Papers by Prabhunath Hembrom
Notionpress, 2024
Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and... more Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and linguists. Despite more than a century of relentless efforts by experts, no foolproof solution has emerged to explain the downfall of the Harappan civilization or to establish flawlessly the validity of the Aryan migration theory. The outcome of various research works shows the dedicated pursuit of the conventional ideology of the Dravidian or Sanskritic approach that has produced misleading and illogical results. The genuine key to resolving this long-standing enigma lies in the successful decoding of every sign on the Indus seals to provide space for comparative analysis of 300 to 350 seal inscriptions against any prevalent social customs in the Indian society and also its possible reference in the oldest religious text Rigveda. The absence of phenetic, syntactic and semantic principles noticed in their effort to decipher the Indus writing system, Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel have evaluated the Harappan civilization in their co-authored paper The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization as far from a literate society whose writing capability collapses when attempted to decode it. Challenging the collapse theory of the Indus writing system, the present article from the book Untold Truth from Indus Seal Inscriptions by the author of the present paper boldly projects the Harappan Civilization as a literate, progressive and well-organised hierarchical society.
Not published
Indus Valley seal inscriptions give insight into the various aspects of the Harappan and the post... more Indus Valley seal inscriptions give insight into the various aspects of the Harappan and the post-Harappan society and how the new entrants in the threshold failed to retain their original religious beliefs but embraced Harappan gods and their language.
This is a follow-up paper to my earlier post, 'Methodology in deciphering the Indus writing syste... more This is a follow-up paper to my earlier post, 'Methodology in deciphering the Indus writing system', to facilitate and counter-check the procedure followed in the research papers to decode the seal inscriptions.
Notionpress, 2020
Regarding deciphering Indus seal M-314
Notionpress, 2020
Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of ... more Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of a newborn baby, one asks whether it carries on the head or the shoulder. "If the baby is a boy, the answer is 'On the shoulder'. If the child is a girl, the reply is 'on the head', alluding to the way in which girls and women carry water-pots." 1 The Indus seal inscriptions are riddles in this sense because they do not represent an allograph similarly as the sign of letters in English do. They are, in fact, pictorial representation of a word or phrase which is, in most case, employed as an ideogram to hint at an idea. Therefore, a scriptsign may not directly mean the word or phrase that it stands for; rather the first letter of the word/phrase that identifies a symbol or ligature is applied phonetically to substitute it with another word/phrase bearing a close phonetic affinity with the identifier word/phrase. Furthermore, on substituting finally the phonetically similar derived word/phrase for the individual Indus signs of a seal, the resultant message from a seal inscription should have a logical link with the religious and social institutions of the Santals which is verifiable from the book Traditions and Institutions of The Santals by P. O. Boddong, L. O. Skrefsrud, Sten Konow. As Santali belongs to the agglutinating type of languages, the Indus seals show merely the principal word/phrase while the grammatical cases and notations are glued to the principal words. Nearly every syllable of Santali is a word and every word a sentence. For example, ol means to write, to make a mark, to mark; Oladiń means 'He writes to me' and Oladińae means 'He wrote to me.'
Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of ... more Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of a newborn baby, one asks whether it carries on the head or the shoulder. "If the baby is a boy, the answer is 'On the shoulder'. If the child is a girl, the reply is 'on the head', alluding to the way in which girls and women carry water-pots." 1 The Indus seal inscriptions are riddles in this sense because they do not represent an allograph similarly as the sign of letters in English do. They are, in fact, pictorial representation of a word or phrase which is, in most case, employed as an ideogram to hint at an idea. Therefore, a scriptsign may not directly mean the word or phrase that it stands for; rather the first letter of the word/phrase that identifies a symbol or ligature is applied phonetically to substitute it with another word/phrase bearing a close phonetic affinity with the identifier word/phrase. Furthermore, on substituting finally the phonetically similar derived word/phrase for the individual Indus signs of a seal, the resultant message from a seal inscription should have a logical link with the religious and social institutions of the Santals which is verifiable from the book Traditions and Institutions of The Santals by P. O. Boddong, L. O. Skrefsrud, Sten Konow. As Santali belongs to the agglutinating type of languages, the Indus seals show merely the principal word/phrase while the grammatical cases and notations are glued to the principal words. Nearly every syllable of Santali is a word and every word a sentence. For example, ol means to write, to make a mark, to mark; Oladiń means 'He writes to me' and Oladińae means 'He wrote to me.'
