Heritage Walk Ahmedabad, Start Historic Walk

However walking is remedy and also the Ahmedabad heritage walk provides one with the perfect excuse to walk…walk…and walk a lot of to your heart's content. Walking, in our times has turn into a luxury. And why not? For who wouldn't fall in love with the antiquated slim lanes of older Ahmedabad whereby lie Ahmedabad's famous 'Pols' and where a number of the houses and temples are over 3 centuries old!

The Heritage Walk Ahmedabad starts at 8 A.M from the Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple and ends at the Jama Masjid (the walk is popularly called mandir to masjid!). The walk is overall a half of a conservation drive to save lots of the invaluable heritage of the old city and is chaperoned by conservation enthusiasts volunteering as our guides. It is conducted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in association with the Foundation for Conservation and Research of Urban Traditional Architecture (CRUTA).

Heritage walk Ahmedabad

Our journey of Heritage Walk Ahmedabad (as I'd like to decision it) started inside the slim serpentine lanes of the 'Pols' of Ahmedabad. The 'Pols' are distinctive feature of the old town Ahmedabad. In essence, they resemble a gated housing society where all the houses belong to people of a explicit family, caste, profession, religion etc. Many of the pols were engineered between one hundred to 300 years ago with the oldest being aptly titled the 'Mahurat Pol' engineered around 1714 ('Mahurat' suggests that 'inaugural'). These pols were engineered by community members to shield their respective groups in times of communal attacks and alternative such disturbances and therefore every pol had an entrance gate that was manned at nights and secret passageways for emergency escapes. A typical pol would carries with it clustered interconnected houses together with at least one temple, a well (in many cases) and a 'Chabutra' (bird feeding tower). There are over 600 such pols in Ahmedabad.

As we walked through the pols, I found myself in conversation with a civilization of the past through the ravishingly beautiful recent 'havelis' with intricate wooden carvings and massive over-hanging verandas, the various temples with ancestry dating back to 400 years and a approach of life that has been preserved over generations.

The distinctive 'Chabutras' or bird feeding towers and therefore the British built iron poles with a directional arrows stating the direction of the underground sewer are a number of the most unique options of the pols of Ahmedabad.

As our eager group walked through marveling at the previous homes and temples I realised that although abundant of the good wall built by Mehmud Begada in 1487 that fortified the previous city has come down, the culture and conventions of what life should are about a number of centuries ago has lingered on here…

Through the walk have a tendency to discovered gems like a four hundred-years-old underground Jain temple (photography strictly prohibit. Why was it underground? To avoid wasting it from being demolished by Aurangzeb's generals! Even additional intriguing was the 400-years-previous Kalaram Ji Temple that was perhaps the sole different temple in India that had a statue of a dark complexioned Lord Rama.

Amidst the overdose of temples we tend to stumbled upon a temple of another kind - The Calico Dome. You'd surprise what the remains of a wierd dome-like structure is doing in the middle of a heritage precinct. Believe me, the instant I saw the dome I thought of Jamal from Slumdog Millionaire selling the dome to the 'gora' tourist as some type of a UFO or perhaps remains of a Begin Trek movie set… However actually this used to once be a showroom house for Calico Mills and stands out for its distinctive 'geodesic' design which was inspired by the nice American futurist and architect Buckminster Fuller. Unfortunately a lot of the structure was consumed by the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. The Calico Dome is considered to be a reminder of the golden era of Ahmedabad's once famous textile industry.

The walk starts sharp at eight and lasts until 10:30am at the splendid Jami Masjid. It's one of the foremost magnificent structures in all of India and was said to be the biggest mosque within the Indian subcontinent till Shah Jahan built Delhi's Jama Masjid in 1650. It was built by the city's founder Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1424.

It was arduous to believe that simply a few kilometers away across the Sabarmati was another front of this city that boasted of contemporary buildings, flyovers and looking malls. I thought of the people who would be going to the newer part of the city for work every day. Won't it's some sort of a time-travel every morning and evening for these of us!

