India & The Indus Script

    

In comparing and contrasting Patrick S. Bresnan's book Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought and the NHK documentary Indus: The Unvoiced Civilization, I found that each source approached the topic of the Indus Valley script decipherment in different but valid ways.

Aryan Migration Theory, Scroll.in

In Bresnan's Awakening, he talks about the ongoing debate over two different theories regarding the rise of Northern India and the emergence of the Vedas. These two theories are called the Indo-Aryan Migration and the Indigenous Aryan. Theorists of both believe that, "there is one thing that could pretty well settle the debate - the still undeciphered script of the Indus Civilization." (Bresnan 13) In comparison, the NHK documentary treats the decipherment of the Indus Valley script in a more Cultural Anthropological way rather than Linguistic. " I think the size of the seal indicates high rank, if it is a big seal it belongs to an important person" (Indus 41:00), the video then goes on to show the similarities of an Indus script symbol to the Dharmachakra that represents the "ideal king".

Indus Unicorn Seal British Museum

Like I mentioned above, it is believed that, "the emergence of the Vedic Age and the creators of the Vedas,' (Bresnan 13) is dependent on the decipherment of the Indus Valley script. This line of thought becomes a bit more complicated in the debate between the two different theories. Is India correct in their theory? Or are Western theorists? One is understandably rooted in national pride and the other has a problem of narrating history by skin color. "A gratuitous assumption which underlies the Western theory. The assumption is that the Aryans were a superior race." (Bresnan 11) Until it is determined if the Indus script is part of the Indo-European language or not, the debate rages on. 

Whereas in the NHK documentary, this debate was never mentioned. It focused more on the possible religious, ranking, and industry meanings of the Indus script. "We think the Harappan empire was not ruled by one person, it was an economic empire, it was a cultural empire."(Indus 42:50) 

Works Cited

Bresnan, Robert S. Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought. 6th Edition 2018 Routledge, New York

NHK Documentary Indus: The Unvoiced Civilization 

1947,0416.3 Stamp-Seal. 2500BC-2000BC The British Museum, London

 Stamen & Nithya Subramanian https://scroll.in/article/936872/two-new-genetic-studies-upheld-aryan-migration-theory-so-why-did-indian-media-report-the-opposite