DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

78 NOTES TO CHAPTER III
bi-lingual inscription at Mohenjo-daro, but covered it up just to expose the incompetence
of others; he proposed to rediscover it at a suitable date, but the statement was not
taken seriously by those who heard it.
8. This is the extremely doubtful Vikram-khol inscription, discovered by Swami
Jnanananda; cf. K. P. Jayaswal, Indian Antiquary 62, 1933. 58-60, where the plates
are given with unhelpful comment.
9. A. L. Oppenheim : The seafaring Merchants of Ur. (JAOS, 74, 1954, pp. 6-17)
; this is based upon analysis of H. H. Figulla and W; J. Martin’s Letters and documents
of the Old-Babylonian period (London, 1953, as vol. V of texts frdm Woolley’s Ur
excavations). I owe both references and much additional information to valuable
discussions with Mr. R. D. Barnett of the British Museum. Though so eminent a scholar
as S. N. Kramar suggests that Tilumin might be Harappa, the discovery of button seals
with Indus designs and other features of P. Glolio excavations leave little doubt that
Balmein was the place.
10. See my note Origin and development of silver coinage in India.
(Current Science, Sept. 1941, p. 396). O. Neugebauer read the cuneiform
marks differently, without being able to decipher them : Mr. Barnett is
doubtful about their being cuneiform at all; but neither had been able
to see the original pieces of silver, while published photographs, including
mine, are none too good. ‘
11. Fausboll no. 339; the best translation is in German, by J. Dutoit (Leipzig,
1925). The place is called baveru ( = babirus — Babylon). The Indian traders first sold
their crow, as a great rarity, then brought a peacock on their second voyage to make
even greater profit. The compass-crow is mentioned in Jataka 384 as normal aid to sea
navigation and again in DN. 11 (Kevaftha-sutta, end) as an old procedure or event.
Pliny (Hist. Nat. 6) mentions compass-birds for navigation in Ceylon. Of course, the
Jataka story is poor evidence of Indo-Babyloman trade.
12. H. Frankfort : Cylinder Seals (London, 1939), plate XI. m; the seal also depicts
Gilgamesh strangling lions. H. Heras interpreted this as referring to Noah’s ark (The
crow of Noe, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 10, 1948, pp. 131-139) ; Noah’s sending out
the crow to find the nearest direction to land, followed by a homing pigeon to make sure
that the land was wooded, is an excellent piece of ancient navigation.
13. The “sacrifice” seal- (fig. 11) with the seven sages, a greater figure performing
some rite, and another floating between heaven and earth could easily be the origin of
the ViSvamitra legend, where that sage, in gratitude, raised king TriSanku to the heavens,
only to have the gods throw him down. As a compromise, the unfortunate prince remains
suspended as a constellation in the sky. The tree within which the figure with threepeaked
crown hovers is shown by its leaves to be the pipal (Ficus religiosa).
14. This has been denied altogether, as no mark of knot or parcel is seen on the
reverse of the sealings found in the Indus valley. However, it is known that cultic seals
in Mesopotamia differed only in size, not design, from those used in sealing
merchandise.