Image: Iravatham Mahadevan
Image: Iravatham Mahadevan

This is a pictograph of an angular bow with an arrow.


Illustrative Text References:

Desalpur: Seal impression: Dlp-3 A: Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola, 1987: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 1: Page 355: Collections in India: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.

 

Harappa: Seal: H-682 a: Sayid Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Asko Parpola, 1991: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 2: Page 311: Collections in Pakistan: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.

Comments:

The shape is important because it tells us that the bow was of composite construction. It also gives an indication of the origin of the bow, because angular bows were associated with western Asia.

 

In inscription H-682, the angular bow is used to refer to a geographical area. Unfortunately, it is not possible to say what that geographical area was.


Image Credit:

Indus Script Sign Number 4573: List of Sign Variants: Iravatham Mahadevan, 1977: The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables: The Director General Archaeological Survey of India.