History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s2: Harappan Pottery
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s2
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Harappan Pottery
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The Harappan pottery is one of the most distinctive ceramics of ancient India. The Indus or the Harappan civilisation, which has been described as “the vastest political experiment before the Roman empire,” was spread over the present states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Harayana, western Uttar Pradesh and the whole of Pakistan. Considering the distribution of the culture, it is not reasonable to expect uniformity in ceramic over such extensive area. Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1974, p. 74) rightly observes : “There is no doubt that the so called uniformity of the Harappan culture in depth has been exaggerated and is due as much to archaic methods of research as to say inherent conservation in the ancient craftsman.” But there are nevertheless certain distinguishing characteristics of the pottery which are common in all these regions. The typical Harappan pottery, both plain and painted, is made of extremely fine well levigated clay, the degraissants used were mica, sand and lime. It was uniformly fired at a high temperature and the fully oxidised cores indicate that the pottery was well baked.
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It was turned on a fast wheel as the regular striation marks suggest. It is a sturdy ceramic, producing a metallic ring when struck and is uniformly thick in fabric though thin walled vessels also occur.
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There are certain forms of the Harappan pottery which can be taken as fossil shapes (Fig.2). Among these are the goblets sometimes stamped with inscriptions, dish-on-stand, ‘S’ shaped vases, beakers, perforated cylindrical jars, storage jars with heavily beaded rims and so on. Of these the goblet, the beaker and the perforated jar are usually plain whereas the others are mostly treated with a thick bright red slip over which are found painted designs in black pigment. The design repertoire is quite rich consisting as it does of both naturalistic and geometric motifs. The most distinguishing are the intersecting circles, the overlapping scales, the pipal leaf etc. Bull, peacock and fish are also present. Besides these, narrative scenes are also sometimes met with. Bichrome and polychrome pottery too occurs at some of the Harappan sites, but is extremely rare (vide Starr & Manchanda).
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It has been suggested that the fine Indus pottery was probably made on a fast wheel. In this connection it may be stated that there are two types of potters wheel viz., the hand wheel and the foot wheel. The latter is operated by the potter with his foot and is much faster than the former. Ernest Mackey is of the opinion that the Indus pottery was turned on the foot wheel.
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It is interesting that the foot wheel is not presently used in India today except in Punjab, Sind and Baluchistan and it is very likely that the same was in use in that area since Harappan times. Presently the foot wheel is in use in many countries of West Asia such as Iran, Israel, Iraq, Egypt etc., and consequently it is not unlikely that it reached India from West Asia sometimes in the fourth millenium B.C.
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The beautiful Harappan pottery was fired in kilns specially built for the purpose. Harappan kilns have been unearthed in the course of excavation at Mohenjo-daro and Lothal. Of the two kilns laid bare at Mohenjo-daro, only one is somewhat intact and conveys us a fair idea of its functioning (Mackay, 1938, pp. 62, 102 and 177). It was located in the DK area which has yielded some of the most important structures and antiquities of the Indus civilization. The kiln, of fired clay, is elliptical on plan. It is 6 ft. long 4 ft. 9 in (1.80 x 1.47 m) wide but its height could not be known as the sides were already completely destroyed. The excavator has tried to reconstruct the kiln as follows : “A pit for the wood or reed fuel was prepared. Over this was a domed compartment to hold the vessels to be baked. Communication between the two was effected by round holes in the floor of the upper chamber (Mackay, 1938). In other words, the kiln can be said to have been provided with a fire chamber below whereas the holes were obviously provided to serve as outlets for the hot gas from below. This type of kiln, known as the vertical kiln was also in use in West Asia in prehistoric times (Singer, I, pp. 392-94).
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Fig.2 Characteristic Harappan pottery forms