Deciphering Indus Valley Civilisation Tablets and Seals through the Lens of Tamil Brahmi Script: Further Readings of 5 tablets

This paper is a direct continuation of Version 1 (which deciphered 10 tablets). Applying the exact same Tamil-Brahmi methodology, this version expands the study by deciphering 5 additional Indus Valley tablets, bringing the total corpus analyzed across both versions to 15. This study builds upon the syllabic framework established in Version 1, which utilizes the structural and phonetic values of the Tamil-Brahmi script to decode Indus Valley Civilisation tablets. While the previous version successfully read 10 distinct tablets, this paper applies the identical methodology to a new dataset of 5 additional Indus scripts and seals. The successful decipherment of these 5 tablets further validates the linguistic and logo-to-script continuity proposed in the original work. The results demonstrate that the Tamil-Brahmi lens remains scalable, predictable, and robust when applied to an expanded corpus of Indus texts, offering deeper insights into the technology, rituals, medical and cutural rituals of the ancient civilization. In conducting this research, utilising the photographs published in 'Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions — Collections in India' by Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola as the primary source material for the study and decipherment of the tablets and seals. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) arranges for impressions to be made of all the tablets in their collections. However, owing to the tablets delicate condition, sufficient physical pressure could not be applied to obtain clear plastine impressions, which led to an impression that was lacking in detail. As an alternative, image filters on mirrored photographs are used and manually traced the structural ridges to reconstruct the detailed impressions as done in rubber stamp. The methodology draws a comparison with the Korean Hangul system, which uses 24 basic letters arranged into syllabic blocks following consonant-vowel patterns, a parallel construction method is identified in the IVC script. For example, the Korean word for apple, 사과 (sagwa), is built by combining basic letters into block units — a principle that appears to underlie the IVC system as well. This study is built on two principal arguments. First, the Indus Valley Civilization script is not a logographic-syllabic system but a syllabic script that combines syllabls to create images, like Korean writing system. Second, the underlying language is Proto-Dravidian. The signs take on diverse shapes—such as fish-like forms—instead of being confined to rectangular blocks, and their size occasionally varies for aesthetic purposes. The syllabic script is identified as Tamil Brahmi , with only a limited set of letters used, likely reflecting the restricted vocabulary of the period.