(Excerpts from Iravatham Mahadevan’s presentation. You can read the entire lecture here at this Roja Muthiah Library site – http://rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/Kuppamadd.pdf )

The following are some of the key points from Iravatham Mahadevan’s paper (The English is his original. I have translated into Tamil for the benefit of those who do not know English):

My field is Tamil Epigraphy, with special interest in Brahmi and Indus scripts.

Remarkable new discoveries in this field which deserve special mention include:

▪ Hero stones with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions dating from the late megalithic period;

▪ Enormous quantities of Tamil-Brahmi pottery inscriptions excavated at Kodumanal, an important centre for manufacture of gemstones;

▪ A very early Tamil-Brahmi pottery inscription assigned to about 200 BCE excavated at Tissamaharama in Southern Sri Lanka, which records the ‘written agreement of the assembly’, probably a trade guild of Sri Lankan Tamil merchants, which also issued coin-like lead tokens with Tamil-Brahmi legends;

▪ Tamil-Brahmi pottery inscriptions from the excavations at Pattanam, identified with Muciri, the famous Cera port, engaged in extensive trade with Rome in Classical times;

▪ Tamil-Brahmi pottery inscriptions found abroad at Qseir alQadim and Berenike in Egy.

Indus Civilisation was Pre-Aryan

There is substantial evidence that the Indus Civilisation was preAryan.

▪ The Indus Civilisation was mainly urban, while the early Vedic society was rural and pastoral. There were no cities in the early Vedic period.

▪ The Indus seals depict many animals but not the horse. The horse and the chariot with spoked wheels were the defining features of the Aryan-speaking societies. The bronze chariot found at Daimabad in Western Deccan, the southernmost Indus settlement, has solid wheels and is drawn by a pair of humped bulls, not horses (Fig. 1).

▪ The tiger is often featured on Indus seals and sealings, but the animal is not mentioned in the RV (Rig Veda).

சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகம் ஆரிய நாகரிகத்திற்கு முந்தையது

சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகம் ஆரியர்களின் நாகரிகத்திற்கு முந்தையது என்பதற்கு நிறையச் சான்றுகள் உள்ளன

*  சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகம் அநேகமாக நகர்களைக் கொண்டது.  ஆரிய நாகரிகம் கிராமாந்தர நாகரிகம் மற்றும் குடிசைகளையுடைய காட்டுப் பகுதி நாகரிகம். 

*  சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகத்தில் உள்ள சின்னங்களில் பல விலங்குகள் உள்ளன.  குதிரை அங்கு இல்லை.  

ஆர் பொருந்திய சக்கரங்களையுடைய குதிரைத் தேர்களை உடையது ஆரிய மொழிகள் பேசும் சமூகங்கள்.

மேற்கு டெக்கானிலுள்ள தைமாபாத் என்ற இடத்தில் கிடைத்த வெண்கலத் தேர், இமில் உடைய காளை மாடுகளால் இழுக்கப்பட்ட ஆர் இல்லாத அடர்ந்த வெண்கலத் தகடுச் சக்கரங்கள். 

*  சிந்துவெளி நாகரிக முத்திரைகளில் புலிச் சின்னங்கள் உள்ளன.  ரிக் வேதத்தில் புலிகள் கிடையாது.

Indus Civilisation was Dravidian 

There is substantial linguistic evidence favouring Dravidian authorship of the Indus Civilisation. 

The evidence includes – 

▪ The presence of Dravidian loanwords and loan translations in the RV (Rig Veda). 

▪ The substratum influence of Dravidian on Indo-Aryan as seen in phonological changes like introduction of retroflex sounds, 

morphological changes like switch-over from inflexion to post fixation, and near-identical syntactical structures moving IndoAryan 

closer to Dravidian than to Indo-European languages. 

▪ Computer analysis has shown that the Indus language had only suffixes (as in Dravidian) and no prefixes (as in Indo-Aryan) 

or infixes (as in Munda). 

▪ The Indus religion as revealed by pictorial depiction on seals and sealings included worship of a buffalo-horned male god, 

mother-goddesses, the pipal tree, the serpent and possibly the phallic symbol, all of which are known to have been derived 

from the aboriginal populations.   

சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகம் திராவிட நாகரிகம்

ஆதாரங்களில் அடங்கியவை:

*  ரிக் வேதத்தில் திராவிட மொழிச்சொற்கள் உள்ளன

*  நாக்கின் நுனியை வளைத்து அண்ணத்தின் மேல் தொட்டுப் பேசும் முறை, சொற்களின் அமைப்பு, 

ஆகியவற்றால், இந்திய-ஆரிய மொழி இந்திய-ஐரோப்பிய மொழிகளை விட திராவிட மொழியின் 

தன்மைக்கு நெருங்கியது என்று அறிகின்றோம்.

