Somnath Temple is one of the very ancient temples of India located in Gujarat and stands as a famous landmark in the Indian history. The temple is so situated that there is no land from here to the South Pole. An arrow indicates the direction.
Somnath Temple Slide show
Monday, April 15, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Pols of Ahmedabad - - Vaarso- Hertiage Walk
The old, walled city of Ahmedabad is a contrast to the new city that’s known for its spic and span environs, well laid out roads and dedicated bus lanes,
A visitor can choose morning or evening heritage walks, organised either by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation or private players like the House of MG. The old city has around 360 ‘pols’ or gates with the Mahurat Pol being the first. Each pol, in some cases suffixed with ‘khadki’, leads into a small housing colony where people pursuing different vocations used to live. The deep division of social strata is evident from some of the names, for example ‘Khacharasi ni Khadki’ or where the sweepers and rag pickers lived.
The old city throws up magnificent Jain temples, densely populated market areas and many structures bound to pique tourist interest. The guides will not miss pointing out at the old Ahmedabad Share and Stock Brokers’ Association where Dhirubhai Ambani started his career as a broker.
Besides this structure in Manek Chowk, we find small traders with their desks filled with weights, measures and chemicals promising to check purity of gold ornaments. Moving ahead, we make our way to Rani na Hajiro and Juma Masjid, two of the biggest landmarks in that part of the town
I did heritage walk with my high cgool friends .
( I got a chance for Daudi Vhora and their Haveli at Siddhapur
Friday, March 15, 2013
Ashok Shila Lekh
I am fast forwarding from 2500 BC to 300 BC. From Lothal to Ashok's Shila Lekh.
History lovers can visit the Ashok Shilalekh or the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka. They may see a jackpot in this rock. It gives an unique connection to India's Past. If you are an Indian or know tid-bits of the Indian history, then you must know "Chakravarti Samraat Ashok" from Maurya dynasty and his writings on stones known as "Ashoka Stambh". Indian national symbol have been taken from it
About 2 km east of Junagadh and 3 km from the foot of Girnar Hill, between the two places, is an edict of Emperor Ashoka inscribed on a rock dating from the 3rd century BC. The Ashokan edicts impart moral instructions on dharma, harmony, tolerance, and peace. An uneven rock, with a circumference of seven meters and a height of ten meters, bears inscriptions in Brāhmī script etched with an iron pen.It is interesting to note that Ashoka traveled all the way from Kalinga (present day Orissa) to this far away place in the west.
The inscriptions in Ashoka's 14 rock edicts on a large boulder are all done in Brahmi script. In the same rock, you can also find inscriptions in Sanskrit by the Saka (Scythian) ruler of Malwa, which have been added to it, around 150 C.E. by Mahakshatrap Rudradaman.
Ashoka was the third monarch of the Mauryan dynasty in India, anointed as emperor in 274 BCE, and is regarded as one of the most admirable rulers in world history..Although he is a major historical figure, little definitive information was known as there were no available records of his reign until the 19th century when a large number of his edicts, inscribed on rocks and pillars, were found in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan
The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the British East India Company. These scripts were found on the pillars at Delhi and Allahabad and on rock inscriptions from both sides of India, and also the Kharosthi script in the coins and inscriptions of the north-west. The history of deciphering of the script by James Prisep is also very impressive.
References
- Ashoks Major Rock Eddicts
- Eddicts of Ashok
- Brahmi script introduction and Brahmi lanaguage books
- Brahmi scripts ( wikepedia)
- James Prinsep archaeologist who deciphered Brahmi
- Ashoka: The Search for India’s Lost Emperor by charles Allen
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Lothal (લોથલ) : Ancient port city 4500 years back
Lothal is one of the most fascinating remains of an ancient port city from the Indus civilization ( 3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) . The place was discovered in 1958 Dr. Rao from the archaeological society of India. Lothal is the exhibit- A of the existence of life and advanced civilization thriving in Gujarat in prehistoric or geologic times .. The place is only 80 KM form Ahmadabad. Lothal is one the oldest man-made structure and city on the planet. Per Wikipedia's list of the oldest man-made structures, only two structures pre-dates that.
(The wiki list of the oldest man-made structures is not updated with the new archaeological find in the Orkney Islands off the northern tip of Scotland Ness, Scottland, the story at PBS : about the Neolithic religion).
