Why is deciphering the Indus script important?
Why has Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced a $1-million prize to anyone who deciphers the scripts of the Indus Valley Civilisation? Has any work in recent times pointed to the possible cultural contact between the Indus Valley and south India?
Introduction:
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced a $1-million prize for experts or organisations in the event of their success in deciphering the scripts of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC).
- He made the announcement at the inauguration of an international conference to mark the centenary of the IVC discovery, which was disclosed through an article published in September 1924 by the then Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) John Marshall.
- That the Chief Minister of a southern State in the country had made such an announcement was due to the possible Dravidian connection with the IVC.
- Notwithstanding the political dimension of the Dravidian concept, historians, archaeologists and linguistic scholars have been debating over the Dravidian hypothesis ever since the publication of Marshall’s article.
Scholars’ definition of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC):
- The IVC, also called the Harappan Civilisation, spanned 2,000 sites across 1.5 million sq. km. in the territories of modern-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan during the Bronze Age (3000-1500 BCE).
- It had a wider geographical area than the combined areas of its contemporary civilisations – Egyptian and Mesopotamian.
- Talking of the IVC’s importance, Pakistan’s veteran archaeologist Ahmad Hasan Dani, in the December 1973 issue of UNESCO Courier, observed that the Valley lies across “ancient migration routes from central and western Asia to India.”
- The IVC introduced urban life for the first time in the valley when similar civilisations had developed on the banks of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates valleys.
Importance of deciphering the Indus script:
- Other scripts encountered in the contemporary Mesapotomian and Egyptian civilisations had been deciphered in a more satisfying manner, But, the non-decipherment of the Indus script prevents scholars from providing a complete picture of Harappan culture, which is why scholars tend to call it a “mystery script.”
Dravidian hypothesis:
- The Indus script carries proto-Dravidian references – this is the position of scholars including Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Father Heras, Yri Valentinovich Knorozov, Walter Fairservis, Iravatham Mahadevan, Kamil Zvelebil, Krishnamurti and Asko Parpola – which can be found in the latest study on Indus signs and graffiti marks of Tamil Nadu.
- The IVC “is non-Aryan and pre-Aryan,” argued Mahadevan in his article published in The Hindu.
- Attributing “solid archaeological and linguistic evidence,” the scholar emphasised that “the Indus script is a writing system encoding the language of the region (most probably Dravidian)”.
- Ruling out Aryan authorship of the civilisation, he hastened to add that this did not automatically make it Dravidian.
- Yet, “there is substantial linguistic evidence favouring the Dravidian theory: the survival of Brahui, a Dravidian language in the Indus region; the presence of Dravidian loanwords in the Rigveda; the substratum influence of Dravidian on the Prakrit dialects; and computer analysis of the Indus texts revealing that the language had only suffixes (like Dravidian), and no prefixes (as in Indo-Aryan) or infixes (as in Munda),” Mahadevan wrote.
- As the Dravidian models of decipherment had still little in common except certain basic features, “it is obvious that much more work remains to be done before a generally acceptable solution emerges,” according to him.
Offerings of the latest work:
- Commissioned by the Tamil Nadu government’s State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA), the study, which is morphological in nature, reveals that nearly 90% of the graffiti marks found during excavations at archaeological sites in the State have parallels to those found in the Indus Valley Civilisation.
- “…the exact shapes and their variants found both independently and in composite forms vividly indicate that they were not accidental.
- It is believed that the Indus script or signs would have not disappeared without any trace[s], rather they would have transformed or evolved into different forms,” concludes K. Rajan, academic-research advisor to the TNSDA, and R. Sivanantham, joint director in the department, who carried out the study.
- Defining the terms “graffiti” and “script,” the duo, in a monograph, explain that all the recognisable scratches engraved on the ceramics in south India and, to some extent, on Indus ceramics are identified as graffiti.
- The ones engraved on seals and other metal objects of the IVC are designated as script.
- Even though both were written by the same people, they were differentiated and documented as script and graffiti.
