Vibrant Gujarat

A note of Gratitude

My wife and I were accompanied in our trip to Gujarat by Dr.Vedachalam, a senior epigraphist with the Tamilnadu State Archaeological Department. He was one of the key persons in identifying the sensational Keezhadi mound (near Madurai). Post retirement, his momentum hasn’t dwindled and participates in many archaeological projects in Tamilnadu (including initial phases of Keezhadi excavation). He has authored many historical books, teaches epigraphy and is a key note speaker in many seminars. It was a great honour to have him with us.

We wish to dedicate this post as a tribute to Late Dr.R.Venkatraman, Professor Emeritus, Madurai Kamaraj University, Dr.Vedachalam and Dhan foundation, Madurai for being our mentors and guiding us in understanding history with authenticity and values.

Please click here to know more about Dr.Venkatraman and what he means to history lovers and commoners like us. The link is an article published in The Hindu after his passing away last year.

February 2nd 2019 (Day 1)

We landed in Ahmedabad and started our expedition straight from the airport. Just for information, Gandhinagar, a city 25kms north of Ahmedabad is the capital of Gujarat.

We will be staying in Ahmedabad for the next 3 days and continue our exploration in and around the city.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Sabarmati Ashram-Temple of Peace and Non-violence

There can be no better way to begin our Gujarat tour than visiting this temple of peace and non-violence. It was a great honour to visit the home of Mahatma and we felt the strong vibes of our freedom struggle from the moment we stepped into the ashram. We realized the true definition of simplicity and the concept of ‘minimal consumption’ in the house of Gandhiji. He remains an evergreen example of an ‘ideal minimalist’ and its high time we commit ourselves to follow his principles in today’s growing materialistic world.

The museum in the ashram has many rare life time photos of Gandhiji and a wonderful collection of textile exhibits. These exhibits were actually part of the manufacturing process of Khadi fabrics under the Swadeshi movement initiated and led by Gandhiji. Khadi had tremendous impact in bringing down British economy and is patronized even today.

Also, it is from here, Gandhiji launched the famous Dandi Satyagraha on 12th March 1930. He vowed never to return to the Ashram until India won independence. Sadly, he never came back.

Gandhiji’s stay in the ashram for 12 years had seen an up-rising and surge in the people’s movement that eventually turned out to be the backbone of India’s independence. Having seen the ashram, one can realize the hard work, struggle and perseverance of this national movement in fighting against British imperialism.

From Sabarmati Ashram, we continued our journey to our next destination for the day.

Dada Harir Vav (aka Dada Hari Ni Vav-15kms from Ahmedabad city)

Vav in Gujarati means step-well. Step-wells derive the name from the special design of wells with steps, unique to western region of India (and present day Pakistan too) . Step-wells in Gujarat are constructed with many levels downwards depending on how deep the well with water source lies beneath. The long stairways with compartmental stone mandaps at each level served the people to find shelters during hot and humid days and even perform prayers and meditation. Gujarat is home to more than 100 step-wells, most of them abandoned.

Step-wells were built by the Hindu kings of Gujarat starting from 10th century. The concept was later adopted by the Sultan of Gujarat Sultanate and built Dada Harir Vav in the 15th century with an Islamic architectural flavour. Incidentally, Dada Harir Vav is the 1st step-well we visited in our trip. In the following video, I have tried to portray this step-well by compiling my photos in a slide show.

Sidi Saiyeed mosque, Ahmedabad

Sidi Saiyeed mosque is a 16th century mosque in the old city of Ahmedabad and incorporates wonderful trellis work around the four walls of the mosque. One such work seen in the above photo portrays the ‘Tree of life’ motif as mentioned in Quran.

February 3rd 2019 (Day 2)

Modhera Sun temple (100kms north of Ahmedabad towards Abu Road)

Modhera temple was built by King Bhima I, the Chaulakya king (aka Solanki dynasty) in the 11th century and dedicated to Lord Surya, the Sun God. Modhera was built two hundred years before the famous Konark Sun temple in Orissa. Suriyanar temple near Kumbakonam in the south was built around the same period as Modhera.

