Shewan Sharif ….Is city is known for its patron saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA).

Who was Pir Lal Shahbaaz Qalander?

Pir (Saint) Lal Shahbaaz Qalandar was born as Syed Muhammad Usman in 1177 Marwand, Iran. His Father Syed Ibrahim Kabiruudin was a dervish and his mother had a royal lineage. From a very young age boy Usman showed a deep religious inclination. He became a Hafiz (One who has memorized The Holy Koran) by age of seven. He got himself initiated into Qalandria sect of Sufism. ‘Qalandar’ are Sufi who live in indigence and are peripatetic. As a Qalandar he roamed throughout Middle East and came to Sindh.

He befriends three other Sufi saints and henceforth the quartet is known as ‘Chaar Yaar’ (four friends). They became the pioneers of 13th century Sufi association. The other three friends were Baba Farid Shakar Ganj of Pakpattan [1174-1266] (popularly known as Baba Farid); Jalaluddin Bukhari of Uch- Bahawalpur [1196-1294] and Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan [1170-1267].
He reached Sehwan the settle of learning and customs in Sindh. Sehwan is one of the oldest cities in Sindh. During the reign of Guptas, Sehwan was the capital of a Buddhist ruler who was brother of Chandragupta II (also Known as Vikrmaditya), the third of the Gupta dynasty in the 4th century AD.

As per the legends, the fakirs in Sehwan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that there was no room for anything more. But surprisingly, he returned the bowl with a beautiful flower buoyant on the top. This legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274, after living a good span for 97 years. In Sehwan he lived at the outskirt of city inside a tree trunk for 6 years. He spread his teachings and preached religious tolerance between Hindus and Muslims.

What is the meaning of world Lal?

He was called ‘Lal’ (red) because of his red attire, ‘Shahbaaz’ due to his gracious and divine spirit that soared like a falcon higher and higher in the limitless heavens. Also it is said that he saved his friend Farid Shakar Ganj from the gallows by becoming a falcon. ‘Qalandar’ since he belongs to Qalandria order of Sufism and was saintly, exalted and intoxicated with love for eternal being of God.

The Hindus regarded him as the incarnation of Bhartihari, the saintly brother of King Vikramaditya (Whether this Vikrmaditya was same as Chandragupta II, I am not clear), who is believed to have worshipped Shiva at the venue where Lal Shahbaz's shrine is to be found with.

Location:

The town of Sehwan is 300 Kilometres’ about five hours drive from Karachi on Indus Highway, which forks right of Super Highway just before Hyderabad at Jamshoro past University of Sindh. The city is known for its patron saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) who lived here in 13th century AD. Now, his Mazar (tomb) stands there. It is beautiful and amazing, but it is new. Government of Pakistan pulled down the primeval tomb to build this new one. The main reason was space. The old tomb arrangement was too small for such a giant crowd.

It is possible that the name Sehwan originates from "Siwistan" or "Seevistan", the empire of Raja Dahir which even extended to Punjab under the name "Shivi". It was momentous enough during the 8th century to be conquered by Muhammad bin Qasim in 711 CE, and two centuries later by Mahmud of Ghazni. An abortive attempt was made by the Mughal sovereign Humayun to take into custody it on his way to Umarkot but it finally fell to his son Akbar.

Temple:

There is a temple nearby which belonged to a Hindu Raja and was naked recently. It provides a good outlook of the town from the top. Therefore, the places where Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) stayed, prayed, performed miracles are all preserved to this day. Don't think that government of Pakistan has done whatever thing for them. It is the love of all people who cherish the recollections of great saint that endures and that has led to all this preservations.

Festivals:

Ashura 9 and 10 Moharram 1st Month of Islamic calendar (it varies according to moon sightings in Pakistan). The shia community mourn in the memory of the family of the Prophet Mohammad PBUH. The devotes torture their bodies to get a feel of the vast pain the family of the holy prophet had due to the cruelty of the Yazid (A Muslim wanting to be the Muslim political leader then).The major festival however is rather colourful and devoid of blood splitting. It is the Urs Sharif of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA), and like Moharram, the dates vary due to moon. Check out with PTDC information center when you are in Pakistan. And they will guide you.

