Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 229

NOVEMBER, 1933]
INDUS AND ETRUSCAN SIGNS COMPARED
215
go also under the lines of the inscription CIE. 2458 and in the middle of the stone is found the same sign as II, and which, from its form and position cannot be considered to be a letter forming part of the inscription itself.
(6) The sign XCV in col. A is an ideograph, and probably a title, with its two variations respectively, which are indeed frequently met "in the middle of the base" of the saucer, CIE. 8324; "on the inside" of the cup, CIE. 8435; to the right and beneath the inscription on the "sepulchral tile", CIE. 4715; in the middle and beneath the inscription on the" sepulchral tile", CIE. 4726 ; "on several isolated blocks of travertin of the Etruscan walls of Perugia", CIE. 3309 and 3319 ; on top of the "sepulchral tile", CIE. 4731"; "on the front of the tomb ", CIE. 4947, to which the numeric value of X was assigned.
(c) The signs CXIX in col. A are regarded as the initials of some name or else of a solemn formula. These appear (“once only ") upon the blocks of the Etruscan walls of Perugia, CIE. 33234; as a component of a monogram engraved on the cup CIE. 9339 ; as a component of another monogram " beneath the bases of the vases ", CII. 22601.
The sign CXX, which is also frequent in the Etruscan alphabets, might have the value of o; the sign CXIV=1, 6, as in Brâbmi; the sign XXIX open at the bottom probably represents (......), that is to say, a repetition of the sign LII. So the two vertical strokes, rather long and straight (thus: || ), especially when found by themselves on certain Etruscan objects, might represent the number XX.
(d) The signs ( >, very often accompanied by + x, which are found isolated at the end of various Etruscan inscriptions, may also be interpreted as 1, or perhaps as the initial of some name or solemn formula. The same may be said of the sign II engraved upon the cup CIE. 8066.
The following call for separato consideration
“ The form of a letter which is not Faliscan", CIE. 8296, identical with the sign III (col. A); the design of a "waggon ", CIE. 4706, similar to VII ; the sign CIE. 8529, which was connected with the Greek y, identical with XV; the sign CIE. 4722, which was regarded as th conjunct, similar to XXIX; the last letter "not closed" of CIE. 4788, identical with XXIX6; the sign" on the front of the tomb "likened to the form of a “number representing 100” similar to LX; the sign CIE. 8069, which is perhaps only an initial of the type of XCVI. In like manner we may associate with CXVII the sign CIE. 8183, which was interpreted as a Faliscan m, or a Latin M (=1000); and so also the sign CIE, 8377, which was connected with the Latin X or the Faliscant, may be found in the Indus sign XCVIII.
Finally attention should be drawn to the “circular "10 shape of the Etruscan alphabetic elements, comparable with the Indus forms II, III, LII, in which is reflected a common origin with the same signs that appear in the ancient inscriptions of Mesopotamia.
THE WISE SAYINGS OF NAND RISHI. BY PANDIT ANAND KOUL, PRESIDENT OF THE SRINAGAR MUNICIPALITY (Retired.) KASHMIR is a land of striking contrasts. Its snow-clad and sunlit panorama of moun. tains, its mirror-like lakes and sparkling springs, its silvery rivers and streamlets, its emeraldgreen dales and hills—in short, its varied scenery of vast grandeur and little beauty-spots while charming those in pursuit of worldly pleasure and enjoyment, afford peace of mind, mingled with blins, to those striving for the attainment of a higher purpose, the solution of the riddle of life. This land has produced, in the past, many saints and seers, among both Hindus and Muhammadans, who preached virtue and moral truths with such eloquence and poetic power as to sink deep into the hearts of the people.
10 Prof. S. Langdon (vide Marshall's work cited above) thinks their circular shape and sequence are unusual, and that "they were probably manufactured in Mesopotamia."