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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7: Chapter III: 3. Indus Valley Art

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7

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English

Contents

Chapter III: 3. Indus Valley Art

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INTRODUCTORY—Indus Valley Art has come to us in the mass of finds mainly at the two cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (c. 2500 B.C.—1800 B.C.). Cunningham had touched the site of Harappa as early as 1878, but its proto-historic character was revealed for the first time in 1921 when D. R. Sahni was digging at Harappa on the Ravi and following him in 1922 R. D. Banerji struck upon the treasures of chalcolithic civilisation at Mohenjo-daro on the Indus. Marshall and his colleagues took up the work bringing to light an urban culture of vast dimensions, adjudged to be the most extensive in the pre-classical world. In time it stretched over a period of about a thousand years and in space over 1500 miles from Rupar (Kotla-Nihang, Ambala) to Rangpur and Lothal at the head of the Gulf of Cambay, District Ahmedabad, and still further upto Bhagat Rao on the river Kim in the Narmada valley. Latest exploratory survey has swelled the number of sites to about one hundred, the focal areas being those of Harappa, Sarasvati in Rajasthan desert with the big site of Kali Bangan on its bank, Mohenjo-daro and Chanhu-daro on the Indus, Rangpur and Lothal in Saurāṣṭra.

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This range of spatial expansion far exceeds the civilised areas on the Nile and in Mesopotamia which are about half its extent.

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The one merit of this Copper civilisation is the general unanimity amongst scholars about its antiquity, a date paralleled with the Sargonic period of Akkad (c. 2350 B. C.), and the two ends of its temporal extension bracketed within c. 2500-1500 B. C. This dating has rather a firm basis, as shown by the discovery of about 30 Indus seals in the important cities of Mesopotamia at Ur, Kish, Lagash, Susa, Tell Asmar, etc. in the latter half of the third millenium B. C. Some seals were found in the Larsa period (1800 B. C.) and some from Kassite period (c. 1500 B. C.).

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The discovery of the Indus Valley culture has done a miracle for both art and history of ancient India. It has pushed back at one stroke the beginning of civilised life in India by 20 centuries, i. e. from 600 B.C. to 2500 B.C. It has placed the Indian civilisation in a world-context making it as one of the other great civilisations of the ancient world like Crete, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Western Asia. It has further established the central position which India occupied within an extended geographical orbit with alround lines of communication to feed her economic life. The character of this civilisation shows it to be essentially urban, comprising a community of merchants and rulers devoted to many fine arts and dependent for their economy on the labours of a toiling peasantry. They were entrenched within fortified citadels having rampart and gateways, most probably ruled by a central authority or political power vested in the king. A community of priests catering to the religious needs of the people is also indicated by the finds. The people excelled in methods of architectural planning of their capital cities, houses and roads, and an unusually developed sanitary system of bath-rooms and drains to which there is no parallel in the ancient world. The discovery of baked bricks in millions from kilns fired by forests of timber was the strongest point of the Indus Valley culture by which their architects built well planned cities the like of which are not seen anywhere else in Iran, Egypt or Western Asia. The beginnings of this civilisation are a little obscure and its end also seems to have come suddenly. The amazing fact about it is the uniformity of life, art and culture made visible to us by innumerable relics. About nine structural phases were exposed at Mohenjo-daro extending over a thousand years and the seals and other objects that came from the earliest levels (circa 2500 B. C.) do not seem to differ from those of the final phase (circa 1500 B. C.), although a certain degree of evolution inevitably exists. Such stolid conservatism was a quality ingrained in the soul of the people and had immense effect in building up a civilization which became so deeply rooted in the soil as to leave its lasting influence on the life and beliefs of the succeeding generations. The Harappa culture flourished for many centuries along with that of the Aryans and both co-existed in amity until the final clash ousted the Indus people from the field. It implied only the extinction of their political power, the people stuck to their homes, left to fight with a climate gradually turning inclement until deserts and waterless tracts overcame them. In its hey-day the culture of the Harappans was a blooming flower of divine fragrance or a ray of serene lustre. A flush of beauty permeates their life as seen in the religious cleanliness of their cities, homes and bodies. The ornaments of gold and silver, beads of elongated bright carnelian, agate, quartz etc. and gold-tipped beads, faience ornaments, miniature pottery as well as designs on pottery and the variety of steatite seals with vigorous animal figures and bold pictographic script—these are radiant with the creative genius of an inventive race. Taken together they leave a deep impression on the mind of every serious student of art and culture. The people knew the arts of agriculture, weaving, statuary, goldsmithy, bead-making, ivory-carving, shell-inlay, metal casting, writing, toy-making, pottery turned on wheel, painting designs in black and polychrome, using weights and measures, building, firing bricks, shaving, using wheeled conveyances, etc.

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It is now generally admitted that the Harappa culture was born on the Indian soil. Its indigenous distinctive character is stamped on all classes of objects which Fig. 10d have been exposed. The problems created by the discovery of this culture are gradually accumulating for solution and the reply seems to be embedded in the story of Indian civilization itself both in the pre-and post-Harappan periods.

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SITE PLAN OF MOHENJO-DARO MUD BRICK EXPOSURES MARKED

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SITE PLAN OF HARAPPA

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Fig. 10b

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Fig. 10c

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CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF STORE ROOM No. 9 OF WESTERN BLOCK WITH GALLERY No. 8

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HARAPPA MOUND F ISOMETRIC PROJECTION OF THE GREAT GRANARY FROM SOUTH-EAST SCALE FEET 10 0 10 20 30 40 FEET

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Fig. 11a

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Fig. 11b

Architecture

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Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were planned fortified cities. The citadel consisted of a high rampart wall (*Prākāra*) on broad foundation of mud-work 45 ft. wide (*Vapra*), city-gates (*Dvāra*) and a moat (*Parikhā*) for which the Indus and the Ravi sufficed. The main city was enclosed inside these defences, giving a complete picture of what in the Vedic texts and later was known as Pur, a fortified city. The high acropolis is a parallelogram, 400-500 yards north-south by 200 300 yards east-west, with a perimeter of about 3 miles. The city-wall tapering upwards had bastions or towers at intervals (*Aṭṭālaka*) and was itself propped by a revetment of baked bricks 4 ft. wide on the outside (*Iṣṭakā-Prākāra*).

