DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

NOTES TO CHAPTER III 79
The very act of sealing, even for protection of trade goods, was also a religious act in
the old days. One of the early directors of excavations at Mohenjo-daro showed me
photographs of what he believed to be the traces of a reed bundle which might have
been sealed; seals for trade packages and on state licences were regularly inspected
from the 4th century B. c. onwards, while there is no reason to believe that the custom
suddenly came into fashion at that period.
15. The hill of clinker which was later spread out on the Hindu University grounds
at Banaras illustrates my meaning. It originated from the work of kasara families
who cast bell-metal pots, cups and plates on the site for many generations. Incidentally
the modern village names Nagvd and Lanka of the Hindu University neighbourhood
are recognizable in the Kamauli charter (El. 4.113) of Govindacandra Gahadavala (A.D.
1141-2), though the editor failed to make the identification, while there is nothing to
show that the main settlement was then of workers in metal.
16. C. Benveniste and L. Renou : Vrtra Vrthragna (Paris, 1934), particularly
p. 196.