DHOLAVIRA

A HARAPPAN CITY

Uday Aggarwal

17101
 DHOLAVIRA- A HARRAPAN CITY

Dholavira is one of the largest cities of its time, dating back to 4500-4000 years ago. It was a part of Indus valley /
Harrapan civilisation. The Indus valley civilisation was notable for attaining a high degree of sophistication in
settlement planning, art and architecture, stamp seals, the script, weights and measures (basic measuring unit as 1
“Dhanus” equivalent to around 1.9 meters), pottery, jewellery, implements and so on.

Dholavira was discovered in 1967, and is being excavated since 1990. It covers over 100 hectares of semiarid land at
the north west corner of the island of “khadir”, one of the islands in the great Rann of Kutch that remain above the
flood plains in the months when the rest of the dessert is submerged by monsoon. Its locally known as “kotada”
which means “large fort”. It was occupied from 3rd millennium BCE to the middle of 2nd millennium BCE, i.e. 2650 BCE
to 1450 BCE, and its population is estimated to be between 15000 to 20000. There is plenty of evidence, like rocks
bearing fossilized marks of sea shells, indicating that it was a port city or there was a port located nearby, which also
means Dholavira must have been a trading hub.

Dholavira was known for:

 Excellent city planning,

 Efficient water harvesting system and world earliest and best planned water conservation system,
 Worlds first sign board written in ancient Indus script,
 Monumental architecture,
 Gateways,
 well-constructed underground drainage system for sanitation.

A distinct feature of Dholavira civilisation is that it Passed through all the 7 different stages which document the rise
and fall of Harrapan civilisation, from circa 2900 BCE to 1500 BCE, while others only saw early or later stages. Culture
started with nascent urbanism, passed through the stages of maturity and decline followed by deurbanization.

Salient features consisted of Citadel, middle town, lower town, several fortifications, reservoirs, the city was
configured like a large parallelogram secured by massive fortification with the longer axis from east to west, with in
the walled area were series of water reservoirs which existed on all sides.

No relics of religious places were found in the entire city. However, depiction of a proto shiva like person can be seen
on some of the seals.

Excavated artefacts include terracotta pottery, beads, gold and copper ornaments, seals, fish hooks, animal figurines,
tools, urns and some important vessels that indicate trade link with land far from Mesopotamia.
Also found was, what the archaeologists think of as a sign board, made up of 10 large sized letters of the Harrapan
script, the 3 m long inscription was found below the northern gateway and its speculated that the letters must have
been inlaid on a wooden signboard above the door of the gate so as to be visible from far, the script of which hasn’t
been deciphered.

Inscriptions on the sign board

The remains show an imposing citadel in the center with a middle and a lower town each fortified separately.
Surrounded by enormous walls measuring 15-18 m in thickness, with in the rectangular layout. A unique city space
with the citadel divided it into two parts along with a middle and lower town, gives a clue of how society was
stratified during that period.

Citadel part is called “elite” area, we get to see a massive castle located on the cities highest point and some other
big structures in this area, which are believed to have been occupied by the administrators. Well laid out lanes lead
outwards systematically from the citadel.

To the north of the citadel was the quadrangular middle town, along with an area measuring 283 m in length and
47.5 m in width, identified as ceremonial ground or “stadia”. which probably was used for multiple purposes like
venue for public gathering on festive or ceremonial occasions, a stadium or a market place for exchanging
merchandise during trading seasons. It also served as a transition from the citadel to the middle town which was
accessible from the citadel through a grand gateway on its northern wall, the stadia had 4 narrow terraces probably
used for seating arrangements.

View of the stadia from citadel

The middle town was characterised by a network of streets with defined hierarchy, intersecting at right angles.
Beyond the middle town and enlacing it and the citadel was the lower town were the commoners lived.
A regular house was built with sundried brick and stone masonry, and consisted of four rooms, a spacious courtyard,
a bathroom and also a kitchen, creating an inward-looking architecture which was accessible from inner alleys.

Main source of water were the two seasonal nallahs or streams outside the settlement, “Mansard” in the north and
“Manhar” in the south and some ground water. Water in both these streams was slowed down by a series of dams
and was partly diverted inside the settlement into the lower town. Excavations show that the city was dived into 3
parts and each part had an underground water tank connected by underground channels. Total area of Dholavira
inside the fortification was about 47.57 hectares out of which 10 hectares were allotted for reservoirs. According to
the estimates these tanks could hold up to 300,000 cubic litres of water, making sure that water was available inside
the city throughout the year.

The water conservation system consisted a combination of underground Reservoir and channels, large rock cut
reservoirs located at eastern and southern fortification and rock cut wells were developed, which are amongst the
earliest such networks made of stone in the world. During excavations remains of three large reservoirs were found,
one of these being 3 times bigger than “the great bath” of “Mohenjo-Daro”, with in the city walls 16 fresh water
reservoirs have been found, each varying in size. huge stone drains can be seen in the city which directed storm
water to the western and northern section.

Water reservoirs with steps wells at citadel

The earliest phase of Dholavira between 2650 BCE and 2500 BCE show the evidence of a pre-Harappan culture of
scattered settlements with a very basic style of pottery which evolved into a sophisticated planned city by 2500BCE
and it continued to be a great urban centre till 1900 BCE.

Most archaeologists agree that it was the climate change, probably trigged by tectonic movement that led to the
collapse of these great cities, this climate change was also seen across the bronze age civilizations during that time.

By the mid of 2nd millennium BCE the major cities of Indus valley civilization, all the great urban centers had reduced
in size or been abandoned. The climatic change potentially leads to drought, the period between 2100 BCE and 1800
BCE shows severe aridity. And it is not only confined to Indian subcontinent, similar data has been received from
china, Mongolia, west Asia and Europe.

However, studies show that the settlement survived another hundred years after this till 1550BCE, the urban centers
were gradually deserted and it became a rural settlement in the last 50 years between 1500BCE and 1450 BCE. As
the Indus plains became drier and harsher, People started moving towards east. They merged with people from the
rural communities of Deccan and Malwa plateau, they also merged with ochre coloured pottery (OCP) culture spread
around the north western parts of India. Mixed pottery of OCP and Harappa were found at later stages as we come
towards the end of the Harrapan culture.

Black and red harappan pottery along with Pottery from other cultures

Decline of civilization in the 5th and 7th stages after which were signs of a temporary dissertation of the site. Settlers
returned later in the late Harrapan stage with a change in in their pottery influenced by cultures found at sites in
Sindh, south Rajasthan and other parts of Gujrat, but the civilisation did not return, for example their houses were
built in an entirely new form that was circular (“Bhungas”) and the material signs were deurbanised and simplified.

Remains of circular house from post Harappan period

Sources:

 www.gujrattourism.com
 www.livehistoryindia.com , by krutika haraniya , 25 aug 2017
 www.youtube.com , liketobemad, harappan civilization- dholavira, 19 oct 2010
 https://whc.unesco.org , 15 april 2014