Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Heritage Buildings in a Living City
PROF. VEENA GARELLA
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
India
veena_garella@yahoo.com
Paper Presented at the Forum UNESCO University and Heritage
10th International Seminar
“Cultural Landscapes in the 21st Century”
NewcastleuponTyne, 1116 April 2005
Revised: July 2006
INTRODUCTION
Shahjahanabad is part of metropolitan Delhi, yet not. In public memory Shahjahanabad
is a mass of chaotic traffic movement, intense commerce (wholesale not the crowd
pulling variety), a labyrinth of dark narrow alleyways, and a great tangle of billboards
and electric cables. Somewhere, its history has gone for a by, yet, as you run your
eye 'over ' and 'above' the commercial street, you occasionally glimpse samples of
ageless beauty of the materials and crafting skills of yesteryears and you realise
'delayering' is important for revealing the true city, one of the several examples of an
ancient living city of the world. This feeling is reinforced further through snatch
conversations with people performing in that setting who 'hint' at yesterdays 'stories',
'anecdotes' even personal accounts of childhood observations and the various ways in
which culture
permeates society. Three distinct layers have marked the city; the Moghul City (1638
1819), the Colonial Shahjahanabad (1819, 18571947) and the post Colonial
Shahjahanabad (1947 onwards). Remarkably much survives of the material and
intangible culture making one wonder on the tenacity of traditions and the porosity of
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space over a time span of nearly four centuries. These periods have been briefly
summarized below.
DELAYERING
Moghul Shahajahanabad
Moghul monarch Shahjahan established Shahjahanabad circa 1638 as a capital city
from Agra when the monarchy was at its peak and he its greatest builder. The city for
60000 people, spread across 600 hectares enclosing a wall punctured with seven gates
from which radiated highways to all parts of his empire, was planned on principles
prevailing for cities in that era. The city's urban design was an amalgamated model of
Persian, Islamic and Vedic principles. Persia (Safavid empire) enjoyed trade and
diplomatic relations with the Moghuls, and its architects Ustad Hamid and Ustad
Ahmed determined the formalism and symmetry of the Palace complex, gardens and
boulevards and even the style of its buildings. Islamic influences have been inferred
from the likeness of Samarkand plan to the Shahjahanabad one (Islamic cosmology,
manmacrocosm anologies; Spine – Chandni Chowk, Ribs streets, Head fort, Heart
Jama Masjid, Organs Sarai, Wall skin). The Vedic texts of 16 th century Vastu Shastra
and the Mansara on Architecture and city planning respectively are perceived to have
influenced its settlement geometry as a bow shaped semielliptical ( Karmukha ) city
located on a river, its axes interpreted as the bow and the archer's arm, and, its
circumferential streets the bow shaft. The junction of the two axes, an auspicious
center, is the Emperors Palace. Scholars have further explored the dimensional
relationships of the city's main elements, and chroniclers have recounted boulevard
streets with water channels, grand mosques, Havelis and gardens of the courtiers,
arcaded bazar streets, prominent localities, baolis, sarais, kotwalis, exclusive
garden retreats, baradaris, chhattas kuchas gallis, madrassas, maktabs,
khanqahs, khirkis, ganjs – a host of other elements of the material culture, some still
surviving.
Courtyard houses of various scales, complexity and ornamentation signified the owners
status and social ranking; the larger Havelis reproduced a scaled down version of the
Palace complex and were self contained. These Havelis with their spillover dependants
building around them formed the nucleus of the 'morally system. Several locality
names (Teliwara, Malliwara, Katra Nil, Farashkhana, Ballimaran, Khari Baoli…)
survive in the original, imprinting the associations, images of work settings, caste or
social grouping, or the peculiarities of that area (Khari Baoli saline water stepwell,
Chahlpura locality of 40 houses, Chandni Chowk silver square etc). Faiz bazar and
Chandni Chowk the two main axes had well stocked shops of even imported goods. The
city had a healthy trade presence. It peaked at 5 lakh population on the king's death.
