An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c23.s2.1

v1.c23.s2.1

Toilet caskets are vessels or containers which could be identified as those for keeping toilet articles such as perfumes, unguents, antimony, kohl, etc. The earliest clearly identifiable example of a toilet casket is a fluted kohl or cosmetic jar of cast bronze (?) from Chanhudaro (Mackay, 1943, p. 177, pls. LXXIII, 39 and LXXVI, 32) whose ‘narrow mouth (0·22 inch, 5·58 mm) and the long neck . . . suggest that it was made to hold a fine powder such as kohl.’ Mackay also identified some of the miniature vessels from Chanhu-daro as either cosmetic jars (*ibid.*, pl. XXVII, 68-78, 81-92) or kohl jars (*ibid.*, pls. XXXIX, 22 and 26, XXVII, 73 and 92). Some of the small pottery jars from Chanhu-daro with a minute hole drilled on either side in their rims were also considered by Mackay to have ‘once contained some cosmetic, and it was thought necessary to hang them up to protect their contents from mice and ants’ (*ibid*., p. 68, pls. XXVII, 84, 89, 92 and XXXIX, 22). The faïence [16.6] toilet jars from Mohenjo-daro (Marshall, 1931, p. 365, pl. CI, 3 and 10; Mackay, 1938, p. 318, pl. CV, 34 and 35) also had two minute holes perforated on the flanged rim for suspension.