Thread by @yajnadevam

Now that we have proven Indus scripts in Indo-European, we will proceed to decode symbols one by one.

We already know the symbol for gha in Brahmi, looking up all 2 syllable words that start with jaga or jagha, we find only one: jagat. The symbol looks like a rice field, possibly derived from गात्रा = earth/field

Now that we
1. proved Indus is IE
2. symbol's first syllable is its sound

We can look up words with known symbols and one unknown symbol at a time, choosing the sound that is closest to what the symbol looks like.

Looking at the intersection of words for jar/vessel/urn etc with first syllable the same as last syllable for 2 syllable words staring with ja, the urn symbol must be one of pa, su, va, ma and van.

The next seal eliminates everything except su and an, since the only valid words अन्ध and सुधा exist in the above set that satisfy this seal.

su is a prefix syllable. There are very few words that end in su: अप्सु, वसु, वासु, असु, while there are thousands of words that end in -an and Indus seals that end in jar symbol. Due to the huge volume of signs that end in the jar sign, jar sign must be the -an suffix syllable.

This word seals the deal. Atasu is not a Sanskrit word, but अतन is roaming. So the jar symbol is -an/-van

words starting with adh:

adhi/adhy, adhas, adhaH, adhri, adhvan

Words meaning grain/wheat/barley that start with i/y, as, aH, ri, van

ya/yava = barley, possibly yavana = wheat

the grain symbol is therefore y/ya

Two y is likely to be long i, commonly written as ee ई.

This means that the two small marks on top can only be vi वि as no other word except भानवी is possible for this seal.

The only way to read this seal is मदना तावन् / intoxicating very much. This means that the single vertical bar symbol is अ or आ esp if multiple अ is used

Other seal readings confirm vertical bar is अ

Of the words that mean wheel, अक्ष, पाद, अरिन्, वृत्र, नभि, चक्र, दृम्भू, दल्भ, कटक, सुनाभ, मण्डल, रथपद, क and र are possible candidates for wheel sign for 1st seal. The second seal can only be read as अनारत since क wont create a proper word.
The wheel sign therefore is रथपद/रथ

On the first seal, of the words that fit va_<fish>_na, only the words for fish that start with ca, ma and sha fit(vamana, vachana, vashana.) On the second seal, only ma gives a proper reading of मखान्न sacrificial food. Therefore the fish sign is म/मत्स्य

Correction: vamana is from this seal.

The only word that fits Dha_<ya on stick>_na is धारयाण supporting/bearing. This variant of ya is therefore rya/raya

4 lines = cha चतुर् There is no other word for four except by implication. Example seal shown.

Reads well into many seals such as acharya

Since vi वि meaning two is used for sound vi and chatur चतुर् is used for sound cha, is it possible that many numbers represent their first syllable? It looks that way.

eka/ek/e is one line.

tri = 3 bars

See how tri is 3 short bars split on 2 lines to avoid confusion with ja, which uses 3 bars on the same line.

6 short bars on two lines is sha from षट्. Used for श as well, as in the following seal: शमनी धुर Burden/yoke of calmness.

Sharyaa शर्या night

Seven short bars = sa from

सवन = time/order/fire or
सावन = conclusion of fire sacrifice

ash = eight small bars from अष्ट

Seal shows आश्रय = shelter

There are not a lot of seals with this symbol, so its possible its using the alternate word for eight, vasu and the word is vasurya (night). Night seems to be a very common theme in the seals, so I take this as a very credible alternative.

five short bars = pa from पञ्च pancha

Seal shows पार्य = successful

Only way to read this seal meaningfully is गतमाय = without deceit. This gives fish sign = म/मत्स्य. (Previous derivation assumed symbol va, so this is better)

tongs sign = ash. This is the only syllable that fits this sign.

राराष्ण विमान = brightly shining flying machine

The double bar letter || can be read as "va" or "in" in the first seal. राधावन्/wealthy or रदनिन् /tusked one(rhino/elephant). Due to the picture I will leave it ambiguous for now || = va or ni. I'm departing from Sue's symbol here because of so many seals work for both.

