The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c17.49

c17.49

Terra-cotta was used for a variety of objects in addition to the categories described above. Whistles made in the form of a hollow bird (hen?) with a small hole in the back or side are characteristic of the Harappan culture. Round pottery rattles with small clay pellets inside are fairly numerous. Cubical or tabular dice were of pottery, marked (save in one example from Harappā)³ not as to-day, i.e. so that the sum of two opposite sides is seven, but with 1 opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 opposite 6. A similarly marked terra-cotta die occurred at Tepe Gawra, near Mosul, in stratum VI, which ended about 2300 B.C.⁴ It may be recalled that dicing was later a favourite pursuit of Vedic India. Pottery spoons imitate the commoner shell prototypes. Abundant carrot-shaped cones of plain terra-cotta recall in some measure the coloured cones which sometimes variegated the surface of Sumerian buildings, but were more probably used in the Indus valley in spinning; there is no evidence there of an architectural use. Discoidal spindle-whirls are common. Triangular (occasionally round or squarish) cakes of baked clay, varying from 1½ to 4 ins. across, have been regarded as "model cakes" for ritual use either as offerings or as grave-goods. This interpretation is unproved and unlikely. The "cakes" are roughly made but have no determinate feature except the flat sides and rounded angles. Their great abundance, particularly in drains, would be consistent with a use in the toilet, either as flesh-rubbers¹ or as an equivalent to toilet-paper, much as lumps of earth are sometimes used by the modern peasantry. Other slabs of terra-cotta with a pricked, file-like face and smooth rounded back are more certainly recognized as flesh-rubbers and sometimes show evidence of considerable wear. Finally, reference may be made to fragments of terra-cotta cages in which insects or small animals may have been kept,² and to little terra-cotta coffers with open ends, thought to be mouse-traps.³