The Sun temple consists of a Garba-graha, a Main hall and a Nritiya mandapa, all on one side of the Step-well that also serves as a holy pond. The other three sides of the step-well are adorned with 108 miniature shrines including the shrines of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva that stands in the centre of each side and the whole integral design is so unique and mesmerizing to view from an appropriate distance.

The pillars, gateways(thornas) and the ceiling have wonderful sculptures and intricate carvings but now sadly eroded owing to the soft stone used to build these monuments. Modhera has also been subjected to continuous attacks and looting by the Muslim invaders and many structures have been damaged. Despite all this, Modhera stands majestically even today with its undiminished glamour.

No religious rituals are performed here and the monument is maintained by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

Rani Ki Vav-Queen of stepwells (Near Patan-36kms north of Modhera)

I have marked a red arrow on the above picture to indicate that there exists a Unesco listed World Heritage monument peacefully residing deep inside. We are always used to monuments constructed at the ground level and we normally lift our heads with amaze to see such structures, but in Rani Ki Vav, you would do the opposite. Please go ahead to explore this architectural marvel.

Rani ki Vav is simply ‘woww’.

Rani Ki Vav was completely buried in the ground until it was discovered and excavated in 1940 and later restored to its fullest glory by the ASI in 1980. This 11th century Vav is believed to have been built by Udayamathi, Queen of Chaulakya dynasty (Solanki) in memory of her spouse, King Bhima I who had built Modhera sun temple.

Rani Ki Vav has seven levels and the walls are enhanced beautiful panels of sculptures depicting events from Hindu mythology. The pillars are adorned with ornamental carving works and niches have beautiful statues along the stairway. The whole structure gives a feeling of an inverted temple with the well as the sanctum.

The above photo gives a deeper look almost close to the well. Entry is restricted beyond this level as the structure is in a precarious position.

The above pictures depict samples of gracefully carved sculptures on the side walls of the well. There are 800 such sculptures. And since they were made from soft stones, erosion is evident with passage of time.

No wonder Rani Ki Vav is declared a UNESCO World Heritage monument. Government of India has also honoured this site by portraying it in the new purple hundred rupee note released by Reserve Bank of India.

February 4th 2019 (Day 3)

A short note on Indus Valley civilization

The Gangetic civilization was considered the oldest in the Indian subcontinent until the discovery of Indus Valley civilization (hereafter, I shall write as IVC, please pardon me for my laziness). The discovery of the 1st IVC settlement near Harappa (now in Pakistan) was a pure coincidence. As the British were laying the East India railway line between Karachi and Lahore in 1857, the engineers stumbled upon this lost civilization but sadly ignored it and further went on to use the old bricks in construction. Later, in 1920, a team comprising of Sir John Marshal and Dayaram Sahni of ASI (under erstwhile British rule) excavated the settlement and named it after the Harappa village that existed near the site. This was immediately followed by the excavation of Mohanjo-daro and was completed in 1931.

After independence and partition of India, the ASI team performed a commendable job in identifying and excavating many IVC sites on the Indian side. One will be surprised to know that there are more than 900 IVC sites identified and excavated in India as of today. Pakistan has around 400 sites and a few are in Afghanistan. Most of the sites excavated were villages and a few were cities/towns in the civilisation. The most important IVC cities in India are Lothal and Dholavira (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan) and recently excavated Rakhigari (Haryana). Rakhigari is the largest IVC city so far, larger than Harappa and Mohanjo-daro.

Based on the location of the excavated sites, IVC is believed to have thrived along the banks of Indus and Ghagger-Hakra river stretching between today’s north east Afghanistan and passing through much of Pakistan and western and north-western India until Maharashtra’s northern border. Mehrgarh and Nausharo in Baluchistan (Pakistan) are Pre-Harappan Neolithic IVC sites (7000BCE to 3500BCE) considered as a precursor to the emergence of a modern civilization later in the Bronze age.

