Dholavira

Dholavira is an Indus Valley Civilization site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India. It is the fifth largest site out of the eight major Harappan sites in the subcontinent. It has evidence of all the features of a typical Harappan city such as a meticulous urban planning, monumental architecture, an efficient drainage system, and flourishing trade. However, its fame is more due to the existence of an extensive water-conservation system consisting of channels and reservoirs, which is the earliest found anywhere in the world. Also, this is the only Harappan city to have yielded inscriptions which have large-sized signs of the Indus script. Dholavira was also an important centre of trade between settlements in south Gujarat, Sindh, and Punjab and Western Asia as revealed by a large find of antiquities such as gold, silver, and terracotta ornaments, pottery and bronze vessels.

The city of Dholavira has revealed seven stages of occupation which cover the period from 2650 B.C. to 1450 B.C. These occupations reveal seven significant cultural stages which coincide with the rise and fall of the Indus Valley Civilization itself. Starting with the first settlement of Stage I, the city underwent expansions in stages 2 and 3. In stage 4 the city reached its pinnacle as a classical Harappan site. A general decline set in stage 5. It underwent a cultural transformation in Stage 6 and became totally deurbanized in Stage 7 and was later abandoned. During its classical phase, the city had trade links with the Makran coast and West Asia. The water reservoirs built by this city, show the knowledge of hydraulic engineering of its inhabitants which they harnessed for surviving the parched geo-climatic conditions of the region, which seem to be not too dissimilar from the present times.

The city of Dholavira bears all the classical features of the Harappan culture. People enjoyed a sophisticated urban life. There was an enchantment with ornamentation and a penchant for crafts. Trade and Craftsmanship were their main means of livelihood. This is revealed by a large find of pottery, terracottas, copper and shell bangles, rings, beads, a giant bronze hammer, a big chisel, a bronze hand-held mirror, a gold wire, gold ear stud, gold globules with holes, and copper celts. The seals with signs of the Indus script, and 3 m long signboard containing ten letters of this script speaks about the widespread literacy among the people. The sepulchral architecture, which shows a variety of funerary structures, throws light on the socio-religious practices and beliefs of the people. It also indicates that the population was not uniform but composite, with different ethnic or tribal communities following their own funeral practices.

The artistic finds at Dholavira consist of typical Indus Valley artefacts made of copper, stone, beads, shell, and ceramics with painted motifs. The unique finds include a sculpted human torso of stone found here which, though badly mutilated, is the only one found in any Indian excavated Harappan site. During the first three stages, the people decorated their walls and floors with white and pink coloured clays, a tradition not found elsewhere. Even here it came to an abrupt end. Also, the large scale use of dressed stone in construction is unique to Dholavira. The people knew of an ingenious method of making monolithic columns, in which first segments of highly polished stone pillars were made, each with a central hole. These segments were then piled one on top of another to attain the required height and a wooden pole was inserted through the central holes to keep the segments stable.

The lack of any particular find at Dholavira giving evidence of the religious practices of the people, perhaps indicates that the spiritual beliefs may have been similar to those presumed to be prevalent in the other Harappan cities. The people may have been animal and nature worshippers. However, the suggestion that the water reservoirs at Dholavira had ritualistic purposes is doubtful. The funerary practices at Dholavira are diverse and include rectangular or circular structures, rock-cut chambers, cairn circles with or without cists, and burial mounds. Except one, all the other structures do not contain any skeletal remains, which may be due to the practice of cremation. The building of the funerary structures may have been more to serve as memorials. The graves do have a variety of items such as pottery, which are with or without ornaments. These may have belonged to the dead person or may be associated with ideas about life after death.

Dholavira was a well-planned city, spread over an area of nearly 100 hectares. It lay between two seasonal rivers, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south. The city was in the shape of a large parallelogram, surrounded by an enormous outer wall which had its longer axis running from the east to the west. The city was divided into three distinct sections which are known as the citadel, the middle town, and the lower town. The other prominent structures are the two stadia and an annexe. However it is the series of water harvesting structures such as reservoirs, check dams and wells, including a rock-cut step-well, which are the architectural marvels of Dholavira. The reservoirs were of varying sizes and designs, numbered more than sixteen and were both rock-cut and made of masonry. They were equipped with stormwater drains, slopes, steps, cascades, water relief ducts, paved floors, and capstones.