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The town inside was divided by broad streets regularly running at right angles both east-west and north-south dividing the city into blocks. The fixity of plan as laid down by the first builders continued throughout the history of Mohenjo-daro showing that the municipal authority enforcing the building laws extracted willing obedience from the people almost in a religious spirit. There was, however, some deviation in the later stages of the city building.

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The main street at Mohenjo-daro (*Mahāpatha*) cleared for half a mile is 33 ft. wide, allowing several rows of wheeled carraiges to pass up and down. The main road intersected by some similar ones and by less wider streets from 12 to 9 ft. wide divided the whole city into blocks where smaller lanes and narrow alleys upto 4 ft. are also seen. There was no system of paving the streets with bricks excpting for the drain in the centre of the street.

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The houses were arranged in rows mostly sited in the lanes, generally of 27 ft. x 29 ft. or double the size. They were provided with several rooms, a kitchen and a bath-room round a courtyard and were built in two storeys. The height of the brick-built walls as preserved in the streets is about 18 ft. and in the lanes 25 ft. The houses in the blocks are compact, but sometimes separated by narrow spaces of only 1 ft. The entrance was generally placed in the lane for privacy and safety. The principles of foundation, vertical walls in parallel courses, provision of roof probably on wooden beams and rafters, grille windows, niches and plastering were known. The art of masonary was plain and severe without much decoration. Only a few examples of alabaster and pottery grilles for windows have survived. An average door measured 3 ft. 4 inches in width and double in height and was closed by shutters, now perished. Larger doors upto 7 ft. 10 in. also exist. The use of stone for building was practically absent. Even brick pillars were not much in use. Surviving columns are either square or rectangular and no round column has been found.

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The floors in the rooms were without pavement, being only of beaten earth. The bath-rooms on the other hand received more careful attention as shown in the use of very finely joined masonary made impervious by the technique of using rubbed bricks. Inside the thick walls were pottery pipes for the flow of spill water from the bath-rooms of the upper storey, connected with the street-side drain of the ground-floor. This nice arrangement to ensure maximum cleanliness is a singular feature of Harappan culture.

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Every good house had its well with plentiful supply of sweet water and brick-lined with wedged bricks (सुजापट्टी की ईंटें) made water tight and furnished with a high coping above the mouth of the well. The usual size is 3 ft. across but smaller ones of 2 ft. and larger of 7 ft. are also found.

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The drainage system of the houses and the town gives proof of unusually thoughtful planning. Each street and lane had a good brick-paved channel made of bricks on two sides finely joined with mud-mortar, lime or gypsum, bigger drains (18" wide) generally covered with loose stones and smaller ones with bricks. Tributary drains from each house connected with the street drain. The long drain was provided with man-holes at intervals with wooden covers and the whole system emptied itself in brick culverts (2½ ft. wide 4 or 5 ft. high) to carry away collected rain water. It appears that the cleanliness of the body had become a religious cult with the people. We are reminded of a reference in the Chhāndogya Upanishad mentioning the philosophy of life held by the Asuras believing that the physical body is Ātmā (Self), which should be embellished and provided with provisions, clothes and ornaments after death (असुराणां ह्येपनिषत् प्रेतस्य शरीरं भिक्षया वसनेना-लंकारैणति संस्कृत्वन्ति, Chh. Up. 8.8.5). This fits in squarely with the remains of Harappa culture which most likely belonged to the Asura race.

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Besides the citadel on the Stūpa mound at Mohenjo-daro the Great Bath, an Assembly Hall, the so-called 'College Building' having numerous rooms with a courtyard and a grand staircase (all pointing to its character as a Royal Palace), and last of all the Granary exposed in Wheeler's excavation being similar to the elaborate Granary of Harappa, are other structures of monumental nature pointing to the architectural genius of their builders. The Assembly Hall rests on twenty pillars arranged in four rows of five each, some of them 25 ft. high, and is a spacious building, 85 ft. square, seemingly of multipurpose use as a *Sabhā* and office of the city-guild similar to *Samthāgāra* of Buddhist times.

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THE GREAT BATH (*Mahā-kuṇḍa*, 39 ft. x 23 ft. x 8 ft.) formed part of a big hydropathic establishment (180' x 108'). This structure almost offers a commentary on the high standard of the Indus Valley people, so far as their religious and secular life is concerned. It was reached by flights of steps on two sides and surrounded by several rows of smaller double-storeyed rooms. It was supplied with fresh water taken from a nearby well, brick-lined with gypsum mortar. Its floor and wall have been made absolutely water-tight by three parallel vertical brick-walls on the four sides, the first is plastered on the outside and plugged on the inside by one inch thick coat of bitumen. The second and the third walls were connected to it by rammed mud and made compact as a single unit. The emptying outlet in one corner connects it with a big corbelled drain. On the terrace of the bath was a spacious corridor supported on pillars and having on three sides at its back various rooms and galleries serving as cloak rooms. [Fig. 10].