On first seal, ti, sa, Ni can fill this word starting with chama where the first syllable is from a word that means arrow or point. Reusing our previous proving of sha, only Ni is possible in both seals.
Arrow sign therefore is Ni from आणि

First seal can be read with st, jam, nag, dh, ka, m, ndh, nta, thi for the '/ symbol. ra_st_ra, ra_jam_ra, etc. Of these, second seal can only be read with nta.
Value of '/ symbol therefore is nta.

If the line after the first ra is taken to be "eka" then there is only one way to read the first seal: रेखान्तर (longitude) otherwise रन्तृ (delighting in). Since the general mood of the seals is the latter, I've used a second seal to prove "nta"

First seal can be read with ta dha ya sa na for broken bar | symbol. The second symbol with y after it can only be read as namani. The broken | symbol therefore is na.

The || sign can only be va (vana or vaana in this seal) since the other alternative ni wont create a suitable word

Results of taking the 2nd syllable from all the words starting with ka, and intersect with words meaning curved starting with the letter: मन्थर कुब्ज पार्श्व तिर्यञ्च् वक्र विनत. The curved symbol )) must be ku from the other 3 seals: kuvani, kubha

There is only one way to read this: manahan, mind destroyer. Fish with caret ^ on top (lizard) therefore is he

There is only one double consonant after both Cha (छन्न) and Sha (शन्न). The only word starting with na for filter is नुद. So the filter sign is nu नु

Its possible nu is used as a laudatory suffix or prefix, also meaning "certainly" "praise" or "now"

Rake sign is used in the first seal can be read as yu or ya, but in the second seal (and most seals) can only be read as ya.
Rake sign therefore seems to be a composite of y and a giving y + a = ya.

The only words that fits double rake composite sign are ययिन् riding/traveling/moving, ययु swift or ययी horse, recurring themes in the seals, but only ययु fits second seal: एकम् अथ ययु अशि/आशि One but swift and enduring/eater.
Double rake therefore is yayu

The composite sign formed by ka and a form the sound ak or aKh as seen in this seal: भावि मखना worshipping with oblation

I have strengthened the hypothesis by removing assumption on Indus symbol shape. We now start with just 2 Brahmi symbols ta 𑀢 and dha 𑀥. These are identical in both systems. Both symbols are shown here together with the jar symbol

Looking up Monier Williams dictionary, there is a set of 351 words that match __dha and set of 2823 words that match __ta. There are only 53 prefixes that match both.

Of these, only one prefix अन्/an can be tripled to match this seal. The jar symbol therefore is "an". Due to its high frequency as a terminal sign, it is possibly also used as अं or अन् nominative declension.

The first seal has dha ध followed by double human symbol. Only fit are धक्क्/ धट्ट् /धा. The second symbol can only accept अ, reading अतन् We prove that the human symbol is indeed the source of the Brahmi
𑀅/𑀆/अ/आ symbol by rotation.

Only sh श​ satisfies three seals with this symbol: शनि शण् शद

Chain so far from purely 2 Brahmi letters ta da:

ta da an a y sh

Pure exhaustive search. No assumptions on religion, meaning of symbols, etc.

The "𑀭" symbol in the first seal followed by "Ayana" is satisfied only by g ta pa pal pyA vA sA hA. The second seal requires this syllable to be doubled around "a" and y suffixed to create a legitimate word. This is possible only for "a" to give आइ = see.
"𑀭" symbol = a/अ

Another derivation of sh: __-__-y and also to __-an-y works only for sh: Sani and SaSi

Only अनन/अश्न fit this two seals. The root/bud symbol therefore is न

since ba / 𑀩 is identical to Brahmi, we can pick it up here.

