The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its Connection with Other Scripts c8.2

c8.2

No other reading is tenable in face of the evidence of M. 161; 162; 462; taken in conjunction with the evidence of Table LII, which shows 𐀚𐀀 nine times and 𐀀𐀚 not once. No. M. 365 however is clearly not boustrophedon. That the second line in this text is to be read in the same direction as the single-line texts is clear from the sequence 𐀚𐀆 , which is found eleven times, while 𐀆𐀚 is nowhere found. The two lines of M. 365, then, are to be read in the same direction. That this direction is from right to left is indicated by the position of 𐀚𐀆 , which in single-line texts is found almost invariably as a left-hand group. (See Table VI). We may now examine the other inscriptions containing more than one line on the same face. M. 139 is our longest inscription containing three full lines of script. Each line is to be read from right to left. In the case of the first line this is proved by the sequence 𐀇𐀈 which is one of the commonest sequences in our texts, occuring twentyone times (see Table LXVIII). In the case of the second line it is proved by the sequence 𐀚𐀀 , to which we have already referred; and in the case of the third line by the sequence 𐀉𐀊 , which occurs elsewhere five times, while its reverse 𐀊𐀉 is nowhere found.