History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t1.2

v1.c26.s3.t1.2

Half-way up the structure was an unloading platform; this could be approached by carts carrying grain, which probably arrived along the river. Adjoining the granary were a row of brick-lined pounding platforms with a central hole, still carrying fragments of burnt wheat and husked barley. At Harappa, the mud platform, situated again by the river, was 52 by 42 metres, and 1.2 metres high, and on it stood two identical granary blocks about 7 metres apart (Vats, 1940, I, p. 15 & II, Pl. 6). Each block had six chambers, with corridors between them opening outside and approached by a short flight of steps. The floor was raised off the ground to permit air to circulate, and small triangular vents sucked in this air to pass through the chambers. Some form of state authority was clearly involved in the procurement and distribution of grain on a large scale. At Lothal, the granary, or perhaps warehouse, overlooked the dock (Rao, 1962, pp. 14-30). It was 51 by 45 metres and stood on a platform 3.5 metres high. The vanished wooden granary, probably destroyed by fire, appears to have rested on palettes or blocks 3.7 metres square and a little over a metre high. Never in Indian history till recent times was grain to be stored on this scale.