Lothal : An introduction

On 23^rd March 2016, a group of five people started from Ahmedabad to embark on a journey that would take us back in time. The members of the group were Mr. Michel Danino - noted historian and Indologist, Professor Sudhir K jain – Director of IIT Gandhinagar, Professor Dheeraj Sanghi- my father, Mrs. Rashmi Sanghi- my mother and myself.

 

We started from Ahmedabad at 9.30am in the morning and reached the site after an hour and a half long trip in the car. The temperature outside was a deathly 40 degrees Celsius, almost as if the sun is mocking us. Passion takes you places and makes you do things you never imagined. My passion made me fight the sun that day, where otherwise I would not even want to step out of the house.

What exactly is Lothal? Where is it? Why is it so important? Why did it attract me?

Lothal is situated near the village of Saragwala in the Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district. It is six kilometres south-east of the Lothal-Bhurkhi railway station on the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar railway line. It is also connected by all-weather roads to the cities of Ahmedabad (85 km/53 mi), Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Dholka.

The meaning of Lothal in Gujarati to be "the mound of the dead" is not unusual, as the name of the city of Mohenjo-daro in Sindhi means the same. People in villages neighboring to Lothal had known of the presence of an ancient town and human remains.

It is one of the most paramount settlements of the Indus Valley civilization or Harappa culture known for its trade in beads, gems and shell work. We have evidence of their trading patterns with Mesopotamia, Oman, Baharain and as far as West Africa. They used land and water as trade routes within the civilization and also with neighboring areas.

Lothal as a site was strategically planned and located. It’s citizens have made some remarkable contributions in fields of science, architecture, metallurgy, engineering and crafts. The techniques and tools they pioneered for bead-making and in metallurgy have stood the test of time for over 4000 years. Lothal was very smartly located in the sense that it was near to sources of carnelian found in Bharuch, Gujarat, and steatite and metal sources which they procured from Rajasthan.

Lothal was discovered in 1954. It was excavated between 1955 and 1962 under the Archeological Survey of India by Prof. S.N. Rao. The entire settlement was divided into a citadel or acropolis and lower town. The excavations and findings consist of a mound, dockyard, warehouse, cemetery and other buildings of residential and (probably) religious importance.

To be continued…