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Indeed , more houses, even modest ones, had their own bathrooms, an unprecedented luxury in that age; the bathroom generally consisted of a sloping platform or close-fitting fired bricks, with a drain through the outer wall taking waste waters to a collective sewer; this, in turn, was connected to a network of drains made of carefully aligned baked bricks, with cesspits or soak jars provided at regular intervals to collect sullage. In a few houses of Mohenjo-daro’s lower town, vertical terracotta pipes embedded in the walls point to the bathroom located on the first floor!

Such a sanitary system, unrivelled in the ancient world tilll the Roman Empire -- which developed some 2000 years later -- could function only on the basis of certain conditions. First the slope of every drain had to be rigorously calculated, which implies that the houses were, initially at least, built on specific levels. As a matter of fact, blocks of neighbouring houses were often erected on massive common platforms or bricks. A second condition was the presence of ‘municipal workers’ to inspect the soak pits regularly and remove the sullage or other obstruction. The drainage system is thus proof of considerable planning, careful execution, and an efficient civic order. Needless to say, the average ‘modern’ Indian city is far from meeting those standards! ~ Page 104

4 years ago.

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