Only double syllable words are dada hihi huhu jaja kiki mama nana ruru tata. Of these only ja, ma fit __anDa. Of these only ja, fits __ai.
The ||| symbol therefore is ja ज

Seals /a__rya/, /__an/ and /__rya/ /ana__an/ can only be satisfied with ca. |||| = च/छ

After cha we can pick it up from here:

32 Symbols from 3 Brahmi so far: त ध ब इ अन् अ1 श अ2 न1 ई वि र र्य च एक त्रि पा ष स अश् म अश् व णि न्त न​1 कु हे नु य ययु अक्

Only ka fits these 3 seals: ranaka kanta vakra
The X symbol therefore is ka क

Proving ka enables a pure provenance of ku from Brahmi

Reproving gat गत् without relying on symbol shape. Seals
जगत् and गोतमि can only be read if this symbol is gat गत्

U/ऊ is the only symbol that can satisfy these two seals:
ऊषर्यै and ऊहमना

The mountaintop symbol is सा (from सानु mountaintop)

The only sound that fits seals /मसान्द्रन्/ /रविहेसान्/ /सामन्/

Note: This is a departure from Sue Sullivan. There are simply no dictionaries that have Selva.

Note: ndra is not yet proven but not needed for proof of above

Only arya, ava, sa, pra fits /सामन्/ Of these, only sa fits The only sound that fits seals /सान्/ Ironically Aryan (and pran and avan) are not legitimate words.

Creeper lata = la/ल. Only ल fits the seals /लान्तमणि/ Indra's jewel and /रलर/ Wailer

Only th fits the drum symbol from the seals /कान्तमतन्/ and /क एक अनन्त्/

A clearer mathan seal

The crystal symbol is /am/ /अम्/ the only syllable that fits both /अशम्__/ and /शमन्/

saa required am ... placing it here to correct order

The sound /ma/ /म/ is the only syllable that satisfies the following seals: /माङ्ख/ /मर/ /मरण/ /मणि/

The head on shoulders/मस्तक symbol is therefore म​२

The only words with जाव/जव prefix are /जावड/, /जावत्/ and /जावन्य/. Of these only /tha/ /त/ fits the second seal.

The warrior with sword and shield therefore is /त/

My personal preference is to read 5 short bars as pa (from pancha), so alternative derivation with 4 seals:
/तरण/ /तव/ /जातकन्/ /रवीति/

When you write the letter त know that it represents the two legs and sword of a warrior. The name of the letter is तन्त्रिन् = soldier

/nda/ /ण्ड/ is the only sound that fits the following seals: /अण्डनि/ /तण्डवतन्/ /वण्डलविमशन्/

The three triangle symbol therefore is /nda/

40 Indus symbols proven so far using purely exhaustive dictionary search starting with 3 symbols 𑀢 𑀥 𑀩 that are identical in both Indus and Brahmi

त ध ब अन् अ१ श अ२ न ई वि ॥
र र्य च एक त्रि पा ष स अश् म१ ॥
अश् व णि न्त न​२ हे नु य अक् क ॥
कु गत् ऊ ल त् अम् सा म​२ त​१ ण्ड ॥

The only way to read these two seals is /रविशर्यथा/ and /एककुक्कुट/ . This means that the punch marked coin symbol is /tha/ /ट/ /थ/

The thread and spool symbol is /shi/ /शि/. Only syllable that fits these seals /आशी/ and /हे आशी/

/pa/ /प/ is the only syllable that fits these seals:
/अमापन/ and /उषप/

/अक्ष/ /aksha/ is the only syllable that fits these 4 seals:

The circle/oval symbol therefore is अक्ष

/भ्र/ /Bra/ fits the following seals for the furnace symbol.

/na2/ /ना/ symbol representing well/नरोग is the only fit for these seals: /तातन/ and /चिन्त/

/nu/ /नु/ । /णु/ is the filter sign from नुद. Only syllable that can fit these seals
/अनुनु/ /जिष्णुनु/ /अशमतनु/ /नुवा/

/वी/ /vI/ from the following seals: /अनवीन/ /वीर्य/ /शिवीय/

square with line on top = वी

/प्रि/ /परि/ from the following seals: /परिधर्य/ /परिणि/ /प्रियकन्/

/धु/ from धुर् yoke as the exclusive syllable that fits the following seals /धुधु धुन्त/ /धुन्तमणि/ /आधि/

50 symbols so far .... crossed halfway point!

