A new observation sheds light on the language of Indus Valley Civilisation, which could have its roots in ancestral Dravidian languages.
Context
A new observation sheds light on the language of Indus Valley Civilisation, which could have its roots in ancestral Dravidian languages.
What is Indus valley Civilisation?
- Indus Valley Civilization was the first major civilization in South Asia, which spread across a vast area of land in present-day India and Pakistan (around 12 lakh sq.km).
- The time period of the mature Indus Valley Civilization is estimated between 2700- BC.1900for 800 years.
- But early Indus Valley Civilization had existed even before 2700.
What does the new research claim?
- The ancestral forms of the Dravidian languages currently spoken in South India were once dominant linguistic groups in the ancient civilisation.
- Analysed numerous archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence to find that the words used for elephant — piri’, ‘piru — in Bronze Age Mesopotamia were originally borrowed from — ‘pilu’ — a Proto-Dravidian word for elephant, which was prevalent in the Indus Valley Civilisation.
- There is sufficient evidence of an ancient Dravidian word pi/pl, which means splitting/crushing and was related to meaning ‘tooth/tusk’ of an elephant.
Dravidian language
- The Dravidian languages are divided into South, South-Central, Central, and North groups.
- These groups are further organized into 24 subgroups.
- The four major literary languages—Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada—are recognized by the Constitution of India.
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Indo-Aryan languages spoken in present time
Today these regions speak Indo-Aryan languages that include:-
- Punjabi in Punjab with dialects Siraiki and Lahnda
- Sindhi in Sindh
- Hindi, Marwari, Gujarati in eastern parts of Greater Indus Valley
- Wakhi in western parts of Greater Indus Valley
- Dravidian, Brahui is spoken in Balochistan and Sindh
