The Scent of a City

by Naeem Safi

Façades above Sarafa Bazaar

Much has changed over the centuries but Peshawar’s strategic importance has never faltered. Accepted as one the oldest living cities, it is also thought to have had the world’s tallest building at one point—a Buddhist stupa.

The current image of Peshawar, battered and dangerous, owes much to the mediated knowledge spread mainly through media—and endorsed by events that have killed hundreds of its inhabitants. The consistent collisions of interests in the region have left the residents of Peshawar with little else but to romanticise the city’s past, recollecting bits from the chapters that deal with all that was glorious. Understandable, when much at present appears to be dust and smoke.

But look closely and with love and you will find a lot still to appreciate. Follow the footsteps of world-renowned travellers and conquerors and arrive at the highest point in Peshawar, Gor Khatri. The archaeological findings here date back 2,500 years, in one of the deepest archaeological trenches of South Asia, and make experts claim that Peshawar has been alive for eons. Civilizations here, among several layers of earth, have left occasional terracotta pieces, jewellery, coins, weapon fragments and bones—samples from which are at display in a shabby little museum at the corner of the compound. The Goraknath temple was reopened for worshippers last year and located parallel to a mosque sharing the same compound.

A Door at Masjid Mohabbat Khan

Spicing Up, a Spice Merchant at Bazaar-i-Dalgaran

Through the western gate of the complex, once the residence of the Sikh general Avitabile, go down towards Chowk Yadgar. If not pointed out, one can easily miss the historic Sethi Mohalla, just a few yards towards the right. It hosts a number of architectural marvels built in the 19th century by the famous merchant family, exhausting the art of building and decor by incorporating techniques and styles from India, Persia, Turkey, and as far as Russia. Each house holds a record of the riches and tastes from times gone by.

Lapis at Shinwari Market.
(Peshawar's Christie's)

Further down the road is Chowk Yadgar, now a reinterpretation of the plaza hosting an old monument and the stand from where, up until the late 70’s, one could hop onto buses to Kabul. The new design has an added underground passage with some parking, few shops, and landscaping on top. The steep alley called Sarafa Bazaar, lined with goldsmiths, reaches Lady Reading Hospital and Bala Hisar Fort. The famous Shinwari market has genuine antique Afghan jewellery, ceramics, glassware, and textiles. Nearby is the Mughal period Masjid Mohabbat Khan, its elaborate arches and domes adorned with colourful frescos. Just a few decades ago, a donation of loudspeakers by a devotee had triggered passionate protests by religious leaders calling for their removal. They declared that they were sorcerer’s horns for their resemblance with record players. The legacy of that thinking has sadly come true for the city.

Hakeem's Laboratory at chowk Pipal Mandi

One route from the Chowk reaches Pipal Mandi and winds towards the historic Qissa Khawani bazaar. Along the way is Bazaar-i-Dalgaran, filled with the aromas of teas and Indian spices, serving the taste buds of its customers with unique blends. Even the inquisitive Michael Wood was not disappointed when he ended up here in search of an ancient tea called soma. In his documentary, The Story of India, he says, “the Rig Veda talks about a sacred drink, central to the Aryan’s rituals; a speciality of the tribes around here... there are many of their thousand poems devoted to the merits of drinking soma, almost as an elixir of the gods.”

Teatime: At a balakhana of an old inn in Qissa Khawani

Remains of a Heritage at Bazaar-i-Misgaran

One reminder of the times changing is the aluminium, stainless steel, and plastic being sold by the bronze and copperware sellers of Bazaar-i-Misgaran, catering to the declining tastes or the shrinking budgets of their customers. All that is left of their glory days are the copper samovars that are still used by the traditional qahwa khanas and chai khanas. At the turn to Qissa Khawani is the alley where Peshawar Pottery was once an attraction for ceramics lovers. Once upon a time, Qissa Khawani was the place of exchange for merchandise from Central Asia and India. The bazaar ends where Kabuli Gate once was. It has silently disappeared to make way for the trucks that have replaced the caravans.

