Decode Politics: How $1 million prize for Indus Valley script is a chapter in Stalin govt’s ‘Dravidian’ narrative | Political Pulse Information

* What’s the examine that Stalin drew on?

Authored by researcher Okay Rajan, and R Sivananthan of the Tamil Nadu State Division of Archaeology, the examine ‘Indus Indicators And Graffiti Marks of Tamil Nadu – A Morphological Research’ concerned documentation, digitisation and categorisation of over 15,000 graffiti-bearing pot shards from 140 archaeological websites throughout Tamil Nadu. These had been then in contrast towards 4,000 artefacts recovered from Indus Valley websites, together with seals.

As per the examine, 42 ‘base indicators’, 544 ‘variants’ and 1,521 ‘composite kinds’ had been recognized on the Tamil Nadu websites. “Out of 42 base indicators and their variants, practically 60% discovered parallels within the Indus script,” the authors wrote. Moreover, “greater than 90% of the graffiti marks of South India and the graffiti marks of the Indus Valley Civilisation had parallels”.

The researchers explicitly state that theirs is a “morphological method” and never linguistic, specializing in bodily comparisons, with their remark being that the Indus script might not have disappeared however developed into totally different kinds. “In depth comparative examine of graffiti marks and Indus scripts… means that each are undeciphered indicators,” the authors wrote.

* Why are the similarities important?

The important thing excavation websites in Tamil Nadu the place the researchers centered had been Keeladi, Sivagalai and Thulukarpatti. As per the examine, Thulukarpatti alone yielded practically 5,000 graffiti marks, whereas in Keeladi, simply southeast of Madurai, a whole bunch of inscribed pot shards had been discovered. These included carnelian beads, agate, black and purple ware, and high-tin bronze objects.

The incidence of an identical graffiti marks at Indus Valley and South India websites, the examine says, recommend a cultural contact between them. The examine additionally says that current chronometric dates point out that when the Indus Valley was going by the Copper Age, South India was within the Iron Age (that’s, a extra superior interval).

“On this sense, the Iron Age of South India and the Copper Age of Indus are modern. If each are modern, there’s a risk of cultural exchanges both by direct or intermediate zones,” the examine says, including that extra materials proof and tangible information had been wanted to help the view.

* How does it match into Tamil Nadu govt’s bigger plank?

In 2019, a DMK government-supported superior carbon courting of Keeladi artefacts concluded that the Tamil Brahmi script dates again to 600 BCE, a lot sooner than the beforehand accepted date of 300 BCE. The Stalin authorities has claimed that the Keeladi excavations therefore slim the hole between the Indus Valley Civilization and Tamil Nadu settlements.

The courting of the scripts was surrounded by a row because the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had earlier not proceeded with the superior carbon-dating checks, with an ASI researcher who initiated the examine transferred out of the state.

T Udhayachandran, the Tamil Nadu Finance Secretary who can be in-charge of the state Archaeological Division, is a key face behind the Stalin authorities’s push for these digs. Nonetheless, the previous AIADMK authorities had additionally continued on this within the face of alleged dragging of toes by the ASI.

Proof that civilization developed within the South parallelly with Indus Valley counters the dominant Aryan-centric narrative of the subcontinent’s historical past – notably when the BJP dispensation has put its weight behind the idea that Aryans weren’t “outsiders”.

* What has Stalin mentioned earlier?

Two years in the past, earlier than he launched the examine that has come out with its findings now, Stalin mentioned within the Meeting that his get together’s objective was to determine, by scientific strategies, that the historical past of India be rewritten from the Tamil land. He then introduced that the state Archaeology Division would start work on a comparative examine of graffiti present in Keeladi and the indicators of the Indus Valley Civilization.

On Sunday, whereas speaking concerning the findings of the examine, he tied it to broader symbols of Tamil id, notably linking Indus Valley seals with the picture of the bull to the Tamil custom of bull-taming sports activities like Jallikattu.

“There have been bulls within the Indus Valley. Bulls are Dravidian symbols. Bulls unfold from the Indus Valley to Alanganallur (a village close to Madurai well-known for Jallikattu). Historic Tamil literature has wealthy references to bull-taming sport and one of many Indus Valley seals has impressions of a person attempting to tame a bull,” Stalin mentioned.

* What different steps have been taken by Stalin to assert a definite ‘Dravidian’ picture?

Quickly after he took cost in Could 2021, Stalin added the phrases “Belongs to Dravidian Inventory” to his Twitter profile. This phrase harked again to a speech made by C N Annadurai, one of many founders of the DMK, in Parliament 59 years in the past.

On completion of a 12 months in authorities, Stalin talked a few ‘Dravidian Mannequin of Governance’, releasing newspaper ads, together with within the nationwide capital, speaking about the identical.

In January 2023, this framing was on the centre of a flare-up between the DMK authorities and Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi after the latter skipped two parts referring to “Dravidian Mannequin of Improvement” throughout his customary speech at first of an Meeting Session.

After the Tamil Nadu Funds was introduced in 2023, Stalin mentioned it “was an entire instance of the Dravidian Mannequin”. “When requested concerning the that means of the Dravidian Mannequin, I mentioned it was an inclusive development mannequin,” he mentioned in a press release.