The Indus Civilization c5.33

c5.33

We may perhaps be disparaging them, since stone pillars may have been constructed of limestone rings threaded on wooden poles; as I have mentioned before, stone rings, varying from 16.5 to 19.1 inches in diameter and from 9.8 to 11.2 inches in height, have been found at several places in Mohenjo-daro. Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni unearthed a number of them, together with two capitals, which had all been roughly piled up in a heap in a room, and whose damaged condition suggested that they had been preserved for the value of the material. Small pittings on them, which are evidently numbers, point to their belonging to two series. The presence of these numbers seems to support the theory that the rings were originally segments of two columns, which perhaps once supported the portico of a building. On the other hand, it is claimed by some, including the finder of these stone objects, that they were *yonis* such as are commonly associated with phallic emblems.