OHERALDO

OPINION
www.oheraldo.in
Pg6
O HERALD O
Vol No CX No: 311 Harappan secrets
Goa, Monday, 13 December, 2010

The myth of the are the findings of José Calazans, a continuation of portuguese discoveries, asks tEOtÓniO R de SOUZa

‘free world’ A s a result of its pioneering commercial-colo-

nial links with India since the close of the
cles of years or seasons, also similar to the dozen
animals of the Chinese calendar. Following the order

W
ikileaks is a website dedicated to publicising al-
legedly ‘confidential’ information. Its activities have
exposed exactly how little freedom there is in the
so-called ‘free world’, as the developed countries of the
western world like to describe themselves. Not surprisingly,
its founder, Julian Assange, has become a cult figure for his
supporters, and a villain who is out to destroy the world for
his detractors.
Unfortunately, most of his supporters are ‘aam admi’ types,
while most of his detractors are powerful governments,
wealthy industrialists and people of influence, who have
much to hide. They have hounded him in the worst way possible.
Perhaps this was only to be expected. As his mother Chris-
tine stated, he has in his last two exposes, taken on people
who are simply too powerful. Both the leak of thousands of
documents relating to the Afghan War and the publication
of confidential diplomatic ‘cables’ or internal opinions and
observations of diplomatic personnel in the US State De-
partment, Wikileaks and Assange have deeply angered the
world’s only superpower, the United States of America.
He has been slapped with an obviously trumped-up rape
charge, his bank accounts have been frozen worldwide and
he has now been arrested by the British police. But his sup-
porters too have struck back. There have been protests
outside British embassies. A group of hackers have attacked
the websites of Internet payment service Paypal as well as
Mastercard and Visa, after they froze the flow of funds from
donors to Assange’s accounts.
Most governments, including India, have strongly con-
demned Assange’s latest leak. But Russia has called for him
to be given the Nobel Peace Prize. People all over the globe
believe him to be the last hope for a free and fair press.
Assange describes his style as ‘scientific journalism’. He
says: “We must think clearly and boldly, for if we have learned
anything it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We
must think beyond those who have gone before us and dis-
cover technological changes that embolden us with ways to
act in which our forebears could not.”
To be fair to the US government, leaks of its diplomatic
cables can not only be embarrassing, but can damage its
foreign policy. This is not an irrational fear. But to the public,
it makes clear the workings of foreign policy, warts and all.
It exposes the hypocrisies, double dealing and crass com-
mercial haggling that goes on in inter-governmental dealings,
demolishes the haloes around the heads of leaders, and ed-
15th century, the Portuguese have made
some rare contributions to world’s knowledge
about Asia, including India, their first point of
contact and later, the base of their colonial empire
in Asia. The manuals produced by Duarte Barbosa
and Tomé Pires are still regarded as masterpieces
of encyclopedic information about material and
human resources of Asia at the time of the Por-
tuguese arrival in the Indian Ocean. Later, the
colonial missionaries produced linguistic tools
that could enable them to penetrate Asian cultures
and implant Christianity. In Portugal itself, there
was a short period of orientalist research surge
in the late 19th – early 20th century, marked by
such scholarly figures as G de Vasconcellos Abreu,
Esteves Pereira, David Lopes and Sebastião R Dal-
gado. Lately, we have only seen commemorative
stunts and neo-orientalist gimmicks!
José Calazans, my colleague at the Lusophone
University in Lisbon, and faculty member in the De-
partment of the Science of Religions, has released
this week at the Hindu Temple in Lisbon a Short
Grammar of the Harappa Language, a bilingual edi-
tion in 150 pages, wherein he provides a preview
of a much larger work, he has compiled on the
grammar and dictionary of the Indus Valley script
that has so far defied interested scholars over nearly
a century in India, Finland, Russia, USA and else-
where, assuming generally that Tamil (proto-Dra-
vidian) was the key for deciphering the 2,000-odd
seals so far known.
José Calazans recognises and praises the pioneer-
ing work of Fr Heras and several others, but points
to the reason why their efforts ended in failure:
they all sought to fit in Vedic concepts into the
Harappan script. His method suggests instead, that
the “language” ideo-pictographically expressed,
could be a dialect (prakrta) of Indo-Iranian family,
partly structured like the Vedic Sanskrit (bhasa), the
Pali, and other near-contemporary jargons (paisaca),
but with significant differences. He cites references
in the classical and Vedic texts to the existence of