Six Must Visit Places in Ahmedabad City for Heritage Walk

Ahmedabad named after a medieval ruler of Gujarat Ahmed Shah who is the founder of the city, is that the textile city of India and is known as "Manchester of the East". Boasting concerning tourist attractions that are a perfect blend of ancient heritage and a vibrant trendy town life, heritage walk Ahmedabad has one thing for everyone visiting the city. Thus if you discover yourself during this lovely city of textiles then here is that the list of 5 should see places in the town.

1. Law Garden:

Visit to a Law Garden could be a must as this a hub for local vendors to display and sell superbly embroidered mirror worked short kurti, ghagra cholis, purses, table cloths, bed sheets, bed covers, cushion covers. Apart from that one will also find some stunning oxidised jewelry either in an exceedingly set or individual items. If you are a looking freak and know the way to cut price you'll be able to get the standard stuff at quite a low-cost worth.

If you do not love looking then worry not as Law Garden is additionally one of the foremost widespread picnic spots of town with the wide range of activities happening the premises. Thus head to the sprawling expanse of the garden either for a quite evening with friends or to savour some Gujarati delicacies at the Khau gali which roughly translated means that Food Street. The garden's sprawling expanse conjointly makes it an ideal venue for garbha nights and musical concerts hosted by the city.

2. Walled City and the gates

Tracing the history of wall encircling the town it's believed that after Ahmed Shah founded the town started growing steadily and became an influence centre hence Shah's grandson Mahmud Begda set to safeguard the city by fortifying it. Hence the 10km wall in circumference was designed around town protecting it from invasion.

This wall originally had twelve gates, 189 bastions, over 6,000 battlements and these were added to over time. However as town grew steadily most of the wall was knocked off however the gates are still standing because the witness of passage of your time, an era elapsed. Few of the gates that are still standing sort of a distinctive structure amidst the busy traffic are Shahpur Gate, Delhi Gate, Dariapur Gate, Prem Gate, Kalupur Gate, Panch Kuva Gate, Sarangpur Gate, Raipur Gate, Astodia Gate, Mahudha Gate, Jamalpur Gate, Khanjia Gate, Raikhad Gate, Ganesh Gate and Ram Gate. These gates with their beautiful carvings, calligraphy, and few of them with the balconies retained became a gathering place for the residents as they sit beneath them making a historical atmosphere in the middle of the ever growing city.

3. Teen Darwaza and Rani no Haziro

Apart from being an architectural delight the walled city is also famous for its various merchandise and one in every of them is cloth market. Therefore if you are inquisitive about fabric from Gujarat then head to the markets in Dhalgarwad, Teen Darwaza space, Sindhi Market and Rani no Haziro area that are cloth heaven of the city. This apart, they sell alternative knick knacks further which create a nice souvenir for the tourists.

Rani no Haziro is the Gujarati translation of the Queen's tomb where ladies members of the royal family were buried. Today Rani no Haziro is a market for girls's clothing and accessories.

Teen Darwaza, one in every of the longest and the oldest gateways of the city, is another architectural marvel, comprising of intricately carved arched gates. It's believed that Mughal emperor Jahangir used to come back here along with his beloved wife Noorjahan, to take a take a look at the procession that started from this grand gateway and went non stop till Jama Masjid.

Today the world at intervals this stunning structure boasts of a market selling everything from fabric to ancient artifacts and handicrafts. The structure is really an epitome of fine Islamic design with semi circular windows fantastically embellished using mesh.

4. Museums

Since the city is drenched in the fantastic past a visit to the museums of town is a must. Providing a valuable insight into the life-style, also culture of old Heritage Walk Ahmedabad, the museums like Calico museum of textiles, Sabarmati Ashram - the central purpose from the from where the struggle for India's Independence was started, Hussain Doshi Gufa conjointly referred to as Amdavad ni gufa - an underground art gallery displaying the works of famous Indian artist MF Hussain and designed by the famous architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi hence the name Hussain Doshi Gufa. It is referred to as 'gufa' because the structure resembles a cave.

