Aman Mehta at 23:43, 21 March 2026

2026-03-21T23:43:01Z

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{{Short description|Language of the Bronze Age civilization of the Indus Valley}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Harappan
| altname = Indus language
| region = [[Indus Valley]]
| extinct = {{circa|1300 BC}} or later
| familycolor = unclassified
| family = [[Unclassified language|unclassified]]
| dia1 =
| script = [[Indus script]]
| iso3 = xiv
| linglist = xiv
| glotto = hara1272
| glottorefname = Harappan
| imagecaption = Impression of an Indus [[stamp seal]], showing a string of five "[[Harappan script]]" glyphs; the Indus script is interpreted by some scholars as the writing system of the Harappan language.
| image = Indus seal impression.jpg
| states = [[Indus Valley Civilisation]]
| acceptance = undeciphered
}}
[[File:Akkadian cylinder seal with inscription Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the Meluhhan language, Louvre Museum AO 22310.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Impression of an [[Akkadian Empire]] [[cylinder seal]] with inscription: ''"Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the language of Meluhha"'';<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parpola |first=Asko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DagXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT353 |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-022693-0 |page=353 |language=en}}</ref> [[Louvre Museum]], reference AO 22310.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meluhha interpreter seal. Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=12071 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}</ref>]]

The '''Harappan language''', also known as the '''Indus language''', is the unknown language or languages of the [[Bronze Age]] ({{circa|3300 to 1300 BC}}) [[Indus Valley Civilisation|Harappan civilization]] (Indus Valley civilization, or IVC). The [[Indus script|Harappan script]] is yet undeciphered; it has not even been demonstrated to be a writing system, and therefore the language remains unknown.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-06 |title=India - Agriculture and animal husbandry {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/India/Agriculture-and-animal-husbandry#ref46830 |access-date=2023-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306022746/https://www.britannica.com/place/India/Agriculture-and-animal-husbandry#ref46830 |archive-date=2023-03-06 }}</ref> The language being yet unattested in readable contemporary sources, hypotheses regarding its nature are based on possible [[loanword]]s, the [[substratum in Vedic Sanskrit]], and some terms recorded in [[Sumerian cuneiform]] (such as ''[[Meluhha]]''), in conjunction with analyses of the [[Indus script|Harappan script]].

There are some possible loanwords from the language of the Indus Valley civilization. '''{{transliteration|sux|Meluḫḫa}}''' or '''{{transliteration|sux|Melukhkha}}''' ({{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈨𒈛𒄩[[𒆠]]}}}} {{transliteration|sux|Me-luḫ-ḫa<sup>KI</sup>}}) is the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] name of a prominent trading partner of [[Sumer]] during the [[Middle Bronze Age]]. Its identification remains an open question, but most scholars associate it with the [[Indus Valley civilisation|Indus Valley Civilisation]].{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|page=46}} [[Asko Parpola]] identifies [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]]s with the [[Indus Valley civilization|Harappan Culture]] and the Meluhhan people mentioned in [[Sumer]]ian records. In his book ''Deciphering the Indus Script,'' Parpola states that the [[Brahui people]] of [[Pakistan]] are remnants of the [[Indus Valley Civilisation|Harappan culture]].<ref>Asko Parpola (1994), ''Deciphering the Indus script'', Cambridge University Press</ref> According to him, the word "Meluhha" derives from the Dravidian words ''mel'' ("elevated") and ''akam'' ("place"). Parpola also relates Meluhha with [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]], which he calls the "[[Elamo-Dravidian languages|Proto-Dravidian]] homeland". He also relates Meluhha with the transient word [[Mleccha]], a [[Vedic sanskrit|Vedic]] word used to mean "barbarian" and used by the incoming [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Aryan speaking]] population for the native Harappan population.<ref>{{citation |last1=Parpola |first1=Asko |first2=Simo |last2=Parpola |title=On the relationship of the Sumerian toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit mleccha |journal=Studia Orientalia |volume=46 |year=1975 |pages=205–238 |url=http://ojs.tsv.fi/index.php/StOrE/article/view/49874/14912}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Witzel |first=Michael |year=1999 |author-link=Michael E. J. Witzel |title=Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic) |periodical=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies |volume=5 |issue=1 |url=http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0501/ejvs0501article.pdf |page=25 |access-date=2018-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206073939/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0501/ejvs0501article.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-06 }}</ref><ref>An Indus loanword of "para-Munda" nature in Mesopotamian has been identified by Michael Witzel, A first link between the Rgvedic Panjab and Mesopotamia: śimbala/śalmali, and <sup>GIŠ</sup>šimmar? In: Klaus Karttunen and Petteri Koskikallio (eds.) Vidyarnavavandanam. Essays in Honour of Asko Parpola. 2000 (Studia Orientalia, published by the Finnish Or. Soc. 94): 497–508. See also Witzel, [http://compling.ai.uiuc.edu/2007Workshop/Slides/witzel.doc The language or languages of the Indus civilization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720084908/http://compling.ai.uiuc.edu/2007Workshop/Slides/witzel.doc |date=2011-07-20 }}, July 2007.</ref>

