Studies in Indian Art c8.s1.t1.3

c8.s1.t1.3

The main street at Mohenjodaro cleared over half a mile is 33 ft. wide permitting several rows of wheeled carriages to pass up and by down. It is intersected by some similar broad streets, dividing the city into blocks, and by roads nine to twelve feet in width, and these again by lanes and alleys four feet upwards. None of the streets was paved with bricks. The height of brick-built walls as preserved along the streets is about eighteen feet whereas in the lanes it is upto twenty-five feet since the houses there are better preserved. The houses in the blocks were compactly built with common walls but sometimes two houses were separated by small intervening spaces about a foot wide. The entrance to the houses was generally placed in the lanes to ensure security and privacy. Many houses were two-storied, to accommodate an over-crowded population, the upper storey being reached mostly by a staircase in the courtyard, but sometimes also straight from the street. The walls are plain without any recessing, jambs or decoration. Windows are rare, only a few alabaster and pottery grills being found. Lime-stone although plentiful in the Sukkur quarries is used rarely. An average house measured 27' to 30' and a large one double this size. The ceiling was supported most likely on wooden rafters for which square and round holes were provided in the walls at proper height. The roof consisted of a rush mat below and a layer of rammed clay above. Rain water passed through pottery drains opening on the streets. Doors to the houses ordinarily measure 3'4" in width with about double the height which were closed with shutters; but larger doors upto 7'10" width also exist. The columns were built of bricks and were either square or rectangular in section; only in one case it was tapering. But no round column was found. In one doorway a corbelled arch has been used to close the space, otherwise wooden lintels seem to have been used like those used in villages until recently.