Dholavira’s Town-Planning:

a case for continuity

Presentation by Michel Danino (micheldanino@gmail.com)

at Prasthutha, IISc, Bangalore, 13 Octobre 2008.
For private circulation only. Cannot be reproduced without permission.
The Indus-
Sarasvati
Civilization
(2600-1900 BCE)
Mohenjo-
daro’s
acropolis:
aerial view
Mohenjo-daro’s Great Bath
 The case of Dholavira*

* Discovered in the Rann of Kachchh by J.P. Joshi in the 1960s,

excavated in the 1990s by ASI under the direction of R.S. Bisht.
Dholavira: a virtual simulation
(seen from the south-west)
Dholavira: a virtual simulation
(seen from the west)
 inside
Dholavira’s
castle wall
a stone well at Dholavira
a stormwater
drain at
Dholavira
 Dholavira: main dimensions
(margin of error: 0.5% or less)
Superimposition of
Dholavira’s plan on
a satellite
photograph
Chief ratios
at Dholavira
 Calculating Dholavira’s master unit
— two assumptions:

• A specific unit of length was used (not just steps).

• Most of the major dimensions should be integral
multiples of that unit (= n times U).

Problem:
• What is the largest unit of length in terms of which
most of Dholavira’s dimensions can be expressed as
integers?
 Basic Data

• Lt / Wt = Lci / Wci = Lco / Wco = D / A = C / B = 5/4

• Lm / Wm = 7/6
• Lt / Lm = Lm / Lco = 9/4
• Lci / Lco = 3/4
• Lg / W g = 6
• Lg / Lm = 5/6
• A / C = 3/2
• P=Q
 Calculations

General proportions Middle town Castle

A / Lt = 12/23 P / Lt = Q / Lt = 68/483 Lci / Lm = 1/3
C / Lt = 8/23 Lm1 / Lm2 = 75/86 Lci / Lt = 4/27
D / Lt = A / W t = 15/23 Lg / Lt = 10/27 Lco / Lt = 16/81
A / B = D / C = 15/8 K = Lco / 8 = Lci / 6
• Let the unknown unit be “D” (for Dholavira). The
smallest dimension is K (average thickness of the
castle’s western and eastern fortifications)
• Let K = nU, where n is an integer. Therefore:
• Lci = 6K = 6 nU, Wci = 4/5 Lci = 24/5 nU.
• Lco = 8K = 8 nU
• Wco = 4/5Lco = 32/5 nU.
• Lm = 3Lci = 18 nU.
• Lg = 5/6 Lm = 15 nU
• Wg = 1/6 Lg = 5/2 nU.
• Lt = 9/4 Lm = 81/2 nU
• Wt = 4/5 Lt = 162/5 nU
• Choose n as the least common multiple of the above
fractions’ denominators: n = 2 x 5 = 10.
• Therefore K = 10U. Other dimensions follow.
Lt = 771.1 m = 405 D,
therefore D = 1.904 m
Comparison between theoretical and actual dimensions
• Lothal’s measuring scale (27 graduation lines
spanning 46 mm): 1 unit = 1.77 mm.
• V. Mainkar in 1984: 10 Lothal units come close to the
Arthashastra’s angula (1.778 cm in his estimate).
• D = 108 x 1.77 cm (0.4%)
 Arthashastra’s units of length
for fortifications

“108 angulas make a dhanus, a measure

[used] for roads and city-walls....”
(Arthashastra 2.20.19,
Kangle 1986: 139).
Varâhamihira’s Brihat Samhita (68.105)

Height of a man With 1.9 cm With 1.76 cm

tall = 108 angulas 205 cm 190 cm

medium = 96 angulas 182 cm 169 cm

short = 84 angulas 160 cm 148 cm

Kalibangan’s terracotta
scale: unit of 1.75 cm
(analyzed by R.
Balasubramaniam)
Other Harappan sites
Ratio 5:4 – Lothal

