A well in the street, and who can reach it

Indus civilisation · c. 2600–1900 BCE

A well shared by a city, a gambler who hears the dice rattle and forgets his resolve, a teacher who asks a student not to follow every example he sets. In five stages, we explore questions of living, knowing and justice across the Indian subcontinent, through lands that today include India, Pakistan and neighbouring countries.

Imagine going out to fetch water. The well might stand inside a house you own, or beyond a doorway someone else must let you through. At Mohenjo-daro, in present-day Pakistan, excavators found wells inside private buildings and others accessible from the street. A small detail on a city plan could make a great difference to the person carrying the pot.

The city flourished within the Indus civilisation, especially between about 2600 and 1900 BCE. Its remains reveal carefully laid brickwork and drainage networks. Some covered drains were large enough for a person to enter and clear a blockage. Behind the water coming in and the water flowing out lay work that needed organising and maintaining.

These remains prompt a question we bring to the city: what should a person be able to obtain simply because they live there, and what should depend on property or connections? We have no text from the Indus people that answers it. Nor does a public well prove that their society was equal.

A place can be well built while life within it remains unequal. So we begin by looking at the path to the well, and asking who could take it.