The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has begun the groundwork to pitch Mysuru as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both Jaipur and Ahmedabad have been certified as world heritage sites and INTACH is confident that Mysuru will qualify for the UNESCO certification as it has a history of art, culture, and architecture that have evolved over the last few centuries. However, the process is elaborate and could take years to even reach the nomination stage as the number of monuments from India under the ‘tentative list’ is long. “But the preliminary ground work pertaining to collection of documents to establish the historicity of Mysuru, apart from highlighting its claim as a centre for culture has commenced,” said N.S. Rangaraju, convener, Mysuru chapter of INTACH. He said this is one of the long-term objectives of INTACH, Mysuru chapter, as it shares a lot of similarities with Jaipur which was certified by UNESCO as a world heritage city last year. Jaipur was recognised for its history of city planning and construction. The same is true of Mysuru which took the lead in establishing an urban planning body in the City Improvement Trust Board in 1904.

Amalgam of styles

Besides, art historians have described Mysuru as an amalgam of different architectural styles as evident in the presence of nearly 250 buildings that have been identified as heritage structures and many of them have been converted to public offices. If successful, it will help conserve heritage buildings which are on the verge of being dismantled and demolished by realtors, said Prof. Rangaraju. Structures apart, the city continues to be synonymous with culture and traditions and this is also one of the criteria prescribed for recognition as a world heritage centre. Mysuru satisfies the UNESCO criteria that a city or a region should be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. “It is not the wealth of built structures of different styles alone but traditions and practices of which Dasara is just one example,” Prof. Rangaraju added. The city and the region has an unbroken history of encouraging art and culture since historical times and these traditions including folk arts continue to be a part of the live heritage of the people of the region, he said. INTACH Mysuru will rope in subject experts, including specialists who have worked for the Ahmedabad project, to prepare the documentation. “We would have covered sufficient grounds if not for the pandemic and will take up work once there is a semblance of normalcy,” he said.

Gosagareswara Temple In Dire Straits

Local legend has it that Lord Shiva once inadvertently killed a calf for which he did great penance. One of the acts of repentance was taking a bath in the Gosagareswara Pond. Even today, people who have accidently killed a cow or let it die while in tether; take a ritualistic bath here to cleanse themselves from the sin. Just 200 meters from the Vaital Temple and around 800 metres west of the Lingaraj Temple, this pond and the adjoining temples have been a sacred spot for locals, even Lord Lingaraj comes calling during the Durga Puja celebrations.Bhubaneswar 16th Oct : Local legend has it that Lord Shiva once inadvertently killed a calf for which he did great penance. One of the acts of repentance was taking a bath in the Gosagareswara Pond. Even today, people who have accidently killed a cow or let it die while in tether; take a ritualistic bath here to cleanse themselves from the sin. Just 200 meters from the Vaital Temple and around 800 metres west of the Lingaraj Temple, this pond and the adjoining temples have been a sacred spot for locals, even Lord Lingaraj comes calling during the Durga Puja celebrations. The Pond predates the adjoining set of temples; it has been assigned to the 13th Century C.E, the period of the Later Gangas. It is fed by a natural underground spring and the overflow was discharged into the Bindu Sagar through a channel on the north-eastern corner. For centuries, the water level in the tank remained constant, the inflow and outflow being maintained. Sheer lack of maintenance and bad planning have today rendered the sacred pond into a cesspool of stagnant water. The exit channel has been blocked since the last few years; the water level has risen and enters the temple complex during the entire monsoon months. The Gosagareswara complex consists of eleven temples dedicated to various divinities. While the presiding deity is Lord Shiva, the other temples which include the Isaneswara, Narashimha, Paradesvara and the Sanisvara Temples too have Shivalings in them. Three temples are abandoned and a large Mandap of a later period too exists. The constant accumulation of water in the tank submerges the base of the main temple and is rendering the foundation weak and many cracks have developed. Water seeps into the Garbhagriha of nearly all the temples in the complex. Constant water logging has resulted in a high ground water level; the mandap can be seen leaning to one side. The water in the pond is highly polluted with micro hydrophytic organisms floating on the surface. Many of the locals who used the tank for their daily baths have stopped using it. Earlier it was also a source of drinking water. Even the dug well inside the complex is now contaminated due to the high ground waterline. The temple was last repaired by the State Archaeology Department in 1999, a compound wall that was made which has stopped the natural flow of water. Presently, the temple keepers are pumping out the water at regular intervals, but it is hardly effective. The locals have intimidated the authorities many times, but to no avail. If immediate measures are not undertaken, much damage will happen to the temples as the foundations will be severely affected. Prafulla Swain, the Secretary of Maa Jageswari Youth Association says that they undertook cleaning of the accumulated sludge in the tank many times, but if permanent corrective measures are not taken, a lot of damage may happen. He pointed out the widening cracks on the temple sides. Anil Dhir, the project Co-ordinator of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is of the opinion that nearly all the holy tanks of the Old Town are all in a very advanced state of disrepair and neglect. The Ganga-Yamuna, the Bada Kua and Kapila Kunda of Kapileswar, Manikarnika, Kukutesvara, the tanks in the Kedar Gouri and Mukteswar Complex, Kotitirtha, Papanasini, Sunderesvara, Yamesvara, Mahabhoisasan and the Godavari tank are all in an advanced of decay and need immediate attention. They have floating garbage, plastics and household waste dumped. Many of them are not being used anymore. According to noted environmentalist Dr. Biswajit Mohanty, rampant digging of bore wells has rendered many of the natural springs dry. In some areas, the locals have formed Sahi committees and stopped the sinking of new bore wells. Mohanty says that the local clubs can be roped in for voluntary kar-seva to clean and de-silt these water bodies. The Gosagareswara tank repairs should be immediately undertaken as all the temples in the complex are at risk.

https://orissadiary.com/gosagareswara-temple-in-dire-straits/, October 16, 2020

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Ambala Chapter, under Convenor Colonel RD Singh had conducted a National Heritage Painting Competition in December last year. It had a record participation of 151 students from 22 schools. The theme of the competition was ‘Gandhi at 150’. There were over 12,000 entries from around the nation which were assessed at Delhi by an expert team from the INTACH, Delhi Head Office. Two children from Ambala — Meenal Jain, a Class VII student of Convent of Sacred Heart and Yash Patti, a Class VIII student of SD Vidya School — were declared regional winners, among the Top 105 students. Colonel RD Singh presented trophies and certificates to these children on Monday. Meenal Jain had also won the second prize in the online inter-school heritage quiz held by the Ambala Chapter.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/foreign-language-course-at-mdu-155525, October 14, 2020

The collapse of Majnu Burj in the Naya Qila area of Golconda Fort late Friday has sparked a row over the secrecy maintained over the incident. Both the ASI and Hyderabad Golf Club, abutting the structure, kept a guarded silence over the incident till images floated on social media platforms days later. Speaking to TOI, ASI officials said they knew of the damage the burj or bastion had sustained due to the rains. “We have been asked not to speak about it. Owing to the rain in September, there was a crack that had developed and a slight bulge which needed remedial measures. On October 2, we approached Delhi headquarters for permission for restoration work, but the burj collapsed before anything could be done,” said an official. The burj comes under ASI’s protection, but controversy mires it. Approval for the construction of a golf course at Naya Qila, which houses the burj, was given by the ASI in-principle 2011. As a result, experts say, a water pipeline was laid near the structure, debris dumped, and blasting work carried out all with heavy machinery over the years resulting in the collapse. “We want the MOU with the Hyderabad Golf Association to be cancelled. There is no transparency regarding the condition of heritage structures,” said Mohammed Afzal, part of a group called Heritage Watch. He added that outsiders were seldom let in by club guards even though the structure is open to the public. INTACH convenor Anuradha Reddy said she too had been stopped at the gate. “The structures are part of a monument under the ASI. No other authority can be entrusted with it,” she said. Reddy added that if this was the fate of a centrally-protected monument, one can only imagine the fate of others. Authorities from the Hyderabad Golf Association vehemently refuted all allegations. BVK Raju, secretary of the Golf Club, said, “The burj in no way falls in our premises. There is a separate way for people to enter. The incident occurred only due to the heavy rains.”

