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Museum of Toilets

An inside view of Sulabh International Museum of Toilets at New Delhi

After visiting Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak set up a Museum of Toilets in New Delhi – said to be the only one of its kind in the world. The Museum was established with the following objectives :-

• To educate students about the historical trends in the development of toilets;
• To provide information to researchers about the design, materials and technology adopted in the past and those in use in the contemporary world;
• To help policy makers understand the efforts made in this field throughout the world;
• To help manufacturers of toilet equipment and accessories improve products by functioning as a store house of technology;
• To help sanitation experts learn from the past in order to resolve present problems.

Fancy Toilet used in 1930s

Sanitation has been the index of civilization and the museum artefacts are displayed chronologically to show the development starting from the Indus Valley Civilization of the third millennium B.C. and progressing on to the latest developments till the end of the 20th century. The museum also displays the toilets and sanitation practices in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Jerusalem, Crete and Rome.

“Museums are no longer the urban show-pieces with an elitist clientele. They are slowly and steadily becoming the instruments of social uplift. Museums cannot, and should not, keep themselves aloof from the changes taking place in the contemporary society. The success of a museum lies in how quickly and completely it is integrated with the community”

“Ever since the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets became a reality in the mid-90’s, the idea of the museum being a vehicle of social change through education and creation of awareness in the masses started formulating in my mind and I came to the firm conviction that any museum, general or subject related, tells a story and conveys a message. Sulabh is no exception” says Dr. Bindeshhwar Pathak.

Some Historical Facts

A replica of the throne of King Louis XIV

During the Third Persian War in 480 B.C. the Persians invaded Greece. They were on the verge of total victory when unhygienic toilet practices betrayed them, They had stuck to their old practice of defecating in open on sands, which led to the sudden spread of plague.

In 431 B.C., during the Peloponnesian war, Pericles called upon the people to assemble in Athens, where in the absence of adequate sanitation facilities, within two years epidemics claimed considerable lives. Incidentally, these are the oldest records of epidemics.

The Roman Emperor Vespasianus in 69 AD levied a tax on toilets which later came into criticism from his son Titus.

In 1665 The Great London Plague was a result of insanitary sanitation practices and claimed over 60,000 lives. About this time, instances occurred of epidemics spreading in Paris and other European cities due to contaminated water and unhygienic disposal of human excreta.

Despite precautionary measures, there were still sporadic cases of typhoid in London in the second half of the 19th century. One of the most notable cases affected the Royal family. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert died of typhoid in 1861. In 1871, the Prince of Wales lost a friend, The Earl of Chesterfield, and was himself struck with typhoid whilst staying in a lodge in London. Investigations later proved contamination in the plumbing lines.

Scriptures And Sanitation

A replica of the throne of King Louis XIV

Eating and defecating are basic body functions. Whilst the former receives full attention the latter is ignored, thus leading to health hazards. The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets has many tales on all such aspects of human behaviour. Community unfortunately has ignored the wise saying notably in the Old Testament where Moses admonishes his Sem tribe’s practice of evacuating close to their camps in the open. He advises “You should search for some other place and bury your excretion.” The Old Testament also cautions that “you fellows still do not realize that whatever you eat goes into the toilet through your stomach”. Much earlier, the Indian’s age Manu in his book, Manusmriti wrote in detail about sanitary norms. He forbade people to urinate and defecate in rivers or ponds. They were also advised to go some distance from religious places for defecation. The Acharya also gave a set of rules to be followed for cleaning by each section of society.

In 380 B.C., Aristotle instructed his disciple, Alexander the Great to make sure that whether it is animal or human excreta, the disposal should be carried out far from camps.

Lessons From History

The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets vividly depicts societies which learnt lessons from the suffering of others in the field of sanitation. It is a fact that the Romans did a lot for improving the toilet system, sewerage and water supply. The Roman Cloaca Maxima of seventh century B.C. is the oldest sewerage of the world. It carried surface and storm water out of the city, surrounded by seven hills. Lucius Tarcuinius, the Etrrurian ruler of Rome is still remembered for this Cloaca Maxima which went through improvements during the next 500 years.

But learning from the Persian Army’s earlier plight, the Romans lost no time in giving due importance to sanitation. As a consequence the water closet, (W.C)., became popular in France and Egypt. Later, in 275 B.C. the Agrippa Neem Waterway was constructed.

The Romans also constructed the Antoninus Bath in 200 B.C. which had 1600 holes for defecation. It was a river-top type community toilet with flowing water underneath which did the cleaning.

In 1842 Edwin Chadwick tabled before the British Parliament the Public Sanitation Bill. During this period there was considerable concern in Britain on the growing menace of insanitation. In 1843 Frederich Engels wrote a valuable dissertation on the inadequate drainage facilities and toilets in England. Britain awoke and the Sanitation Law was enacted in 1847. In the same year the sewage system was completed in London. Southwood Smith launched a campaign for environmental sanitation and subsequently the Public Sanitation Law was passed.

