As mentioned in my earlier posts / comments, I was pretty much excited about this place and I must say, if you are going to Kutch, then you should not miss out this great place.
The place was just amazing, many things will keep you wonder that “how did they manage to do so much advanced things 5,000 years back?� The drainage system was just too good.
Let me give some details about whole thing…
We started our journey at 6.30 AM from Anjar. It is approximate 4-5 hours of journey by car. Our first stop was at some place on the highway, where we had good breakfast. Jalebi Gathiya (Gujarati break fast) This time I did not miss to click the photo and make you guys bit jealous 😛 haha
Okay now serious stuff, we reached the place around 11
I also clicked the pics of India’s biggest rann (Desert), (which was on the way) the desert is full of salt and is totally white.  Currently in the image you can see the water everywhere but in the summer, you won’t see a sign of water there…
It is said that, this place was used as channel for transport 5000 years back. It was all sea then.
We moved from that placed and reached Dholavira around 11.30 AM
It was very hot there, the sun was not ready to hide behind the clouds, no signs of rain…. once we reached the place, they (Staff members) gave us brief introduction about the place….
After quick reading, we were ready to go; they sent a guide with us to explain the stuff. He started us with saying, you are currently standing in middle of the river, the place we were standing was a river 5000 years back, we moved to the left, he showed us 5-6 big reservoirs of water which kept is wondering, “how can they be so advanced 5000 years back?” It was just amazing, they had made a very smart mechanism to save the water and use it in the times of shortage. Each reservoir had a big hole from where water can pass. If 1st is full, water will be passed to 2nd and so on… I could not click pics myself because we were not allowed to do so. But my friend Dharmesh sent me some pics. (He had permission to click the pics when he had visited the place)
Following are the pics of reservoirs:
2nd pic is basically the place which allows bullock carts to do down, fetch the water and bring it up. (Watch the steep path in the image)
Then we were saw the big ground, it was basically a ground divided between, play ground, an open theatre and a place to live for middle and lower class people. The ground had an entrance from the fort, basically it was made for the royal family. (The people who live in the fort). Then there was market area - shops and then cemetery. (We could not go to these areas because of heat). So we moved on the right side, we saw a well which was 40 feet deep and they still had to dig 40 feet more. Then, swimming pool kind of thing, it was not exactly a pool but a small place to take bath which had enough water in it. And each and everything was interconnected, the water used to pass from reservoir to these kind of pools.
There was lot more to explore but we could not because of heat but we were shown many photographs which had pictures of ornaments, weapons and many other things.
The best time to visit Dholavira would be in winter, they basically start the digging work in the winters (if the government passes their budget), they dig the place using small brushes like tooth brush. But the worst part is, from last 2 years the work is stopped, the government has not passed the budget for their work. Basically the government has shown less interest in exploring such a great place. 80% of the work is still left, what we see is just 20% of the work. I hope the government shows some interest in this project. Or atleast allows people to donate.
I am ending this post here with few links:
Dholavira on Wiki Pedia – Pictures taken at Dholavira - Graphical reconstruction of the place
in the breakfast , there are Fafda, Jalebi, onions, mirchi & whts that – red “chatni ” , is it so ?
aah I need to catch them from my near by shop.
Chatni was the best part, they served us with chatni which was just too good, all we had to do is, dip fafda in the chatni and enjoy it…it just too good…
u keep showing good food pics and make me jelous 😛 , u come back and i will kill you 😛 , make sure u r not coming back
haha and I am waiting for that day 😛
anyways deep you cant make me jealous about those fafda and jalebi i can have them whenever i want them :p.
i will make you jealous when you are back in mumbai, if you are alive ^^ ha ha ha.
why you were not allowed to take pictures? do they charge for permission for shooting or from where to get the permission to shoot?
i was frankly disappointed with pictureless diary anyways worth visiting place.
i will have to push all my family members to visit that place when i am going to kutch in august 4th week.
Actually they do not give permissions for anythning other than study purpose but from seeing the pictures on the net, I think it should be possible to click the picture if no senior staff is present…
They do not charge any amount for anything…
Hi – looked at your site with interest. I have visited Bhuj many times and have friends there. My interest is in textiles, but also in history and I need to visit Dholivira! I will be in the area early October 06. OK, it will be hot! Any hints or tips on places to stay. I plan to leave Bhuj am, stop over near Dholivira, and start early in the morning to explore.
I love the whole area, so this visit I hope to study the history of Kutch, which is so varied and interesting.
Any hints and tips would be much appreicated! Thanks.
Tig
Actually near Dholavira there is government’s hotel to stay, where you have to book room the in advance. The place won’t be like 5 star hotel or anything but it will a good place to stay for a day or 2.
I will ask my cousin tomorrow and post the details about the place tomorrow.
Regards,
Deep
One more thing, if you are interested in Tie and Dye kind of stuff, then you must visit the place called Bhujodi and also Shrujan.
Check their website: http://www.shrujan.org/
Deep
Thanks for sharing all the above information… can you please help me how to book a car for the above place …!!
Just check with the hotel guys. Tell them the names of these places. They will set the schedule for you.