Pindi’s architectural heritage - part 1: History in a shambles
It is a tolerable summer morning in Pindi. Aziz Khan, a professor from the Saddar area, in this chaotic urban centre, guides The Express Tribune through Pindi’s incredibly intricate but decorative architectural work amid a warren of narrow streets.
His nostalgically-delivered introductory statement on the subject is marvellous. “Name a place — Babu Bazaar, Bazazaan Gali, Bara Bazaar, Prem Gali, Kabari Bazaar, Namakmandi, Bhosa Mandi or Dharampura Road — and you will find an abundance of historic buildings there.”
The fact that Rawalpindi boasts a plethora of historic buildings, both religious and secular in nature, should come as no surprise to anyone, according to the professor. Temples, shrines, churches, rest houses, compounds, markets and schools with structural designs dating from the 1850s are showcases of the fine skill of designers and architects of that era.
“These buildings are known for the figurines that adorn their façades and walls. Nearly all the walls of these buildings are covered with exquisite carvings that narrate stories of Vishnu’s incarnations, the adventures of Hanuman the Monkey King and other Hindu beliefs based on the theme of sacred animals like elephants, snakes, peacocks, deer and parrots,” Khan adds.
Explaining further, he says: “Multitudes of carved imagery, sculpted images of deities and pictures from mythology decorate them. Panels, niches and friezes contain images of men and women in all conceivable postures including nagas (mythical multi-headed cobras that protect sacred places) representations of Hindu gods. The gods can often be identified by attributes — Vishnu with a conch and Shiva with a trident — or by their mounts, as Durga usually rides a lion while Ganesh has a mouse.”
There are dozens of buildings built between 1850 and 1920 in the Cantonment area alone. All the buildings have arch-type facades with round pillars and also have elevated floor on both sides of the main entrance especially built to place goods that visitors have brought, thus making the buildings culturally relevant.
The facades also have recesses on both sides to keep a candle for night visitors. Most of the buildings have loped roofs and slats for windows so that rainwater doesn’t collect there, according to Professor Aziz.
Delineating further upon the subject, he describes the buildings as being “made from slender bricks, coloured glass and timber, reflecting the traditional building style. As public architecture is supposed to identify and solve practical problems of human interaction in the built environment, therefore, these buildings have viewing decks on the upper floors which were probably built as lookout posts. On the rooftops, big bowls are set up to store water for birds.”
While arriving at the Sanatan Dharam School building, Mangat Ram Agarwal building, Sahni and Sohan building, which are adorned on the outside with carvings of Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, Aziz Khan says, “The buildings’ architecture combines harmony and symmetry with a high degree of outer adornment.
“Elements are designed to have correct proportions and exert a positive influence on their surroundings. What makes the architecture so beautiful as a whole is the way small details harmonise and mix with the massive architecture.”
Close to Ahata Shamsabad exist the remnants of Kali Baari (a Hindu deity), where once stood an elevated platform. It contained many rooms, including one where Kali Baari was kept and brought outside on the occasion of Vijayadashami/ Dasara and Diwali, and a black goat used to be sacrificed before the deity.
It also had an altar where prasad (offerings) were left, and a sacred pool and tanks filled with water. Water is regarded as important element in making the mandir (temple) attractive for deities.
Then there is the Thapar Asharam in old Babu Bazaar, which was built nine decades ago. It features a unique architectural style and fashionable wooden balconies with intricately designed motifs. Unfortunately, its exterior adornments and beautiful paintings on the interior walls are not in good health. A trader has purchased it now and is using it as storehouse.
Like much of Pindi’s history, it too “may be demolished any time,” Aziz expressed.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2012.
COMMENTS (30)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1725443747-0/Untitled-design-(5)1725443747-0-165x106.webp "article")
1731570357-0/elon-musk-(1)1731570357-0-270x192.webp "musk met iran un envoy on defusing tension under trump nyt")
Pindi’'s heritage like Multan’s have been poorly maintained & none of the civic or government agencies has made even the minimum efforts to protect them. Most of our countrymen don’t frequent historical places and even don’t feel proud in having them. As my in-laws live in Pindi I have seen many beautiful railway buildings near Pindi railway station, where officers used to stay, deteriorating. Many have been trespassed upon by traders. Pindi's railway station itself is a historical place like many other railway stations in the country.