Battle of Shewan:

The Battle of Shewan was a military appointment between Coalition forces and Taliban insurgents that took place on August 8, 2008, near the village of Shewan in Farah Province, Afghanistan

On the 8th of August 2008, two squads of U.S. Marines from Golf Company, 2d platoon, 2nd Battalion 7th Marines, one 81 mm mortar side, an unidentified element from 1st scouting Battalion, three squads of Afghan National Police led by Police Sergeant Major Hadji-Kadadoud, one U.S. Army PMT Advisor Sergeant First Class, and a DynCorp advisor, were ambushed by approximately 200-250 Taliban guerrilla fighters armed with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades(RPG), and 81 mm mortars. After fifteen hours of combat the Marines prevailed, driving the Taliban into the mountains.

Song:

O laal meri, pat rakhio bala jhoole laalan, Sindri da Sehvan da, sakhi Shabaaz kalandar, Dama dam mast kalandar, Ali dam dam de andar

(O red Robed,Jhulelal,The sire of Sehwan in Sindh,My friend Shahbaaz Qalandar,You are in my every breath,And every breath is as strong as Ali,Please have your benign protection on me.)

Chaar charaag tere baran hamesha, Panjwa mein baaran aayi bala jhoole laalan
Sindri da Sehvan da, sakhi Shabaaz Qalandar, Dama dam mast Qalandar, Ali dam dam de andar
(O sire of Sehwan in Sindh,Jhulelal,My friend Shahbaaz Qalandar,Your shrine is always lighted with four lamps, And here I come to light a fifth lampYou are in my every breath,And every breath is as strong as Ali,)

Sehwan sharif dian unchiya galiyan heth waghey daryao bala jhulelanSindri da sehvan da sakhi Shabaaz Qalandar, Dama dam mast QalandarAli dam dam de andar
(O sire of Sehwan in Sindh,Jhulelal,friend Shahbaaz QalandarYour abode Shewan sharif has lofty roads,And river flows beneath itYou are in my every breath,And every breath is as strong as Ali)

Keenjhar Lake...it is to be found in Dadu district

Introduction:

The army is everywhere! Even out here, in this remote, lakeside picnic spot 125 kilometers north of Karachi, there’s no on the run them. In this case though, they have done something positive for the community. And it has nothing to do with power or politics. They have developed a new, cheerful, small resort, with four well furnished warm one-room cottages with attached modern bathrooms, and a large dinning hall cum TV lounge. The thatched roofs of these cottages blend seamlessly with the nearby fishermen’s village on Keenjhar Lake, and is a welcome adding up to the dilapidated, well designed but hopelessly managed Keenjhar Lake Recreational Complex (KLRC) which is under the supervision of Sindh Tourism Development Corporation. The army cottages are called Desert Hawks Resort, even if the name makes no reference to the huge body of water right under its feet.

History:

It was a great relief for the caged and isolated inhabitants of the mega-city of Karachi, where going out of town for a short overnight stay is an alien concept (unless, of course, you can afford to fly to Islamabad or Dubai).

Back then, when KLRC was inaugurated, it looked like a promising beginning of a chain of weekend resorts a couple of hours drive from Karachi. sMiserably, it degenerated into a derelict concrete structure with broken windowpanes and stray dogs. Part of the reason for the decay was the political unrest during the late 80s and early 90s, accompanied by rampant highway robberies and kidnappings throughout the Sindh province. The other part of the explanation is the typical management style with which government services are run.

The Desert Hawks Resort is more gifted and safe. With some self-sponsored security activities, the vast Keenjhar Lake, which is a valuable source of fresh water for Karachi, offers a truly peaceful and relaxing weekend sojourn away from busy Karachi. Efforts are being made to restore the lakeside ‘cabanas’, as they are called, and the restaurant building which is part of the complex. The banks of the lake have been reinforced, and motorboats, as well as colourful paddleboats have been introduced to make the place more lively and interesting.

During winter months the lake attracts several species of wandering birds. Although hunting is barred officially, it is quite common. I found the method of hunting rather cruel. Fast motorboats take the hunters profound into the lake, close to the mini islets around which flocks of birds assemble. Then as soon as the boats sneak near enough to the birds, pointed stones are hurled at them, which wound or kill some. The ‘casualties’ are then collected by the hunting party and brought to the shore. Some of these hunted birds are sold in the nearby Thatta village.

Location:

At an attitude of over 5,000 ft (5,866 ft to be exact), it is to be found in Dadu district, a few hours drive from Karachi. Benazir Bhutto took a helicopter ride to this cool plateau dotted with wild olive trees when she was prime minister, to invest the Gorakh Hills Development Plan. Typically, the event amounted to nothing more than copy on the Khabarnama for the politicians and the bureaucrats.

