beyond
discovering
ourselves
There is nothing that changes our world more profoundly than discovering where we came from.
The Indus Civilization was the largest of the four great early civilizations. At its prime it occupied a land area more than 10 times Egypt and Mesopotamia combined. Yet it remains a mystery, its vast cities stand in silent testimony to a forgotten past.
The only Indus writing that has survived to us is a few thousand seals, each bearing a short inscription of about 4 to 5 characters. Over the past 100 years, it has defied all attempts at decipherment. Unlike the Rosetta stone that helped crack Egyptian Hieroglyphs or the Behistun Inscription that led to the decipherment of Sumerian Cuneiform, there has been no bilingual Indus text. There is no way for us to learn from someone who knew.
Over this year, through this site and a sequence of publications, I will try to provide a full decipherment of the Indus script. It will tell the story of a strange and remarkable time when we lived together, fought together and survived together. It is the unbelievable story of our origins.
I suspect our world will not be the same again.
Indus Script Resources
The ida font
ida is a commercial-grade, open source font for the Indus script. Get it now!
Indus Typography
The Indus seals represent some of the earliest typography in the world.
Indus Proposal
A proposal for encoding the Indus script so that the community can share texts
Rig Veda:
A Digital Version of H. H. Wilson's Translation
by Devajyoti Sarkar
“While I am convinced that the format of this book will revolutionize the research of the philosophy, poetry, or teachings contained within these pages, it also has a wonderful side-effect for any casual reader braving this tome in an attempt to hear what our ancestors were trying to communicate many many years ago.
Instead of trudging through the pages of fascinating but nearly alien text, you are seated with a group of wise elders and storytellers, ready to explain anything confusing or jump to any story that catches your interest. This book provides the reader with an opportunity to try to comprehend and experience the voices of the people in the past as part of the roots of Hinduism and wonderful myth, often entirely unknown to a western reader.”
– The International Review of Books
Winner of the Gold Badge
2022
Decipherment Book
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A Story, Unexpected
I graduated college in India and spent most of my life in Japan. I have been a passionate Developer, a talented Architect, a seasoned Executive and a driven Entrepreneur. For much of the past 30 years I have worked in Data and AI.
I encountered the Indus script about 10 years ago when I wanted to try a new technology on it. I was not given the dataset I needed. So I went back to the original research journals from a century ago and made my own. Every time I hit a road block I just built what I needed from scratch. Progress came glacially slowly and sometimes lightning fast; never the expected, never the same, but it came nevertheless. For the past four years I have been able to read most of the Indus inscriptions.
The problem was that I could not understand what I was reading. Nothing prepares one for what they have to say. Slowly, the fog started lifting and I began to see…
My goal was to decipher the script; to try and give back a voice that time had muted. I did not go searching for this story. I am not sure I am right one to tell it. In any case, I doubt you will believe it…
A Story, Unexpected
I graduated college in India and spent most of my life in Japan. I have been a passionate Developer, a talented Architect, a seasoned Executive and a driven Entrepreneur. For much of the past 30 years I have worked in Data and AI.
I encountered the Indus script about 10 years ago when I wanted to try a new technology on it. I was not given the dataset I needed. So I went back to the original research journals from a century ago and made my own. Every time I hit a road block I just built what I needed from scratch. Progress came glacially slowly and sometimes lightning fast; never the expected, never the same, but it came nevertheless. For the past four years I have been able to read most of the Indus inscriptions.
The problem was that I could not understand what I was reading. Nothing prepares one for what they have to say. Slowly, the fog started lifting and I began to see…
My goal was to decipher the script; to try and give back a voice that time had muted. I did not go searching for this story. I am not sure I am right one to tell it. In any case, I doubt you will believe it…
A Story, Unexpected
I graduated college in India and spent most of my life in Japan. I have been a passionate Developer, a talented Architect, a seasoned Executive and a driven Entrepreneur. For much of the past 30 years I have worked in Data and AI.
I encountered the Indus script about 10 years ago when I wanted to try a new technology on it. I was not given the dataset I needed. So I went back to the original research journals from a century ago and made my own. Every time I hit a road block I just built what I needed from scratch. Progress came glacially slowly and sometimes lightning fast; never the expected, never the same, but it came nevertheless. For the past four years I have been able to read most of the Indus inscriptions.
The problem was that I could not understand what I was reading. Nothing prepares one for what they have to say. Slowly, the fog started lifting and I began to see…
My goal was to decipher the script; to try and give back a voice that time had muted. I did not go searching for this story. I am not sure I am right one to tell it. In any case, I doubt you will believe it…