The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c17.81

c17.81

The human form is also very exceptional. Three sherds of the same pot from Harappā show a frieze of realistic panels separated by bands of chequer-pattern or counterchanged squares; one panel bears a tree, another a doe suckling her young, with a bird on her back and a fish, reeds and other symbols in the background, and a third panel illustrates a man and a child, both with uplifted hands, with birds and fish.¹ Another sherd from the same city portrays a man carrying two fishing-nets, with parts of another human form alongside.² As a whole, these designs are without close analogy, and in the present state of knowledge the Harappan pottery helps rather to isolate the Indus civilization than to link it up with other cultures.³