In my previous post about Kot Diji, I had brought the Fort of Kot Diji under discussion. We had concluded that Kot Diji fort was a product of need for defense by the then rulers of this area, Talpurs. In that post we had also established that Diji is an archeological site that has links with Indus Valley civilization and we need to bring it under discussion separately. Since last week I dedicated my post to Kot Diji fort, today I will give you some insight of Diji, the mound or some folks take pleasure in calling it the ruins of Kot Diji but to me it is a misnomer.

History

Kot Diji site is 25 Kilometers (15 miles) south of Khairpur town in the Khairpur District of Sindh. The Kot Diji is significant to an extent that its discovery revised the pre-history of this region and we now start counting it from 2,800 BC instead of 2,500 BC. It is around a push back of 300 years.

The excavations carried out in Kot Diji link it to Indus Valley Civilization in a way that it appears sending a direct impact on Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. It is said the some of the basic cultural element in Mohenjo Daro and Harappa has roots in Kot Diji. Not only this but Kot Dijians were very creative craftsmen who used unique techniques to design and decorate the pottery. The ‘fish scale’ intersecting circles and the pipal leaf pattern found in Harappa were evolved from the Kot Dijian decorated elements like the horizontal and wavy lines, loops and simple triangular patterns. Though excavation has been done to a good extent in Kot Diji but the where abouts of ancient Kot Dijian people are yet to be discovered.

The Site

The site is divided in two, one citadel, the high ground for the rulers and elite of the area and other for the common men. It is quite evident that this area was also having the similar caste distribution as we notice in Mohenjo Daro.

Tail Piece

To Sir Mortimer Wheeler, famed British Archaeologist, Pakistan boasts of Indus Valley Civilization, which was one of the first three mature civilizations of the world. He is quite right in saying that our country is home to this great Civilization but my heart aches over the apathy of people and authorities who are reluctant to think critically and understand the need of conservation. It is required that the concerned authorities pay attention to this aspect on priority basis else we will loose such valuable indicators of our history and culture.

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The name given to this fort has an origin that is very important to understand. In Sindhi language, the word ‘Kot’ means a wall that is high enough to protect the inside of some area. Simply, the word ‘Kot‘ stands for fort in Sindhi and ‘Diji’ added to its name is due to the proximity of this fort to the world famous archeological site, The ‘Diji jo Daro’(The mound of Diji). The objects found after excavation of mound of Diji show its links with Indus Valley Civilization.

Hence, we can conclude that it is a fort that is located near ancient mound of Diji. In order to understand both fort and the archeological site, I feel like writing two posts on Kot Diji fort and the mound of Diji separately. This post is first of the two.

In this post, I will write about Kot Diji fort in particular. My latter post will take up the ‘Diji’ in detail. So let’s get to Kot Diji fort.

Why forts?

According to Wikipedia, fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in war. The history of forts is as old as human race. Since security has topped the human concerns from beginning of civilizations so this need of security manifested itself in form of fortifications all around the world. If we will take this definition as a yardstick, this fort of Kot Diji will appear to us as another effort of rulers and the ruled of this area to obtain this sense of safety in times of peace, and war in particular.

History

The Kot Diji fort formerly known as Fort Ahmedabad was built by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur between years 1785 to 1795. Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur is considered as the founder of Talpur Kingdom in upper Sindh in the year 1783. This fort was meant to serve as the residence of ‘Mirs’, the ruler of Khairpur in time of peace too. It is interesting to note that throughout its history, this fort was never attacked.

The Kot Diji Fort

This fort is a beautiful example of architecture during the Talpur rule in upper Sindh. It was constructed on a limestone hill with backed bricks. It stands with all its majesty even today. This fort is spread over an area of approximately one Kilometer. In order to ensure the security, the fort has three doors with iron nails, powerful enough to protect the enemy’s attacks with elephants. These doors signify three different levels of inhabitants with outermost level for foot soldiers and the innermost level for royals. Moreover, there is ‘Chaubara’ a sitting place located in innermost level for royals as well as a residential area. The other significant constructions inside this fort are barracks for soldiers and a large water tank to insure the water supply during wartime. The construction of walls of this fort has special arrangements in form of slits and holes to provide an edge over enemy since they can be used for firing cannons and arrows when required.

My connection with Kot Diji

I was born in Khairpur and spent all my childhood there and due to this, Kot Diji is something special to me. It hardly takes a car drive of 25-30 minutes from my home to the fort. It is sort of a relationship that is natural in its essence because to me its instinctive for a human to love his birth place, so do I and I am happy having taken birth near such a place that has a great historical background. It’s a link by birth that will stay with me till I depart from this world.

My birth relation (that’s what I call it) with Kot Diji offered me numerous chances to enjoy being there. I have been paying visits to Kot Diji for quite sometime with many different motives, sometimes as a simple visitor and at other instances as an activist campaigning about social issues. Kot Diji at the moment is a sub-division (Taluka) of District Kharipur. The area nearby fort is rural in its out look with illiteracy to a morbid level. A traveler to Kot Diji will find a poverty stricken village around this fort. I can recall my last visit. I went there on a campaign to highlight the need of education in the area. It was way back in 2005 and we happened organize a walk for the cause of education. The education department of Kot Diji was generous enough to help us with the locals. I was then using the platform of my Rotaract club and it was a drive to get as many students enrolled as possible with the primary schools in the area specially girls.