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/hyderabad-majnu-burj-of-golconda-forte-collapses-amid-heavy-rains-asi-golf-club-keep-mum/articleshow/78641920.cms, October 13, 2020

The clock perched at the top of the senate hall building in the arts faculty of the university resembles the famous Big Ben of London. Efforts are on to get the iconic tower-clock located atop the senate hall building in Allahabad University’s arts campus ticking again. The clock, which resembles the Big Ben of London, has been dead for nearly two decades. Now the building works committee of the central university has approved a proposal worth Rs 1 crore to get the clock repaired and back in working condition. The task of repairing this iconic clock would be given to the Indian national trust for art and cultural heritage (INTACH) based in Delhi, which will get it repaired by an expert agency, said AU officials. AU registrar, NK Shukla said, “The building committee has approved the proposal, which, when passed by finance committee and executive council, would be sent to INTACH for getting the clock repaired by an expert agency.” The clock, manufactured by JG Bechtler Son & Company, Allahabad was installed atop the senate hall building in 1912. When it stopped working in 1999, an expert from the local Katra market, Mustaffa Bhai, repaired it. But, after a few years, the clock again stopped working. In 2012, Prof CK Dwivedi and his team from JK institute of applied physics had successfully replaced the mechanical parts of the clock, converting it into a single-chip computer including a microprocessor, input-output interface, timing circuit etc. The main machinery was fitted with new gears and micro-motors which were systematically upgraded so that the time piece would give accurate time. Quartz crystal, widely used in time pieces for giving accurate frequency in clocks, was also fitted in the repaired clock. Later, the varsity authorities also gave it a facelift by covering its four sides with polycarbonate sheets, replacing the old glass sheets and there were further plans to add LED lights to all the four sides apart from cleaning of the huge bells and to revive the system of hourly, half-hourly and quarterly ringing of bells as it used to be in its prime form.However, despite all the efforts, the clock failed to function. The recent initiative by the officiating vice-chancellor Prof RR Tiwari has lent a ray of hope that the clock may start ticking once again.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/dead-for-20-yrs-allahabad-varsity-wants-108-yr-old-clock-to-tick-again/story-uT7LJPpjOrEJTYkfxn90EM.html, October 11, 2020

After two years of sustained effort, the 114-year-old Fort High School in the historical core of Bengaluru stands transformed. The restoration undertaken by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has refurbished the iconic structure in a style that is a throwback to the city’s old-world charm. Awash in bright red paint, standing on a two-acre plot, this was the first school started by the Maharaja of Mysore for the general public. In its heyday, the school was the only institution that provided publicly-funded education for all, with umpteen batches of students walking out of its hallowed portals to serve the State faithfully. The school’s foundation was laid in 1907 and the building that came up had a blend of elements from both colonial and vernacular architectural styles. Located close to Chamrajpet, the first planned urban colony built in Bengaluru in 1892, the Fort High School had a broad platform and verandahs in front, besides the large forecourt. The octagonal projecting bays and ornamented roman arches showed the colonial influence, while the central courtyard and slanted roofs resting over stone or wooden pillars are characteristic of regional architecture. The structure mainly used conventional materials like bricks, lime, sand, mortar and jaggery. Concrete had not yet made its foray into construction in a major way. While roofs were covered with terracotta Mangalore tiles, Kota stones were used for the flooring. What makes the Fort High School stand out is the use of the ‘Polonceau Truss’ (a web of triangles commonly used to support bridges and roofs) to support the huge tiled roof covering the central hall. Developed by French engineer Camille Polonceau, the truss had just been introduced in architecture across Europe in the 19th century; the truss used here seem to have been imported from England. More than a century later, the structure remains robust. However, water seepage through the roof, vast patches of withered plaster, plants (even trees) sprouting from crevices and termite ridden beams had imparted it a dilapidated look. Several window panels and planks were missing, while most of the teak wood beams and rafters were still in good condition. A six-foot deep cut excavated along the plinth to check the foundation revealed that the structure was firmly footed. Extensive restoration The restoration work involved plastering around 6,500 sq metres of wall and replacing nearly 60 per cent of the stone flooring — 3,000 sq metres — with the same material originally used.Supervisor A G Naiker says the gummy pulp of bael fruit sourced from villages in surrounding districts was also mixed with the mortar for plastering, to maintain the authenticity of the restoration work. The missing door and window panels were replaced and varnished afresh. Removing a termiteinfested 23-foot teak wood beam was a challenge, as a replacement of the same dimension was not available; the carpenters had to assemble a similar beam. Nearly a quarter of Mangalore tiles of the roof, which were replaced, were ordered from Kolar. While stone pillars were lightly chiselled for a new look, some of the wooden pillars in the first floor had to be replaced. According to site architect Divya, on an average seven to eight masons, 20 workers, around 10 carpenters, two electricians and four supervisors formed the restoration team. Pankaj Modi, a conservation architect and project coordinator working for INTACH, says the edifice could survive for another century, provided due care is taken to maintain the historic building.

https://www.deccanherald.com/spectrum/a-century-old-school-is-brought-back-to-life-899948.html, October 10, 2020

In a chat with TNM, Anuradha talks about her association with INTACH, her fluency in 10 languages, why Hyderabad doesn’t have a heritage tag, and more. You name a heritage structure in Hyderabad, she has its history on the tip of her tongue. You go to a heritage event in the city, she is there, actively speaking about the occasion and patiently clarifying doubts. Anuradha Reddy, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) convenor for the Hyderabad chapter, has been a history enthusiast since her childhood. For more than five decades, she has been travelling extensively and actively exploring heritage sites within and outside India. TNM caught up with Anuradha even as she is busy amid field work in Hyderabad. Here are some excerpts:

How and when did you get fascinated with heritage structures?
We all grow up in the midst of heritage, whether it’s built heritage or other forms of cultural heritage like art, music and dance. I grew up with grandmothers from both paternal and maternal sides. Ours was a household that consisted of many residents, and also visitors who brought with them different cultures and stories. We shared the lives of so many people through these experiences. Everyone should be aware that, directly or indirectly, they are also part of heritage. My exposure to travel was also more because of my father, Chilam Sree Ram Bhoopal, who was in the Hyderabad civil service, which became IAS after 1966. My mother, Sneha Latha Bhoopal, had a wide interest in culture, history, photography, badminton, which also exposed me to wide travel within India. This was the base for how my interest in our culture developed.

How did your association with INTACH start?
In the 1970s and 80s, I began to see the lack of awareness and interest in the protection of our built heritage. I became very concerned and started to look for spaces that were working in heritage protection. In 1984, after INTACH was formed at the India level, Hyderabad was the second chapter to open in the country. I immediately joined, because I found that there were interesting groups that could work together in the protection of our heritage and culture. I’m also the former president of another group called SPEQL (Society for Preservation of Environment and Quality of Life), which works with natural and built heritage and environmental protection.

Tell us about INTACH’s Zilla Khazana programme, what does it do?
We launched the Zilla Khazana programme to promote participation from local people, especially in colleges and high schools, so that students, teachers, lecturers and common citizens can learn about their surroundings and share. Simultaneously, documentation would also be built up zilla (district) wise. It is the citizens who normally should be the protectors of heritage.

What is the concept of shared heritage between neighbouring states?
Shared heritage can be between anyone – between states like Andhra and Telangana, where there are Kakatiya influences. It can be between Karnataka and Telangana, because Kakatiya monuments have common features with the Hoysala monuments seen in present day Karnataka. It can be between Delhi and Hyderabad, both in the Mughal period in the later Qutb Shahi period and the other Deccan kingdoms. We also have a shared heritage with the architecture of Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.

Further, eastwards we share heritage with Nepal, Bhutan, Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, etc., which followed the Hindu architectural styles and culture, for example Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Champa kingdom of Vietnam.
On visits to Japan and China, I saw huge influences of India in their culture and sculpture. When I visited Mexico, I found similarities between the Mayan culture and that of south India. All these need to be explored further.

Whenever a heritage structure is demolished, be it Saifabad Palace or Ameen Manzil, what are we losing?
It’s the loss of public property, public funds, and public identity. A heritage structure is formed from the history of the public of another period. Heritage structures are examples of technology, craft of the period. In many cases, neither the material nor the skills can be duplicated.

You speak 10 languages fluently. How do you perceive the Hindi imposition debate that is in the news now? Born and brought up in Hyderabad state, which is a confluence of many cultures from across India and the world, I believe language also becomes a rich and valuable cultural resource. Back then, Hyderabad state had four official state languages – Telugu, Marathi, Kannada and Urdu with English as the official working language. This came about because Hyderabad consisted of citizens from different regions who spoke these languages. It gave them a sense of identity and belonging. I learnt French also in my childhood. I took up German later on, as I found myself lost in historical places if one doesn’t know the language. To connect with the country’s history, I learnt German in Max Mueller Bhavan (today’s Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad).