{Side Note 1:One of the relatively "breaking news" is about the discovery of the dinosaur bones in Gujarat per BBC News - The dinosaur wonders of India's Jurassic Park . { Also at Wiki "The Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park in Gandhinagar in the state of Gujarat, India, has been described as the second largest hatchery of dinosaur eggs in the world.[1] The Park was set up by the Geological Survey of India[1][2] and is the only dinosaur museum in the country."]. I plan to visit Dahod ( The birthplace of Mogul Emperor Aurangazeb),
Chamaner ( built by Mahamad Begada, the most prominent Sultan, Only UNESCO heritage site in Gujarat at present ), Jambhughoda along with Dang district ( Place of "adivasi" the "native Indians of India', Kawant ), Dabhoi and Malav or Madhya Pradesh(MP) , part of Gurjar-Prathara empire , an Indian Gurjar imperial dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the 6th to the 11th centuries. End of side Note 1}
So excluding the the "Jurassic Park", Lothal is the Oldest place in the long history of Gujarat with irrefutable set of the scientific and archeological supporting facts.
Lothal was excavated in 1958. The map in the archaeological survey of India office, shows scores of Indus Valley sites scattered across the whole of Gujarat most of them occupying positions near deltas. The place currently being excavated is at Dholavira,Kutch , For someone interested in archaeology and ancient civilisations, Lothal is a perfect place to get an insight into the Indus Valley civilization like Dholavia which is under excavation and being developed for Gujarat tourism as well for the application for theUNESCO heritage site.
Lothal literally means “mound
of dead”. The ancient city is one of the
southernmost outposts of the Indus civilization and certainly one of the most interesting of Harrapan town planning ( The Indus Valley Civilization also known as Harappan culture) Lothal has the unique lockgated dockyard is perhaps the
greatest of maritime architecture from the ancient world, and to the Sabarmati
river just before its meeting with the sea in Gulf of Cambay.
(The wiki list of the oldest man-made structures is not updated with the new archaeological find in the Orkney Islands off the northern tip of Scotland Ness, Scottland, the story at PBS : about the Neolithic religion).
{Side Note 1:One of the relatively "breaking news" is about the discovery of the dinosaur bones in Gujarat per BBC News - The dinosaur wonders of India's Jurassic Park . { Also at Wiki "The Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park in Gandhinagar in the state of Gujarat, India, has been described as the second largest hatchery of dinosaur eggs in the world.[1] The Park was set up by the Geological Survey of India[1][2] and is the only dinosaur museum in the country."]. I plan to visit Dahod ( The birthplace of Mogul Emperor Aurangazeb),
Chamaner ( built by Mahamad Begada, the most prominent Sultan, Only UNESCO heritage site in Gujarat at present ), Jambhughoda along with Dang district ( Place of "adivasi" the "native Indians of India', Kawant ), Dabhoi and Malav or Madhya Pradesh(MP) , part of Gurjar-Prathara empire , an Indian Gurjar imperial dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the 6th to the 11th centuries. End of side Note 1}
So excluding the the "Jurassic Park", Lothal is the Oldest place in the long history of Gujarat with irrefutable set of the scientific and archeological supporting facts.
Lothal was excavated in 1958. The map in the archaeological survey of India office, shows scores of Indus Valley sites scattered across the whole of Gujarat most of them occupying positions near deltas. The place currently being excavated is at Dholavira,Kutch , For someone interested in archaeology and ancient civilisations, Lothal is a perfect place to get an insight into the Indus Valley civilization like Dholavia which is under excavation and being developed for Gujarat tourism as well for the application for theUNESCO heritage site.
A museum is stocked with archaelogical findings that offer an insight into the Indus Valley period..One of the iconic findings is the Stampseal with unicorn and ritual offering stand, ca. 2000-1900 B.C.; Harappan. Indus Valley, Harappa. At Lothal the archaeologists also discovered two human skeletons with double burial, which they are still not able to find at other sites like
Artifacts from the Indus Valley Civilization was spread over some 1,260,000 km², up to Afganistan . making it the largest ancient civilization The Indus Valley is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, along with its contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million. The civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistory houses.
The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization, as the first of its cities to be unearthed was located at Harappa, excavated in the 1920 . Up to 1,999, over 1,056 cities and settlements have been found, out of which 96 have been excavated, mainly in the general region of the Indus . Among the settlements were the major urban centres of Harappa, Lothal, Mohenjo-daro (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Dholavira, Kalibanga, and Rakhigarhi.
The most dominating sight at Lothal is the massive dockyard, which has made Lothal so important on the international archaeological map.
