Indian Palaeography c9.s5.4

c9.s5.4

The homo-signs depict a man as a simple vertical line with slanting strokes, two for arms and two for legs. He is single as in Pl. I*a*. I. 1, 2, or double as in Pl. I*a*. I. 3, but more often in action, suggested by the addition of recognizable objects. Symbols, Pl. I*a*. I. 7, 8, have two additional upward strokes, one on either side of the head. They are usually taken as horns, as these play an important role in the Indus civilization, but Father Heras takes them to be hands and suggests a four-handed deity, on the analogy of the later Indian iconography, probably because the strokes start from the shoulder and not from the head. Whatever they are—horns, additional hands, or a simple aureole—they indicate a superman or divine being, and hence the symbol in Pl. I*a*. I. 10 with only a single additional stroke on the left may be a semi-divine being. Symbols, Pl. I*a*. IV. 8–12, probably show two men carrying a load, although two heads with a single body are depicted. The sub-classes show objects carried in the hand, at the waist, over the head, at the leg or feet, and on the shoulders.