The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c18.6

c18.6

The conditions requisite for the interpretation of the script—a bilingual inscription including a known language, or a long inscription with significant recurrent features—are not yet present. A majority of the available inscriptions are short, with an average of half a dozen letters; the longest has no more than seventeen. Their variety prevents the assumption that they relate to the limited designs on the seals. It has been conjectured, with all reserve, that they may consist largely, though not entirely, of proper names, sometimes with the addition of a patronymic, a title or a trade. We do not know.