An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s9.21

v1.c9.s9.21

In the usual Indus style the streets were oriented n.-s. and e.-w., but an important point to be noted in this regard is that their width was in a set proportion, viz. that of 1 : 2 : 3 : 4. Thus, while the narrowest lane measured 1·8 m in width, the other passages were respectively 3·6 m, 5·4 m and 7·2 m wide. The houses consisted of a courtyard with a series of rooms around it. Within the courtyard there were rectangular mud-brick troughs and half-buried pitchers, in which respectively fodder and water were kept for the cattle. The doors were wide enough to permit entry of bullock-carts. There was often a wall in the courtyard. One of the rooms seems to have been specially earmarked for the ‘fire-altar’. This brings to mind the concept of a separate *pūjā-ghara* of Hindu houses. While the room floors were generally of mud or mud-bricks, and in one case the use of decorated tiles was also noticed, an unusual feature recorded in the upper strata was the provision of a soling below the clay floor of overburnt terracotta nodules interspersed with charcoal. Enquiries from local engineers have revealed that such a soling would protect the rooms from termites and would also prevent soil salts from travelling up the walls and thus save their surfaces from crumbling. Do not these little ingenuities speak highly of the intelligent ways in which the people tackled their problems?