- “However, the extensive comparative study of graffiti marks and Indus scripts evidently suggests that both are undeciphered signs,” the two scholars observe.
- The findings of a two-year-long project of the TNSDA, called ‘Documentation and Digitisation of Graffiti and Tamili (Tamil-Brāhmī) Inscribed Potsherds of Tamil Nadu’, have formed the basis of the monograph.
- Aimed at documenting, compiling and analysing the graffiti bearing potsherds and Tamili inscribed potsherds unearthed in archaeological excavations of the State, the project, launched during 2022-23, seeks to compare those graffiti marks with the Indus script to explore whether any cultural relationship existed between the two.
- The datasets from the project suggested that 15,184 graffiti-bearing potsherds were reported from 140 sites in the State and nearly 14,165 sherds were documented.
- Of them, nearly 2,107 signs had been morphologically categorised within a group of 42 base signs, 544 variants and 1,521 composites.
- Any additional strokes added to the base signs were considered variants of the base signs while a group of signs containing more than one base sign was regarded as a composite sign.
- “Several signs encountered in Tamil Nadu had exact parallels in the Indus scripts. Likewise, some signs had near parallels. These signs probably evolved from the base signs. Out of 42 base signs and their variants, nearly 60% of them found their parallels in the Indus script,” the document explains.
Cultural contact between the IVC and south India:
- The monograph talks of a “possibility of cultural exchanges.”
- Even though the occurrences of identical graffiti marks in south India suggest a kind of cultural contact, one needs more material evidence and tangible data to support or strengthen the view.
- The recent chronometric dates indicate that when the Indus Valley experienced the Copper Age, south India experienced the Iron Age.
- In this sense, the Iron Age of South India and the Copper Age of Indus are contemporary.
- If that is so, there is a “possibility of cultural exchanges either through direct or intermediate zones,” the authors of the monograph point out.
- The document goes on to state that the occurrence of a large number of carnelian and agate beads and high-tin bronze objects, particularly from Iron Age graves, give a clue about the contact, as carnelian, agate, copper and tin have to come from the north or elsewhere.
- Besides semiprecious stones and copper, a few more cultural items are required to prove the existence of contact “convincingly,” the authors state, calling for future explorations, excavations, scientific investigations and historical linguistic analysis.
UPSC Mains PYQ:
- To what extent was the urban planning and culture of the Indus valley civilization provided inputs to the present-day urbanisation? Discuss. (2014)
Why is the rupee weakening against the dollar?
Introduction:
- In the last week of December, 2024, the rupee breached the 85 mark against the U.S. dollar, touching an all-time low of 85.81.
- The currency depreciated about 3% in 2024, continuing its long-term trend of gradually but consistently losing value against the dollar.
Causes for a currency to depreciate:
- The price of any currency in the foreign exchange market is determined by the demand for the currency vis-a-vis its supply.
- This is similar to how the price of any other product is determined in the marketplace.
- When the demand for a product rises while its supply remains constant, this causes the price of the product to rise in order to ration the available supply.
- On the other hand, when the demand for a product drops while its supply remains constant, this causes sellers to drop the price of the product in order to attract sufficient buyers.
- The only difference between the goods market and the forex market is that currencies are exchanged for other currencies rather than for goods in the foreign exchange market.
- A currency depreciates against a foreign currency when the demand for it (in terms of the foreign currency) drops compared to its available supply in the market.
- When the currency’s value depreciates, the value of the foreign currency automatically appreciates on the other side.
- This is similar to how the purchasing power of your money depreciates or appreciates when the price of goods in the marketplace rise or fall, respectively.
- There are various factors that determine the demand for and the supply of any currency in the foreign exchange market.
- One of the most important determinants of the supply of a currency in the market is the monetary policy of a country’s central bank.
- A central bank adopting looser monetary policy compared with other central banks will cause the supply of its currency in the market (for both goods trade and investment purposes) to rise relative to other currencies, causing the currency’s value to drop.