Colonial Shahjahanabad
Two phases mark this period, a benign 1803 onwards and an aggressive 1857 to 1947
one. British succession into Delhi became possible when the moghul monarchy began
losing control on Aurangzeb’s death, after he had depleted his army and resources in
several battles (1659 to 1707). Nadir Shah’s plunder (1739) and countless internecine
wars between court nobles (1707 to 1803) had further weakened the moghuls. Early
British rule was marked by mild activities, as, proposing sanitary guidelines, restoring
the indigenous Shahjahani water system, establishing satellite settlements outside the
city walls (Civil Lines, Mubarakbagh, Kishanganj, Cantonment) and the Residency for
Ochterlony and, later, Metcalf. After the 1857 revolt, large parts of the city were
restructured making British power more visible. The notable changes were;
Ejecting the city’s population and destroying one third traditional neighbourhoods
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Introducing Edgerton Street (Nai Sarak) into the fabric and other new streets
towards the centre and north of the city.
Replacing the Royal Sarai with the Town Hall;
Introducing the railway system 1867 by removing gardens and katras in that area;
Clearing the surroundings of the Palace complex 500 yds around as a defence
measure;
Holding three Darbars, (1877, 1903, 19,11);
Establishing a temporary capital as Civil Lines ( 200 acres) while planning for a
new capital;
The reconfigurated roads isolated the Red Fort and fragmented the city; the
chowks now functioned for commerce rather than for community; The planned
boulevards around the city (by pulling down the walls) created 'cordon sanitaire'
to demarcate territories of the ruler and the ruled.
Post Colonial Shahjahanabad
The new establishment was seized with housing people of a divided country and
Shahjahanabad offered an opportunity from its vacated properties by muslim families.
The new Master Plan detailed out strategies (through zonal plans) of population
densities, land uses, exiting of obnoxious industries, and as well as special programmes
for greening, improving, rehabilitating, conserving or redeveloping degraded areas.
Schemes which got implemented were an implant of an outside world (Turkman Gate
cluster housing in four storey apartments) which destroyed seven acres of an historic
quarter with a centuries old gate (Phatak Talyan), one largish courtyard and two mosques
from Shahjahan's time; Dujana house, an earlier Palace of moghul nobility was
demolished to rehouse displaced persons but was only partly executed. Bazars around
Jama Masjid were cleared and a garden introduced with shops relocated in a low profile
Meena Bazar. Besides these planned changes, the city was on a commercial
overdrive. Wholesale trade (60% of the entire city's) aligned along most bazar streets
and intruded into traditional neighbourhoods. There was a tenfold increase in three
decades. In the process, the katras and havelis are reshaping for commerce in an
uninterrupted process. Whilst there is population loss in the city, those who cannot
afford are getting more cramped in their living space (author observed a 38 member
joint household live in a 300 sq. ft. room)
HERITAGE STATUS AND INSTITUTIONS
Shahjahanabad has within it 42 of the 170 protected monuments controlled by the
national Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The Indian National Trust for Architectural
and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) have documented and furnished a list of 800 Listed
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Buildings, of which, 411 exist within Shahjahanabad. The Delhi Master Plan (2001) had
designated the entire Shahjahanabad as a Controlled Conservation Area (one of the
five in Delhi). The Draft Delhi Master Plan (2021) again identifies and redesignates it
as one of the city’s seven Heritage Zones for which the municipality is required to
prepare Special Conservation Plans as a component of the Special Development
Plan. A Delhi Heritage Committee (formed in 2005) within the Municipality is required
to overrsee heritage concerns. The Delhi chapter of INTACH has proposed 18
Conservation Zones (against DDA’s 7) of which 8 would be in Shahjahanabad. The
author’s study area figures partially in the list. In addition there are 10 heritage walks,
the study area does not figure in them.
Most experts believe there need to be a larger number of Conservation Areas well
monitored for allowing sensitive new development. It is further believed that protection
by ‘designation’ and implicit encouragement by ‘legislation’, backed by public
support, a few conservation areas, well executed and managed, could trigger an
effective conservation movement in Shahjahanabad.