Dimensions
of the town:
280 x 225 m
(ratio = 1.244)
Ratio 5:4 – Harappa’s “granary”

Dimensions : 50 x 40 m (ratio 5:4 or 1.25)

 Ratio 5:4
Mohenjo-daro’s
“fire temple”
(in the HR area
of the lower town)

Dimensions:
62 x 50 feet
ratio = 1.24 (0.8%)
Mohenjo-daro’s
acropolis:
ratios and
multiples of
Dholavira’s unit
Harappan ratios: a non-random distribution
Historical sites & structures:
a few examples
Sirkap (Taxila): blocks of 38.4 = 19.2 x 2 m
 Mohan Pant & Shuji Funo (2005):

¾ Sirkap: blocks of 38.4 = 19.2 x 2 m

¾ Mohenjo-daro: cluster blocks of 19.2 m
¾ Thimi (a town east of Kathmandu): blocks defined by
east-west streets: average width of 38.42 m
¾ Thimi: pattern of divisions on a long nearby strip of
fields: average 38.48 m
¾ Proposed a danda (a term synonymous with dhanus
in the Arthashastra) of 1.92 m equal to 108 angulas
(1.78 cm), and a rajju of 10 dandas or 19.2 m
Shishupalgarh
(Bhubaneswar)
 96A 12A 24 A

Averages: 166.3 7.37 21.3 45.24

Resulting angula: 1.73 1.84 1.77 1.88

Shringaverapura: physical data (from Prof. B.B. Lal)

Vijayanagara (McKim Malville): spatial organization
of temples. 2205.4 m = 1080 D = 108 rajjus (0.2%)
The case of Delhi’s Iron Pillar
Dholavira’s ratios
and units identified
in the Delhi Iron
Pillar (by R.
Balasubramaniam)
Correlations with Vedic concepts

• Addition of a fraction to the unit:

• 1 + ¼ (= 5/4)
• 1 + 1 + ¼ (= 9/4) etc.
• Recursion: repetition of a motif (5/4, 9/4), as
in classical architecture.
 Continuity with Vastu-Vidya
¾ Dholavira’s citadel and middle town leave the
maximum vacant space in the north-eastern sector of
the town.
¾ The divisibility by 9 (and by 81) of Dholavira’s main
dimensions is suggestive.
¾ Varahamihira (in ch. 53 of Brihat Samhita):
“The length of a king’s palace is greater than
the breadth by a quarter [1 + 1/4 = 5/4].... The
length of the house of a commander-in-chief
exceeds the width by a sixth [1 + 1/6 = 7/6].”
 Conclusion: a case for continuity in
India’s architectural traditions
• The Harappan system of units of length seems to be the
origin of the Arthashastra system (as regards fortifications).
• Harappan ratios are visible at many historical sites,
structures, monuments.
• Varahamihira’s mention of Dholavira’s two master ratios
cannot be a coincidence.
• Concepts of auspicious ratios, fractions, addition to unity,
recursion are common to Harappan and Vedic traditions.
• This continuity is one more piece of evidence bridging
the Indus-Sarasvati and the Ganges civilizations (and
negating the artificial break sought to be imposed between
them by the Aryan invasion / migration theory).
 A cultural continuum
• “The [Harappan] religion is so characteristically Indian as
hardly to be distinguished from still living Hinduism” (John
Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, 1931)
• “Current studies of the transition between the two early
urban civilizations claim that there was no significant break
or hiatus.” (Jonathan M. Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the
Indus Valley Civilization, 1998)
• “The previous concept of a ‘Dark Age’ in South Asian
archaeology is no longer valid.” (Jim Shaffer)
• “It is difficult to see what is particularly non-Aryan about
the Indus Valley civilization.” (Colin Renfrew)
• Jim Shaffer: Harappan and historical urbanisms are
connected by “a unique cultural tradition traceable for
millennia.”