Historians usually classify IVC in three phases:

• The Early Harappan phase from 3300BC to 2600BC
• The Mature Harappan phase from 2600BC to 1900BC. At the end of the mature phase, IVC started declining.
• The Late Harappan phase from 1900BC to 1300BC – During this period, it is believed that a few people who stayed behind or returned back had tried to revive the deserted civilization.

Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat are more prominent among the IVC cities based on visitors perspective, as the mound and ruins here are more intact and significant number of artifacts were found during excavation. Visiting these two sites will definitely substitute the experience (may even surpass) of seeing Mohanjo-daro or Harappa.

Sorry for a very long introduction, I couldn’t help it. Let’s continue our journey and visit Lothal located 70kms south-west of Ahmedabad.

LOTHAL- A Port town of Harappan Civilization (70 kms south east of Ahmedabad)

Lothal is a logistical port town of IVC and was excavated in 1954 by an ASI team. Archaeologists were fortunate to find several artifacts such as seals, sealings, potteries, beads, ornaments and tools that revealed more about the lifestyle and trading practices of the Harappans. The artifacts are beautifully exhibited in the Archaeological museum close to the site.

For any Harappan town, its their phenomenal town planning that is just mind-boggling. Lothal is yet another well planned IVC port town. In addition to logistics, bead making was a thriving industry in Lothal as proven by the rich haul of bead artifacts here. The town comprises of a Citadel, Ware house, Upper town, Lower town and Bead factory. The ships (probably large boats) come along the river Sabarmati river (as seen in the map above) and enter the dockyard.

Picture 1

• Top: The ships anchor in the dockyard here. The dockyard has a special interlocking system in the front, resembling a sluice as in a dam to maintain water level.
• Bottom: Warehouse built close to the dockyard. The warehouse along with the citadel and the upper town are built on a higher elevation to have better view of the dockyard and the lower town.

Picture 2-Clockwise:

1. The washrooms in the Citadel. Water is drawn from the wells and the sewage is let out in a sophisticated sewage system.
2. The filtering arrangement that separates solid waste in sewage so that the drainage does not gets clogged. The drained water is let into the dockyard that gets washed away during high tides.  
3. The Acropolis of Lothal or the upper town.
4. Closed drainage. (Harappans importance to hygiene is evident here)

Bricks used in IVC

Another fascinating feature of IVC is the bricks used for construction. The dimension of bricks had a ratio of 4:2:1 and same standard was found in all IVC excavation sites. This magic ratio of brick dimension has been proved to have effective bonding even today. The bricks were further kiln fired or sun dried depending on their application-the Kiln dried bricks were used in wells, canals and drainage to avoid seepage. The IVC bricks were so strong that they have lasted over 4500 years. (as mentioned earlier, East India company used Harappan bricks for constructing railway lines).

The brick walls of Harappan cities are so straight that the city is raised in a perfect geometrical proportion.

Picture 3

• Top: Beads factory. One can find the Kiln used for manufacturing beads (fenced now as seen in picture).
• Bottom: Lower town. It’s here the labourers and commoners might have probably lived.

Bead making in Lothal

Thousands of beads of various types were found in Lothal. I prefer to write about just one most surprising element that we observed with bead making here.

As you observe in the picture above, the micro-beads stored in the glass vial measures just 0.25mm in diameter and needs a magnifying glass to view them. The manufacturing process involved powdering the raw material (steatite or soapstone) into paste, rolling them around a thin thread, baking them solid in kiln and finally cutting with a fine knife. The thread burns out in the kiln thus making room for a small orifice so as to string the beads together into beautiful necklaces. I doubt if our modern day artisans with today’s technology would be able to make such precision micro-beads.

Many ornaments made of gold and other precious stones (esp carnelian stones) were found in Lothal and had the same precision and craftsmanship as done with beads. These products must have had a huge market in the contemporary civilizations of Sumeria, Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Weights and measures of IVC

Personally, the most interesting and astounding feature in IVC is it’s ‘weights and measures’. I am sure you will agree with me as you read further.

The Harappans had adopted a unique mathematical equation while deriving weight denominations. The lowest weight found was 0.86gms and this served as the base value. The Harappans followed a linear binary pattern while deriving the higher weight denominations. I have given an illustration below for an easy understanding.

The lower denominations were probably used to weigh precious items like beads and gold ornaments and higher denomination for heavier items like food grains. Did the Harappans know about number system and ‘zero’ even before they were invented?

More startling fact is that the same denomination has been followed throughout all towns of the IVC empire. Just one question keeps popping in our minds about who could have been their leader(s) to implement such a high degree of standardization not just with weights but also with bricks, seals, scripts and town planning.

A scale(ruler) made of ivory with 1.7mm graduation was also found in Lothal.

Joint Burials

Harappan seals and sealings

Terracota Figurines,Toys and Games

February 5th 2019 (Day 4)

Adalaj Stepwell (15kms from Ahmedabad)

This 15th century beautiful stepwell is not far away from the city and is worth visiting for its wonderful design and architectural beauty. Each step-well is unique in Gujarat and gives you a mesmerizing experience and Adalaj step-well creates a similar effect.

After visiting Adalaj step-well, we drove from the suburbs of Ahmedabad to reach Gandhidham (300kms east of Ahmedabad). Gandhidham was developed in 1950 exclusively for the resettlement of people who had migrated from Pakistan after partition. It was aptly named after the Father of our nation-Mahatma Gandhi.

Tomorrow is the highlight of our trip to Gujarat. Please continue reading as I shall make an earnest attempt to unfold the wonders, under-lying mysteries and sophistication of an important IVC city.

February 6th 2019 (Day 5)

DHOLAVIRA-A Harappan Metropolis

Once again, our sincere thanks to Dr.Vedachalam, but for him we wouldnt have even heard about this place.

Dholavira is in Khadirbet, 180kms north of Gandhidham in the Great Lake of Kutch close to Gujarat/Pakistan border. Dholavira is a remote island surrounded by barren salt pans with zero public access. It was a tedious 5 hours journey by road from Gandhidham but turned out to be one of the best days of our life. I have no words to describe the thoughts and emotions as we entered the fifth largest city in IVC.

Apart from a few officials, we three were the only visitors to Dholavira for that day. The artifacts recovered from Dholavira are exhibited in an Archaeological museum close to the site similar to Lothal. We were guided by a senior staff from ASI and he was kind enough to spend more than 4 hours explaining the site.

As in Lothal, excavation in Dholavira also witnessed a huge haul of amazing artifacts. As we have already discussed eloborately about this, let us read and understand how and why the layout of Dholavira is so special among the IVC cities.

Dholavira is a completely fortified town spanning over 47 hectares (120 acres) and constructed in a perfect quadrangular dimension. The external fortification walls are 15 to 18 meters thick. The city in the middle of the external fortification has a Castle and a Bailley together forming the Citadel or the Upper Town where the royals/chiefs and the top administrative bureaucrats might have lived. The castle is again fortified with massive brick walls and flanked by stone wall and has four huge entry passages (could have been ornamental too), one on each side. The need for such highly secured walls still remains an unanswered question. Dholavira has more of dressed stones used for construction in contrast to other IVC cities where only bricks were used.

The middle town on the northern side of the castle forms a perfect squared layout along with the huge ceremonial ground. It was found by excavators that the ceremonial ground had narrow sheltered seating arrangements along the castle probably for the royal citizens. The middle town had well defined network of roads and cross sections lying exactly at right angle. The lower town lies east of the middle town and might have served the commoners.

As we enter the castle through the grand eastern gate, we observed polished stone structures (marked in red arrow) possibly to hold the wooden poles which in turn could have supported the roof. These stone structures were so smooth as if done recently. To achieve this degree of sustained finish requires high-end cutting, grinding and polishing tools and equipment. Its just incredible that the Harappans had such technologies 5000 years before.

Water management system

We were welcomed by the great reservoir of Dholavira as we entered the castle through the eastern gate. This rock-cut reservoir is three times bigger than the ‘Great bath’ of Mohanjo-Daro.

The extremely arid desert weather in and around Dholavira had forced the settlers to design a stupendous water management system that has not been found in any other IVC city.

During monsoons, the seasonal flow of the rivers on the either side of the settlement (as seen in the layout earlier) has been regulated meticulously by check-dams so that the 16 and odd rock-cut reservoirs (including the Great Reservoir) gets filled by a cleverly designed natural hydraulic system taking advantage of the falling gradient.

And for the Dholavirans, every drop of water counted. They have tried to harness rain water by creating collection points wherever feasible. The first photo shows one such rain water harvesting structure made on the thick fortification walls of the citadel. Storm water collected along the walls and streets of the Citadel was evacuated through well networked underground drains that finally joins an arterial drain leading to the reservoirs. The trench seen in the third picture above is an access to the arterial canal. We got down the trench and observed the height to be 6 feet, tall enough for a man to move around. We could not go deep as it was inhabited with bats and was too dark.

The rock-cut reservoirs, rock-cut wells and the check dams of Dholavira are first of its kind in the known history of civilizations.

The mysterious signboard

This northern entrance of the castle has a very interesting story that will leave us totally flabbergasted. Its the oldest sign board in the world and this finding in Dholavira is a sensational landmark in IVC history.

The sign board has 10 characters (IVC symbols) made with white gypsum (Mosaic tiles like) and probably stuck on a wooden frame. The dimensions of each character is around 1 foot by 1 foot and total length of the signboard should have been 10 feet approximately. The sign board had fallen to the floor and the wooden frame had completely eroded leaving the characters on the floor as seen in the above picture. The archaeologists painstakingly recovered and recreated the signs during excavation.

The IVC scripts found in the seals and rocks normally have 4 to 5 characters. This sign board with 10 characters is considered the longest IVC script ever found. But what does it say still remains a million dollar question.

The houses in the ‘middle towns’ mostly had 4 rooms, a courtyard, kitchen and bathroom. The ASI staff showed a house with 12 rooms probably allocated to citizens belonging to a higher strata of the civilization. Another interesting fact is that the archaeologists did not find traces of any encroachment in the towns reflecting Harappan’s high level of civic responsibility.

IVC- Our concluding comments

We expected that many of our questions would be answered by visiting Dholavira but ironically, Dholavira opened up a plethora of curious thoughts about who could have been these people – so hygienic, civilized and skilled, who were their kings/leaders with such an unprecedented vision, how and why did they disappear and so on. By now, I am sure, you all would also have similar thoughts as we do.

No wonder, IVC still remains very special and unique among ancient civilizations and has elicited innumerable theories and interpretations. While scripts of Egyptian civilization (Hieroglyphs) and even older civilizations as in Sumeria (Cunieform) have been deciphered, IVC continues to be a challenge even today.

History is free for anyone’s imagination, belief and interpretation but only real evidences and scriptures would speak the truth. Such visits help us widen our minds to have a broader understanding of history without any bias and prejudice.

History changes its course as and when new excavations and findings are made. I only yearn for the day when IVC scripts are deciphered and all our questions about this great civilization are answered.

February 7th 2019 (Day 6)

Rann Utsav, Kutch, Gujarat (140kms north west of Gandhidham)

We started from Gandhidham and traveled via Bhuj (the town devastated by 2001 earthquake) finally to reach Dhordo. It is a small border town close to the White desert and the happening place of Rann Utsav, a mega cultural event. Dhordo is close to Indo-Pak border and is heavily patrolled by the Indian army.

Rann utsav is an annual event conducted by Gujarat Tourism for 120 days between the month of October to February every year. The whole event happens in a sprawling campus close to the White desert with temporary luxurious structures and Swiss tents. There are huge convention centres and business lounges for corporate meetings too.

