हिंदीOn this day
Excavated

Dholavira

A Harappan city on Khadir island in the Rann of Kutch, famous for its stone-cut reservoirs and a signboard of ten large Indus letters. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.

Built: c. 3000–1500 BCE, Sindhu–Sarasvati civilisationWhere: Gujarat23.89° N, 70.21° E
  1. 1967–68
  2. 1990–2005
  3. 27 July 2021
Photo: Bhajish Bharathan · CC BY-SA 4.0

01A city that saved every drop

Kutch gets little rain, and Dholavira’s builders planned for it. They dammed the two seasonal streams, Mansar and Manhar, that flank the city and led their water into a chain of reservoirs cut into the rock and lined with stone, some over 7 metres deep, which ring the walled town. Inside the outer walls lie the castle, a bailey, a middle town and a lower town, each with its own walls and gates, and a large open ground that may have been for gatherings and festivals.

02Bisht’s excavations

J. P. Joshi of the Archaeological Survey found the site in 1967–68. R. S. Bisht excavated it for thirteen seasons from 1990 to 2005. At the north gate of the castle he found ten Indus signs, each about 37 cm tall, made of white gypsum pieces once set into a wooden board that had fallen face down: one of the longest Indus inscriptions known, and still unread. On 27 July 2021 UNESCO inscribed "Dholavira: a Harappan City" on the World Heritage List, the first Sindhu–Sarasvati site in India to be listed.

The life of this place

  1. 1967–68J. P. Joshi discovers the site.
  2. 1990–2005ASI excavation under R. S. Bisht; the signboard found.
  3. 27 July 2021Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visiting

Khadir Bet, Kutch, about 250 km from Bhuj; go between November and February, and stay for the white Rann at sunset.

Evidence

The reservoirs of DholaviraExcavation
c. 3000–1500 BCE; excavated 1990–2005

The reservoirs of Dholavira

A Harappan city in a dry land that lived by catching every drop: dams on two seasonal streams fed a chain of reservoirs cut into the rock around the town.

The Dholavira signboardExcavation
Late 3rd millennium BCE; found in the 1990s

The Dholavira signboard

Ten large signs of the Indus script, once fixed on a wooden board above the city’s main gate, found where the board had fallen.

Nearby

Ashapura Mata Temple, Mata no MadhRebuilt
Sultanates, Vijayanagara and the kingdoms that stood

Ashapura Mata Temple, Mata no Madh

The temple of Ashapura Mata, kuldevi of the Jadeja rulers of Kutch and the patron Devi of the whole region. Twice shaken down by earthquakes, it has twice been put back.

Koteshwar Mahadev Temple, KutchRebuilt
Company rule and the war of 1857

Koteshwar Mahadev Temple, Kutch

A Shiva temple on a sandstone mound at the western edge of Kutch, where the land ends at the Kori Creek and the sea. Pilgrims to Hinglaj Mata were told to come here after, for Koteshwar is her Bhairava.

Chamunda Mata Temple, ChotilaStanding
Independent Bharat

Chamunda Mata Temple, Chotila

The temple of Chamunda on top of Chotila hill, the one high point on the flat Saurashtra plain, reached by a long stair. She is the kuldevi of a great many Gujarati families.

Bahuchar Mata Temple, BecharajiRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Bahuchar Mata Temple, Becharaji

The seat of Bahuchara Mata in the Chunval country of north Gujarat, counted with Ambaji and Pavagadh as one of Gujarat’s three Shakti Peethas. The Kinnar community holds her as their own Mother.