Studies in Indian Art c8.s1.t3: Wells
Studies in Indian Art c8.s1.t3
- Language
- English
Wells
c8.s1.t3.1
The supply of plentiful fresh water depended on wells which were found in almost every big house, ranging in diameter from 2' to 7', more usually 3', built with wedge-shaped bricks and having a small coping and paved steening.
c8.s1.t3.2
A. Great Bath. Mohenjo-daro.
c8.s1.t3.3
B. Jewellery. Indus Valley.
c8.s1.t3.4
C. Painted Pottery. Indus Valley.
c8.s1.t3.5
4. INDUS VALLEY ART
c8.s1.t3.6
An idea of the architectural attainments of the Indus Valley people, maybe obtained from the contingent of important buildings found within the citadel or the so-called Stūpa mound at Mohenjodaro, e.g. the Great Bath, an Assembly Hall, the so-called "College Building" with numerous paved rooms, a courtyard and a grand staircase, all pointing to its character as a royal palace, and last of all a Granary recently explored by Wheeler corresponding to the elaborate Granary of Harappa, the latter having round brick platforms for crushing of grain and also workmen's quarters. The Assembly Hall, raised on twenty pillars arranged in four rows of five each, is a spacious building, 85' square, and must have been used for an important public purpose. Mackay takes it to be a market hall, and Marshall a place for religious congregation; but perhaps it was of a multi-purpose character, being used both as a Sabhā and a city-guild office, corresponding to the Samthāgāra of later times.
c8.s1.t3.7
The most impressive monument left behind by the Indus Valley people is the Great Bath (Mahā-Kunda) (39' long, 23' wide, 8' deep) reached by flights of steps on two sides and forming the core of a big hydropathic establishment (180' × 108') surrounded by several rows of double-storied rooms for changing clothes etc. and also some bath-rooms. It was supplied with fresh water from the adjoining well. Great care was taken to make it impervious in the floor paved with bricks on edge, and by three parallel vertical brick-walls, the first plastered on the inside and plugged on the outside by 1" thick coat of bitumen after which ran the second and the third wall separated by mudfilling, all made compact as several parts of one whole enclosing device. It must have been frequently refilled as indicated by the emptying outlet in one corner connected with a big corbelled drain. An institution of this elaborate nature must have had special significance for the builders most probably used for religious ablutions.
c8.s1.t3.8
The polity of Mohenjodaro giving shelter inside a citadel to an aristocratic population with an authoritarian ruler is in full accord with the granary of massive construction (150' × 75') divided into 27 blocks of solid masonry with attached loading and unloading platforms. The blocks supported a timber superstructure for storage proper and were regularly arranged so as to ensure perfect ventilation. It appears that both at Mohenjodaro and Harappa were granaries of similar dimensions, but the one at Harappa comprising six units had been excavated earlier. The agricultural wealth of a toiling peasantry flowed forth into royal coffers for the maintenance of a well provided urban population.
c8.s1.t3.9
The several monuments peculiar to the citadel throw light on the political and social organisation, the granary corresponding to the Koshthāgāra, the Assembly Hall to the Sabhā or Samthāgāra, the "College" to the Prāsāda or Royal Palace, the Great Bath to the Royal Pushkarinī zealously guarded. Each one of these institutions and their emplacement within fortified walls agrees quite well with what we know of similar institutions in historical times associated with a centralised kingly authority with the capital town and palace across the road. What remains to complete this picture is a religious establishment which it is expected lies below the Buddhist stūpa.
c8.s1.t3.10
The copious art material offers firm proof of the refined taste of these people. They had developed the arts of stone sculpture, casting bronze figurines, making wheeled pottery finished with painted designs, modelling human and animal clay figurines, carving ivory and shell pieces for inlay work, cutting semi-precious stones for a variety of beads, turning gold and silver into ornaments and making various objects of copper such as tools, weapons and domestic utensils. The three major items of civilized life, viz. agriculture, weaving and writing were also fully developed.