Notes
1. This paper is a revised English version of Parpola: 1985 and essentially a summary of earlier published original work. Detailed documentation, which the reader can find elsewhere (see especially Parpola: 1975, 1984 and 1986), is omitted here.
2. For the term 'icon', see Lyons: 1977, 102-105.
3. Cf. Pfeiffer: 1972, nos. 308 and 725. This root may be related to either Proto-Dravidian *vay / *vey 'straw, grass' (DED 4569, cf. Kui veea 'thatch, thatch grass'), which may be ultimately related to Proto-Dravidian *mec- / *met- / *mey- 'to graze' (Pfeiffer: 1972, no. 824), or to Proto-Dravidian *vay- / *vey- 'to put on as a dress, to cover oneself with clothing, to wear' (cf. Pfeiffer: 1972, 180f no. III 23) or to Proto-Dravidian *may- / *mey- 'on, upon, above, overhead, topmost' (cf. Pfeiffer: 1972, no. 80).
4. For the sake of the argument I would have liked to insert here a discussion of the 'crab' and 'fig tree' + 'crab' (Fig. 17, 18) pictograms, but decided to omit it, because it would have demanded considerable space. The reader is referred to Parpola: 1975, 196-202.
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[Originally published as Parpola, Asko (1988) Religion reflected in the iconic signs of the Indus script: penetrating into long-forgotten picto+graphic messages. Visible Religion 6: pp. 114-135.]