“The Delhi Development Authortiy (DDA) responsible for planned city growth, has
within its framework, a Delhi Urban Heritage Foundation (1999) and formalises an
ongoing Heritage Award instituted in 1993.
“The media sporadically informs on heritage and a few public men have shown interest
is conservation to activate an annual festival in Shahjahanabad called the “Chandni
Chowk Festival”.
Concerns
It is obvious from the aforementioned that real action in Heritage Conservation planning
and management has yet to take off and needs careful strategising. Experience has
shown that without a clear strategy projects assume different modalities and different
partners and funding sources for their actualizations. In this loose arrangement
governments can work with individuals, resident associations, trusts, affected
communities, business houses, international donors, professional groups, academics,
etc. As yet, a clearly articulated Heritage Policy is non existent, and Heritage Laws cover
only a part of the heritage resources. This might perhaps result in piecemeal
progression to a later maturation stage. Yet, losing heritage is imminent to this process
and arresting it an important objective. Increased commerce, preference for glass
fronts, curtain walls and image makeovers has made the street front lose exquisitely
crafted grills, balcony rails, surface ornamentation, frieze works in building interiors to
be pulled down.
The author has put together basic data and an assessment for Chawri Bazar axis along
with documenting three moghul monuments (Anglo Arabic School, Ajmeri Gate,
Jama Masjid), two period neighbourhood mosques and one Haveli (fig 3). She
believes that a Heritage Regeneration strategy could showcase a different world born
of different times and willing to display to the outsiders (domestic, international
visitors) the city's rich repertoire. This needs working on the body (buildings) and the
mind (people)
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THE STREET AND BUILDING STUDY
The Street
The Ajmeri Gate Chawri Bazar axis
The axis, part of the formal geometry of moghul era, radiates from the western end of the
Jama Masjid monument, bending 18 degrees to the left at two points each time to create
two historic chowks, Barchabulla and Hauz Kazi, ending at the city gate Ajmeri Gate.
Opposite the gate and once located within the city walls is another 300 years old
monument, the AngloArabic School also known as Ghaziuddin Madrass. The building
in a quadrangle has a mosque and a mausoleum of the military Commander of Shah
Alam II. The stretches between the chowks, Gate and the Masjid have around 850
shops on the ground floor with wholesale paper trade located towards the Jama
Masjid and ironhardware towards the Ajmeri Gate end. The upper levels, too, are fast
converting to commercial use leaving very few as residences. Most are tenanted
properties and it was whispered that some of the large properties, katras and havelis on
the street are owned by one family having representative business in this locality, as well
as industrial enterprises elsewhere in the city. People have shown cordiality and have
shared information trustingly with no threat perception and this warmth came through in
more than one way. A land mark building, Amar Cinema, is now an entry to the
underground Metro station marked by site clearance and change. More than 30
properties on the street have significant architectural interest. It is possible to identify
number of havelis, katras along the interior alleyways through a detailed investigation.
There exists an interesting side to the street history. Whilst British control was being
exercised over the last of the dispossessed moghuls and their nobility, a large
entourage of harem women, eunuchs, several offsprings of the kings were forced to
earn their living as 'dancing girls' and prostitutes on the street under reference. The
fact that courtesans salons existed on this street till early 20 th century was corroborated
by residents of ancestral properties who liberally sprinkled names of former Urdu poet
Mirza Ghalib being admired by some of the famous ones. It appears that people
wanting to be relieved of political uncertainties sought escape in Islamic mysticism, a
frenzied gaiety or the company of courtesans during the period.
The Buildings
Anglo Arabic School, (also known as the Ghaziuddin Madrassa)
Located off Ajmeri Gate over an area of 40000 sq. m. the madrasa was established in
1702 by Ghaziuddin Khan, the main building arranged in a quadrangle has a mosque
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and mausoleum of Ghaziuddin Khan at one end and is an example of mughal
architecture replete with Dome, octagonal towers and what was originally a charbagh
garden with water channels and tanks. The madrasa forms the other three sides of
quadrangle and was declared a heritage monument by the ASI in 2002. DDA has
undertaken restoration of the monument and removal of enchraoachment from the site.
