Lothal: World’s Oldest Man-Made Port City
In modern times, if we talk about town planning, housing schemes, drainage systems, or roads, I don’t know why everyone feels as if we have got all those things from Western countries only, but in this chapter of the cultural institution of India, The place we will learn about today is Lothal located in Ahmedabad of Gujarat, which is not only a very important site of the Indus Valley Civilization but also the World’s Oldest Man Made Port City.
The city structure of Lothal was made in such a way that six prominent sites can be seen here, the first and main site of which is the dockyard or boat wharf, where the ships used to stop, after this there was the warehouse where the goods were kept. After that, Acropolis or upper town, and after that a factory has been found and the sixth one is a cemetery.
In the worship method of all the villages around Lothal, an important goddess Vahanvati Sikotari Mata is worshiped, which means that whoever takes our vehicle forward should take it safely, and Sikotari is related to Sindhu or sea.
The most important structure here is the dockyard, which is approximately eight hundred feet long and this structure was completely made of firebricks. Today the sea is about 25 to 30 kilometers away from this village of Lothal, but it is believed that about four and a half thousand years ago, the Sabarmati River had its mouth in the Gulf of Cambay, and the distance of the sea was only two or three kilometers from here. From there, water used to come to this dockyard through a canal and one inlet. Today the depth of this dockyard appears to be around 5 to 6 feet, but earlier it used to be around 15 feet. All the water used to come in through an inlet and when this water became too much, it went out through this outlet, which was released into the small river Bhogar river going outside, which is a tributary of Sabarmati river. the coming and going of water, this entire incident was based on tidal waves. This proves that the people of the Indus Valley Civilization had good knowledge of gravitational force and astronomical calculations.
There was a provision for standing more than 200 ships together. Here they were berthed and after that, the goods were taken out from them and taken to the warehouse.
The dockyard was built very scientifically, for example, you can see that this is the outlet of this dockyard, whenever the water became too much, all the water was removed from here, as this structure shows there used to be slew gates, which allow ships to enter and leave, as can be seen on today’s large dams when the iron gate is closed and the water stops, this structure proves that this technology existed earlier also. This was the dockyard where ships used to come and stay.
Many questions are bound to arise on this claim, but the evidence found here clearly shows that it was actually a dockyard. The reason for this is that the shells found here during the excavation prove that the water that used to fill this place was from the sea. Secondly, stone anchors have been found here, which were used to tie any ship and berth so that it could be parked in one place. Thirdly, among all the terracotta figures found here such as boats, ships, gorilla remains, Egyptian mummy, beads of Sumerian culture, and many such things have been found here. which tells that the business of export and import, used to happen here and that too through this sea.
Fourth is these walls, the top three to four layers are protected by ASI, and new bricks have been used here, but the bricks below are of the same time, which are still in such a strong condition. that it can be estimated just by looking at them. That is how much-advanced technology would have been used to make them. Because this water used to be sea water which spoils everything.
In brief, this dockyard or port city of Lothal is an incredible example of modern oceanography, hydrology, cargo handling, civil engineering, and port management, which, leave aside the civilizations of that time, even today, if we look at it, it looks very modern.
Another important structure of Lothal or Mound of Dead is the warehouse, here there was a dockyard on one side, and the warehouse on the other side, which was built on the highest platform through a ramp. In which 64 cubes were made. Passages were made in between, and different types of goods were kept on each cube. Whenever goods came here, they were kept at different places after charging, levying, and stamping. The height of this place was more than the place where royal people stayed. This shows how important trade & business was for them, and this place used to be a big and important trade hub. But gradually, due to the regular influx of fluids, all these things got destroyed and only the remains were left testifying to that time.
The third structure is found just next to the warehouse, which is called the Acropolis or upper town or fort. It is believed that a large trade community or ruling class must have lived here. It is known for its remarkable system of drainage, baked bricks, double-story buildings, good roads, and good civic and municipal sense.
There were double-storey buildings in the Acropolis, it’s evidence comes from this structure, this is a drainage system, which worked like a soak pit, in this the solid waste would come down and get deposited, which would pass through the drain through another soak pit. It used to go ahead through the main drainage system, although the drainage system of the Indus Valley Civilization is very good everywhere, but Lothal has this special character in which small size drains meet medium size drains. The medium drains merge into larger drains, and the entire drainage system ultimately flows into the dockyard. And one specialty of all these drainage systems is that all the structures were covered.
This is the road towards Bead Factory Town. Seeing its width and cleanliness, it can be estimated that the civic sense and municipal administration of the people of Lothal was very good. And no evidence of any kind of encroachment is found in the excavation here.
The fourth most important site of Lothal is the bead Factory.
This small furnace is attached to the factory. which was found during the excavation here. This is important because it tells about the science here, how advanced the metallurgy was here, hundred percent pure copper was made here, what is even more surprising is that even after having the knowledge of all these things, No remains of weapons have been found here, which proves that the people of Lothal were very peace loving and they used metal only for trade and commerce, and not for war.
The fifth important site of Lothal is the Lower Town. in which all those amenities are visible here which were in the upper town.
The last and important site of Lothal is the cemetery, the remains found here show that cremation as well as burial took place here. Evidence of joint burial has also been found here, where both men and women have been buried together. According to people, this is related to the practice of Sati, but there is no confirmed evidence of this because the one that comes immediately after this is in the Shatapatha Brahmin of the Vedic Era. It is clearly written that after the death of the husband, the wife should not die but should take care of her children.
There are many such features of Lothal that you will be surprised to know. Many of us must have read the stories of Panchatantra, in which there is the story of a thirsty crow and a deer, and the story of a bird and a fox. Descriptions of all these stories can be found here featured on the jars as carvings on them. This means that the stories of Panchatantra are older than the timeline determined by modern experts.