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Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c40: Chapter I: Pre-Vedic Architecture

Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c40

Language
English

Contents

Chapter I: Pre-Vedic Architecture

Mohenjo-Daro

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THE TERM 'MOHENJO-DARO' is translated as the 'Mound of the Dead.' Why it is so called is not yet known. The place is locally known as 'the island.' It is 'a long, narrow strip of land between the main river (Indus) bed and the Western Nāra loop, its precise position being 27° 19′ N. by 68° 8′ E., some 7 miles by road from Dokri on the North-Western Railway, and 25 from Lārkāna town.' There are stated to have been several cities, one being superimposed upon the other. The remains of the uppermost city were hid by the mounds, averaging from 20 to 70 feet in height. 'The actual area covered by the mounds is now no more than about 240 acres.'¹ 'Originally, the site of Mohenjo-daro must have been much more extensive than it is today and have formed a more closely connected whole.'²

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 1.

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There is a main road, designated by the excavator as East Street, which runs across the site from east to west. There is another long street, but less important as the thoroughfare of the city, which crosses East Street at right angles and thus runs from north to south and is designated as First Street. 'From these two long streets, as well as from the short sections of others disclosed in other parts of the site, it is evident that the city was intersected by long streets or approximately straight thoroughfares mainly oriented north to south or east to west; and it is natural to suppose that one of these thoroughfares—perhaps the most important of them all—ran north to south through the broad depression which divides the *Stūpa* Mound from the rest of the site, in a line parallel to First Street and connecting at right angles with East Street.'² The main thoroughfares are all below the level of the buildings erected alongside of them.

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² *Ibid*, p. 8.

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The extent of ground covered by this city at successive periods is not definitely known, but it is clear that 'once it must have extended well beyond the existing limits.' Sir John Marshall, disagreeing with Mr. Mackay, asserts that the city must have been surrounded by walls. But it may be 'assumed that up to the time of its zenith Mohenjo-daro went on steadily expanding, its centre would naturally continue to occupy the elevated ground formed by earlier settlements, while its outlying parts would overflow further and further on to the plain below.¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 9.

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Between the subsoil and the summits of the mounds remains of seven strata have been disclosed. The three last strata are distinguished from their predecessors ‘by increasing signs of decadence in the size and construction of the buildings, and in some areas there is also a well defined break between the remains of the third and fourth strata from the top, as if the city had been reduced to ruin at that time and remained in that condition for an appreciable period before being rebuilt.’ ‘Of the seventh stratum only a very small extent has been uncovered, but the distinction of this and the sixth stratum is more than usually marked.’ These seven strata have been divided into three major divisions or periods. The first of these comprising the first, second and third strata is called the ‘Late Period’; the second comprising the fourth, fifth and sixth strata is called the ‘Intermediate Period’; and the third represented for the present by the seventh stratum only is called the ‘Early Period.’²

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² *Ibid*, p. 10.

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The layout of the whole city of any one of these periods or strata is thus missing from the account of Sir John Marshall and others. A provisional picture may, however, be imagined by joining up the various sections or areas as described by them. The city would thus look of irregular shape, the longer side in some cases being from north to south, and in others from east to west. The streets and lanes, however, are nearly straight. By the intersections of these the city is divided into different blocks. The central part appears to have been occupied by some public building or the Great Bath. Each block contained a number of buildings for the residence of the people of the same profession. The streets and lanes are all below the level of the buildings on their both sides. There appears to have been an extensive arrangement for drainage—a peculiarity which is strongly emphasized in the *Mānasāra* and other *Śilpa-śāstras*. The general city plan, excepting the irregularity, will also correspond to some extent to the plans elaborately described in the architecture of *Mānasāra*.

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As in other ancient pre-historic sites, buildings at Mohenjo-daro have been discovered in different strata. The loftiest mound rising some 72 feet above the surrounding country (and 227 feet above the mean sea-level) is crowned by the Buddhist tope and monastery. Below this earliest Buddhist pavement the lowest point so far reached goes down to a depth of 40 feet. Within this space seven different strata have been exposed, each stratum containing different kinds of structures built of kiln-burnt bricks.

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The Buddhist monuments at the top of the uppermost stratum comprise an open quadrangle with a lofty tope in its middle and rows of monastic buildings enclosing it on the four sides. These monuments, including the tope, courtyard, and surrounding monastery, are stated to have been many times repaired or rebuilt 'on each occasion at a successively higher level. Thus the original pavement of the courtyard was 20 feet below the bottom of the *stūpa* drum, or 44 feet approximately above the level of the plain (and 199 feet above the mean sea-level). The next floor was 1 to 2 feet above it, and then followed a succession of at least three more floors, the last nearly 6 feet higher than the original one.'¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 113.

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The general plans and details of these buildings follow those of the usual Buddhist monuments. But the *stūpa* is not situated in the centre of the quadrangle. The symmetry has been lost as the distance between the *stūpa* platform and the surrounding cells on the four sides is different, being 22½ feet on the north, 20 feet on the south, 12 and 14 feet on the west, and 34 feet on the east. The reason for this unusual want of symmetry is stated to be due to this building being erected first on this site and the courtyard and monastery being added later on the restricted space available on the summit of the mound.