- Central banks adopting relatively tighter monetary policy, on the other hand, are likely to see their currencies appreciate in value.
- A crucial factor that determines the demand for any currency, on the other hand, is the demand among foreigners for the goods and assets of the country.
- Since foreigners will first have to purchase the local currency before they can purchase a country’s goods and assets, high demand for a country’s goods and assets translates to high demand for its currency and which in turn leads to a rise in the value of the currency.
- A fall in demand for a country’s goods or assets, on the other hand, will cause the value of its currency to fall.
Causes behind the rupee’s fall:
- The current bout of rupee depreciation is seen as driven primarily by the exit of foreign investors from India, which has put pressure on the rupee.
- Global investors have been shuffling their investments across countries as central banks recalibrate their monetary policies to varying degrees.
- High inflation in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic led to monetary tightening by central banks which is now being reversed as inflation comes more under control.
- This has pushed investors to withdraw money from markets like India and invest in more advanced markets.
- Meanwhile, the longer term trend of the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar is attributed to higher inflation in India than in the U.S. due to the Reserve Bank of India’s looser monetary policy compared to the U.S. Federal Reserve.
- India’s traditional demand for high-value imports such as crude oil and gold (which boosts demand for the dollar and weakens the rupee) to keep its economy going and its inability to boost exports (which can help boost demand for the rupee) have also contributed to the lackluster performance of the rupee.
- The RBI has been using its dollar reserves to prop up the value of the rupee by artificially increasing the supply of dollars in the foreign exchange market, and thus the dollar demand for rupees.
- As a result, the value of India’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to an eight-month low of $640 billion as of the last week of December from over $700 billion in September.
- Analysts believe the rupee’s depreciation would have been far worse if not for the RBI’s intervention to support the rupee against the dollar.
- The RBI’s traditional stance has been to manage the rupee’s exchange value in such a way as to allow for a gradual depreciation in its value without too much volatility that could disrupt the economy.
UPSC Mains PYQ:
- How would the recent phenomena of protectionism and currency manipulations in world trade affect macroeconomic stability of India? (2018)
WEF Annual Meeting 2025
Context:
- Several Union Ministers, CMs to join world leaders in Davos for WEF meet
More info:
- Besides over 50 Presidents and Prime Ministers from across the world, top officials of international organisations like the United Nations, IMF, World Bank, Interpol, NATO, European Central Bank and WTO are also expected to be in Davos for the WEF Annual Meeting 2025.
- The main theme of this meet will be ‘collaboration for the intelligent age’.
- Geneva-based WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation, will convene leaders from government, business and civil society as well as scientific and cultural thinkers for its 55th annual meeting under the theme of ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’.
- According to the WEF, the meeting will serve as a trusted global platform for dialogue and cooperation, bring together a diverse community of stakeholders, seek to connect the dots in an era of complexity and be firmly future-oriented – both in terms of insights and solutions.
- Several sessions are expected to be attended by Indian leaders, including one on ‘India’s Economic Blueprint’.
- As one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, India has been growing at over 8%, and this growth has been buoyed by a focus on promoting local innovation and startups in technology and manufacturing, representing a departure from traditional export-oriented models.
- The leaders would deliberate how India has capitalised on this new blueprint and to what extent it can continue to drive global growth.
- According to the WEF, the annual meeting will take place at a time when geo-economic fragmentation, geopolitical polarisation and divisions over values continue to impact countries and communities across the world.
- At the same time, exponential innovation and deployment around whole sets of inter-connected technologies — from AI and quantum to energy tech, biotech and health tech – offer an unprecedented opportunity to increase productivity and hence, standards of living.
- Reviving and reimagining growth is critical to building stronger and more resilient economies, and the meeting would seek to discuss how to avoid an Age of Fragmentation and instead work together on a can-do, people-centred agenda for an Intelligent Age.
- The global leaders would also deliberate on how to reinvent the muscle of collaborative innovation to get out of the current low-growth, high-debt world economy and address common challenges from climate change to the ethical use of AI.
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