The Indus Script is the writing system developed by the Indus Valley Civilization and it is the

earliest form of writing known in the Indian subcontinent. The origin of this script is poorly
understood: this writing system remains undeciphered, there is no agreement on the language it
represents, no bilingual texts have been found thus far and its connection with Indian writing
systems proper (e.g. Brahmi, Devanagari and Bengali script) is uncertain. This is the main reason
why the Indus Valley Civilization is one of the least known of the important early civilizations of
antiquity.

During the early Harappan phase (c. 3500-2700 BCE), we find the earliest known examples of
the Indus Script signs, attested on Ravi and Kot Diji pottery excavated at Harappa. Based on the
fact that only one sign is displayed on the pottery surface, these examples represent a premature
stage in the development of the Indus Script. Its full development was reached during the Urban
period (c. 2600-1900 BCE), when longer inscriptions are recorded. Thousands of inscriptions are
known from some 60 excavation sites: most of them are short, the average length is five signs
and none of them is longer than 26 signs.

MATERIAL FORM & USE

Examples of Indus writing has been found on seals and seal impressions, pottery, bronze tools,
stoneware bangles, bones, shells, ladles, ivory and on small tablets made of steatite, bronze and
copper. Square stamp seals are the dominant form of Indus writing media; they are normally an
inch square (2.54 centimetres) displaying the script itself on the top and an animal motif at the
centre. They are chiefly made of steatite, some of them include a layer of a smooth glassy-
looking material, but there are also examples of seals made of silver, faience and calcite. The
seals were pressed on a pliable surface (e.g. clay) in order to replicate its image.

Unfortunately, no bilingual inscriptions have yet been found to allow the Indus Script to be
compared to a known writing system.

Since the Indus Script has not been deciphered yet, its use is not known with certainty and all
that we think we know is based on archaeological evidence alone. Some of the seals may have
been used as amulets or talismans, but they also had a practical function as a marker for
identification. Since writing in ancient times is generally associated with elites trying to record
and control transactions, it is also believed that the Indus Script was used as an administrative
tool. There are also examples of this script being used on clay tags attached to bundles of goods
that were traded between merchants; some of these clay tags have been found in the
Mesopotamia region, well outside the Indus Valley, a testimony of how wide goods travelled in
ancient times.

The Indus Script was also used in the context of ‘narrative imagery’: these images included
scenes related to myths or stories, where the script was combined with images of humans,
animals and/or imaginary creatures depicted in active poses. This last use resembles the
religious, liturgical and literary use which is well attested in other writing systems.

decipherment attempts of the Indus Script

Slightly over 400 basic signs have been identified as part of the Indus Script. Only 31 of these
signs occur over 100 times, while the rest were not used regularly. This leads researchers to
believe that a large amount of the Indus Script was actually written on perishable materials, such
as palm leaves or birch, which did not survive the destruction of time. This is hardly surprising
considering that palm leaves, birch and bamboo tubes were widely used as writing surfaces in
south and south east Asia. Some researchers have argued that the roughly 400 symbols can
actually be reduced to 39 elementary signs, the rest being merely variations of styles and
differences between scribes.

There are a number of factors preventing scholars from unlocking the mystery of the Indus
Script. To begin with, some of the languages of ancient times, such as Egyptian, were deciphered
thanks to the recovery of bilingual inscriptions, that is by comparing an unknown script with a
known one. Unfortunately, no bilingual inscriptions have yet been found to allow the Indus
Script to be compared to a known writing system.

Indus Valley Seals

Another obstacle for its decipherment relates to the fact that all of the inscriptions found so far
are relatively short, fewer than 30 signs. This means that analysing recurring sign patterns,
another technique that can help to unlock the meaning of a writing system, cannot be
successfully performed for the Indus Script.

The last important reason why the Indus Script remains undeciphered, and possibly the most
debated of all, is that the language (or languages) that the script represents is still unknown.
Scholars have suggested a number of possibilities: Indo-European and Dravidian are the two
language families most commonly favoured, but other options have been proposed as well, such
as Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, or perhaps a language family that has been lost. On the basis of
the material culture associated with the Indus Valley Civilization, a number of scholars have
suggested that this civilization was not Indo-European.
what is it known about the indus script?

Although decipherment of the Indus Script has not been possible yet, the majority of the scholars
who have studied it agree on a number of points:

 The Indus Script was generally written from right to left. This is the case in most
examples found, but there are some exceptions where the writing is bidirectional, which
means that the direction of the writing is in one direction on one line but in the opposite
direction on the next line.
 The representation of certain numerical values has been identified. A single unit was
represented by a downward stroke, while semicircles were used for units of ten.
 The Indus Script combined both word signs and symbols with phonetic value. This type
of writing system is known as "logo-syllabic", where some symbols express ideas or
words while others represent sounds. This view is based on the fact that roughly 400
signs have been identified, which makes it unlikely that the Indus Script was solely
phonetic. However, if the hypothesis that the hundreds of signs can be reduced to just 39
is true, that means that the Indus Script could be solely phonetic.

DECLINE OF THE INDUS SCRIPT

By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization saw the beginning of its decline. As part of this
process, writing started to disappear. As the Indus Valley Civilization was dying, so did the
script they invented. The Vedic culture that would dominate North India for the centuries to
come did not have a writing system, nor did they adopt the Indus Script. In fact, India would
have to wait more than 1,000 years to see the return of writing.