Contents: Vol. I. Preface. Introduction. 1. Work done on decipherment of Harappan script/D.P. Sharma. 2. Decipherment of Harappan script/I. Mahadevan. 3. Harappan seals and sealings/D.P. Sharma. 4. The Harappan script and Shamans cult/Sourg J. Newsbery. 5. Harappan seals and tablets with anthropomorphic motifes/E.R. Ushana. 6. Terminal ideograms in the Harappan script/I. Mahadevan. 7. Harappan script/G. Possehl. 8. Harappan seals : problems and prospects/P.V. Pathak. 9. The Harappan script : some observation/S. Kak. 10. Seals from Harappa (a pictorial representation of RV V. 78 with the Asvin twins as presiding deities)/P.V. Pathak. 11. Cryptogram or copper tablets from Mohenjodaro/A. Sundara. 12. Rare seals and Harappan civilization/D.P. Sharma. 13. Harappan script on the final way to decipherment/D.P. Sharma. 14. Interpretation of signs and pictograms/D.P. Sharma.
Vol. II. 15. The Harappan script/Asko Parpola. 16. A protohistoric painted motif from Baluchistan : its significance/Krishna Kumar. 17. The evolution of visual communication/D.P. Sharma. 18. The knowledge of Harappan language/Dhanpat Dhania. 19. Sacred bull : the royal emblem on the Harappan seal/P.V. Pathak. 20. Rongorongo and Harappan script/B. Chakravarti. 21. Language of Harappan people/D.P. Sharma. 22. A sealing from Rakhigarhi/Sudarshan Bhardwaj. 23. Harappan seal and Atharvaveda/P.V. Pathak. 24. Harappan language and script/N.S. Rajaram. 25. The unicorn on Harappan seal/Kalpana S. Desai. 26. Religious nature of Indus seals and inscriptions/Benille Priyanka. Conclusion. Glossary. Bibliography.
The book Decipherment of Harappan Script is the result from an interest which the author developed in Harappan archaeology since last 24 years during his stay in Institute of Archaeology London and later on in National Museum, New Delhi where he was holding charge of Harappan material. Proto Dravidian and earliest Aryan were present in Harappan population. The author concluded Harappan script was Proto Brahmi and their languages were Proto-Dravidian Brahui and Laukik Sanskrit. The more positive chapter is identification of Harappan script sign.
This book has 27 papers on Harappan script. The author contradicted pre conceived idea of only Dravidian language theory of Harappan. He prefers name of South Asian civilization for this earliest Harappan civilization of South Asia.
A unique contribution of the author is identification of inscribed double headed terracotta Siva from Kalibangan. Which has three sign in proto-Brahmi script and author read these sign as Sivam. (jacket)