Coming to the Hindi part, I’m not looking at it as an imposition, but it’s an advantage. Being in the Deccan, we’re able to understand, contribute and share with other Hindi speaking regions of the country. Every language is an additional asset and a link to an additional culture.

What is your comment on the condition of the Osmania General Hospital building? We from the INTACH team inspected the hospital in 2015 and again in 2019. During the recent torrential rains in Hyderabad, there was not a single drop of water inside the heritage building. The structure speaks for itself, it needs our protection. Despite having several heritage structures like the Charminar, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Golconda Fort and many others, Hyderabad does not have the heritage tag. What’s your take on this?

There are many aspects to getting a world heritage tag. It involves not only agencies such as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State archaeology, but it involves a huge commitment from the state government as well.
Do you think ASI is playing a good role in preserving our heritage structures? What more should they do? ASI is doing the best it can, given the circumstances, because encroachments have become a huge threat to monuments. The role of the police, local municipalities, panchayats and the revenue department is large because it is they who have to support ASI. ASI’s only role is to raise complaints, everything else lies with the rest of the agencies. The Collector of each district also has an enormous role to play in the protection of heritage sites.

How do you think the KCR government is dealing with the conservation of heritage structures? No comment.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/every-one-us-part-heritage-intach-hyderabad-convenor-anuradha-reddy-134367, October 5, 2020

The Najafgarh Jheel, the second-largest water body in the National Capital Region (NCR) after the Yamuna, is in danger of disappearing due to encroachment. At one time, the jheel (lake), which lies in Delhi and Haryana’s Gurugram district, was spread over 220 square kilometres. It was fed by the Sahibi river and flood waters from Gurugram, Rewari, Jhajjar districts and northwest Delhi. From the 1860s onwards, the jheel has been systematically drained either to secure more arable lands or to mitigate floods. There is pressure from the real estate sector to reclaim the jheel land for construction. The jheel today measures a mere seven square kilometres.  Almost 85 per cent of the world’s wetlands have disappeared owing to anthropogenic pressures. Without immediate intervention, the Najafgarh jheel too will join this ignominious list.

Two narratives
As one moves around the jheel, two narratives are evident. The Delhi side, separated by an embankment for the most part, has been earmarked in the Delhi Master Plan. No largescale construction activity is permitted in this zone. However, on the Haryana side of the jheel, an altogether different story emerges. Globally, no construction activity is permitted within the High Flood Level (HFL) line attained in a water body in the last 100 years. While similar views have been enunciated in the guidelines of the state environment impact assessment authority of Haryana, it omits to mention the HFL value of 212.5 metres above mean sea level (mamsl) for the jheel, as recorded by the department of irrigation and flood control of Delhi. This omission enables project proponents to affirm compliance to this clause in letter, without adhering to it in spirit.

According to Manu Bhatnagar, principal director, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage or INTACH, this line should have been taken into account to create a ‘no construction zone’ within the HFL. If the HFL line is overlaid on the 2031 Master Plan of Gurgaon, it cuts across sectors 101,102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115. Barring four sectors (sectors 101, 107, 114 and 115), the remaining are either already built upon or construction is underway. I inquired at one of the residential societies located near the jheel only to find that their basements were fitted with de-watering pumps to eject flood waters.

This implies that developers are situating their projects within the HFL of the jheel despite being aware of the risk of flooding. After the recent spell of rains in August 2020, a spate of complaints of seepage and flooding of basements in the residential projects in Gurugram near the Najafgarh jheel were received. Acting on these complaints, the Department of Town and Country Planning of Gurugram district has decided not to give any fresh approvals to builders for projects near the Najafgarh jheel.

Shaking ground
In June 2020, an earthquake of 4.7 magnitude struck Gurugram. This was one of a series of minor and moderate temblors to have hit parts of northern India since April this year. According to some geologists, these tremors in the Delhi-NCR may be a precursor to larger earthquake(s). Both Delhi and Gurugram fall in the seismic zone IV (high damage-risk zone). The NCR is a Central planning region centered around Delhi and encompasses several districts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The highest magnitude earthquake, experienced in the NCR in a century, was measured at 5.6 on the Richter’s Scale in 1960.

Records reveal that this quake damaged some buildings in the New Delhi area. At that time, Gurugram was a village and escaped almost unscathed. According to a study by National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kurukshetra, it has been predicted that in the coming 50 years, the region maybe hit by a severe earthquake of over 6.0 magnitude on the Richter’s Scale with an 80 per cent probability of the seismograph recording a 7.0 magnitude. While earthquakes do not kill people, buildings do. In such an eventuality, both Delhi and Gurugram are bound to suffer huge losses. This is attributable to the usage of poor construction material and non-compliance to building safety codes. High rises are particularly vulnerable to collapse.

Ground as liquid
This threat of earthquake is further compounded in the vicinity of rivers or lakes. The vigorous shaking of the ground evidenced during earthquakes, when coupled with the saturated, loose, or sandy soil endemic to areas around water bodies, results in that ground turning into a slurry. The ground starts behaving like a liquid owing to a process known as liquefaction. In the NCR, apart from the Yamuna river belt, the areas adjoining Najafgarh jheel are particularly vulnerable to this process. If this unfortunate combination of events come to pass, it may result in the tilting or total collapse of buildings in the area. The aforementioned NIT Kurukshetra study was initiated in 2014 for screening of liquefiable areas in Haryana. It took into account lithology, geomorphology, depth of ground water table and seismic history for assessing liquefaction potential in Haryana. This study concluded that the district of Gurugram has been observed to be moderately susceptible to liquefaction during earthquakes.

This moderate susceptibility was primarily attributed to the deep-water table in Gurugram. However, a Central Ground Water Board report of 2012 indicates that the areas adjoining Najafgarh jheel have a shallow water table that is less than 10 metres below ground level (mbgl). The above study had posited that liquefaction is most likely to occur in areas where the ground water table lies within 10 metres of the ground surface. An interaction with villagers from Khekri Majra on the Haryana side of the jheel, revealed that depth to ground water table was just 1 mbgl in the immediate aftermath of the monsoons. Thus, it may be surmised that the areas adjoining Najafgarh jheel are more susceptible to liquefaction. This is further corroborated by the Seismic Hazard Microzonation of NCT Delhi, 2016, which reveals that a very small part of southwest Delhi where the Najafgarh jheel lies, falls in the high hazard zone marked in red on the map.

Therefore, leaning towers of Najafgarh jheel, in the event of an earthquake, is not beyond the realm of imagination. An impending disaster Given the susceptibility of the Najafgarh jheel area to liquefaction, as elaborated in the aforesaid scenario, construction in the jheel area is a big no-no. Regrettably, this threat is going unheeded. This incredible shortsightedness may yet wreak unimaginable havoc on the buildings in the area and cause incalculable damage to life and property. Even if we were to discount the probability of an earthquake, the threat of floods, subsidence, soil instability, etc cannot be ignored. Water bodies and their adjoining wetlands are excellent at purifying wastewater, recharging aquifers and harbouring biodiversity. They also act as catchment areas preventing floods. But they are almost always terrible places to build or construct. Ritu Rao is a PhD scholar at Teri School of Advanced Studies and works on urban water bodies.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/future-shock-the-leaning-towers-of-najafgarh-jheel-73688/, October 5, 2020

Once a prayer hall for Mughal emperors during their visits to Kashmir in the summer, the 300-square feet, 16th century mosque in the Khanpur mughal sarai (inn) in Budgam is a picture of forlorn neglect. The mosque of stone and lime mortar with a tiled roof, stands out despite the several new constructions coming up around it. It has the typical architectural grammar of the Mughal era, with small arched windows well placed to allow cross ventilation and the ‘Mehrab’, a semicircular niche in the wall to lead prayers. But in an ominous sign, the ancient chinar tree which stood by the mosque was cut down last month by locals. The destruction of the tree, a constant at all religious places in Kashmir, came despite the ban on the felling of the species.

