Toilet

Home toilets

The Pūrvakāmika (via GhorAngirasa), 1 of the 28 canonical Siddhāntāgamas, first speaks of “open defecation” at the wee hours of dawn & then prescribes an alternative at the end:

gṛhe maitrapade vāpi kṛtvā cāvaśyaka-kriyām ||
śaucaṃ samācaret snānaṃ mandire prāgvidhānataḥ |

Archeology

Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had good sanitation system.

There is evidence from the historical period for urban residential drainage. e.g. mauryan drains in pATaliputra; shuNga drain in Atrajinkhera; shuNga to gupta drains in Mathura; septic tank at mathurA; there have been several reports in the Indian archaeological literature.

Moreover the smR^iti-s say that voiding malamUtrau should be done in silence in secluded spots with many negative qualifiers. It was hardly like a place where people chatted at leisure. May be that happened in ancient Rome. The ASI report this a gupta age toilet fitting from a “monastery” so it would be internal not open.- MT