Two disasters that defined India's south-west border with Pakistan for ever

India faces a long western border with Pakistan, which was created by bifurcating the sub-continent in 1947. However, even from earlier times, the southern part of this border did exist, though not between two sovereign states but either between two vassal states under British suzerainty or between lands directly controlled by British and a vassal state. In the western corner of India, bordering the Arabian Sea, the kingdom of Kutch, became a "vassal" State under British Paramountcy by virtue of the Treaty executed on 13 October 1819, between the East India Company and the rulers of Kutch, which was ratified and became operative on 4 December 1819. To the north of this vassal state, lay the Emirate of Sindh (presently in Pakistan) ruled by Mir Ghulam Ali Khan Talpur. Emirs of Sindh and British were at loggerheads, but at that time, Sindh remained an independent country.

Amirs of Sind

So, how were the borderlands between Sindh and vassal kingdom of Kutch were defined at that time? This entire area was then known as delta of the Indus river with this mighty river emptying into the Arabian sea through a huge network of small rivers and rivulets branching off from the main river body, which also emptied the waters directly. Two southernmost outlets of the Indus, are of particular interest to us. A river branched off from the main river body near the town of “Banna” and was called as “Pinyaree” or “Goongra” river and its mouth through which it emptied itself into Arbian sea was known as Seer or Sir. South of Seer mouth was another river mouth known as “Koree” or “Eastern mouth of Indus.” This “Koree” or “Kori or Puram” river branched off from main Indus water body near Hyderabad and flowed southwards and then westwards to meet the Arabian Sea. South of Kori river lay the fortress of “Lakhpat” with a garrison of Kutch soldiers posted there.

The land between these two river mouths was historically known as “ Sayra” and was a fertile, rice-growing, inhabited area belonging to Kutch. Around year 1762, the water supplies to this region dried up and Sayra was deserted and gradually disappeared and became indistinguishable from the Rann of Kutch. A question naturally arises as who was controlling this region? The state of Kutch or Emirate of Sindh? From the old maps and records it appears that the state of Kutch maintained garrisons at number of places and had build forts along the river banks. There were also number of customs posts.

Sindri was a place on the eastern bank of the Kori River in the “Sayra”, about 30 miles upstream from Lakhpat and 20 miles downstream from Ali Bandar in Pakistan at approximately 24° 5' North latitude; it was a port for river boats, a village and a frontier post with a customs house of Kutch State. The Kutch garrison was stationed in a fort which consisted of a single tower 50—60 feet high and of a elevated tract of 150 square yards, the whole surrounded by a 20 feet high wall. About 5 miles north of this place was a small border post known as “Kaeera” located on a rivulet known as Kaeera Nulla. Cutch Government also collected taxes from this post. In the south, there were number of small forts and customs posts at places known as “Kothadi,” “Bastar Bandar,” and two posts in north called “Veyre” and “Lak.” I have given these details so that the reader can imagine the state of things before year 1819. Bastar Bandar is mentioned in a book “Memoir to accompany the Survey of the Delta of the Indus, in 1837, by Lieut. T. G. CARLES, Indian Navy. as “ on the opposite side of the river there is a ruined fort, called Bastah Bander, which formerly belonged to the Raos' of Kach'h, and was destroyed by the Sindians during their wars with those princes.”

The first disaster struck on 16^th June 1819, when a massive earthquake hit this region. It had an estimated magnitude ranging from 7.7 to 8.2. It triggered a tsunami and caused at least 1,543 deaths. The earthquake created a depression in ground near Sindree fort, which was quickly filled with sea water. Later water of Koree river also flowed in. This body of water is known as Sindree lake, now a salt marsh. Perhaps the most interesting effect of the earthquake was the uplift of an area to the north of Sindree lake forming a bund, that was about 80 km long, 6 km wide and 6 m high. This bund dammed the Kori or Puram river. This natural dam became known as the ("Dam of God").

The Sindree fort and Kaeera post were totally destroyed in the severe earthquake and were abandoned. It remained known as a ruin of an old fort, under the name of Juna Kotri till late in the nineteenth century. Finally all traces of it disappeared.

Readers can imagine the profound effect this quake must have had on the topography of the region with a natural bund formed in east west direction. The Allah Bund formed a natural border between State of Kutch and Emirate of Sindh. For this reason, 1819 earthquake is many times called as Allah Bund earthquake.