==Identification==
There are a number of hypotheses as to the nature of this unknown language:
*A prevalent hypothesis<ref name=Cole/> places it within or near the [[Dravidian languages]], perhaps identical with [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]] itself. Proposed by [[Henry Heras]] in the 1950s,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heras |first=Henry |title=Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture |date=1953 |publisher=Indian Historical Research Institute |location=Bombay, IN}}</ref> the hypothesis has gained some plausibility and is endorsed by [[Kamil Zvelebil]], [[Asko Parpola]] and [[Iravatham Mahadevan]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rahman |first=Tariq |title=Peoples and languages in pre-islamic Indus valley |url=http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509053921/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html |archive-date=2008-05-09 |access-date=2008-11-20 |website=utexas.edu |publisher=[[University of Texas]] |place=Austin, TX |quote=... who was the first to suggest that the language of the Indus Civilization was Dravidian. |department=Asian Studies Network Information Center (ASNIC)}}</ref><ref name=Cole>{{Cite web |last=Cole |first=Jennifer |title=The Sindhi language |url=http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/jscole/Sindhi_Elsevier_encyl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106015921/http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/jscole/Sindhi_Elsevier_encyl.pdf |archive-date=January 6, 2007 |access-date=2008-11-20 |quote=... Harappan language, the ancient script is as yet undeciphered, but a prevailing theory suggests a Dravidian origin.}}</ref> A 2021 research paper published in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'']] argues that Proto-Dravidian was spoken in the Indus Valley based on the Dravidian word for "tooth" (or "tusk"), as well as genetic migration patterns.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ansumali Mukhopadhyay |first=Bahata |date=2021-08-03 |title=Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |article-number=193 |doi=10.1057/s41599-021-00868-w |issn=2662-9992 |s2cid=257091003 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* A "[[language isolate]]", i.e. a language with no living continuants (or perhaps a last living [[Reflex (linguistics)|reflex]] in the moribund [[Nihali language]]). In this case, the only trace left by the language of the Indus Valley civilization would be historical substratum influence, in particular the [[substratum in Vedic Sanskrit]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

=== Multiple languages ===
The Indus script only indicates that it was used to write one language (if any), but it is quite possible that multiple languages were spoken in the IVC, much as [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] co-existed in [[Mesopotamia]] for centuries. Jane R. McIntosh suggests one such possibility: Para-[[Munda languages|Munda]] was originally the main language of the civilization, especially in the Punjab region. Later, the [[proto-Dravidian]] immigrants introduced their language to the area in the 5th millennium BC. The Dravidian language was spoken by the new settlers in the southern plains, while Para-Munda remained the main language of those in Punjab.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=355-356}}

