The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.285

v1.c10.285

Tangible evidence is wanting to show what these vessels were made of. The bulk of them, doubtless, were of baked clay, or terra cotta, such as are now so common in every part of India. In the *Ṛgveda*, frequent mention is made of earthen cooking pots (*kapālas*), and for the dressing of the *puroḍāśa* cake, the *Chāndogya-pariśiṣṭa* recommends hand-made platters as purer than those turned on the potter's wheel.¹³⁴ The practice of using fresh pots on every separate occasion, a practice which was also observed by the Buddhists, and is noticed in the *Mahāwanso*,¹³⁵ gave great importance to their manufacture. Manu, Parāśara and others assigned to a particular mixed caste, the issue of a garlandmaker (*mālākāra*) by a frail daughter of a blacksmith, the *kumbhakāras*,¹³⁶ the special vocation of fashioning earthen pots. References are also not wanting to wheels for the formation, and kilns or furnaces for the baking, of such vessels. From descriptions accessible, it is probable that the old wheel did not differ from what was in use in Egypt¹³⁷ in former times, and what we are familiar with in the present day.