The article is a blessing in disguise for some guys in the concerned departments to spend millions of rupees in the name of Pindi’s heritage protection.
The benefits of having a heritage property can be seen in the intangible benefits such character homes lend to the city. Adding to that stock hopefully will make good sense for the city.
It is hard to believe that a trader is actually considering demolishing Thapar Aasram that has been part of our local heritage for more than 100 years.
Pindi's many attractions are its heritage homes and buildings. Heritage, if painstakingly restored, can give the city a charm and sense of identity lacking in the sprawling modern suburbs. Therefore, the review of its heritage protection will be a welcome move. Even individual properties dotted around the city should also be identified as worth protecting, with affected owners getting money in return.
Atia Khanum got married to my nephew, Gul Khan who also worked in military accounts department. Both have nostalgia for history and now live in Peshawar.
Atia was my neighbor. She married a Pathan boy. My father and her dad were friends. I still remember an elephant in Hathi Chowk near Ahata Khazaan Chand, which no longer exists. One of our classmates Nusrat Shamim lived near Mangat Ram Agarwal building in a house now occupied by a Haji Qurbaan, perhaps that had beautiful decorative architectural carvings on both sides of the main door. Individual monuments, building complexes, historic centers of Pindi are not documented. They are abandoned and falling apart. Will dreamers from the West come to their rescue?
Lots of memories invade mind when I go through this article. Babu Bazaar was once an abode of my father, who worked in military accounts department then. People used to call my father Babu as well. All the Bengalis living in houses belonging to Khazaan Chand were employees of that department and locals called all of them Babus, hence the name Babu Bazaar.
Pearls of Pind's architecture instead of being renovated are being ignored. I lament this behavior. The characteristic features of the town, such as the labyrinth of narrow streets, congested buildings and tiny courtyards with architectural decorations are rare example of historic ensemble with influence from Muslim, Greek, Hindu, Sikh cultures. Many buildings on Dharampura Road, Namak Mandi, and Bhosa Mundi inhabited by poor refugees are in need of repair but nobody cares.
Pindi's architectural history is rich and diverse. The city is losing its identity and the wave of modernism is slowly eating up its heritage because the general public is not much aware of the value of historic monuments, old buildings and sites of special interest. Heritage protection should becaoe an important aspect of urban planning and development. Historic buildings with architectural decorations are in a poor state of repair following decades of neglect. It's up to the government to maintain and repair these historic but run down buildings. Many public buildings and private houses are awaiting rescue from dilapidation. Owners/supervisors of historic properties must be made to undertake the duty of preserving and maintaining them in coordination with the concerned government departments. A perplexed look crosses our face as we gaze at the layers of dilapidation The attempt by your esteemed newspaper is a good move to remind the government of its duty and to awaken the passion of local people in their cultural heritage.
Very interesting article as far as I am concerned, since I have seen those days. Ahata Khazan Chand in Babu Bazaar was a marvelous place once. Khazan Chand was a flourishing businessman and all the area from the one end to the other end of Babu Bazaar was his personal property. Babu Bazaar then throughout had hanging oil candles to provide light to the night visitors.Babu Bazaar was named after Bengali Babus who served British army then and lived there. Just near Thapar Aashram was another building which always aroused my cultural curiosity with beautiful decorations both in front and the rear, It is now occupied by a family from Karachi. Kaali Baari premises have undergone complete change and nearby Ahata Shamsabad is not recognizable at all now as it has lost its original shape except the facade. Massey Gate and Jain Public Library are no more visible.
Preservation of heritage of Pindi or any city is very important. Heritage is a lot more than the tangible thing. The tales associated with the heritage buildings need to be talked about to prevent the city heritage from total disappearance. Your newspaper is doing an admirable thing in this regard. I would like to see more on this topic.
It’s very unfortunate that historic characters of many buildings in Pindi have not been retained and preserved. The removal of historic materials or alteration of features and spaces that characterize these buildings should have been avoided as each building is a physical record of its time, place and use as is the office of the administrator of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board or the office of the Principal of Govt. Dennys Higher Secondary School.
Old buildings help us understand who we are, where we came from, and what is the legacy that shapes us, therefore, these must be preserved. Those in bad condition must be returned a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural and cultural values.