*  சிந்துவெளி மொழியின் கணினி ஆராய்ச்சியின் மூலம் நாம் அறிவது, அதன் விகுதிகள் திராவிட மொழியில் இருப்பது போல் உள்ளதன. வடமொழியில் வரும் சொல்லின் தொடக்கங்கள் வருவதில்லை. முண்டா மொழியில் உள்ளதைப் போன்று இடையிலும் வருவதில்லை.

* சிந்துவெளி சின்னங்களில் உள்ள படங்களில் எருமையின் கொம்புகளையுடைய ஆண் கடவுளை வழிபடுதல், 

தாய்க் கடவுள், அரச மரம், பாம்பு, ஆண் குறி என்று எண்ணக்கூடியதும் யாவும் உள்ளன.  இவை யாவும் நாட்டின் ஆதி மக்களிடமிருந்து வந்தவை.

Aryan Migration: Aryan Migration into South Asia:

The Aryan-speaking people migrated into South Asia in the second millennium BCE in the wake of the decline and eventual collapse of the Indus Civilisation. The incoming Aryans were much fewer in numbers, but could achieve elite dominance over the local population due to their better mobility and advanced weaponry. Some sections of the Indus population, unable or unwilling to be assimilated into the new social order, migrated southward and eastward to establish new settlements. But the majority of the Indus population stayed back, and in course of time, adopted the dominant Aryan speech. Thus was born the Indo-Aryan society speaking Indo-Aryan languages, but retaining much of the pre-Aryan Dravidian cultural elements in religious practices, agriculture, craft traditions and social institutions.

Archaeological evidence of Indus-like graffiti from Tamilnadu

Te evidence of pottery graffiti supports the theory of migration of sections of the Indus people to South India. B.B. Lal (1960) has compared the signs of the Indus Script with the symbols occurring as pottery graffiti in chalcolithic and megalithic cultures. He found that “eighty-nine percent of the megalithic symbols go back to Chalcolithic-Harappan times (and) conversely eighty-five percent of the Harappan-Chalcolithic symbols continue down to megalithic times.” Lal’s work has shown that there does seem to be a deep genetic link between the signs of the Indus Script and the Indus-like graffiti found in Tamilnadu. I shall mention only a few of the more important finds in recent years.

Inscribed Neolithic Axe from Sembiyan-Kandiyur

A Neolithic polished stone axe with three Indus-like symbols pecked on it was discovered accidentally at Sembiyan-Kandiyur in the lower Kaveri delta in 2006 (Fig. 2). Te three symbols on the axe Egyptian Indus Broad Interpretation Sign No. Sign Sign No. Sign 0.1 261, 373 house 0.6 267 fortified house 0.49 284 city, town 5090 8106 2522 are virtually identical with the corresponding signs in the Indus Script. It is likely that the symbols were marked on the axe during late Neolithic or early megalithic times. (Parpola, Fuller & Boivin 2007; Mahadevan 2009 for discussion.)

Terracota Dish from Sulur with Indus-like symbols

An inscribed terracota dish from Sulur dated in the first century BCE is in the British Museum (No.1935.4.19.15). Te dish is incised on the concave inner side with a large X-like symbol occupying the whole field and with four other symbols in smaller size within the lower quadrant (Fig. 3). I have drawn attention to the remarkable resemblance of the Sulur Dish graffiti with the inscription on a miniature stone tablet from Harappa, showing not only similar signs but a similar sequence (Mahadevan 2007, 2009). Indus-like symbol on pottery from Sanur Pottery found from the megalithic graves excavated at Sanur is marked with a recurring group of three symbols (Fig. 4). Lal (1960) has drawn particular attention to the close similarity of one of these signs to a frequent Indus sign. This has turned out to be one of the symbols frequently found as graffiti from many sites including Pattanam (Muciri) in Kerala, Sembiyan-Kandiyur, Mangudi and Coimbatore in Tamilnadu. I have identified the Indus sign depicting a seated deity as the Dravidian god muruku. (Mahadevan 1999, 2006, 2009).

Indus-like symbols on South Indian pottery from Thailand

A potsherd of South Indian origin has been excavated in Thailand, which shows two symbols (including the ‘seated deity’) occurring with the same sequence as in the Indus texts (Mahadevan 2010). A comparison between the pottery graffiti and the corresponding Indus signs and sequences indicates that the languages are linked and can only be Dravidian.