In this composite symbol, an area of land has been subdivided into fields. The fields symbol shares a common root with the Chinese character tián 田. Each field has a point of light in the centre, which signifies that something is true for each field. In effect, it is the determiner every or each, combined with the noun field. The translation, which will depend upon the context, might be 'every field', 'each farm', or 'all farms'.
Illustrative Text References:
Every field: Harappa: Seal: H-24 a: Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola, 1987: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 1: Page 173: Collections in India: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Each farm: Lothal: Seal: L-39 a: Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola, 1987: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 1: Page 246: Collections in India: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Every field: Mohenjo-daro: Seal: M-390 a: Jagat Pati Joshi and Asko Parpola, 1987: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 1: Page 95: Collections in India: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Comment:
In the examples, Mahadevan's sign number 1444 is scaled to full character height. Therefore, it refers to the land itself, and not to a boundary marker for that land.
Image Credit:
Indus Script Sign Number 1444: List of Sign Variants: Iravatham Mahadevan, 1977: The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables: The Director General Archaeological Survey of India.