Dholavira: a Harappan City

Decoding the nature of Harappan urbanity through the fortifications and hydraulic managements: A case study of Dholavira. Dholavira is known for its large fortifications and hydraulic managements. Dholavira is one of the finest example of hydraulic management in Harappan civilization, we found huge reservoirs, tanks, wells, huge drains including storm water drains etc. In this ppt i will focus on how hydraulic management and large fortifications speak of the idea of urbanity of Dholavira.
#dholavira #harappa #ancienthistory #indusvalleycivilization #gujrat #sauratharappan #fortification #imon

1. Decoding the nature of Harappan urbanity through the fortifications and hydraulic managements: A case study of Dholavira . Presented by:- Imon Ganguly . (MA- III )

2. INTRODUCTION Dholavira is one of the five largest Harappan sites. One of the most prominent archaeological sites in India. Dholavira established around 3000 BC. The ancient mound of Dholavira was first discovered by Shri J.P Joshi. Dholavira was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 27 July 2021. Fig.- Painting of Dholavira town planning.

3. STUDY AREA Dholavira site on the world map lies 23° 53’ 10” North latitude and 70° 13’ East longitude. located at north-west in Khadir bet island in Great Runn of Kuchchha falls under Bhachau Tehsil, Kutch district of Gujarat. It embraced by two monsoon channals , namely, the Manhar in the south and Mansar in the north. The ancient ruins spread over an area about 100 hectares.

4. PREVIOUS WORKS The ancient mound of Dholavira was first discovered by Shri J.P Joshi in 1967. Dholavira excavation was conducted in ten field seasons under the direction of Shri R.S Bisht (1989-2002). A Multi- faceted analysis of stone drill bits from Dholavira were done by V.N Prabhakar , Randall Law and Jonathan Mark Kenoyer .(2012) A detailed GPR analysis was done by a team of IIT Gandhinagar including Silky Agarwal, Mantu Majumder , Amit Prashant and R S Bisht . (2018) Fig.- R.S Bisht .

5. RESEARCH QUESTION Dholavira is known for its large fortifications and hydraulic managements. What does the magnitude of the fortifications speak of the idea of urbanity of Dholavira ?

6. THE LAYOUT OF DHOLAVIRA Source – Researchgate

7. General view of Bailey Source – Harappa.com

8. General view of Citadel Source - ASI

9. General view of middle town Source - ASI Source – Harappa.com

10. General view of lower town Source - ASI

11. FORTIFICATIONS Dholavira was designed like a parallelogram outlined by a strong fortification. For the construction of the fortifications and, the Harappans at Dholavira used the locally available material. The principal building material was mud bricks and dressed and undressed stones. In fortification walls “English bond” style of construction is used. The fortifications had an average thickness of 3.5 to 4m and the height could have been about 7 to 8m. The walls are tapered upwards from either sides. Fig.- Fortification walls at Dholavira . Source – Harappa.com

12. The outer faces were normally veneered with rubble and hammer-dressed stones. The inner ones were periodically plastered over with fine clays. At the gates, the inner face too was provided with stone-facing. We also have found the evidence of repair works and conservation works in fortification walls. Fig. - North Gate Entrance and stairs that lead to the citadel Source – Shutterstock

13. The length of outer wall was about 781 metres along the north and 630.50 metres along the west. The southern arm is traceable for a distance of about 600 metres and the eastern for 210 metres , with a vague indication for an additional 100 metres . Fig. – The Eastern wall Source – Harappa.com

14. HYDRAULIC MANAGEMENTS Dholavira also known as the water city. Dholavira contained about 16 reservoirs within the city wall, eloquently structured in the city planning. The people of Dholavira excelled with their advanced hydraulic engineering skills pertained to water harvesting, storage, created of dams, drain, reservoirs and rain water management. The reservoirs were partly plain bedrock and partly masonry, with steps. The purposely constructed slope of the city, with a 13m gradient between high end and low areas was collaborated with creating reservoirs which separated from each other by board bunds, and connected though feeding drains. Fig.- a small reservoir Source- harappa.com

15. Due to perhaps high flooding in the region, Dams were built to control the flow of water just outside the city. The Manhar coming from North and Mansar coming from South – each filled the reservoirs, from where the water went through a filtration system, and finally connected to a well in the citadel. From the citadel water was divided for drinking and washing purposes, sent to the middle/lower town, and used as industrial and agricultural purposes. Fig.- General view of southern reservoir. Source - ASI

