Dholavira - Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Although some of the well-known Indus Valley Civilization sites such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro have come within Pakistan since the Partition in 1947, India herself has a number of excellent examples of the IVC in places such as Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira, Ropar, Rakhigarhi and others. Of these Dholavira, which has been dated to about 3000 BCE, has justly been included recently as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Situated in the northern fringes of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, about 200 kilometres from the town of Bhuj, Dholavira is approached by a drive of about 4 hours across almost endless salt-flats. On the way, one may well find one of the nomadic families of the Rann on their way to a new destination.

It is best to leave quite early in the morning, as otherwise the drive and the walking around at the site can become quite tiresome. Dholavira is fairly large, somewhat square shaped with one side over 700 metres long, and the other over 600 metres. It is located on a low hillock with its central citadel in the middle and with dwellings on either side somewhat lower down.

Just below the citadel, on the western side, will be found this board with a number of the IVC lettering as specimens. While several scholars have attempted to decipher this, no commonly accepted version has yet been generally ackowldged. The most interesting part of Dholavira are the "step-tanks" at the bottom of the hillock for storing water, partly from the nearby stream, and partly from the rain-water run-off from the top of the hillock, for which stone channels had been made.

All in all, Dholavira fully justifie its designation as a World Heritage site, and hopefully more people will become aware of it and try and visit the location.

"India - Searching for the Present in the Past" - a thumb-nail history of India

The book "India - Searching for the Present in the Past", recently published by CinnamonTeal Design and Publishing, considers the age-old fascination for the ancient in Indian culture. Basically, the purpose of this work is to inquire, state, discuss and argue about the past and the present, about the evolution of these thoughts and beliefs, in keeping with the basic traditions in India. And that is part of a great tradition, dating back to the dialogue between sage Yajnavalka and his wife Maitreyi as documented in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, or to the furious debates that Adi Shankaracharya engaged in during his travels throughout India to propagate his thoughts on Advaitavad, or “non-dualism”. It enables the readers quickly to traverse much of the course of the Indian history, from pre-historic times through the Indus Valley Civilization, the Buddhist Age, down to the Mughal and British administrations. The book goes on to consider various aspects of the Indian political and social scenario over the last two or three decades and looks at whether and to what extent the present stream of thoughts and beliefs may be considered a fair extension of the past. Hopefully, this work would help to widen one’s knowledge and perspective and provide a modicum of understanding.

The book is now available from Dogears Bookshop of CinnamonTeal, as well as from Amazon, Google and Barnes and Noble. https://www.thedogearsbookshop.com/shop/books/non-fiction/history/india-searching-for-the-present-in-the-past/ https://www.amazon.in/India-Searching-Present-Prosenjit-Dasgupta/dp/9387676846 https://books.google.co.in/books/about/India_Searching_for_the_Present_in_the_P.html?id=LW0qzgEACAAJ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/india-searching-for-the-present-in-the-past-prosenjit-dasgupta/1138643871?ean=9789387676848

Dholavira - A Indus Valley Civilization site in India

The Indus Valley Civilization (or IVC for short) that grew up in the valley of the Indus River about five thousand years back, is well-known. Not so well-known is the fact that almost contemporaneously, sites similar to the well-known sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro also grew up in parts of Western India. One such site is Dholavira near the town of Bhuj in Gujarat. It is at some distnace of about 220 kilometres to the north of Bhuj and it takes about four hours to drive up each way.

The drive is quite pleasant especially in the morning in cold weather. The remarkable thing to be seen at Dholavira is the rain-water harvesting system with channels running down from the hillock down to the terraced water reservoirs at the bottom of the hillock, as may be seen in this picture. The Local museum of artefacts recovered during the archaeological excvations at Dholavira is also inetresting.