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the-south-asian.com September 2004 |
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September
2004 Heritage
Salman
Ahmed - yet Indo-Pak TV Culture
Lifestyle
Lehngas - a limited collection Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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BALLABGARH - AMONGST PALACES AND PLUNDERERS by Himmat Dhillon
Travellers on the Delhi-Agra road drive past Ballabgarh, a dusty hamlet just outside of Delhi, seldom aware of its resplendent fort, built with honey-coloured stones. The main gateway is flanked by stone jharokas and gracefully fashioned stone pillars.
People travelling on the Delhi-Agra highway for a visit to the Taj Mahal could easily miss Ballabgarh without so much as a thought. But if you ignore the insignificant turning immediately after Faridabad the loss would be entirely yours. An experienced traveller's advice would be to take this turn off the busy highway and head for Ballabgarh just 38 kilometres from Delhi. Here, ask for the way to Raja Ballu's Palace. You will be directed to a nondescript structure opposite a dilapidated police station. There is no magnificent facade to greet the visitor. Since the days of the Rajas the town has drifted towards degeneration and chaos. But don't get disappointed. Merely turn the corner. Voila! You come face to face with the main gateway which is a dream composed of honey-coloured stones. It is flanked by stone jharokas and gracefully fashioned stone pillars. This is what Ballabgarh is all about. Things are not always what they seem here. And entering the building is like being transformed by a magical spell into another age. Originally this was a massive fort complex in which were situated the Raja's palaces. Yes, palaces. This was a complex that comprised several mansions organically bonded together to form one loosely structured living unit. What remains today is a square double storied building made of albino sandstone. There are two entrances through elaborately carved doorways. The pillared upper hall carries tantalizing nuances of the royal apartments in the Red Fort.
Foundation of Blood But Ballabgarh is not a very ancient town. The earliest account one finds is of Gopal Singh, a Jat Zamindar, who settled in the neighbouring village of Sihi. The manuscripts, which date back to 1710, describe Ballabgarh as a land of plunderers and looters. A principality built upon a foundation of blood. The scions of the royal house had a penchant for the gruesome. Blood-soaked tales of revenge and battles for succession abound. Over the years the plunderers wrested a legal legitimacy by being granted the rights of revenue collection by the Mughals. These were wild days when the centre was beginning to lose its hold after the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. One of Ballabgarh's most powerful rulers, Ballam--more popularly known as Ballu--after whom the small town is named, took on the mighty forces of the Mughals. By 1750 he had built himself this fabulous fort from where he wreaked havoc on all and sundry. But Ballu invited the wrath of the Mughal rulers by sacking the city of Sikandrabad some 50 kilometres from Delhi. The Mughals dispatched a mighty force and things were only resolved after Ballu’s severed head was displayed prominently on the Grand Trunk Road. If you listen carefully you can still hear these tales being whispered by the breeze blowing gently through the arches of pillared halls in Ballu's fort. Carved jharokas embellished with latticework in stone tell tales of an era gone by. However, these thoughts are interrupted by the flurry of restoration work that is going on. At one end of the open courtyard a camel is moving in a circle and driving a Gharaat---a stone crushing mill for the limestone used for the ongoing restoration. This is the first step in preparing the plaster that will give a new lease to the tired old walls. Everything is being done using traditional methods. The masons and craftsmen who are working on this project are from Rajasthan and well versed in the old methods of construction. Girdhari Lal, a master craftsman pauses for a moment and explains, "first a coating of plaster of a grainy nature is applied to fashion the basic shape. Then, a fine grained limestone plaster is prepared in which a few drops of coloured dye are added for the finer details and decorative motifs." It was these very gifted artisans who had earlier restored Neemrana and Chandrapur to their present glory. They talk of their work in an idiom that is their own and at times this can prove to be impossible to translate. Artists At Work
The sheet is then placed on a prepared slab of white sandstone that has been brought from Dholpur. A cloth saturated with the finest charcoal dust is then wiped along the perforations in the paper. When this is removed, you can see the design of the jaali drawn upon the stone. Now comes the real work and this is not an easy task at all. The work is carried out using stone styli and hammers of all sizes and descriptions that are kept in a wooden chest. Whatever the level of technology, the tools seem as complicated as a dentist's instruments.
In keeping with the building norms of its time, the
structure is centred around an open It was after the Great Mutiny or India's First War of Independence, that the last ruler of Ballabgarh met his nemesis. In the words of a British officer who chronicled the entire events, "Raja Ballu was hung for his lukewarm response to the Mughal authority and his estates confiscated." One really must hand it to the British – for being the undisputed masters of the understatement! After that the principality of Ballabgarh was amalgamated into British India and the Ballabgarh Fort functioned as a tehsil headquarter. It was no less than sacrilege to have such a handsome and well crafted edifice serving to house the treasury on one side and the munsif's court on the other. This state of affairs continued until recently when the renovation work began and this can only mean that Ballabgarh's best days are yet to come. ****
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