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Ur. Ziggurat. This is a call for further excavation and exploration of a comparable structure -- the 'stupa' or 'dagoba' in Mohenjo-daro. The results may help redefine the functions of the 'Great Bath' located west of this 'dagoba'.
Three stone Siva Lingas found in Harappa. Plate X [c] Lingam in situ in Trench Ai (MS Vats, 1940, Excavations at Harappa, Vol. II, Calcutta): ‘In the adjoining Trench Ai, 5 ft. 6 in. below the surface, was found a stone lingam [Since then I have found two stone lingams of a larger size from Trenches III and IV in this mound. Both of them are smoothed all over]. It measures 11 in. high and 7 3/8 in. diameter at the base and is rough all over.’ (Vol. I, pp. 51-52)."
Worship of Śiva lingam is an abiding Hindu tradition -- for millenia -- evidenced by the finds at Harappa. sanghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (Gujarati) have created the stone cuttings of ring-stones and pillars as evidenced in Dholavira and Mohenjo-daro.
"Major Sites and Interaction Networks. This map shows the networks that connected urban centers such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa during the Harppan Period (2600-2000 BC) with their hinterlands and distant resource areas.In addition to these two cities, other known urban centers include Dholavira, Ganweriwala and Rakhigarhi." http://www.
These giant ringstones of Harappa are similar to ones found in Mohenjo-daro and Dholavira. Local legend claims they were the rings of a giant 17th century saint (Baba Nur Shah) who is buried on Mound AB. Early excavators believed that were significant to the ancient Indus religion. Today, archaeologists think that they were used to secure wooden posts at gateways to the city. http://www.harappa.com/
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Several have been found together at Mohenjo-daro, but none are in their original position of use. Discoveries of simil ringstones in the gateways at the site of Dholavira (See the Ancient Indus Region Map in Indus 2, Slide 161.) suggest that they may have been used as the base of wooden columns. Small dowel holes are often found on one side. It is possible that several of the ringstones were stacked with a wooden pole running through the center. A miniature version of such a ringstone column made from shell rings has been reported from the site of Dholavira."
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Hieroglyph: Smithy with furnace
The frames of buildings used in the glyphic composition are hieroglyphs: sã̄gāḍā m. ʻ frame of a building ʼ (M.)(CDIAL 12859) Rebus 1: jangaḍiyo ‘military guards who accompanies treasure into the treasury’’ (G.) Rebus 2: sanghāḍo (G.) cutting stone, gilding (G.); sangatarāśū = stone cutter; sangatarāśi = stone-cutting; san:gsāru karan.u = to stone (S.) sanghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (G.) 
Worshipping couple atop a frame of buildig on Warka vase, denoting a sacred place, temple, sã̄gāḍā.
See:
http://bharatkalyan97.
http://bharatkalyan97.
Indian sprachbund is the linguistic area from which the rebus readings of Indus writing are drawn.
The area has produced a remarkable evidence of a lexeme, kole.l The word in Kota language means both a smithy and a temple. A cognate word in Toda kwalal denotes a temple in a Kota village.
Text 1554. Mohenjo-Daro Seal m296The smithy had evolved into a temple. It is possible to further hypothesize that the metal weapons produced in a smithy were carried by the divinities shown on hieroglyphs as tools of protection and valor.
Fire-altars in smithy were sacred. Metal alloys produced there were sacred. Tools and weapons forged out of the metal alloys were sacred. The metalware imbued with sacredness rendered the smithy to be a temple.