"The chinar was precariously positioned and may have damaged nearby houses,” said Rasheed Ahmad, a nearby shopkeeper, justifying the axing of the ancient tree. Other local residents fear the felling of the chinar is the first sign that the mosque will be usurped, as was the mughal sarai located at Shadi Marg in Pulwama. That structure is now home to a group of families despite its once famed walls leaning and caving-in at multiple points. Saleem Beg, ex-chairman of the National Monuments Authority of India and convener INTACH, J&K has raised the alarm over the Budgam mosque. “The Archaeological Survey of India has the site already protected in 1958.

For unknown reasons, the ASI then did not include the mosque, which is about 300 square feet. The structure continues to be at the site," Mr. Beg told The Hindu. In a letter to the Budgam district administration, Mr. Beg underlined that sarais on the Mughal route in J&K always had a mosque adjacent to the main premises. “A fully grown Chinar planted during the Mughal times in the open space of the mosque delineated the mosque premises. The chinar has been felled and vandalized. This has resulted in removing the only buffer between the mosque and the private residences,” Mr. Beg said. He raised concerns that with the removal of the chinar, the open space “may be encroached taking advantage of the absence of any watch and ward or any public ownership.” “There would be an official record of the mosque and the chinar therein but there is no notice or fence at the site so that the area could be secured from encroachment,” Mr Beg said.

Calling for an inquiry into cutting down of the chinar, Mr Beg said, “The sarai is an important monument representing the Mughal heritage and a part of the cultural route known as the Mughal route."

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/shorn-of-living-mascot-600-year-old-budgam-mosque-under-threat/article32766041.ece, October 4, 2020

While some Vizagites might have come forward to construct a gate for the 2,000-year-old Buddhist heritage hilltop site of Pavuralakonda in Bheemili from their own funds, the archaeology department is yet to give the green signal for construction work to begin, a month after discussions and material selection. Construction of a gate at the foothills is expected to keep out miscreants who visit the site and litter it with trash and liquor bottles and damage archaeological remnants. Heritage narrator and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) member Jayshree Hatangadi, who has taken up the initiative to construct the gate, said, “When enquired about the delay, the archeology officials said they do not have any confirmation from the headquarters about the gate construction as yet. So they are waiting for the green signal from the headquarters."

Heritage lovers, who said they are ready to spend nearly 1 lakh for the gate and signs, plan to take out a torchlight walk at the site and urged department officials to place boulders at the foothill to prevent miscreants on bikes and in cars from riding up to the site. Assistant director of the archaeology department, Venkat Rao, told TOI, “I had sent a letter regarding the necessity of the gate construction to our headquarter around 10 days ago. Our department heads were busy with inaugural of Bapu Museum at Vijayawada and other works.

Hopefully, they will look into this issue now. Till the approval comes, I have instructed our people to gather rocks and boulders and place them at the foothill as a barricade to prevent unruly bikers and other vehicles driving up and damaging the site.” The long-neglected site of Pavuralakonda lacks a sign system explaining its archaeological significance, fencing and security staff. Remnants of the excavated Buddhist monastic complex, dating back to the 3rd and 2nd century BCE, lie covered in weeds amid viharas, staircases, rock-cut cisterns, remnants of votive stupas and a 17th century Dutch building.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/visakhapatnam/heritage-lovers-rue-inaction-on-pavuralakonda/articleshow/78506598.cms, October 4, 2020

In the years immediately following the Partition, the political decisions taken to deal with evacuated properties went a long way in establishing the relationship that India and Pakistan shared with each other. Jalil Ahmad knows Peshawar like the back of his hand. After all, he has been studying the heritage and architecture of the city for over three decades, often organising walks for tourists. But there is one mansion that has always been of particular interest, especially among film buffs, the ‘Kapoor Haveli’ at Dhaki Munawar Shah. “People love to hear stories of how a young man born in the lanes of Peshawar, went to Bombay and became such a huge name in the film industry there and across the world,” says Ahmad as he cautiously records his responses to my questions over WhatsApp, wary of the cross-border politics hovering over the conversation. The Kapoor Haveli is where the great Raj Kapoor was born.

Even in its dilapidated condition, the mansion has been occupying a special place in the heart of Peshawar. “Tourists and photographers are mesmerised by its unique wooden architecture, the lovely jharokhas (hanging balconies) and balconies,” narrates Ahmad. The Kapoor haveli also serves as the reminder of a shared history and identity between India and Pakistan, one that has remained intact despite the bloodbath of the Partition. Last month the provincial government in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa announced its decision to buy the ancestral house of the Bollywood legend, conserve it and turn it into a museum.