{Side Note 2: I had about it when my family moved back to Ahmadabad in 1964. I have been ever very keen to visit it.. However I managed to see it for the first time in this trip of 2013
Part of my high school reunion agenda was a visit to Gundi to visit Ashram run by my classmate and friend at Gundi (also in Dholaka Taluka) in the last picture. I was joined by my two NRI friends . On the way to Gundi, we stopped by at a village named Ganpatpur, which has Ganesh temple and was preparing for a fair next week, expecting 500,000 visitors. That is also an interesting stop among the near by places. In past I have been to Dholaka as a stop from school picnic in 1965 ( to Vautha) which has a historical lake . The story pops-up from memory in context to the current challenges of state vs private property around the world. The designed man-made lake has a crooked corner as the old-lady a dancer refused to move. The Queen-mother Minaldevi around 1050 AD let her stay and moved the lake around her house. It is known as the exhibit of Justice and may be the earliest exception to the "Eminent domain" ( the power of the state to seize private property without the owner's consent. Side Note 2: }
Reference :
- A.S. Khadikar, N. Basaviah, T. K. Gundurao and C. Rajshekhar Paleoenvironments around the Harappan port of Lothal, Gujarat, western India, in Journal of the Indian Geophysicists Union (2004)
- The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective - Page 80-83 ( Google book)
- Prehistory And Harappan Civilization - Page 225-271 (Google Book, recommended )
- Wikipedia : Lothal , Indus Civilization Harappa Culture
- Dancing Girl Of Mohenjodaro, Indus Valley Civilization C- 2700-2000 BCE. The "Dancing girl" found in Mohenjo-daro is an artifact that echoes the architectural wonders of ancient, deep buried long ago. She frequently refereed in the write-up of the Indus Civilization . Like the enigmatic of smile of Mona-Lisa, the attitude of the dancing this 4500 old dancing girl has been subject of annotations by experts and critics,
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Introduction; Gujarat 5000 years of history, People & Places
I am neither a history buff nor a travel buff. However I always find myself enticed most by both of them. It is said, heritage is the essential part if the present we live in; and of the future we built. I marvel at the immense repository of history through five millenniums, cultures and traditions, religions diversity and knowledge. History in Indian subcontinent is invariably associated with the parallel track of history through mythology. Gujarat is the place of power of Lord Krishna who ruled his kingdom from the port city of Dwarka. Gujarat is also the birth place of father of the nation of India, Mahatma Gandhi and of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( along with mine ) along with some of the most leading entrepreneurs of India like Ambanis, Tata, Azim Premji.
Here is the picture from Gandhi Ashram, quoting Mahatma Gandhi: "It is my firm opinion that no culture has treasures so rich as ours has. We have not recognized its value . If we do not follow our culture, we would be committing suicide as a people" . I tend to agree with the statement in essence and at least second to the assessment that " We have not recognized its value". So I am writing this blog through the help of photo-essays. I wish to bring this relatively less known treasure to future travelers to Gujarat specially the new generation born and raised here in US and coming generation to be born yet..
In January 2013, I got an opportunity to travel to the place where I had traveled several times before, lived there for many and most valuable years of my life and also knew more about the tidbits of the history compare to many other place.
Gujarat is the place, I consider my first homeland and the heartland. I have been also hearing lots of fuss about how polished Gujarat has become lately ! Assuming that I know the pulses of the people and well-verse with land, I am uniquely qualified to judge it better my self. I will try to avoid giving my opinions about political or other controversial areas in this blog ( but no guarantee). So when my high school friends invited me to join a reunion of the class after about four decades of leaving the school, I jumped on the opportunity to meet, reconnect, travel and learn what I knew and what I did not . However I decided to attempt traveling my homeland with a hat of tourist and lens of an outsider.
Here is the current Overview. For most of the picture there is a separate album(s) to cover the subject.
When I took the pictures, I recalled statement of the Bollywood Director Abishesk Kapoor of new film "Kapiyo che", shot in Gujarat , that Gujarat as a state has great potential for picturesque locations.. The idea of Gujarat and pride of in Gujarati identity is pre-modern.
ગુજરાતનું ગૌરવ , ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા ( Glory of Gujarat, Pride of Gujarat) . The glimpses of the pride can be seen in the in the 8th century poem Kuvalyamala of Jain Monk Kdyotansuri in Gurjar-Pratihari Dyanasty , to many modern days.
