Beyond Decipherment: Message of

the Indus Seals

By N. S. Rajaram
Extracted from a paper on Vedic Seals by N. S. Rajaram, presented at a recent conference of
leading historians on Vedic history.
(Based on The Deciphered Indus Script by N.Jha and N.S. Rajaram)
Background
The year 1996-97, the fiftieth year of Indian independence, was important in more respects than
one. In that year Natwar Jha published his monograph Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals containing
a complete decipherment of the Indus script along with more than a hundred deciphered
readings. Shortly after its publication, I began my collaboration with Jha leading to our soon to
be published book The Deciphered Indus Script. In our book, we present deciphered readings of
well over five hundred texts with Vedic references and explanations. Since many of the messages
are repeated on different seals, they probably cover between 1500 and 2000 seals, or about half
the known corpus. We have read more that are not included in our book for reasons mainly of
logistics.
The main conclusion to follow from our work is that the Harappan Civilization, of which the
seals are a product, belonged to the latter part of the Vedic Age. It has close connections with
Vedantic works like the Sutras and the Upanishads. The style of writing reflects the short
aphorisms found in Sutra works. The imagery and symbolism are strongly Vedic. The vocabulary
depends heavily on the Vedic glossary Nighantu and its commentary by Yaska known as the
Nirukta. The name of Yaska is found on at least two seals ‹ possibly three. There are references
to Vedic kings and sages as well place names. Of particular interest are references to Plakshagra ‹
the birthplace of the Sarasvati River, and Sapta Apah or the Land of the Seven Rivers.
This means that the Rigveda must already have been quite ancient by the time of the Harappan
Civilization. Since the Harappan Civilization was known to be flourishing in the 3100 1900 BC
period, the Rigveda must have been in existence by 4000 BC. This now receives archaeological
support following R.S. Bisht¹s investigation of the great Harappan city of Dholavira. Bisht (and
other archaeologists) have concluded that the Vedic Aryans of the Sarasvati heartland were the
people who created the Harappan cities and the civilization associated with it. Our deciphered
readings tell us the same thing.
Message of the Indus seals
I will not present the decipherment here which both Jha and I have discussed in detail at other
places. I will only note that the script is a highly complex hybrid that includes (1) an alphabetical
subset; (2) a large number of composite signs; and (3) numerous pictorial symbols. The language
of the Harappan texts is Vedic Sanskrit, and the script itself is heavily influenced by the rules of
Sanskrit grammar and phonetics. It is clear that the later Brahmi script is a derivative of the
Harappan that evolved borrowing heavily from its alphabetical subset. In fact, there exist
examples of writing that combine features of both. It is therefore reasonable to call the Harappan
script Old Brahmi or Proto Brahmi. Its decipherment was the result of more than twenty years of
research by Jha ‹ a Vedic scholar and paleographer of considerable distinction. As previously
observed, Jha and I have read close to 2000 seals; for most of these we have also found
references in the Vedic literature, particularly the Nighantu and the Nirukta of Yaska. With this
body of material, we are now in a position to take a broad look at what these seals have to say
about the people who created them. This is particularly necessary in the light of a couple of
highly publicized claims over the contents of the seals made in the last few months. One linguist
(Malati Shengde) has claimed that the language of the Harappans was Akkadian, a West Asiatic
language. This claim, made without being able to read the writing, is not supported by our
decipherment. The language of the seals is Vedic Sanskrit, with close links to Vedantic works
like the Upanishads. For instance, we have found and deciphered a seal which contains the word
shadagama (shat agama) ‹ a reference to the six schools Vedantic knowledge. This shows that
they must already have been in existence before 2000 BC. (Most of the seals were created in the
3100 1900 BC period.)

