Punjab’s Vanishing Heritage

 Guru Har Sahai, a township in the Firozpur district of Punjab is a good place to begin discovering Punjab’s vanishing architectural heritage. In a double storied monument called Pothimala, said to contain the sacred book and Nanak’s own rosary, also sits a fresco feast. This Western border outpost has murals that deserve closer historical scrutiny. Some say miniature painters from the hill kingdoms painted these murals on their way down from the hills in the 18th and 19th century. Currently, since this is classified neither as a dera nor a monument under SGPC, it has survived. SGPC or Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee at its very inception in 1925 was mandated to protect gurudwaras and monuments of Sikh importance. But there is growing evidence in the state of replacement of paintings that hinted at a more composite heritage, with Sikh martial history. Media reports of kar sevaks or volunteers, leading this visual whitewash have been as few as the success stories of conserving Punjab’s forgotten monuments. Here are some trinkets from Punjab’s monumental treasure chest.

 

Reminiscent of the Bani Thani style of Kishangarh miniatures, and named after a female court poet singer of mid 18th century. This is a less curvaceous and playful example of that tradition.

The play with Western imagery on walls of Sikh heritage is itself an example of an open tradition. On another wall, sits Kabir the mystic poet in a Brit forest ranger hat, weaving away.

 

For a middle class that considers devotion to be a fairly pious affair, these painters clearly wanted to have some fun with their gods. Ananda, a core aspect of Indian spirituality signifies an ease of being, where celebration is as natural as devotion, where chants come alive like the bugles of the divine

Once you’re done staring at the wires, look left for evidence of another rotund god. On the right are folk tale heroines of India and the Punjab

 

The eternal dance of a loved god who typifies not just the seasonal flavor of union, but a dance of life merging into the divine itself. Sikhism was also a protest march against the ritualized fervor of Hinduism. But here in a Sikh site, sit emblems of loved Hindu mythology. There are other murals which show syncretic moments like a divine marriage done by a Muslim cleric and a Hindu priest

 

In a double storeyed monument called Pothimala, said to contain the sacred book and Nanak’s own rosary, also sits a fresco feast.

 

Pothimala from the outside

 

A bylane near Faridkot. Where a European bard plays what looks like an Indian classical instrument

This wayfarer joint of yore is one of the best preserved specimens of Mughal caravan sarais built by one of Emperor Shahjahan’s nobles, along the old highway. Well preserved but hardly visited.