5. Akshardham

Established in 1992 in the dedication of Lord Swaminarayana, Akshardham is an example of sensible craftsmanship and actually an architectural masterpiece. Located in Gandhinagar city (25kms), Akshardham temple is legendary for its various activities like art, education, exhibitions, and analysis all underneath one roof. This apart, other highlight of the temple is that the seven feet long idol of Lord Swaminarayana, the chief deity of the temple.

Intricately carved structure of Akshardham was engineered using pink stones and with the measurement of 240ft in length, 131ft in width and 108ft in height, it's the most magnificent edifice of contemporary India.

6. Walking History lesson

Whether you have restricted time or ample time you must select a 2 hours of heritage walk as it is a walking history lesson. Starting from the picturesque Swaminarayana Temple in Kalupur and ending in the foremost glorious architectural legacies of the Jama Masjid, the walk covers various pols, havelis, decorative facades, workplaces of artisans and variety of magnificent Hindu and Jain temples. There is also a half hour special slide show running through pages of the city's history unfolding back its birth from a 10th century AD ancient web site referred to as Ashaval to the present walled town re-founded during the period of Ahmed Shah and onwards.

Heritage Walks in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Back within the mid Nineties when I 1st started my personal discovery of Ahmedabad, I faced some stumbling blocks. Remember those were pre-Google days. One had to depend on traditional media for research, except for one's own primary expertise of visiting the Lal Darwaja, Ratan Pole. And very typically, it absolutely was a daunting task to piece all these scraps of knowledge into a cohesive whole. For unless you were a trained historian with a penchant for archeology, art & design, it had been a gigsaw only the terribly best could place together and start of heritage walk Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

Heritage Walk Ahmedabad

Around this point, organisations like INTACH, Indian Habitat Centre and a few others across the country started introducing the concept of 'Heritage Walks'. Within the forefront were architects, town planners, historians and naturalists its started as Heritage Walk Ahmedabad. Concerned regarding habitat preservation, their's was a tiny, albeit important step in raising awareness. This came as short in the arm for folks like me who were keen to understand town they lived in, but did not necessarily have the time to piece the various subjects mentioned higher than into a stirring patchwork that most historic cities are. Walking in Low Garden was suddenly a additional enriching experience. Along with the sweetness of its landscape, I felt a silent dialogue ensuing between me and the monuments.

Likewise a walk through Red Fort with a young INTACH historian brought alive the true beauty of the Fort in all its glory. Previous walks through its corridors and gardens was simply skimming the surface. Fact that it was home to the Mughals - Shahajahan, Aurangazeb right down to Bahadur Shah Zafar - was the broad level of understanding one came back with. The scenario modified a hundred fold, walking with a cluster of people that winter morning lead by the medieval history scholar. The story behind the hollow floral carving motifs on the walls, the technology behind the cooling method in the Nahr-i-Behisht (living pavilions), the garden layout...took my understanding of the Red Fort to a replacement high.

The imagination suitably fired, subsequent years saw me leave the cosy winter blanket early (out of character) to catch walks in and around Nizamuddin, Hauz Khas, Mehrauli, Tuglakabad, Khidki village, India Gate...The concept of Delhi as a living heritage has return home thanks to those walks. One in all my 1st advise to friends visiting town is keep during a Delhi bed and breakfast accommodation, and take a heritage walk. These 2 will offer you the key to the city's wealthy history and way of life.

Recent years have seen this idea catch on in different cities. Mumbai has quite a few heritage walks covering the historic sides of city. It is a nice means to work out the nineteenth century streetscape and neo-classical buildings of the Colaba space. The most common one starts from the Gateway of India and ends at the World Heritage website, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus. Walks like Khotachiwadi, Banganga near Walkeshwar, Crawford market, the Fort space and Bandra village have have conjointly caught the public imagination. Want one among the Koli settlement comes along within the near future.

Many alternative cities like Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur and Bangalore too have developed these routes to the delight of each locals and visitors alike.