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'Measured from the first pavement to the base of the drum the height of the plinth is 20 feet. . . . The approach to it was in the middle of its eastern side, and was more than ordinarily elaborate. It consisted of a series of steps and landings which led upwards into a narrow vestibule. . . . On the opposite side of this vestibule was a short passage, from which two flights of steps ascended north and south to the top of the platform; and closing the passage, at its western end was a small image-chapel, or a niche, which appears to have been 3¾ feet above the pavement of the passage. This image-niche (7 feet deep by 4½ feet wide) occupies a particularly prominent position, being directly opposite to, though slightly above, the approaching stairway. In it Mr. Banerji found some remains of a statue of Buddha, seated cross-legged, probably on a lotus throne. The core of the image, he says, was of brick covered with a coating of mud, which had originally been painted or gilt.’¹

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All that is left of the dome of the *stūpa* is the lower part of the circular drum of 33½ feet in diameter. This drum was probably hollow in the centre, wherein a relic casket of alabaster has been found. ‘The fragments of plaster found on the western side of the plinth were coloured blue, yellow, red, and chocolate, and bore traces of figures and decorative designs, as well as fragmentary inscriptions in Brāhmi and Kharoshṭhi. Among the latter Mr. Banerji recognized the word *Samana* (Skt. *Śramaṇa*) in lettering of the Kushan epoch, but whether of the early or late part of it, is disputable.’¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, pp. 114–115.

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Grouped about the main *stūpa* in the courtyard there were several smaller *stūpas*. There are series of cells and other apartments on all the four sides of the courtyard, all built like the *stūpa*, of kiln-burnt brick laid in mud and gypsum, as many of the pre-historic buildings were. Sir John Marshall assumes ‘on the analogy of other monasteries of the Kushan period’ that ‘they (cells) possessed two storeys with a wooden verandah in front—facing inwards towards the courtyard—which would serve at once to shield them from the sun and provide access to the chambers on the upper floor. The roof would be carried on timbers and covered with mud, with a slight slope inwards towards the court.’²

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‘The entrance to the monastery was on the east side of the quadrangle directly opposite the steps leading up to the *stūpa*. Here there was a vestibule 25½ feet by 13½ feet. To the north of this vestibule there is a small chapel. On the floor of the chapel were two separate pavements of brick, corresponding to those in the large halls as well as in many of the cells.’² To the north of this chapel there is a long narrow chamber containing a staircase to the upper storey, where the monk quarters were situated. The large hall (44 feet by 26 feet), supposed to be a Hall of Assembly, a usual adjunct in the larger monasteries, is situated to the north-east corner beyond the staircase. The second large hall (41 feet by 22 feet), adjoining the entrance vestibule on the south, is entered from the courtyard by a doorway (5⅓ feet wide), with two steps on the inner side. It might have been used as a common room or refectory.

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² *Ibid*, pp. 116–117.

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GENERAL VIEW OF FENESTRATED COURT IN BLOCK 5, MOHENJO-DARO

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‘Thus on the east side of the monastery there were two large common rooms, an entrance vestibule, image shrine, and staircase leading to the upper storey. On the other three sides were the quarters of the monks. The majority of these comprised two apartments—an inner one for sleeping and an outer one for living purposes.’¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 119.

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Of the seven strata, the first is represented by three walls, a square floor of brick, ‘probably the floor of a bath room,’² near the south-east corner of the Buddhist courtyard. ‘The second and the third strata contain portions of four buildings with a narrow lane between them and a number of more or less disconnected walls. One of these buildings is a well-built edifice of considerable size and is distinguished by the presence of a number of small paved bathrooms and particularly well-made drains, which suggests that it was mainly devoted to the bathing purposes and formed a part of the large hydropathic establishment to which the great bath and other structures on the west also belong. The fourth stratum contains a number of chambers at the north-west corner of the monastery, some fragments of walling a little to the north of them, a single wall running east to west on the east side of the *stūpa*, and two other walls. The fifth stratum is represented only by sections of two walls. One of these walls, from east to west, is situated at a depth of 13 to 17 feet below the Buddhist pavement. The other is a massive and finely built piece of walling, nearly 7 feet thick, pierced by an opening and provided on its southern face with an offset. It appears to have belonged to a building of importance. To the sixth stratum belong two small fragments of walling, one partly beneath the massive wall of the fifth stratum and the other near the north-west corner of the *stūpa*. The seventh stratum is represented only by a low wall and adjacent pavement in the deep trench outside the north-west corner of the monastery.’³

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² *Ibid*, p. 125.

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³ *Ibid*, p. 127.

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The buildings discovered at the different strata at Mohenjo-daro may be classified under the following heads: (1) dwelling-houses, (2) public baths of religious or secular character, (3) temples of some kind, and (4) raised platforms, possibly tombs.

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‘The houses varied much in size. The smallest, which may have been intended for menials’ quarters, had no more than two rooms.

