Dholavira, a Harappan-era city in Gujarat, has been conferred the tag of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is the second site to be included in the World Heritage list this month after the Ramappa Temple at Palampet in Telangana’s Warangal.

Gujarat now has four World Heritage Sites — Dholavira, Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, Rani ki Vav in Patan and the historic city of Ahmedabad.

Now, India has 40 World Heritage Sites. The 40 World Heritage properties include 32 cultural, seven natural and one mixed property.

An outstanding example of Harappan urban planning

• Dholavira, a Harappan city, is one of the very few well preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE.

• Dholavira, the southern centre of the Harappan Civilization, is located on the arid island of Khadir in Gujarat. 

• Dholavira is an exceptional example of a proto-historic Bronze Age urban settlement pertaining to the Harappan Civilization and bears evidence of a multi-cultural and stratified society during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE.

• Its earliest evidence can be traced back to 3000 BCE during the early Harappan phase of the Harappan Civilization. This city flourished for nearly 1,500 years, representing a long continuous habitation. 

• Dholavira, known locally as Kotada (which means large fort), sprawls over 100 hectares of semi-arid land at the north-west corner of the island of Khadir, one of the islands in the Great Rann of Kutch.

• The excavated remains clearly indicate the origin of the settlement, its growth, zenith and the subsequent decline in the form of continuous changes in the configuration of the city, architectural elements and various other attributes.

• Dholavira not only witnesses the entire trajectory of the rise and fall of this early civilization of humankind, but also demonstrates its multifaceted achievements in terms of urban planning, construction techniques, water management, social governance and development, art, manufacturing, trading, and belief system. 

• With extremely rich artefacts, the well preserved urban settlement of Dholavira depicts a vivid picture of a regional centre with its distinct characteristics that also contributes significantly to the existing knowledge of Harappan Civilization as a whole.

• The property comprises two parts: a walled city and a cemetery to the west of the city. The walled city consists of a fortified castle with attached fortified Bailey and Ceremonial Ground, and a fortified Middle Town and a Lower Town. 

• A series of reservoirs are found to the east and south of the citadel. 

• The site includes a large cemetery with cenotaphs of six types testifying to the Harappan’s unique view of death. 

• The configuration of the city of Dholavira, during its heyday, is an outstanding example of planned city with planned and segregated urban residential areas based on possibly differential occupational activities, and a stratified society. 

Unique water conservation methods

• Technological advancements in water harnessing systems, water drainage systems as well architecturally and technologically developed features are reflected in the design, execution, and effective harnessing of local materials. 

• Unlike other Harappan antecedent towns normally located near to rivers and perennial sources of water, the location of Dholavira in the island of Khadir was strategic to harness different mineral and raw material sources (copper, shell, agate-carnelian, steatite, lead, banded limestone, among others) and to facilitate internal as well as external trade to the Magan (modern Oman peninsula) and Mesopotamian regions.

• The expansive water management system designed to store every drop of water available shows the ingenuity of the people to survive against the rapid geo-climatic transformations. 

• Water diverted from seasonal streams, scanty precipitation and available ground was sourced, stored, in large stone-cut reservoirs which are extant along the eastern and southern fortification. 

• To further access water, few rock-cut wells, which date as one of the oldest examples, are evident in different parts of the city, the most impressive one being located in the citadel. 

• Such elaborate water conservation methods of Dholavira are unique and one of the most efficient systems of the ancient world.

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