Notion Press, 2020
The excerpts primarily contain decoding of the Indus script on Dholavira gate and a few frequentl... more The excerpts primarily contain decoding of the Indus script on Dholavira gate and a few frequently repeated Indus signs cited from the book 'Indus Valley Civilization Script Decoded'. The book has more than 155 deciphered Indus seals in Santali language based on the historic work Traditions and Institutions of the Santals by L. O. Skrefsrud and P. O. Bodding.
Notion Press, 2020
The excerpts cite decoding of Indus Script of Dholavira gate. It also contains decoding of a few ... more The excerpts cite decoding of Indus Script of Dholavira gate. It also contains decoding of a few frequently used Indus scripts in Santali language. The decipherment contained in the book 'Indus Valley Civilization Script Decoded' is chiefly based on Traditions and Institutions of the Santals by L. O. Skrefsrud and P. O. Bodding and the images of the deciphered seals taken from Deciphering the Indus Script by Asko Parpola. 'Indus Valley Civilization Script Decoded' contains more than 155 deciphered seals in Santali.
Books by Prabhunath Hembrom
Notion Press, 2020
Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of ... more Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of a newborn baby, one asks whether it carries on the head or the shoulder. "If the baby is a boy, the answer is 'On the shoulder'. If the child is a girl, the reply is 'on the head', alluding to the way in which girls and women carry water-pots." 1 The Indus seal inscriptions are riddles in this sense because they do not represent an allograph similarly as the sign of letters in English do. They are, in fact, pictorial representation of a word or phrase which is, in most case, employed as an ideogram to hint at an idea. Therefore, a scriptsign may not directly mean the word or phrase that it stands for; rather the first letter of the word/phrase that identifies a symbol or ligature is applied phonetically to substitute it with another word/phrase bearing a close phonetic affinity with the identifier word/phrase. Furthermore, on substituting finally the phonetically similar derived word/phrase for the individual Indus signs of a seal, the resultant message from a seal inscription should have a logical link with the religious and social institutions of the Santals which is verifiable from the book Traditions and Institutions of The Santals by P. O. Boddong, L. O. Skrefsrud, Sten Konow. As Santali belongs to the agglutinating type of languages, the Indus seals show merely the principal word/phrase while the grammatical cases and notations are glued to the principal words. Nearly every syllable of Santali is a word and every word a sentence. For example, ol means to write, to make a mark, to mark; Oladiń means 'He writes to me' and Oladińae means 'He wrote to me.'
Drafts by Prabhunath Hembrom
Unpblished
Indus Valley seal inscriptions give insight into various aspects of the Harappan and post-Harappa... more Indus Valley seal inscriptions give insight into various aspects of the Harappan and post-Harappan society and how the new entrants in the threshold failed to retain their original religious beliefs but embraced Harappan gods and customs.
Unpublished
Methodology in deciphering an unknown script is vital as that is to be applied unfalteringly to a... more Methodology in deciphering an unknown script is vital as that is to be applied unfalteringly to all seals that contain a particular set of unknown writing. The present paper highlights the methodology applied in deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions.
Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of ... more Quite often, the Santals convey their messages through riddles. For instance, to know the sex of a newborn baby, one asks whether it carries on the head or the shoulder. "If the baby is a boy, the answer is 'On the shoulder'. If the child is a girl, the reply is 'on the head', alluding to the way in which girls and women carry water-pots." 1 The Indus seal inscriptions are riddles in this sense because they do not represent an allograph similarly as the sign of letters in English do. They are, in fact, pictorial representation of a word or phrase which is, in most case, employed as an ideogram to hint at an idea. Therefore, a scriptsign may not directly mean the word or phrase that it stands for; rather the first letter of the word/phrase that identifies a symbol or ligature is applied phonetically to substitute it with another word/phrase bearing a close phonetic affinity with the identifier word/phrase. Furthermore, on substituting finally the phonetically similar derived word/phrase for the individual Indus signs of a seal, the resultant message from a seal inscription should have a logical link with the religious and social institutions of the Santals which is verifiable from the book Traditions and Institutions of The Santals by P. O. Boddong, L. O. Skrefsrud, Sten Konow. As Santali belongs to the agglutinating type of languages, the Indus seals show merely the principal word/phrase while the grammatical cases and notations are glued to the principal words. Nearly every syllable of Santali is a word and every word a sentence. For example, ol means to write, to make a mark, to mark; Oladiń means 'He writes to me' and Oladińae means 'He wrote to me.'