Another recent claim by a retired archaeologist (M.V. Krishna Rao) relates to the career of Sri
Rama. According to Krishna Rao, the Harappan seals tell us that Rama was born not in Ayodhya,
but in the present state of Haryana. He further claims that according to his study of the seals,
Rama invaded Babylon and defeated and killed the famous Babylonian ruler Hammurabi whom
he equates with Ravana! This account, if true, would call for a radical revision of both Indian and
Babylonian history. Hammurabi is a well-known historical figure. He is known to have died in
1750 BC of natural causes and not killed in battle. His date therefore is too late to have found
mention in the Harappan seals. We have no such sensational findings to report. Our fairly
extensive readings indicate that the seals contain little in the way of history. To begin with, the
writings on the seals are brief, with an average length of five to six characters. This makes them
unsuitable for recording historical details. Whatever historical information we do find is
incidental. There are occasional references to Vedic kings like Sudasa, Yadu and Puru, and to
sages like Kutsa and Paila. We find also references to ancient places like Plaksagra (birthplace of
the Sarasvati river), Sapta-Apah or the Land of the Seven Rivers referred to in the Vedic
literature. But such Œhistorical¹ seals are few and far between; they probably do not exceed five
percent of the total. Other historical information has to be inferred from indirect messages like
the one about the six schools of Vedanta mentioned earlier.
References to Rama We do find references to Rama, but they are nowhere near as dramatic as his
invasion of Babylonia and the killing of Hammurabi-Ravana. Seals speak of kanta-rama or
ŒBeloved Rama¹, and kanta-atma-rama or ŒBeloved Soul Rama¹. One seal in particular speaks
of samatvi sa ha rama meaning ŒRama treated all with equality¹. All this finds echo in the
Valmiki Ramayana as Œarya sarva samashcaiva sadaiva priyadarshanah¹, or ŒArya to whom all
were equal and was dear to everyone.¹
There is also a reference to Rama performing a successful fire ritual (or launching a fire missile)
which again is mentioned in the Ramayana. There is another reference to Rama¹s successful
crossing of the sea which again touches on the Ramayana. Of particular interest is the presence
of ŒRama¹ in at least one West Asiatic seal from pre-Sargon layer in southern Mesopotamia. We
know from Zoroastrian scripture that Rama was well known in ancient West Asia. The readings
suggest that this goes back to a period long before 2500 BC. What is interesting in all this is that
Rama is treated as an ideal man and ruler loved by everyone; nowhere have we found anything
to suggest that he was regarded as divine. All this suggests that history books are in need of
major revision. The Aryan invasion stands shattered, the Proto Dravidians are found to be a
myth, and the cradle of civilization ‹ assuming there was such a thing ‹ is not Mesopotamia but
Vedic India. Also, a version of the story of Rama existed five thousand years ago, and known
both in India and West Asia. And the Sanskrit language ‹ at least the Vedic version of it ‹ is of
untold antiquity; it was certainly not brought to India by invading nomads in the second
millennium.
Floods and maritime activity
To return to the seals and their contents, such Œhistorical¹ seals are exceptional. A great majority
of the seals are different in character and content. Often their texts can be quite mundane. We
find a reference to a craftsman by name Ravi whose products last twice as long as those made by
other craftsmen (dvi-ayuh). One inscription speaks of a short-tempered mother-in-law; there is
even mention of relieving fever with the help of water from a saligrama (fossil stone) ‹ a remedy
still followed in many Indian households. We find numerous references to rivers (apah) and
Œflows¹ (retah), suggesting the existence of an extensive system of waterways. We have texts
like a madra retah (flow to the Madra country), and a vatsa retah (flow to the Vatsa country)
indicating their presence. The Vedic Civilization was of course largely a maritime one, as indeed
was the Harappan ‹ a fact noted by David Frawley. The seals confirm it. There is recent
archaeological evidence suggesting the presence of Indian cotton in Mexico and Peru dating to
2500 BC and earlier (Rajaram and Frawley 1997), which again suggests maritime activity. As
noted earlier, archaeological evidence also supports the fact that the Vedic people (and the
Harappans) engaged in maritime activity. References to floods are common, and can sometimes
be quite vivid. There is a particularly dramatic inscription, which speaks of workers laboring all
night by fire, trying to stem the floods. The readings suggest that the floods were due to the
encroachment of seawater and not necessarily the rivers. These messages should be of interest to
archaeologists who have noted the damage to sites due to floods and salination. The great
Harappan city of Dholavira in Gujarat is a striking example.
