ARCHITECTURE & LIFE PATTERN

Transcription

1 ARCHITECTURE & LIFE PATTERN OF TRADITIONAL AREAS IN A CITY FOR C ONSERVATIONAL EVALUATION A CASE STUDY OF PUNE

2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Architecture is considered as the mother of arts and it has shaped the appearances of the cities and towns aii over the world. It is particularly noticeable in cities that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries all over India. we find a fusion of architecture, urban planning, operation of socio-economic forces that resulted in a dynamic and vibrant urban structure. To study any one particular aspect of the architecture or all the allied disciplines of urban planning and urban forms, transportation, socio-economic structure, and development of trade and commerce, wiii not, be possible unless it is done by evaluating and recording atl the allied disciplines and the changes that took place over a period of time. In this study an endeavour has been made to record one of the important vanishing architectural and socio-economic phenomena that is observed in all these ancient cities like pune. We have studied the'alis' that are the earliest professional zones ascribed to specific trade like tambat, badhai, bohri, etc. In doing this we wiii be recording a very important architectural and urban morphological phenomenon, which, in some cases like the Pagadband Ali, has totally vanished. Reasons for Selection The selection of the city of Pune is significant because here was the virtual capital of India for a few decades d.uring the Peshwa Rule, though the officizrl capital of Marathos was Satara. The real power rested with the peshwas and in pune.

3 Consequently, Pune developed very rapidly and became a model for development of the 18th and 19th century capitals of the Maratha sardars. We find remarkable similarity between Pune and Indore. Vadodara and Gwalior in the distribution of the social groups and trades around the central core. In case of Pune, it was around the original centre of Pune during supporting trades got located. Thus Kumbhar Vesh quite close bv. the Kasba Peth which was the Mogul time, that the we find Tambat AIi or the The other reason for selection of Pune was the rapidly vanishing architectural and socio-economic structure that supported these olis. If not recorded there would be no material Ieft for any research about a very interesting architectural and urban planning phenomenon. The town planning and architectural courses that run in Pune have provided some basis for collection of some random data connected with the Ali. However, no concerted effort has been done to analyse and provide a comprehensive picture of all the angles of this phenomenon. Pune, the city described as the cultural capital of Maharashtra has a distinct social pattern of alis unlike the neighbourhood pattern that was recommended by Sir Ebenezer Howard for his garden city. During the Peshwa period the rulers invited people from various areas who had specialized skills to come and settle in Pune. As a result of this many professionals who were not Maharashtrian came and settled in the city. alis formed the places where these groups stayed together and carried out their trade and commerce. Socially, economically and

4 culturally, they were micro units that over a period of time got merged with the whole city's development' Ali is a street or group of streets inhibited by people of one community pursuing one trad"e. They have been named on the basis of the trade that they carried out, Iike Tambat AIi, Burud AIi, Stationery AIi, etc. These craftsmen lived in relatively dark, shady, congested areas. However, as the trade prospered they constructed better houses and. the olis became identifiable. socially, the 'bara baluted.ar'system existed, tambats, being one of the bara balute along with kasar, jingar, otaris, etc. The very early procedure was to provide the raw material to the kasar or the craftsman and ask him to prepare the object that you wanted. The person would take the object thus produced and pay in cash or kind, usually a bagful of rice or some other grain. As the trade expanded and more families migrated, surrounding areas were occupied and vertical expansion took place. Social and community related structures like marriage halls, temples, dedicated to deities that were important to the communities came up around these houses. This is the way the olls have evolved over a number of years. The construction material used by the people was mostly timber. brick, lime mortar and stonework for the foundation. The 1961 flood destroyed some of the structures and a new building material in form of R.C.C. was introduced. Similarly the building bye-iaws, widening of the roads, open space reservations and other kind of changes have been changing the structure of the ali. For some of the professions Pune was the

5 important centre. During the 19th century there were almost 2000 people working in brass and copper trade. They lived in Kasba, Shukrawar, Vetal, Budhwar, Ghorpade and Rasta Peth. They included. a large number of tambats, jingars, otaris and kasars. Past Works one of the best records and information was done by the British after they took over the reigns of Pune in 1820 from the Peshwas. This has been recorded in the gazettes of Pune, the earliest being referred. to as the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (published in 1885). Here we had ^ complete comprehensive record of the history, social structure, trade practices, costs and the amount of money that was charged for the product, etc. The number of people who were engaged in the trade was also recorded by them. This data and all the other information from the gazette provides the very early picture. However, they do not have the architectural, urban planning, aesthetics, transportation and many other physical aspects of these areas. If the British had, in fact, recorded the physical evidence it would have been the most comprehensive document important for any research scholar. My work is specially aimed at recording the architectural and aii the physical aspects of these select olis. Articles have been written, some limited studies have been made and urgency has been expressed in the past about the problems faced by these olis. As professional areas they have a unique character. Article on Tambat AIi refers to some of these aspects. However, covering so many alis and also trying to

6 provide suitable guidelines and rules and regulations for their conservation has never been attempted. It wiu be our endeavour to provide the procedures for record.ing protected structures identifying architectural conservation areas. The process of d,eclaration of such areas, suggestions regarding development control, have been made along with suggestions for conservation procedures for heritage structures. For arriving at the above it was necessary for someone to undertake a comprehensive study of a good number of alis, if not all of them in a comprehensive fashion. Urgency The urgency to record was evident when more than three fourth of the citizens of Pune were even unable to indicate the existence of. alis like the Pagadband Ali. These and many of the alis are on the verge of total change as a result of the tremendous socio economic and physical changes that are taking place in the exploding metropolis of Pune. If this study is not done in a comprehensive fashion today, then there will be no record or document which research scholars, architects, sociologists and economists can refer to get authentic idea of these urban phenomena that is ali. Today Pune is even changing from the 20th century image of a 'pensioners' paradise' and an 'educational city'. It is now emerging as the IT capital of Maharashtra along with numerous universities and educational institutions and Iarge industrial establishments like Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors. The social structure is also changing very rapidly. It is turning into a cosmopolitan metropolis from a purely Maharashtrian cultural capital. Consequently, there have been tremendous

7 architectural urban planning and other changes. This has made it imperative that this old 18th century phenomena of alis be recorded very urgently. Scope and Limitations There are many alis in the city of Pune. Considering our objective of finding some suitable way of protecting this architectural heritage and providing some guidelines for planning authorities in order to maintain these urban heritage zones, it was adequate to study about seven or eight of them. It would have been repetitive and too exhaustive to cover all the alis and peths that form part of old city of Pune. These alis have not been selected with any specific bias but are purely representative as can be noted from the trades covered and the geographic distribution all over the city. To arrive at some administrative guidelines it was necessary to record all the 13 or 14 parameters that have been studied for all these olis. These parameters and how they are studied has been suitably recorded in the Chapter'Methodology'. To explain the descriptive coverage of the ali it was necessary to have a proper study of the architectural and physical settings aspects of these olis. That has been done under about eight headings that have also been explained in the next chapter. It is not our intention to cover all the socio economic and physical problems associated with the ali including the problem of change of profession, migration, constructional changes, impact of transportation and impact of change of style and social habits like the disuse of tobacco and tobacco related products by many of the citizens.