Building Stories - 1

Observations during the visit to Mandvi ni Pol:

Board saying 'Mandvini Pol'

We reached Astodia Chakla. A blue board with ‘Mandvi ni Pol’ written in white gujrati letters marked the south entry. We walked through it to be greeted by the familiar honks of scooter and autos and the stares of local men, towards Manek Chowk.  The most striking feature are the windows arranged one after the other throughout the building façade. While most windows are made of wood, some showcase stained glass. Most windows are designed like half-doors, where every window shutter is divided horizontally in half so that the bottom can remain closed when the top is open. In one particular building on the main road, the windows can be seen to have 2 sets of shutters – one of glass panels, that opens to the outside and the other of wood, that opens to the inside.

Double thola doors are fitted together by metal clamps and hinges and locked by lateral metal rods. The first floor and balconies protruded further out to the street by about a metre from their ground floors. Most are supported on wooden joists and brackets, and some on metal ‘I’ sections.  Balconies have elaborately designed balustrades and grills made of metal. Almost all houses have been roofed in corrugated metal sheet. Many pols and kanchos branch out from either side of the main Mandvi ni pol street. Most pols have a designated gateway, announcing the name of the pol. Even where this is absent, AMC has put up boards at the entry to every pol, declaring the name in English and Gujarati.

Adjoining buildings share a common wall, so that all of them actually seem to be one huge building, with varying heights, widths and façades. Surprisingly, adjacent buildings are usually not from the same period or in the same style. In some buildings, metal brackets are spotted supporting the first floor or balconies. In very few cases, plain wooden brackets are seen. Most buildings have wooden columns and heavily ornamented wooden brackets as supporting structures. The ornamentation with human figures and faces are seen throughout the pol.

 

The materials used for construction can be determined for some buildings whose plaster has cracked or fallen off. Some buildings on the main street are made with the timber-bonding technique, made with layers of bricks and timber. Some buildings have been faced in stone to imitate colonial architecture. Staircases are steep, made of wooden planks. Bright blue paint is occasionally seen  on columns and walls. Many structures are in dilapidated condition. Abandoned houses have weeds creeping onto it.

Many religious shrines – from just a photo of a deity to full-fledged temples – are scattered all over the place. Very few trees can be seen in the area. Peepal trees are considered sacred and are worshiped as tree-shrines. The biggest peepal tree, near Devni Seri, is jammed between two buildings. It’s root can be seen almost a metre above the ground. Some flower garlands, an image of the kali goddess and some left over red of ‘kumkum’ and yellow of turmuric suggest it is a mini tree-shrine. In Lalabhaini pol, a younger peepal tree in the centre of an open ground is worshipped more extensively, along with a fully functional shrine next to it, devoted to the Peepal Ishwar Mahadev. A statue of Shiva and Parvathi made in ghee is also showcased here.

While the ground floor of many buildings have been renovated or transformed for various businesses, the floors above remain largely unchanged.  Predominantly, the shops sold vessels of stainless steel and other alloys. Few tea shops and barber shops could be seen. Two women could be seen separating the metal from electronic waste in front of a scrap shop.

All this while, people move about, engrossed in their daily activities. Many men laze in their shops, observing passers-by. As evening approaches, people can be seen on the balconies and at windows, watching the scene below, drinking tea or putting clothes to dry.

In conversation with the CEPT Conservation 2^nd year PG students:

Before visiting the site, we met up with the conservation students who are documenting Mandivi ni Pol, from which we got an overall view about the Pol. Mandvi ni is an assemblage of around 20 ‘pol’s, ‘kancho’s and ‘seri’s. The pols nearer to Manek Chowk seems to be relatively older than the ones on the outer periphery of the walled city. Each pol initially belonged to a certain caste or community, but the lack of development of infrastructure and limited space has driven many families to move to other parts of the city. Majority of the current residents are either from the older generation, or immigrants – particularly Marathis who have moved in from Rajasthan. Though pols were separated, secret doorways connected different pols that assisted in escape during war. Overtime, demolished buildings have created urban voids and connections which did not exist before. A new road – naya rasta- was also created through the pols, probably to decongest the traffic. The ‘tankas’ – rainwater harvesting tanks – were an essential part of every house. The water harvested in tankas under the courtyard of the house was used during the dry seasons for domestic purposes. After the laying of underground sewer lines by the British, sewage water started to seep into these tankas, polluting them and making them unusable. Once the AMC laid pipelines to carry water to the houses, water was always available and tankas became unnecessary. Almost all tankas have been sealed off since then.