Vedic symbolism
While historical references are rare, and many seals contain much mundane material, a
substantial number of seals have messages reflecting Vedic symbolism. This symbolism can be
quite profound, and one has to dig deep into the Vedic and Vedantic literature in trying to
interpret them. But once understood, it helps to explain the symbolism of the images on the seals
also. This can be illustrated with the help of the famous Pashupati seal, alongside its deciphered
text.
The seal contains a meditating horned deity surrounded by five animals. The animals are ‹
elephant, musk deer, buffalo, tiger and rhinoceros. These five animals are often identified with
the five senses, and the five associated elements ‹ fire, water, space, wind and earth (or soil).
These elements that go to make up the material universe are known in the Vedic literature as
panca maha-bhutas or the Five Great Elements. The reading on the seal is ishadyatah marah.
Mara is the force opposed to creation ‹ one that causes the destruction of the universe. The seal
message means: Mara is controlled by Ishvara. The seated deity is of course a representation of
Ishvara.
Hindu cosmology holds that both creation and destruction of the universe result from the action
of the Five Great Elements. So Mara, the destructive force, is also composed of the Five Great
Elements. With this background, the deciphered message ishadyatah marah allows us to interpret
the symbolism of the famous Pashupati seal. It expresses the profound idea, that, in every cosmic
cycle, both the creation and the destruction of the universe are caused by the action of the panca
maha-bhutas (Five Great Elements) under the control of Ishvara. This remarkable interpretation
was decoded and brought to my notice by Jha.
We find numerous such seals with close links to the Vedic and Vedantic literature; our book
includes several such interpretations. The written messages are brief in the form known as
Œsutras¹ to Sanskrit scholars. These are short formula-like aphorisms made famous by such
works as Panini¹s grammar, and Patanjali¹s celebrated Yogasutra. They invariably need
elaboration. An example is the message ishadyatah marah just described. The seals are products
of the same cultural, and, no doubt, historical milieu. Thus they confirm the earlier findings of
Sethna and this writer that the Harappan Civilization overlapped with the Sutra period. This is
what Frawley and I in our book have called the ŒSutra-Harappa- Sumeria equation¹. (We have
also found mathematical formulas on a few seals.) All this provides a window on the Harappan
world, and calls for a complete revision of Vedic history and chronology.
Conclusion
In summary, one may say that the deciphered seals, while they may not contain much in the way
of history, they do provide a clear historical context for the Harappans by establishing a firm link
between Harappan archaeology and the Vedic literature. Thanks to the deciphered seals, the
Harappans, who until now had been left dangling like the legendary king Trishanku, find at last a
place in history ‹ in Vedic India. The Harappans were the Vedic Harappans. The Rigveda
therefore must go back well into the fifth millennium. If there was a cradle of civilization, it was
Vedic India, not Sumeria. This recognition is bound to bring about a revolution in our
understanding of history.
Rerefences
Jha, N. (1996) Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals. Ganga-Kaveri Publishing House, Varanasi.
Jha, N. and N.S. Rajaram (To appear) The Deciphered Indus Script: Methodology, Readings,
Interpretation.
Rajaram, N.S. (1996) ŒJha¹s Decipherment of the Indus Script¹, in the Quarterly Journal of the
Mythic Society (October-December 1996).
Rajaram, N.S. and David Frawley (1997) Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization: A
Literary and Scientific Perspective, 2nd edition. Voice of India, New Delhi.