Single vertical strokesymbol (stick symbol) could be indicating the Agnoukaran Yajna.

Abstract:

The single stroke symbol appears many times in Indus seal inscriptions, and it could be the symbol indicating Agnoukaran Yajna, which was practised during the Rig Vedic period. In the shraddha ceremony, one stick will be offered in the Yajna fire. It is not clear why the stick was offered? In Egyptian hieroglyphics, this single stroke indicated a ‘determinative’ symbol. It also indicated the word ‘command’.

Figure 1: Seal inscription showing stick symbol.

(red arrow indicates reading direction – read from left to right)

The above-given Indus seal inscription shows a single stroke symbol followed by the ‘Pithru‘ (Manes/dead ancestor) symbol and Kavu (sacrifice) symbol.

Gardiner’s dictionary gives a good explanation about the single stroke symbol. Extract of the explanations given in Gardiner’s dictionary are as given below:

1. Generally, this single vertical stroke follows an ideogram to indicate the logogram, not phonetic sound.
2. Sometimes, the vertical stroke is either before the ideogram or after the ideogram.
3. Sometimes, the vertical stroke is used to modify the phonetic sound also.
4. Occasionally, it serves merely to fill the gaps.
5. The Single stroke is sometimes used as a slash (/)to indicate dangerous human beings/ gods.
6. It could be indicating ‘number one’ also.

The above usage shows the complex nature of the vertical stroke. Hence the difficulty in reading the ideograms with a single stroke. I tried all these possibilities in reading the inscriptions; none of them fits satisfactorily.

However, one explanation fits very well. It is that this vertical stroke symbol indicates the stick offered in the fire in the Agnoukaran ceremony. It was a kind of Shraddha ceremony followed during the Rig Vedic period.

This practice of Shraddha has evolved over a period of time.

This practice has changed over a period of time, and it can be classified into three historically established phases. (1)

The website futurepointIndia.com informs that during the Rig Veda period, the first phase of this shraddha ceremony was called as Agnoukaran. During the Rig Vedas time, a deceased ancestor was worshipped in the forms of Samidha (a kind of wooden stick) and Pinda (rice balls) and offered in the Sacrificial fire. An offering

of the stick was practised for ages, and even today, those who follow the Rig Veda school of thought practise the same. (1)

On the same issue, other websites state that the stick was offered in the Yajna fire but did not explain the reason for offering the stick. The website mentioned above alone says that a deceased ancestor was worshipped in the forms of Samidha (wooden stick). This ‘offering of sticks’ fits very well with the Indus seal inscriptions. Another notable point is that all the articles on Agnoukaran inform that it was practised in the Rig Vedic period. It is crucial information because it confirms my opinion that IVC was a Vedic civilization and could have coincided with the Rig Vedic period.

Here in this above-shown inscription, the ‘vertical stroke’ indicates the Agnoukaran ceremony.

Single stroke/ stick symbol	Kedaga symbol	Firesticks symbol	Water symbol	Offering table	Ningishzida	Kavu

Agnoukaran ceremony

Protection

Yajna

Might have indicated god Varuna

An offering made to a god

Messenger god

sacrifice

The inscription in the seal indicates that a ‘kedaga Yajna’ was performed for the messenger god. Messenger God Ningishzida appears as the 6th symbol.

In the above-given seal inscription, two vertical strokes appear— first, a long stroke followed by a small vertical stroke. The second short vertical stroke stands for the word ‘Yajna’. The first long vertical stroke stands for the ritual of offering ‘samidha’ stick to Pithru in the Pithru karma ceremony. It is not clear why the stick is offered? May be to be used as a walking stick?

In his Facebook page, Pandit Manish Shrimali, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, says that during the end period of Rig Veda, the first phase shraddha ceremony involved the offering of a ‘samidha‘ (a wooden stick) and Pinda (rice ball) in the sacrificial fire. (2) He does not explain why the stick is offered. It looks like

that this practice ended with Rig Vedic period, not being practised now. I am from Tamil Nadu, and I am sure such a tradition of offering sticks is not being followed in Tamil Nadu. But, such a practice may be surviving in North India, but I am not sure. One crucial point to be noticed here is that it shows that Indus seal inscriptions coincide with Rig Vedic period.

Stick symbol could mean punishment/penalty, Token of indulgence.

Stick symbol could be appearing with many meanings in Indus seal inscriptions, and it could be indicting punishment/ Penalty. ‘Punishment’ was my earlier explanation for the stick symbol. Now, at present, the most plausible explanation is the ‘Agnoukaran’ explanation. However, the punishment explanation shall also be retained until a finality is reached on this issue.

Figure 2: Seal inscription showing stick symbol.

The above-given Indus seal inscription shows the stick symbol followed by the ‘Pithru’ (Manes/dead ancestor) symbol. The Sanskrit word for ‘stick’ is ‘Danda’. ‘Danda’ means ‘punishment/penalty’ also. Here the stick symbol could have been used in the rebus principle. The inscription should be read as” danda- Pithru-Kavu”. The meaning of the sentence is,” Penalty (for ignoring) Pithru – sacrifice”.

