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Palm frond, overflowing-pot hieroglyphs on Ur-Nammu stela read

rebus Meluhha: metalcastings, metalware used by ziggurat

builders of Ur

Ur-Nammu stela is a Meluhha metalwork catalog denoting the metalcastings, metal

weapons, tools and metalware as:dul 'metal casting, to cast metal in a mould

(Santali)'; ḍhālako = a large metal ingot (Gujarati); lokh ḍ n. ʻ tools, iron, ironware ʼ

(Gujarati).

This decipherment of Meluhha hieroglyphs complements the images presented on the

10 feet high stela of the then ongoing work of building temple, dagoba, the ziggurat of

Ur linking heaven and earth and in celebration of the Bronze Age revolution.

The focus of this note on the duplicated hieroglyph shown on the central register of Ur-

Nammu stela.

The two

hieroglyphs show an identical palm frond with two hanging twigs or fronds as the

centerpiece of an altar in front of both the male and female divinities. The male divinity

is a builder holding a staff and bob plumb bob as perceptively noted by Jenny Vorys

Canby whose painstaking researches resulted in a reasonable reconstruction of missing

fragments of the stela. A major missing part unearthed by Canby is another hieroglyph:

overflowing pots pouring into the center-piece altars with the palm fronds.

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The decipherment of the three hieroglyphs: 1. duplicated frond, 2. palm frond and 3.

overflowing pot will provide a framework for unraveling the central message of the Ur-

Nammu stela which is a monumental 10 feet high stela which surely shows builders at

work in the bottom registe. The central message is the material resources with which

the builders were working -- as conveyed by a rebus reading of the three hieroglyphs:

metalcastings, metalware.

1. duplicated frond: dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'metal casting, to cast metal in a mould

(Santali)'

2. palm frond: ḍāla -- n. ʻ branch ʼtāla -- 2 m. ʻ Borassus flabelliformis ʼ, palm (CDIAL

5750)Rebus: ḍhālako = a large metal ingot (Gujarati) ḍhālakī = a metal

ingot. Vikalpa: Ka. (Hav.) aḍaru twig; (Bark.) aḍïrï small and thin branch of a tree;

(Gowda) aḍəri small branches. Tu. aḍaru twig.(DEDR 67) Rebus: aduru gan.iyinda

tegadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in

a furnace (Ka. Siddhānti Subrahmaṇya’ Śastri’s new interpretation of the AmarakoŚa,

Bangalore, Vicaradarpana Press, 1872, p.330).

3. overflowing pot: lo 'overflowing' PLUS kand 'pot' Rebus: lōkhaṇḍa 'copper

tools, pots and pans' (Marathi) N. lokhar ʻ bag in which a barber keeps his tools ʼ;

H. lokhar m. ʻ iron tools, pots and pans ʼ; -- X lauhabhāṇḍa -- : Ku. lokhaṛ ʻ iron tools ʼ;

H. lokhaṇḍ m. ʻ iron tools, pots and pans ʼ; G. lokh ḍ n. ʻ tools, iron, ironware ʼ;

M. lokh ḍ n. ʻ iron ʼ (LM 400 < -- khaṇḍa -- )(CDIAL 11171)

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Akkadian Cylinder Seal 2330-2150 BC (Wolkenstein) Serpent. Tree branches,

divinities

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Both faces of a large fragment from the curved top edge of the stela. The upper body of

the king appears on each side, with a female deity overhead pouring out streams of

water.

Artist's rendition of the proposed restoration of the 'front' of the Ur-Nammu stela

(Drawing by Kathleen Galligan). Source: Jeanny Vorys Canby, A monumental puzzle,

reconstructing the Ur-Nammu stela in: Expedition, Vol. 29 No.

1 http://penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/29-1/Monumental1.pdf

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Jeanny Vorys Canby has demonstrated the depiction of 'overflowing pots' hieroglyphs

on the Ur-Nammu stela. This insight reinforces the purport of the stela: to record the

Bronze Age metals and materials used in the building activity directed by Ur-Nammu.

The chronology of Third Dynasty of Ur is reconstructed as follows, starting with

Utu-hengal:

Utu-hengal: 2119-2113

Ur-Nammu: 2112-c. 2095

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Shulgi: 2094-2047

Amar-Sin: 2046-2038

Shu-Sin: 2037-2029

Ibbi-Sin: 2028-2004

tu-hengal (also written tu-heg al, Utu-heĝal, and sometimes transcribed

as Utu-hegal, Utu-hejal) had a daughter who married Ur-Nammu and birthed his

successor, Shulgi.

