Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 225

NOVEMBER, 1933)
INDUS AND ETRUSCAN SIGNS COMPARED
213
A COMPARISON BETWEEN SIGNS OF THE INDUS SCRIPT' AND SIGNS IN THE
CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ETRUSCARUM.
BY DR. GIUSEPPE PICOOLI. As Orientalists are aware, there has been discovered, up to April 1931, in the basin of the Indug, at Mohenjodaro' and Harappa, an ancient script in syllabic writing. I propose to show that certain characteristic signs recurring in this script will be seen to be identical with those found on various Etruscan utensils and monumental remains.
For the present we shall consider all those puzzling signs, which, while not identified with the elements of any Etruscan alphabet, can be compared with similar signs in the records of the Indus script, a's also those characters and initial letters of typical Etruscan alphabets which are found in the Indus script. It will be well to note, in advance, that in the case of the Etruscan remains the signs are generally found isolated, on the inside, on the edges or on the bases of the bowls, cups, pottery vases or other objects pertaining to the tombs. The same signs or marks appear, moreover, at the top and at the foot of epigraphs, on tomb covers, on small clay pyramids, on partition walls (e.g., in the Cavone di Fantibassi), and, finally, on the squared blocks of travertin of the Etruscan walls of Perugia.
With these prefatory remarks, we may turn to the comparative tables, A and B, reproduced on the annexed Plate, in which are shown those signs of the Indus script(col. A) which in their forms and arrangement recall corresponding signs in the Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum and the Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarums (col. B). The identity of the signs in the two columns is clear and definite, inasmuch as the correspondence between them is remarkable. Possibly the solution of some Etruscan problem may provide a more reasonable explanation than that the resemblance is a purely fortuitous coincidence.
Let us now compare individual signs of the CIE. (which have been indicated by Arabic numerals only) with signs of the Indus script (indicated by Roman numerals). Rather than follow a purely consecutive order, I shall follow the criterion of greater rareness or singularity, some of the Etruscan signs standing out as peculiar and not represented in any hitherto known ancient alphabet. But first of all, attention may be drawn to the theory of the introduction by the Etruscans into Latium of the Greek alphabet of the Chalcidian Ionians. Since the classical tradition tells us of two types of Greek alphabets, characterised respectively by their similarity to, or dissimilarity from, the Phoenician and Pelasgian alphabets, it remains to decide which of these two types of Greek alphabet it is that the Etruscans handed down to us. Perchance the signs of our Indus script may be able to give us some enlightenment in this connexion. It should be noted as not irrelevant to our investigation that the latter script has come to light from the 'Indus Valley Civilization,' in which peoples of various races and cultures must have come together, among whom were also people of Mediterranean Race.' There have, further, been discovered there a variety of relics of inestimable value for the study of Egyptian, Babylonian, etc., cultures, as may be seen from the shrewd observations of the eminent writers who have contributed the several chapters in the great work published by Sir J. Marshall.
1 Sir John Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, 3 vols., London, 1931; Mustrated London News, 1924 and 1926; Annual Reports, A.S.I., 1923-24 et seq.
In JRAS., April 1932, p. 486 f., G.R. Hunter, after several visits to the site, has collated and arranged, with their variations, all the signs in his note entitled "Mohenjo-dard Indus Epigraphy." The Roman numerals in col. A of the accompanying Plate correspond with those given in Mr. Hunter's "Sign List" (ib., pp. 494-503).
· Carolus Pauli, Corpus Inacriptionum Etruscarum, Leipzig, 1893-1902. A. Fabretti, Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum, Turin, 1867; id., Supplementi I, II, III.
In this paper these two works are referred to by the initiala, CIE. and CII, respectively. • V. Helbig, Bull. deir Inst., 1883, p. 169 .
6 The races of tho 'Indus population are thus specified in Marshall's work :-(1) Proto-Australoid, (2) Moditerranean Race, (3) Mongolian branch of the Alpine Stock, and (4) Alpine Race.