A variant appears as Glyph 243 with infixed U glyph. The ‘U’ glyphic could be baṭi 'broad-mouthed, rimless metal vessel'; rebus: baṭi 'smelting furnace'. The ‘U’ glyphic is a semantic determinant to emphasize that this is a temple with a smithy furnace. The structural form within which this sign is enclosed may represent a temple: kole.l The last sign on epigraph 1554 (m296 seal) is read as: kole.l = smithy, temple in Kota village (Kota) kol ‘working in iron, blacksmith (Ta.); kollan- blacksmith (Ta.); kollan blacksmith, artificer (Ma.)(DEDR 2133) kolme = furnace (Ka.) kole.l 'temple, smithy' (Ko.); kolme smithy' (Ka.) kol = pañcaloha (five metals); kol metal (Ta.lex.) pan~caloha = a metallic alloy containing five metals: copper, brass, tin, lead and iron (Skt.); an alternative list of five metals: gold, silver, copper, tin (lead), and iron (dhātu;Nānārtharatnākara 82; Mangarāja’s Nighaṇṭu. 498)(Ka.) kol, kolhe, ‘the koles, an aboriginal tribe if iron smelters speaking a language akin to that of Santals’ (Santali)
Read rebus: Glyphs: ayas ‘fish’. Rebus: aya ‘metal’. Glyph: kaṇḍa ‘arrow’ Rebus: ‘stone (ore)metal’; kaṇḍa ‘fire-altar’. ayaskāṇḍa is explained in Panini as ‘excellent quantity of iron’. It can also be explained as ‘metal of stone (ore) iron.’
kamaḍha = ficus religiosa (Skt.); kamar.kom ‘ficus’ (Santali) rebus: kamaṭa = portable furnace for melting precious metals (Te.); kampaṭṭam = mint (Ta.) Vikalpa: Fig leaf ‘loa’; rebus: loh ‘(copper) metal’. loha-kāra ‘metalsmith’ (Skt.).
Glyphic element: erako nave; era = knave of wheel. Glyphic element: āra ‘spokes’. Rebus: āra ‘brass’ as in ārakūṭa (Skt.) Rebus: Tu. eraka molten, cast (as metal); eraguni to melt (DEDR 866) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Ka.lex.) cf. eruvai = copper (Ta.lex.) eraka, er-aka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.); erako molten cast (Tu.lex.) Glyphic element: kund opening in the nave or hub of a wheel to admit the axle (Santali) Rebus: kundam, kund a sacrificial fire-pit (Skt.) kunda ‘turner’ kundār turner (A.); kũdār, kũdāri (B.); kundāru (Or.); kundau to turn on a lathe, to carve, to chase; kundau dhiri = a hewn stone; kundau murhut = a graven image (Santali) kunda a turner's lathe (Skt.)(CDIAL 3295)
Glyphic element: ‘corner’: *khuṇṭa2 ʻ corner ʼ. 2. *kuṇṭa -- 2. [Cf. *khōñca -- ] 1. Phal. khun ʻ corner ʼ; H.khū̃ṭ m. ʻ corner, direction ʼ (→ P. khũṭ f. ʻ corner, side ʼ); G. khū̃ṭṛī f. ʻ angle ʼ. <-> X kōṇa -- : G. khuṇ f.,khū˘ṇɔ m. ʻ corner ʼ.2. S. kuṇḍa f. ʻ corner ʼ; P. kū̃ṭ f. ʻ corner, side ʼ (← H.). (CDIAL 3898). Rebus: khū̃ṭ ‘community, guild’ (Mu.)
The sacred space of the smithy and forge constituted the temple, kole.l And the divinities were like sparks from the smith's anvil, effulgent, creative actions.
dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ Mn., ʻ ashes of the dead ʼ lex., ʻ *strand of rope ʼ (cf.tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.). [√dhā] Pa. dhātu -- m. ʻ element, ashes of the dead, relic ʼ; KharI. dhatu ʻ relic ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ); -- Si. dā ʻ relic ʼ; -- S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773).
Dhātughara "house for a relic," a dagoba SnA 194. -- cetiya a shrine over a relic DhA iii.29 (Pali) धातु -गर्भ the ashes of the body , relics
dagoba [ˈdɑːgəbə] n (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Architecture) a dome-shaped shrine containing relics of the Buddha or a Buddhist saint [from Sinhalese dāgoba, from Sanskrit dhātugarbha containin
अष्टधातु [ aṣṭadhātu ] m pl (S) The eight metals, viz. सोनें, रूपें, तांबें, कथील, शिसें, पितळ, लोखंड, तिखें, Gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, brass, iron, steel. (Marathi) அட்டலோகபற்பம் aṭṭa-lōka-paṟpam , n. < id. +. Calcined compound of eight metals, viz., பொன், வெள்ளி, செம்பு, இரும்பு, வெண்கலம், தரா, வங்கம், துத்தநாகம்.