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GRANARY—Both at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa a granary of massive construction (150' x 75') of solid masonary divided into 27 blocks with attached platforms for loading and unloading has come to light. A timber super-structure was provided above the blocks which were arranged in a manner to ensure proper airing. The round platforms near the granary at Harappa on which wooden mortars and pestles were placed for pounding corn into flour by toiling labourers. Thus the rich population was able to maintain itself with a constant supply of wheat flour from the labours of a peasantry.

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From the monuments described above, we are in a position to form an idea of the political and economic organisation established in the citedal. For example, the defended town was the *Pur* or Royal Fort, the Granary the *Koṣṭhāgāra*, the Assembly Hall the *Sabhā* or *Samthāgāra* serving as the Hall of Public Audience (*Asthāna-maṇḍapa* of later literature), and last of all the so called "College" the Royal Palace (*Prāsāda*), and the Great Bath corresponding to the *Maṅgala-Puṣkariṇī* in which the members of the consecrated aristocracy called *Rājānaḥ* took their sacramental bath as amongst the Lichchhavis of Vaiśālī. To this may be added four other components, namely, the Broad Road (*Mahāpatha*), Rampart (*Prākāra*), Rammed Foundation (*Vapra*) and Gateway (*Gopura Dvāra*) with bastions (*Aṭṭālaka*). The argument from this contingent of ten buildings and architectural parts throws up links between the proto-historic and historic cultures of India. A capital city in later times was also of the same lay-out. What remains to complete the picture was a religious shrine which perhaps lies concealed under the Buddhist Stūpa.

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DOCKYARD AT LOTHAL— At Lothal (Saragwala Tila, Distt. Ahmedabad) a respectable town two miles round, divided by a broad street, into six blocks, was discoverd in 1958-59, a large dockyard roughly trapezoid on plan, its eastern and western embankments being 710' long, the northern 124' and southern 116'. The greatest extent height of the embankment was 14'. Boats could enter the harbour at high tide through an opening in the eastern embankment, the dwarf-wall near the entrance being meant to retain water even at low tide. A spill-channel existed in the southern embankment for the outlet of excess water, care being taken to provide even a sliding door fixed in two groves at the mouth of the channel. [Fig. 11]. This gives proof of the sea-borne trade carried on by the Harappans settled at Lothal. Unfortunately the dockyard and the town were submerged by a major flood.

Sculpture

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They had developed a lithic industry of making stone statuary, of which only a limited number of eleven pieces were found besides the two fine torsos from Harappa. The highlight is the bearded head and bust of a male figure wearing a scarf with a tre-foil decoration originally filled with red paste. [Fig. 12]. One of the eyes had shell-inlay when it was found. A hole on each side of neck was meant probably to hold a necklace. The tre-foil pattern had an international background being found in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Crete where it is associated with a religions character which makes it probable that the Mohenjo-daro bust was intended to portray a deity or perhaps a priest. In the Indus Valley itself the tre-foil pattern occurs on beads of steatite or of steatite paste. The head is covered with closely cropped wavy hair held by a fillet (patra). It has narrow half-closed eyes, low receding forehead and a face disproportionate to the head making it distinct from the contemporary sculpture of Mesopotamia. But there are certain common features also, e. g. the shaven upper lip, use of inlay for the eyes and a sturdy neck. The half closed eyes indicate a Yogi in contemplative pose with the gaze fixed on the tip of the nose. This may not be surprising since the Yoga cult is seen in the pose of a figure seated with cross-legs. But it may be noted that the same kind of eyes have been noticed in some very early clay figurines from Kish and Ur.

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The other stone heads from Mohenjo-daro also show some noteworthy features as follows:—

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1. A weathered limestone head; 5½" high; showing shell-shaped ears and white stone inlay in one of the eyes.

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2. Limestone head; nearly 7" high; short cropped hair gathered in a bun at the back held by a fillet; a shaven upper lip; shell-shaped ears; inlaid eyes; modelling of the cheeks and lips shows feminine sensitiveness but the short beard makes it certainly a male figure.

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3. Seated alabaster male figure with the head broken; 11" high; arrangement of the lower clothing shows it to be a *tahmad* or "a thin kilt-like garment secured round the waist, covered by a thin shawl over the left shoulder and under the right arm". On the back is a long lock of braided hair similar to the feminine *Veṇī*; of poor modelling; the squatting posture is somewhat similar to that of Wema Takshama statue.

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4. Limestone head; 7¾" high; hair gathered in a bun (*Chūḍā*) at the back having three strands; ears are shell-like; eyes inlaid at one time; chin without beard; face large out of proportion.

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5. Alabaster statue of a squatting man; 16½" high; right knee raised; hands resting on the knees; bearded face but details worn out; once had inlay in the eyes; a fillet round the head tied at the back with ends hanging down.

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6. Fragmentary limestone figurine; formerly polished; with a crude hand on a knee.

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7. Fragmentary squatting or seated figure in limestone; 8½" high; hand on knee; a series of holes drilled above the ankles for anklets.

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8. Unfinished limestone figure of a man in squatting posture; 8½" high; hands on knees. Its special feature is the kilt-like garment spread between the legs; indications of fillet round the head.

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9. Another limestone figure of a composite animal (10" high) had the body of a ram with horns and an elephant's trunk which probably had some religious character. Similar animals of composite types are depicted on the seals.

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The modelling of these figures is stereotyped and decadant and they are said to have come from later levels.

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HARAPPA TORSOS— Two statuettes from Harappa, which many scholars have accepted as genuine finds, give an idea of the naturalistic human sculpture of which the Harappan artists were capable. The sensitive modelling of the body foreshadows the spirit of historical Indian sculpture as in the Yakshī figure from Didarganj, Patna. Both are torsos (just under 4"), one of red sandstone and the other in grey limestone. The first has a frontal treatment, realistic with sensitive muscular form both on the chest and the back. The treatment of the heavy line of the abdomen is very much similar to that of statues of Kushāṇa time. It had inlaid nipples and discs on shoulders and a separate attached head. (Fig. 13).

