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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c9.t14: Pottery

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c9.t14

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Pottery

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The potters (*kumbhakāra*) made various kinds of pots, jars, bowls and vessels. Saddālaputta is mentioned as a well-known potter of Polāsapura, who owned five hundred shops outside the city, where a number of servants was employed. The usual way of making the wares was this: lumps of clay (*mattiyā*) were kneaded with water and mixed with ashes (*chāra*) and dung (*karīsa*); the mixture was placed on a wheel (*cakka*) and by rotating it various vessels such as *karaya* (*karvā* in Hindī)¹⁷⁷, *vāraya*, *pihadaya*, *ghaḍaya*, *addhaghaḍaya*, *kalasaya*, *aliñjara*, *jambūla*, and *utthyā*¹⁷⁸ were moulded.¹⁷⁹ The wet vessels were then dried and baked.

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¹⁷⁷ *Karaya* or *dhammakaraya* is mentioned as a water-pot used by the Jain monks (*Brh Bhā* 1. 2882, 2890). It is also referred to in the *Cullavagga* (V. 13 1) with a strainer so fixed into it that a quantity of water could be filtered quickly. Perhaps it was a wooden pot.

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¹⁷⁸ Four types of earthen jar (*ghaṭa*) are referred to: *chuddakuḍḍa*, *boḍakuḍḍa*, *khaṇḍakuḍḍa*, and *sagala*; *Āva cū.*, p. 122.

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¹⁷⁹ *Uvā.*, 7, p. 51. *Anu. Sū.*, 132, p. 139. For a similar description see *Kusa Jātaka* (No. 531), V p. 291.

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In connection with the potter's shops five apartments (*sālā*) are mentioned. In *panyasālā* the potters sold their wares, in *bhāṇḍasālā* the vessels were kept in safety, in *kammasālā* the vessels were moulded, in *pucanasālā* they were baked, and in *indhanasālā* the fuel such as grass, dung, etc., was stored.¹⁸⁰

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¹⁸⁰ *Nisi cū.*, 15 p. 1058, *Brh Bhā* 2 3444 f.

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It seems that like the weavers and the black-smiths, the potters found favour with the Jain *samanas*, who frequently took shelter in their shops.¹⁸¹ The potter Saddālaputta, to whom reference has been made already, was an adherent of the Jain faith. Hālāhala was another rich potter-woman of Srāvastī in whose shop Gosāla stayed.¹⁸²

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¹⁸¹ *Cf Āva cū.*, p. 285, also *Āva Ṭī.*, (Ilari.), p. 484 f.

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¹⁸² *Bhag.* 15.

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