson|2015}} The precise total number of signs is uncertain, as there is disagreement concerning whether particular signs are distinct or variants of the same sign.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XVgeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 132]}}{{sfnp|Robinson|2015}} In the 1970s, the [[early Indian epigraphy|Indian epigrapher]] [[Iravatham Mahadevan]] published a [[text corpus|corpus]] and [[concordance (publishing)|concordance]] of Indus inscriptions listing 419 distinct signs in specific patterns.{{sfnp|Mahadevan|1977|pp=14–15, 24–25, 32–35}}{{efn|Mahadevan's 1977 sign list originally included 417 signs but in a late addendum to the list, he added 2 additional signs, identified in then recently discovered inscriptions, which he had not been able to include in the sign list before publishing.}} However, in 2015, the archaeologist and epigrapher Bryan Wells estimated that were around 694 distinct signs.{{sfnp|Wells|2015|p=13}}
[[File:Alfabeto Harappa o Vallindo.jpg|thumb|A complete list of the Indus Script or Harappa]]
Of the signs identified by Mahadevan, 113 occur only once (are [[hapax legomenon|hapax legomena]]), 47 occur only twice, and 59 occur fewer than five times.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XVgeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 132]}} Just 67 signs account for 80 percent of usage across the corpus of Indus symbols.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=133}} The most frequently used sign is the "jar" sign,{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=133}} identified by Parpola as 'sign 311'.<ref name="Parpola numbering"/>

===Writing direction===
Most scholars agree that the Indus script was generally read from [[right to left]],{{sfnp|Mahadevan|1977|pp=10–14}}{{sfnp|Mukhopadhyay|2019|p=2}}{{sfnp|Sen|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA35 35]}} though some exceptions wherein the script is written left to right or in a [[boustrophedon]] mode are also known.{{sfnp|Mahadevan|1977|pp=10–14}}{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=134}} Although the script is undeciphered, the writing direction has been deduced from external evidence, such as instances of the symbols being compressed on the left side as if the writer is running out of space at the end of the row.{{sfnp|Mahadevan|1977|pp=10–14}}{{sfnp|Possehl|1996|p=59–62}} In the case of seals, which create a [[mirror image]] impression on the clay or ceramic on which the seal is affixed, the impression of the seal is read from right to left, as is this case with inscriptions in other cases.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=134}}

===Relationship to other scripts===
[[File:Brahmi and Indus seal proposed connection.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A proposed connection between the [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]] and Indus scripts, made in the 19th century by [[Alexander Cunningham]], an early proponent for the hypothesis of an [[Brahmi script#Indigenous origin hypothesis|indigenous origin of Brahmi]]{{sfnp|Cunningham|1877|loc=[https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsaso00hultgoog/page/n234/ Plate No. {{Roman|28}}]}}]]

Some researchers have sought to establish a relationship between the Indus script and [[Brahmi]], arguing that it is a [[substratum (linguistics)|substratum]] or ancestor to later writing systems used in the region of the Indian subcontinent. Others have compared the Indus script to roughly contemporary pictographic scripts from [[Mesopotamia]] and the [[Iranian plateau]], particularly [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] [[proto-cuneiform]] and [[Elamite]] scripts.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA131 131], 133|loc=fig. 7.5}} However, researchers now generally agree that the Indus script is not closely related to any other writing systems of the second and third millennia BCE, although some convergence or [[cultural diffusion|diffusion]] with Proto-Elamite conceivably may be found.{{sfnp|Zvelebil|1990|pp=85–86, 96}}{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=136}} A new study has also noticed a relationship with scripts across the [[Yi script|Tibetian-Yi]] corridor.<ref>{{cite arXiv | eprint=2503.21074 | author1=Ooha Lakkadi Reddy | title=Rerouting Connection: Hybrid Computer Vision Analysis Reveals Visual Similarity Between Indus and Tibetan-Yi Corridor Writing Systems | date=2025 | class=cs.CV }}</ref> A definite relationship between the Indus script and any other script remains unproven.

====Comparisons with Brahmi====
{{Main|Brahmi#Indigenous origin hypothesis}}

Researchers have compared the Indus Valley script to the [[Brahmi]] and [[Tamil-Brahmi]] scripts, suggesting that there may be similarities between them. These similarities were first suggested by early European scholars, such as the archaeologist [[John Marshall (archaeologist)|John Marshall]]{{sfnp|Marshall|1931|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA423 423]}} and the [[Assyriology|Assyriologist]] [[Stephen Herbert Langdon|Stephen Langdon]],{{sfnp|Paranavitana|Prematilleka|Van Lohuizen-De Leeuw|1978|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OIceAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA119 119]}} with some, such as G.&nbsp;R. Hunter,{{sfnp|Hunter|1934}} proposing an [[Brahmi script#Indigenous origin hypothesis|indigenous origin of Brahmi]] with a derivation from the Indus script.

====Comparisons with Proto-Elamite====
[[File:Susa seal with Indus signs.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Indus characters{{efn|Numbered according to the convention for the Indus script proposed by [[Asko Parpola]].}} from an impression of a [[cylinder seal]] discovered in [[Susa]] (modern [[Iran]]), in a [[stratigraphy|stratum]] dated to 2400–2100 BCE;<ref>{{cite object |title=Sceau cylindre |institution=[[Louvre Museum]] |place=Paris |id=SB 2425 |language=fr |date=2012 |url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010176471}}</ref> an example of ancient [[Indus–Mesopotamia relations]].<ref>{{cite web |title=sceau cylindre SB2425; AS41; CCO S. 299 |website=Louvre Museum |url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010176471}}<br>Description: {{cite web |title=Cylinder seal carved with an elongated buffalo and a Harappan inscription (Sb2425) |website=Louvre Museum |url=http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/cylinder-seal-carved-elongated-buffalo-and-harappan-inscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220083931/http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/cylinder-seal-carved-elongated-buffalo-and-harappan-inscription |archive-date=20 December 2013}}</ref>{{sfnp|Marshall|1931|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA425 425]}}]]

{{See also|Indus–Mesopotamia relations|Elamo-Dravidian languages}}

Researchers have also compared the Indus Valley script with the [[Proto-Elamite script]] used in [[Elam]], an ancient Pre-Iranian civilisation that was contemporaneous with the Indus Valley civilisation. Their respective scripts were contemporary to each other, and both were largely pictographic.{{sfnp|Possehl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA131 131]}} About 35 Proto-Elamite signs may possibly be comparable to Indus signs.{{sfnp|Zvelebil|1990|pp=85–86, 96}} Writing in 1932, G.&nbsp;R. Hunter argued, against the view of Stephen Langdon, that the number of resemblances "seem to be too close to be explained by coincidence".{{sfnp|Hunter|1932|p=483}}