Multan Fort is considered as one of the best forts of the sub-continent

Location:

The Multan Fort was built on a detached, rather, high mound of earth separated from the city by the bed of an old branch of the river Ravi. There is no Fort now as it was destroyed by the British Garrison which was stationed there for a long time but the entire site is known as the Fort. The Fort site now looks as a part of the city because instead of the river it is now separated by a road which looks more like a bazaar and remains crowded throughout the day. Nobody knows when Multan Fort came into being but it was there and it was admired and desired by kings and emperors throughout centuries'.

It was considered as one of the best forts of the sub-continent from the defense as well as architectural points of view. When it was intact its circuit was 6,800 feet or, say, about one and a half mile. It had 46 bastions including two flanking towers at each of the four gates named as the De, the Sakhi. The Hareri and the Khizri Gate.

Khizri Gate:

The Khizri Gate was called so because it led directly to the river which was considered to be under the protection of the saint Khawaja Khizer. Description of the Multan Fort as recorded by John Dun top, who visited the city and the Fort on the eve of the British occupation in 1849 is reproduced below: "The Fort stands on the highest part of the mound on which the town is built it is an ancient formed by a hexagonal wall from forty to seventy feet high, the longest side of which faces the north-west and extends for 600 yards, and which isolates it from the town. A ditch twenty-five feet deep and forty feet wide is on the fort side of the wall, behind which is a glacis exhibiting a face of some eighteen feet high, and so thick as to present an almost impregnable rocky mound. Within the fort, and on a very considerable elevation, stands the citadel, in itself of very great strength. The walls are flanked by thirty towers, and enclose numerous houses, mosques, a Hindu temple of high antiquity, and a Khan's palace, the beauty of which was severely damaged by the battering it got from the guns of Ranjeet Singh in 1818. This fortification is said to be more regular in construction than any other laid down by native engineers. Mr. Vans Agnew-the unfortunate political agent whose murder, with that of his companion, Lieutenant Anderson, gave rise to the recent hostilities to the British Resident at Lahore, that he had seen many forts in India, but one that could compare with Multan the ramparts of which bristled with eighty pieces of ordnance”. A correspondent of Bombay Times, who also visited the Multan Fort around the same time recorded: "The Fortress was filled with stores to profusion. I think Multan is the beau ideal of a Buneca's Fort, or rather fortified shop: Never perhaps in India have such depots existed of merchandise and arms, amalgamated as they with avarice. Here opium, indigo, salt, sulfur, and every known drug, are heaped in endless profusion-there apparently ancient in the bowels of the earth disclose their huge hoards of wheat and rice; here stacks of leather ghee vessels, brimming with the grease, fill the puck a receptacles below ground. The silk and shawls reveal in darkness, bales rise on bales, here some mammoth chest discovering glittering scabbards of gold and gems-there reveals tiers of copper canisters crammed with gold Mohurs: My pen cannot describe the variety of wealth displayed to the inquisitive eyes". Once this was the position of the Multan Fort but during the British occupation everything was lost an finished forever. With the passage of time the British stronghold over India grew stronger and stronger.

History:

Multan Fort was built on a mound separating it form the city by the old bed of river Ravi. There is no Fort now as it was destroyed by the British Garrison which was stationed ,there for a long time, but the entire site is known as the Fort .The walls of the fort were built by Murad Baksh, the son of the Shah Jahan, when he was the viceroy of Multan in the early 17th, century. The Fort site now looks as a part of the city, because instead of the river it is now separated by a road which looks more like a bazaar and remains crowded throughout the day.

The Fort stands on the highest part of the mound on which the town is built, it is an ancient structure formed by a hexagonal wall from forty to seventy feet high, the longest side of which faces the north-west and extends for 600 yards, and which isolates it from the town. Within the fort, and on a very considerable elevation, stands the citadel, in itself of very great strength. The walls are flanked by thirty towers, and enclose numerous houses, mosques, a Hindu temple of high antiquity, and a khan’ s palace the beauty of which was severely damaged by the bettering it got from the guns of Ranjeet Sing in 1818.

Structure:

When intact, its circumference was 6,600 ft. having 46 bastions, including two towers at each of the four gates i.e., Delhi Gate, Khizri Gate, Sikhi Gate and Rehri Gate. The fort was ravaged by the British to avenge the murder of one Mr. Agnew in 1848. At present it is survived by some parts of the old rampart and bastions besides the shrines of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria and Shah Rukn-e-Alam, an obelisk in memory of Agnew and a Hindu temple.