1819 earthquake did not affect the flow of waters of Seer or Pinyaree river but completely affected the fate of Kori river. Henceforth the Kori river bed had water only when Indus waters inundated the areas around Allah Bund. The low water levels in Kori decreased the river traffic substantially.

Then on June 19, 1845, another major earthquake hit the area followed by a Tsunami wave. An eyewitness account was published in Quarterly Journal of Geological Society in December 1946 and I quote:

"One of Capt. McMurdo's guides was travelling on foot to him from Bhooj. The day he reached Luckput there were shocks of an earthquake, which shook down part of the walls of the fort and some lives were lost. At the same time as the shock the sea rolled up the Koree (the eastern) mouth of the Indus, overflowing the country as far westward as the Goongra river (a distance of twenty English miles), northward as far as a little north of Veyre (forty miles from the mouth of the Koree), and eastward to the Sindree Lake. The guide was detained six days (from June 19th to 25th during which time sixty-six shocks were counted. He then got across to Kotree, of which only a few small buildings on a bit of ground remain. Most of the habitations throughout the district must have been swept away, the best houses in Scinde being built of sun-dried bricks, and whole villages consisting only of huts made of a few crooked poles and reed mats. The guide travelled twenty miles through water on a camel, the water up to the beasts body. Of Lak nothing was above water but a Fakeer's pole (the flagstaff always erected by the tomb of some holy man); and of Veyre and other villages only the remains of a few houses were to be seen.

There are said to be generally two earthquakes every year at Luckput. The Sindree Lake has of late years become a salt marsh."

This narrative would make it amply clear to the readers the total devastation caused by this quake and total destruction it brought to all the areas between mouths of Kori and Seer rivers.

The borderlands between state of Kutch and Emirate of Sind, which became international borderlands between India and Pakistan later, were thus naturally marked by Allah's Bund in the east and By Seer or Sir creek in the west, through which Seer or Goongra river flowed once. The lands between Sir and Kori river mouths, became vast low laying wastelands, with numerous water channels, where fishermen venture out to catch fish now.

What happened to the Garrison or Customs posts like Kothadi and Bastar Bandar mentioned in books and maps published before 1845? Was any trace ever found? In February 2010, Mr. P.S.Thakkar, a retired scientist from Indian space research organization, discovered from Google Earth, images of a old fort half submerged on west bank of Kori creek. Accompanied by Border Security Force, Crocodile Commandos on speedboats, Thakker and three others managed to reach the fort of Bastar Bandar and took photographs and other measurements. 

They came out with another surprise finding. According to him, “The 7.9-magnitude quake of 1819 not only created the Allah Bund, and Sindree lake, but also buckled the landmass that lies to the bund’s southwest.” This really means that this entire area between two former river mouths, was converted into a wasteland leaving the Sir creek as the only defining border feature.

12 September 2013

Amazing Dholavira; Part I

I came to know about Dholavira for the first time, about 2 years back, during a visit to New Delhi's National Museum. This museum has a large wing devoted to artifacts and other items retrieved from the Indus civilization habitats. My school history books of 1950's vintage, had described Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, from far away Pakistan, as the main centers, around which, this civilization had bloomed. Yet, in the national museum, there were hundreds of exhibits from new and 'never heard before' places like Dholavira, Rakhigarhi and Kalibangan, which were being claimed as part of Indus civilization by the museum.

I had a good look at a map displayed in the museum, which showed all the important places connected with Indus civilizations. I discovered that my ideas, mostly learned in school history classes, were all wrong and things have now radically changed. Indus valley civilization is now known as Indus-Sarswati (Ghaggar) civilization and its extent was now spread from west bank of Indus to east bank of Ghaggar river to nearabouts of Delhi, and to the Kathiawar peninsula in the south. Out of the three new places, that I have mentioned above, Rakhigarhi and Kalibangan are up in north, not very far from Harappa. The third place, known as Dholavira, however is located very much to the south, located in the middle of the white desert of Rann of Kutch.

Ever since that day, Dholavira was firmly in my mind and I had decided to visit it some day in future. An opportunity came up in January 2013 and I visited the place. I have already described details of my visit to Dholavira, in a separate article. Based on whatever information I could gather during my visit to Dholavira as well as some research later on the internet, I can say that Dholavira's ancient habitat is absolutely amazing. In this series of articles, I want to present to readers, what I have learned about this habitat from an ancient civilization that had flourished in Indian subcontinent 4000 years ago.