In last I would say, take Kot Diji fort or Kot Diji sub-division, both are victims of apathy both by common man and public official. The situation of Kot Diji fort is getting worst every passing day with salinity on rise and weather conditions. The officials are reluctant to pay any heed to conservation of this site of significance. I think if it continues as it is now, we will be left with ruins only for our future generations.

Tail Piece

Nations take pride in associating themselves with their past. The heritage sites of any country are the physical representations of their history. Keeping in view the significance of heritage, literate nations use to take special interest in conservation of what they inherit but, the situation in Pakistan is on the contrary. What does it symbolize? Are we sorry for what we were? Are we deliberately trying to cut our roots? I think no, it’s only the apathy of our rulers that we are losing our glorious past by paying no heed to conservation of our historical places. While writing this post, I felt this fear that whether my great grand children will be able to write something of similar nature. Will there be Kot Diji Fort, Mohenjo Daro, and Badshahi Masjid for our generations to come?

Those of you, who are familiar with this site of an urban pre-historic Asian city, must know that it’s located at a distance of approximately 24 kilometers from Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan. Larkana is a town in upper Sindh. Apart from Mohenjo Daro, Larkana is famous in Pakistan and abroad for being home to two seasoned Pakistani politicians; former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto. She too is a former Pakistani Prime Minister . I will talk about this aspect of Larkana in some other post; at the moment, let’s get back to Mohenjo Daro.

When I was a student back there in Larkana, we use to pay visits to Mohenjo Daro almost every then and now. In fact at times, we use to jog to Mohenjo Daro and back every morning for weeks. I stayed in Cadet College for 5 years feeling the presence of such a great place nearby. It offered me a deep sense of association with our ancient past. This post is an attempt to re-visit Mohenjo Daro in my sweet memories.

Mohenjo Daro came to limelight after 1922 when R.D. Banerji, an officer of the Archeological Survey of India discovered it. Latter, John Marshall, K.N. Dilkshit, Ernest Mackay and numerous other officers of Archeological Survey carried out excavations through 1930s. At the moment, further excavations are banned due to problems related to conservation of the exposed site. The last project of excavation was carried out in 1964-65 by Dr. G. F. Dales.

History

Mohenjo Daro was built around 2600 and abandoned around 1700 BC. This city belongs to Indus Valley Civilization (IVC); the other name of this Civilization is the “Harappan Civilization”. The Indus Valley Civilization is considered as one of the very well developed ancient Civilizations that existed on the face of earth. This civilization was located on the banks of river Indus in Pakistan and north-west of India. Two most developed and urban cities of this Civilization were Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

The City

The ancient city of Mohenjo Daro sometimes called Moenjo Daro (Mound of Death) was very well planned and urban in it’s out look. The ruins of the buildings are suggestive of a very well organized social system with castes dealing with different trades and crafts. Important building structures include the great bath the remains of a university, the market place and granary. The people of then Mohenjo Daro were experts and the construction of great bath is a testimony to their expertise. It has very well built pool with stair leading downwards, in fact it is reported that the pool was lined with natural tar to avoid leaks. Apart from this, the world’s first urban sanitation plan can be witnessed operating in Mohenjo Daro even in pre-historic era.

My Visits to Mohenjo Daro

As I told you earlier, I lived in Larkana for almost 13 years, initially, as a student at Cadet College Larkana and latter, as a medical student at Chandka Medical College Larkana. My stay in Larkana offered me numerous chances to visit Mohenjo Daro. We use to go there and enjoy being near to our ancient pre-historic past. Many a times I use to stay in the rest house for night or two since my best friend’s father was project director of Mohenjo Daro and he used to help us in getting place to stay. I do have many vivid memories as if, it is just yesterday that I am back from Mohenjo Daro and writing all this. To me among all, my last visit to site is worthy of mention.

It was New Year night that we planned to spend it at Mohenjo Daro. All arrangements were made and our group left. We wanted to bid the last sun of 2004 good bye there at Mohenjo Daro. We went to bank of river Indus and happened to see the beautiful scene of sun, setting slowly and it felt as if I am seeing a dream. Everything appeared gold plated. I can still feel the cold of a December evening blended with soothing warmth of setting sun. It was one of those moments that I will never forget. Latter we came back and started the party, dancing and singing. At around 11:00 pm we went out. It was dead silent, pitch black and chilling cold outside. We were having plans to enjoy Bar B.Q. and the plan got executed. We were like shivering out of cold but we enjoyed every bit of it. In this way the time passed, we stepped in New Year. Latter, we came back to our rooms and kept chatting for rest of the time.

Though known as a cliché at the moment but very well said that thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Having all those beautiful memories residing in my mind, I never feel unhappy and they keep me cheerful. So, I will suggest you to have few for your well being too.