Thatta

Introduction:

Once a famous center of learning, arts and commerce and provisional capital for about four centuries in the past, Thatta is an historic town of 22,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Today, it is notable for the Jamia Masjid built by the Moghal Emperor Shah Jehan, and the Makli Tombs (15th - 17th centuries), a vast necropolis spread over 15.5 km², depicting exquisite specimens of architecture, stone carvings and glazed tile decorations. Makli is truly the place where history starts to speak about its immaculate past and the legends and myths it has undertaken.

Location:

Thatta is only 100 Kilometres from the metropolis of Karachi and proximately 100 Kilometres from Hyderabad. Thatta is probably Rome of Pakistan but unfortunately due to the central government's policies and lack of education in locals this city as less known now just as much know was it in the past.

Thatta's has probably largest number of monuments listed among the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. It was the abode of the Alexander the great as well as a city favoured and inhabited by the scholar’s poets and rulers.

History:

The city, formerly commanding the delta of the Indus, was the capital of Lower Sindh from the 14th century. During the ruling period of Soomro Tribe Thatta was the capital of Sindh for 95 years. Between 1592-1739, it was governed in the name of the Mughal emperors of Delhi. In 1739 however following the Battle of Karnal the province was ceded to Nadir Shah of Persia, after which Thatta fell into neglect.

Thatta may be the site of ancient Patala, the main port on the Indus in the time of Alexander the Great. Salutation has caused the Indus to change its course many times since the days of Alexander, and the site of Patala has been subject to much conjecture. Ahmad Hasan Dani, director of the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, Islamabad, concluded: “There has been a vain attempt to identify the city of Patala. If ‘Patala’ is not taken as a proper name but only refers to a city, it can be corrected to ‘Pattana’, that is, city or port city par excellence, a term applied in a later period to Thatta, which is ideally situated in the way the Greek historians describe”.

Sights:

Thatta's monuments include the Jama Mosque (also Shah Jahan Mosque and Badshahi Mosque), built by Shah Jahan in 1647-49 and lined with glazed tiles. This edifice has 101 domes and is designed in such a way that imam's voice can reach every corner of this building without the help of any loudspeaker or other device. There are also the tombs of Jam Nizamuddin, Satihoo Seven Soomro Sisters (reigned in 1461-1509), several Tarkhan rulers and Mughal officials. A vast old necropolis with thousands of graves may be found at the nearby Makli Hills.

Thatta is historically an important region of Sindh which has served as a centre of literature, religious ideologies and socio political clashes. Makli, the heart of interior Sindh is counted among one of the largest necropolis in the world. Located a few kilometers away from Thatta. Makli is a vibrant archaeological site in Pakistan; it covers about 15-1/2 square kilometres. The mausoleums and [[tombs in Makli are one of the greatest ruins of Sindh and also dictate a lot about Sindh's communal structure from 14 to 18th century. Apart from the mausoleums of Jam Nizam al-Din and Jan Beg Takhan, Makli has undertaken a lot of Sufis, warriors, poets, intellectuals. The artistic monuments at Makli show proof of Islamic ideologies and the Hindu mythology.

The huge graves are made of solid rock and the mausoleums of the sun baked brick with different kinds of Quranic verses embossed on them. Another historical landmark that resides in Thatta is the Shah Jahan Masjid built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. This mosque was built on the orders of Shah Jahan, for the people of Thatta because they welcomed him with open hearts when his father died.

The Shah Jahan Mosque is a great example of highly defined tile work. In total this mosque has 33 arches and 93 domes which are of different sizes which add the flavour to its beauty. White and Blue tiles of glowing texture have been put together in such a manner that it looks like a beautiful mosaic. The most surprising fact about this mega structure is that unlike other Mughal buildings such as Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, this building has negligible amount of pink sandstone in it. The characteristic that makes this mosque unique is that it has no minarets in it and it only has one dome which lies in the central prayer hall.

The 2010 Flood:

In August 2010 Thatto was one of the worst affected districts of Pakistan as a result of devastating floods. The sea was on high tide when flooded river water reached it multiplying the damage manifold. By August 28, 175,000 people had left their homes camping on the main road under open sky. The effected still wait for the aid which comes in heaps and travels all the way to Islamabad and never seems to be coming.