such jargons, some probably never taken seriously,
Straight From The Heart
HiStORiCal ExplORatiOnS
because they are mentioned as languages of the
«dogs» (sva), «owls» (uluka), «cuckoos» (koka), «eagles»
(suparna) and «vultures» (grdhra), all of them referred
as «demons» (raksasas) in the Rgveda. The users of
the languages are designated as Kikata people, and
their priests as Kilata and Akuli, always in a pejorative
sense. There are no references to any written script
prior to Brahmi.
The team led by Rajesh Rao (University of Wash-
ington, 2009) produced interesting results using
computer-based statistics and comparing symbols
of Indus script and different languages – including
modern English and the ancient Sanskrit - as well
as nonlinguistic systems. Calazans confesses that
recent statements by Rajesh Rao egged him on to
make public his findings, because they supported
his own conclusion that the Harappa pictographic
script is, in fact, a dialect (prakrit) closer to Pali,
than to Vedic Sanskrit.
Calazans classifies the Harappan language as be-
longing to the group of Raksasibasha and identifies
phonetic and phonologic bridge with the Vedic San-
skrit and Pali, but is marked by semantic differences
of conflicting social strata and anti-Brahmin or-
thodoxy. The novelty that Calazans proposes is that
the continuity of older traditions need not have
been only oral, as Vedic texts presume. Harappan
script was a written tradition in aphoristic style,
Of Development and CSR
which was inconvenient to the Aryan Brahmin or-
thodoxy. This written tradition, as defended by
Calazans, was probably the first source of astronomic
and astrologic calculus, and could have been the
origin of later shastras, linked to the science of as-
tronomy. In the Harappan ideo-pictographic writing,
the stress was not based on sound or pronunciation,
vowels or consonants, but on pictograms which
need to be interpreted as a whole, an idea and a re-
ligious, divine and human principle.
Only through an oral teaching process, would
hundreds of ideo-pictographic combinations, be
fully understood. A sentence was constructed
through successive agglutinations in a syntagmatic
disposition through prefixation, infixation (a sign
placed inside the ideogram when ideographic com-
pounds are formed) and suffixation. Digital affixes
represented by short vertical bars indicated specific
numbers or declension cases, depending upon their
position at the upper left corner (number) or upper
right corner (case) of the basic ideo-pictogram.
Calazans sees extraordinary similarity with the
Chinese number system, more so than Egyptian and
Sumerian, a fact he attributes to the proximity of
two mythical regions of Uttara-Kuru and Takla-
Makan, as a cultural melting pot. Calazans is not
yet sure of the full meaning of the zoomorphic se-
quence in the seals, but believes that it obeys to cy-
adopted in the Corpus of Hindu Seals and Inscriptions
(A Parpola, 1987-1991) despite persistence of doubts,
that showed some important registry of events,
such as a solstice on July 26 of 3912 BC, when Mars
and Saturn were in conjunction during five days,
such seals were reused probably as amulets with
some ritual value. This date suggests that the Harap-
pan culture belongs to a much earlier chronological
setting, than so far believed, and Calazans opines,
that this fact may embarrass many a political rival.
Calazans declares that it is not his intention to
announce any “triumph” (sic) before achieving it or
to take the risk of repeating what others have said
before. He states that many had been close to finding
a solution, implying that he too, may join the ranks.
He hopes, though, that his solution will revive the
interest of the scholars and awaits scholarly feedback,
proving him right or wrong. We too wish that the
readers of this column take up the issue and pass
on the word. Personally, I respect my erudite col-
league, and wish him luck in this bold endeavour.
To conclude, among some of the doubts that do
not find answers or leads in the present edition of
the Short Grammar of Harappa Language, but which
we hope to find in the fuller published version, is
how the very limited sequences of seals can ever
provide a satisfactory base to capture a meaningful
system of concepts. We are also not provided details
of any comparative advance made beyond what Par-
pola or Mahadevan have done for solving the Harap-
pan puzzle. Besides, why would the pictographic
script disappear in the Middle East and Indus
Valley, but not in China and in the Chinese cultural
world? Was it determined by changes in dominant
cultural thought patterns, or a change in dominant
materials and support technologies? We have no
clue either, as to how a language seemingly well
developed long before the arrival of the Aryans
into the region, should have structural links with
Vedic languages or related jargons. Or does the re-
searcher-author imply that Vedic language and di-
alects grew out of the Harappan culture or suffered
its linguistic influence, in a significant manner?
By Sajla Chawla

