Dholavira, India

Books by
Usha Alexander

Books by
Namit Arora

"I begin with Dholavira, a Bronze Age metropolis of the Harappan Civilization in the Rann of Kutch, discovered only in 1967. Thriving between 2600–1900 BCE, it is best known for its water harvesting and fine reservoirs. I examine the ancestry of the Harappans, what they excelled at and what distinguishes them from other civilizations of the day—such as not turning up any evidence of temples, wars or armies, and seemingly possessing a flatter social class hierarchy. I consider the languages they likely spoke, their undeciphered script, theories about their demise, and how their legacy lives on today in our lives. I talk to the ecologically vulnerable locals from the nearby village of Dholavira, after which the prehistoric site is named and whose residents too had lived with ecological vulnerability.

"After the decline of Harappan cities, Aryan migrants from Central Asia arrived by 1500 BCE and mixed with the locals. A nomadic-pastoralist people, the Aryans brought a proto-Sanskrit language, an early version of the Vedas, new forms of social hierarchy and the horse. After a gap of more than a thousand years since the fall of the Harappan cities, the next cities arose mostly in the Gangetic Plain in the first millennium BCE, moving India from prehistory into the age of decipherable texts, and the time of the Buddha, Mahavira and the early Upanishads."

—From the Introduction of Namit Arora's Indians: A Brief History of a Civilization.

Through the Rann, approaching Khadir Bet

The road to Dholavira

Once under the sea (1, 2)

Salty desert (1, 2)

Expansive views

Bhunga-style guest house

Bhunga interior (more)

Moonrise over Dholavira

Moonlit Salt on the Rann

Dholavira village, one km from the ruins

Buddies

Big-horned Zebu cattle

Village home (more)

Locked home of a
semi-nomadic family

Village home

An artisan's home

Handcrafted bag for sale

Village home

Traditional home (more)

Tradional bhunga-style
home

Grandma with kids

A great grandma

Village scene (1, 2)

Village temple

Milk cooperative

Two boys

The ruins of the Harappan city of Dholavira

Dholavira signage

Approaching the ruins

Locals

Dholavira site info

Eastern reservoir (1, 2)

Descending steps

Largest in Dholavira (1, 2)

Another view (1, 2)

Southern reservoir (1, 2, 3)

Rock-cut sections (1, 2, 3)

Another reservoir (ramp)

Yet another (sluice)

North gate of the citadel

North gate (1, 2)

Northern entrance

The citadel's northern wall

Northern wall & entrance
of the citadel (more)

Excavated location of
famous signboard

Northwestern corner of
the citadel

The citadel from the
eastern reservoir

Ramp to eastern entrance

Water channel by eastern
entrance of the citadel

Eastern entrance of
the citadel (1, 2)

Polished fragment of a
pillar at entrance (more)

Atop the citadel, past the
eastern gate (1, 2)

"Phallic" pillars or a
chance resemblance?

Bhunga, post-Harappan
architecture (1, 2)

Another Bhunga dwelling
(southern part of citadel)

Passage in northern
part of the citadel (more)

Water harvesting
channels (1, 2)

More water channels

Arterial drain on citadel

Well with rope marks
on stone slab

Water channels (more)

Water tank on the citadel

Southern reservoirs from
the citadel

Citadel top

Citadel walls (1, 2)

Citadel top (1, 2)

Stadium from the citadel

From "stadium" to the
middle town

Middle town main st (1, 2)

Middle town homes (1, 2)

Wall of a middle town
home (closeup)

Drain in middle town

Middle town main st.
(more, internal drains )

Drain for domestic waste
that emptied into matkas

Waste water drain (1, 2)

Waste water drain leading
to a matka outside home

Middle town homes (1, 2)

Northern fringes of site

In middle town

Middle town foundations

Middle town remains

City wall (more)

View of citadel from the
middle town

Citadel from the stadium

Citadel from the stadium
(more)

Stadium stands (more)

Middle town and lower
town info

Back in middle town

Scores of homes

Once a neighborhood

Going from middle town to
lower town (1, 2)

Walking towards
lower town

Lower town homes (1, 2)

A bit more congested here

Eastern lower town (more)

Lower town homes

A fossil rock (more)

Lower town st. peters out

An ancient well

Lower town meets
middle town

Entrance to middle town
(more)

Textured stones

Stadium and citadel from
lower town (1, 2)

Stadium entrance
(view from inside)

Pottery shards abound

Some bird's eggs

View of "The Bailey"

Storage sites in the Bailey?