Irony of Thatta is that donations from Karachi are also not reaching Thatta although it being only 100 Kilometres instead it goes straight to the South Punjab or noshehra.

Harappa

Location:
One of the two sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, Harappa is located in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and the site lies some 35 kilometers southwest of Sahiwal. Harappa is the first site of the Indus Valley Civilization that was discovered in the 1920s. Harappa is located about 250 kilometers from Lahore.






Harappa has been the center of curiosity and interest among history students, historians and archaeologists since its discovery some 85 years ago. A date with history is what takes many tourists to Harappa. Excavations in Harappa have revealed a civilization, which was excellent in town planning and other sphere of every day life.
But it is the excellent town planning that have received kudos from the historians and archaeologists. The houses at Harappa were built in burned brick and had excellent drainage system. Every house had a well as an integral part of it. Roads were wide and were well connected to the streets. Excavations have unearthed a number of artitacts that provide a glimpse of the way of life and various customs and traditions prevalent in Harappa. The cemeteries found in Harappa gives a clear indication that the Harappan people used to burry their dead. They were fond of wearing necklace, ring, bangle and other jewellery. As, many skeletons found in Harappa had beads and anklets in their grave.
History:
The earliest imprints of human activities in India go back to the Paleolithic Age, roughly between 400,000 and 200,000 B.C. he remains of famous Indus Valley Civilizations were first discovered in 1920-21 when engraved seals were discovered near present-day. It was from here that archaeologists in their quest to find more remains finally bumped into the remains of Moenjodaro in Sind. In fact the Harappan and indus valley civilizations extend to the Yamuna along the bed of the river Ghaggar in Rajhastan, Gujrat and upto the mouths of the rivers Narbada and Tapati. Most of the the major sites of this civilization are in Pakistan. The ruins of Harappa lie 35-km southwest of Sahiwal (about 250 km from Lahore). Situated besides an earlier course of the Ravi River, the remains of Harappa were ravaged by brick-hunters using the material as blast when the railway tracks between Lahore and Multan were laid. However, several cemeteries, which escaped the attention of vandals, have been excavated to reveal the richness and sophistication of its culture. The Hrappan excavations reveal a series of cities, stacked one upon another. The site, with its citadel and great granary, seems similar in many ways to Moenjodaro and like its southern sister-city appear to have thrived around 2000 to 1700 B.C. with an economy based largely on agriculture and trade. The Harappan society seems to have been egalitarian, pursuing a rather simple way of life. The cemeteries discovered at Harappa confirm that the Indus Valley people buried their dead, many of them wearing finger rings, necklaces of steal tile beads, anklets of paste beads, earnings and shell bangles. Copper mirrors, antimony rods, shell spoons and vessels and urns of various shapes and size lay in the graves. Some of the female skeletons had anklets of tiny beads and girdles studded with semi-precious stones.





Structure:
The major cities contained a few large buildings including a citadel, a large bath--perhaps for personal and communal ablution--differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, and fortified administrative or religious centers enclosing meeting halls and granaries. Essentially a city culture, Harappan life was supported by extensive agricultural production and by commerce, which included trade with Sumner in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). The people made tools and weapons from copper and bronze but not iron. Cotton was woven and dyed for clothing; wheat, rice, and a variety of vegetables and fruits were cultivated; and a number of animals, including the humped bull, were domesticated. Harappan culture was conservative and remained relatively unchanged for centuries; whenever cities were rebuilt after periodic flooding, the new level of construction closely followed the previous pattern. Although stability, regularity, and conservatism seem to have been the hallmarks of this people, it is unclear who wielded authority, whether an aristocratic, priestly, or commercial minority.
By far the most exquisite but most obscure artifacts of Harappa unearthed to date are steal tile seals found in abundance at Mohenjo-daro. These small, flat, and mostly square objects with human or animal motifs provide the most accurate picture there is of Harappan life. They also have inscriptions generally thought to be in the Harappan script, which has eluded scholarly attempts at deciphering it. Debate abounds as to whether the script represents numbers or an alphabet, and, if an alphabet, whether it is proto-Dravidian or proto-Sanskrit (see Languages of India, ch. 4).