Apart from Kapoor Haveli, the government has also decided to take in its custody the ancestral house of another icon of Hindi cinema, Dilip Kumar, who was born in Peshawar in 1922 as Muhammad Yusuf Khan. While Kapoor’s residence was declared evacuee property in the 1960s, Kumar’s house has been lying vacant since the 1930s when his family moved to Bombay in search of better work opportunities. The move is being celebrated in Pakistan as a necessary step in chronicling the heritage of the country. But it is also indicative of the ways in which the government of Pakistan is dealing with a long-festering issue of evacuee properties, that had sprung up soon after the Radcliffe Line split the subcontinent into two countries in 1947. The words penned down by professor of international relations, Pallavi Raghavan, in her recent book, ‘Animosity at bay: An alternative history of the India Pakistan relationship’, describe most fittingly the issue that arose with what was perhaps the biggest episode of migration in the subcontinent. Memories of the Partition are inevitably tied up with the homes that were left behind. In this space, a couple of months back, oral historian Avina Kohli had penned down a deeply evocative account of her painstaking endeavour in tracing down her grandfather’s pre-Partition house at Sialkot. The enterprise revealed to her the fate of the house which is now a girls’ college and several other socio-economic aspects of ways in which the governments on both sides of the border were dealing with the problem of evacuated houses. It also underlined a most essential truth about the Partition, that the settlements made at the administrative level, did not really settle things for those who left lives behind. “Why else would their granddaughter search for her roots over five decades since?” she asks. A home left behind In the years immediately following the Partition though, the political decisions taken to deal with evacuated properties went a long way in establishing the relationship that India and Pakistan shared with each other. Historian Vazira Zamindar, in her celebrated book ‘The long Partition and the making of modern South Asia’, describes in great detail the legalities brought in place to ensure those who took flight could no longer return because their houses had come to be occupied by others. With the passage of the Evacuee Property (Preservation) Ordinances in September 1947, the office of the Custodian of Evacuee Property emerged. The initial role of the custodian was to take care of the property so long as the original occupants did not return. What complicated the matter though was the West Punjab Economic Rehabilitation Ordinance alongside the evacuee property legislation, which then created the office of a rehabilitation commissioner who was empowered to take possession of abandoned properties and allot them to Muslim refugees for a period of one year. Later another ordinance was passed which ensured that the transfer of the property could only be done with permission of the custodian, thereby stripping the owner of most of his rights. The Indian government responded with amending its own evacuee property legislation, so as to allow the custodian to allot its evacuated properties to displaced persons from West Pakistan. Moreover, it also decided that those refugees who were housed in the abandoned properties, could not be removed till such time that an alternative space could be arranged for them. The government’s control over these properties became more permanent the moment their economic values came to be discussed. “The Indian government claimed that since the evacuee property left behind by non-Muslims was far greater in value than the evacuee property of Muslims in India — a difference it calculated to the sum of Rs 400 crore — the Pakistan government should pay India for it,” writes Zamindar. The mathematics of the situation being disadvantageous to Pakistan, the latter insisted that both sides allow the refugees to sell their individual properties at market value. In the ensuing years, both the governments kept arguing over the fate of the evacuee properties, with each side passing one reactionary legislation after another in response to what the other side was doing. Strange developments took place in this legal battle over abandoned properties. For instance, an amendment made to the laws for a brief time defined an ‘evacuee’ as anybody who had left their homes and moved somewhere else. “So for instance, even if you moved within Delhi from Chawri Bazaar to the refugee camp in Purana Qila, you still came within the ambit of the Evacuee Property Act,” says Manav Kapur, who is currently doing his doctoral research on evacuee properties from Princeton University. Then there emerged the concept of an ‘intending evacuee’, or someone seen as making preparation for his or her migration. “There were families who had their homes taken over because their relatives were studying in Pakistan and money had to be sent across for that purpose,” explains Kapur. Many Hindi film directors like Mehboob Khan and Abdur Rashid Kardar had their properties taken over since they were sending money to Pakistan for film distribution purposes. Kapur also describes how the evacuee property laws on both sides were used as a tool for disciplining and surveilling the minorities. “Any person from the minority community suspected to be having links with the neighbour country or if anyone happened to arouse the ire of the district collector could have his property declared as evacuee property,” he says. The effect of the evacuee property laws in emptying out minorities and dispossessing them was significant. “However, the realisation by the Indian state that Muslims were being dispossessed while living in India led at first to removal of the ‘intending evacuee’ clause in 1953 and the final abrogation of the law in its entirety in 1957,” writes Zamindar. Interestingly, the evacuee property laws worked very differently in the eastern borders, where the houses left behind by the minorities were not used to compensate the incoming refugees. “There the refugees took over the houses left behind and kept sending rent across the border till the mid-50s when the law was abrogated,” says Kapur. A decade later, after the India-Pakistan war of 1965, a new law was introduced by both governments. The Enemy Property Act of 1968, as it came to be called in India, allowed the government to take over any property left behind by those who had fled to Pakistan, without compensation. Now it was no longer an evacuated property, but rather an asset of the enemy country. Similar laws were passed on the other side of the border as well. Kapur explained how the Falletis Hotel in Lahore, which was owned by the Oberois, was taken over by the Pakistan government under the enemy property laws. Similarly, the Punjab National Bank buildings in Lahore and Karachi were taken over. “Most of the properties that were leftover from the evacuee property laws in India got carried over under the enemy property laws, and new pieces of properties were also targeted under the new act,” explains Raghavan over the phone. A case in point over here is that of the former king of Mahmudabad, Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan. Khan’s assets are sprawled across large parts of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. These include the Butler Palace, the Mahmudabad Mansion and the court in Lucknow’s Hazratganj. Khan left for Iraq in 1947 and later took Pakistani citizenship. In the 1960s, while he studying in Cambridge, he was informed of his properties being declared ‘enemy property’ and thereby taken over by the Government of India. In 1974, Khan petitioned the Indian government to return his assets and has ever since been embroiled in a bitter legal battle. Dealing with the ‘enemy’s’ properties. Over the years, the Indian government has used the houses left behind for urban and cultural development. Raghavan explained how large parts of Khan Market in New Delhi consists of immovable assets left behind by Partition refugees, including the famous bookstore, Bahrisons. “The National School of Drama in Delhi is another such example. It was owned by the ruler of Bahawalpur who chose to join Pakistan,” says Raghavan. “The rule under which it was claimed by the government was the evacuee property legislation.” At the same time, conservation specialists also point to the desperate need for state intervention in restoring many such evacuee properties which have not acquired iconic status. AGK Menon, chief consultant of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Delhi chapter, said that they had been documenting the evacuee properties in Old Delhi for the last several years. “Unlike the iconic Kapoor Haveli in Peshawar, the evacuee properties in Old Delhi are by and large anonymous. Many of them are nondescript buildings or houses taken over by the municipalities to be turned into schools, barat ghars etc. for public use,” says Menon. He says that about 120 to 130 such buildings had been documented and they had recommended that since they were public buildings, the Municipality could easily undertake conservation work as part of their upkeep and thereby demonstrate the benefits of this initiative for the owners of private properties to follow. The decision of the Pakistan provincial government to restore the residences of Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar is being seen as part of their policy to celebrate historical and cultural figures belonging to undivided India. The ancestral house of Shahrukh Khan too lies in the same area of Peshawar. Officials in Pakistan maintain that with three Bollywood celebrities hailing from this same area, the city deserves a museum celebrating the Hindi film industry. “I feel it is because of the politics around minorities in Pakistan. This is part of the nostalgia in Pakistan towards the idea of a syncretic and shared past. The reopening of the Kartarpur corridor and the restoration of some Hindu temples is part of a similar effort,” says Kapur. Yet another instance on similar lines is the decision to restore and celebrate the ancestral property, school and village of the legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, located in the Punjab province. Speaking about the need to celebrate the homes left behind by the Partition refugees, Raghavan says: “It is important to understand that the process of passing evacuee property legislations was very political and bitterly contested. It has been a long time since the Partition and we need to look at these properties in a more clear-eyed manner.”“it is high time we see them as a legacy of a past in which identities transcended nationality or religion."

https://indianexpress.com/article/research/in-peshawars-kapoor-haveli-restoration-peshawar-evacuee-properties-partition-6698474/, October 4, 2020

In the years immediately following the Partition, the political decisions taken to deal with evacuated properties went a long way in establishing the relationship that India and Pakistan shared with each other. Jalil Ahmad knows Peshawar like the back of his hand. After all, he has been studying the heritage and architecture of the city for over three decades, often organising walks for tourists. But there is one mansion that has always been of particular interest, especially among film buffs, the ‘Kapoor Haveli’ at Dhaki Munawar Shah. “People love to hear stories of how a young man born in the lanes of Peshawar, went to Bombay and became such a huge name in the film industry there and across the world,” says Ahmad as he cautiously records his responses to my questions over WhatsApp, wary of the cross-border politics hovering over the conversation. The Kapoor Haveli is where the great Raj Kapoor was born.

Even in its dilapidated condition, the mansion has been occupying a special place in the heart of Peshawar. “Tourists and photographers are mesmerised by its unique wooden architecture, the lovely jharokhas (hanging balconies) and balconies,” narrates Ahmad. The Kapoor haveli also serves as the reminder of a shared history and identity between India and Pakistan, one that has remained intact despite the bloodbath of the Partition. Last month the provincial government in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa announced its decision to buy the ancestral house of the Bollywood legend, conserve it and turn it into a museum.