It is remarkable that the suffix -hengal has a cognate in the name of one of

52 shakthi peetha in Hindu tradition which includes Hinglaj (Or Hingula),

southern Baluchistan a few hours North-east of Gawadar: Balochi: الج گ ن ,ه

Sindhi: جالگنه, Urdu: نگالجہ , Sanskrit: हिङ्ग्लाज, Hindi:हिगलाज), an

important Hindu pilgrimage place. It is likely that the morpheme hingal is cognate

with two sets of glosses:

sinhala.siṁhala m. ʻ Ceylon ʼ, pl. ʻ Sinhalese ʼ MBh., °laka<- arBr S.Pa. sīhala --

, °laka -- ʻ Sinhalese ʼ, Pk. siṁhala -- , sīhala -- . -- Si. heḷa ʻ Ceylon ʼ, (h)eḷu ʻ

pertaining to the language of Ceylon ʼ (GS 25) < *coḷiya -- s.v.cōḍa -- Md.

(old) oḷudū ʻ Ceylon ʼ.(CDIAL 13385, 13386).

Pa. ēḷa -- gala -- ʻ speaking indistinctly ʼ (CDIAL 14216). This gloss has a cognate

in SBr. reference to asura speaking indistinctly, uttering he'laya: śatapatha

brāhmaṇa 3.2.1.23-24 refer to the use of he‘layo he‘laya Trans. ‘O enemies, O

enemies’. This could also refer to ēla-p-pāṭṭu , n. < Boatmen's song in which the

wordsēlō , ēlēlō occur again and again; ఏల [ēla ]ēla. [Tel.] n. Name of a stream in

the Godavary District ēlēvāru. n. The rulers.[ēlu]ēlu. [Tel.] v. i. & t. To rule, govern.

manage. The refrain of the song thus means: rule the waves by seafaring.

SBr 23,24 refer to the use of he ‘layo he ‘laya Trans. ‘O enemies, O enemies’. This could

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also refer to ēla-p-pāṭṭu , n. < Boatmen's song in which the wordsēlō , ēlēlō occur

again and again; ఏల [ēla ]ēla. [Tel.] n. Name of a stream in the

GodavaryDistrict ēlēvāru. n. The rulers.[ēlu]ēlu. [Tel.] v. i. & t. To rule, govern.

manage. The refrain of the song thus means: rule the waves by seafaring.

Le Rider, Revue Numismatique 1969 refers to the coins from Susa

Mint. [quote]Susa, the ancient capital of the Elamites, had its own unique

pantheon of deities. In the third millennium, a goddess seated on a lion occurs on

a seal from Susa (Sb 6680) but there is no written evidence to identify her. She is

said to have had a sanctuary in Elymais where tame lions were kept according to

Aelian XII.23, who refers to it as the shrine of Anaitis. In this area, the worship of

Nanaya was of long duration, probably beginning with the first Elamite king who

godnapped the cult image of Nanaya and brought it to Susa. When Susa was

refounded by Seleucus as a Greek polis Seleucia-on-the-Eulaeus, the Hellenes

paid homage to Nanaya as the local goddess. Greek legal manumissions refer to

Nanaya and probably came from her temple, but they left no visual image of her.

When the area fell to Parthian forcess, Khuzistan became the semi-independent

kingdom of Elymais under the kamnaskirid Dynasty. One unique coin minted in

Susa has the legend BASIAEWS DDREIOU SWTHROU NANAIENW(N) "of the

king Darius, saviour of the Nanayans (worshippers of Nanaya)." This king is said

to be a usurper in Susa before the Arsacid onquest. The inscription on the

reverse face NANAIENW(N) is said to indicate Susa with its famous sanctuary of

Artemis-Nanaya. According to Le Rider, the Parthian king Mithradates II (123-88)

was the first to mint coins in Susa with the images of Artemis as a representation

of Nanaya, as a frontally facing bust adorned with rays emanating from her head

or placing a polos head dress upon her head. He also minted a coin with just a

crescent on the reverse face.[unquote] (Joan Goodnick Westenholz,

2013, Religions and Trade: Religious formation, transformation and cross-cultural

exchange between East and West, p.186).