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The sculpture in grey limestone is a lively dancing figure with head originally affixed separately, the arms and legs designed in more than one piece were similarly attached and the nipples were inlaid. (Fig. 14). The contour of the body and the heavy hips show it to be a female figure, the several features pointing to an ideal feminine beauty (cf. *madhye saṅgrāhyā, paśchād-varīyasī, pṛthuśroṇi*, Śatapatha Br. 1.2.5.16.). The drilled holes on the back were intended for affixed hair. The narrower region between the shoulders (*vimiṣṭāntarāṃsā*, ŚB. I. 2.5.16, 3.5.1.11)¹, and the soft effeminate built as well as the delicate pose of balancing the body on the right leg while the left is thrown to the right in a rhythmic sweep hardly leave any doubt that it was a female dancer either human or divine.

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¹ एवमिव हि योषां प्रशंसन्ति पृथुश्रोणिः विमृष्टन्तरांसा मध्ये सङ्ग्राह्या । श० १।२।५।१६ पश्छाद्वरीयसी पृथुश्रोणिरिति वै योषां प्रशंसन्ति । श० ३।५।१।१७

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The identification of the two figures should draw our attention. The male adipose stoutly built youth seems to be rather extraordinary. It represents the type of Nude God referred to in the Atharva Veda as Mahā-Nagna, the eternal Nude Man. Rudra-Śiva as *Digambara* (sky-clothed) typifies the same conception. Happily the female consort of Mahā-Nagna, Nude Lord, is described in the same verse as Mahā-Nagnī, the Female Nude or the Eternal Woman both striding one after the other as a pair (AV. *Mahā-Nagnī Mahānagnaṃ dhāvantam anudhāvati*, 20.136.11). The rendering of the two primeval Nudes in such an emphatic form is consistent with what we know of other Harappa sculpture. For example, the conception of the Male Deity Rudra-Paśupati was certainly known in that culture, and even more so that of the Great Mother Goddess is seen in many clay figurines. It seems as if the artist, an unusual genius, tradscended in one sweep the diversified formality of repretenting male and female figures and visualised of the primal Man and Woman without intervening ornaments and drapery. Of the two figures one is static showing high concentration of physical power as in the later Yakshas; whereas the female dancer shows a spirit of movement and vivacity which typifies the characteristic movement and dynaminism associated with the female half of the Creator's energy and such figures of later times. That the figures are of divine import seems to be writ large in the lines of their body.

Bronze Sculpture

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The figure of a dancing girl in bronze found at Mohenjo-daro (height 4½") is an exquisite figure with the same sensitive feeling as seen in the two Harappa figures. Its feet and ankles are missing. (Fig. 15). The right hand rests on the hip in the *Latāhasta* or *Katyavalambita* pose. The arms are loaded with bangles which seem to be the same as *Khādayaḥ* of the RV. The head is slightly tilted, and covered with curly hair gathered at the back in a coiled knot. The eyes are large and half-closed. The pose of the long legs and the elongated arms and slender bust all suggest an exceptional mastery in capturing the livelinss and rhythm of a female dancer long practised in her art. The reference to *Nṛitu* in the RV. seems to indicate a figure of this type.

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This and other figure in bronze are proof of the technique of casting metal by the *cire perdue* or lost-wax (*Madūchehhiṣṭa*) process, a technique having a continuity of abovt 5000 years on the Indian soil by which some of the greatest plastic art of India like the *Naṭarāja* bronzes and the Sultanganj copper Buddha were produced. Copper was the chief metal used in the Indus Valley for which the Vedic name was *Ayas* (अयस्). Iron was not known to them. They mixed ten percent tin with copper and wrought the alloy of bronze.

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A late bronze foot with an anklet found separately is more artistic corresponding to the missing portion in the bronze dancer. Amongst the number of bronze animals the figure of a buffalo and a ram are much more realistic giving evidence of mastery of naturalistic modelling.

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It should be observed that the human statuary from the Indus Valley has a distinctive type of its own. In the Sumerian statuary, both early and late, the eyes are round and full but in Harappa they are long and narrow with half-closed lids. Inlaid eyes are found also in Babylonia and Egypt but in lesser numbers, The sturdy neck of Mohenjo-daro statues is much more emphasised than in Babylon. The low receding forehead and the high narrow nose are features common to both India and the West. In the treatment of the ears which resemble an oyster shell or saucer the Indian artist followed his convention. Although the number of statuattes and figurines is limited it is enough to show that an individual style had been evolved.

Terracotta Figurines

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They are made of solid clay, of red colour well kneaded, bearing a red wash or slip, sometimes showing a polish. The figurines are of two classes, human and animal, the former also divided into male and female types. The number of female figurines is much in excess to that of the male.

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The male figures are marked by a long nose, beardless chin, receding forehead, long slit eyes, appliqué mouths gashed, crudely modelled bust, pointing to an indifferent interest of the modeller in the making of such figures which may have been either secular or religious types. There is a horned figure and some horned masks, cast in a mould with oblique eyes which may have been used for apotropaic purposes to ward off evil (*Arakṣārtha*). The use of mould howsoever limited is noteworthy. A Janus-like (*ubhayataḥ śīrṣṇa*) figure was pressed from a double mould. The idea is known in the Rigveda mentioning a two-headed Supreme Deity (*Dviśīrṣā mahodeva*, RV. IV. 58.3). Although the material is limited the ethnic character is emphasised as in the case of a man, found by Wheeler in 1950 on the Granary Site of Mohenjo-daro, its skull cap and sturdy built with the usual features of the long nose and receding forehead treated in one line seem to establish a definite type in the population probably of the peasantry.