Apart from Kapoor Haveli, the government has also decided to take in its custody the ancestral house of another icon of Hindi cinema, Dilip Kumar, who was born in Peshawar in 1922 as Muhammad Yusuf Khan. While Kapoor’s residence was declared evacuee property in the 1960s, Kumar’s house has been lying vacant since the 1930s when his family moved to Bombay in search of better work opportunities. The move is being celebrated in Pakistan as a necessary step in chronicling the heritage of the country. But it is also indicative of the ways in which the government of Pakistan is dealing with a long-festering issue of evacuee properties, that had sprung up soon after the Radcliffe Line split the subcontinent into two countries in 1947. The words penned down by professor of international relations, Pallavi Raghavan, in her recent book, ‘Animosity at bay: An alternative history of the India Pakistan relationship’, describe most fittingly the issue that arose with what was perhaps the biggest episode of migration in the subcontinent. Memories of the Partition are inevitably tied up with the homes that were left behind. In this space, a couple of months back, oral historian Avina Kohli had penned down a deeply evocative account of her painstaking endeavour in tracing down her grandfather’s pre-Partition house at Sialkot. The enterprise revealed to her the fate of the house which is now a girls’ college and several other socio-economic aspects of ways in which the governments on both sides of the border were dealing with the problem of evacuated houses. It also underlined a most essential truth about the Partition, that the settlements made at the administrative level, did not really settle things for those who left lives behind. “Why else would their granddaughter search for her roots over five decades since?” she asks. A home left behind In the years immediately following the Partition though, the political decisions taken to deal with evacuated properties went a long way in establishing the relationship that India and Pakistan shared with each other. Historian Vazira Zamindar, in her celebrated book ‘The long Partition and the making of modern South Asia’, describes in great detail the legalities brought in place to ensure those who took flight could no longer return because their houses had come to be occupied by others. With the passage of the Evacuee Property (Preservation) Ordinances in September 1947, the office of the Custodian of Evacuee Property emerged. The initial role of the custodian was to take care of the property so long as the original occupants did not return. What complicated the matter though was the West Punjab Economic Rehabilitation Ordinance alongside the evacuee property legislation, which then created the office of a rehabilitation commissioner who was empowered to take possession of abandoned properties and allot them to Muslim refugees for a period of one year. Later another ordinance was passed which ensured that the transfer of the property could only be done with permission of the custodian, thereby stripping the owner of most of his rights. The Indian government responded with amending its own evacuee property legislation, so as to allow the custodian to allot its evacuated properties to displaced persons from West Pakistan. Moreover, it also decided that those refugees who were housed in the abandoned properties, could not be removed till such time that an alternative space could be arranged for them. The government’s control over these properties became more permanent the moment their economic values came to be discussed. “The Indian government claimed that since the evacuee property left behind by non-Muslims was far greater in value than the evacuee property of Muslims in India — a difference it calculated to the sum of Rs 400 crore — the Pakistan government should pay India for it,” writes Zamindar. The mathematics of the situation being disadvantageous to Pakistan, the latter insisted that both sides allow the refugees to sell their individual properties at market value. In the ensuing years, both the governments kept arguing over the fate of the evacuee properties, with each side passing one reactionary legislation after another in response to what the other side was doing. Strange developments took place in this legal battle over abandoned properties. For instance, an amendment made to the laws for a brief time defined an ‘evacuee’ as anybody who had left their homes and moved somewhere else. “So for instance, even if you moved within Delhi from Chawri Bazaar to the refugee camp in Purana Qila, you still came within the ambit of the Evacuee Property Act,” says Manav Kapur, who is currently doing his doctoral research on evacuee properties from Princeton University. Then there emerged the concept of an ‘intending evacuee’, or someone seen as making preparation for his or her migration. “There were families who had their homes taken over because their relatives were studying in Pakistan and money had to be sent across for that purpose,” explains Kapur. Many Hindi film directors like Mehboob Khan and Abdur Rashid Kardar had their properties taken over since they were sending money to Pakistan for film distribution purposes. Kapur also describes how the evacuee property laws on both sides were used as a tool for disciplining and surveilling the minorities. “Any person from the minority community suspected to be having links with the neighbour country or if anyone happened to arouse the ire of the district collector could have his property declared as evacuee property,” he says. The effect of the evacuee property laws in emptying out minorities and dispossessing them was significant. “However, the realisation by the Indian state that Muslims were being dispossessed while living in India led at first to removal of the ‘intending evacuee’ clause in 1953 and the final abrogation of the law in its entirety in 1957,” writes Zamindar. Interestingly, the evacuee property laws worked very differently in the eastern borders, where the houses left behind by the minorities were not used to compensate the incoming refugees. “There the refugees took over the houses left behind and kept sending rent across the border till the mid-50s when the law was abrogated,” says Kapur. A decade later, after the India-Pakistan war of 1965, a new law was introduced by both governments. The Enemy Property Act of 1968, as it came to be called in India, allowed the government to take over any property left behind by those who had fled to Pakistan, without compensation. Now it was no longer an evacuated property, but rather an asset of the enemy country. Similar laws were passed on the other side of the border as well. Kapur explained how the Falletis Hotel in Lahore, which was owned by the Oberois, was taken over by the Pakistan government under the enemy property laws. Similarly, the Punjab National Bank buildings in Lahore and Karachi were taken over. “Most of the properties that were leftover from the evacuee property laws in India got carried over under the enemy property laws, and new pieces of properties were also targeted under the new act,” explains Raghavan over the phone. A case in point over here is that of the former king of Mahmudabad, Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan. Khan’s assets are sprawled across large parts of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. These include the Butler Palace, the Mahmudabad Mansion and the court in Lucknow’s Hazratganj. Khan left for Iraq in 1947 and later took Pakistani citizenship. In the 1960s, while he studying in Cambridge, he was informed of his properties being declared ‘enemy property’ and thereby taken over by the Government of India. In 1974, Khan petitioned the Indian government to return his assets and has ever since been embroiled in a bitter legal battle. Dealing with the ‘enemy’s’ properties. Over the years, the Indian government has used the houses left behind for urban and cultural development. Raghavan explained how large parts of Khan Market in New Delhi consists of immovable assets left behind by Partition refugees, including the famous bookstore, Bahrisons. “The National School of Drama in Delhi is another such example. It was owned by the ruler of Bahawalpur who chose to join Pakistan,” says Raghavan. “The rule under which it was claimed by the government was the evacuee property legislation.” At the same time, conservation specialists also point to the desperate need for state intervention in restoring many such evacuee properties which have not acquired iconic status. AGK Menon, chief consultant of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Delhi chapter, said that they had been documenting the evacuee properties in Old Delhi for the last several years. “Unlike the iconic Kapoor Haveli in Peshawar, the evacuee properties in Old Delhi are by and large anonymous. Many of them are nondescript buildings or houses taken over by the municipalities to be turned into schools, barat ghars etc. for public use,” says Menon. He says that about 120 to 130 such buildings had been documented and they had recommended that since they were public buildings, the Municipality could easily undertake conservation work as part of their upkeep and thereby demonstrate the benefits of this initiative for the owners of private properties to follow. The decision of the Pakistan provincial government to restore the residences of Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar is being seen as part of their policy to celebrate historical and cultural figures belonging to undivided India. The ancestral house of Shahrukh Khan too lies in the same area of Peshawar. Officials in Pakistan maintain that with three Bollywood celebrities hailing from this same area, the city deserves a museum celebrating the Hindi film industry. “I feel it is because of the politics around minorities in Pakistan. This is part of the nostalgia in Pakistan towards the idea of a syncretic and shared past. The reopening of the Kartarpur corridor and the restoration of some Hindu temples is part of a similar effort,” says Kapur. Yet another instance on similar lines is the decision to restore and celebrate the ancestral property, school and village of the legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, located in the Punjab province. Speaking about the need to celebrate the homes left behind by the Partition refugees, Raghavan says: “It is important to understand that the process of passing evacuee property legislations was very political and bitterly contested. It has been a long time since the Partition and we need to look at these properties in a more clear-eyed manner.”“it is high time we see them as a legacy of a past in which identities transcended nationality or religion."

https://indianexpress.com/article/research/in-peshawars-kapoor-haveli-restoration-peshawar-evacuee-properties-partition-6698474/, October 4, 2020

Groundwork and documentation required for the purpose to be pursued seriously

Fresh efforts will be initiated to secure UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage tag for Mysuru Dasara given its historicity and continuity. The issue is being seriously promoted by the Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage, Government of Karnataka, which has resolved to complete the groundwork and prepare the documentation required for the purpose. This was also one of the resolutions passed in the heritage committee meeting held in December last year but the pandemic broke out soon after, bringing all activities to a halt. N.S. Rangaraju, convenor of INTACH, Mysuru, and one of the members of the heritage committee, told The Hindu that this is a long-pending issue and should be taken to its logical end “Though our traditions such as Navaratri and Dasara don’t need anyone’s stamp of approval, securing the intangible cultural heritage tag will put Mysuru on the global map of tourism as a centre for art and culture besides helping promote the State’s culture at a global level’’, he said.

UNESCO has described intangible cultural heritage as ‘’practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage’’. ‘It also states that “intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity’’.

UNESCO lists oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; performing arts; social practices, rituals and festive events; traditional craftsmanship etc as forms of intangible cultural heritage. At present tradition of Vedic chanting, Ramleela, chanting of Buddhist hymns in the Ladakh region, Yoga, Kumbh Mela, Navrouz, and Kutiyattam (Kerala’s Sanskrit theatre) are among the 12 traditions recognised as intangible cultural heritage. There is a general perception that intangible heritage inscription for Dasara celebrations can also help promote greater pride in the city and its traditions. Prof. Rangaraju said it will also give a fresh thrust to the preservation of local traditions and cultural practices besides an increased visibility and spotlight on Mysuru.

Also, inscribing Dasara as an intangible cultural heritage will reinforce the sense of belonging and ownership which people of the State display towards the tradition which has been documented by medieval travellers including Domingos Paes and Fernao Nuniz of Portugal. Celebrated in different ways across the country, Dasara in Mysuru is a legacy of the Vijayanagar emperors who ruled south India from 1336 CE to 1646 CE and extended State patronage to the cultural and religious tradition of the people. These practices were inherited by the Wadiyars of Mysuru and the festival is now celebrated as Nada Habba or People’s Festival.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/state-to-push-for-intangible-cultural-heritage-tag-for-mysuru-dasara/article32922264.ece, October 22, 2020

After the north-eastern retaining wall of the centuries-old Katora Houz of the Golconda Fort was damaged in the recent flooding, authorities have barricaded the water body. The wall completely collapsed, even as several other parts of the Golconda Fort have sustained damage.

A survey, led by INTACH convenor Anuradha Reddy, found several reasons behind the damage. “The heavy rains and load of cars on the wall has led to its collapse,” she said. She also said that the road level had been raised to a level that affected the distribution of the water flow. The Katora Houz used to store water for the fort making it self-sufficient. The lake has been in a state of neglect with water hyacinths covering it and sewage being let into it.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/katora-houz-in-golconda-fort-barricaded/articleshow/78797751.cms, October 22, 2020

Long spell of rain in Hyderabad has caused immense destruction to the city’s heritage.