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The largest are on a scale that entitles them to be ranked almost as palaces or temples. One of the upper class houses has a frontage of 85 feet and a depth of 97 feet. Its surrounding walls are 4 to 5 feet in thickness and have a slight batter on the outside. Against its east and west sides other houses have been built. The front of the house was towards a quiet lane, and the entrance on this side measured nearly 10 feet across, afterwards narrowed to 76 inches by the insertion of an extra pier against the east jamb. Opposite the entrance is the porter's lodge, which is connected with an outside courtyard by a doorway almost as wide as the chamber itself, so that there might be no possibility of the occupant being hidden from view. To the right of the porter's lodge, a short passage led to the central courtyard of the house, which was open to the sky and provided light and air to the rooms grouped about it on both the ground and upper floors. The courtyard measures approximately 32 feet square, but the square is not a true one. Like other open courtyards it was paved with brick and provided with a covered drain. Of the rooms which encompass the courtyard, the one at the south-west corner contains a well and is entered up three steps from the passage near the vestibule. There is an apperture between it and the bathroom for conveying the well water direct into the bathroom. These bath- and the well-rooms are situated on the south side of the courtyard. Small rooms of irregular shape, numbering four, run along the east side of the courtyard. On the west side of the courtyard there is a curious chamber with a narrow exterior passage and having four niches in the inside walls. On the north of the courtyard there are three chambers which appear to be a northern projection of the house. The living- and the sleeping-rooms of the family were all on the upper floor, which was reached from the courtyard by way of the staircase. One of them and the passageways are raised up on a solid basement (in order to provide against the menace of floods, the idea being to have at least one fair-sized room where the family could find refuge if the rest of the house collapsed). The remainder of the upstairs rooms were disposed round about the central courtyard, following no doubt the same plan as the rooms below, but with a projecting balcony overhanging the courtyard from which the several rooms could be entered. The roof of this, as of most other buildings, was probably flat, and served as a terrace whereon the inmates of the house could sleep or take the evening air.¹ Another similar house² has a more elaborate plan. ‘On its ground floor are four fair-sized courts, ten smaller rooms, three staircases, a porter’s lodge, and a well-chamber. The front is towards First Street and here there are three entrances side by side, the principal one being in the middle. Besides these three front entrances, there is a small doorway alongside the well at the rear of the house, which seems to have been originally open, but was subsequently bricked up. Entering the house by the main door one finds oneself in a small vestibule, with the porter’s lodge on the left and a second doorway directly opposite leading to the open court.³ On the west side of it one of the three flights of steps ascends to the upper storey. On its south side is a broad brick pier, evidently intended for the support of the upper floor. On the north side of the court are three ornamental panels or recesses.’⁴

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, pp. 17, 18, 19, 20.

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² *Ibid*, Plate VI.

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³ ‘A feature of the porter’s lodge worth observing is the way in which the east wall has been built obliquely across it, so that the porter would be compelled to sit in full view of the entrance. The arrangement is at once clever and practical, and shows, like many other features, that the architect must have given a good deal of thought to the planning of this house.’

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‘To the left and right of this court are two other courts, one with its door communicating direct with First Street, the other with a small vestibule intervening between it and the street entrance. Of these two, the larger one, measuring about 25 feet in length, has a floor of brick-on-edge.’⁴ Sir John Marshall surmises that it was perhaps ‘roofed over its western half only, its eastern half being left open to the sky.’⁴

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⁴ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 20.

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‘The other apartments on this side of the house comprise the well-chamber at the far end and two other small rooms for menials. Crossing to the other side of the house, there are two smallish rooms, which for a time may have served as guest-chambers, but were subsequently bricked up and filled in solid as a precaution against floods. The tiny apartment next to them on the west was a latrine, from which a drain ran across the north side of the courtyard to a soak-pit in First Street, while in the wall of the latrine is the brick casing for a vertical pipe which descended from what was doubtless another latrine on the upper floor.’⁵

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⁵ *Ibid*, p. 21.

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From the small size of this latrine pipe Marshall concludes that it was meant to convey fluid only, not solids, and ‘this seems to be true of most of the house drains in Mohenjo-daro.’ But he discovered other ‘privies with seats (as to the character of which there can be no question) are directly connected with brick-drains of the usual type, which must therefore have been designed for sewage of any kind, solid or fluid.’¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 24. Underground drains or sewers are frequently prescribed for larger houses in the *Mānasāra* and other *Śilpa-śāstras*; also writer’s *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*, 1st Ed., p. 209.

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‘There is a small hall which is entered from the further side of the lobby. Its north and east walls are relieved by a series of ornamental recesses with single reveals. There appear to have been clerestory windows high up in the south wall. On this side there was a solid terrace, some 10 feet in height, abutting on to the hall, and windows with pierced lattice screens were contrived in the upper part of the wall. At the further end of this hall is the third and much narrower stairway leading to the upper floor, and alongside it another small room, above the doorway of which there was probably some sort of fanlight. All the remaining rooms on the ground floor are stated to have belonged to an older edifice, and were bricked up and filled in to form a solid terrace at the time when this house was built.’²

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‘In all except the smallest dwellings at Mohenjo-daro a certain portion of the ground floor,’ asserts Sir John Marshall, ‘invariably took the form of a terrace or plinth sufficiently high and strong to resist the floods which annually menaced the city.’² ‘In this (second) of the larger houses the terrace thus constructed was some 25 by 30 feet, and quite large enough to support two or three fair-sized chambers.’

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‘To imagine that all the upper apartments were confined to such terraces and that the architects made the latter solid, because they knew no other way of adding a second storey, is entirely fallacious. The architects of Mohenjo-daro,’ Marshall has no doubt, ‘knew as well as anyone how to erect two- or perhaps three-storeyed houses according to the usual methods—houses, that is to say, in which the upper floors corresponded in plan with the lower.’²

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² *Ibid*, p. 21.

