Harappan language

Identification

There are a number of hypotheses as to the nature of this unknown language:

• A prevalent hypothesis the hypothesis has gained some plausibility and is endorsed by Kamil Zvelebil, Asko Parpola and Iravatham Mahadevan. A 2021 research paper published in Nature argues that Proto-Dravidian was spoken in the Indus Valley based on the Dravidian word for "tooth" (or "tusk"), as well as genetic migration patterns.
• A "language isolate", i.e. a language with no living continuants (or perhaps a last living reflex in the moribund Nihali language). In this case, the only trace left by the language of the Indus Valley civilization would be historical substratum influence, in particular the substratum in Vedic Sanskrit.
• Another recent proposal treats many Indus inscriptions as merchant marks used for trade administration rather than running text, in which case the surviving corpus would offer only limited direct evidence for identifying the underlying language or languages.

Multiple languages

The Indus script only indicates that it was used to write one language (if any), but it is quite possible that multiple languages were spoken in the IVC, much as Sumerian and Akkadian co-existed in Mesopotamia for centuries. Jane R. McIntosh suggests one such possibility: Para-Munda was originally the main language of the civilization, especially in the Punjab region. Later, the proto-Dravidian immigrants introduced their language to the area in the 5th millennium BC. The Dravidian language was spoken by the new settlers in the southern plains, while Para-Munda remained the main language of those in Punjab.

Other theories

• Michael Witzel suggested as an alternative, that an underlying, prefixing language similar to Austroasiatic, notably Khasi; he called it "para-Munda" (i.e. a language related to the Munda subgroup or other Austroasiatic languages, but not strictly descended from the last common predecessor of the contemporary Munda family). Witzel argued that the Rigveda showed signs of this hypothetical Harappan influence in the earliest historic level, and Dravidian only in later levels, suggesting that speakers of Austroasiatic were the original inhabitants of Punjab and that the Indo-Aryans encountered Dravidian speakers only in later times. The theory was since further supported by Franklin Southworth.. As of 2019, Witzel prefers to leave the question of the original Indian language(s) open until better reconstructions for Dravidian and Munda substrate components in Indo-Aryan languages have been done.
• Indo-European languages: generally believed to be arriving after 1800 BCE, but recent genetic and linguistic study suggests that the language family emerged from the Fertile Crescent as early as 6000 BCE and likely spread to South Asia.

Footnotes

References

References

1. Parpola, Asko. (2015). "The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization". Oxford University Press.
2. "Meluhha interpreter seal. Site officiel du musée du Louvre".
3. (2023-03-06). "India - Agriculture and animal husbandry {{!}} Britannica".
4. Asko Parpola (1994), ''Deciphering the Indus script'', Cambridge University Press
5. (1975). "On the relationship of the Sumerian toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit mleccha". Studia Orientalia.
6. Witzel, Michael. (1999). "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic)".
7. An Indus loanword of "para-Munda" nature in Mesopotamian has been identified by Michael Witzel, A first link between the Rgvedic Panjab and Mesopotamia: śimbala/śalmali, and ^GIŠšimmar? In: Klaus Karttunen and Petteri Koskikallio (eds.) Vidyarnavavandanam. Essays in Honour of Asko Parpola. 2000 (Studia Orientalia, published by the Finnish Or. Soc. 94): 497–508. See also Witzel, [http://compling.ai.uiuc.edu/2007Workshop/Slides/witzel.doc The language or languages of the Indus civilization] {{webarchive. link. (2011-07-20 , July 2007.)
8. Heras, Henry. (1953). "Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture". Indian Historical Research Institute.
9. Rahman, Tariq. "Peoples and languages in pre-islamic Indus valley". [[University of Texas]].
10. Cole, Jennifer. "The Sindhi language".
11. Ansumali Mukhopadhyay, Bahata. (2021-08-03). "Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
12. Max Freedom Pollard. (14 November 2025). "Indus Signs as Merchant Marks: Corpus Structure, Context, and Viability". Cambridge University Press.
13. Witzel, M.. (2000-02-17). "The Languages of Harappa".
14. Witzel, M.. (August 1999). "Substrate languages in old Indo-Aryan". EJVS.
15. Mukhopadhyay, Bahata Ansumali. (December 2021). "Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: Ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
16. (2023-07-28). "Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages". Science.