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106 The Häthigumpha Inscription and the Bhabru Edict borrowed. It is even possible that all four scripts may have had a common origin.” It is accepted by all savants who have worked on the ancient civilisations in the Nile, Euphrates and Indus valleys, that there was intercommunication. There is not much evidence to support the hypothesis that these civilisations had a common ancestry. In the present state of our knowledge, as borne out by the analysis of Hunter as well, the safe surmise would be that the three civilisations developed independently and the scripts they gave were products of indigenous effort, but in course of time they benefitted and enriched by mutual intercourse. Such instances of mutual communion are known throughout the known course of history to date among the developed peoples.
The Indus Valley script appears to consist of ideographs, morphographs and phonographs. Efforts at its decipherment are eluding because of one basic factor that a narrative inscription has yet to be discovered. The specimens have been found on seals, mainly clay tablets, the specific purpose of which is yet to be determined. They, however, prove the fundamental that the art of writing or redacting thoughts morphologically, was invented in the Indus Valley not later than any other civilised community hitherto known.
The common writing material has always been perishable media. If today, despite all the scientific and technological advancement, we are unable to create paper which would last longer than a few hundred years with all the best care, we should not wonder if manuscripts on bhurja-patra (birch-bark) or tādapatra (palm-leaf) or some variety of paper or wood are not found
1.
The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its connection with other scripts, pp. 45-47. K.N. Dikshit (Prehistoric Civilisation of the Indus Valley, p. 40) and R.B. Pandey (Indian Palaeography, pp. 34-35) would have us believe that the Nile and Euphrates civilisations were also the product of the Aryan genius of Indian origin. David Diringer (The Alphabet, p. 85) is on the other extreme and finds it hard to believe that script could originate in the Indus Valley.
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