On the coins of Indo-Greek king Menander I, his Indian name MILINDA is written in Indus script on the shoulder of his portrait. The throne that symbolizes the consonant M is distinctly identifiable. Instead of a 90 degree rotation, the vowel is added as a set of vertical strokes on the lower half.
Indus script writing on the shoulder of portrait.
Silver coin of Menander I Soter. (Reigned 165/155–130 BC).
The Indo-Greeks coins are the Rosetta Stone of Indus Script.
Significance
The Indo-Greek kingdom ruled parts of the northwest region of India, during the last two centuries BCE.
The tri-lingual nature of these coins will give more evidentiary value to the decipherment.
More important however is the continued use of Indus script some 1500 years after the IVC is thought to have disintegrated and vanished.That the script was in use at Minnagara reinforces that. In this coin we actually catch the Indian script in the act of transformation.
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