Named Delhi college(1825) it was looted of rare manuscripts and coins as well as
PersianArabic calligraphic works in 1857. The school was reopened by Lord Lytton
and revived by Sir Maurice Gwyer the first V.C. of Delhi. Both English and Arabic was
taught here. (Measured drawing of the monument is prepared. The building has
potential as a museum of Mughal Shahajahanabad)
The Ajmeri Gate
One of the 14 entrances to the walled city of Shahajahanabad, called so as it faces
Ajmer. This was a site of fierce battle during the 1857 mutiny.
Simple in design and made of locally available stone, square in plan with different front
and rear elevations, the structure remains unaltered over time. The rubble masonry
structure is pierced by a high single arched gateway, flanked by semioctagonal turrets
on the outer side, arched niches in two registers on the inner sides. The turrets
provided structural strengths, and the niche design, battlemented Kanguras and
medallions in the spandrel of the arches give it an aesthetic look. More than one color
veneer stone has been used and iron spigots along the roof top remove rain water
without damaging the structure. At present a small garden around the gate acts as
buffer as well as a round about. The ASI who manages it falls short of expectations in
their restoration practice. Further numerous encroachments around the garden railing,
inadequate signage, gateway illumination, presence of banners, and a flux of overhead
cables needs to be looked at.
Measured drawings of the gate have been made.
Masjid Mubarak Begum, A Mughal Mosque
Established circa 1800 by a courtesan, at Lal Kuan Hauz Kazi chowk, the money for its
construction not being from a 'clean' source the mosque was repurchased for a petty sum
to bring it under religious activities. It is now under the Waqf board. This mosque got
established on the upper floor at a latter date. The mosque needs restoration,
illumination, display of its history and signage in an aesthetic way, and needs to be
visually integrated with other major landmarks in the axis street, as, Ajmeri gate – Hauz
Kazi chowk – Minor mosques – Jama Masjid.
Measured drawings have been made of the building.
Masjid Rukmat Daula, A Mughal Mosque
This minor mosque is a fine example of craftsmanship in marble, red sand stone and
exquisite jails and carvings on its door ways, railings, parapets with most surfaces rich
with decorative details. The mosque measures around 6m x 4m on a plot of 9m x 9m. and
was built by a minister in the Mughal Palace in 1750 who personally supervised its
planning and execution. There is no dome on the mosque. This mosque too was shifted
to the first floor making space for the shops on the ground. Located between two
prominent chowks Hauz Kazi and Barcha bulla, it was once surrounded by buildings
occupied by courtesans of Mughal palace who were thrown out from there by the British.
It functioned as a neighborhood mosque. Today, though in good maintenance and not in
active use, its upkeep is provided by charities. This mosque also needs to be illuminated
with its history on a display board, minor restoration works and micro improvement is
required, a visual link to other mughal buildings would be preferable for making a
specialized heritage walk of the mughalIslamic religious institutions of the area.
Measured drawings have been made of the building.
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Bhanamal Gulzarimal Haveli a residence
Built in 1884, this haveli survives as a traditional courtyard residence fronting on Chawari Bazar on
a 400 sq.m. plot and with a 100 sq.m. court yard. It has been continuously lived in by the
Khandelwals – a leading trading family having deep cultural roots. The arcaded façade, decorated
grills and columns, jail work on windows and gateways, an ornamental fire place with antique
mirrors unmoved since their installation give the house a sense of antiquity in this many roomed
courtyard house being shared by three families on the upper level, the lower assigned to
commerce. Being an only Haveli on the stretch it qualifies for proper illumination, under ground
cabling, micro improvement and landscaping for making available the large ground floor courtyard
space to be used for heritage awareness meetings of small neighborhood groups and for heritage
consensus buildings. The owners have already volunteered for this purpose.
