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CHAPTER-111
THE SHRINE AND THE TEMPLE: EARLY PHASE
(i) Early Traces of the Indian Shrine
In India, as elsewhere, the temple is evolved from simple
structures, though these as well as intermediate stages cannot
always be traced in archaeological sequence or from historical
evidence. However, a survey of the various data supplied by
the archaeological and literary sources throws some light on the
early stages of the Indian temples.
(a) The Indus Civilization (c. 3000-2000 B. C.)
The buildings discovered at different strata in the excavation
at Mohenjo daro may be classified under the following heads :
(1) dwelling-houses (2) public baths of relegious or secular
character (3) Temples of some kind, and (4) raised platforms,
possibly tombs. Now with regards to the existence of temples,
private or public, and of emblems or worship, Sir John Marshall
assumes some of the massive and well-built structures as temples.
He says, "Whether these spacious and elaborate edifices were
private houses or not are yet to be determined. Quite conceivably
some of them were temples. In Mesopotamia the temples of
gods were to all intents and purposes copies of royal palaces-
dwellings where a god could eat, drink, and make merry like
any mortal prince, and even be wedded on occassion to his
priestess. It may be, therefore, that the same idea held good at
Mohenjo-daro, and that some of these exceptionally large
buildings were erected as homes for the gods. In some such
buildings the excavators found series of those peculiar ringstones