தாது¹ tātu, n. < dhātu. 1. Mineral, fossil; any natural product from a mine; கனி களில் உண்டாகும் இயற்கைப்பொருள். 2. Metals; பொன்முதலிய உலோகங்கள். (பிங்.உபதாது upa-tatu, n. < upa-dhātu. Any one of seven minerals, inferior to tātu, viz. சுவர்ணமாட்சிகம், தாரமாட்சிகம், துத்தம், காஞ்சியம், ரீதி, சிந்தூரம், சிலாசத்து; பொன் முதலிய ஏழு தாதுக்க ளைப்போலத் தோற்ற முடைய இழிந்த ஏழு உலோகங் கள். (சங். அக.) உலோகதாது ulōka-tātu , n. < lōha *உலோகநிமிளை ulōka-nimiḷai , n. < id. +. Variety of bismuth; நிமிளைவகை. (W.) கருந்தாது karu-n-tātu, n. < id. +. Iron; இரும்பு. கருந் தாது கொட்கு மிருஞ்சிலை (ஞானா. 57, 29).
Allograph, Rebus: தலைத்தாது talai-t-tātu , n. perh. sthaladhātu. Ground palm. See நிலப்பனை. (மலை.)
هژدات haj̱ẕ-dāt, s.m. (6th) (corrup. of S اژدهات) The name of a mixed metal, bell-metal, brass. Sing. and Pl. د هژداتو غر da haj̱ẕ-dāto g̠ẖar, A mountain of brass, a brazen mountain. S اژدهات aj̱ẕdahāt, s.m. (6th) The name of a mixed metal, bell-metal or brass. Sing. and Pl. See هژدات. (Pashto)
The Sumerian Ziggurat at Ur During ExcavationsSumerian Ziggurat at Ur reconstructed.
"The most prominent Sumerian building was the religious temple, built atop a stepped tower called a ziggurat. Some ziggurats were as high as 70 feet. The temple was dedicated to the patron deity of the city. The people devoted great resources and labor to building these temples and to the houses of priests. The ziggurats housed workshops for craftsmen as well as temples for worship. The ziggurats were built of clay bricks joined together with bitumen, a sticky asphalt like substance. There were artisans who sculpted, cut gems, fullers who stomped on woven wools to soften cloth, and metal workers who crafted weapons as well as artistic creations." http://www.
Choga Zambil (Elam) means 'basket mound.' It was built about 1250 BC by the king Untash-Napirisha. The structure is comparable to the 'ziggurat' shown on Sit-Shamshi bronze.
Mohenjo-Daro:
The Great Water reservoir west of 'stupa' area. Without excavations and studies on the 'stupa' and the 'great water reservoir', how can there be an assertion that there are no monumental or religious buildings in the Indus realm? Jansen indicates that the unique access to water had a ritual significance resulting from '...people's mythical awe of the life-giving aspect of the element, rather than from an increasingly profane exploitation of water in the manner of later times...' (Jansen 1993, Mohenjo-daro: Stadt der Brunnen und Kanale: Wasserluxus vor 4500 Jahren. City of Wells and Drains: Water Splendour 4500 years ago. Bergisch Gladbach: Frontinus Gesellshaft: 17).
Depicting water ablutions on sunrise in front of the four-step ziggurat: Susa. Sit-Shamshi (Musée du Louvre, París). Tabla de bronce que parece resumir sabiamente el ritual del antiguo Elam. Los zigurats recuerdan el arte mesopotámico, el bosque sagrado alude a la devoción semita por el árbol verde, la tinaja trae a la mente el "mar de bronce". Los dos hombres en cuclillas hacen su ablución para celebrar la salida del Sol. Una inscripción, que lleva el nombre del rey Silhak-in-Shushinak, permite fijar su datación en el siglo XII a.C. http://www.historiadelarte.us/Sit Shamshi Bronze can be used as an architectural model for reconstructing ancient Mohenjo-daro stupa in front of two worshippers. The surround structures of jars holding metal artefacts, water tank model (comparable to the Great Bath) and L-shaped structure comparable to the ‘granary’ in sites such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.
On either side of the Sit Shamshi ziggurat there are four (making a total of eight), very smoothed bun- or dome-shaped ingots in bas-relief.. The eight bun ingots may denote अष्टधातु [ aṣṭadhātu ] m pl (S) The eight metals, viz. सोनें, रूपें, तांबें, कथील, शिसें, पितळ, लोखंड, तिखें, Gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, brass, iron, steel (zinc?). (Marathi)
‘Dotted circle’ glyph may note 'pit furnace' associated with a smithy assuming that gaming pieces with dotted-circle hieroglyphs are somehow associated with the life-activities of the people -- mining. Kanaka who conversess with Vidura in mleccha in the Great Epic Mahabharata, also denotes a miner, khanaka.
Rebus: kandi (pl.–l) beads, necklace (Pa.); kanti (pl.–l) bead, (pl.) necklace; kandiṭ ‘bead’ (Ga.)(DEDR 1215). Rebus Vikalpa 1: khaṇḍ ‘ivory’ (H.) Rebus Vikalpa 2: khaṇḍaran, khaṇḍrun ‘pit furnace’ (Santali)
khaḍḍā f. Hole, mine, cave (CDIAL 3790). Kanduka, kandaka ditch, trench (Tu.); kandakamu id. (Te.); kanda trench made as a fireplace during weddings (Konda); kanda small trench for fireplace (Kui); kandri a pit (Malt)(DEDR 1214) khaḍḍa— ‘hole, pit’. [Cf. *gaḍḍa— and list s.v. kartá—1] Pk. Khaḍḍā— f. ‘hole, mine, cave’, ḍaga— m. ‘one who digs a hole’, ḍōlaya— m. ‘hole’; Bshk. (Biddulph) “kād” (= khaḍ?) ‘valley’; K. khŏḍ m. ‘pit’, khö̆ḍü f. ‘small pit’, khoḍu m. ‘vulva’; S. khaḍ̱a f. ‘pit’; L. khaḍḍ f. ‘pit, cavern, ravine’; P. khaḍḍ f. ‘pit, ravine’, ḍī f. ‘hole for a weaver’s feet’ (→ Ku. Khaḍḍ, N. khaḍ; H. khaḍ, khaḍḍā m. ‘pit, low ground, notch’; Or. Khãḍi ‘edge of a deep pit’; M. khaḍḍā m. ‘rough hole, pit’); Wpah. Khaś. Khaḍḍā ‘stream’; N. khāṛo ‘pit, bog’, khāṛi ‘creek’, khāṛal ‘hole (in ground or stone)’. — Altern. < *khāḍa—: Gy. Gr. Xar f. ‘hole’; Ku. Khāṛ ‘pit’; B. khāṛī ‘creek, inlet’, khāṛal ‘pit, ditch’; H. khāṛī f. ‘creek, inlet’, khaṛ—har, al m. ‘hole’; Marw. Khāṛo m. ‘hole’; M. khāḍ f. ‘hole, creek’, ḍā m. ‘hole’, ḍī f. ‘creek, inlet’. 3863 khā́tra— n. ‘hole’ Hpariś., ‘pond, spade’ Uṇ. [√khan] Pk. Khatta— n. ‘hole, manure’, aya— m. ‘one who digs in a field’; S. khāṭru m. ‘mine made by burglars’, ṭro m. ‘fissure, pit, gutter made by rain’; P. khāt m. ‘pit, manure’, khāttā m. ‘grain pit’, ludh. Khattā m. (→ H. khattā m., khatiyā f.); N. khāt ‘heap (of stones, wood or corn)’; B. khāt, khātṛū ‘pit, pond’; Or. Khāta ‘pit’, tā ‘artificial pond’; Bi. Khātā ‘hole, gutter, grain pit, notch (on beam and yoke of plough)’, khattā ‘grain pit, boundary ditch’; Mth. Khātā, khattā ‘hole, ditch’; H. khāt m. ‘ditch, well’, f. ‘manure’, khātā m. ‘grain pit’; G. khātar n. ‘housebreaking, house sweeping, manure’, khātriyũ n. ‘tool used in housebreaking’ (→ M. khātar f. ‘hole in a wall’, khātrā m. ‘hole, manure’, khātryā m. ‘housebreaker’); M. khā̆t n.m. ‘manure’ (llsd. khatāviṇẽ ‘to manure’, khāterẽ n. ‘muck pit’). — Un- expl. ṭ in L. khāṭvā̃ m. ‘excavated pond’, khāṭī f. ‘digging to clear or excavate a canal’ (~ S. khātī f. ‘id.’, but khāṭyāro m. ‘one employed to measure canal work’) and khaṭṭaṇ ‘to dig’. (CDIAL 3790) •gaḍa— 1 m. ‘ditch’ lex. [Cf. *gaḍḍa—1 and list s.v. kartá—1] Pk. Gaḍa— n. ‘hole’; Paš. Gaṛu ‘dike’; Kho. (Lor.) gōḷ ‘hole, small dry ravine’; A. garā ‘high bank’; B. gaṛ ‘ditch, hole in a husking machine’; Or. Gaṛa ‘ditch, moat’; M. gaḷ f. ‘hole in the game of marbles’. 