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FEMALE FIGURES—The female figurines in clay are much more impressive. They are heavily adorned with ornaments. In the case of the figure Dk 2384 found at Mohenjo-daro, on the head is a high fan-like projection which may be identified with *Opaśa* mentioned in the Rigveda as the mark of a beautiful woman, secured at its base by a flat band or fillet with pendant loop near the right ear. The braided locks (*Kaparda* of the Rigveda) and the ear-pendants are also indicated. In some other cases the ears have a conical cup or pannier on each side which may be the *Kurīra* of the Rigveda. Actual specimens of a cone and of fillets in gold have been found. Besides armlets (*Khādi*) the most elaborate ornaments are worn round the throat in the form of a tight choker and five other necklaces with schematic arrangement one within the other descending from the shoulders and touching the girdle below (a similar torso found by Mackay, pl. LXXV, 17). Four of the necklaces have elongated bead-pendants and the fifth, the longest, is stamped with rosettes marking it out as a lotus garland either real or imitated in gold. The wide triple girdle (*mekhalā*) with a buckle device to secure it on the front emphasises the feminine character of the figure. The portion below the thighs is missing. The pubic triangle is over-emphasised but actual nudity is not indicated. The eyes are indicated by round pellets, the nose is long and straight in a line with the forehead and the mouth is an appliqué strip of clay with a horizontal slit. The breasts are prominent swelling on the two sides of the necklaces. There is no doubt that much thought has gone into the ornamentation of the figure and the whole atmosphere round it is that of a deity. [Fig. 16]. Another example is a complete standing figure wearing the same ornaments but with pannier-like projections (*Kurīra*) on the two sides of the head, but having undigitated hands and feet. [Fig. 17]. If we compare these with the earliest mother goddess figurines from Mathura and Taxila [Fig. 18 a-b] firm links as to the same ideal type are present in these proto-historic and early historic female figurines. She seems to represent the Great Mother Goddess, *Mahī Mātā* (RV. V. 47. 1). Her worship not only in India but also in the ancient-most Iran prevailed. As a Goddess for the Asuras the Vedic and early literature speaks of her as *Māyā*, and for the gods as the divine mother Aditi (*Deva-Mātā*). Later in classical times she gave place to *Śrī* with a revised interpretation, being treated both as an independent goddess and the consort of Vishnu. In the Indus Valley figurines we occasionally find an infant at her breast or on the hip pointing to her motherhood aspect. The notion of fertility finds support in one specimen showing pregnancy. On a seal from Harappa a woman is represented with a plant coming out of her womb, a flamboyant symbol of fertility. The female figurines are generally undraped but in a couple of cases they wear a kilt-like skirt made of wool closely resembling the *kaunakes* worn by the early Sumerians and the proto-Elamites of Susa. There are some secular figurines also showing women kneading dough or holding a dish of cakes.

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Fig. 22

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b

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c

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d

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e

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f

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g

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h

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i

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j

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k

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Fig. 23

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The cult of the goddess occupied an important place in the life of the people. The uniformity of style, similarity of ornamentation and the wide area over which they were spread forces the conclusion that these were religious figures related to cult worship of the goddess. The area of distribution of such female figures is not limited to the Indus Valley and Baluchistan but extends to Persia, Elam, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Crete, Cypress, Egypt, and the Agean world. In these civilisations we find an overwhelming consciousness in favour of the Feminine whether the Goddess is named Isis, Innini (Lady of Heaven), Ishtar, Anahita or Aditi ('मातरमदिति महीम्', VS. 18. 30). She was the Great Female, identified in some cultures with the Earth Mother, as surely in India. It may be mentioned here that the one important tradition which the Indus Valley people transmitted to their successors is the wide spread cult of the Mother Goddess in the form of Śakti, Devī, Mātā, Bhūmi (Hindi, Bhuiyān, भुइयां), the Village Deity (Grāma-Devatā) par excellence, all exemplifying the Magna Mater. The figurines from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are generally of a benevolent goddess, but the reverse of it is seen in the grim figurines from Kulli having a terrifying skull-like aspect. They could not have been toys for children but a mother Goddess like Kālī or Caṇḍikā of later times.

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Nearly three-fourths of the clay-figurines represent animals specially humped bulls (*Kakudmant vṛṣabha*). Cows are never represented. The other animals are elephant, rhinoceros, pig, monkey, goat, sheep, turtle and birds etc. One specimen from a late level at Mohenjo-daro seems to be that of a horse but so indifferently made as to be doubtful. Some bull figurines are of high aesthetic quality comparable to those on the seals showing the great strength of the animal in the developed muscles, hump, strong neck, dewlap, frowning eyes and head. [Fig. 19].

Pottery

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The pottery material from the Indus Valley was produced on the wheel. It is both plain and decorative with designs painted in black colour on a red surface. Half a dozen kilns in a potter's quarter where the ware was manufactured have been found. They are circular pits of 6'-7' diameter with a perforated floor and arrangement for smoke to escape. Red ochre or earth from Hurmuz seems to have been used for the red slip on the pots.