Measured drawings are available for the building.
Preliminary suggestions
Based on the study as well as sensory perceptions, a wish list is provided here to get heritage
conservation off the ground :
a. To explore and map heritage properties in Shahajahanabad as surprise finds which would be
other than the listed 411
b. To pressurize the municipality for underground cabiling for reducing its hazardous and ugly
bunching on the poles.
c. To improve illuminations of monuments, landmarks and buildings of architectural interest.
d. To improve street signage, footpaths, drains, and to incorporate landscape.
e. To identify spaces for neighbourhood group assembly and AV presentations.
f. To understand community perspective on how heritage be valued.
g. To enlist heritage expert and acquire their commitment.
h. To enlist donors and explore funds.
i. To restore buildings in need of emergency repairs.
j. To identify development for positive change and value additions to business/people
k. To reward heritage properties that enhance or serve community goals(lowering
property tax and vice versa)
l. To prepare design guidelines for façade control/sub division/signage/structural
repairs/activity control to heritage property after their due classification as
significant/medium/low cultural value.
m. Initiate model heritage projects.
n. To visually integrate on the Axis all the important heritage components.
o. To incentivise new heritage tourism promotion activities.
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A WISHFUL HERITAGE REJUVENATION STRATEGY
Goal – Preserving heritage and preventing its deterioration.
a.) Prerequisite for Strategy and Action
Preparing an assessment report for understanding ;
the process of physical and socioeconomic change (alteration, deterioration,
rehabilitation, renovation, lifestyle, activity)
The stake holders perception on heritage (views, interests, agendas, missions…)
The role of institutions in the area.
The ongoing efforts at preservation in the area.
Funds committed for emergency works and others on sustainable basis.
Setbacks if any in ongoing activities.
b.) A fresh heritage strategy.
A two fold objective aimed at self sustenance.
Heritage tourism promotion (revenues/ incomes)
Poverty reduction (from incomes above)
c.) Guiding principles for strategy
Ascertaining tourism related activities that cluster and mutually nourish.
Establishing framework for stated objectives and collaborators.
Introducing institutions for guiding investments.
Introducing institutions for monitoring change in historic fabric.
Introducing community support groups.
Introducing ethos of sensitive architectural change.
Accepting and agreeing to expert advice on conservation.
Introducing clear roles for all actors and for the leader.
Ensuring information availability in raw and for eventual analysis.
Building capacities for corporate style planning, marketing and accounting system.
d.) Expected Project Outputs
Planning for road networks
Planning for rehabilitation
Creating tourist routes and walks
Undertaking underground cabling and environmental improvements.
Setting up funds (Loans/subsidies/renovations/investments/grants/TDR’s)
Creating employment
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REFERENCES
Goodfreind, D.E.(1982) Shahajahanabad – Old Delhi: Traditions and Planned change,
Ekistics Journal 297 pp 47275
Hasan, S.N. (2005) The Morphology of a Medieval Indian City : A case study of
Shahajahanbad in Banga, I. (ed) The City in Indian History, pp 8797 (New Delhi,
Manohar press)
Government of India survey (2001) Urban Renewal of Walled City, Delhi
Town and Country Planning Organization Survey and Report.
Spear, P., Gupta, N., Frykenberg R.E. (2002) The Delhi Omnibus (N. Delhi Oxford
University Press)
Blake, S.P. (1993) Shahjahanabad : The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639
1739 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)
Chenoy, S.M. (1998) Shahjahanbad A city of Delhi, 1638 – 1857 (N. Delhi, M.
Manoharlal Press)
Kaul, H.K. (1985) Historic Delhi, An Anthology (Delhi ,Oxford University Press)
Singh, P. Dhamija, R. (1989) Delhi – The Deepening Urban Crisis (N. Delhi , Sterling
Press)
Bernier, F. (1972) Travels in the Mughal Empire (N. Delhi, Oxford University Press)
Rizvi, S.A.A. (1987) The Wonder that was India Part 2 (N Delhi, Rupa + Co Press)
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