SA Site Cover: Shaniwar Wada, Pune by Rakshanda Thakur

By -



When we hear the name Shaniwar Wada the first thing that comes to our mind is the movie Bajirao Mastani and the majestic structure it portrayed, but sadly, it's not what we imagine it to be except some ruins that stand witness to a glorious past. A fire in 1827 that lasted for 15 days destroyed the fort. Before going to the fort I read a little about it and thus I was prepared to see fort in a hopeless condition, but really it wasn't so. 
The entrance to the fort was the Dilli Darwaza, which was intact and relatively in a very good shape, the huge iron door which was built to stand almost anything did what it was meant to do and survived the fire. As soon as I entered the huge iron gate, the inside of the gate the situation changed and the sorry state of the monument was revealed, with the fresco almost fading and the wall plaster falling off. There was a ticket booth or two, I can't seem to remember considering I had been there almost a month ago. When I turned towards the main complex, I expected a half burnt structure, but apart from some column base, platform remains and cannons nothing had survived the fire. The next thing that caught my eye was an intricate water system, with various baths and reservoirs and it really makes one wonder about the importance the Peshwas gave to water because these structures take up a lot of area of the fort and was truly advanced.

As I moved ahead, the next thing I saw was a brick reconstruction of the stone wall, it wasn't done properly to say the least. A flight of stairs led to the top where some locals told me about a secret passage that led to a river where the Peshwa went for daily prayers. From the top a moat was visible on one side and the office of ASI on the other hand and a load of garbage just next to it, it was definitely shocking, but apart from it the view was breathtaking, if you spend some time looking at the remains of the buildings and the fountains you can almost imagine it standing in all its entirety. The whole experience can be described as a bittersweet one because most of the monument is lost but the remains still tell the story.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Vav Factor: Sevasi Vav, Vadodra by Ramyani Sengupta

By -
Image
                    The Sevasi Vav, Vadodara           Click here for our Sevasi Vav Video In all of western India, you will be able to find stepwells, from the coasts of Karnataka, to the arid lands of Gujarat and Rajasthan. And then,  are  some in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, too. They provided travellers with a place to rest, and prevailed as a place to socialize, as well as acted as a medium for storing drinking water (there is no reason to boast about the advent of social networking for you in the 21st century–the wise Yodas from the past did this). More than 200 stepwells are expected to be located in Gujarat alone today–making it very easy to picture their figures in the past. Their water storage effectiveness has helped local residents survive for hundreds of years, in the semi-arid  climate  and  seasonal fluctuations.   From northern Patan region to Baroda in the south-Stepwells  (or the  Vavs ) can be found  almost everywhere in Gujarat. Their walls were decorated j
Read more

Writing Gender History: A Speaking Archaeologically Task that became more difficult than it seemed

By -
Image
It all started with a flyer for a conference and from the sudden uprising of feminism in Archaeology—or rather an unprecedented growth of interest in Women in Archaeology amidst the situation of the global pandemic. "But we have more women archaeology students at Speaking Archaeologically than men," argued Simran Kaur Saini as we discussed this in the Research Wing. "Women are an essential part of history and archaeology. They have been so for quite a while. Where's the debate in that?" I had to concur with the argument wholly. I knew more women than men in Archaeology and what women at that! Some of the fiercest scholars, some serious forces to be reckoned with on the field, not to mention several archaeological entrepreneurs I know and liaise with, all of them are women. This task before us, that stemmed out of a Call for Papers invite, was going to be a cakewalk, right? Wrong!  That's because the problem of writing a history of women, their role in and co
Read more

Understanding Coinage of the Past: Indo Greek Coins by Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi: A Lecture Review by Kajal Bawa

By -
Image
  Make mistakes but make mistakes intelligently. Already in awe of Prof. Bopearachchi from when he spoke to Speaking Archaeologically about the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, we were more than elated when he graciously agreed to give us two more lectures on the coinage of the past. Exploring Indo-Greek Coins in the first lecture , he showed that the reconstruction of the history of the Greeks in Bactria and India as well as their nomadic successors is entirely dependent upon coins and inscriptions. Only a few texts explore their history and these are scattered across Greek, Latin, Indian and Chinese texts.  What was most fascinating about the lecture was the approach Prof. Bopearachchi took towards studying coinage. I always assumed that studying coins would be limited to the coin itself- its shape, material, contents as that is how we had always studied it. This is important but my understanding was taken to the next level as Prof. Bopearachchi provided a context to this study. He highli
Read more