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‘There is another group of buildings bounded on the east by First Street, and on the south by the First Lane. There are some five houses, four of which appear to be dwelling houses and the fifth one looks like a palace or a big temple. The first of these consists of only three rooms. The second one, immediately to the south of the first one, contains some seven rooms. The third house next door is a small structure consisting of only three rooms and they might have been a part of the second house. The fourth one was a larger building with a frontage of 62 feet. The fifth one was built in a block measuring 248 feet from north to south by some 145 feet from east to west. As many as 136 rooms have been uncovered in this block and divided tentatively into nine separate buildings. Besides the courts and rooms, numbered from 37 to 60 and 70 to 84, it probably embraced various other courts and rooms.’ ‘The spaciousness of its courts and general massiveness of construction,’ asserts Mr. Sahni, ‘suggest that this building could not have been an ordinary private house.’¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, pp. 188, 189, 190.

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Sir John Marshall refers to a few more buildings of this type and comments, ‘whether these spacious and elaborate edifices were private houses or not, has yet to be determined. Quite conceivably,’ he asserts, ‘some of them were temples.’ In support of his assertion he refers to a foreign analogy. ‘In Mesopotamia the temples of the gods were to all intents and purposes copies of the royal palaces—dwellings where a god could eat, drink, and make merry like any mortal prince, and even be wedded on occasions to his priestess.’ But there is no need to go to Mesopotamia for such an analogy, because in India itself (of the later times) there are numerous instances of temples fully described in the *Śilpa-śāstras* like the *Mānasāra*, which possess as many as seven courts and look like gorgeous palaces. ‘The first, second, fifth, and sixth of these buildings,’ continues Marshall, ‘would have been specially appropriate for this purpose (as home for the gods), and it may be recalled,’ he further asserts, ‘that in one of them the excavators found a series of those peculiar ringstones which we have good reason for believing were objects of cult-worship.’²

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² *Ibid*, p. 22.

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This authoritative statement encourages Mr. Dayaram Sahni to say : ‘It is gratifying to know that Sir John Marshall supports me in identifying them as phallic-emblems and the stone rings as their pedestals or *Yonis*.’ He endeavours to strengthen this conclusion by adding that, ‘This view is further corroborated by the evidence of similar objects discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in the course of his recent archaeological expeditions in Baluchistan.’³ But Sir John Marshall safeguards his position by noting under the phallic-emblem that ‘the cones referred to are differentiated by me from the so-called gamesmen. The former I regard as baetylic and the latter as phallic.’¹ Mr. Sahni fully describes the ringstones, the cones and the gamesmen: ‘There are eighteen large-sized stonerings with round tops and bottoms and differing in this respect from large undulating rings found at Harappa. The rings are 9 to 10 inches high and carefully smoothed, all perforated in the middle, the holes being 4½ to 9 inches in diameter and drilled in some cases from both sides. Some of them have shallow holes, neatly drilled on either side of the central perforation, while others have in the same positions long rectangular grooves, possibly for metal clamps. A few of them are also drilled with lines of small cup-marks. There are two round stone caps with rounded tops which resemble the tops of the so-called gamesmen, of varying sizes, found both at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Other objects of the same class are the cones of stone, terra-cotta, etc., but without the projecting ring at the top. One cone of this type, 11 inches high, unearthed at Harappa, bears similarity to the Śiva-Liṅga and it might have been fixed in a pedestal and worshipped in a tiny brick structure found close to it.’¹

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³ *Ibid*, p. 191.

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 191, note.

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With regard to the existence of a temple, private or public, and of emblems for worship, Sir John Marshall appears to have been in a fix. He can neither deny the implications of his own finds nor can he get rid of some kind of prejudice. Thus in the following quotation he appears to deny the very thing which he seems to believe. ‘All this, however, is sheer conjecture. Like the Minoans, the Indus people may have had no public shrines at all, or if they had them, the shrines may have been wholly unlike their ordinary residences. Among the buildings of Mohenjo-daro are several whose purpose we have not yet succeeded in discovering, and any one of these might have been a shrine as well as anything else.’² Then he refers to two buildings which bear all the essential features of a Hindu temple: ‘There is the little building containing two chambers, one much larger than the other with a corridor at the side, and there is the larger structure, which comprises a large central chamber with a corridor on its western and southern sides, a well and two other small chambers at its southern end, and a group of somewhat larger

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² *Ibid*, p. 22.

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SEPULCHRES AT HARAPPA

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chambers at its northern, the original plan of which is obscured beneath later accretions. Little unfortunately is left of this interesting ruin except its foundations, but these are unusually massive, nearly 10 feet deep with a solid infilling of crude brick, and presuppose a correspondingly high superstructure, which might very well have taken the form of a corbelled *śikhara* over the central apartment.'¹

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¹ *Mohenjo-daro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 22.

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One without a pre-conceived idea, but familiar with the common features of a Hindu temple, would feel no difficulty in identifying the above buildings as ordinary shrines, with a central room where a deity or an emblem is installed, with necessary side rooms and corridors, and, finally, surmounted with a *śikhara*.

