An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s19.24

v1.c9.s19.24

The building remains largely demonstrate the use of burnt brick although construction in unbaked brick was also in vogue, especially at RANG MAHAL and SAMBHAR. The binding medium was generally mud mortar. At SAMBHAR a locally available stone called *jhajhara* was employed in some structural foundations. The floors were of compact earth, brick, brickbat and concrete. Mostly the houses, of different sizes, comprised a courtyard with rooms along the sides. Smaller dwellings were in the form of simple rows of two or more rooms. Some residential structures had door-steps with brick-on-edge borders. Terracotta finials suggest their use as spikes for elevational grace in important structures. It appears that the planned character of the township of NAGAR¹ was retained for some time with modifications. The structural activity of the latter part of the period was also carried out in complete and fragmentary bricks robbed from earlier levels. A significant feature of the settlements was represented in the construction of a stone fortification at NAGARI, where remains of a temple, possibly dedicated to Śiva, with ornamental bricks bearing skilful floral, bird and human-face motifs were also found. The ornate bricks are comparable with the contemporary structural terracotta work of excellent character from the Madhya-deśa sites.