A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19.s4: Bullock-Carts from Lothal
A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19.s4
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Bullock-Carts from Lothal
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A solid wheel of a toy-chariot in alabaster carved with geometric and other designs, and terracotta toy-carts furnish evidence of the means of communication in Lothal. Probably, male buffaloes and bullocks were yoked to the carts. Three main types of bullock-carts were reconstructed by Rao with the help of the toy-wheels and cart frames found in the excavation at Lothal. The first type has a solid chassis, which is concave or flat. The second and third types have a perforated chassis. The third type has, in addition, a detachable cross-bar. On such a chassis, wooden posts were fixed to form a box-like frame (Fig. 81, top). Even now, the carts in Gujarat carry such frames formed by interlacing ropes (Fig. 81, bottom). Cotton is carried in this manner in these carts. The wheels of the Lothal carts were attached to the free projecting ends of the axle which was secured with leather straps to the main frame. Lynchpins seem to have held the wheels in position. The carts with a detachable cross-bar and those with a chassis made up of two curved bars were confined to Saurashtra. Rao believes that the latter were meant for carrying light loads, whereas the other two types were used for carrying heavy loads.²
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² Rao, S.R. *Lothal and the Indus Civilization*, p. 123
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Bernal states that the bullock-cart combined two critically important ideas—the use of animal power and the wheel. "These inventions were to have enormous material and scientific consequences. The cart and the plough between them enabled agriculture to be spread over all open plains and so far beyond the limits of the old civilizations. The increased possibilities and speed of transport by cart and even more by ship, together with the need to know the sources of valuable materials, led to deliberate exploration and to the beginnings of geography."³
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³ Bernal, J.D. *Science in History*, p. 77