Question

Which of the following is correct regarding Harappan script?

• A. This script was alphabetical.
• B. It was written from left to right.
• C. This script has not been deciphered so far.
• D. This script has a few signs or symbols.

Hint:

If a historical script is described in exams and the context suggests uncertainty, the safest choice is usually that the script remains undeciphered. This is often a reliable exam clue.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The Harappan script, also referred to as the Indus script, was used by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization, which thrived around 2600–1900 BCE in parts of present-day India and Pakistan. This script has been discovered engraved on seals, pottery, copper tablets, and other artifacts unearthed from archaeological sites like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and Dholavira.
The script is pictographic in nature, using signs or symbols to convey meaning. Scholars have identified more than 400 unique signs. These symbols typically appear in short sequences of about 5 to 26 characters, making the inscriptions too brief to analyze syntactically.
Despite extensive research, the script remains undeciphered. One major reason is the lack of a bilingual inscription (like the Rosetta Stone). Additionally, the underlying language of the Harappans is still unknown, leaving it uncertain whether it was Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, or from another language family.
Option (A) is incorrect because the script is not alphabetical—it lacks evidence of phonetic representation like in modern alphabets.
Option (B) is incorrect since the direction of writing is variable; some texts are written right to left, others left to right, and some even boustrophedon (alternating direction).
Option (D) is misleading—the script contains a large number of signs (over 400), so it is inaccurate to say it has “a few” signs.
Therefore, the only fact that scholars universally agree on is that the Harappan script has not been deciphered so far, making Option (C) the correct answer.