त ध ब अन् अ१ श अ२ न ई वि ॥
र र्य च एक त्रि पा ष स अश् म१ ॥
अश् व णि न्त न​२ हे नु य अक् क ॥
कु गत् ऊ ल त् अम् सा म​२ त​१ ण्ड ॥
थ शि प अक्ष भ्र ना२ नु वी प्रि धु ॥

/ना/ from exclusive match the following seals:

/अशनायन/ hunger and /नान्दन/ paradise/pleasure garden

Triangle with line symbol is ना, from नाकु mountain

/kan/ = mouse symbol from खनक, rat for /ख//क/

Exclusive match for these seals:

/ई कण्टकन्/ Oh! Horned one!
/एक कुभा खनि/ mine on a river

/द​/ /da/ from दल bud, sprout. Resolving seals:

/दण्डन [अव]भ्र प्रिय/ Punisher of [abductors] of dear ones
/दधपार्य/ Holder of the beyond

/a/ /अ/ Brahmi /o/ 𑀑 seems to be used as /अ/, perhaps a distinct sound that has merged with in later Sanskrit

/कनकन्/ gold
/जयक/ victorious
/पार्यकना/ The girl beyond

/vA/ /वा/ for jar with water from वाह् carry

/वाहकन्/ Carrier
/दलविवाह/ new (bud) wedding
/रवि वह्न ध​/ Sun, made of fire

/nya/ /न्य/ /ण्य​/ from /न्यक्ष/ buffalo or /न्यङ्कु/ antelope is the only syllable that fits these seals:

/अन्धुन्य/ roaring
/धुन्तनन्यन् गम/ roarer without equal
/तन्यथा/ roaring/thundering

/li/ /लि/ from these two signs

/दालिमवि/ lover of pomegranate
/लिवि विपन्न/ author of destruction (lord of destruction)

(Both are obvious references to Lord Shiva)

/tha/ /थ/ from the following seals

/धुन्त नाथ/ Roaring lord
/तन्यत/ Roaring

Rudra means roarer

/dA/ /दा/ Intersecting circles symbol is दा This requires 5 seals to prove correctly

/विदालतृषणुनु/ Whirpool/fountain that removes thirst
/दाव/ fire
/दानमथनि/ gift of kindling
/तदाजवन​/ necessarily swift

5th seal for /dA/

/आदाजव/ carry swiftly

/शु/ from शुभ rain

/अश् शिशु/ Obtain child
/शुनि/ dog
/वीरंश/ warrior's radiance
or possibly /विरंश/ departed soul's radiance

/tra/ /tR/ /त्र/ /तृ/
Bird cleaving two lines is तृ/त्र from तृद् cleave or त्रद cleaver

Resolving seals:
/रात्रि/ Night
/धुन्तन् वीत तृषा/ Roarer free from desires.

60 letters so far: Last 10
ना द अ३ वाह् न्य/ण्य लि थ दा शु त्र ॥

/y/ /इ/ from these two seals

/अधि/ above
/इध्/ ignite

/भा/ for betel-leaf symbol from भक्षपत्र

/भन्द/ worship
/तन् भिदा/ Worship the destroyer
/रवि वाहन ध || भाम/ Having Sun's vehicle || Sun
/तन् भङग विष हेम वीर्यन्/ Worship destroyer of poison, golden warrior

/इन्/ from the following seals

/भषिन् कनकन्/ Speaker of golden words
/अशिन्/ Enduring
/इन्ध अयि/ Lighting

/य/ /ya/ from the following seals.

/काय/ body
/त्रय/ threefold
/अङ्ग्य/ of the limbs

This is a departure from Sue Sullivans "yama" reading. /य/ is the only natural fit and dictionary match. This seal never occurs with the rake "ya", which may be a simplification of this.

