CHANHU-DARO— MACKAY 475 



four wheels and drawn by a pair of humped oxen as in modern Sind, 

 form an interesting feature of the collection in the Museum (pi. 5). 

 Pottery model rams, with the fleece indicated by lines of red paint 

 and mounted on two wheels with a hole through the neck for a draw- 

 string, were common playthings. Marbles of pottery and stone, 

 whistles ovoid or shaped like hens (pi. 4, fig. 2), and brightly colored 

 rattles for the younger children were abundant. The better made 

 playthings in the Museum collection are undoubtedly the work of pro- 

 fessional toy makers; but the children also made toys for themselves 

 in mud, and baked them in holes in the ground covered with fuel. 



A number of pottery figurines were found of the Mother-goddess, 

 who was also worshipped at other centers of the Harappa culture. 

 Some of these figurines wear a curious fan-shaped headdress orna- 

 mented with bands of material, unless it is strands of hair that are 

 represented, carried over a support of some kind. The nose was 

 simply pinched up by finger and thumb, and in the depressions thus 

 formed pellets of clay were set to represent the eyes. Possibly there 

 was one of these little figures in every house in a niche in the wall; 

 and with them there seem to have been associated the little model 

 doves with outstretched wings, each with a hole in the base to set it 

 on a wooden pin. As we know that the dove was intimately connected 

 with the worship of the Mother-goddess in ancient Crete, Sardinia, 

 Mesopotamia, and elsewhere, it seems Ukcly that it was in the Indus 

 valley also. These bird figures were most probably votive offerings, 

 placed in or upon the shrine of the Great Mother in fulfillment of a 

 vow or in the hope of favors to come. 



The seals — or rather seal-amulets, for they undoubtedly served 

 both purposes — were all made of steatite. In shape, material, and 

 the animals engraved upon them, they are identical with those found 

 at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and many of them were similarly 

 given a smooth white surface to enhance their appearance. The 

 animal most often represented on these seal-amulets is an oxlike beast 

 always in profile with a single horn (pi. 6, fig. 1). This creature has 

 been identified with the urus-ox, a beast which is extinct in most 

 parts of the world. Before it there is always placed a curious upright 

 object, which on the better carved seals is seen to have been made of 

 wickerwork (pi. 6, fig. 2). What this object really was is as yet 

 uncertain. It has been identified as a fodder-rack, a cage for a bird, 

 and an altar. That it was a cult-object is, however, certain, for at 

 Mohenjo-daro and Harappa amulets have been found on which this 

 object is carried on a staff in what was obviously a religious procession. 

 This oxUke animal with its cult object is much the most common 

 device on the seals of the Harappa culture, but there are other animals 

 also on the seals. The collection in the Museum includes an elephant, 

 an antelope (?) (pi. 6, fig. 3), and a shorthorned bull, which animal 

 was always represented with its head lowered over a manger. The 