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The following designs are painted : intersecting circles, which are peculiar to the Indus Valley; sigmas and wavy lines; komb; sun-symbol, in one case with a thousand rays (Mackay, *Further Excavations* Pl. LXX, 39); punched circlets; stars; arrow-heads; four-petalled flowers (*Chauphuliā* चौफुलिया); check-board formed of squares in black against a red backgronnd; net; fret (*kuñjarāksha*); hatching, a common motif to distinguish one square or triangle from another; double inverted pots (*Uttāna-chamū*, RV. I. 164. 33); fish-scales (Skt. *Matsyaśalka*, Hindi, *Sahresā*, सहरेसा); a ribbon round the jars. Besides these geomatrical patterns figures of animals and birds, snakes or fishes occur. In some cases a row of animals is shown, a motif well-known in Elam and Sumer. Animal figures are generally associated with natural objects such as leaves (specially of *pīpal*) and trees or birds (peacock) perching on them. Human figures are a few, e. g. a fisherman carrying two nets suspended from a shoulder pole on two sides (Skt. *Vihaṅgikā*) (Vats, *Harappa*, LXIX, 16). On a pot-sherd from cemetry H is a hunting scene showing two antelopes with the hunter between them shooting the animal on the right with bow and arrow and the animal on left being torn by a pursuing dog. Polychrome pottery is a special ware at Amri in pre-Harappan levels and also at Nal in north Baluchistan. [Fig. 20].

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The types of pottery include goblets with a conical bottom, dishes, basins, flasks, norrow necked vases, cylindrical bottles, tumblers, corn-measures, spouted vases and a very special type of dish on stand, called offering stand or incense-burner, which is distinctively an Indus Valley ware, a sure sign of chalcolthic culture wherever it may be found.

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SPECIAL TYPES—Some special types in pottery are to be noted :—

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a. Knobbed pottery or pimpled ware ornamented on the outside with knobs, set closely in rows, only a few specimens being exposed. Similar pottery is known from Tell Asmar in Babylonia in levels corresponding to the Indus Valley. There also the number is limited. Probably they were associated with the mother cult illustrating her aspect of a thousand teats (*Sahasradhārā, Sahasra-ūdhas*).

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b. Perforated pottery is a peculiar type of cylindrical shape ranging from 2 to 20 inches. Either it served as a heater with live-coals, or as a religious vessel for sprinkling water through multiple perforations as one used even today in the expiatory ceremony for a child born under an ill-omened star (Hindi, Sattāisā, सत्ताइस).

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c. Minature pottery comprises a large number of tiny vessels, sometimes less than half an inch but well finished and polished with exquisite shapes. Specimens of fired clay are quite numerous, but majority are of faience. It was at one time suggested that they were meant for scented oil and cosmetics, but the tradition of minature pottery continued also in the historic period, e. g. Rajghat alone turning out about 500 specimens now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan. It was children's pottery, a kind of kindergarten to train the child's mind and eye in the different shapes used in domestic utensils. The custom for a potter to supply such tiny ware along with the bigger ones has come down to our own days in north India.

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d. Incised pottery. With scratched figures on the base of certain deep pans and dishes of offering stands. The marks are like pictographic signs.

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e. Animal-shaped pottery. A couchant ram hollow on the back is an instance of this type.

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The big storage jars have conical bottoms which were partially buried in the earth or placed on stands or a circular base. Some were actually found with interred bottoms. The Indus Valley pottery was essentially of a utilitarian character fulfilling the needs of drinking, eating, cooking, worshipping and storage etc., but the aesthetic appeal in the painted designs and perfect shapes specially in the minature pottery and burial pottery is no less eloquent. [Fig. 21].

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A special type of painted polychrome pottery shows the designs in several colours as red and green on a buff slip. A sherd from Chanhu-daro is painted with birds and animals in black, white and red on a yellow ground. These were no doubt connected with pre-Harappan Nal pottery which employs the full range of five basic colours (Pañcha varṇa) as red, blue, green, yellow and white.

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Burial pottery forms a class by itself. At Harappa in cemetry H, two distinct strata were exposed with a rich collection of grave pottery, the upper one of one hundred and twenty pot-burials and the lower one of earth-burials accompained by funeral pottery consisting of water-pots, bowls, offering dishes, saucers, flat covers, flasks, round vases etc. The shapes of the burial pots (ranging in hieght from 9¾" to 23¾") are round, ellipsoid marked by parallel finger grooves on the lower portion. The smaller jars were at once finished on the wheel, but the larger ones were made in two parts, the upper and the lower being joined afterwards. Pots of carinated type are all painted at the neck and are of smaller size. The burial pots from cemetery H. are different in shape and in their realistic painted motifs from the jars coming from the mounds with geometric and other patterns. Peacock is common on the burial jars. On one example is a goat of large size with enormous horns that are ornamented with eight trident-like devices, both being associated with Śiva. Other designs on the burial pots include stars, rayed orbs, wavy lines, continuous triangles, fish, leaves, plants, flying birds. The flat covers from the earth burials show very effective and regular designs. They in all cases were painted on the under side with ornaments of deer, peacocks, trees, leaves, stars, birds, fish, hands, tassels, etc., enclosed in concentric circles and having the same scenic effect as the assemblage of motifs on cross-bar medallions of later times (Vats, Harappa pl. LXIV; Smith, Jaina Stūpa at Mathūra, Plates 71-73).

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The painted pottery designs from the Indus Valley transmit to us a rich album of motifs pregnant with meaning, of which the full significance yet remains to be decoded. From what we know it is clear that the motifs were meant both for beauty and for serving a religious purpose which implies a symbolical character as in the case of the Vedic art symbols treated in the following chapter.

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Amongst miscellaneous objects are a small model cart with solid wheels, a whistle made in the form of a bird, rattles with clay pellets inside, cubical dice, spoons, spindle whorls, bird cages, and model cakes.

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FAIENCE—A fine kind of paste called faience was manufactured for making toy-figurines, ornaments as bracelets, studs, amulets, buttons, rings, minature pottery, balls, marbles, gamesmen, inlay pieces, spindle whorls, seals, plaques and weights.