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Mr. R. D. Banerji, the explorer of Mohenjo-daro, ascribed these monuments, on the basis of hoards of square coins found therein, to the Maurya period, and inferred that 'the earliest floor was prior to the third century B. C. and the second prior to the second century B. C.' Sir John Marshall would bring down these monuments by several centuries, saying that, 'the *stūpa* may have been founded by one of the earlier Kushān kings, Kanishka or Huvishka, but in view of the conspicuous absence of any coins belonging to either of these kings in the monastery buildings, it is unlikely that the latter are older than the reign of Vasudeva I (A. D. 185 200).' He would also differ from Mr. Banerji regarding the period of their occupation. The latter put it from 300 B. C. to A. D. 200, while the former would 'vaguely' surmise and 'be on the safe side if, from start to finish, we place their history between A. D. 150 and 500.' Sir John Marshall, however, has no doubt about the seven strata below these Buddhist monuments 'all belonging to the Chalcolithic period,' and would assign the earliest and latest periods between '3250 B. C. to 2750 B. C.'²

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² *Ibid*, p. 106.

Harappa

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Harappa, on the old bed of the Ravi, is in the Montgomery District of the Punjab, south-west of Lahore, more than 400 miles north-west of Mohenjo-daro in the Larkāna District of Sindh. The area is a wide one, nearly 2½ miles in circumference, according to Cunningham, who visited it in 1833. The mounds, which rise conspicuously within this circuit, are of considerable elevation, the highest among them being 60 to 65 feet.

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‘The site is manifestly of a great city covering a vast area and containing many strata of successive buildings.’ By a careful comparison it has been found that the finds from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro belong to the same stage of culture and approximately to the same age, third to fourth millennium B. C. Peoples of both these places ‘were living in well-built cities and were in possession of a relatively mature culture with a high standard of art and craftsmanship and a developed system of writing.’¹

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¹ Sir John Marshall, *Archaeological Survey Report* for 1923–24, pp. 47, 48.

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General Cunningham records the fact that ‘the brick-remains within the mounds of Harappa had sufficed the contractors to ballast 100 miles of the Lahore-Multan railroad, and it was apparent that most of the actual walling had thus been long ago removed.’² Most of the mounds marking the site were thus completely honey-combed with the diggings of the modern brick-hunters. The three which seem to have suffered least have been excavated.

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² *Ibid*, 1920–21, p. 50.

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It has been determined that there are ‘as many as seven successive layers of buildings, indicating a very prolonged occupation of the site’; no doubt there are other strata still unexposed below them. ‘In the topmost stratum, which occurred at the depth of 13 feet from the summit of the mound, was revealed a round brick granary standing about 6 feet high. The next three strata were devoid of any structural remains (though the lowest of them was packed with a large number of undulating stone rings of the same character as those described by General Cunningham). In the fifth stratum from the top two brick structures were observed. One of these is a square room with thick walls and paved interior which was divided into two smaller chambers at a later date. A narrow covered drain in its south wall and two low masonry benches on the inside seem to point to its having been used as some sort of an image shrine.

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In this connexion it is interesting to observe that, at this very spot, has been found the defaced terra-cotta of a statuette which might have been an object of worship.³ The other structure found on this level is a confused mass of brick-remains in which a thick wall 30 feet in length, resting partly on a solidly built platform, stands out prominently. A small square seal of white plaster in perfect preservation was sticking to this wall. The next lower stratum is represented by the somewhat better preserved structure which had been laid bare in this area and a number of tunnels left by the brick diggers. The seventh stratum will probably be found to be occupied by a building of considerable magnitude, though so far only a portion of its floor has been exposed. This floor consists of two courses of brick laid as stretchers and headers on a strong sub-stratum of pounded brick.’¹

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³ Still Sir John Marshall finds it difficult to say whether idol worship existed in those early times. Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni, on the other hand, has quoted Marshall’s approval of the former’s identification of phallus at Harappa (*Mohenjodaro and Indus Civilization*, Vol. I, p. 191).

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¹ *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1923–24, pp. 53–54.

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Portions of walls have also been found at several places. Most of these belong to dwelling houses. One of them has been followed up for a length of about 18 feet. There were also two other walls running parallel to it on the other side. ‘This, however, turned out to be all that had survived of the buildings. That the structure was an important one is evidenced by several interesting objects which came to light in it.’² At another place have been discovered two thick walls running parallel to each other at a distance of about 2 feet. ‘They are broken at both ends and contain no openings or doors. These walls came to light at the depth of 11 feet below the surface, but above them and intersecting them at right angles were two others that must be assigned to considerably later date. Two other trenches at this spot revealed a corner of a brick-building³ in which two earthenware vessels containing human bones lay buried.’⁴

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² *Ibid*, p. 52.

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³ Bricks at Harappa are of uniform size, 11″ × 5½″ .. 2½″ to 3″.

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⁴ *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1923–24, p. 53.

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A well-preserved water reservoir, lined with brick and provided with a narrow covered channel, has been found at a depth of about 8 feet. ‘By the side of the tank was standing a large earthen jar with its pointed bottom fixed in the ground. It was filled with earth in which were several smaller jars and terra-cotta figurines. The exact purpose of the reservoir has not yet been ascertained.’⁵

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⁵ A similar tank found at Mohenjo-daro was thought by Mr. R. D. Banerji to be a *charaṇāmṛita kuṇḍa* (a receptacle for the holy water used for the washing of the sacred image). But Sir John Marshall hesitates to accept this interpretation as he is doubtful about idol worship being in vogue at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (*Ibid*, p. 52).

