The Indus Civilization c5.69

c5.69

North of this bath is a group of bathrooms of exceptional interest (Pl. B, a). These are eight in number, four north and four south of a passage with a drain along its centre to carry away the water. Each room is carefully paved and contains the remains of a stairway which led to an upper storey now destroyed, and another striking feature is the very narrow doorway giving on to the passage, which has jambs so thick that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to see into the room from outside; moreover, no door exactly faces another. The whole arrangement suggests that it was designed for members of a priestly order, each living in a cell above his bathroom, which he entered by his private staircase. The central passage was probably used by the servant whose duty it was to supply the water. A large oval well in a room in the south-east corner of the same building was the source of supply, and the grooves cut by the ropes which drew up the buckets are still seen in the well-preserved coping.