An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c21.s12.5

v1.c21.s12.5

No clearly intelligible evidence of ancient Indian open fires or *gajaput* fires used for baking pottery has so far been discovered in excavations. However the simple and inexpensive but adequate pottery-baking techniques used by the modern Indian village potter enable us to visualize the techniques of the ancient potter. An open fire for baking pottery consists of a shallow circular pit, 4 to 5 m in diameter and 50 to 75 cm in depth. It is loosely filled to the brim with different kinds of easily available inexpensive fuels like dry brushwood, rice husks, dry grass or hay and cow-dung cakes. Pots are carefully piled up within the circle. The heavier thick-walled storage jars are kept at the bottom near the middle of the circle and progressively smaller pots are kept one above the other in the pile. Thus the potter maintains the equilibrium of the pile by retaining its centre of gravity near the bottom. Cow-dung cakes, hay and rice husks are put among the pots and also above them as they are placed in the pile. Finally the whole stack is completely covered with brushwood and hay and plastered with a thin layer of clay. At the top of the pile a 50 to 75 cm long cylindrical clay pipe is fixed like a chimney. Around the bottom of the pile, at the ground level, are arranged 10 to 12 air inlets made up of rims of broken pottery. While these holes are also used to set fire to the pile, they primarily act as vents for natural draught of air into the burning pile.