3981 *gaḍḍa— 1 ‘hole, pit’. [G. < *garda—? — Cf. *gaḍḍ—1 and list s.v. kartá—1] Pk. Gaḍḍa— m. ‘hole’; Wpah. Bhal. Cur. Gaḍḍ f., paṅ. gaḍḍṛī, pāḍ. Gaḍōṛ ‘river, stream’; N. gaṛ—tir ‘bank of a river’; A. gārā ‘deep hole’; B. gāṛ, ṛā ‘hollow, pit’; Or. Gāṛa ‘hole, cave’, gāṛiā ‘pond’; Mth. Gāṛi ‘piercing’; H. gāṛā m. ‘hole’; G. garāḍ, ḍɔ m. ‘pit, ditch’ (< *graḍḍa— < *garda—?); Si. Gaḍaya ‘ditch’. — Cf. S. giḍ̱i f. ‘hole in the ground for fire during Muharram’. — X khānī̆—: K. gān m. ‘underground room’; S. (LM 323) gāṇ f. ‘mine, hole for keeping water’; L. gāṇ m. ‘small embanked field within a field to keep water in’; G. gāṇ f. ‘mine, cellar’; M. gāṇ f. ‘cavity containing water on a raised piece of land’ Wpah.kṭg. gāṛ ‘hole (e.g. after a knot in wood)’. (CDIAL 3947)
A variety of rods of ivory (SV 14: 03R00338; SV 13:01G02011). Courtesy Jansen, RWTH. Aachen University.
A 'casting bone/casting stick' (Marshall 1931: Plate XXXII.22)
Ivory 'fish' (Marshall 1931, Mohenjodaro and the Indus civilization. Being an official account of archaeological excavations at Mohenjo-daro carried out by the Govt. of India between the years 192 and 1927, Vol. I-III, London: Arthur Probsthain: Plate CXXXII.19). In some cases, eyes and fins show traces of white, red or black paint.
Hair-pin of the short, flat and rectangular type (Mackay 1938, Further excavations at Mohenjo-daro: being an official account of archaeological excavations at Mohenjo-daro carried out by the Govt. of India between the years 1927 and 1931, Vol. I-II: Govt. of India Press: Plate CXXXVI.79).
See: Elke Rogersdotter, 2011, Gaming in Mohenjo-daro -- an archaeology of Unities, Univ. of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://hdl.handle.net/
things as degree of societal openness versus seclusion. It can also lead us past too simplified ideas as to social differentiation, and provide us with alternative thoughts concerning societal changes. Pointing at the potential of this old, already excavated material, the work has at the same time been impaired with difficulties as to exactness in spatial distribution and related issues. It therefore ends with a call for new excavations, presenting a methodology that is capable of brushing against aspects of human life rather than discussing elusive ‘authorities’."
A call for new excavations includes the excavation of 'stupa' or 'dagoba' area of Mohenjo-daro to unravel the connections and parallels with the 'ziggurat' as a temple in a nearby civilization area.
See: http://archive.org/