Table of Contents
Economist Brishti Guha joins Amish Tripathi on Immortal India to defend a fresh reading of the Indus Saraswati signs. The work they back belongs to a researcher the show calls Yagya Devam, also named Bharat Rao. A candidate tongue is tried on the inscriptions until the lines either fall apart or keep making grammar. Past a set information threshold, she says, that tongue is the only fit, and Sanskrit is reported to clear it on something like thirty seven hundred texts. Words fired into bangles, on her telling, mean the buyers could read and were willing to pay more. One wording is tied to warrior women and to Vishpala coming back with a metal leg. Another is read as a woman posted to protect a man. Other lines are said to name Shiva, household fires, a prayer before a voyage, and plain words for horse. Tripathi treats that horse vocabulary as reason to drop the picture of a culture that had none.
Key points
- Guha credits Yagya Devam with a Sanskrit reading she says stays grammatical across the inscription pile.
- Words on bangles are treated as evidence that women could read and would pay more to carry a role.
- A warrior wording is linked to Vishpala, who is said to have returned to battle on a metal leg.
- Another line is read as a woman whose duty was to guard a man, with later literature as a parallel.
- Shiva, Kamadeva, and the three household fires are presented as already named on the objects.
- Horse words and familiar toys in a Mesopotamian quarter are used against the horseless, isolated picture.
Short quotes
Now, we've all been assured that apparently it's an undecipherable script because no Rosetta Stone has been found for it.
Amish Tripathi, Indus script read as Sanskrit
He states the familiar claim that the signs cannot be read without a bilingual key. Watch at 2:09
So that would mean that your language is working and no other language would have worked.
Brishti Guha, Indus script read as Sanskrit
She treats a tongue as proven only when it alone keeps producing sense. Watch at 4:59
So what this also suggests is that these were more expensive than ordinary bangles.
Brishti Guha, Indus script read as Sanskrit
Inscribed ornaments, she argues, cost more than plain ones because of the extra work. Watch at 9:47
So this suggests that a woman was the bodyguard for a man and this actually has parallels in later Sanskrit literature.
Brishti Guha, Indus script read as Sanskrit
One wording is taken as a woman assigned to protect a man, echoed in later tales. Watch at 12:32
So that suggests a context where people are going off on a sea voyage and they're asking for blessings and protection before that.
Brishti Guha, Indus script read as Sanskrit
A seal is read as a request for safety before a ship leaves. Watch at 23:45
Video by Amish Tripathi. Watch on YouTube.