In conversation with a resident of Lalabhaini pol:

The shivaling of Peepal Ishwar Mahadev temple is believed to have emerged from the earth – ‘swayambu’ – under the Peepal tree. It is believed to be about 50-80years old. The shivaling was worshipped under the tree for a few years, after which it was shifted to the shrine constructed beside it. The tree is still worshipped and the ground in which it is situated sees one of the largest religious gatherings within the pol during festival time.

In conversation with a shopkeeper near Devi Seri:

The peepal tree [jammed between two buildings] is more than 800years old. The land near this was about 7ft above the present road level, and the shiva temple nearby was almost 12ft below. When the roads were laid, some land was cut and filled to level the area, resulting in the roots of the tree being exposed.

In conversation with the poojari of the shrine at Devi Seri:

(The shrine was actually almost 7ft below the ground) “The Sabarmati river* used to flow north of Manek Chowk. So this particular shrine was sort of on the banks of the river, approached by steps. Usually when people die, their bodies are burned and ashes are drowned in the river ceremoniously by their family members. For those without any family, the ceremonies cannot be performed as it can be done only by the family members. The tekra (higher ground) which is now Manek Chowk, was used as a burial ground for such people. At those times, shiv-manthir used to be constructed near such places as he is the God of destruction and death. This shrine is one such place, more than 700-800 years old (based on the fact that the statue of ‘nandi’-cow- and of the tortoise are within the shrine, contradictory to the later trends). Now in kaliyug, it is constructed everywhere. This shivling is also considered to be ‘swayambu’.The shrine has undergone many modifications through the years. It is  believed that, during the reign of Mughals, the temple was destroyed and the stone pillars were taken away. But on trying to destroy the shivling, it bled where the sword struck the stone, and so the shrine was allowed to remain. Some parts of the temple were reconstructed, but in a mix of Hindu and Mughal style. Around 100-200 years ago, the interiors of the shrine was faced by marble (based on the blackening of marble). The ceremonial water that is poured over the deity flows into the ground underneath and from there to the ‘kharkuva’ (Primitive soak pits- Toilet waste was directed to a kharkuva which was filled with salt. The water filtered down through the soil while the solid waste turned to manure). The peepal tree nearby [jammed between two buildings] is very old. The peepal tree which cannot be circumambulated should not be worshiped. But some people still do worship that tree. There is another tree within one of the pols [Lalabhai ni Pol]. It is relatively new. It is actually an outgrowth of the older tree [Peepal trees’ roots run very deep and very wide].

*Actually just a tributary of Sabarmati. It eventually dried up.

Reflection:

The pol gateways, small entrances to kanchos and the boards put up by the AMC always gave me a sense of ‘framing’ the view beyond. The apparent inconsistency in the size of doors and windows are quite confusing. The lack of any sort of continuity in facades or gradation in the age of pols from one end of Mandvi ni Pol to another may suggest that the growth was very organic (new houses the filled in the gaps) or also that some houses were renovated or reconstructed at various points in history. Large amount of human figure ornamentation on brackets and beams suggest these buildings belong to the late 17^th- early 19^th century, i.e, 150-250 years old. This was typical of the Hindu-Jain style of ornamentation. The colonial influence can be clearly visible on the facades of structures almost mid-way into Mandvini Pol, adorned by fluted columns with capitols.

Some possibilities to the predominance of blue paint I think worth considering are: it was associated with Lord Shiva and the Brahmins painted their houses blue to show superiority; the paint could be mixed with limestone and copper sulphate to keep termites away, which imparts the blue colour; or the availability of indigo dye from Rajasthan made the colour economical.

Religion, traditions, customs and myths are a prominent part of the lives of the people in the pol. Many legends are passed on from one generation to another. But insufficient maintenance and high rates of migration and immigration are leading to the deterioration of the memory of the place.

200 years back, with limited technology, there was no water shortage during dry seasons, thanks to well thought of systems for rainwater harvesting and drainage. Now, there are floods during the rainy season and draughts during the dry season. Even while the newer parts of the city ware drowning in the water from rains, water rarely clogged up inside the kanchos and seris. We should learn a thing or two from the natural techniques they used to keep the water in tankas fit for use (copper pipes and lime mortar lining) and revive these tankas, and if possible, revive the lost culture of rainwater harvesting all-together.