Dholavira was a metropolis or a city. Archaeologists estimate it's population between 15000 to 20000 humans. Now, that is a very large number of mouths to feed and sustain living in just one place, for a civilization that had just developed from hunter gatherers only 2 Millennium before. It was a wonder. Still, Dholavira was a successful city, because it sustained itself from 2650 BCE to 1450 BCE; a span of over 1200 years.

I found it very difficult to imagine existence of such a large city in the middle of no-where. There are no great rivers around Dholavira. It is surrounded today by salty plains of Rann, which get filled with sea water only few feet deep during Monsoon months and for the rest of the year, remains either as marshlands or parched desert lands. Dholavira is located on an island known as 'Khadir bet' in the middle of this wilderness, which does not appear very fertile or having substantial water sources year round, to sustain concentration of such a large number of people in a city ranked as the fourth largest habitat of Indus-Saraswati civilization. Today, the landscape around Dholavira, mostly consists of Gum Arabic trees with some grasslands.

Plenty of evidence is available on site, which suggests that the geography of Dholavira was grossly and completely different, 4000 years ago, from that of today. In the 'Dholavira Archaeological museum,' a small but very informative museum, I saw large sized conch shells excavated from this ancient habitat. These conch shells indicated presence of a sea coast not very far from this site. Our guide had also shown us a piece of a rock used in the construction of a wall, bearing clear fossilized marks of seashells. Museum displays broken pieces of bangles or wrist rings and beads made from shells in large numbers and finally a fossilized rock formed by a cluster of hundreds of sea shells. The evidence clearly indicates that Dholavira was a port city or a port was located nearby, from where, ships sailed regularly. This also means that Dholavira was a trading hub, which explains the large population of the city.

Rock showing fossilized marks of sea shells

 Fossile rock formed from cluster of sea shells

 

Having attributed Dholavira with a port is done easily, but the fact is that 'Khadir Bet' is located at a distance of more than 150 Km from nearest known port of 'Lakhpat' in the Kori Creek on Arabian sea and there is no body of water between these two. Let us first try to understand the present geography of this area. As it is now, the Rann of Kutch is divided into two unequal halves known as Greater and Little Rann. Rann is an unique kind of landmass and today its mean height is roughly equal to the mean sea level. During summer period, south-westerly wind pushes the waters of Arabian sea through Kori creek and submerges the Rann for few months. During Monsoon, the seasonal rivers like 'Luni' from surrounding areas empty into the Rann. But after Monsson months are over, the water starts to recede and Rann dries up converting the area as a flat ground, impregnated with salt. During submergence period the water column height over the Rann varies between 3 to 6 feet, but it remains a seasonal phenomenon. It is obvious that under these kind of situations, no port could possibly exist near about Dholavira and if there was a port here, the geographical situation had to be much different then. 

 

About two hundred years ago, or before year 1819, the geographical situation in the western mouth of the Rann was radically different. A river known as Kori river flowed from Umarkot, Ali Bandar areas of Pakistan into the Rann and emptied in the Arabian sea through Kori creek. This waterway was completely navigable and as reported in the 'Bombay Gazetteer', boats with 100 tonne loads could navigate through this river. The earth quake in 1819 changed the situation and the river changed its course. I also found an interesting reference in the Gazetteer about Kori river that says;

“ At the time of Alexander (325 BC) and Ptolemy (150 AD), under the name of Lonibare it was one of the chief mouth of the Indus. It seems to have continued of equal importance with the more western mouths until about 1000, the main stream of the river seems to have turned towards the west.”

The significance is of this geographical change is important for us. It simply says that up to year 1000 CE, the waters of Indus were chiefly emptying into Arabian sea through the western mouth of the Rann or Kori creek. 

 

I also found another interesting map displayed at a place near Bhuj city in Kutch. This map showed another mighty river almost parallel to the Indus river flowing from Punjab and emptying into the Great Rann. I was curious and found out that this river shown in the map was none other than the Ghaggar-Hakra river known as Sarswati. Excavations by Indian Archaeologists along the banks of this river have brought to light, great habitats of Banawali, Kalibangan and Ganweriwala, all parts of the great Indus-Sarswati civilization. This mighty Monsoon fed river emptying itself in the Greater Rann, is also of great significance from the point of view of Dholavira. A regular flow of water through this mighty river must have kept the entire Rann under a costant sheet of water, all through the seasons, and the 'Khadir bet,' the landmass where Dholavira is situated, must have been a true island.