Like most historic cities of the region, the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Peshawar has fallen prey to the onslaught of kitsch. The fragments that remain owe their existence to the lack of means for their replacement rather than to their conscious preservation. For taste has hit new depths. Now grey blocks and monstrosities ostentatiously covered with cheap tiles have replaced the classic city architecture such as balakhanas and jarokhas with their intricate woodwork, arches, and stuccoes.

The Replacement at Bazaar-i-Misgaran

Once known as a city of gardens, the cityscape has been vandalised by none other than its elected leaders who have constructed unjustifiable overhead bridges, consuming green belts and trees along their paths, in utter disregard for historic monuments. However, much can still be salvaged. In spring, blocks after blocks of the city are drenched in the scent of citrus flowers, a scent Mughal Emperor Babur had noted on his way to India.

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Published in DAWN, All About Lifestyles! June 22, 2012

 Life and Times of Kaka Ram

Gorak Nath Temple, at the Gor Khutree Archaeological Complex Peshawar, is now open

for Hindu worshippers who regularly visit the site to pray

By Naeem Safi

The sun has just disappeared behind the Khyber Mountains. Beneath the long hanging roots of the old banyan tree, a devotee is sweeping leaves to clean the earthen floor for worshippers who are expected to arrive in a while.

Hundreds of birds above are chirping before settling down for the night. The fenced lawns outside are full, with noisy children running around and playing, the adolescent sauntering on the paved walkways, and their mothers gossiping. These late evening visitors are usually from the nearby mohallahs who come here to escape power outages — and take refuge in the Gor Khutree Complex.

The colour palette for the sky is rapidly changing and the light tones of gold are turning into crimson, and violets merging with dark greys. Calls for evening prayers over loudspeakers lure males of all age groups to the mosque at the northwestern corner of the Complex, which has accommodated many before them, including kings, princesses, and camel caravans.

Gorak Nath Temple, at the Gor Khutree Archaeological Complex Peshawar, was built during the Sikh period around 1834 to 1849. Their Italian General, Paolo Avitabile, used the Complex as his residence. The temple is now open for Hindu worshippers who regularly visit the site to pray to their gods.

Just a few yards south from the mosque, Kaka Ram, the seyvek, is giving final touches to the preparations in the Gorak Nath temple. Unlike the marbled floors and numerous fans at the mosque, his temple has earthen floor and a couple of helpers are connecting a power cable to the central building to light a few bulbs. Kaka Ram is waiting for the prayers at the mosque to finish, as some of his guests are Muslim, colleagues from his office at the secretariat, who will also attend Sheranwali Mata’s parshad tonight. 

Six decades back, he was born in a humble little house adjacent to the temple. Many generations of his ancestors have served this temple before. His father died when he was seven. They were expelled from their ancestral house; his mother had fought back through courts. She won the temple back, in the year 2011, but their home at the compound is lost, almost forever. She parted with life on the first day of last May.

According to Kaka Ram, more than 2000 people attended her funeral, the majority of who were Muslims. 

He recalls his childhood times, when the huge well under the banyan tree used to be frequented by parents with ailing children, both Hindu and Muslim, to receive ashnans, a sacrament that is believed to cleanse and protect its receivers from evil spells. His dealings and relationships with Muslim friends and neighbours are not tainted with biases or discriminations. They all celebrate Holis and Eids together and there is no purdah among their families, something reserved only for very close relatives in a traditional Peshawari society.

The Muslim guests have finished their prayers and are now waiting near the well for the ceremony to begin. Pundit Gokal has arrived from another temple to lead the prayers, and the number of worshippers is gradually increasing. The pundit is preparing a huge platter of fresh fruits at Mata’s mandir while the attendees are gathering in the arched aisle in the front. Following a few rituals, the congregation, with equal number of women, and quite a few children, started chanting the parshad. 

The sky has turned deep blue and the banyan tree looks more imposing against it, the flickering light of oil lamps animating its long shoots. The birds have gone almost silent. The visitors outside, in the lawns, are gradually thinning out and the peace of the night is gradually engulfing the compound, and the streets around it.