ucates the public as nothing else can.
As Assange says, the more secretive or unjust an organi-
sation is, the more it fears leaks. Unjust systems, by their
very nature create opponents, who leak information. Mass
leaking, he says, creates a groundswell for more open forms
of governance.
It sounds naively idealistic to some, and anarchist to those
in power. Little wonder that some American Republican
Party senators have called for Assange to be tried for espi-
onage. Other redneck conservatives have even called for
him to be “bumped off ”. But this level of paranoia on the
part of the US establishment has only made him an instant
hero among the masses.
Two years after?
A
s a child, I remember that development is synonymous with
progress. However, now, the word development, especially
land development, has almost become a four letter word
with all its pejorative connotations. For this, we owe special thanks
to scrupulous ministers who get voted to power repeatedly, and
to conscientious citizens who vote for them repeatedly. Oh no,
we can’t escape it! We are all responsible for this mess.
Development, as described by many avaricious NGOs, some be-
fuddled NGOs and few idealistic NGOs, is a word that denotes
degradation of environment, exploitation of people and a murderous
form of land use.
In a country of 1.15 billion people, and a booming economy, is
it practically possible to stall and bury all kinds of development
projects like hotels, schools, hospitals, housing societies, commercial
centres and IT hubs? How will we then generate employment,
create adequate housing or invest constructively? Can any place
of the proposed developmental project, the kind of concern it has
for environment protection, the kind of jobs it has the potential
to generate, and the kind of social responsibility measures that it
endeavours to take up. It is not enough to just chant the “No de-
velopment” motto. The corrupt politicians, the corporate lobbies,
the developers, are a nexus which is too difficult to break. Sooner
or later, insidiously, the projects proposed by all these, will come
up just as they have in the past, even when such projects have
been environmentally harmful and socially exploitative.
So what do we do? Do we throw up our hands and give up, or
foolishly insist that we, the citizens, have the power to stop all
unwanted projects? That is a myth that has been sadly demystified,
many a time. As for NGOs, given one genuine NGO, there are
tens of corrupt organisations, and some of them are full of people
who could not get anywhere in life through education, hard
work or sincerity and thus find this as the easiest way to have a
proposed development can improve their living conditions and
economic status.
Some amount of development in a large developing country
like ours, is inevitable. We might not be able to fully control the
quantum of development, but we surely can decide on the quality
of that development. Let us get smart, smarter than the politicians,
smarter than builders, smarter than industrial houses, smarter
than the NGOs, and allow only that kind of development which
improves the standard of living of the people.
Let us also be wary of the hogwash variety of Corporate
Social Responsibility or CSR, which seeks to just pacify the
protesting voices. Let us choose only those companies which,
through their CSR schemes, provide sustainable development,
which do not just fulfill short term needs of the people, but
equip them with skills and ensure employment, for lifelong
economic stability.

C ongress General Secretary Digvijay Singh’s sensational
claim that two hours before terrorists attacked Mumbai
on 26 November 2008, Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) chief
Hemant Karkare called him to say that his life was under
threat from those who opposed his probe into the Malegaon
blast, is two years too late.
Whether it is true or false is irrelevant now. What we
need to ask is: “Why now?” The motive will become clear
sooner, rather than later.
survive, unless it is abreast with the times in terms of infrastructure,
which corresponds to the needs of a growing population and
growing economy? It is a Utopian fantasy which cannot be realised,
unless a place and its people decide to live in a stasis or as an
anachronism, with no relation to the world outside. And for how
long can such a model state survive, before its own needs and the
intrusion of building sharks swallow it up? What, then, is the way
out of this conundrum?
The answer, perhaps, lies in the examining and understanding
piece of the economic and development boom in our country
today.
A place that has no source of livelihood, a place which people
migrate from, a place that cannot support its population, a place
where there is no one to safeguard environmental concerns that
desperately needs development, and mind you, the right, holistic,
and well planned kind of development. Rather than take up cudgels
against all kinds of development, it is more prudent to study the
context and needs of the affected people and in what way the
If a project can grant me a job, make sure that my siblings and
neighbours do not migrate to another country or place, improve
the environment around me and be a project which, while earning
money, stems from the needs of the people, so what is wrong
with such a project? Surely a poor country like ours should have
the power of discernment by now. So let us be discerning. Let us
not allow the power nexus to thrust undesirable exploitative de-
velopment on us. Let us choose the development that suits us and
addresses our needs.

