Origins of Tamils?[Where are Tamil people from?] PART :59

         Tamil Alphabet AH          Tamil Vattezhuthu AH          Indus Sign AH

The Tamil alphabet which is read as AH metamorphosed from an earlier script,Tamil Vattezhuthu that is also read as AH has its origin from the Indus sign denoting the Draco constellation read as AH too.This links further confirm the the connection between Tamil & Indus Valley.Please note that the direction of writing as right to left in Indus script.

Also found another deity among the rubble of Indus Valley excavations along with prototype of the Shiva

lingam—phallic-shaped rocks.The syllables AH, MU ,VAN defines the primordial God "AHMUVAN" who also functions as a "Cosmic Man".Hence This has been suggested as "Ahmuvan".This deity is pictured on Indus Valley tablets as an elongated anthropomorphic figure with three protuberances in the head.Further,This deity is suggested to be associated with the Tamil god "Murugan".

The first Indian script,which is developed in the Indus Valley around 2600 B.C,is still undeciphered due to Lack of bilingual texts (like a Rosetta Stone),as well as very short and brief texts as the average length of the inscriptions is less than five signs,the longest being only 17 signs.Thus,it is still not possible to fully understand this civilization,as we have no readable records of their beliefs,history, rulers or literature as Indus valley language has not been identified fully.It appears that the maximum number of Indus script symbols is about 400,although there are 200 basic signs(ie signs that are not combined from others).Many signs start off as pictorial representation of a physical object.For example,there is reference at two places in Silappadhikaram,a ancient Tamil literature,on the bundles or trade goods that are stamped with seals that bear "Kannezhutthu" (கண்ணெழுத்து) - meaning, " letters by the eyes" which are signs or symbols that indicate the nature of goods,the trader etc which can be easily understood just by looking at it,that is it is in a pictorial writing.In this Tamil epic Silappathikaram,verses 5 –111.113,being told in the context of goods that had reached Pumpukar as:"வம்ப மாக்கள் தம் பெயர் பொறித்த கண்ணெழுத்துப் படுத்த எண்ணுப் பல்பொதிக் கடை முக வாயில்",confirm that the foreigners who came to the puhar,a flourishing ancient port city known as Kaveri poompattinam,had brought bundles of trade goods that are stamped with seals that bear pictorial writing["Kannezhutthu"].These pictorial writing really represent words in the language.What all early writers figured out was to use a word sounding similar to the original word for that object or idea to develop writing further.For example,in English to write "leave" we can use a picture of a "leaf".This is called rebus writing, and is a tremendously common pattern in all early writing systems.We could also then use the same "leaf" symbol to stand for the sound in "relief",adding another symbol in front of the "leaf" symbol in order to indicate the "re" sound.

Further,the Harappan Numerals seem to represented by vertical lines,but they only go up to 7.Analysis reveal 4 more signs that appear in the same context as these numerals,and so they likely represent numbers higher than 7.The fact that no vertical-line numeral sign denotes 8 very likely means the Harappan language is based 8.For example, the Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals that we use has symbols from 0 to 9, and to write "ten" we have to combined the symbols 1 and 0, which identify our number system as based ten.This decimal numeral system was actually invented in India around AD 500.They were called "Hindu numerals".They were later called "Arabic" numerals by Europeans,because they were introduced in the West by Arab merchants . Base 8 numerals or Octal numerals are rare in the world,but it does appear that early Dravidian is base 8,but later changed to base 10,possibly under Indo-European influence.For example,If we use base 8 instead of base ten,then 75 is written as "113" which denotes one sixty-four (8X8 ), one eight (1X8 ) and 3 units (instead of hundreds, tens and units) When translated,the count from 1 to 7 is familiar to us: "one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "six", "seven".However, above seven,the number's etymologies become non-numerical:8 is "number",9 is "many minus one",and 10 is "many".

But can we actually read (not interpret) any symbol on the Indus valley seals? To answer/explain to this question,We should start with "pictograms", as this one:

Many scholars (Knorozov,Parpola,Mahadevan,etc) see this sign as a fish.Fish in reconstructed Proto-Dravidian is mîn[மீன்]. Coincidentally,mîn is also the word for star[விண் மீன்].On many pots from Mohenjo Daro,an Indus site,there are drawings of fish and stars together,and so affirming this linguistic association.

In another "pictograms" as below,where the numeral six appears before the fish is interpreted/translated as "Six-Stars",or aru-mîn[ஆறு நட்சத்திரம் அல்லது அறு மீன் அல்லது கார்த்திகை (நாள்மீன் கூட்டம்)],Pleiades,a star cluster visible during autumn and winter just above Orion.

Sometimes symbols are added to the basic sign to make new signs.Of these,the one that looks like a circumflex accent placed on top of the fish is quite interesting.It is theorized to mean "roof",and in Proto-Dravidian it is Vey[வேய்/Putting on roof].This vey[வேய்].can easily change to Mey[மேய்/graze].This is phonetically similar to Proto-Dravidian word for "black",may[மை].Together with fish,it spells out mai-m-mîn[மைம் மீன்:"Even if Saturn(may-m-min) smoldered,a comet appeared,"/"மைம் மீன் புகையினும், தூமம் தோன்றினும்"/even if Saturn smokes,even if a comet appears,/சனிமீன் புகைகளோடு கூடிப் புகையினும்,எல்லாத் திசையினும் புகை(வால் நட்சத்திரம்) தோன்றினும் -Purananuru/புறநானூறு-117], or "black star",which in Old Tamil means the planet Saturn[சனிமீன்].But the "fish" reading isn't accepted by all scholars and as such,There is no such thing as an accepted Indus Valley script dictionary.

More Indus Valley Scripts and  its possible Interpretations are given below 

-------Kandiah Thillaivinayagalingam