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Faience was prepared from powdered quartz, or sometimes also with a binding material from steatite mixed with a powdered glaze which was then fired to form a vitreous substance that was finally glazed. In the process of manufacture a suitable colour was given to it by adding various mineral substances. The process of manufacture was complex. Three objects of faience are of high artistic merit, viz. a nibbling squirrel, a couchant ram and a figure of coalescing monkeys. Faience objects have been found in Mesopotamia, Syria, Western Asia and Egypt. Perhaps the Harappan people borrowed it from their neighbours in Mesopotamia where its use is popular at all levels of the excavated sites.

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Although faience was widely used in antiquity, the glazing of pottery was introduced in other countries at a later stage, and its earliest example has been found at Mohenjo-daro. In Egypt glazed pottery was unknown before Roman times. In Greece it was not known at all. In Mesopotamia it is ascribed to about 1000 B. C. This gives credit to the Indus Valley people for inventing the technique of glazing pottery. No true glass has been found in the Indus Valley although the use of glass is not far removed from the process of glazing pottery. To Egypt goes the credit of making true glass for the first time.

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JEWELLERY—One hoard at Harappa and four at Mohenjo-daro had been found. Recently in Wheeler’s excavation one more hoard came from Harappa. The Mohenjo-daro hoards were packed in silver jars and wrapped in cloth, but the one from Harappa was found in a hole dug down 7 or 8 feet beneath one of the cottages in coolie-lines. It consisted of nearly 500 pieces of gold from armlets to complete necklaces of multiple strings of beads and gold.

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Gold and silver were abundant metals in the Indus Valley. The source of gold was the distant gold mine of Kolar in South India, or they were also obtaining granular gold (Paipilika Suvarṇa) from Siberian mines and Central Asian washings through traders coming by the Kamboja-Dvārāvatī route which passed through Mohenjo-daro.

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Silver was obtained from distant sources in Afganistan and possibly from still remoter mines in north Burma. Some quantity may have been locally extracted from alloys containing lead.

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The actual jewellery worn by the people included gold plaques both round and rectangular (Padaka) having ornamental paste inlay in white colour, plain gold armlets, conical ornaments for the ears, and a great variety of multi-stringged necklaces and girdles. A distinguishing feature of the Indus Valley jewellery was the use of beads of gold, silver and other semi-precious stones, manufactured in a number of shapes and strung together as necklaces or girdles. The material of beads consisted of carnelian (Hindi तामड़ी ), chalcedony (Karketana), agate (Lekhāśma or Galvarka; Hindi हकीक ), lapis lazuli (Rījāvarta), steatite, faience, shell, pottery, and jadeite (Masāra). Lapis lazuli was scarce in the Indus Valley but abundant in Sumer. The etched carnelian bead was better known in Mesopotamia and Persia and also recovered by Woolley in the Royal Tombs at Ur of the Chaldees, in the 3rd and 2nd millenium B. C. pointing to trade relations between the West and Harappa.

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At Chanhu-daro a bead-maker’s shop was exposed throwing light on the different stages of bead industry. The rough stone (Khad-patthar खड़पत्थर ) was first split and sawn into a bar as at present (Chīrnā चीरना ). A wire bow with an abrasive like powdered quartz is used for this purpose at present and it does not appear that the technique has changed from what it was in the Indus Valley. The small rod of semi-precious stone (Skt. Maṇi, Persian Sang) about 3 inches in length and square in section was then flaked to a rough cylinder and finally ground and polished. The second part of the technique is called कोरना (koraṇā) i. e. making round and is still employed by the traditional lapidarists. The three-fold process of cutting, rounding and polishing being over, two more processes remained, viz. perforating a central longitudinal hole and finally cutting the rods to the required size of the bead. The process of drilling or boring (Hindi, bedhanā) was laborious but performed with simple tools and an adroitness gained after long experience. Today Cambay is the biggest centre of bead manufacture, specially agate, and it may not be surprising if the Harappan craftsmen of Rangpur and Lothal started the industry and have left behind their legacy.

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SHAPES OF BEADS—Cylindrical beads of varying lengths from long thin specimens to very short ones are common, some of them tipped at both ends with gold. Beads of cog-wheel type of thin discoid shape made of glazed paste have been found. Short barely-shaped (yava-madhyaka) and long barrel-shaped beads (harītakī-madhyaka) were popular. Other shapes included the rectangular and segmented beads (Hindi garerīnumā).

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CLASSES OF ORNAMENTS—(a) Head-bands made of thin flat strips of gold worn round the forehead both for beauty and for keeping the hair in position. They are now known as Pāt (Skt. Patra) and worn by Jat women in Rohtak area even today. These ribbon-like strips or fillets vary in length up to 16" and a little less than half an inch in width. Generally two holes are bored at the two ends, but there are specimens showing a number of holes bored along one edge to attach pendant strings of small pearls on the forehead.

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(b) Metal cones - Small cones of gold (Hindi, Sone kī kulfiyān, सोने की कुलफियाँ ) have been found in both the cities with a loop soldered inside the tip end. They were worn behind the ears and seem to be the same as Vedic kurīra.

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GIRDLES—A favourite ornament with women was the gold girdle. One specimen found in Hoard No. 2 of Mohenjo daro is 3' 4" in length. It consists of 6 strings having long barrel-shaped cylindrical beads of translucent red carnelian, each being 4.85" long by ·4 in diameter in the middle and ·3" at the two ends. They are separated from one another by spiral beads and a vertical bronze spacer pierced with holes for the strings. At each end of the girdle there is a semi-circular hollow flatened terminal of bronze originally gilded. This perfect specimen is evidence of the high mastery in this art attained by the Indus Valley goldsmiths. Of long carnelian beads even the inside was polished, the process of boring and polishing being managed from both ends and the holes meeting accurately in the middle. Very probably a copper drill with fine emery powder was used.

