Geography Of Gujarat

"The U.S. archaeologist Louis Flam summed up those studies thus: ‘Terrestrial Kachchh would have consisted of an island, or islands, completely surrounded by a tidal and seasonal sea.’"

"R.S. Bisht writes, 'Traditions has it that it was once an extension of the Arabian Sea and was utilised for maritime trade through its various ports perched along both its banks---the southern and northern. The ships of the renowned merchant Jagdu Sha, carrying gold and miscellaneous provisions, are said to be sailing from port to port in the Rann'."

"It is, I believe, a space without a counterpart on the globe ; differing as widely from what is termed the sandy desert as it differs from the cultivated plain; neither does it resemble the steppes of Russia, but may justly be considered of a nature peculiar to itself. No where is that singular phenomenon the mirage or sirab of the desert, or, as the natives most aptly term it, dulchan (smoke or vapour), seen to greater advantage than on the Runn. The smallest shrubs on it have at a distance the appearance of a forest ; and, on a nearer approach, assume sometimes that of ships in full sail, at others that of breakers on a rock. In one instance, I observed a cluster of bushes, which looked like a pier with tall-masted vessels lying close up to it, and on approaching, not a bank was near the shrubs to account for the deception. From it, too, the hills of Cutch seem more lofty, and to have merged into the clouds, their bases being obscured by vapour. The wild ass, or khar gada, is the only inhabitant of this desolate region."

"More recent work by Gaur et al. suggests that it was ‘an extended Gulf and must have been navigable at least up to the early centuries of the Christian era, [while] the Little Rann of Kachchh was navigable even as late as 16th century AD.’"

"The Rann was, according to U.B. Mathur, a ‘shallow arm of the sea’."

"In addition to the Sindhu Nadi, the Nara Nadi has been recognized as an exclusive perennial river that flowed in the northeastern, east-central, and southeastern portions of the Lower Indus Basin in the fourth and third millennia BCE. Available evidence suggests that during the fourth and third millennia, the delta of the combined Sindhu Nadi and Nara Nadi was located near the Rann of Kachchh on the eastern side of the Lower Indus Basin to somewhere between Hyderabad and Thatta in Sindh."

"Kutch nahin dekha to kuchh nahin dekha (If you haven’t seen Kutch, you haven’t seen anything)"

"Modi’s handling of Kutch reconstruction has become a role model for the rest of the world."

"The entire Kutch was in deep mourning. Every eye was filled with tears. In our small village of 150 homesteads, there were 35 deaths. Before Modi ji, no chief minister, no minister had come to wipe our tears. Our entire village was still covered with rubble and he had to walk over the malba (rubble) of collapsed homes to move from one area to another.After the first few weeks of relief work, everyone had abandoned us...Within three years Modi managed to reconstruct Kutch from scratch. Look at our own house—it has two airy, well-constructed rooms with a kitchen, bathroom, and a big courtyard. It is earthquake-resistant"

"Modi’s opponents have assured that none of this got any attention outside Gujarat. Since our academia and the social science community has deeply internalised anti-Modi propaganda, no social scientist has bothered to study the story of Kutch rising out of its own ashes, of its transformation from a subsistence economy to among the fastest growing economies of India. Unfortunately, even the BJP has not taken the trouble to let the rest of India know this story."

"'In the year 696, six hundred and ninety-six, he sent an army for the conquest of Gujarat under the command of Ulugh Khan who became famous among the Gujaratis as Alp Khan and Nusrat Khan Jalesri. These Khans subjected Naharwala that is, Pattan and the whole of that dominion to plunder and pillage' They broke the idol of Somnat which was installed again after Sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi and sent riches, treasure, elephants, women and daughters of Raja Karan to the Sultan at Delhi....[Somnath (Gujarat) ] 'After conquest of Naharwala and expulsion of Raja Karan, Ulugh Khan occupied himself with the government. From that day, governors were appointed on this side on behalf of the Sultans of Dilhi. It is said that a lofty masjid called Masjid-i-Adinah (Friday Masjid) of marble stone which exists even today is built by him. It is popular among common folk that error is mostly committed in counting its many pillars. They relate that it was a temple which was converted into a masjid' Most of the relics and vestiges of magnificence and extension of the ancient prosperity of Pattan city are found in the shape of bricks and dried clay, which inform us about the truth of this statement, scattered nearly to a distance of three kurohs (one kuroh = 2 miles) from the present place of habitation. Remnants of towers of the ancient fortifications seen at some places are a proof of repeated changes and vicissitudes in population due to passage of times. Most of the ancient relics gradually became extinct. Marble stones, at the end of the rule of rajas, were brought from Ajmer for building temples in such a quantity that more than which is dug out from the earth even now. All the marble stones utilized in the city of Ahmedabad were (brought) from that place[Patan (Gujarat)]"

"“And in the year AH 698 (AD 1298) he appointed Ulugh Khan to the command of a powerful army, to proceed into the country of Gujarat… Ulugh Khan carried off an idol from Nahrwala… and took it to Dihli where he caused it to be trampled under foot by the populace; then he pursued Rai Karan as far as Somnat, and a second time laid waste the idol temple of Somnat, and building a mosque there retraced his steps.”"