One of the oldest mosques in Hyderabad lost its shorter minarets during the recent rain spell. “I heard a loud sound and then we lost electricity. We rushed out to see a heap of rubble. Luckily nobody was injured,” says Renuka, a resident of Shaikpet where the disused mosque exists surrounded by houses, shops and a buffalo shed.

The rubble has been cleaned and dumped at the rear of the mosque where it can be identified by the large round stones that gave shape to the minaret. “Most of the mosques in the area do not have inscriptions, and so I date them using my seriation of stylistic changes and dates are approximate. The large mosque at Shaikpet serai dates by inscription to AD 1633, but there are other mosques in the area that are both before and after it,” says Robert Simpkins, Professor of Anthropology in Porterville College, who has studied the mosques and serais (wayside inns) in Hyderabad dating to that period. “This is news to us. We had persuaded the Department of Archaelogy and Museums to allow us to clean the mosque four months back as there was vegetal growth.

But immediately after we cleaned it they locked it up,” says a Telangana Waqf official. While the mosque is a waqf property its upkeep and maintenance is the responsibility of the Telangana Department of Archaeology and Museums. The rubble has been cleaned and dumped at the rear of the mosque where it can be identified by the large round stones that gave shape to the minaret. “Most of the mosques in the area do not have inscriptions, and so I date them using my seriation of stylistic changes and dates are approximate. The large mosque at Shaikpet serai dates by inscription to AD 1633, but there are other mosques in the area that are both before and after it,” says Robert Simpkins, Professor of Anthropology in Porterville College, who has studied the mosques and serais (wayside inns) in Hyderabad dating to that period. “This is news to us.

We had persuaded the Department of Archaelogy and Museums to allow us to clean the mosque four months back as there was vegetal growth. But immediately after we cleaned it they locked it up,” says a Telangana Waqf official. While the mosque is a waqf property its upkeep and maintenance is the responsibility of the Telangana Department of Archaeology and Museums.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/one-of-the-oldest-mosques-in-hyderabad-loses-its-minarets/article32922039.ece, October 22, 2020

A group of local archaeology and geology enthusiasts has claimed to have found a part of a fossil tree in a floodwater stream besides ammonite sediments in a tank, in Kunnam town in Perambalur district. The discovery comes in the wake of spherical sediments being recovered from a tank being desilted in Kunnam, which, according to social media posts, were claimed to be dinosaur eggs. The discovery came when a group of three archaeology and geology enthusiasts — Ramesh Karuppiah, A Anandhraj and A Prabudeva — went on an expedition through the path of the Aanaivari flood water stream in Kunnam. During the field visit, they spotted a fossil tree measuring 7 feet in length similar to the one being preserved at Sathanur fossil tree park.

The actual length of the tree was estimated to be about 20 feet but the rest of the portion was washed away as there were imprints of the fossil deposited. “We have also identified ammonite sediments in Kunnam tank. Ammonite must have been trapped in the process of concretion for several million years, but it was often misconceived as dinosaur egg,” said Ramesh Karuppiah. Ammonites (ammonoids) were a large and diverse group of marine species that arose during the Devonian period (around 416 million years ago).

In a separate incident, around 20-25 spherical objects were identified by locals while desilting Venkatan tank for sourcing silt on Wednesday. Though these were claimed to be dinosaur eggs, experts said they were highly unlikely. “Looking at the alignment of the objects, they cannot be dinosaur eggs. Also, eggs cannot be in such a vast size. The objects could have been formed due to concretion,” a geology department professor said. Concretion (solid mass formed by the accumulation of matter) forms around the ammonite or any other object as a nucleus becomes a nodule.

Small nodules formed due to concretion, unearthed in the district in the past decades, were addressed as Uttathur potatoes (named after a village). Experts said such concretions are too common in Ariyalur and Perambalur as the two districts were once a seabed. “Only palaeontologists can confirm if those objects were eggs,” a source in the Geological Survey of India (GSI) said. Perambalur district administration sources said that Trichy museum management was urged to study the objects unearthed in Venkatan tank.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/part-of-fossil-tree-ammonite-found-in-perambalur/articleshow/78818433.cms, October 22, 2020

Earmarking of the core zone of Charaideo maidams — the graveyards of the Ahom kings and queens — is set to begin finally, marking the first major step to include the historic maidams in the list of Unesco world heritage sites. The state archaeology department has completed the online bidding process for construction of the boundaries of the medieval era monuments scattered in Charaideo district to cover the core zone of around 576 bighas. Charaideo is believed to have 37 king maidams out of a total 42 Ahom kings who ruled the Ahom dynasty from 1252 to 1854 AD. There are allegations that vast areas of the proposed capital complex have been occupied for tea cultivation and other purposes over the years. A fund of Rs 2 crore for the construction and demarcation of the maidam of Chaolung Sukaphaa — the founder of the Ahom dynasty in Assam — was announced by chief minister Sonowal in 2018.

However, utilization of the funds was pending due to lack of proper demarcation in the absence of a map of the historically significant site, located 23 km from district headquarters Sonari. The Charaideo madams demarcation committee constituted by the district deputy commissioner prepared a map, including 42 plots of Ahom-era monuments. Of them, 24 plots out of them have already been surveyed by the state Directorate of Land Records and Survey (DLRS) between November last year and March this year, covering around 1263 bighas of land. The locations of the surveyed areas were submitted by DLRS before the Charaideo deputy commissioner at a meeting of the demarcation committee in the presence of Assam revenue minister Jogen Mahan, Jorhat MP Topon Kumar Gogoi and historian Dayananda Borgohain on July 16.

In the DLRS report, it was stated that the remaining plots will be surveyed soon. On October 12, state archaeology minister Keshab Mahanta chaired a meeting of the Charaideo maidam world heritage site advisory committee in Dispur where this high-powered committee had a sitting to demarcate the core zone of the Charaideo maidams, covering around 576 bighas of land only that are currently under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and state archaeology directorate. For an additional amount of Rs 25 crore to construct the boundaries of the core zone, it is inevitable to send the proposal to Unesco and the bidding was completed on October 14.

“The meeting decided that the limited 576 bighas of land will be the core zone, while the rest of the historically important areas of the site will be considered for the buffer zone later, including the maidam of Chaolung Sukaphaa. The dossier to be sent to Unesco for world heritage tag for Charaideo will have the core zone with around 576 bighas of land. The remaining surveyed and proposed plots will be considered later on,” said a government source. Renowned archaeologist KC Nauriyal, who had prepared a dossier for the stepwell of Rani ki Vav — a Unesco world heritage site in Gujarat — will lead preparations for the Charaideo dossier. Conservation activist Zakirul Alam, who has been pursuing the matter for long and led the survey team on ground for preparing the map, said, “We congratulate the government of Assam.

Special thanks to Keshab Mahanta for the spirit shown to take Charaideo to the global stage. At the same time, we are concerned about the core zone which consists only around 14 maidams of kings out of 37 maidams in Charaideo capital. This is not enough for the core zone. There is a possibility to reject the dossier due to lack of chronological order of the maidams as the dynasty’s founder Chaolung Sukaphaa's maidam is missing from the core zone.” Alam, president of Media Management & Research Association (MMRA), an NGO mobilising support for the preservation of the historic Ahom monuments, added that the entire surveyed area of 1263 bighas should be included in the core zone, which is the evidence of the chronological history of all 37 kings.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/assam-earmarking-of-core-zone-of-charaideo-maidams-set-to-begin/articleshow/78793162.cms, October 22, 2020

Pictures of ‘dinosaur eggs’ in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu have been doing rounds on social media since Thursday. But a group of local geology and archaeology enthusiasts, who visited the area, identified them as ammonite sediments. Ammonite (ammonoids) were a large and diverse group of marine species that arose during the Devonian period (around 416 million years ago). The group found ammonite sediments in a water body called the Kunnam tank. “The marine species should have been trapped in the process of concretion for centuries. It was misconceived as dinosaur egg,” said Ramesh Karuppiah who led the group.