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Another necklace of special beauty consists of a single row of barrel-shaped beads of translucent green jadeite, a stone found in Central Asia. It is beautified by disc-shaped beads of gold separating the green jadeite ones and further by setting pendants of agate and jasper in the centre. Two necklaces of minute gold cylindrical beads and of globular beads (मटरमाला) are attractive. A fine choker (Kaṇṭhā) worn on the neck comes from Mahenjo-daro consisting of six strings of globular beads separated at intervals by flat gold spacers and finished with hemi-spherical hollow terminals at each end..

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MISCELLANEOUS ORNAMENTS — We also find finger rings of gold, silver, shell, copper and bronze; ear-rings which are limited in number due to the fact that they were not removed from the ears of women at the time of death, as is the practice upto the present day; but there is no example of nose-studs which are absent throughout the long history of Indian ornaments until the Muslim period. Bracelets were made of gold, silver, copper, bronze and faience which are pieces of real art. Pottery bangles were worn by the poorer people. They are generally crude, but an exceptionally well finished specimen made of very fine clay and coated with smooth pink slip was found.

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HAIR-PINS — Both men and women were fond of keeping long hair often gathered in a knot or bun at the back of the head. Fillets, combs and hair-pins helped in the make-up of coiffure styles. The hair-pins, together with handled mirrors and kohl pots and sticks point to a cult of beauty for adornment of the physical body referred to as a special feature (Upanishad) of Asura culture. Several hair-pins are worthy of note, e.g. a fine specimen of bronze surmounted by two heads of black bucks placed back to back each with spiral horns; (ii) another topped by spirals on either side similar to those found in Egypt; (iii) an ivory pin with an ibex; (iv) a pin topped by three monkeys seated in a ring with arms round each other's shoulder; (v) a pin with its top like the seed-vessel of a lotus. [Fig. 22].

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Ivory — A few ivory objects indicate the beginnings of this art by the Harappans. Elephant depicted on the seals roamed in the large forests in a wet climate. An interesting ivory plaque (1.05" x .4" thick) shows a male figure facing left with hands on hip and wearing a close-fitting cap and a short loin-cloth. He carries a quiver of arrows on the back. Such figures are seen on archaic seals from Susa in ancient Iran. Other ivory objects include collyrium sticks, combs, mirror handles and cylinders.

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Shell (Saṅkha) — Its supply was obtained from nearer home in Persian Gulf rather than the Gulf of Manar. Saṅkha articles both for inlay and ornaments were as popular as they are even body. The shapes and designs of inlay show (i) Petals, a common shape used for flower designs laid against a circular centre to form the corona (ii) Stepped design, it does not appear on painted pottery at Mohenjo-daro although popular at Nal in north Baluchistan and on the painted ware of the First Period at Susa. It is an open question whether this motif was intended to represent a *ziggurat* i.e. multi-terraced temple, or the battlement motif on citadel walls conspicuous in Achaemenian art and found also at Bharhut, Sanchi and Mathura. It may be the same as the *Pañcha-paṭṭika* motif of early Buddhist literature. (iii) Cross—It is in two forms, one with arms of equal length found in many countries, and the other with one of the arms double the other. Specimens of the latter have been found besides the Indus Valley in Elam and early Babylonia. (iv) Rosettes, a fairly common design scattered in Iran, Mesopotamia and Egypt and continued throughout the historic art of India. (v) A two-foil arch design, in simple or complex form, is peculiar to the Indus Valley and not known outside. It is marked on the sides of antelopes and also of the rhinoceros (vi) Fret design - these are circles with their interior frecked in various ways. This motif is unknown at Susa and in Mesopotamia. (vii) Eye-design, a motif found in shell inlay and on painted pottery. Some inlay pieces of lozenge shape (*shakarpārā* or *larfidār*) are also known. (viii) *Pipal* leaf—only one inlay piece was found, although the design is popular on painted pottery. (ix) Animal figurines in shell or any other inlay are extremely rare at Mohenjo-daro, although common in Babylonia.

Seals

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About 1200 steatite seals found at Mohenjo-daro alone occupy an important place in Indus Valley art. The normal size is from ¾" to 1¼" in length, the shape being square, having a perforated boss at the back for handling and suspension. There are seals without the boss also and some of round shape. Only about six specimens of cylinder seals have been found. In manufacture the rough stone was cut with a saw as in the case of beads and finished with a knife and abrasive, the fine carving being done with a burin or fine chisel and drill with utmost care of which the craftsmen were capable. The seals were a mass-produced commodity, "little masterpieces of controlled realism, with a monumental strength, in one sense out of all proportion to their size and in another entirely related to it, their average attainment being exceedingly high" (Wheeler, *The Indus Civilization*, p. 76).

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The intaglios or engraved designs on the seals include a wide range of animals with some pictographic signs. Some have only linear designs including the *Svastika*, multiple squares set concentrically, a cross pattern both plain and multiple. It should be noted that the Indus Valley seals have no resemblance either in shape or device or in the pictographic signs with any seals of Sumer or other civilizations of Western Asia. The technique of cutting and polishing the seal with its white lustre was an invention *sui generis* or unique to the Indus Valley people which no other people of antiquity can share with them. Their independence is established in many other fields, e.g. the script of which not a single sign out of 400 has been traced elsewhere, a good deal of pottery, ornaments and decorative designs; no doubt they had wider contacts and perhaps colonies of Indian merchants settled in Mesopotamia, but that was in the normal course of trade and the creative genius of the people in many fields asserted itself in their own land in accordance with their own inspiration.

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