/भ/ always has a peaked tip as opposed to /ङ्ग/ which as tufted tips. However if the last seal is to be read as /भय/ then we need one more seal /हेय/ to arrive at /य/

/न्द्र/ /ndra/ from the following 4 seals:

/रविज मन्द्रय​/ Praise the son of Ravi (Saturn)
/मशुन्द्रन्/ Moves on dog (ie Shiva)
/सान्द्र/ Abundant / Robust
/वी अश्वि इन्द्रन्/ Moving horse of Indra

/त/ from तरु tree

/भरण प्रीत दान द्रा/ Delighted nourisher, swift giver
/तय/ protector

/ह/ /ha/ from हल water

/कान्त महान्/ Greatly Pleasing
/अशन् वहन/ Cloud (or rock) vehicle
/अमहन्/ Disease destroyer

/स्था/ /sthA/ from

/आस्थान/ hall of audience
/अक्षणा विस्थान/ inopportune misplacement
/स्थान/ station

68 syllables proven with pure exhaustive search!

त ध ब अन् अ१ इ श अ२ न ई ॥
वि र र्य च एक त्रि पा ष स अश् ॥
म१ अश् व णि न्त न​२ हे नु य अक् ॥
क कु गत् ऊ ल त् अम् सा म​२ त​१ ॥
ण्ड थ१ शि प अक्ष भ्र ना२ नु वी प्रि ॥
धु ना द अ३ वाह् न्य लि थ२ दा शु ॥
त्र भा इन् य​२ न्द्र त​२ ह स्था

/रु/ /ru/ or /रू/ /rU/ from रुण्ड, headless body

Resolving seals:

/रवि मदेरु/ Sun, worthy of praise
/रवि नरुण/, Sun, the leader

Total 70 syllables proven purely from dictionary search. The rest of the syllables may not have enough instances for this kind of resolution. About 25 to go.

Most recent 10 syllables: शु त्र भा इन् य​२ न्द्र त​२ ह स्था रु

/ध्/ /dh/ from the following seals

/विध लड नथ​/ Lord's manner of play

/माध्वी दण्ड अशन | रन्त​/ offering of sweet food | delighted

/उष्/ /ush/ composite from u + ash

/वीतुष्/ pervade complete tranquility

/उष्ट शिर/ burnt head (ref to Shiva burning Brahma's 5th head)

/का/ /kA/ wrist watch symbol (departure from Sue's ri)

/अ कार्य​/ This action
/अकालि चर्य​/ Unexpected movement
/काकण रणक/ Disease fighter

/क/ /ka/ The paint roller variant of /का/ seems to be /ka/

/अश् रा कक्ष रङ्ग कर/ Fee to Obtain access to performance arena

/रविनाकन्/ Sun sky

/इनु कवि सा भरण/ Inu, the poet is giving and supporting

/दाक अश् अन्त हे वर/ Giver of eating till satisfaction (end desire)

/उ/ /u/ Square wrist watch symbol

/अज इनु/ Unborn (or driver) Inu

/उभ दल/ Bud above

/म/ /ma/ modified fish sign (Sue's vahi)

/रवि वम वीर्यन्/ Sun exuding warrior
/मनाय/ Meditating/with devotion
/रवि मर्या/ Sun, the limit

Although dictionary match was /म/ /ma/, there is a some chance that this symbol represents /मा/ /mA/ fish sign with a /आ/ /A/ under it.

/रवि वामा वीर्यन्/ Sun beautiful (fem) warrior
/मानाय/ For respect
/रवि मार्य/ Worthy of being killed by Sun

yet to be solved (ordered by count): sur, kam, pra, rna, ko, tva, ga, rta, mi, dra, chi, rma, dhva, al, adhi, pu, kar, bhru, har, naa2, krau, ti, ag, daj, ve, za

Many are attested once or twice and are unprovable some are probably variants.

Composites need to be explained.