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The other buildings brought to light are somewhat better preserved and include ‘what appears to have been a temple with stout brick walls.’ There is another large-sized structure consisting of a double series of parallel walls without connecting walls of any kind. The exact purpose and nature of this building are not known. ‘Like the highest mound at Mohenjo-daro, the summit of certain mounds at Harappa would appear in later times to have been occupied by certain Buddhist structures of which only small fragments, with a few terra-cotta panels of the early Gupta period, have survived.’

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‘The inhabitants of Harappa appear also to have been in the habit of offering in their temples terra-cotta cones, with or without figures of animals, of which several specimens have been recovered. A large cone of dark stone, 11 inches high, resembling the Siva-liṅga of modern times, must have been,’ declares Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni, ‘used for worship.’¹

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¹ ^1 *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1924–25, p. 74.

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The ancient inhabitants of Harappa are stated to have cremated the dead, although there may have been some instances of burial. They are stated to have first burned the dead body on a funeral pyre and then to deposit a part of the cremated bones in earthen vessels or brick-structures resembling the *samādhi* of modern times. This is proved by the discovery of a well-preserved sepulchre constructed with the burnt brick of the usual size and lying east to west, with probably another structure of the same kind adjoining it on the south side, but placed at right angles to it. ‘The former structure consists of a horizontal platform of a single course of bricks laid flat and protected on three sides by bricks standing upright on the narrow edge. The roof was composed of an inclined plane of a single course of bricks.’ At the second stratum, also, there was a stout concrete floor, composed of nodules of hard overburnt brick, which was littered with burnt bones and ashes, indicating that the platform was probably used as the cremation floor. In the next stratum, also, another funeral structure has been uncovered in which a few cremated bones were found. ‘The existence of two *samādhis* and the remains of cremations at several other spots appear to show that the whole of this area was at one time the crematorium of the ancient city. This view received some corroboration from the close proximity of

v6.c40.s2.21

COARSE SANDSTONE LIṄGA AT HARAPPA

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[Figure: KUSHAN STUPA BASED ON STUPA AT TAXILA OF KUNALA ELEVATION OUTLINE SECTION. PLAN SCALE OF FEET]

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KUSHAN STŪPA BASED ON KUNAL STŪPA, TAXILA

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the old bed of the river.'¹ In another place, underneath a platform, was a mass of cremated human bones, and about 16 feet from it, a large heap of ashes and charcoal with human bones 'which undoubtedly represents the remains of several funeral pyres.'² A double rectangular sepulchre has been found at the third stratum. It comprises two distinct compartments, one of which had an irregularly shaped relic-chamber, 1 foot 5 inches by 1 foot 4 inches by 1 foot 2 inches. The contents consisted of a number of cremated bones. Human bones were found scattered all over. One large collection of animal bones of dogs, sheep, oxen, and horses has been found buried. From this collection Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni concludes that 'they might be the remnants of a big animal sacrifice.'³

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¹ *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1924-25, p. 75.

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² *Ibid*, p. 77.

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³ *Ibid*, p. 79.

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A brick-built grave has also been uncovered.⁴ A group of eleven burial jars has been found. Some of them contain fragmentary sculls and long bones, etc., of babies and adults of various ages.⁵

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⁴ *Ibid*, p. 80.

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⁵ *Ibid*, 1927-28, pp. 86, 87; 1928-29, pp. 76-77.

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Of the other structures a series of fourteen walls, all running parallel to each other and of the same length, 51¾ feet, appear to represent an important construction. 'All of them terminated on the west on an open corridor, 24 feet wide, beyond which stretched a similar set of walls in precise correlation with those in the opposite series. These walls exhibit two distinct kinds, namely, a stouter kind and a thinner type. All these walls arise from a uniform level at the depth of 12 feet below the surface of the mound, and have finished ends towards the central aisle. The walls of the thicker type are arranged approximately at equal distances from each other, the interval between them being 17 to 18 feet in figures, and had it not been for the thin walls which intervene between them, it might have been thought that they enclosed a series of spacious rooms.'⁶

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⁶ *Ibid*, 1924-25, p. 76.

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Two little circular structures paved in brick on a thick sub-stratum of hard burnt nodules of brick look like 'hearths or chimneys of some kind.'

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Another little structure consists of a paved platform, surrounded by a single course of brick laid on edge, which might have been a bathing platform, as a large earthen jar was standing on one side of it.

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Fragments of solidly built structures have been discovered in several other places. A very big building of considerable dimensions has been found with an open courtyard between the two portions of the building with another open court at the back on the west side. ‘One of the two rooms in the western portion measures 14 feet by 12 feet internally, while the other, which is separated from it by a passage or gallery, is incomplete. The former was provided with an entrance, 3 feet 10 inches wide on the east side, with a small rectangular drain and a masonry bench along one of the walls. Several strata of buildings came to light below this level, but they are too fragmentary. Two cells looking like kitchens or baths have been found. They are provided with drains and a gabled roof. Another solidly built house has been discovered. One complete room in this structure has internal dimensions of 15 feet by 5 feet 10 inches and is provided with one door on the south and presumably two on the north side.’¹

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¹ *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1924-25, p. 80.

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A circular brick granary has also been found.²

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² *Ibid*, p. 78.

