LOTHAL

Lothal is an ancient ruin located near the mouth of the Gulf of Kambath in south Gujarat. It was a live township under the Harappan culture belonging to the Indus Valley civilization and experts have marked it to have been occupied during the period from 2400 BC to 1600 BC. That makes it about 3500 year’s old town. How would one like to imagine people living so many thousand years ago? How did they look? What did they wear? How did they live? Were they rustic, uncivilized? Were they hunters, a barbaric lot? Did they practice religion? There is no written history nor are there any pictures or drawings to help us visualize. However a visit to Lothal can clear the cobwebs, demystify the air and make us feel proud of the quality of life that our ancestors lead.

The name Lothal is suggested to mean ‘place of the dead’. This however could not have been the real name of the town when it was in its prime. That name has been lost and during the fag end of its decline the nearby locals have thought it apt to call it Lothal. The same logic goes for Mohenjo Daro another great Harappa city which translates as ‘the mound of the dead’. It appears that the geographical area under the Indus Valley civilization was slowly vacated by its inhabitants and those who could not change with the circumstances remained behind to die for all practicality a painful death. But why did the inhabitants leave? A couple of deductions that archeologists have thought out are; (a) During the rains the main rivers namely Sindhu and Saraswati, constantly changed course causing flash floods and sheet floods. This caused widespread loss to life and property and many a times rendered the city and town unfit for living. Slowly over time due to tectonic shifts in the Himalaya Mountains the Saraswati dried out completely. After repeated and successive catastrophes people became dejected and migrated to the Upper and Lower Ganga fed regions. (b) The seasonal rains slowly changed its intensity and trajectory and started moving south. Desert like conditions came to prevail and life became an ordeal. Saraswati which they claim was a rain fed river soon disappeared. People had no other option but to migrate to the Ganga Valley and plains. (c) The wealth and fame of the Indus Valley people attracted mercenaries from places far away like Europe, Russia and China. The Valley became a flashpoint for attacks as numerous rulers wanted control over its prosperity. Unable to defend itself over prolonged attacks, people thought it wise to migrate to the South and towards to the relative safety of the Ganga basin.

Lothal was a multi-cultural settlement. Earlier to 2400 BC, Lothal was initially occupied by an ethnic local group who were primarily craftsmen, traders and agriculturists. They had great commercial acumen and either sailed the seas to sell their beads crafted out of semi-precious stone and smooth finish pottery of red color with black painted figurine to consumers in Middle East, Indian subcontinent and also to the neighboring Harappa traders of the Indus Valley. They also produced their food grains and lived a simple ordinary life. This is so because their township was not at all sophisticated when compared to the Indus Valley towns which existed during the same time period. However the same cannot be said about their skills as artisans and sailors which gained reputation in far away lands. The Harappan people were attracted by this fame and they entered Lothal over time and started living in close proximity with the craftsmen, purchasing their wares completely and then exporting under their own banner. These two cultural groups coexisted peacefully for some time. It is said that probably a high intensity flood somewhere near 2400 BC caused by river Sabarmati which caused widespread loss to life and property gave the Harappa people a better say in creating a Harappa style town planning at Lothal. The Harappa people then took over the place.

Those were the days when art, philosophy and culture were traditional. However with the influences from the west old traditions were being uprooted and new ones taking shape. Therefore the Veda’s had to be written, the Ramayana as well as the Mahabharata were in the process of being composed. Religion was primarily pre-Hindu which worshipped the natural elements and considered all nature sacred. Sages living in the forest and Ashram schools were popular ways of living. However international trade, wealthy merchants and powerful kings were also visible. Huge mansions, palaces as well as thatched huts of the ordinary folks were all existent. Medical science, physics, mathematics was its zenith with legends like Aryabhatt (master astronomer and mathematician), Acharya Charak (father of medicine), Acharya Kapil (Father of cosmology), Acharya Sushrut (father of plastic surgery), Bhaskaracharya (genius in algebra), Patanjali (father of yoga) to name a few making their mark. When one walks on the grounds of Lothal, one can listen to the 3500 year old bricks telling stories of such time such men women and their lives which they had heard or witnessed.  

The Harappa people took Lothal many notches up in sophistication as far as infrastructure was concerned. They diverted the river water inland and constructed a dockyard to load smaller boats with merchandise which would then transport it to bigger ships on high seas. In the words of Mr. S. R. Rao of Archaeological Survey of India who excavated Lothal and then wrote a book about the place, “The dock built on the eastern flank of the town is an engineering feat of the highest order”. They built a central main street with commercial shops on either side. Residential houses were constructed behind the shops on both sides of the street. A huge palace referred to as the Acropolis for the town’s leader or chief on one side of the town and an even bigger warehouse besides the acropolis to store material belonging to the traders to be imported and exported. All constructions were first laid with many inches of brick work forming a high rise platform to keep the flood water out. Underwater and surface drains connected each and every house and shop to the river for the disposal of waste water and storm water. Such was the sophistication that it would put many a present day towns and villages to shear shame. Unfortunately the vagaries of nature are such that Lothal was destroyed by flood many a times and was rebuilt as many times. Each time the construction was built on the debris of the previous construction. The death bugle was sounded when the river changed course to flow some distance away from the town. Ultimately after a prolonged period of about 800 years of fighting against nature, the place was finally abandoned.

The Harappan people were said to be sticklers for discipline and quality. Consistency was their hall mark. The main street running north-south was of the same size throughout its straight length with no encroachments. Their weight measure which was a constant 8.753 gram to a unit was consistent throughout the region including the Indus valley. They standardized their production process from raw material to finished products so as to take advantage of mass production akin to the present day factory style. But at the same time the craftsman had the freedom to modify a design to make a better product. They made goods made of copper, bronze, hard stone, clay pottery, shell and semi-precious stones and exported then to all four sides of the world. Their seals were identification for quality and value throughout the world. In return they imported gold and gemstone jewelry and other objects of tasteful and better life style. Such was the reputation and living condition of the Harappan people. Similar to the reputation that Americans enjoy today in the eyes of the world.