Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Part 2

Author(s): Dashrath Sharma
Publisher: Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 98

alignment was different from that of the pre-Harappan houses. Each house possessed one courtyard, five to seven rooms aligned on three sides, a curious fire altar and sometimes a well. In the grid plan cach house faced at least two streets if not three. The floors were made of rammed clay and paved with terra-cotta nodules and charcoal. This practice survives in the region to this day. Paved platforms were also made on the front side of some of the houses. The roof of the houses was possibly made of mud laid over a cushioning of reeds supported over wooden rafters, the remains of which have survived embedded in mud. The discovery of a well preserved stair-case with four treads intact in one house suggests the possibility of houses with two storeys. Houses were generally provided with covered burnt brick drains. In one house the drain was of wood, a log of wood scooped into a U shape. The streets were generally not provided with drains and the house drains discharged into soakage jars buried in the streets Each house had, in one of the rooms, one or more fire-places. These were shallow oval or rectangular pits in which fire was made and in the centre a cylindrical (sun-baked or pre-fired) or rectangular (baked brick ) block was fixed. Terra-cotta cakes have also been found in these pits. Apparently, the fire-places were part of some elaborate ritual.
The pottery found at the site is typical of the Harappa culture. It is sturdy in fabric, has a red-slipped outer surface and is decorated with geometric and naturalistic designs in black pigment. The most common designs are intersecting circles, scales, pipal leaves and rosettes, The vessel forms are typical of the Harappa culture and include goblet with pointed base, perforated cylindrical jar, dish-on-stand, cylindrical beaker, tall jar with S shaped profile, etc.
Agriculture was no doubt the mainstay of the economy of such a prosperous society though at present we have no evidence of the food grains they cultivated. Stock-raising was an important part of the economy and hunting also played some role. Among the animals of which the bones have been found at the site are : zebu or Indian domestic humped cattle, Indian buffalo, pig, goat, sheep, elephant, domestic ass, barasingha, Indian rhinoceros, chital, turtle and among birds, fowl.
The material culture of the Harappans was quite varied. Objects recovered from the excavation include chert blades and cores, personal ornaments like beads of semi-precious stones, gold, faience, steatite, and terra cotta. bangles of shell, copper and terra cotta, chert cubical weights, household tools or copper and bronze, terra cotta figurines of humans, animals and birds, and typical Harappan seals and sealings. Some of the animal figurines show a very vigorous and naturalistic rendering of the body. Some of the seals bear reed impressions on one face suggesting the type of packages they were employed to seal. Also noteworthy is the finding of a cylinder seal from the site. The evidence for textiles is provided by the impressions of a woven cloth on a copper object. There are a variety of terra-cotta cakęs, triangular and circular, including ill-shaped nodules. These are
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