Before heritage crumbles

Subhash Parihar

The year 1206, marking the beginning of the independent rule of the Delhi Sultanate, can be considered a watershed in the history of India. At that time, no one would have imagined that beginning with Qutbuddin Aibak (reigned 1206-10), the chain of the Muslim rulers will continue uninterrupted for centuries to come. Although the rulers of the Mughal dynasty continued to linger on the throne of Delhi up to 1857, their effective rule, at least in Punjab, withered after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. In this region, the challenge to the royal authority was posed by the disgruntled Sikh agriculturalists who defied the central power until about a century later when they took the reins of sovereignty into their own hands.

The five centuries of Muslim rule drastically altered the material as well as the cultural life of the region. The new conquerors introduced a new political system, style of living, concepts of religion, aesthetic values, building types, building techniques, and modes and vocabulary of architectural decoration. The most tangible remains of this period are in the form of magnificent, and not-so magnificent, buildings which dotted the entire landscape of Punjab.

As Lahore and Multan were the greatest commercial centres of Punjab, these cities witnessed the earliest as well as the greatest building activity in the region. But the Partition has put these monuments on the western side of the border. Fortunately, about 12 dozen of monuments of the period still survive in the Indian Punjab. These monuments, mostly unnoticed, not only throw ample light on the architectural history of the region but also serve as sources for reconstructing local history of many towns and villages.

Although the Koran forbids Muslims from erecting any kind of memorial to the dead, religious injunctions are seldom followed by the powerful and the wealthy. They built grand memorials to immortalise their names. The maximum number of surviving medieval monuments — about four dozen — are tombs. Half of these are situated around Sirhind as this was the largest and most prosperous Mughal city between Delhi and Lahore.

Dating from early 13th century up to the end of the 17th century, these funerary structures exhibit a far greater variety of craftsmanship than seen in other building types of the region. The earliest of these is the tomb of Baba Haji Ratan at Bathinda. But the most beautiful tombs in the region were built some three centuries later at Nakodar, popularly called the tombs of Ustad and Shagird, built respectively during the reigns of Jahangir (1606-28) and Shah Jahan (1628-58).

Mosques and eidgahs are two major religious building types of Islam. The faithful offers his daily prayers at a mosque, Friday prayers at a Jami’ mosque and Eid prayers at an eidgah. As a mosque was more frequently visited than eidgah, it became the most significant religious building type of Islam whereas the eidgah remained a less pretentious building type. Punjab can boast of one and a half dozen of mosques but only two eidgahs. The Pathariya Masjid (or the Stone Mosque) at Machhiwara, the mosque of Sadna Qasai at Fatehgarh Sahib, and the Jami Mosque in the Bahadurgarh Fort are the most impressive specimens of this class. But both the eidgahs — at Tihara and near Bahrampur — are not very impressive.

Sultans and emperors mostly built for their personal use or glory. Buildings for public welfare have been the concern of only a few of them. The surviving monuments of this class show that greater contribution in this field was made by affluent and magnanimous nobles who spent large amounts on building projects beneficial to the public at large.

Among the surviving remains of this class of monuments, there is not even a single building datable before the reign of Akbar, i.e. the second half of the 16th century. But for a gateway at Bahadurgarh in district Patiala, which served as an entrance to the 17th century fortified village of Saifabad, all extant structures were meant for the use of travellers.

The Mughal highway from Agra to Lahore passed through the present states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and Punjab. It entered the present Punjab near Shambhu in Patiala. Passing through Rajpura, Sarai Banjara, Sirhind, Khanna, Sarai Lashkar Khan, Doraha, Sahnewal, Ludhiana, Phillaur, Nurmahal, Nakodar, Mahlian Kalan, Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal, Fatehabad, Tarn Taran, Nurdi, Jhabal, Sarai Amanat Khan, Raja Taal, it reached Lahore. This Mughal highway is still marked with the remains of grand caravansarais, bridges, baolis, tanks and kos-minars.

Caravansarais, meant for the accommodation of travellers with their pack animals, form the most imposing surviving medieval monuments of Punjab. Art historian Eleanor Sims likens the Muslim caravansarai to the American motel ‘where, shelter, water, food, and place for one’s vehicle, are combined in one structure.’ Most impressive specimens of this class are to be seen at Doraha, Nurmahal, Mahlian Kalan, Sarai Amanat Khan, and Sarai Lashkar Khan.

Although the confirmed historical sources prove the construction of all these caravansarais during the reigns of Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb (1658-1707), the common people would have us believe that all these were built by the Pathan ruler Sher Shah Suri (1540-45).

Structurally, every sarai is a fort-like enclosure surrounded with high battlemented walls. The access to the interiors is provided usually through two splendid gateways, set on opposite sides, and wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts like camel to enter. These gateways are large enough to accommodate a number of rooms of various shapes and sizes. A resident staff of caretakers and guards might have been permanently housed in these rooms.

The central courtyard of a caravansarai is open to sky. Along the inner side of the walls of the enclosure are ranged small rooms to accommodate travellers. Every caravansarai was provided with a mosque for public worship. Often a hammam complex formed a part of the caravansarai. One or more wells to supply drinking water were sunk inside each caravansarai.

Seventeenth century European travellers give vivid accounts about the working of these caravansarais. According to them, a traveller who wanted to stay in a caravansarai was allotted a room. When he had taken up his lodging, no other could dispossess him. The number of rooms in a caravansarai ranged between 80 and 120. But the Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci records that each caravansarai ‘might hold more or less, from 800 to 1000 persons, with their horses, camels, carriages, and some of them are even larger’. So the other travellers, who could not get rooms, probably pitched their tents in the open court of the caravansarai. The other types of structures for travellers were bridges to facilitate crossing rivulets, baolis or stepwells for supplying drinking water, and kos-minars, the medieval equivalents of modern milestones.

The love of Mughal emperors for fabulous gardens is too well known. Wherever they went, they laid out superb gardens. They also planted at least eight gardens within the present state of Punjab. Unfortunately, only one of them — the Aam Khas Bagh, Sirhind — has survived. This garden is unique from another point of view. Whereas all other Mughal gardens were planned and laid out by single patrons, this garden was laid out by Sultan Hafiz Rakhna, the karori (a revenue official) of Sirhind, during the reign of Akbar but added to later on by Jahangir, and Shah Jahan too. The original garden complex was much larger. Merely a section of it is extant now.

Out of about 12 dozen of these medieval monuments, only two dozen have been declared protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, which takes care only of the built heritage of national significance. The lesser monuments are to be looked after the state departments of archaeology. Only a dozen of these monuments appear in the list of ‘Protected Monuments’ of the department. But more than a hundred monuments still stand unprotected. It will be criminal to allow these footprints of history of the region to disappear due to the negligence of the government.

— The writer is author of the recently released book Islamic Architecture of Punjab 1206-1707