Children discover the charm of Kutch
Every pattern, every village and every person in Kutch has a story. Students and teachers of Sanskruti — The Heritage Club made a journey across Kutch to experience innumerable stories of human adaptation
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| Saltpans in Kutch |
According to Outlook Heritage, Kutch, an arid district of Gujarat (pop. 0.5 million) is nature’s most hated child. Yet it is full of surprises, many of them pleasant. In this dry district on the edge of the desert where the earth is perennially restless with tectonic movements, flourished Dholavira — one of South Asia’s earliest cities. And despite being orphaned by earthquakes and parched by droughts the people of this desert land have developed vibrant embroidery and mirror work into an art form. These masterpieces of art which decorate the homes and attire of city elites and country folk are a reflection of the lifestyle of Kutch — a mélange of camels, peacocks, parrots, flowers, trees and women churning milk. Every pattern, every village and perhaps every person in Kutch has a story.
Students and teachers of Sanskruti — The Heritage Club recently made a journey across Kutch to listen to and experience innumerable stories of human adaptation. Sanskruti is a unique education programme offered by the Ahmedabad based Educational Initiatives (EI) with the objective of learning social studies in new ways and linking it to other subjects to make it more interesting, practical and fun for children.
EI was promoted by a group of IIM-Ahmedabad alumni in 2000 and is well recognised in Gujarat for its innovative work in school education. EI is also working closely with ICICI Bank on a large benchmarking study to be conducted in 2005 to assess the "state of learning in municipal schools"; with the Azim Premji Foundation and the World Bank in Andhra Pradesh; with Intel to develop math curricula and "question marking abilities" of teachers, etc. They also prepared the questions for Star TV’s ongoing India’s Child Genius quiz programme hosted by Siddhartha Basu. As part of EI’s heritage programme, 22 Ahmedabad school students got a rare opportunity to visit Kutch in December 2004.
The educational trip to Kutch was unique inasmuch as it exposed students to the complex interplay of history and geography and allowed them to interact with local people and acquaint themselves with their artistic skills and heritage. They also checked out a natural fossil park and trekked across the vast Rann of Kutch — the white land.
Kutch — the desert land
The word ‘Kutch’ has been derived from its similarity on the map to a kachbo or tortoise. Bhuj is the district headquarters of Kutch. Located in the extreme west of India, it is surrounded by the Gulf of Kutch, the Arabian Sea and the Great Rann of Kutch which separates India from Pakistan.
The history of Kutch goes back to the mists of time. The bed of the dry river Surkhi, a few miles to the north-east of Nakhatrana has revealed large flakes, handaxes and tools of the Paleolithic era made from local dikes and basalt. The people who lived here were hunter-gatherers.
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| Rachna School children in Dholavira |
Around 2,600 BC, the Indus Valley civilization made its way to Kutch with people settling down in Dholavira, an island city and trade centre with links with the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The ruins of Dholavira located at Khadir Island to the northeast of Bhuj are indicative of advanced town planning and water storage systems of the Indus Valley period. Other Harappan settlements in the area are Deshalpur, Kotada and Todies in Nakhatrana taluka, Jhangar, Kotda and Pirwada Kheta. Typical of Harappan settlements in Kutch is the use of stone walls instead of bricks.
During its early history, Buddhism and Jainism established a strong presence in Kutch. Buddhist caves and Kshatrapa inscriptions at archaeological sites like Nani Raina, Kateshwar, etc indicate that Kutch was a melting pot of various ideas emanating from Central Asia and Saurashtra. A tribal community named Abhira referred to in the Mahabharata, inhabited it.
During the early medieval period, i.e from 7th century onwards, Muslim traders arrived in Kutch in large numbers and settled along the coast. Ports were established at Mandvi, Koteshwar, and Lakhpat. In addition to Muslims, Kanthies from Sindh and Chavdas had a strong presence in trade. During the later medieval period, Kutch was ruled by Lakhas and Othas. Bhuj and Lakhpat were important trade centres for caravans passing through the Indian desert to Central Asia.
People
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| Rabaries with herds: nomadic gypsy traditions |
The people of Kutch are as mysterious as its history. Nomads, pastoralists, Hindus, Muslims and Jains have inhabited Kutch for generations. Among the nomads, the Rabaries are the dominant community. They are divided into three clans — Desi Rabaries, Dhebaria Rabaries and Vagadiya Rabaries. In keeping with gypsy and nomad traditions, Rabaries move from village to village with their household goods and animal herds. Midialo of Anjar Taluka is the main village of Dhebarias and almost 800 Rabari families live here.