The past is all around us and everyone has a history. Everyone has grown up with heritage although its significance may not have been appreciated. Heritage cannot be defined by its age, and its value cannot be determined in numerical terms. How one interprets heritage value is based on one’s cultural roots.
“To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as our train was in it." (Quote)
It’s a good attempt to alert society and the governmental bodies to the need to preserve historical heritage and its importance to society's health and well-being.
The value of heritage preservation to a community’s social fabric far exceeds the financial benefits to the community. Unfortunately, the governments are influenced by financial factors and very little, if any, on social benefits when determining funding to heritage preservation. There is very little information on the social values of preserving heritage. Consequently the nation’s governing bodies have misdirected perceptions of the importance of historical heritage preservation. What are heritage preservation professionals doing to reverse these attitudes?
I agree 100% with Sajida Batool. Preservation of heritage has a significant role to social well-being and has the potential to develop a single harmonious culture in a multiethnic society. The significance of heritage is underestimated in today’s society and in a world of rapid change. Without intervention much heritage will be discarded to make way for the new world.Historical heritage can generally be described as items of emotional significance that are passed on from one generation to the next
The loss of heritage has the potential to destroy cultural pillars of stability and lead to greater mental and physical disease in society. Technology is making the modern world shrink, bringing cultures closer together. In a harmonious single national culture, ethnic societies living side by side are required to respect differences and understand similarities. Preservation of diverse and multi-ethnic heritage has the potential to develop a single cultural heritage through acceptance of, respect for and understanding of others’ heritage.
Sadly, while society is being increasingly informed of improved health standards and so is being done in other fields, much of society knows very little about developments which have taken place in preserving heritage or even why there is a need to be preserving our heritage. Lahore's heritage is also collapsing under the pressure of modernity. The preservation of this irreplaceable heritage is in the public interest so that its vital legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational and economic benefits can be maintained and enriched for future generations. Heritage is what we inherit, and more specifically what we retain.
These buildings sure are a great reminder of old times. In Karachi too such relics are thinning out. Let's realize the significance of such decorative historical buildings and preserve them. They have become part of my psyche as I was born and brought up there. They are part and parcel of my childhood.
The presence of the historical past in Pindi resonates in crumbling old architecture which represents various outlooks the desire to banish the past with its stories of murder and arson at Partition, the greedy grabbing of evacuee property by the local Muslims, ignorance about the cultural heritage of the city by official quarters, and the usual apathy of the common citizen. Whatever the reason, let's bury the hatchet and restore old glory of the city. After all "Everything Pindi" belongs to the Pindiites.First we are Pindiites and then everything else.
Living here I am painfully conscious of the state of disrepair and dereliction that afflicts old residential and other buildings in Rawalpindi. Beloved Pindi's monuments are being destroyed.Please put a stop to it.
All these buildings attract public attention because they stand right before the eyes of the people who look at them every day and maybe give a few seconds of their thoughts to their future, their utility, their decay, their features undergoing obliteration. Those who look at them say to themselves, I wonder how long that thing is going to last.
Although these buildings are never more than a 150 years in age and do not constitute antiquities. But one aspect of modern enlightenment is that these structures have come to acquire a place in our cultural consciousness. They remind us of a happy or even unhappy past,and hence the belief that they should be allowed to stand.
In modern times, the feeling for culture has given a moral right to preservationists and pressure groups to interfere and prevent the destruction of private buildings that have acquired a historical value over the decades. These buildings should be declared historical monuments and renovated for culture lovers worldwide. This piece of writing should serve as a reminder to the concerned authorities.
Yes. All this architecture is part of our history and we must try to save it. "Choro Sahib, It's a 'kaath kabaar.' What we have to do with it. I am going to demolish it soon and build a plaza here." was the prompt answer by the man who has purchased the building of Thakar Aashram. This statement reflects the lethargic attitude of our archaeology department as well. If Muslim buildings in India form part of Indian heritage, why can't the Hindu, Christian and Sikh buildings can't form part of Pakistani heritage? It's amazing why such buildings are being sold by its possessors and why the concerned department has allowed someone to sell it out? Buildings with decorative architectural work must be preserved and not permitted to be misused. A shop keeper in Babu Bazaar told me that the son of the original owner of Thakar Aasram was in Pindi a few months ago to see the condition of the building.
We must do something to save our heritage