Letters to the Editor

Revamp needed
John Eric Gomes, Porvorim
This is with reference to the article “Hard-
ly working bureaucrats” (Herald, Nov 25).
These are a powerfully unionised and pam-
pered lot, who have found that they can
protect themselves from prosecution, easily
resist change, with no fear of punishment
or salary cuts. They are also responsible
for making laws and rules to make the
poor citizen run from pillar to post, with
impunity. With their political nexus and
being unable to discipline them, it appears
that attempts to pursue administrative re-
forms have been kept aside.
I brought to the notice of those con-
cerned, in writing, of the prevailing lacunae
and had suggested a complete revamp
which would require a professional ‘work
study’ and enforcement of the resulting
recommendations. In fact, work study is
sadly lacking in all government offices.
I do hope someone responsible in gov-
ernment is moved to act here in public in-
terest.
Two star performers
SND Poojary, Miramar
The Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yed-
Smile with Smitha
dyurappa, continues to occupy the chair
in spite of serious allegations against him.
He handed over the government land at
some throwaway price to his sons and
daughter. But he outwitted the central lead-
ership of his party by flashing his caste
label. The religious bodies that benefited
from his ‘sarkari’ philanthropy by way of
receiving huge government grants and
other concessions came to his rescue. He
has survived. The party to which he be-
longs, the moment its raises voice against
corruption, is reminded of its own shining
example.
The other star performer is P J Thomas,
the present CVC. The Supreme Court indi-
rectly hinted that it was not tenable for
the incumbent to continue in office, in
light of the ‘spectacular spectrum scam’.
However, he defies the Supreme Court. He
would not have survived but for the implicit
support extended to him by the ruling
coalition at the centre.
Catholic timidity
Anthony Fernandes, Mapusa
The news report ‘Pope Benedict exhorts
Pilar missionaries to be fearless’(Herald, 5
Dec) is like water on a duck’s back. The
clergy is responsible for the rut the Indian
Smitha Bhandare Kamat
Purify yourselves! Disaster Management Authority at the Indian
Letter of the Day Avelino Christo Fernandes, Saligao
Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) tanks in Vasco,
left a lot to be desired. Chaos prevailed as
To the excellent letter ‘Purification needed office-goers were returning home after work.
Nobel decision, indeed here’ by Therese Almeida (Herald, 30 No-
vember), I wish to add a few points. I would
like to ask the so-called freedom fighters
Curious onlookers were seen in the vicinity
of the tanks. In an emergency, it is absolutely
necessary to see that people move away from
Nelson Lopes Chinchinim who poured ‘ganga jal’ into the waters of the danger area, as soon as possible. They
The Nobel peace prize to Liu Xiabo, who is incarcerated in prison for 11 years in Khariwado where the Portuguese ship should not be allowed to see the operation.
China, and labelled as a dissident, has evoked outrage and sharp criticism and has ‘Sagres’ was docked, why are they not doing People living in buildings near the tanks,
been termed as a direct interference in China’s internal affairs. anything about our land being sold to out- should have been evacuated.
The Chinese have their fair share of reasons. But the world is also aware of how siders ? Why are they not raising their Instructions given to the public on a loud-
brutal China has been, on the matter of human rights. The Tiananmen square voices against the corrupt politicians? Why speaker mounted on a moving vehicle on the
massacre is a classic example. India`s stand in attending the ceremony and not don’t they ‘purify’ our beaches from drugs precautionary measures needed would have
succumbing to pressure, blackmail and possible repercussions, is a praise-worthy and filth? Have they even once raised their sufficed. This too was not done. It is under-
act. voices about the critical garbage situation? stood that the mock drill was conducted to
China’s rapid development and its poor human rights record will be counter Amongst those ‘purifying’ the waters check the preparedness of the various agencies
productive to its own economy. The empty chair in Oslo signified China’s arrogance. was a gentleman who was raided twice by during the time of an emergency. In case the
Of course, there have been some controversies regarding the peace prize to world the Income Tax authorities, and another authorities could not find ways and means
leaders. And like all decisions, criteria of fairness and eligibility will always be ques- who was in jail for the wrong reasons and of evacuating people during a mock operation,
tioned. freed on the day of Liberation, and claimed what will they do if it really happens?
China`s needs to do the tight rope walk in balancing moderation of its rigid stance, to be a freedom fighter. The freedom fight-
and ushering in of democratic reforms. ers should first clean their rank and file by Ethics of judiciary
The world will then certainly see China’s meteoric rise to become the most pouring the water on the heads of such elements. Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
