User talk:Saswateebanerjee

A Visit to Rakhi Garhi

It was a cold somewhat misty morning when we left Delhi by car and headed north towards the city of Hissar in the State of Haryana, on the way to Rakhi Garhi. Rakhi Garhi is a city of the Indus Valley civilization which arose more than 5000 years ago. The Indus Valley civilization was one of the first civilizations in the world along with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. Indus Valley cities were planned with a square grid of streets, rain-water harvesting system, well-planned sewage disposal system, houses had toilets, and baths, a – better conditions than many people have today. I first came to know about Rakhi Garhi when an American professor at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, who was attending a conference in India, wanted to visit an Indus valley site. He proposed Dholavira, but it was too far from our scheduled itinerary to go in the limited time available. We learned about Rakhi Garhi from an article in a science magazine, and found that it is about 150 km from Delhi towards Hissar in Haryana. The total excavated area is more than 200 hectares, next in size only to Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan and considered to be the most important Indus valley site in India. All the three layers of early, mature and late phases of Indus valley civilization have been found here. Interestingly, Rakhi Garhi is not shown in any maps, not even in maps obtained from archeology-related websites. As we headed to Rakhi Garhi we only knew its latitude and longitude (xx,yy). Fortunately we had a good road map that actually showed latitude and longitude, as well as a several towns in the vicinity - Hansi, Hissar etc. The driver of the rented car had never heard of Rakhi Garhi, but he seemed to be confident that he would find our destination by asking the locals. We arrived at a small town called Maham on the Delhi-Hissar road and started asking people about Rakhi Garhi. I was quite skeptical when the driver asked someone standing on the street where Rakhi Garhi is – after all we were at least 60 km away – nevertheless, the person directed us through places like Baas and Naraund, some of which were not even on our map. Are we really going to the right place? Ultimately though, this connection turned out to be a short-cut. From Maham to the village of Rakhi Khas, the road was narrow, single lane but at least paved, though a rather nerve wracking drive because of all the heavy harvest-laden trucks. We understood that the archaeological site is actually spread out over two places Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shah. From this place the paved road suddenly disappeared. We started on a muddy narrow dirt road which is not really meant for cars. The driver’s unease in driving the car into the mud was understandable. Finally, when we reached the village, someone directed us to where the excavations had taken place. There was nothing much to see, because the excavations had been covered over – probably to protect them from the elements of nature as well as from people and animals. The site was covered by heaps of cow dung. Black strips of vinyl indicated the outlines of the structures beneath, and remnants of a fence hinted at the extent of the excavations. There was not even a sign. An elderly person from the village pointed out a vast area where the Archeological Survey of India (A.S.I.) had excavated for two-three years starting from1997. A small crowd of local people gathered, perhaps curious about the foreigner in their midst. No one spoke English very well, but I and the driver could communicate in Hindi, and people guided us around. To our amazement, the people here were informed about the history of their village. They guided us to the remains of boundary walls made up of baked brick. We collected few broken pieces of simple terracotta bangles scattered all over the ground. These, they told us, were worn by common people, while richer ones had bangles made of conch shell. We were introduced to a local school teacher and a resident of Rakhi Garhi, Mr Wazir Chand Saroae. He kindly invited us to sit down in what appeared to be some sort of bedroom, and while drinking tea, he explained the history of the Indus civilization and of Rakhi Garhi. Soon it was 2:00 PM, and we wanted to head to Agroha Mound (about 30 km beyond Hissar on the same road from Delhi), but Mr. Saroae invited us to lunch. My guest was afraid that he might suffer some sort of stomach ailment from the local food and water, but it would have been very rude to refuse such generous hospitality and rush off. We drank ‘lassi’ made from buffalo milk, and had bread (roti) made from millet, pickle, molasses, and a kind of ‘dal’, not from the usual lentils. I had never tasted millet before. Villagers gathered around us while we talked. After lunch we went to Mr. Saroae’s home where he showed us his private collection of artefacts from the site. We were fascinated to see the ancient beads made of carnelian, flint blades and drill heads for making beads, broken pieces of terracotta bullock carts, and oxen – probably children’s’ toys – and standardized weights. The standardized weights and measures are used in trade at all the Indus valley cities and outposts, the combined geographical area of which is about twice the size of Japan. It was truly a thrill to hold in our hands objects that had been used by people who lived 5000 years ago - things we only read about or see in museums - but cannot touch. The entire village is very proud indeed of Mr. Saroae’s collection. We can never forget his pride and enthusiasm for India’s ancient history nor his warm hospitality, and that of the entire village. It is ironic that while 5000 years ago Rakhi Garhi was a wealthy city with paved streets, rain-water harvesting system, and an underground drainage system, today’s residents live in a muddy village, with inadequate sanitation, and bath facilities. All of the biggest and the most valuable artefacts from the excavation were removed to Delhi. Professional academic archaeologists do not have the resources to discover and protect India’s priceless historical heritage. We need to enlist the help of ordinary people. People must be educated to value and respect these ancient places. But poor people cannot be sustained by pride alone. They need help. Could we not open a small museum, put up a few signs, and develop the place as a quiet cultural tourist attraction? This would create jobs, instill local pride, and perhaps even generate funds for further research into the country’s cultural heritage. By the way, my guest did not get sick from the food and water, and expressed his desire to visit other Indus Valley sites like Rakhi Garhi, on his next trip to India.

Please visit the following webpage http://www.geocities.com/saswateeb/photopagetan.html