Image: Iravatham Mahadevan
Image: Iravatham Mahadevan

In this composite symbol, the ideograph for a domesticated animal is surrounded by four dots of emptiness, one at each of the cardinal points. A dot of emptiness signifies that something is not known. Hence, Mahadevan's sign number 1036 is the noun stray.


Illustrative Text Reference:

Mohenjo-daro: Seal: M-1673 a: Asko Parpola, B. M. Pande, and Petteri Koskikallio, 2010: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 3,1: Page 10: New material, untraced objects, and collections outside India and Pakistan: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.


Image Credit:

Indus Script Sign Number 1036: List of Sign Variants: Iravatham Mahadevan, 1977: The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables: The Director General Archaeological Survey of India.