Citadel walls (detail)

Wall detail

Residential structures in
the bailey (more)

Sharpening stones (more)

Remains of the bailey

From the bailey to the
citadel's western entrance

Water harvesting drain

Multihued stones (more)

Underground drains

Covered drain (1, 2)

Burial mounds on the
necropolis (more)

Symbolic burial or
cenotaph

Another cenotaph (1, 2)

More cenotaphs

City planning info

Western city wall (1, 2)

Citadel's southeast corner

Local vegetation

Visitors

Visitor

Visitors

Dholavira site signage

Complex around museum

Officials' guest houses

Officials' guest house

The quarry that supplied Dholavira, and northwestern Khadir Bet

Multihued stones

A few km away (1, 2, 3)

Slabs that made Dholavira

Khadir bet landscape

White Rann in view

Fossils abound

Buffaloes

Sunset over Rann

Dholavira ASI Museum

ASI Museum building

Women fetching water
from near museum (more)

Famous Dholavira
signboard at entrance

Site plan

The sea in the times of
Dholavira

Etched game board

Stone querns

Pottery remains

Pottery from Dholavira

Animal figurines

Seals and sealings

Wts. & measures (more)

Ornaments (more)

Stone objects

Dholavira seals

Misc objects

Archival photo

Taken during excavation

From the 1990s

Archival photo

Harappan seals

Infographic

A boy near the museum

All pictures below are from my April 2006 visit to Dholavira

The citadel (more)

South-east corner

Eastern walls of the
citadel

East entrance

Water tank (1, 2)

Water tank (1, 2, 3)

Steps down a tank

More water tanks (1, 2)

A granary?

South entrance to citadel

The Bailey
(servant homes?)

A well on the citadel

Peeking inside the well

Small water tank
on citadel

Bathing area (more)

Remains of citadel rooms

Shard-studded wall

Corridor inside citadel

Circular rooms (more)

Former royal chamber?

Eastern entryway

Passageway inside citadel

Passageway

Brickwork from two eras

Water harvesting conduit

A fine pillar base

Tourist bungalow from
the citadel

North-eastern corner

Northern wall

Northern wall (1, 2)

Northern wall

North entrance

Writing over the north
entrance, "the oldest
signboard in the world"

This is a replica of what was probably a headboard over the north entrance.

Stadium from
north entrance

Stadium from middle town

Middle town ruins

Market street (more)

Market street

Four-way intersection

Side street

Waste receptacle

Fragments of the past

Cemetery area
(local flora)

The largest water tank
(more)

Women near the ruins

Dholavira signpost

Across the Great Rann
of Kutch

Saline mudflats (more)

Great Rann of Kutch
(more)

Rabari tribeswoman (more)

Rabari tribeswomen

Local woman

Local women (more)

A tribal family (more)

Path to the excavated site

Traveling hundreds of miles in summer to this isolated site near the western edge of India, I encounter this sign (row above, right image) by the ASI. Shaking my head in disbelief, I ask: Why? What can possibly be the rationale for prohibiting photography here? The ASI ought to market this global cultural heritage site and provide better facilities (e.g., a site museum, toilets, etc.). The ASI also bars photography at other site museums, of works with long expired copyright claims. Why? Nobody ever has a good answer. 'Orders from above' is the pat reply. 'Apply for permission in Delhi'. If this isn't the product of a bureaucratic mind I don't know what is. Annoyance wells up in me again. Stupid rules need not be followed, I tell myself, and resolve to flout the injunction, if need be by cajoling or bribing the lone caretaker on site, or sneaking in behind his back. [—Namit Arora, 2006]