The market inside the campus (and many outside) sell authentic Kutch products, mostly handmade. The local artists perform music and dance on the streets of Rann Utsav. Mega cultural events portraying the Kutch art, dance, music and drama happen in organised stages in the evenings.

Rann Utsav offers packages that include stay in Swiss tents, buffet meals and a visit to the White desert by camel driven carts. Everything is so well organised and on time, no flexibility shown as in other regular resorts. Details can be obtained online and those interested to visit, please follow the link https://www.rannutsav.com/

50 to 60 tents are fabricated in clusters and there are more than 10 clusters and 600 tents in the tent city.

Food coupons were given while checking-in and the nearest dining hall was assigned (there are 3 dining halls).The menu is strictly vegetarian (not even eggs) but serves the best of Gujarati dishes.

The White desert, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat

Rann of Kutch spans over 10000sq kms in the Thar desert mostly in Gujarat’s Kutch area and a small portion in Pakistan’s Sindh province. During monsoon, the rivers that find their estuary along the Arabian sea, floods the Rann of Kutch with knee deep salty sea water. As summer approaches, the water evaporates leaving a white salty marsh layer behind. This white natural sediment thus formed, changes in colour with sun and moon light and is a delight to watch.

Rann of Kutch caters to 75% of India’s raw material requirement to produce salt. Kutch people are known as Kutchis and have their own language. Most of the Kutchis find employment in the seasonal salt pans and earn a meagre income. Realizing their plight, Gujarat government has initiated this concept of Rann Utsav to improve the livelihood of the locals as well as boost tourism.

The temperature was around 9°C, typical to a desert in late winter. We felt too cold as it was quite windy in the evening. Usually, the mercury drops to minus during peak winters and crosses 50°C in summers. Therefore, the best time to visit White desert is when Rann Utsav happens.

February 8th 2019 (Day 7)

Today, we checked out of the Tent city and traveled back to Ahmedabad. It was a a long journey by road covering 420kms in 8 hours.

February 9th 2019 (Day 8)

Kankaria Lake, Ahmedabad

Kankaria lake was built in the 15th century by the Sultan of Gujarat Sultanate. Its heartening to see a huge, fresh and well maintained lake in the heart of city in Maninagar area. The lakefront has many food outlets and kids activity outlets. A toy train goes around the lake. There is a large island (Nagina Wadi) in the middle of the lake that can be accessed by a walkway.

Food and drink

Gujarati foods are mostly vegetarian. We did not find meat shops in the main streets of Ahmedabad and in other places in Gujarat. The hotel restaurants served eggs only for breakfast, otherwise, its a strict vegetarian menu. So, die-hard non vegetarian foodies may have difficult times in Gujarat. Gujarat is a 100% dry state too.

Gujarati dishes are mostly made of besan flour. We had appetizing dishes- Handvo, Patra and Khandvi in Swati snacks near Law Garden area in Ahmedabad. Theplas, Khakra, Kichu and Fafdaa are signature dishes of Gujarat. One can get the best Mava (a kind of sweet khoa) in Bhirandiara, a village near Dhordo. Shrikand is a popular Gujarati dessert made with curd and palm sugar and the one that we had in a local bakery in Gandhidham was yummy.

The house of Khaman(chain of food outlet) serves delicious Khamans and Dhoklas.

South Indians would be in for a sweet surprise as almost every hotel in Gujarat serves Idlys, Vadas and Dosas.

Towards the evening, we started our journey back home but our minds still seem to be taking a stroll in the mesmerizing 5000 years old civilization and the grand monuments of Gujarat.

Yes, Gujarat is definitely vibrant.

End.

The narrations may follow a slightly different itinerary from the actual one, just to maintain a continuity in my posts. Please download the spreadsheet below to view the hotels of stay, our ratings and recommendations and a record of daily activity. We hope this helps you to plan your trip better.