Researchers have characterized the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) writing system as mixed logographic-syllabic, and many scholars associate its syllabic component with the Dravidian language family, this study proposes a different interpretation.
In this research, the primary source material for studying and deciphering the tablets and seals was the photographs published in Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions — Collections in India by Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola.
Drawing on a comparison with the Korean Hangul system, which uses 24 basic letters arranged into syllabic blocks following consonant-vowel patterns, a parallel construction method is identified in the IVC script. For example, the Korean word for apple, 사과 (sagwa), is built by combining basic letters into block units — a principle that appears to underlie the IVC system as well.
This study is built on two principal arguments. First, the Indus Valley Civilization script is not a logographic-syllabic system but a syllabic script that combines syllabls to create images, like Korean writing system. Second, the underlying language is Proto-Dravidian. The signs take on diverse shapes—such as fishlike forms—instead of being confined to rectangular blocks, and their size occasionally varies for aesthetic purposes.
The syllabic script is identified as Tamil Brahmi , with only a limited set of letters used, likely reflecting the restricted vocabulary of the period. Several key tablets have been deciphered, including the bull-fight tablet, a female deity on a tree, a figure carrying shoulder poles, a woman holding tigers, and an inscribed pot.