Ahirs, the pastoral community of Kutch claim to be the children of Lord Krishna. There are four clans in this community, namely Prantharia, Mochhaya, Baureech and Sorathia who are farmers and vend ghee and milk. Ahirs are distinguished by their colourful clothing decorated with charming embroidery. The other local communities of Kutch are the Maldharis, Jats and Harijans, besides Jains and upper caste Hindus.
The Sanskruti Tour
The four-day Sanskruti Tour of 22 children of the Rachna School, Ahmedabad started on a chilly morning amid lots of excitement. The distance from Ahmedabad to the base camp of Bhuj is 400 km. The first visit was to Mandvi (pop. 12,000) a historic port town located on the shore of the Gulf of Kutch. Mandvi was a strategic port during medieval times. Subsequently it was a transit point for the Mughals to export textiles and spices from India and for the pilgrimage to Mecca. Apart from a beautiful beach, the town boasts the unique Vijaya Vilas palace — a rare amalgam of Dutch, Gothic, Bengali and Rajasthani architecture. Students were thrilled to spend a full evening on the Mandvi beach.
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| Bhuj ruins:town planning heritage |
On the second day, we travelled to the ancient city of Kateshwar on the Indo-Pak border in northwest Kutch to view the archaeological treasures, caves and other ruins referred to in Huen T’sang’s account of the capital of Kutch in the 7th century. From a hilltop at Kateshwar we obtained a sweeping vista of the vast Rann of Kutch which stretches as far as the eye can see and is bereft of any human settlement. En route we stopped at the Vithone Fossil Park — a huge collection of marine and terrestrial animal and plant fossils reputed to be millions of years old. Kutch is a treasure house of fossils with its landmass having emerged due to a series of tectonic upliftments since the beginning of the Jurassic age. Scientists believe that a large part of contemporary Kutch was under the sea at one time. Hence its treasure trove of marine species such as starfish, mollusc and tortoise as well as terrestrial fossils including well-preserved fossils of dinosaurs.
The day was rounded off by a memorable walk on the scenic beach Koteshwar, across a dry estuary on a moonlit night.
On the third day we traversed a passage through Kuneria, a small village on the way to Khadva. Kuneria afforded a visit to the location where the classic movie Lagaan which made it to the list of foreign films short-listed for the Hollywood Oscars in 2004, was filmed. The people of the village revealed interesting stories of their experiences during the shooting of Lagaan. From Kuneria passing through Bani, another unique landscape of marshes and dunes we travelled to Khadva and Kolodungar — the tallest peak in Kutch. The view from the top of Kolodungar across the expanse of the wide Rann of Kutch (27,900 sq km) is as spectacular as it is endless. In the village of Ludia nearby, we wandered among colourful bhugies — round huts decorated with murals and glasswork and an array of handicrafts. Students interviewed the villagers and inquired about their history and lifestyle.
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| Colourfully decorated huts in Ludia village |
On the last day of our tour we were lost in the wonders of the archaeological treasure house that is Dholavira and in the enigmatic silence of the Rann of Kutch. Situated in one of the remotest corners of the country, Dholavira once boasted spectacular town planning and water harvesting systems going back to the Indus Valley era. Fifteen years of excavation has partially exposed this lost city, yet unearthed enough clues about the lifestyle of its ancient people who established trade links with the Persian Gulf at a time in history when many of the modern nations had not seen the light of human civilization.
Undoubtedly this brief four-day excursion was a bit too short. But it made a tremendous impact on the minds of students. Comments Gopa Ghosh, principal of Rachna School, Ahmedabad: "The trip to Kutch was really an eye-opener to the glories of ancient India. True, our textbooks and lesson plans describe them but there’s nothing to beat the value of supplementary excursion education."
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| Rann of Kutch vista: enigmatic silence |
Despite its rugged beauty and splendid historical ruins, Kutch has not been marketed as a popular tourist destination. The people are warm, hospitable and a traveller to this remote desert region is likely to come back with enduring images.
Residential accommodation.
Bhuj’s best is the Prince on Station Road (Rs.700-1,400 per night depending upon the season). Prince hotel is equipped with 42 rooms and each room is designed with elegance and simplicity. Room facilities provided by the hotel are fax, cable TV, 24 hrs room service and laundry.Gujarat Tourism has built a comfortable retreat — Toran — on the outskirts of the city. There are also a number of reasonably priced hotels such as Abha International, and VRP Guest House located near the city centre. Prices range from Rs.300-1,500 per night.
For more information log on to www.gujaratourism.com.
Vaishali Shah & Jitu Mishra