After this, I could see that the town of Dholavira located on the 'Khadir bet' was an excellent strategic location for trade and commerce as well as communication for the entire Indus civilization. The various waterways converging near Dholavira meant that ships plying in the Rann could connect Dholavira to Cholistan and Bhawalpur areas of present day Pakistan, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab through Ghaggar-Hakra river, to Indus valley cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa and above all manage to carry out international trade through Kori creek and Arabian sea with civilizations of the middle east. In fact, Dholavira must have exercised great control over international and domestic trade of those times. This explains very well, the prosperity of the city and the fact that it existed for as long as 1400 years.

Archaeologists, investigating Dholavira, were still puzzled about absence of any signs that would indicate the existence of a well developed harbour or port on the 'Khadir bet.' However, a likely spot emerged soon, about 3 Km northeast of Dholavira, at place locally known as 'Saran.' This spot is situated on the northern foot of low lying hill ranges, occupying the southern shoreline of the great Rann. A seepage water reservoir is found in this desert like area, indicating availability of drinking water. During monsoon a small brook known as 'Saran Gangaji' carries excess rainwater from the pond to the Rann at a distance of few hundred meters. At the confluence of the brook with the Rann, Harappa period structures have been observed, lying partially buried under debris. The architectural style of these structures is identical with the citadel at Dholavira. This spot is believed to be the the site of the ancient harbour of Dholavira.

I am amazed at the great foresight and strategic consideration shown by people from Indus civilization in selecting the site for this great city. Its location on an island was also best suited from security considerations.

In the next part of this series let us examine another wonder from Dholavira, it's water management system.

(To be concluded)

24 February 2013

Relevance of Sir Creek

India and Pakistan share an international boundary stretching over 3000 Km length. Most of this border is well defined, except for Kashmir and a small part of the border, where it joins the Arabian sea. This small part of the border, which is only 96 Km long has been a long dispute between India and Pakistan. What is surprising is that this disputed part of the border is not even an arbitrary line drawn by some mediator or an arbitrator but lies along a definite geographical feature: a creek that opens into Arabian sea. This creek divides the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat with the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is located at approximately 23°58′N 68°48′E. Wikipedia says that it is known locally as 'Baan Ganga'. However I failed to find any corroborations for the name.

In 1924, the then British Government installed mid channel markers along entire Sir Creek as boundary markers between Sindh region under Bombay presidency and princely state of Kutch ruled by Prince Rao Maharaj. Pakistan does not recognize these mid channel markers and says that the border should be along the east or Indian side bank of the creek, whereas India wants the original 1924 markers as International boundary.

Many people wonder as to why such a small waterway has gained so much of importance and why no one wants to budge from their positions. To find answers to these questions, we need to go into little bit of history and find out exactly the reasons for fixing the boundary at Sir Creek in the first place. Let us first begin with the eastern part of the boundary between Kutch and Sindh. A look at the map and the terrain makes it clear that the this entire boundary runs along the shore line of a vast inland lake of marshy land and salty water known as Rann. Even an 1878 map shows this boundary very clearly and without any ambiguity.

Towards the western part, a town called “Lakhapat” is located on the Kutch side of this Rann. Just north of this town, a river known as “Kori” continued to flow as late as 1875, though intermittently going through cycles of fresh water flows and marshlands. Ali Bandar town (In Pakistan now) was situated on the bank of this river and from here, the river flowed southwards towards Lakhpat.

This Kori river is of great historic significance as it was known as east mouth of Indus. In fact, during times of Alexander the great (325 BC) and Ptolemy (150 AD), it was called “Lonibare” and was one of the main mouths of the Indus river. Water wars began between people of Kutch and Sindh over sharing the Kori water as early as 1764, when Kutch army was defeated. In 1764 and again in 1802 great dams were built on Kori making the downwards river bed completely dry. This converted the once fertile rice fields of Lakhpat into grazing grounds.

In 1819 a huge earthquake struck Lakhpat. This completely destroyed the so called eastern mouth of the Indus or the Kori river into marshy land filled with ups and downs. As an aftermath, a Tsunami wave struck Kori creek. 

 

Quarterly journal of Geological society 2, 103, (1846 ) mentions a letter by one Mrs. Derinzy sent to one Captain Nelson. This letter describes the Tsunami in Kori river.

