National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
CH. VI ANCIENT HOUSEHOLD IMPLEMENTS 99
tti Kharoshthi documents on wood began to crop up in
numbers. After the first discovery of a `takhta' or tablet
dj had been duly rewarded with some Chinese silver, I had
the satisfaction in each of the three living-rooms of the house of seeing specimen after specimen of this ancient record and e correspondence in Indian language and script emerge pp from where the last dweller, probably a petty official, about the middle of the third century A.D. had left behind his
`waste paper'.
1114 It added to my gratification to see that a number of the
rectangular and wedge-shaped letter tablets still retained intact their original string fastenings, and a few even their clay seal-impressions. How cheering it was to discover on them representations of Heracles and what appears to be
01 a representation of the Genius Populi Romani, left by the
impact of classical intaglios (Fig. 44) ! To be greeted once
c more at these desolate ruins far away in the heart of Asia
of by tangible links with the art of Greece and Rome seemed
to efface all distance in time and space.
lQ Just as familiar to me were the household and agricultural
implements, all of wood, which this ruin yielded. Remains of a wooden chair decorated with carvings of Graeco- Buddhist style, weaving instruments, a boot-last, a large eating-tray, mouse-trap, etc., were all objects I could with my former experience recognize at the first glance, and so also the various methods employed in constructing the wattled walls, with well-wrought timber-posts and skilful wicker-work between the plaster.
Our next task was the clearing of the remains of a far larger structure close to camp. Here the walls and any objects which may have been left between them proved
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