Civilization:
Like the civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece, Harappa grew on the floodplains of a rich and life-giving river, the Indus. The original cities and many of the towns seemed to have been built right upon the shores of the river. The Indus, however, is destructive and unpredictable in its floods, and the cities were frequently leveled by the forces of nature. Mohenjo-Daro in the south, where the flooding can be fairly brutal, was rebuilt six times that we know about; Harappa in the north was rebuilt five times.

The people of Harappa had an economy almost entirely dominated by horticulture. Massive granaries were built at each city, and there most certainly was an elaborate bureaucracy to distribute this wealth of food. The Indus River valley is relatively dry now, but apparently it was quite wet when the Harappans thrived there. We know this because the bricks that they built their cities with were fired bricks; since sun-dried bricks are cheaper and easier to make, we can only assume that over-abundant humidity and precipitation prevented them from taking the cheaper way out. In addition, many of the Harappan seals have pictures of animals that imply a wet and marshy environment, such as rhinoceroses, elephants, and tigers. The Harappans also had a wide variety of domesticated animals: camels, cats, dogs, goats, sheep, and buffalo.


The Harappan civilization was mainly urban and mercantile. Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with Mesopotamia, southern India, Afghanistan, and Persia for gold, silver, copper, and turquoise. The Mesopotamian model of irrigated agriculture was used to take advantage of the fertile grounds along the Indus River. Earth-links were built to control the river's annual flooding. Crops grown included wheat, barley, peas, melons, and sesame. This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the production of cloth. Several animals were domesticated including the elephant which was used for its ivory. Most of the artwork from Harappan civilization was small and used as personal possessions. The first objects unearthed from Harappa (and also Mohenjo-Daro) were small stone seals. These seals were inscribed with elegant portrayals of real and imagined animals and were marked with the Indus script writing. The seals suggest a symbolic or religious intent. Stone sculptures carved in steal l, limestone, or alabaster depict a male figure who may have represented a god. Pottery figures were shaped into humans and animals. Very few bronze figures have been recovered.


The similarities in plan and construction between Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa indicate that they were part of a unified government with extreme organization. Both cities were constructed of the same type and shape of bricks. The two cities may have existed simultaneously and their sizes suggest that they served as capitals of their provinces. In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from these cities are not magnificent; they are more simplistic and contain few material goods. This evidence suggests that this civilization did not have social classes. No hard evidence exists indicating military activity; it is likely that the Harappans were a peaceful civilization. The cities did contain fortifications and the people used copper and bronze knives, spears, and arrowheads.

Fashion:

The exact origins of the IVC people is disputed but appears to belong to four ethnic types including the Protectionists, Mediterraneans, Mongoloids and Alpines. People enjoy a comfortable life with a variety of luxuries like ornaments in agate and gold, cosmetics (kajal) and elaborate toys for children. Painting on pottery is skillful and covers various themes while small sculptures in terracotta (animals, toys), soft stone (bearded man) and metal jewels abound.

The greatest artistic skill is in the seals. These engravings of animals, flowers and other symbols have artistic, religious and economic value .

Town Planning:

The city of Mohenjo Daro is testimony to the town planning activities of the IVC. Cities are divided into lower dwellings & the Citadel which houses important buildings. The streets form a grid system and are of modulated width. Bricks of fixed sizes are used for building while stone and wood are also used.Municipal authorities who are responsible for the whole of the valley also regularly maintain a highly efficient drainage system.Buildings in the lower area are rather monotonous, being mainly functional rather than decorative. But many houses are 2 stored.

Architecture:

Great Bath: Mohenjo Daro has a sophisticated system of water supply & drainage and its brickwork, is highly functional and the amazing part of it is - that it is completely waterproof. The granaries are also intelligently constructed, with strategic air ducts and platform are divided into units.
The Dock at Lothal is to be used for inland & foreign trade.

Religion:

The culture and religion of the IVC overlap and perhaps repetitive symbols such as the pupal leaf and swastika have religious significance. Human die ties include a "proto type of Shiva" and a mother goddess. Animal symbols such as the bull and unicorn and those of tree spirits and water deities are also common.

These are images from the Harappan culture which existed in the Indus River Valley and which reached its peak around 2600 BC, shortly after the development of urban societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Additional information can be found on the " India and South Asia " Chronology.