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Pk. illi-- m. ʻ lion, tiger ʼ, H. īl m. ʻ a wild animal ʼ also links with ela as a reference

to a group of people conflated with siṁhá m. ʻ lion ʼ, siṁhīˊ -- f. RV.Pa. sīha -- m. ʻ

lion ʼ, sīhī -- f., Dhp. siha m., Pk. siṁha -- , siṁgha -- , sīha -- m., sīhī -- f.; Wg. sī ʻ

tiger ʼ; K. sah, süh m. ʻ tiger, leopard ʼ; P. sī˜h, sih m. ʻ lion ʼ, bhaṭ. sīh ʻ leopard ʼ;

WPah.khaś. sīˋ ʻ leopard ʼ, cur. jaun. sīh ʻ lion ʼ; Ku. syu , syū ʻ tiger ʼ; Mth. sī˜h ʻ

lion ʼ, H. sī˜gh, sīh m., OG. sīha m.; -- Si. sī, siha← Pa. -- L. śĩh, khet. śī ʻ tiger ʼ

with ś -- from Pers. lw. śer ʻ tiger ʼ. -- Pa. sīhinī<-> f. ʻ lioness ʼ; K. sīmiñ f. ʻ

tigress, leopard ʼ; P. sīhaṇī f. ʻ tigress ʼ; WPah.bhal. se_hiṇi f. ʻ leopard withcubs ʼ,

jaun. sī˜haṇ ʻ tigress ʼ; H. sĩghnī f. ʻ lioness ʼ.WPah.kṭg. sīˊ m. ʻ lion, leopard, brave

man ʼ, sĩˊəṇ, sī˜ṇ (with high level tone) f. ʻ lioness ʼ (also sī˜ṇ Him.I 214 misprint

with i?) (CDIAL 13384).

Sapalbizes issued a series of Attic standard silver

hemidrachms and silver obols. On the obverse was a Greek helmeted bust right

and legend: CAPAABIZHC. On the reverse is a lion standing right, a hill and

crescent tamgha above, and the legend in Greek right and left NANAIA "THe

Mesopotamian Nanaa was intimately involved in power, sovereignty, and the use

of force to attain and sustain such worldly fruits. A clay tablet inscription from the

Tempe to Marduk in Babylon reads: 'Lady of ladies, Goddess of Goddesses,

directress of mankind, mistress of the heavenly spirits, possessor of sovereign

power, light of heaven and earth; dughter of the Moon God; ruler of weapons,

mistress of battles; goddess of love; the power over princes nd over the scepters

of kings.' Nanaa moved into the ancient Akkadian-Assyrian pantheon as Ishtar,

and she was known as the goddess Anaahita in c. fourth century BCE Persia. In

all these forms, she was primarily known as a war goddess, and the lion motif

'was one of the symbols emphasizing her warlike character...was also known as

'arbitress of battles' and 'ruler of weapons'...In the Hellenistic and Parthian

periods she continued to appear in temple inscriptions, votive plates, and coins

as a war goddess and protector.

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"(http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/dissertations/michon_dissertation.pdf pp.210

-214)

Kushana coin

(http://www.kushan.org/essays/sapadbizes/nanaia.htm)

Sara Peterson in: "Parthian aspects of objects from Grave IV, Tillya Tepe" one

medallion in a Nine-Medallion gold belt from Tillya Tepe which shows possibly

Nanaiah riding a lion and also to Sapalbize coin showing a lion as an attribute of

Nanaia. Sara Peterson also refers to a seal intaglio which shows Nana seated

on a lion, wearing a crescent in her hair, holding a cup and also an adze

(weapon), considered to be contemporary with Kushan king Kanishka. "She was

conflated with Artemis on tesserae at Palmyra, and at Susa. Furthermore,

a‘hybrid’ Artemis-Nana deity featured on coins at Elymais, including an image in

huntress garb datedto ca. 75CE. Nana as huntress also appeared later on

coinage of the Kushan king Huvishka." (p.16)

https://www.academia.edu/1485067/Parthian_Aspects_of_Objects_from_Grave_I

V_Tillya_Tepe

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Image of Nana on Kushan and Gupta Coins

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

December 8, 2014