The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its Connection with Other Scripts c6.44

c6.44

There is a natural temptation to look for a connecting link between the agglutinative languages of ancient Sumer and Elam and the agglutinative languages of Modern India; and in this connection not only Brahui is of interest, but also the ancient tongue so far represented by a solitary cuneiform inscription from Herat.² It is of course obvious that the finding of a linguistic connection between Sumerian or Anzanite or the language of the Herat seal on the one hand, and any modern language of India of pre-Aryan origin on the other, taken in conjunction with the undoubted fact of intercourse between India and Sumer and Elam, would be a likely clue to the identity of the language of our inscriptions. But so far this connection has not been found. Meanwhile, in looking for it the peculiarities of the Munda languages should not be ignored. That their present speakers are even more primitive than the Dravidians is historically not repugnant to the possibility of their ancestors having evolved an elaborate civilization five thousand years ago.