Mahanjo-daro

Introduction:

As a result of this extensive work almost one-third of the area of the old city was exposed, revealing for the first time the remains of one of the most ancient civilizations in the Indus Valley. Typical of most large and planned cities, Mohenjo-daro had planned city streets and buildings. The settlement was thought to house roughly 5,000 people, and had houses, a granary, baths, assembly halls and towers. The city was divided into two parts, the Citadel included an elaborate tank or bath created with fine quality brickwork and drains; this was surrounded by a verandah. Also located here was a giant granary, a large residential structure, and at least two aisled assembly halls. To the east of the citadel was the lower city, laid out in a grid pattern. The streets were straight, and were drained to keep the area sanitary. The people of the city used very little stone in their construction. They used two types of bricks- mud bricks, and wood bricks, which were created by burning wood. They used timber to create the flat roofs of their buildings; there are brick stairways leading to the roofs of many houses. Some houses were small, and others were larger with interior courtyards. Most had small bathrooms. Potter’s kilns, dyer’s vats, as well as metalworking, bead making, and shell-working shops have all been discovered. The people were good at irrigation and flood control. However, when the Indus River changed its course around 3700 years ago, the civilization died.

All Indus valley sites including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, were built according to a grid pattern plan. Each city had broad parallel streets which crossed each other to divide the city into compact rectangular blocks, and had an advanced and extensive drainage system. In addition to it's numerous other achievements Mohenjo-daro and other Indus sites made extensive use of baked brick (unlike the sun-dried brick typical of Mesopotamian civilization), which gave greater durability to all of its buildings.

Structure:

Defensively Mohenjo-daro was a well fortified city. Though it did not have city walls it did have towers to the west of the main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. These fortifications taken into consideration, as well as a comparison to the Harappa ruins to the northeast, lead to the question of whether Mohenjo-daro was an administrative center. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout (Harappa is less well preserved due to early site defilement), and were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, however the extent and functioning (and even the placement and type) of an administrative center remains relatively.

Location:

Mohenjo-Daro was a city located in the south of Modern Pakistan in the Sind Province, on the right bank of the Indus River. It was built between four and five thousand years ago, and lasted until 3,700 BP. It was part of the Harrapan Civilization, and the city had at least 35,000 residents. Mohenjo-Daro means “mound of the dead”. The city was approximately one square mile in size. In 1922-1927 large scale excavations at Mohenjo-daro were carried out by R. D. Banarjee and continued by M. S. Vats and K. N. Dikshit under the direction of Sir John Marshall. E. J. H. MacKay carried out further excavations from 1927 to1931. Sir Mortimer Wheeler made small excavations in1950.

Civilization:

Mohenjo-Daro represent the earliest civilization in the region, called the Indus, or ,civilization, dating to approximately 2500–1500 b.c.e. Excavation of the Indus civilization began in 1921 under the direction of Sir John Marshall. It is the best-preserved city of the Indus civilization.

Its name means the “Mound of the Dead” because the center of the town is an artificial mound about 50 feet high surrounded with a brick wall and fortified with towers. The mound also had a great bath 39 feet by 23 feet, flanked by a large pillared hall, small rooms, and a granary. A well-laid-out town lay below the citadel with streets running in a grid pattern oriented to the points of the compass. The town was divided into wards according to function, such as areas for shops, workshops, and residences. All buildings were made with baked bricks of uniform size. Besides private wells in the courtyards of two-story individual residences, there were also public wells at street intersections. Covered sewers disposed of waste. There was also a cemetery where graves were neatly oriented in the same direction. There were no palaces or royal cemeteries.

Seals:

Inscribed seals found at Mohenjo-Daro and other Indus cities show pictographic writing, to date undeciphered. So few characters are inscribed on each seal that they would not give much information even if they were deciphered. Thus despite a high-level material culture, the Indus civilization is still considered prehistoric. The absence of palaces and royal cemeteries and the presence of a ceremonial bath and great hall lead specialists to guess that a college of priests ruled. The abundance of small female figurines indicates a fertility cult. The uniform-sized bricks throughout the Indus Valley and nearby regions lead to speculation that some kind of government supervised the entire area; hence the name Indus Empire is also used to describe this civilization.

In Mohenjo-Daro archaeologists have discovered an advanced metal-using culture (bronze and copper), where people used wheel-made pottery vessels, wove cotton cloths, lived under a well-organized municipal government, and traded among one another and with other cultures. Indus seals have been found in Mesopotamia and lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone used by Indus artisans, is mined in Afghanistan. Conditions in Mohenjo-Daro deteriorated around 1700 b.c.e., shown by hoards of buried jewellery and precious objects, pots and utensils strewn about, evidence of fire, and at least 30 skeletons scattered about indicating that the people were trapped and died or were killed. Whether natural disaster or invaders caused the final disaster, the city was abandoned; hence, posterity’s name Mound of the Dead for its ruins. Mohenjo-Daro is the best preserved of the Indus civilization cities excavated to date.

