Lethal - a travel guide to the land of the Dead!

Lothal literally means the ‘place of the dead’ in Gujarati (Mohenjodaro in Sindhi also conveys similar meaning, ‘mound of the dead’). Curiously post independence, when almost all the well-known sites from the Indus Valley Civilization went to Pakistan, there was new zeal to find such similar sites in India also. Lothal was a port, though a little for from the sea, and apparently boats used to sail upto the unexcavated Lothal mound as recently as 1850 AD. The site has representation of two Harappan periods – A and B. Period A (2400-1900 BC) was as well developed as the rest of Harappan culture, while Period B (1900-1600 BC) shows a decline in town’s prosperity.

Lothal was already a small village when Harappans came in the region. It was already famous for its bead-making industry, an industry which also took the village to major heights of prosperity later. There are many remains of the beautiful beads, necklaces, and many more ornaments (including a beautiful one made of gold) in the museum.

My visit to Lothal

I consider myself a history buff (that of course does not imply that I am good at it), and so my interest in civilizations is intense. The first time I visited ruins from the Indus Valley civilization was when Muzayun and me visited the Dholavira ruins way back in 2007. But that was a discovery by chance, we had little clue how amazing those ruins would be, but that’s another story. Long before Dholavira, I had been making plans to see Lothal, a much smaller but much better known (and accessible) excavation site. Somehow, the place had caught my attention in the early 2000, but somehow it never happened.

It was only early this year (January 2010) that I finally decided to go there. Bhavin was in Delhi and so was Muzayun (she gets dragged along on most such unexpected outings), so things became much easier. I just took a bus and reached a smaller town, about 20 km to Lothal. A couple of chhakda changes and an hour later I was there at the gate. It was about 9 in the morning and the weather was extremely pleasant. I decided to visit the museum first to know more about the place and also to get some shade. I was the only one in the museum and it felt nice to be there. I had no camera (not even in my phone) and so I took many notes in my notebook. It certainly was a different way of looking at things, a little more time consuming as well.

At first the site was a colossal disappointment, because it looks tiny. On further inquiries I found that originally a much larger area was excavated (in 1950s), but after that the township had to be covered due to the vagaries of nature. The whole site was protected for so long by the clay mound, and once it was gone, it started showing signs of much faster deterioration. But there are many areas of the town still visible, if only partially. The most stunning of these is the huge dock right on the entrance (of course this may not have been the town entry point in the past), with kiln fired bricks lining. I was completely exhausted by the time I finished taking a round. Other places worth mentioning include the warehouse, the acropolis, bead factory and the lower town. A little outside the town is also the burial space for the dead.

Lothal city plan 

image source: http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/beatrice.spade/harappa.htm

Unless you know the history of the place a little, or have interest in such ruins, this place would make little sense. There is little that can be seen directly in these ruins, I had a book on me (available for Rs. 50 in the museum) and so was looking for different things shown there. But the best thing to do would be to have a very good guide, who can tell you everything about the place (an impossible task).

The sun got extremely strong as the day progresses (even in winters), and I left back for Ahmedabad around noon.

Do not forget to make a visit to Dholavira after you have seen Lothal, it’s a gem in the desert.