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Published in The News on Sunday on June 17, 2012
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2012-weekly/nos-17-06-2012/foo.htm#1

Architectural Heritage

19th Century Marvel

The Sethi House in Peshawar has used techniques and aesthetics
from a very diverse range of sources

By Naeem Safi

Peshawar, the oldest living city of South Asia, has always been a melting pot of cultures and civilisations throughout its known history. Archaeological investigations on the famous Gor Khuttree mound in the walled city of Peshawar have identified human settlements dating back to 539 BC. That makes it one of the most unique world heritage assets where European, Central Asian, Persian, and Indian civilisations have left their marks.

On the southern side of this mound, less than 200 meters away from the Gor Khuttree, lays Mohallah Sethian -- which has seven magnificent mansions built by a famous business dynasty of the 19th century India, the Sethis. The Sethis had business links with India, China, Central Asia and Russia, which were seriously affected by the Russian Revolution. The Sethi Complex bore the brunt of hard times since then, till 2006 when the MMA government bought one of these mansions for the purpose of conservation and handed it over to the archaeology department.

The Sethi House was built by Haji Karim Baksh in 1882, and has used techniques and aesthetics from a very diverse range of sources. The layout plan resembles plans of old houses in Baghdad, while the decorative elements used here can be traced to Samarkand, Bukhara, Persia and India, which makes it one of the richest living architectural record of building techniques, tastes and craftsmanship of old times of the region.

The Sethi House is a three storey building with huge basements on all four sides of the central courtyard, making intelligent use of the ground levels. The incredible ceiling heights of these basements, there multiple levels, intelligent use of wooden jalis, panjalis, and baadgirs for light and ventilation, and compartmentalisation for different usages are good examples of space utilisation and energy conservation for compact urban properties. A well-protected vault in one of the basements with a strong steel door is a telltale sign of the riches the Sethis had to guard.Walking through load-bearing brick arches one finds a fountain in the central courtyard, which is not functional these days, however it does not need a lot of imagination to picture the calming effect of its music on the inhabitants. The structure of the building has used enormous amounts of wood with brick fillings. The central courtyard is surrounded by doorways and windows on the ground floor. Balconies of the balakhanas, the upper two storeys, open into it and connect all levels for instant communication -- a significant feature as opposed to the contemporary house plans that approves the western-style of individualism. The views on all sides of the courtyard is that of wooden doors, basta windows and panels, all intricately carved with floral and geometric motifs, blending Gandhara with the Islamic practices of those times. The splendid woodwork is embedded with beautiful stained glass pieces which make a colourful show for the indoors during daylight, and for the courtyard after dark.

Mostly pukka kali is used as a base for the fresco work; however there are a few instances of bypassing the standard technique, an observation made by architect Tahir Khattak, head of the documentation of the project.

Inside the rooms and living spaces, one finds ornately embellished cheenee khanas as the central decorative elements. These cheenee khanas alone have used many layers of the crafts that one might find only in palaces of those times. Starting from the aina-kari, which are then embedded in manabat-kari that is covered with kashi-kari. There are panels with paper paintings which are framed in plain glass, with the repetition of the layers mentioned above. The false ceilings are decorated with panels made of hundreds of wooden pieces that are studded with wooden reliefs painted with pigment paints; a technique known as tarseem bandi.

The elaborate use of decorative elements like carvings, fretwork, fresco tracery, stucco tracery, floral motifs used in scrolls, freeze lines, arches, and paintings makes it a monumental and arduous task for any conservation intervention.

Proper conservation and interpretation of the tangible cultural heritage will open many doors for the researchers, a task so vital for a culture that is still in search of its identity on many levels. One must contemplate that it is our built heritage -- which we are leaving behind -- that is most likely to survive in its original form and not our intentions. Our claims or level of honesty should not be the only benchmarks to qualify us to intervene in such projects, for it requires a lot of experience, technical expertise, and above all, sensitivity to qualify for that.

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Published in The News on Sunday

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2011-weekly/nos-30-01-2011/foo.htm#1