History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c33.s1: Indus Valley
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c33.s1
- Language
- English
Contents
- v1.c33.s1.t1 Alignment — 1 part
- v1.c33.s1.t2 Orientation — 17 parts
Indus Valley
v1.c33.s1.1
The remarkable uniformity is the characteristic feature of the town-planning of the Indus. This is evident from the regularity with which the city of Mohenjo-daro is divided up - a regularity which is striking for an ancient city (Marshall). They intersected each other at right angles dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks.
Alignment
v1.c33.s1.t1.1
The streets of the Indus Cities—both wide and narrow are aligned, as regularly as possible, instead of winding as was usual in very early cities. The alignment was done by simple methods, with no evidence of instruments. This led to slight divergences — especially in streets that were supposed to be parallel. However, on the whole, especially in shorter distances, the alignment can be termed as accurate (Marshall).
Orientation
v1.c33.s1.t2.1
The main streets of the city of Mohenjo-daro are oriented to the points of the compass, with the houses and public buildings corresponding with the streets, in their orientation.
v1.c33.s1.t2.2
*Size*
v1.c33.s1.t2.3
The size of the streets varied. The broadest streets were over 30 ft. wide and the streets in the less important parts of the city measured only around 13 ft.
v1.c33.s1.t2.4
*Lanes*
v1.c33.s1.t2.5
Lanes were mainly used by people to pass from one street to another. The lanes also served to divide one block from another. These lanes varied from 3'8" to 7' in width.
v1.c33.s1.t2.6
*Barred streets*
v1.c33.s1.t2.7
Some streets in Mohenjo-Daro have thin walls across them, thus barring them entirely.
v1.c33.s1.t2.8
*Rounded street corners*
v1.c33.s1.t2.9
Many of the corners of the streets were slightly rounded as if they had been worn by pack animals rubbing against them (Marshall). In two cases, the corners have been deliberately trimmed, and subsequently rubbed smooth by traffic. This was done so that loads might not be dislodged.
v1.c33.s1.t2.10
The streets of Mohenjodaro were unpaved, but terracotta nodules seem to have been used in Kalibangan — especially for metalling the road surfaces in upper levels. Streets in Kalibangan also ran along the cardinal directions.
v1.c33.s1.t2.11
Carts and cattle were used as means of transport — over land routes. This is evidenced by the finding of terracotta models of bullock carts. Further, cart-tracks were found on the roads of Harappan cities. Copper and bronze models of carts have been excavated from Harappa and Chanhudaro.
v1.c33.s1.t2.12
*Dockyard at Lothal*
v1.c33.s1.t2.13
So far there are only two pieces of evidences for water transport - one on a seal and another a potsherd. This is a trapezoidal brick structure measuring 710' × 124'. It is rivetted on all four sides with a continuous dry masonry burnt-brick wall, 4 courses wide, which at its greatest extant depth reaches to 14 ft, (but might have been originally much higher). The structure was stratigraphically connected to the old river-bed of Sabarmati.
v1.c33.s1.t2.14
The discovery of five anchor-stones in the basin of the dock, the absolute verticality of the walls of the embankment without any provision for reaching the water-level by means of a ramp or flight of steps and the extraordinary salinity of the silt inside the dock indicate that the structure was designed to serve as a dock.
v1.c33.s1.t2.15
Towards the southern end of the eastern embankment there is a broad and relatively shallow gap. This has been supposed to be the inlet channel of the dock. Leading from the southern wall is a narrow brick water passage, said to have functioned as a spill channel, when fitted with a sluice-gate.
v1.c33.s1.t2.16
According to S.R.Rao, the dock has been used in two stages:
v1.c33.s1.t2.17
i) Stage I = It was designed to sluice ships 18-20 metres long and 4-6 metres wide. At least two ships could simultaneously pass and enter easily.
ii) Stage II = The inlet channel was too shallow and narrow to accommodate large ships and only flat bottoms could enter.