{Side Note 1: Today, on 1/26/2013 Indian Republican day , I also realized my sense of belonging when 12 years back when Gujarat has earthquake and I got involved in the
Many of the external references in sites like Wikipedia are no longer current, or the referenced books are no longer available from major retailers in west and east like Amazon, Crossword etc. When I have found the references from scanned archive books, I have added. I also have made references from the half a dozen books I purchased during my trips to Gujarat. I have taken some relevant photos from these book, specially of the historical archives .
This blog is more a set of reflections and travel logs of an amateur traveler, with some curiosity and cursory observations, augmented with the growing hobby in photography. Please use the listed references or other sources for more detailed and reliable information .
The subset of the albums are posted. The public albums can be seen
at http://picasaweb.google.com/TusharInGujarat. More albums and the associated blog entries will follow at this site, tusharinGujarat.blogspot.com. you may check for the new links at the right side bar. Also entries may be posted at my facebook account at http://www.facebook.com/tusharJshah and at twitter account @tjshah.
~ Tushar J Shah; 01/26/2013. end of Side Note 1}
Here is the picture from Gandhi Ashram, quoting Mahatma Gandhi: "It is my firm opinion that no culture has treasures so rich as ours has. We have not recognized its value . If we do not follow our culture, we would be committing suicide as a people" . I tend to agree with the statement in essence and at least second to the assessment that " We have not recognized its value". So I am writing this blog through the help of photo-essays. I wish to bring this relatively less known treasure to future travelers to Gujarat specially the new generation born and raised here in US and coming generation to be born yet..
In January 2013, I got an opportunity to travel to the place where I had traveled several times before, lived there for many and most valuable years of my life and also knew more about the tidbits of the history compare to many other place.
Gujarat is the place, I consider my first homeland and the heartland. I have been also hearing lots of fuss about how polished Gujarat has become lately ! Assuming that I know the pulses of the people and well-verse with land, I am uniquely qualified to judge it better my self. I will try to avoid giving my opinions about political or other controversial areas in this blog ( but no guarantee). So when my high school friends invited me to join a reunion of the class after about four decades of leaving the school, I jumped on the opportunity to meet, reconnect, travel and learn what I knew and what I did not . However I decided to attempt traveling my homeland with a hat of tourist and lens of an outsider.
Here is the current Overview. For most of the picture there is a separate album(s) to cover the subject.
Gujarat Overview Slideshow
When I took the pictures, I recalled statement of the Bollywood Director Abishesk Kapoor of new film "Kapiyo che", shot in Gujarat , that Gujarat as a state has great potential for picturesque locations.. The idea of Gujarat and pride of in Gujarati identity is pre-modern.
ગુજરાતનું ગૌરવ , ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા ( Glory of Gujarat, Pride of Gujarat) . The glimpses of the pride can be seen in the in the 8th century poem Kuvalyamala of Jain Monk Kdyotansuri in Gurjar-Pratihari Dyanasty , to many modern days.
{Side Note 1: Today, on 1/26/2013 Indian Republican day , I also realized my sense of belonging when 12 years back when Gujarat has earthquake and I got involved in the
Earthquake Relief Fundraising at my workplace. I got similar jolt during this this trip.
Most of the pictures are from the subset of 6000+ pictures I took during my short trip of 10 days in January 2013 , but there are few form past trip or handful from fellow sojourners who traveled with me for that segment of the trip. I plan to start posting them in reverse chronological order , starting with 2900-2400 BC old, recent archaeological discovery of the Lothal city, part of the Harappa civilization to modern Gujarat to some peep at the future Gujarat. I cover places and people. This is no way an exhaustive work, leading to authentic statements , nor I am a writer. I have also embedded few personal side notes, observations, travel tidbits under {Side Note no} notations. The busy reader can skip the side notes.Many of the external references in sites like Wikipedia are no longer current, or the referenced books are no longer available from major retailers in west and east like Amazon, Crossword etc. When I have found the references from scanned archive books, I have added. I also have made references from the half a dozen books I purchased during my trips to Gujarat. I have taken some relevant photos from these book, specially of the historical archives .
This blog is more a set of reflections and travel logs of an amateur traveler, with some curiosity and cursory observations, augmented with the growing hobby in photography. Please use the listed references or other sources for more detailed and reliable information .
The subset of the albums are posted. The public albums can be seen
at http://picasaweb.google.com/TusharInGujarat. More albums and the associated blog entries will follow at this site, tusharinGujarat.blogspot.com. you may check for the new links at the right side bar. Also entries may be posted at my facebook account at http://www.facebook.com/tusharJshah and at twitter account @tjshah.
~ Tushar J Shah; 01/26/2013. end of Side Note 1}
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)