16. There was also rain water collector . Inside the citadel there is a network of inlet channels to carry in every drop of rain falling on the fort walls, roof tops and courtyards Gutter channels collected rain water into a large reservoir just outside the city on stormy days. They also used ground water. To the south of the citadel we found a series of five discernible tanks. Fig.- Reservoir with storm water drain. Source – harappa.com

17. People of Dholavira developed efficient drainage system. We foud both masonary and rock-cut drains. All the drains are covered by stone slabs and large bricks. In Dholavira we also found public drain even in lower town. The private drains drained into small drains and the small drains into large drains which took all the waste water out of the city in an open area or some kind of ponds. The drains were mostly hidden underground. We also found huge storm water drains. Soakage jars, man-hole cesspools etc. were the important components of drainage system. Often the soakage jars were constructed at the intervals in every blocks to avoid the blockage of the drains. These drains were also made in a way that these were capable of self cleaning. Sometimes it needed seasonal cleaning. Fig.- Dholavira storm water drain. Source – harappa.com

18. WHY HYDRAULIC MANAGEMENT WAS SO VIABLE? At the time of Harappan civilization, conditions in Rann of Kutch are different than today. Brackish water due to Rann of kutch . The city was built in semi arid region, averaging 260 mm anuual rainfall. Two monsoon channels ( Mansar & Manhar ) and rainwater was the main source of water. So, water scarcity was a huge problem for people’s of Dholavira . And this problem is the main reason behind the extensive water harnessing system. Fig.- Storm water drain. Source:- harappa.com

19. Is Dholavira is different from rest of the Harappan sites? We found many similarities with rest of the Harappan sites, but due to geographical features & climatic features everything can’t be uniform. The Harappans were master in hydraulic engineering. Although Dholavira had most elaborate and extensive rain water harnessing system and hydraulic management but that’s not made them different from other Harappan sites. Although not like Dholavira , but others harappan sites also developed an efficient hydraulic system, we found efficient drainage system from every harappan sites. Fig:- Step well at Dholavira . Source – Harappan.com

20. CONCLUSION T he ancient city of Dholavira , is a unique Harappan town with an elaborate and extensive water harnessing system; perhaps the finest example of hydraulic management and fortifications in Harappan context. In modern sense, urbanity or urbanization refers to a situation in which cities were being emerged. It happens due to the gradual changes of society and economy. Urbanity includes a large population Prosperous economic trade surplus of production leading to the stratified society. Dholavira is one of the finest example of hydraulic management in Harappan civilization, we found huge reservoirs, tanks, wells, huge drains including storm water drains etc clearly indicates to a powerful central authority. Development of that extensive hydraulic management isn’t possible without a authority. Fig.- Western gate. Source – harappa.com

21. The fortification wall around the city of Dholavira can be of security purpose, but the Citade’s own fortification wall making it separate from the, middle town, Bailey and lower town area. Bailey and middle town also had separate fortification which clearly indicates a sort of the social Stratas – a major indication of urbanity. It also indicates about a strong authoritarian force. The size of the site being able to house about 40000 people is an indication of a large population, making its urban entity intact. Fig.- A glimpse of Dholavira

22. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my professor, Dr. Suchira Roychoudhury , who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project over the site of Dholavira , which also helps me in doing a lot of research and I came to know about so many new things. I am really thankful to her. My special thanks to Jaydeep Ghosal & Debjit Ghosh for his valuable support throughout the project.
I wish my sincere thanks to my friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

23. REFERENCES 1) Bisht , Dr. R.S, (2006-2007). Recently excavated Dholavira . P79-98. Retrevied at: https://asi.academia.edu/RavindraSinghBisht 2) Bisht , Dr. R.S. The Water Structure and Engineering of Harappan at Dholavira . pg 1-25. Retrieved at : https://asi.academia.edu/RavindraSinghBisht 3) Bisht , Dr. R.S. Dholavira excavations from 1990-1994. Facets of Indian Civlization . pg107-120. Retrieved at : https://asi.academia.edu/RavindraSinghBisht 4) Ratnagar , Shereen (2001). Understanding Harappa: civilization in the greater Indus valley, Tulika , New Delhi 5) Archaeological Survey Of India.(2011). Excavations – Dholavira . Retrieved at: http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_2007_dholavira.asp 6) harappa.com

24. THANKS