Saturday October 3, 2009
Loo and behold! Its potties galore
Stories by NEETA LAL
The next time you visit India, don’t forget to check out the spectacular Sulabh International Museum of Toilets — the world’s only showcase of lavatory exhibits from 56 countries.
The unique Sulabh International Museum of Toilets has been attracting visitors from all corners of the globe ever since it threw open its doors to the public in 1992.
Thronged by heads of states, academicians and tourists, the toilet museum sprawls over many acres on the fringes of New Delhi.
Divided into different segments, the museum contains a trove of facts, pictures and objects relating to the historic evolution of toilets from 2,500 BC to modern times.
A chronology of global developments relating to toilet technology, toilet-related social customs across the world, amusing toilet etiquette, the sanitary conditions and toilet-related legislative efforts of various governments can all be found here.
A replica of King Louis XIV’s ‘throne’. “I travelled extensively across the world to procure information for this unique museum,” explains Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, a prominent Indian social activist, a Unesco consultant and this year’s Stockholm Water Prize Laureate.
Dr Pathak, 65, who is the founder of the toilet museum, operates sanitation-related NGOs (non-governmental organisation) in India, says, “The museum has truly been a labour of love for me. My research team contacted scores of embassies across the world to collect information, photographs and interesting trivia on this subject over several years.”
You’ll find them here — a replica of Louis XIII’s opulent throne commode, gold and silver toilet seats used by Roman emperors, a French toilet designed like a bookcase with names of literary classics engraved on it, ornately carved and meticulously painted European urinals, a treasure chest-shaped mobile commode used by the English while camping, etc.
King Louis XIII and Louis the XIV, the museum’s trivia informs, gave audience while, ahem, using the toilet.
The former actually had a commode fitted under his throne, which prompted his court jester to remark that “while the king preferred to eat in privacy, he chose to ease himself in public!”
The toilet museum contains information, photos and replicas of toilets from around the world. The replica of this famed Louis XIII throne is now on display at the museum.
An exhaustive display of antiquated privies, chamber pots, toilet furniture, bidets and water closets in use from 1145 AD to contemporary times can also be checked out in the museum’s exhibits section.
The place also houses a unique collection of poems related to toilet customs penned by authors across the world.
Extensive research by Dr Pathak’s team for about a year — across a swathe of continents — was followed by over three years of the actual setting up of the museum.
The transportation of materials, photographs, books and exhibits from across the world, admits Dr Pathak, was a gargantuan exercise involving a slew of governments, a large research team and talented artists who crafted replicas of toilet seats, commodes and urinals.
But as Dr Pathak reiterates, the museum’s aim is not just to tickle the visitor’s funny bone but also enrich their knowledge about the historical trends in the development of toilets and their design, materials and technologies adopted in the past and those in use in the contemporary world.
At the museum, you will see the evolution of the chamber pot from humble beginnings to objets d’art “The museum also helps policy makers understand the efforts made by our predecessors in this field throughout the world,” adds Dr Pathak.
Apart from this, the museum assists manufacturers of toilet equipment and accessories in enhancing their products by functioning as a technology storehouse as sanitation experts can also learn from the past and solve problems in the sanitation sector.
The national flags of different countries to which the exhibits belong are displayed alongside.
Depress a button or operate a mock toilet flush, and loo and behold, the national anthem of that particular country starts playing!
The museum also illustrates the dramatic evolution of the chamber pot from its humble beginnings.
In Victorian times, for instance, the humble pot became a veritable objet d’art and through the 1900s appealed to inventors as a vessel that could be elaborated upon and to artists as a canvas to work upon.
In 1929, for instance, an American electrician, Elbert Stallworth, patented the first electric chamber pot for use on chilly nights.
In a rubber and asbestos seat, which ran round the upper edge, were embedded metal bands enclosing resistance wires between the mica strips!
It was around 1900, the museum tells us, that the concept of a modern “bathroom” came into vogue in Europe. In India, the institution of Gushalkhana (bathroom) was established by the Mughal Kings in 1556.
Oppressed by gelatinous Indian summers, the royals constructed luxurious bathing and massage facilities employing marble, gold, silver and semi-precious stones.
Some royal bathrooms were even fitted with fancy fountains and decorative jets imported from abroad.
The Indian queens, especially, made a ritual of their baths by imbuing their bathwaters with exotic perfumes, rose petals, milk (echoes of Cleopatra?), sandalwood and aphrodisiacal herbs.
During later times, however, the accent in toilet technology has been more on aesthetics to make cisterns and bowls more decorative. It was in 1880 that the toilet curtains made their appearance.
The trend was called the age of Belle epoque in France and Edwardian opulence in England.
During 1890, the cantilever type of toilet was invented.
Since then the world has not witnessed any significant technical change except for a few modifications in the shape of toilet seats and a gradual whittling down in the quantity of water used by the various flush systems.
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