prosperous nation on the globe. That is why till date not a single freedom
fighter has become the Chief Minister of Goa. The Supreme Court has rightly expressed
concern about the kith and kin of some Alla-
Christian community is in; the number of destruction of property, power outages,
‘nominal’ Christians is rising day by day. etc. People are deprived of foodgrains and Catch them unawares habad high court judges practicing in the
Christians are increasingly boosting non- income because of fields lying fallow owing same court. These are fundamental profes-
Savio Fernandes, Margao sional ethics of the judiciary. In fact, it would
Christian faiths with their foolish support to arrogance of tenants. Politicians distrib-
I commute regularly to Panjim and still find be appropriate for lawyers not to even appear
out of timidity or diplomacy, with the result ute free saplings to select voters, but want
that private buses are overcrowded. The con- before judges. The legal profession cannot
that non-Christian fundamentalism is in- others to preserve trees even if they are
creasing in leaps and bounds all over Asia old and non-fruit bearing. This is disgusting.
ductors do not wear uniforms and also do
not issue tickets. This is despite the ongoing
end up becoming a business venture with
and North Africa, and Christians have begun No one should tell us how to live our court battles stage managed.
drive by the Directorate of Transport.
to be suppressed and victimised. lives. Let the government first have proper
I have noticed that a private bus on the Mauvin’s pipe dream
The life of Jesus is not only about His administration to benefit all citizens uni-
Panjim-Tonca-Caranzalem route carried pas- Marcos Alemao, via email
death and resurrection, but also about His formly, and everyone will be responsible
sengers far beyond the prescribed norm. In
‘Warnings’ (Mathew: 24) about other false citizens. Mauvin’s dreams that Congress will win all
addition, two more mini buses on this route
beliefs. Fundamentalist diktats by other the seats in Mormugao (Herald, 11 Dec)
were packed to the fullest and blatantly vio-
community leaders encroach on the rights Viva Vasco lated rules. Overcrowding can lead to acci- will never come true. The Congress is
and freedom of Christians, like the ban on Reo Cunha, Moira the party of destruction and corruption
dents, that happened when an overcrowded
beef, anti-conversion laws, etc. But there and its ministers are corrupt. This is present
The port city of Vasco has significance; it Mapusa-Assagao bus met with a serious ac-
is hardly any response from the Catholic from the ministerial level down to the ad-
was named after the great Portuguese sailor cident, injuring over 30 passengers. Fortunately,
clergy in India. ministrative level everywhere. We do not
Vasco da Gama. After Liberation, its name there were no fatalities. As usual, RTO officials
was officially changed after Maratha warrior turn a blind eye on the issue of overcrowding. live in a fool’s paradise. It is very much
Too many don’ts Sambhaji, but it still remained Vasco. The Director of Transport Arun Dessai certain that good thinking people will never
Jonas Correia, Aldona Recently, a Portuguese ship visited Goa, should take immediate action by conducting vote for Congress party during next election.
The government and some dubious NGOs and so-called RSS supporting freedom a surprise visit and catch the private bus Letters should be 150 words or less in
tell us what we should not do. Don’t cut fighter opposed the visit. But the people owners unawares. length, and should have the writer’s name,
trees, don’t eat mushrooms and frogs, don’t of Vasco, especially from Khariwado,
address and telephone number. The editor
kill snakes… the list is endless. But what showed their love. That is real Goan hos- Disastrous mock drill reserves the right to edit letters for size and
are people supposed to do? pitality. Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco readability, and to delete any personal at-
There are several deaths due to snake Viva Vasco, and long live Goa-Portuguese
bites. Falling branches have caused death, friendship! The mock-drill conducted by the South Goa tacks or libellous /objectionable matter.

Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna, Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa - 403001. Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin Tombat
(Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road, Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 2222475 (all Editorial); 2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83.
HOW TO CONTACT US: mail@herald-goa.com — For press notes, general queries. junior@herald-goa.com — Junior Herald; junioryouth@herald-goa.com — Careers. heraldmirror@herald-goa.com — Sunday Mirror. reporters@herald-goa.com — For Reporters. business@herald-goa.com — For Business news.
editor@herald-goa.com — For Letters to the Editor. sports@herald-goa.com — For Sports news. advt@herald-goa.com — For Advertisements. 2day@herald-goa.com — For Herald 2day. tiatr@herald-goa.com — For Tiatr Reviews and Reports. Disclaimer: Except for the editorial above, articles and letters in Herald
represent the views of the concerned authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Herald editor, publisher, and/or owners.