"One of Capt. McMurdo's guides was travelling on foot to him from Bhooj. The day he reached Luckput there were shocks of an earthquake, which shook down part of the walls of the fort and some lives were lost. At the same time as the shock the sea rolled up the Koree (the eastern) mouth of the Indus, overflowing the country as far westward as the Goongra river (a distance of twenty English miles), northward as far as a little north of Veyre (forty miles from the mouth of the Koree), and eastward to the Sindree Lake. The guide was detained six days (from June 19th to 25th during which time sixty-six shocks were counted. He then got across to Kotree, of which only a few small buildings on a bit of ground remain. Most of the habitations throughout the district must have been swept away, the best houses in Scinde being built of sun-dried bricks, and whole villages consisting only of huts made of a few crooked poles and reed mats. The guide travelled twenty miles through water on a camel, the water up to the beasts body. Of Lak nothing was above water but a Fakeer's pole (the flagstaff always erected by the tomb of some holy man); and of Veyre (Location of this place is unknown now) and other villages only the remains of a few houses were to be seen. There are said to be generally two earthquakes every year at Luckput. The Sindree Lake has of late years become a salt marsh."

As a result of earthquake, entire Sindh shoreline north of Rann also rose up like a bund. This is known as “Allah's Bund” or God's Bund. This God's bund effectively diverted the eastern mouth of the Indus forever.

Ever since then, depending upon the floods in Indus basin, the Kori basin gets filled with sea water and fresh water or remains marshy and dry and has almost become a part of Rann, uncertain and undefinable.

History of Kori river, since earth quake of 1819 makes a fascinating reading. I quote from Imperial Gazetteer ( with places of names changed)

“ After 1819, at Lakhpat, where it used to be fordable, the river bed became eighteen feet deep. About sixteen miles further up, from two to six miles of the bed was raised and beyond that the level of Rann fell forming a basin of twelve feet deep. Beyond that bed of river rose up to Ali Bandar (What is named as Allah's Bund). At the same time a great wave (a Tsunami) rushed up the river and filled the basin with salt water. For eight years the channel of the river was closed except during season of floods its bed was nearly dry. In 1826, upper Indus burst its banks, overspread the desert, and clearing every dam before it, burst through Ali Bandar, filled the Shakoor lake with fresh water and sweeping the silt, so cleared the Kori bed that boats of 100 tons could pass from sea to Lakhpat town. For three years, the Kori continued to come down in so large a stream that it was open for trading as far as Amirkot. Meanwhile, Sindhi's were building their dams and in 1834 the Kori stream was almost stopped. In 1838, except during rains, the channel was dry. For next 36 years (1839-1874) silt kept gathering in the bed of the river below Ali Bandar. In 1856, there was water enough for boats to go up to Shakoor lake from mouth of river. In 1868, a boat could not pass further up than Lakhpat. In 1874 there was another flood on the Indus, a large body of water run through the Ali Bandar and filled Shakoor lake.”

Readers may be wondering as to why I have been talking about Kori river at such a great length, when the subject of this article was the Sir Creek. For that, let us now turn to a map published in 1908 by Imperial Gazetteer. This map outlines the borders of Kutch state and Sindh Province. This border runs from east to west more or less along the present international boundary between India and Pakistan and then turns down sharply south along the shores of Rann or the salt water lake to Kori creek just north of Lakhpat town. This map confirms the old traditional boundary between Kutch and Sindh, but does not take into consideration the changes that took place in the geography after 1819. The new border alignment was finalized between Government of Kutch and Sindh, first in 1914 and again in 1924-25. These new agreements, took into consideration the geography of the region, which had changed completely. The entire area west of Kori river bed had since changed into uninhabited marshlands without any geographical features. During the monsoon season between June and September, the creek flooded its banks and enveloped the low-lying salty mudflats around it. Later it would again become large tracts of Marshy lands or mudflats.

I think, that it would be obvious to readers, that in such kind of geographical landscape, which keeps changing all the time, how can a border be fixed? The only recourse was to fix it along the nearest geographical feature that was stable and this feature was a large body of water now known as Sir Creek.

Sir Creek is navigable in high tide, and fishing trawlers use it to go out to sea. In such a case it would be obvious that, placing mid channel markers to mark the boundary between Princely state of Kutch and British controlled Sindh province was a well thought out and the correct approach, which was implemented in 1924.

Pakistan perhaps have their own reasons like control over the exclusive economic zone in the Arabian sea that can extend up to 200 Nautical miles and possibility of finding Hydrocarbons and their commercial exploitation, for not to agree to mid channel markers. However one thing remains clear to me, Sir Creek is the only stable and recognizable water body in that area and it should be shared by both countries by treating mid channel markers as international boundary.

14 December 2012