The Sanskrit word for ‘stick’ is ‘Danda’. ‘Danda’ means ‘punishment/penalty’ also. Here the stick symbol could have been used in the rebus principle. The inscription should be read as” danda- Pithru-Kavu”. The meaning of the sentence is,” Penalty (for ignoring) Pithru – sacrifice”.

Figure 3: Penalty paid to the pithru.

The above-given inscription reads as,” Danda-growing embryo-beehive”. The meaning of the writing is,” Penalty (Sacrifice performed) -growing embryo (seeding within a circle- Pithru) -The Beehive ceremony (Beehive)”. (3)The penalty paid is one Bull sacrificed. This concept somewhat looks like ‘the letter of indulgence’ issued by the Pope in the Middle Ages.

Figure 4: Inscription is showing another example of the ‘Danda” symbol.

Inscription in the above-given seal is analyzed below in the table form. (Read from left to right)

Symbols
Identification	crab	Crab	Head of	fish	Kavu	man
of symbols		symbol	the
		with stick	sacrificed
		symbol	Bull
		across
Sanskrit	Karkida	Karkida+	Kavu	Matsya	Kavu	manushya
words for		Danda	(Tamil)
objects
identified
Sounds applied	Kar	Ki + Da
meaning	Both	Both these	Kavu –	Fish	Sacrifice	Man
	these	columns	means	indicates		sacrificed
	columns	should be	sacrifice	Pithru
	should be	read		here.
	read	together
	together	as Karkida
	as
	Karkida

Table 1

The inscription should be read as, “Karkida –Kavu- Pithru – Kavu –Man-sacrificed”. Here the ‘Danda symbol’ has been used as a logosyllabic sound modifier, not as the word ‘punishment’.

The meaning of the sentence is as given below:

“Karkida – month festival –Sacrifice. Sacrifice meant for satisfying Pithrus. And a Man was sacrificed”. ‘Fish symbol’ indicates the ‘Pithru’ here. Read my article on ‘fish symbolism’ for more information on this issue. (4)

The relevance of the discussion here is that the Danda symbol (Stick symbol) is not appearing with the meaning of punishment or penalty here. The stick symbol only gives the sound ‘Da’ to the word ‘Karkida’ here. The above-given explanation is one of the examples to show that the Sanskrit language influenced the Indus inscriptions. Read my earlier article on ‘Sanskrit influence on Indus script’ on Academia.com (5) for more information.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics explanation

There is a possibility that Egyptian hieroglyphic influence could be there on this stick symbol. In hieroglyphics stick sign meant the word ‘command‘. That is the stick carried by the soldiers of Pharaoh, who enforced the commands of Pharaoh. In the Indus seal inscriptions, the stick symbol could have meant ‘command’ to the evil spirits (troublesome Pithru) not to return and trouble the living persons.

Statistical analysis of the stick symbol frequency occurrence The data used in this analysis is extracted from the research paper of Sundar and Iravatham Mahadevan. (6) Analysis of data

reveals the following points. This stick symbol appears 149 times in

the Indus seal inscription, and it is a significant frequency. The stick symbol appears with the following combinations.

Symbol pair/triplet	meaning	frequency
	Agnoukaran – messenger god	12
	Agnoukaran Yajna	10
	Smasana-cayana Yajna – agnoukaran	10

Even though the stick symbol appears 149 times in Indus seal inscriptions, it does not yield a good meaning. Most probably, the ‘command’ message was sent through the messenger god. The stick symbol appears with the messenger god 12 times. In the remaining two combinations, the word ‘Agnoukaran Yajna’ fits very well. The conclusion is that the stick symbol could have indicated the ‘Agnoukaran Yajna’.

Acknowledgements

All seal pictures are taken out of the book of Sue Sullivan (7)

All the Indus symbol logos are taken out of the book of Parpola and the book of Iravatham Mahadevan.(8)

1. Futurepointindia.com. what-are-three-historically-established-phases-of-shrdha-9023. https://www.futurepointindia.com/article/. [Online] https://www.futurepointindia.com/article/en/what-are-three-historically-established-phases-of- shrdha-9023.
2. Shrimali, Pandit Manish. Pt.ManishShrimaliJodhpur/posts/1604491139767119.

//m.facebook.com/. [Online] https://m.facebook.com/Pt.ManishShrimaliJodhpur/posts/1604491139767119.

1. Jeyakumar(bee-hive-symbol). Bee_was_another_form_of_dead_mans_resurrected_soul. academia.edu. [Online] https://www.academia.edu/23483592/Bee_was_another_form_of_dead_mans_resurrected_soul.
2. Jeyakumar(Fish-symbolism). Fish_symbolism_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization. academia.edu. [Online] December 2015. https://www.academia.edu/19550772/Fish_symbolism_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization.
3. Jeyakumar(Sanskrit-influence)+. Sanskrit influence on the Indus script. Academia.edu.

[Online] 2016. https://www.academia.edu/7773298/Sanskrit_influence_on_the_Indus_script.

1. Sundar, G, et al. -The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context-A Statistical-Positional-positional Analysis of significant Text segments. http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/. [Online] http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/43-The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context.pdf.
2. Sullivan, Sue. Indus Script Dictionary. s.l. : Suzanne Redalia, 2011.
3. Parpola, Asko. Deciphering the Indus Script. New Delhi : Cambridge University Press, 2000.