In 2600 BC
Even as of date, is situated 140 kms away from the nearest inhabitation, in spite of all the quakes, it stands witness to the achievement of man 5000 years back. Dholavira is located on an island of 200 acres, an island not surrounded by water, by abundance of highly saline marshes in the Great Rann of Kutch, a place where no man would ever conceive the idea of inhabitation. Where every drop of fresh water is considered at the price of gold and as far as your sight can see all you will get is bright dazzling salty mudflats as white as snow.
No points for guessing, these were The Harrappans. Yes, our own Indus valley civilization well preserved in India. You can now skip the hassle of visiting our friendly neighbors. The architecture, planning and archeological carbon analysis dates back to the Harappan period. In other words, it resembles Mohenjodaro and Harappa – it has a citadel middle and lower town, all extremely well preserved through being built in stone, Harappa and Mohenjo Daro being built in more vulnerable brick, which have pretty much crumbled.
The city probably could have been a stop-over for trade or even a fort protecting sea trade with Oman, Mesopotamia (a river civilization like the Indus Valley civilization, in present day Iraq), and the Persian Gulf and other far-off lands. Salt, of course could have been the commodity which they traded in, as informed by Mr. R.S.Bisht, the chief archeologist of this site. All that’s known is that these people worshipped the forces of nature like fire, wind, trees, etc.
They had proper entertainment facilities like playgrounds. And were ruled and organized by a ruler for whom the Citadel was built, and who enjoyed royalty stature.
Two storm water channels, known as Manhar and Mansar bordered the city. The city was laid out on about a 13 m gradient in the east-west direction, and of course a perfect planning for reservoirs. They made a series of around 16-18 reservoirs between the inner and outer walls of the city to collect the monsoon runoff from the channels.
The town planning itself would put a modern township to shame. Segregated areas included the citadel of the ruler, the upper town for the loyal workers of the ruler, middle town and lower town, the occupants depending on their social and economic status. A huge playground arena for performing arts or sports, etc. A detailed image shows the planning.
We as professionals in water industry have to agree to one fact that collection of water is not as important as the distribution. Needless to mention, that in the year 2600 BC no piping material was known, probably, the only known metal was copper, which was not used to make pipes. Numerous and huge rain water drains have been unearthed at the site of Dholavira since 1989. And on the contrary to what was initially believed by the Archeological Survey of India, these drains were not used for draining utilities but for supplying and transporting water from one utility to another. The design of these drains was so unpretentious, that one could even easily walk into these drains using steps to clean or maintain them. The images below show some of such drains.
These drain ultimately connected to tenements / public baths where they would supply water for daily use. Considering the geographic location of Dholavira, summers would be scorching and would definitely bring in scarcity of water. Smaller reservoirs were also built within the township which were connected to these drains and would be supplied water. Also as mentioned many of the reservoirs had wells integrated into them which would be recharged and be readily available for use in the summer months. These wells and tanks were connected such to the supply drains that water could be easily diverted from these to the drains and the supply network would start functioning. In the adjoining image you can see the drain connected to the well.
