An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s4.3

v1.c17.s4.3

The Harappans [4.9] as a rule disposed of their dead singly in oblong pits dug in regular cemeteries located outside the habitation some 200 to 300 m away. The extended body, sometimes with ornaments on, was laid with the head kept towards the n. In rare examples two bodies were laid together. Cremation and fractional burial in pots were practised at a few places. As a rule each grave was furnished with a large number of pots and pans, sometimes along with personal ornaments and toiletry such as faïence and shell bangles, copper rings and mirrors and gold and steatite beads. Interestingly there have been examples without any grave goods as well as without any skeletal remains. At Harappa an adult was wrapped in matting and buried in a wooden coffin. The grave pits at ROPAR measured 2·75 by ·75 m. In one example the grave was rectangular demarcated with one course of mud brick. In another example a dog's skeleton was found lying below the skeleton of the man, a practice with parallel at the Neolithic site of BURZAHOM. All the 14 excavated graves at LOTHAL were single extended burials in oblong pits, except three, which are ‘double’ or ‘twin’ burials, each consisting of the skeletal remains of two interlocked individuals. It seemingly recalls the later-day Hindu practice of *sati*, i.e., immolation of the wife on the funeral pyre of the husband, but it has not been conclusively proved that in each case the individuals belonged to the opposite sexes. Some of the graves, rectangular in shape, were demarcated with a single course of mud brick, as at ROPAR. In one example the floor of the pit was paved with mud brick and in another with *kankar*. Again in one example the grave yielded bones and horns of a goat. At RANDALIYO, Dt Rajkot, was found an extended burial in an oblong pit. The cemetery at SURKOTADA in Dt Kutch has yielded entirely different evidence. The total of four graves excavated there belong to the category of ‘post-exposure pot burials’. The pits in which the pots were laid were oval in shape and usually measured 2·02 m in length, 1·44 m in width and 30 to 50 cm in depth. Inside were offering pots of different sizes. Except in two examples which yielded small fragments of bones kept in pots (in one case they were charred) the graves were entirely devoid of skeletal remains. Architecturally these grave pits were capped with stone slabs and covered with cairn stones. At KALIBANGAN were excavated as many as 37 graves belonging not only to the ‘oblong pit’ and ‘round pit with pot’ types but also to the rectangular pit type with the sides of the pits lined with mud brick, in one example with landing steps also, as if the intention was to provide the dead with a comfortable underground chamber. It is significant to note that some of the rectangular and round (sometimes oval also) pit burials were devoid of skeletal remains. But possibly much more important is the pattern of the distribution of the different types of burials within the cemetery since it may reflect some kind of social differentiation among the population of KALIBANGAN. Thus, ‘rectangular and oblong pits with skeletal remains and offerings’ are concentrated in the e. portion of the graveyard, ‘rectangular pits with offerings but no skeletal remains’ in the w., and ‘round and oval pits with offerings but no skeletal remains’ in the n.