The Indus Civilization c5.65

c5.65

To the west of the stupa, but in the same mound, is situated perhaps the most interesting building yet discovered at Mohenjo-daro. It was excavated by Sir John Marshall in the season 1925-6, and contains a large bath, built entirely of burnt brick and measuring thirty-nine feet three inches in length and twenty-three feet two inches in width (Pl. A). This bath can be entered at either end by means of a staircase with treads a little over nine inches wide and eight inches high, each tread being recessed at the ends to take a plank, which shows that the steps were originally covered with wood. Immediately below the foot of each stairway is a broad platform sixteen inches high and thirty-nine inches wide, which extends the width of the bath; this was perhaps intended for a safe bathing place for children. A paved walk, about fifteen feet across, which surrounded the top of the bath, rested on foundations composed of burnt brick cells filled with solid masses of clay, while round this promenade is a fenestrated wall whose upper portion has been badly damaged by denudation. The openings in the wall provided access to a cloistered walk seven feet wide which continues right round the bath, save only in the north-west corner; outside this cloister there is a series of chambers of various sizes.