The Lost River On the trail of Saraswati

Fig. 5.4. A part of Lothal’s drainage system; from the individual bathing platforms, used waters flowed out of the town. (© ASI)

Fig. 5.5. A typical Harappan cylindrical well with trapezoid bricks (Mohenjo-daro). (© ASI)

Fig. 5.7. A Harappan painted pot with motifs of intersecting circles, pipal leaves, birds and hatching (Harappa, cemetery R 37). (© ASI)

Fig. 5.8. The ‘dancing girl’, a bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro. (© ASI)

Fig. 5.9. Kalibangan’s 4800-year-old ploughed field. (© ASI)

Fig. 5.10. A possible ancestor of the game of chess, found at Lothal. (© ASI)

Fig. 6.1. A view of Kalibangan’s mounds from the Ghaggar’s bed (photo taken during A. Ghosh’s expedition of 1950). (© ASI)

Fig. 6.2. Marc Aurel Stein. (© ASI)

Fig. 6.4. A view of the Ghaggar’s wide bed at Anupgarh, as Aurel Stein must have seen it (photo taken in 1950 during A. Ghosh’s expedition). Note the bank on the right. (© ASI)

Fig. 6.5. The expedition team in the Sarasvatī Valley in 1950. From left to right: Debala Mitra, Amalananda Ghosh, Ballabh Saran and Shruti Prakash.27 (© ASI)

Fig. 6.6. A map of the sites explored during the 1950 survey. All the sites plotted are located on the edges of the Sarasvatī’s bed, or in it. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.2. Banawali’s fire temple, with the apsidal altar in the centre. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.4. A tiled floor in a house at Kalibangan. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.5. An artist’s impression of Lothal (Gujarat). Note the dockyard in the foreground and the warehouse on the left. The lower town is in the background. (Not to scale.) (© ASI)

Fig. 7.6. Lothal’s huge baked-brick basin, almost 220 m long, thought to have been a dockyard. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.8. A room in the eastern gate of the castle’s fortifications at Dholavira. Note the two square bases of stone pillars and one circular segment. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.9. A stone well in Dholavira’s castle. (The woman at the bottom gives the scale.) Note the grooves on the stone slab, made by sliding ropes. (© ASI)

Fig. 7.10. Dholavira: a huge rock-cut reservoir (‘SR3’), south of the castle.

Fig. 8.1. Seven studies pointing to an arid environment during the Mature Harappan phase: (1) Geyh and Ploethner on the Hakra; (2) Rao and Kulkarni in the Jaisalmer region; (3) Enzel, et al. at Lunkaransar; (4) M.A. Courty in Haryana and north Rajasthan; (5) Gurdip Singh on Rajasthan lakes; (6) Bryson and Swain on Rajasthan lakes; (7) McKean at Balakot. Compare with Fig. 8.2.

Fig. 8.2. Seven studies pointing to a wetter environment during the Mature Harappan phase: (1) Wasson, et al. at Didwana; (2) Naidu in the Arabian Sea; (3) von Rad, et al. off Karachi; (4) Phadtare in the Garhwals; (5) Staubwasser, et al. in the Indus delta; (6) Gupta, et al. in the Northwest; (7) Wright around Harappa. Compare with Fig. 8.1.

Fig. 8.3. A curve of the water level of Didwana Lake, Rajasthan (adapted from R.J. Wasson, et al.).

Fig. 9.1. Kaushambi’s fortifications, with a revetment of baked bricks. (© ASI)

Fig. 9.2. An apsidal temple at Atranjikhera (c. 200 BCE). Compare this with Banawali’s apsidal temple, Fig. 7.2. (© ASI)

Fig. 9.3. Dholavira’s plan with the principal ratios at work.

Fig. 9.4. Overall plan of the mahāvedi.

Fig. 9.5. Dholavira’s dimensions expressed in terms of a unit equal to 1.9 m.

Fig. 9.6. Proportions and units of major buildings of Mohenjo-daro’s acropolis (D = 1.9 m).

Fig. 9.7. Verifying that the distance between the sun (or moon) and the earth is 108 sun (or moon) diameters.

Fig. 9.8. Dimensions of the Delhi Iron Pillar expressed in terms of D = Dholavira’s dhanus (1.9 m), A = Dholavira’s angula (1.76 cm).

Fig. 9.9. Plan of a part of Sirkap, Taxila, excavated by Marshall. Note the regular spacing of the side streets perpendicular to the main north-south street. (© ASI)

Fig. 9.10. Sketch of a few Harappan dice.

Fig. 9.11. An anklet on a broken bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro. (© ASI)

Fig. 9.12. Sketches of two tablets depicting Harappan river boats.

Fig. 9.13. A few examples of Indus writing on seals. (© ASI)

Fig. 9.14. From the Indus to the Brāhmī scripts (in BCE dates).

Fig. 9.15. A few of the similarities between animal symbols on Indus signs and punch-marked coins pointed out by C.L. Fabri.

Fig. 9.16. A few symbols common to the Indus script and punch-marked coins, adapted from Fabri.

Fig. 9.17. A few symbols common to the Indus script and punch-marked coins, adapted from Savita Sharma.

Fig. 9.18. Examples of possible composite signs (left column) and diacritical marks (right column) in the Indus script.

Fig. 10.1. The swastika on a Harappan tablet (left), and on pottery of the early historical era (top right: Rupar; bottom right: Ahichchhatra). (© ASI)

Fig. 10.2. The Harappan ‘endless knot’ (left), and the same symbol on an historical inscription3 (right).

Fig. 10.3. The Harappan tree (left), and its historical counterpart (right).

Fig. 10.4. The famous ‘Pashupati’ seal. Inset: A nandipada symbol from Mathura.9 (© ASI)

Fig. 10.5. A humped bull on an Indus seal. (© ASI)

Fig. 10.6. Sketch of two mother goddesses : from the third millennium BCE (left) to the second century BCE (Mathura style, right).

Fig. 10.7. A Harappan female ‘centaur’ (cylinder seal from Kalibangan); she watches two warriors who appear to be competing for a woman. (© ASI)

Fig. 10.8. A Harappan god (left) under an arch of pipal leaves; Shiva (right) under an arch of fire. (© ASI)

Fig. 10.9. A potsherd from Lothal: two crows and an envious fox. (© ASI)

Fig. 10.10. Lingas found at Harappa (left) and Kalibangan. (© ASI)

Fig. 10.11. A seal depicting the same deity as in Fig. 10.4. (© ASI)