Ornamental Urinal Pot

Inspite of all that, the practice of throwing excreta into the rivers continued. By the 19th century the Thames in England, Seine in France, and the Tiber in Italy were stinking. The situation reached the high point when the proceedings of the Parliament at Westminister had to be suspended for a day due to putrid pollution. A blazing headline read, ‘While India burns, Thames stinks’.

History Enacted In Toilets

The Roman Emperor Heliogabas was assassinated in his toilet in 222 A.D. James I King of England was also killed in his bathroom. In the Old Testament, in the Fourth Book of Kings, it is recorded that the followers of Jehovah destroyed the shrine of the Pagan Baar and constructed a toilet in its place. According to noted archaeologist Dr. K.K. Muhammad, Emperor Akbar used to remain in his toilet for one hour which also had added facilities of a Turkish Hammam. There are several stories about poets and writers who composed their best whilst on the toilet seat!

There is a delightful tale of a British monarch’s portable toilet, when he was out hunting, lined with velvet as a safeguard against the early chill and wind.

One of the prize exhibits in the Sulabh Museum is a replica of the throne of Louis XIV (1638-1715) of France with a concealed commode which enabled the monarch to give audience whilst engaged in his bodily duties! John Harrington, a court poet of Queen Elizabeth I, is credited with the invention of the first W.C. in 1596 A.D. which, except the queen and the inventor, no third person used.

Toilets In Walls of Forts And Castles

Around the early medieval period, particularly in Europe, it was slowly realized that the toilet was not to be despised as it was closely connected with human health and comfort. As a result, toilets started coming closer to the residential areas. In 1088 AD, toilets were constructed in the Lochester Fort castle wall with the human excreta sliding along the wall through a hole. A similar system was in vogue in 1200 AD in the Viore Lu Duke Castle. Around the same time, in the Laudsberg Castle, toilets were surrounded by rectangular walls extending out from the castle wall with provision for human waste to fall beneath. Such toilets were mostly found in castles which had barracks like the Langre and Marknoses castles of England, and in Poitiers, France.

During the reign of Edward I, in Pemaris castle, North Wales, human waste was thrown down through a square shaped outlet extending out from the wall. In the Green Castle of Northern Ireland, there was a waste-drop type toilet constructed on the castle wall.

Forts/castles and residences of India’s nobility had extended projections from where defecation was done and the excrement fell either on the open ground or into the river below. The fort of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and many other houses still existing on the river-banks, bear testimony to this practice.

In such toilets, the user had only the advantage of its closeness to the residence. In matters of environment and health, it was not a satisfactory choice as the excrement fell into the river or the forest where it festered in the open. As a result, even the privileged users were the unfortunate victims of polluted air.

Novelty And Technology

It is a fact of the modern time that science has made life more comfortable, the toilet being no exception.

Electricity and electronics have revolutionized the sanitation mission. In Victorian times it became a veritable object d’art and even in the 1900s it appealed to inventors as a vessel that might be elaborated upon. In 1929, for instance, an American electrician, Elbert Stallworth, patented the first electric chamber pot for use on chilly nights! It consisted of a rubber and asbestos seat, which ran round the upper edges, to which were embedded metal bands enclosing resistance wires between the mica strips.

Incinolet, invented in the USA is a microwave toilet which negates use of water and quickly burns human excreta into a spoonful of ash. Today, there is virtually a break-neck competition in toilet manufacturing. Matsushita Electric of Japan has recently unveiled a toilet seat equipped with electrodes that send a mild electric charge through the user’s buttocks, yielding a digital measurement of the body-fat-ratio.

Immediately thereafter, engineers from a rival company, Inax, upstaged it with a new toilet that glows in the dark and whirs up its lid after an infrared sensor detects a human presence. When in use, the toilet plays any of six soundtracks, including chirping birds and rushing water.

Toto Toilets, the Japanese toilet giant came out with the Wellyoull, a toilet that automatically measures the user’s urine-sugar level by making a collection with a spoon held by a retractable mechanical arm. Toilets have a fascination for some people. Lam Sai Wing of Hong Kong who runs a jewellery store has a unique toilet in his shop. It has two 24-carat gold commodes alongwith toilet bowls, wash basins, toilet brushes, toilet paper holders, mirror frames, wall-mounted chandeliers, wall tiles and doors all made of solid gold. People have to purchase HK$ 1,000 of jewellery, for the privilege of using the toilet. Earlier in 1966 in Chicago, the USA toilet was developed with buttock stimulating mechanism to tide over constipation.

Message

Sporadic improvements here and there and innovations are not the only answer to the demands of the teeming millions. The tales told by toilets have a definite message that as far as human health is concerned, the toilet deserves no less attention than the kitchen. Such stories also express the fact that societies, over the years, have suffered due to a stark neglect of toilets.

To sum up, a 19th century quotation by Licinda Lambton will not be out of place. “The Lavatory is an intimate friend to us all, and we should honour it as such. It is undeniable that a glorious throne with a welcoming wooden seat makes us laugh with pleasure, why then do we minimize its importance, making it a mere receptacle, a necessary evil? But there is a ray of hope …with architects realizing the ‘sheer solid joy’ that a well-designed lavatory and capacious bath can give, and who are once again planning temples in which we can luxuriate.”