Photo Copyright: Satyabrata Maiti
On 29-September-2022, one of my close associates insisted me to write a blog on Lothal where I had been several times with my guests and visitors. I was somehow missing the writing on Lothal, hence I agreed with a condition that we shall visit once again to take photographs keeping blog writing in the back up of my mind. Remembering the ancient dictum “शुभस्यशीघ्रम् “ we decided to visit it at the earliest and drove there on Saturday (1-Oct-2022). It is about 90 km from Anand. We encountered a joy ride group of women with a fragrance of Navaratri.
Joy ride of Navaratri
We reached there by 10:00 am and by the time sun started showing fury with raising temperature. We spent about one and half hour and recaptured the ruins in my camera from different angles.
About the location:
At a distance of about 90 km from Anand, 42 km from Nalsarovar and 79 km from Ahmedabad, Lothal is an excavated site situated Bhal region in Dholka of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Lothal is one of the prominent cities of the ancient famous Indus valley civilization and one among the best historical sites in Gujarat. The excavation work here began in 1955 and was continued till 1960.
“Lothal” literally means in Gujrathi ‘Mound of the Dead’, this ancient and desolate ruined city of Lothal provides a fascinating insight into the life of the Harappan culture and the Indus Valley Civilization. The origin and history of Lothal can be traced back to 2400 BC and was discovered in the year 1954. It is one of the primary sites of Archaeological Survey of India.
Like other cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, Lothal too had a brilliant architecture and town planning. City was mathematically planned. It had a grid pattern with proper streets crossing at right angles and drainage systems.
Excavation has discovered that the town had two distinct parts, Upper town and lower town. In addition, there were bead factory and cemetery. The upper part or the acropolis was where the ruler and other important people of the town lived while the lower part was meant for the common people.
The entire township was well laid-out and had a scientific drainage system, paved roads and a bath for every house, some of which were double storied and built on mud platforms. The emphasis on cleanliness can be seen from the discovery of toilets and “lota”-like jars which shows our obsession with washing up goes back all the way to the Harappan Civilisation.
Excavation has revealed the world’s oldest known artificial dock, which was connected to an old course of the Sabarmati river.
The most architecturally sophisticated part of Lothal was its dockyard, which provided docking facilities for the ships. Constructed from kiln-fired bricks, the dock comprised a basin 214 m long, 36 m wide, and 13 m deep. A 13 m wide channel on the northern side was included to facilitate entry of ships.
Archaeologists believe that Lothal was a part of a major river system on the ancient trade route from Sindh to Saurashtra in Gujarat. Excavations here have offered the greatest number of antiquities in the archaeology of modern India.
The ruins of a fire altarsuggest that the inhabitants of Lothal worshipped the fire god along with the sea god.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) established an excellent museum in 1976 here, where one can have a look at the various Indus-era antiquities. The Museum had three galleries, detailed map and a scaled model of Lothal. The museum housed the objects and artefacts found from the sites like mirrors of bronze and copper, perforated and painted potteries, toy bullock carts, religious symbols, beads, jewellery and a variety of objects made from stone, shell, and bone for daily use. The museum also displayed seals from Bahrain, terracotta figures from Samaria, and objects from Egypt.
However, it is now closed for renovation hence we could not enjoy it for one more time.
Timings for museum opening was 10 AM to 5 PM daily with Friday close. Since it is under renovation, one can only now visit the ruins. We were told that renovation will take about two more years from now.
People who are interested in History should visit it at least once. We could return from Lothal with a realization of universally truth “Nothing is immortal and nothing is ever permanent”.
Disclaimer:
This blog has been written by taking information from various open sources available in the web. My experiences expressed in my blog is purely personal and should not be considered as universal. All the photographs are taken by me except two that I have taken from the brochure of the museum for giving clarity in understanding.
Author: Satyabrata Maiti