=== Other theories ===
*[[Michael Witzel]] suggested as an alternative, that an underlying, prefixing language similar to [[Austroasiatic]], notably [[Khasi language|Khasi]]; he called it "para-[[Munda languages|Munda]]" (i.e. a language related to the Munda subgroup or other Austroasiatic languages, but not strictly descended from the last common predecessor of the contemporary Munda family). Witzel argued that the [[Rigveda]] showed signs of this [[substratum in Vedic Sanskrit|hypothetical Harappan influence]] in the earliest historic level, and Dravidian only in later levels, suggesting that speakers of Austroasiatic were the original inhabitants of [[Punjab (region)|Punjab]] and that the Indo-Aryans encountered Dravidian speakers only in later times.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Witzel |first=M. |author-link=Michael E. J. Witzel |date=2000-02-17 |editor-last=Kenoyer |editor-first=J. |editor-link=Jonathan Mark Kenoyer |title=The Languages of Harappa |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/IndusLang.pdf |access-date=2007-07-18 |book-title=Proceedings of the conference on the Indus civilization |place=Madison, WI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Witzel |first=M. |author-link=Michael E. J. Witzel |date=August 1999 |title=Substrate languages in old Indo-Aryan |url=http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com |journal=EJVS |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=1–67}} cf. reprint in: {{cite journal |title={{grey|[no title cited]}} |journal=International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics |date=2001 |issue=1 |at=sqq.}}</ref> The theory was since further supported by Franklin Southworth.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}. As of 2019, Witzel prefers to leave the question of the original Indian language(s) open until better reconstructions for Dravidian and Munda substrate components in Indo-Aryan languages have been done.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mukhopadhyay |first=Bahata Ansumali |date=December 2021 |title=Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: Ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |volume=8 |issue=1 |article-number=193 |doi=10.1057/s41599-021-00868-w |s2cid=236901972 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Indo-European languages]]: generally believed to be arriving after 1800 BCE, but recent genetic and linguistic study suggests that the language family emerged from the Fertile Crescent as early as 6000 BCE and likely spread to South Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2023-07-28|title=Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages|journal=Science|language=en|volume=381|doi=10.1126/science.abg0818|hdl=10234/204329|hdl-access=free |last1=Heggarty |first1=Paul |last2=Anderson |first2=Cormac |last3=Scarborough |first3=Matthew |last4=King |first4=Benedict |last5=Bouckaert |first5=Remco |last6=Jocz |first6=Lechosław |last7=Kümmel |first7=Martin Joachim |last8=Jügel |first8=Thomas |last9=Irslinger |first9=Britta |last10=Pooth |first10=Roland |last11=Liljegren |first11=Henrik |last12=Strand |first12=Richard F. |last13=Haig |first13=Geoffrey |last14=MacÁk |first14=Martin |last15=Kim |first15=Ronald I. |last16=Anonby |first16=Erik |last17=Pronk |first17=Tijmen |last18=Belyaev |first18=Oleg |last19=Dewey-Findell |first19=Tonya Kim |last20=Boutilier |first20=Matthew |last21=Freiberg |first21=Cassandra |last22=Tegethoff |first22=Robert |last23=Serangeli |first23=Matilde |last24=Liosis |first24=Nikos |last25=Stroński |first25=Krzysztof |last26=Schulte |first26=Kim |last27=Gupta |first27=Ganesh Kumar |last28=Haak |first28=Wolfgang |last29=Krause |first29=Johannes |last30=Atkinson |first30=Quentin D. |issue=6656 |article-number=eabg0818 |pmid=37499002 |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-220000 |display-authors=1 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Elamo-Dravidian languages]]
* [[Indus–Mesopotamia relations]]
* [[Megalithic graffiti symbols]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

*{{Cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC |title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BC to AD 400 |date=13 July 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977507-1 |author-link=Patrick Olivelle}}
*{{Cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Jane R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-907-2 |location=Santa Barbara, California}}
*{{Cite web |last=Kohari |first=Alizeh |date=8 February 2022 |title=An ancient language has defied translation for 100 years, can AI crack the code? |url=https://restofworld.org/2022/indus-translation-ai-code-script}}

{{Indus Valley Civilization}}
{{Languages of India}}
{{Eurasian languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harappan Language}}
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 13th century BC]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Indus Valley Civilisation|Language]]
[[Category:Unclassified languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Unattested languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Pre-Indo-European languages]]
[[Category:Linguistic history of India]]
[[Category:Linguistic history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 2nd millennium BC]]

Harappan language - Revision history

Aman Mehta at 23:43, 21 March 2026