The mound at Mohenjodaro consists of two distinct features: the Great Bath and the Granary or Meeting hall. The Great Bath is a sunken tank on the top of the mound, the tank measures 12 meters long, 7 meters wide and is sunk 2.4 meters below the depth of the mud bricks. The Great Bath is one of the first aspects of Indus Valley life that can be related to modern Hinduism. The Great Bath may also be related to the concept of River worship, much like the worship of the Ganges today. Mohenjodaro is situated between what use to be two separate rivers it was almost an island. This would have made the rivers a very important resource for the city itself, it would have depended on it for most things: trade, transportation and its way of life. It has been suggested that the people of Mohenjodaro were concerned with ritual purification, much like some Hindus of today. This conclusion draws strength from the existence of the Great Bath on the top of the Citadel and a small stone structure that has been excavated at the great staircase leading to the Citadel. It has been suggested this building was a bathroom for ritual cleansing before you entered the Citadel, as there is a well and drainage system in the building.

Khewra Mines

Introduction:

The salt at Khewra reaches the surface; it was discovered as early as the days of Alexander the Great. According to a legend there was a battle between Alexander the Great and Raja Poro in this area. After Alexander had won the battle, the soldiers were resting. They soon mentioned that the horses were licking the ground in a certain area. Here the salt reached the surface and the ground contained more salt than in general, which the horses found out.

Long ago the locals started to mine the salt on the surface, in small opencast mines. In 1872 Dr. Warth, a renowned British mining engineer, built the first tunnel at ground level to access the salt layers. He introduced room and pillar mining which is used until today. At the moment salt is mined in 19 different levels, producing about 325,000 tons per year.

Location:

Khewra Salt Mines is a salt mine in Pakistan, about 160 kilometers from Islamabad and 260 kilometers from Lahore. It attracts up to 40,000 visitors per year and is the second biggest salt mine in the world. Situated at the foothills of the Salt Range, Khewra Salt Mines are the oldest in the salt mining history of the sub-continent.

History:

Salt has been mined at Khewra since 320 BC, in an underground area of about 110 sq. km. Khewra salt mine has proven reserves of 300 million tons. This reserve could not be consumed in 600 years even at the rate of 5 lakh tons production every day. Current production from the mine is around 3 lakh tons.

Importance:

The salt mined in Khewra - which is often called the biggest or second biggest salt mine in the world - is primarly used for industrial purposes. More than half of the production, 200,000 tons per year, is sold to Imperial Chemical Industries ICI Soda Ash Khewra. Other customers are Ittehad Chemical Limited at Kala Shah Kaku and various tanneries. A certain amount of salt of the purest quality, called rock salt, is sold as table salt in the country and abroad, especially to India. A small amount is used to produce fancy goods like salt lamps, vases, and ash trays. They are sold at the tourist mine, but also exported in large quantities. The Himalayan Rock Salt Crystal Lamps are somewhat notorious.

Khewra mine and the tourist mine are operated by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC). It is operating four salt mines and four collieries, producing 13% of the countries coal and 52% of the salt. The underground salt mines are located at Khewra, Warcha and Kalabagh in Punjab, and there are salt quarries at Jatta and Bahadurkhel in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). It is operating and continually developing the tourist mine and establishing an Asthma Resort for speleotherapy, or better halotherapy. The newest improvements are a reception centre for tourists and a new walkway to the mine entrance.

The mine is visited on a very long tour. Visitors enter the mine on foot, and it takes 1,5km to reach the salt. The mine is entered through a long 5m high and 7m wide passage with rails on the floor. The rails are from a mine train, which is used to carry the salt, but there are also tours which enter the mine on an original mine train from 1930.

Stature:

Inside the mine are various attractions. Fascinating is an enormous chamber called Assembly Hall, which is 75m high. Other chambers are filled with brine, water saturated with salt. It is lighted indirectly, which gives it impressive colours. An area with pink salt is called Shish Mahal. The mine-head buildings have 17 storeys, with 11 below ground. The salt-mine is 945 feet above sea level and extends around 2,400 feet inside the earth from the mine-mouth. There are 17 working levels and the cumulative length of all tunnels is more than 40 km.