Possible: sur, kam, pra, tva, ga, chi
Merge: rna, ko, mi, dra, rma, al, krau, ti, ag, daj, ve
Difficult: dhva, adhi, pu, kar, bhru, har, naa2, za

Net about 85 symbols plus composites. Fairly easy to memorize and read/write ... about double the symbols of abugida.

/सं/ from संदाय reins

/सन/ ancient
/सनाथ/ protected

/क/ /ka/ from just one seal:

/रसन शशाङ्क/ Screaming moon (Shashank possibly also means Shiva)

/ग​/ /ga/ from the following seals

/गजान्य नवि वामाटु/ Another beautiful golden elephant

/गधालिम/ Weapon (mace) that ends time (possibly Shiva)

/गान/ Song

/रागस्थ/ With melody

/शू/ /shU/ or /शु/ /shu/ from शूर्प, winnowing basket

Resolving seals:

/अशुष्य/ Voraciously eatable (ie delicious food)
/शूष्य/ Resounding
/पशु शिविर्य/ Animals that are residence worthy
/र एक अश्म शुषकन्/ Singular fire that dries up mountains

90 symbols proven!

त ध ब अन् अ१ इ श अ२ न ई
वि र र्य च एक त्रि पा ष स अश्
म१ अश् व णि न्त न​२ हे नु य अक्
क कु गत् ऊ ल त् अम् सा म​२ त​१
ण्ड थ१ शि प अक्ष भ्र ना२ नु वी प्रि
धु ना कण् द अ३ वाह् न्य।ण्य लि थ२ दा
शु त्र भा इन् य​२ न्द्र त​२ ह स्था रु
ध् उष् का क२ उ म​३ सं क३ ग शू

/प्र/ /pra/ from प्रजपति, butterfly

Resolving seals:
/प्रजय/ Victory

/प्रकरय एकार्य तत्र थ/ Respect is a noble & timely protector

/प्रपा आखन/ Dig the water feeder (for cattle)

/रविप्राण/ Sun (is) life

/त्व/ /tva/ from त्वक्त्र​, armor

/मावत्वन्/ Worship like me

Was puzzled by several references to आखन / spade/digger ... seemed to be going off-theme. Turns out it also means hero.

So प्रपा आखन probably means "protector of cattle"

/न्य/ symbol also read as:
/न​/ /ना/ /ण/ /णा/ /na/ /nA/ /Na/ /NA/ from the following (Sue's RNa)

/सना दानन्/ Eternal giver

/नाकु विषन्/ Mountain poison

/वनन समन्/ Desires come to life (wish fulfillment prayer)

/अ/ /a/ from the अज horn

From seals:
/अश्वी अमन् रय प/ Possessed with horses violently powerful after drinking from a stream

/आक्ष विष् नमन​/ worship the poison emanating from the eye (ref to Shiva)

/अनु प्रियक एक जगत्/ Follower/cherisher of one world

/अजर्य/ Forever young

Reposting /र/ /ra/

/रण/ joy (also motion/war)
/आरवी/ howling/roaring
/अरज​/ Dustless (ie clean, perfect)

A better /एक/ /eka/

/एका/ One (fem)

/म/ /ma/ from the following:

/मशन/ Sound
/मर्य/ Man
/चण्म/ Sound maker (rudra)

/न/ /na/ from नव nine for nine strokes

/न तम/ Never dark

A compact derivation of yy = /ई/ /I/

/नी/ leader / guide

A simpler derivation of /अ/ /a/ /आ/ /A/ from the अज horn

/आचार्य/ Teacher
/अजर्य/ Forever young

/य/ /ya/ from यव, barley or field of barley

/यत आयन/ controlled arrival
/यम इ/ Yama arrives (or possibly यमि, yama's twin sister)
/जय/ victory
/अजय/ Undefeated/Invincible

/उ/ from उद्याम rope.

/उन्द शर विपर्य/ Moist reed (sugarcane) exchange. Reference to exchanging sugarcane during Sankranti festival. Still practiced in South India.

The single curved line is the same as the horn sign aja. This seal for example can only be read as आभास splendour