Lakshmi Ajay takes a walk through the erstwhile walled city of Ahmedabad to discover its rich history and architecture
Ahmedabad owes its existence (and name) to Ahmed I, the first independent Muslim ruler of Gujarat, who founded the city in 1411 on the banks of the Sabarmati river. It initially grew within a wall pierced by 12 gates, or darwazas, before expanding outwards. A Thursday morning finds me about to embark on a heritage walk to help me get better acquainted with the original walled city and its history.
The Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad was started by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation with The Foundation for Conservation and Research of Urban Traditional Architecture, in November 1997 during the World Heritage Week. Debashish Nayak was invited to set up the heritage cell that would help revitalise and conserve the city’s architectural heritage. “Citizens’ involvement is essential for heritage conservation and restoration, and we thought the best way to take this forward was to have heritage walks so that a person living in a city or visiting the city can get to know it better,” Nayak, who was appointed the heritage programme’s adviser, had said.
The magnificent Swaminarayan temple in Kalupur is the starting point of my walk. Built in 1882, it is one of the sect’s first temples in India. Legend has it that the 12 pillars of the temple disguise carvings of the Revolt of 1857.
Before we set out, we are shown slides of the quarter we are about to explore, especially the havelis of the wealthy. Our guide, Nirav Panchal, tells us that pols, loosely translated as gates, are an intrinsic part of the walled city — they are micro neighbourhoods of people of a particular caste, religion or profession enclosed by a gate. There are nearly 600 pols in the old city, each with exquisitely carved wooden structures and engineering innovations.
Our motley group, which includes three foreigners, is first greeted by the statue of 19th century Gujarati poet Nanalal Dalpatram Kavi at his restored house in Lambeshwar ni pol. Through the narrow bylanes of Haja Patel ni pol, we then enter Kala Ramji na Mandir, which has a rare idol of Ram rumoured to have been hidden by a priest during the Mughal period. We wend our way through the narrow streets to Kuvavala Khancha, an intersection that had adjacent wells, giving it its name (kuva is well and khancha, passage). Features common to most pols include chabutaras, a temple for the chosen deity, entry gates, oatlas (raised platforms) and oatla panchayats (committees), which discuss affairs of the pols. An NRI quips that these panchayats are very much around — we just refer to them as Facebook!
The pols also have secret passages. We enter Chaumukhjini pol through one of these, which leads us to a square with four houses, the facades of which display characteristics of Marathi, Parsi, Victorian and Jain styles of architecture. There are tall chabutaras, or bird feeders, in the bylanes. The early settlers of the pols, especially the Jains, believed the trees cut down for the wood used in building houses deprived the birds of their natural habitat. The bird feeders were thus erected to provide an alternative habitat — a compensation of sorts.
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As we pass by Astapadji Manemandir and the colourful Harkunvar Shethani ni haveli, Panchal points out the intricate wooden columns atop doors of the haveli, explaining that they acted as shock absorbers and minimised damage during earthquakes — important in an earthquake-prone area. Another instance of efficient engineering is a tall structure with an arrow signaling a sewage line flowing through the pol. The arrow showed the direction the sewage line took, which helped in constructing new homes at a time when there was no municipality.
We pass Fernandez Bridge, popularly referred to as Book Lane, and the old stock market of Ahmedabad on our way to the bustling Manek Chowk market. A flower and vegetable market by day and a flourishing jewellery market by noon, it turns into a street with various food stalls at night. We also make a stop at the famous Rani No Haziro, the final resting place of women of royalty.
Our final destination is Jumma Masjid, built by emperor Ahmed Shah in the 15th century. Surrounded by the old block print market, the mosque is a picture of serenity. Nirav points out the traces of Jain and Hindu architecture on the ceilings and walls. Shoes in hand, we gingerly enter the inner sanctum of the mosque and sit in quiet contemplation of the morning.
The heritage walk is conducted every day from 8 am to 10:30 am
Radha Seth
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| STEP BY STEP Ahmedabad has three more walks.There is the audio-visual walk, or D-tour; the ‘Breakfast walk’ named so because it ends with a sumptuous traditional breakfast at the House of MG; and a night walk through its bylanes. All three are run by hotelier Abhay Mangaldas, along with CRUTA. The audiovisual walk was started three years ago; the night walk and breakfast walk, subsequently. The breakfast walk lasts two- and-a-half hours and takes you to the Sidi Saiyed mosque and past the Bhadra fort, cuts through the busy lanes of Gandhi Road and ends amidst the stunning wooden architecture of Lakha Patel ni pol. |
The audio-visual walk begins at 8 pm and tourists are given an mp3 player with an 80-minute audio clip to guide them around the pols.
But it's the night walk that is the most popular. The walk, which begins at 10 pm, takes you through three Jain derasars, the stately Khetarpal Mandir and the raucous Manek Chowk, ending on a dramatic note with the 600-year-old tradition of the beating of drums to indicate the closing of the city gates.