"In 1196 AD he (Aibak) advanced against Anahilwar Patan, the capital of Gujarat. Nizami writes that after Raja Karan was defeated and forced to flee, “fifty thousand infidels were despatched to hell by the sword” and “more than twenty thousand slaves, and cattle beyond all calculation fell into the hands of the victors”. The city was sacked, its temples demolished, and its palaces plundered."

"In 1300 Alp Khan, brother-in-law of Alauddin and governor of Gujarat, constructed the Adinah mosque at Patan. It was built of white marble, and it is related "that it was once an idol temple converted into a mosque". The Adinah mosque no longer exists.... The above examples clearly show that as per the dictates of the Quran and the injunctions of the Hadis and the Sunnah, mosques in India too were built on the sites of the idol temples and with the materials obtained from razing the shrines. ...."

"The beginnings of Muslim architecture appear, first of all a few substantial tombs of traders, later tombs of saints and nobles; the tomb of Shah Farid at Patan, formerly claimed as the oldest Muslim building in Gujarat is merely a converted temple, and the great Adina mosque there, of 1300, showed little more organization: thousand or so richly ornamented pillars, pillaged from temples were merely arranged in a mosque plan..."

"“The earliest recorded building in Gujarat is the Adina Masjid at Patan (Anhilvada), as stated above. This bears the same unusual name as that of the Mosque built by Sikandar Shah at Hazrat Pandua about fifty years later. The tomb of Sheikh Farid and the Adina Masjid at Patan, which are dated C. AH 700/AD 1300, correspond in their utilization of Hindu building material with the tomb and the Mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi at Tribeni in Hooghly, Bengal, which are dated C. AH 705/ AD 1305. The now demolished Adina Masjid at Patan, is said to have had one thousand and fifty pillars of marble and other stones taken from destroyed temples. Erected by Ulugh Khan, ‘Ala’-al-Din Khalji’s Governor, it measures 400 feet by 300 feet…”"

"It is true that Mosque architecture in Gujarat only began in the 14th century. When Ala-al-Din Khalji conquered and annexed the country to the Delhi Sultanate in the later part of the 13th century, there still flourished a singularly beautiful indigenous style of architecture. The early monuments of Gujarat, notably at Patan (Anhilvada) tell the same story of the demolition of local temples and the reconstruction of their fragments."

"Colonel Monier-Williams, a military official, was the first lo notice the temple in the course of his duties as Surveyor General. In his Journal in 1809, he described the structure as ol rare elegance, and noted that its domes had been blown off by a Muslim prince, There is one of the finest specimens of ancient Hindu architecture at Mundera I ever saw. It is a pagoda very similar in structure to those of the present day; but ornamented so profusely that it is very evident the founder was determined to make it the most finished piece of work that it was possible for the compass of human art to effect ... All the upper part of it is supported on pillars, which are of an order the most elegant, and enriched with carved work of exquisite beauty, and which would be considered in this refined age as the conception of a correct taste, and the execution of a masterly hand. Innumerable figures cover most of the bases of the pillars, and a considerable portion of the exterior surface of the building... The domes were blown off, they say, by means of gunpowder ... by a Musalman prince. The lower circles remain, and are ornamented in a style of elegance that is uncommonly striking ..."

"Thereafter, in 1856, British administrator A.K. Forbes wrote of the temple and the evidence of Muslim vandalism, It rose to the height of one story only, and consisted of an adytum, a closed mundup attached to it, an open mundup separated from the rest of the edifice. The spire has fallen, and the domes are no longer in existence; but the remainder of the building is nearly complete, although indentations are visible upon some of the columns, such as might have been made in wood by sharp weapons, to which the Mohummedans point as marks of the swords of the Islamicate saints ... The detached open mundup of the temple is now known under the name of ‘Seeta Chore’ or marriage hall, and the reservoir (now called the Ram Koond) is a celebrated place of pilgrimage for Vaishnavite ascetics."

"James Burgess and Henry Cousens were the first archaeologists to properly survey the temple. They noted images of solar deities outside and inside, and identified it as a Sun temple. According to them, the structure had originally all the parts of a first-class temple, was built according to injunctions of the shilpa shastras, in good proportions, and richly decorated. They stated that the shikhara was blown up, The Muhammadans, not content with defacing the figure sculptures of this Modhera temple, are said to have placed bags of gunpowder in the underground shrine, and blew it up with the upper cell, destroying the Sikhara or tower .... The shrine is now a wreck: nothing but the bare walls remaining ... this must have been of two storeys... The floor separating them, with part of the roof, had fallen into the pit. On clearing out of the debris, the seat of the image of Surya was found in the middle of the floor, with other blocks connecting it with the side walls. On the front of the seat are carved seven horses (the saptasva-vahana) of the god, their fore-quarters projecting and prancing forward ..."