Toilets in Ancient India

[rniyengar]

Dear Prof.Aklujkar, in another thread you wrote:

Can we be reasonably sure that there is no reference to scavenging in pre-colonial Indian texts? 

By the way, some years back I made this note: Kalhaṇa’s Rāja-taraṅgiṇI 4.573 has the word pāyu-kṣālana-veśma. 

I am interested in this question and have looked into some of the texts. Vishvakarma Prakasha while indicating the position of various rooms (shaalaa) in a site meant for a residence does indicate a direction and position for "Vaahsthala" or "Vaashaalaa" that is the Latrine. This seems to differentiate Latrines from Snaanagr.ha or bathing room.The Manjusri-vAstu is a Sanskrit Buddhist text from Sri Lanka similar to Mayamata etc. In this text also a definite direction and location is specified for the Latrine in the Chaityas.  However, this may not answer whether or not manual scavenging was in vogue. On the other hand I recollect a report by BB Lal about excavations in the so called "Mahabharata sites".  I think it was in the excavations at Hastinapur (c 1200 BCE) he shows the figure of a pot-above-a-pot- above- a-pot-----above-a-pot  going deep into the ground almost like a tube well, which is interpreted as a latrine. It would appear in such a contraption scavenging was not required. 

I am writing from memory but I will provide the references in a few days time.

Regards

RN Iyengar

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Any write-up on the history of flush toilets is not going without the mention of IVC toilets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flush_toilet

has this:

Toilets that used water were used in the Indus Valley Civilization. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system. See also Hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilization. They also appear in Knossos and Akrotiri of the ancient Minoan civilization from the 2nd millennium BC

Locations of IVC sites are beyond the original cites of Harappa Mohanjedaro. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indus_Valley_Civilisation_sites

In fact, the site they mention as an example for flush toilet sewerage is Dholavira located on Khadir Beyt, an island in the Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat .

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Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

 

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )