Question

The earliest Harappan seal inscriptions deciphered so far are in _________.
a. Brahmi
b. Prakrit
c. Kharosthi
d. None of these

Answer 1

Hint:
A research paper published in Palgrave Communication claims that a majority of the Indus script (also known as the Harappan script) were written logo graphically(by using word signs). It is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization and was not written by using phonograms (speech sound units).

Complete solution:
The Indus script is a corpus of symbols. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short. As they are extremely short, it makes it difficult to decide whether these symbols constituted a script to record a language, or even symbolize the writing system or not. The ‘script’ has not yet been deciphered despite many attempts, but efforts are ongoing. The script shows no significant changes over time, and there is no known bilingual inscription to help decipher the script. Some syntax (if that is what they termed) varies depending upon location. The first publication of a seal with the Harappan symbol dates to 1875. It was in a drawing by Alexander Cunningham. Iravatham Mahadevan published a concordance and corpus of Indus inscriptions. It lists 417 distinct signs in specific patterns and 3700 seals. Iravatham Mahadevan also found that the longest inscription contained only 26 symbols and that the average inscription contained five symbols.

Hence, the correct answer is option D.

Note:
Some scholars, such as S. R. Rao, John Newberry, G. R. Hunter, and Krishna Rao have argued that the Indus system has some connection with the Brahmi script. The possibility of the Brahmi script being influenced by the Indus script has been somewhat cautiously supported by F. Raymond Allchin.