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In a structure composed of bricks three fragmentary terra-cotta panels have been found. ‘One of the three panels represents a votary kneeling with the palm resting on the projected base of the sculpture. (The head of the figure is broken off and the feet are not indicated.) Another panel represents only the legs of a standing figure, while the third depicts a female figure rising from the ground after the fashion of the earth goddess in representations of the enlightenment of the Buddha.’³

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‘The inhabitants of Harappa appear also to have been in the habit of offering in their temples terra-cotta cones, with or without figures of animals, of which several specimen have been recovered.’ Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni is inclined to think that ‘a large cone of dark stone, 11 inches high resembling the Śiva-liṅga of modern times, must have been used for worship.’³

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³ *Ibid*, p. 78. In order to discover Buddhistic remains, the Rai Bahadur is anxious to identify the fragments of the three earthen jars with very narrow mouths with the Buddhist monk’s bottles.

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Concerning the existence of the temples at Harappa, Sir John Marshall does not seem to have any doubt. Summarizing the account of Sahni, Marshall declares that ‘the temples stand on elevated ground and are distinguished by the relative smallness of their chambers and the exceptional thickness of their walls—which suggest that they were several storeys in height. To a temple, also, doubtless belongs the spacious courtyard with chapels or other apartments on its four sides.’ But he is doubtful ‘whether the worship performed in these temples was iconic or aniconic. The only objects found in association with them and intended apparently for cult-worship are of two kinds, viz. “ring-stones” and “chessman.” He, however, assures that ‘the fact that no anthropomorphic images have yet been unearthed in these temples must not be interpreted as a proof that the worship of such images was unknown.’ In proof of this he mentions that ‘on a tablet of blue faience, which has just come to light, is depicted a figure seated crosslegged (like Buddha on a throne) with a kneeling worshipper to right and left and behind the worshipper a snake (*nāga*), while at the back is a legend in the pictographic script of the period. Now it is possible that this seated figure is nothing more than a royal personage, but the presence of the kneeling devotees, and particularly of the *nāgas*, certainly suggests that the central figure was intended to represent a deity rather than a king.’¹

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¹ *Archaeological Survey of India Report*, 1924–25, p. 61.

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Further excavations² have brought to light numerous fragments of dwelling houses, including remains of pilasters and other members. There are also three circular structures but their purposes and other details are wanting.³ The general account given above, however, represents fairly the kinds and conditions of structures at Harappa.

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² *Ibid*, 1926–27, pp. 97–103; 1927–28, pp. 85, 86–87; 1928–29, pp. 97, 103.

v6.c40.s2.46

³ *Ibid*, 1928–29, Plate XXX, (a).

Jhukun

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With a view to tracing the Indus civilization, as disclosed by the finds made at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, explorations have been conducted in the interior of Sind, which might have been once on or near the banks of the Indus, as well as further into Baluchistan. These Sind explorations have not yielded any substantial architectural or sculptural remains, although the so-called pre-historic pottery and implements have come out in abundance. The scanty remains, mostly of unidentified walls and of a few buildings, have, however, been found not only along the old course of the Indus but also upon hills and around lakes.

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The remains of buildings discovered at Jhukun, near Larkana (and about half way between Harappa and Mohenjo-daro), consist of ‘over fifty rooms of varying dimensions’ made of sundried bricks. ‘The floor levels of these rooms show a variation of about 5 to 6 feet, resting at places on a foundation of debris and at others on a solid filling of sundried bricks on pure clay.’ ‘A masonry well was exposed on this mound at a level considerably lower than the floor of the rooms.’¹ This may indicate that the buildings whose purposes are unknown were dwelling houses.

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¹ *Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India*, no. 48, p. 6, Plate II, B, C, D.

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The dates of these buildings are stated to have been indicated by the coins and the inscribed sealings discovered therein. ‘A few of the coins are of the class represented by the thick round pieces issued by the Kushan King Vasudeva and his successors.’² This would, incidentally, show that those buildings were designed after the Hindu style, which is found applied in all Kushan structures.

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² *Ibid*, p. 7.

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Traces of three earlier strata, superimposed one upon another, have been uncovered. ‘The surface layer has vertically a depth of about 12 feet. Of the dwellings of this period nothing but a paving of burnt bricks and a few traces of sundried brick walls had survived. At the middle stratum a number of walls of burnt bricks of Mohenjodaro size were discovered. The bottom stratum also disclosed only a few walls of the same type.’³

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³ *Ibid*, p. 9.

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Non-architectural remains, mostly of Buddhistic tablets depicting Buddha and Chaityas, have been found in southern Sind, in the delta country, at Tatta, Budhjo Takar, Mirpurkhas and other places.⁴ Remains of walls and a drain have been uncovered also at Chanhudaro.⁵ Remains of walls of some late period have also been uncovered at Lohunjo-daro. But no traces of any complete structure have yet been found.⁶

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⁴ *Ibid*, pp. 19, 21.

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⁵ *Ibid*, pp. 36, 37, Plate IV, C.

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⁶ *Ibid*, pp. 48–49, Plate V, C.