Conference Presentations by Prabhunath Hembrom
Notionpress, 2024
Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and... more Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and linguists. Despite more than a century of relentless efforts by experts, no foolproof solution has emerged to explain the downfall of the Harappan civilization or to establish flawlessly the validity of the Aryan migration theory. The outcome of various research works shows the dedicated pursuit of the conventional ideology of the Dravidian or Sanskritic approach that has produced misleading and illogical results. The genuine key to resolving this long-standing enigma lies in the successful decoding of every sign on the Indus seals to provide space for comparative analysis of 300 to 350 seal inscriptions against any prevalent social customs in the Indian society and also its possible reference in the oldest religious text Rigveda. The absence of phenetic, syntactic and semantic principles noticed in their effort to decipher the Indus writing system, Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel have evaluated the Harappan civilization in their co-authored paper The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization as far from a literate society whose writing capability collapses when attempted to decode it. Challenging the collapse theory of the Indus writing system, the present article from the book Untold Truth from Indus Seal Inscriptions by the author of the present paper boldly projects the Harappan Civilization as a literate, progressive and well-organised hierarchical society.
Book Reviews by Prabhunath Hembrom
Notionpress, 2024
Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and... more Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and linguists. Despite more than a century of relentless efforts by experts, no foolproof solution has emerged to explain the downfall of the Harappan civilization or to establish flawlessly the validity of the Aryan migration theory. The outcome of various research works shows the dedicated pursuit of the conventional ideology of the Dravidian or Sanskritic approach that has produced misleading and illogical results. The genuine key to resolving this long-standing enigma lies in the successful decoding of every sign on the Indus seals to provide space for comparative analysis of 300 to 350 seal inscriptions against any prevalent social customs in the Indian society and also its possible reference in the oldest religious text Rigveda. The absence of phenetic, syntactic and semantic principles noticed in their effort to decipher the Indus writing system, Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel have evaluated the Harappan civilization in their co-authored paper The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization as far from a literate society whose writing capability collapses when attempted to decode it. Challenging the collapse theory of the Indus writing system, the present article from the book Untold Truth from Indus Seal Inscriptions by the author of the present paper boldly projects the Harappan Civilization as a literate, progressive and well-organised hierarchical society.
Notionpress, 2024
I am keenly interested in decoding the Indus seal inscriptions to trace the genuine cause for the... more I am keenly interested in decoding the Indus seal inscriptions to trace the genuine cause for the downfall of the Indus Valley Civilization and to analyse through discussion whether this paper fulfils phonetic, syntactic and semantic principles in deciphering the Indus writing system and helps to create a lexical list from the Indus signs to trace reasons for the absence of religious structures, the presence of the bureaucratic organization and the standing army in the Harappan society. Also to examine if the decoded messages about conflicts have their mirror image in certain stanzas of the RV composed by the invading Aryan seers. All are invited to participate in the discussion.
Notionpress, 2024
Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and... more Deciphering the Indus seal inscriptions has been a longstanding challenge for anthropologists and linguists. Despite more than a century of relentless efforts by experts, no foolproof solution has emerged to explain the downfall of the Harappan civilization or to establish flawlessly the validity of the Aryan migration theory. The outcome of various research works shows the dedicated pursuit of the conventional ideology of the Dravidian or Sanskritic approach that has produced misleading and illogical results. The genuine key to resolving this long-standing enigma lies in the successful decoding of every sign on the Indus seals to provide space for comparative analysis of 300 to 350 seal inscriptions against any prevalent social customs in the Indian society and also its possible reference in the oldest religious text Rigveda. The absence of phenetic, syntactic and semantic principles noticed in their effort to decipher the Indus writing system, Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel have evaluated the Harappan civilization in their co-authored paper The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization as far from a literate society whose writing capability collapses when attempted to decode it. Challenging the collapse theory of the Indus writing system, the present article from the book Untold Truth from Indus Seal Inscriptions by the author of the present paper boldly projects the Harappan Civilization as a literate, progressive and well-organised hierarchical society.
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Papers by Prabhunath Hembrom
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Book Reviews by Prabhunath Hembrom