The present day Ariyalur and Perambalur in central Tamil Nadu were once a seabed, he said. The group comprised members from Kalmaram Kappom (save fossil tree) and Mannin Mainthargal (sons of the soil). The group also identified a fragment of fossil tree in the Aanaivari stream, a floodwater stream that originates in the northeastern site of Kunnam. The fossil measured seven feet in length and 30-inch in thickness. "There were such fossil trees and ammonites found in Perambalur district in the past. The vicinity is known for such finds. It is suggested that they preserve the finds at the same place where they were found. If it is brittle, the fossil may disintegrate while relocating to museums," a source in the Geological Survey of India official said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/dinosaur-eggs-found-in-tns-perambalur-are-ammonite-sediments-geology-enthusiasts-say/articleshow/78806534.cms, October 20, 2020

The pivotal moment in this phase of excavations was the discovery of a habitation site at Adichanallur, according to excavation director J Baskar, who described it as a milestone discovery. Excavations in Adichanallur and Sivagalai, which the Tamil Nadu Archaeology department had commenced on May 25, concluded on September 30, and the trenches dug up for the purpose were closed on Wednesday. The pivotal moment in this phase of excavations was the discovery of a habitation site at Adichanallur, according to excavation director J Baskar, who described it as a milestone discovery. From the 72 trenches in the Adichanallur site, several urns, earthenware, black and red-coloured pots, stone objects, copperware, iron objects, terracotta materials, bone pieces and other antique materials were unearthed. They were later deposited at the Government Archaeological Exhibition Centre, adjacent to the site. A skull unearthed from Sivagalai and bones from Adichanallur were sent to the Madurai Kamaraj University for genetic testing, said a senior official.

Pivotal excavation
The discovery of an ancient habitation site and unearthing of Tamil Brahmi scripts, roofing tiles and over 500 graffiti marked a milestone in the history of the Adichanallur excavations, said excavation director J Baskar. Experts consider the discovery of the habitation site, a “breakthrough” in the 150-year excavation history in Adichanallur. Earlier surveys in Adichanallur -- from the first excavation by Jagor of Germany (1876) till the 2004-2006 survey by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Superintending Archaeologist Dr Thiyaga Sathyamurthy – had yielded only urn burials and associated artefacts, said writer Kamarasu. The habitation site, located east of the burial site, had terracotta pipes for drains, potsherds with scripts, and another 500 with graffiti, Baskar said. Another key discovery was the circular-patterned lime kiln, confirming industrial activity at the site, he said, adding that a heap of oyster shells, corals and reefs were found over them, which could have been burnt to manufacture lime mineral. “The interesting fact,” Baskar said, “is the discovery of articles belonging to three different ages, layered on top of each other in the order of Sangam-era (early historic period), iron age and stone age.” While potsherds engraved with Tamil Brahmi scripts belonged to the Sangam era, a number of iron objects belonging to the iron age and microlithic tools belonging to the stone age were found, he added.

Intriguing connection
Mumbai-based Palmyra Mission Organiser Reverend Godson Samuel, who was on an excursion to find ancient antiquities in the State, visited the Adichanallur site on Tuesday. He told reporters that he had collected “lime-coated potsherds” in Authoor in Thoothukudi district and it was “interesting to find an ancient lime kiln in Adichanallur.” These monuments should be protected and the Centre should ensure that the announcement of establishing a world-class onsite museum in Adichanallur is implemented, he added.

'Release excavation reports'
Stating that the department had only carried out excavations on private lands this year, Kamarasu urged the ASI to permit excavations at the 114-acre archaeological site under the agency’s protection. He also urged the State to release reports on the excavations, including from the 2004-2006 survey. In connection with a case filed by Kamarasu, the Centre had submitted the 2004-2006 Adichanallur archaeological report to the Madras High Court in 2019 but the reports have not been made public yet.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2020/oct/22/discovery-of-habitation-site-at-adichanallur-is-a-milestone-excavation-director-2213651.html, October 23, 2020

The pivotal moment in this phase of excavations was the discovery of a habitation site at Adichanallur, according to excavation director J Baskar, who described it as a milestone discovery. Excavations in Adichanallur and Sivagalai, which the Tamil Nadu Archaeology department had commenced on May 25, concluded on September 30, and the trenches dug up for the purpose were closed on Wednesday. The pivotal moment in this phase of excavations was the discovery of a habitation site at Adichanallur, according to excavation director J Baskar, who described it as a milestone discovery. From the 72 trenches in the Adichanallur site, several urns, earthenware, black and red-coloured pots, stone objects, copperware, iron objects, terracotta materials, bone pieces and other antique materials were unearthed. They were later deposited at the Government Archaeological Exhibition Centre, adjacent to the site. A skull unearthed from Sivagalai and bones from Adichanallur were sent to the Madurai Kamaraj University for genetic testing, said a senior official.

Pivotal excavation
The discovery of an ancient habitation site and unearthing of Tamil Brahmi scripts, roofing tiles and over 500 graffiti marked a milestone in the history of the Adichanallur excavations, said excavation director J Baskar. Experts consider the discovery of the habitation site, a “breakthrough” in the 150-year excavation history in Adichanallur. Earlier surveys in Adichanallur -- from the first excavation by Jagor of Germany (1876) till the 2004-2006 survey by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Superintending Archaeologist Dr Thiyaga Sathyamurthy – had yielded only urn burials and associated artefacts, said writer Kamarasu. The habitation site, located east of the burial site, had terracotta pipes for drains, potsherds with scripts, and another 500 with graffiti, Baskar said. Another key discovery was the circular-patterned lime kiln, confirming industrial activity at the site, he said, adding that a heap of oyster shells, corals and reefs were found over them, which could have been burnt to manufacture lime mineral. “The interesting fact,” Baskar said, “is the discovery of articles belonging to three different ages, layered on top of each other in the order of Sangam-era (early historic period), iron age and stone age.” While potsherds engraved with Tamil Brahmi scripts belonged to the Sangam era, a number of iron objects belonging to the iron age and microlithic tools belonging to the stone age were found, he added.

Intriguing connection
Mumbai-based Palmyra Mission Organiser Reverend Godson Samuel, who was on an excursion to find ancient antiquities in the State, visited the Adichanallur site on Tuesday. He told reporters that he had collected “lime-coated potsherds” in Authoor in Thoothukudi district and it was “interesting to find an ancient lime kiln in Adichanallur.” These monuments should be protected and the Centre should ensure that the announcement of establishing a world-class onsite museum in Adichanallur is implemented, he added.

'Release excavation reports'
Stating that the department had only carried out excavations on private lands this year, Kamarasu urged the ASI to permit excavations at the 114-acre archaeological site under the agency’s protection. He also urged the State to release reports on the excavations, including from the 2004-2006 survey. In connection with a case filed by Kamarasu, the Centre had submitted the 2004-2006 Adichanallur archaeological report to the Madras High Court in 2019 but the reports have not been made public yet.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2020/oct/22/discovery-of-habitation-site-at-adichanallur-is-a-milestone-excavation-director-2213651.html, October 23, 2020

A 3ft rock sculpture of Mahavira, the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism, was found abandoned near a temple in a remote Puliyur village in Tiruvallur district. The stylistic features of the sculpture, showing the Mahavira in a sitting posture, belong to the 11th century AD. Heritage experts believe that it must have lost its place due to a shift in the belief system of people decades ago. The sculpture was found near a ruined temple called Bajanai Koil. After a villager informed him about the sculpture, heritage activist Sridharan Appandairaj and Jain priest K Jeevakumar visited the site.

"A senior citizen in the village would perform puja on the sculpture until two years ago. He told the villagers it was the idol of Buddha and they still believe so. The priest is no more today. We told the villagers that it's the sculpture of Mahavira, not Buddha," said Sridhar, the crusader of the famous Ahimsa Walk, an initiative which helped reclaim many abandoned and neglected Jain heritage sites and monuments in Tamil Nadu. "The stylistic pattern shows it was sculpted during the later period of Jainism, say after the 10th century AD.

Many ancient sculptures of Jain Tirthankaras have been found abandoned in Tamil Nadu. We have constructed shelters for those sculptures in many places. After we talked, Puliyur villagers have said they will protect it," said Sridhar. Jeevakumar, who has discovered many abandoned sculptures of Tirthankaras, said it's high time the district administration took immediate steps to preserve the sculpture. "The image is placed on a pedestal, a reason why it remains intact. But the features on the face have been lost due to lack of care. We have informed the district administration and we hope that they will take immediate action to preserve the sculpture," said Jeevakumar.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/11th-century-mahavira-idol-found-in-tiruvallur/articleshow/78821133.cms, October 23, 2020