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The lake Manchhar is usually of 8 to 10 miles in length and breadth. It is situated at the foot of the Khirthar hills. Excavations at Masak, Lal Chhatto, Lohri, and Lakhiyo on the lake did not reveal any architectural objects except faint traces of some walls. But the [Figure: RELIC CHAMBER. PROBABLE SHAPE OF STUPA BURNT BRICK IN MUD. PROBABLE PLAN OF WALL OF TOWER. SCALE ONE INCH = 7½ FEET. PLAN. OF MIRPUR KHAS STUPA. FROM COUSENS. WEST]

v6.c40.s3.13

Buddhist stūpa at Mirpur Khas (view from south-east)

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Buddhist stūpa at Mirpur Khas (view from north-west)

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Plan of Mirpur Khas stūpa excavator declares that the ‘explorations around the Manchhar now prove, for the first time, the existence of a lake-dwelling people in Sind during the later part of the Indus period. Their settlements were on the verge of the lake. Their ways of living could not have been much different from those of the present dwellers, many of whom live in boats with their families, or in huts constructed on platforms on the surface of water. These huts have a curious likeness to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic pile-dwellings of the lakes of Switzerland and other European countries. Whether the ancient lake-dwellers of Manchhar used to have similar pile-houses it is difficult to say with the data available. The pits and trenches excavated on Lal Chhatto and Mashak mounds have not revealed any brick or stone, nor was there any indication to show that the lake-dwellings were made of these materials.’¹

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¹ *Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India*, p. 65.

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There are, however, abundant literary evidences in the *Epics*, *Purāṇas*, and *Śilpa-śāstras* that special houses were built both on and around the tanks and lakes during the early Hindu period. Many of the architectural details of these houses are missing. Examples, however, exist at Puri, Bhuvaneśwara, Pushkar, Madura, and many other places. But these are more or less modern structures.

Johi, Sehwan, and Kohistan

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Hill-dwellings have been traced at Johi, Sehwan, and Kohistan. At the Johi tract, the mounds, now known as Ali Murad, have uncovered the remains of an ancient fortress or fortified palace. There are traces of many walls and a rampart. The walls are stated to represent the basement of the various chambers and apartments into which the buildings were divided.² But these scanty remains would not disclose the plan and other details.

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² *Ibid*, pp. 89-90, Plate VIII, B, C.

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The fort at Sehwan (Sindimana of Cunningham), once thought to be of the time of Alexander the Great, is now declared to be of Muslim origin. But the site itself might yet contain certain ancient buildings of early Hindu period upon which the present Muslim town has been built.³ The remains of an ancient fortress have been clearly found at Kohtras Buthi. But there are only traces of two long stone-walls.⁴

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³ *Ibid*, p. 46.

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⁴ *Ibid*, pp. 132-134.

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In the Kohistan tract the excavation at Damb Barthi has uncovered scanty remains of ancient burial places, which in general may resemble similar structural remains at Nal in Baluchistan. These consist of the outline walls of five chambers wherein human bones have been found.¹ Pottery and such other remains have also been found at Bandhni, Dhal, Maliri Landi, Pokhran Landi and Karchat.²

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¹ *Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India*, pp. 115–116, Plate IX, C.

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² *Ibid*, pp. 120–131.

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Summarizing the finds, Mr. Majumdar declares that the sites discovered fall under two categories, namely, the places where the people actually inhabited and those where they carried on the flint-knapping industry. The walls of the buildings at the hill sites are stated to have been made of stone at the base, up to a height of 2 to 3 feet, the stone blocks being rough hewn and often laid with mud mortar. ‘The superstructure must have been built of mud and such perishable materials as reed and wood.’ Though no definite information is available, yet it is stated that the roof of these houses might have been made of reed and matting overlaid with mud. The dwellings in and around lake Manchhar were of different types. ‘The lake sites have yielded neither stones nor bricks.’ From this Mr. Majumdar concludes that ‘here the people lived in pile-dwellings, like the lake-dwellers of Europe, in the midst of the lake or close to the edge of water.’³

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³ *Ibid*, pp. 147, 148.

Baluchistan

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With a view to finding a connexion between the peoples of the Indus Valley, whose cultural achievements have been disclosed by the discoveries made at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and of Babylonia, excavations have been carried out in Baluchistan, ‘the country lying between these two important river basins and where connecting links between the two cultures’ was expected to be recovered.⁴

v6.c40.s5.2

⁴ H. Hargreaves, *Archaeological Survey of India Memoir*, no. 35, Preface, iii.

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The excavations at Sampur Mound at Mastung, some 33 miles south of Quetta, and at Sohr Damb at Nāl in Jhalawān in the Kalāt State some 200 miles southward, do not appear to have yielded much to establish that much-wished-for connexion.

v6.c40.s5.4

With the same view, further excavations have been carried out along the North-West Frontier from the Kuram river down through Waziristan and the northern district of Baluchistan, with no better results.¹

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¹ Sir Aurel Stein, *Archaeological Survey of India Memoir*, no. 37.

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Still further have been carried the excavations into the far-stretched portion of Gedrosia, comprising the territories of Khārān, Makrān, and Jhalawān, between the Arabian Sea in the south and the deserts adjoining Afghanistan in the north, but with the same fate.²

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² *Ibid*, no. 43.

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At Mastung, on the top of the mound, have been found only 'the interior wall of a small room. These walls were of kachcha (sundried) brick faced with mud plaster. No other rooms were traced elsewhere in this excavation.'³ 'No stone or brick walls were found anywhere on this site, and the only kachcha walls recognized with certainty were those in the higher sections . . . and the room on the summit.'⁴

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