Indus script deciphering

Kurt Schildmann (†)
Germany

Summary: 
What's wrong with the up to now efforts to decipher the Indus Script?

First: The common belief that the script runs from right to left. The contrary is true. It is clear that the seals show the graphs and pictured mirrored. Their numerous prints/Impressions prove that the script runs in the direction the depicted animals are marching to (just like in Old Egyptian texts), that is, as a rule, from left to right, and never boustrophedon.

Second: The common belief that the language denoted be a Baluchi-Dravidic dialect. The contrary is true. It is an archaic Sanskrit in telegram style, usually avoiding inflectional suffixation. There exist about 100 pictorial bilinguals, with legends. These bilinguals open the way to deciphering, since it is easy to find the name of the depicted animal in the legend. And all these animal names, the synonyms included, belong to the standard Sanskrit Lexicon. In one case, it is the hare, a synonym is used which is IE (=Indo-European), namely langa-ru-sha, read langar-usha = 'slack-ear', which has got lost in Sanskrit, but which has survived in Greek (Attic lagos, IE (s)lag-ous, and Greek lagaros = slack').

Third: The common belief that the Indus Script stems from more or less abstract pictograms. The contrary is true. Basical is a wisely constructed syllabary of which basic signs arediacritically modified by annexing or infixing -a (= 2 strokes), -u (by 3 strokes), -I (by 4 strikes). In addition, as a supplement, a number of basic terms (e.g. woman, man, hand/five, foot, the 30/33 Sanskrit Gods, Goddess Uma (= a circle with -u-infixed), the world or globe, = Sanskrit Triloka, = *Planet nr.3 (= a circle with the number 3 infixed), furthermore the hero Rama (as a bow-breaking person), the Moon = a circle with V infixed (the V-sign renders vi/vai 'woe', the Moon usually standing for going slow, working slow, because in the Moon's daily delay of about one hour) and many more. As to the syllabary see Annex p.A, and as to these special signs, see Annex p.B and C.

So far the summary.