Daily Times

One of Indian subcontinent’s 400 years old historical city,and known as the Paris of Sindh in the past, Shikarpurharbours countless historical, classical and monumental buildings. The buildings have a classical archeological edifice and magnificent architecture, whichepitomize the grandeur of the city’s cultural heritage. Shockingly, because of inevitable reasons and Sindh government’s lack of interest,the architectural exquisiteness of the city has been fading with a fast pace. Constructed before 1950, Shikarpur’s1203 historical buildings were declared cultural heritage sites by UNESCO in 1998. However, around 251 have been sabotaged and the remaining ones are in dilapidated condition.

Of the 1203 buildings, a few are in the control of government and the remaining are all owned by residents of the city. The truthis that the owners whoinherited thesehistorical buildings from their forefatherslack the finances and technical knowledge to maintain and preserve them. Tokeep up the construction and intricate desgins of the buildings in their original condition is highly expensive. The material used in these buildings is rare in today’sage and there are very artisans or masons who mighthave theskills torepair these buildings in Sindh.Consequently, a large number of the buildings are on the verge of collapse and living in these buildings can be life threatening for the residents.

Manypeople trampling the cultural sites have defaced a number of monumental buildings and have alsostartednew construction on that land. Dueto the new construction wooden doors, windows and balconies, with intricate designs made of teak-a kind of wood that is weather and termite resistant-are taken out from the historical buildings and sold to people at high prices,who have now installed these in modern bungalows in big cities including Karachi, Hyderabad and Islamabad.

Founded in 1617, the emerald city of Shikarpur due to its strategic location had become the hub of international trade.People of the city had established trade links with Geneva, Rome, Iran, Iraq, Samarkand, Sumatra, Japan, Burma (Myanmar), and Honolulu etc.A branch of Central Bank of Asia was established in Bajaj Street in the city that testified these links. It was the center of manufacturing industrial products including brass and metal goods, carpets, cotton cloths and embroidery. During 18th and 19th centuries, it had made a marvelous development in politics.

Shikarpur being the seat of civilization, culture, trade, politics, trade and commerce had fabulous architecture, bungalows with bath tanks, and gardens with beautiful and perfumed flowers. It was originally a planned city with eight entrances including seven gates-Lakhi-Darr, Hathi-Darr, Sivi-Darr, Wagno-Darr, Karan-Darr, Naushero-Darr, Hazari-Darr, and one window called Khanpuri-Darri -this is why it was called Paris of Sindh in its heyday. The outstanding days of the city came to an end after the British took over Sindh in 1842.

The iconic scholar, journalist and writer, Pir Muhammad Ali Rashidi, describes Shikarpur’s historic splendor that he witnessed before the partition of British India, in one of his describes it in the following words:

“Shikarpur as I recollect from my early childhood memories was not less than a paradise for fun-loving wealthy people. The people of the city, their traditions and way of life were different from people of other parts of Sindh. The grandeur of the city was at its zenith. Sindh WakiBhai Bands (a class of Hindu business community) were dominant who had set-up trade relations with far away regions up to Samarkand and Bukhara. They used to bring all the wealth to Shikarpur they earned in overseas countries. They owned palatial houses. They had not spared anything to decorate the city with beautiful buildings and with neat and clean roads and streets. Charity,amidst other good qualities, was their inborn quality.”

A few of the buildingsare mentioned here.

DHAK BAZAAR

A famous market known as the Dhak Bazaar, situated in the heart of the city is built on the pattern of the covered bazaars of Bukhara, Samarkand and Istanbul – contemporary cities that were well known all over the world. The most amazing thing about this long and narrow bazaar, lined with shops on both sides, is the unique architectural design of crisscross ceiling, made of wood. The objective of constructing the crisscross ceiling was to allow wind and light to pass through it easily. The excessive use of wood in this irreplaceable architecture still seems to be the outstanding art of woodwork. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb built this stupendous architecture in the 1680s. Though the Sindh government has made some efforts to maintain this part of the heritage, shopkeepers have encroached on the both sides of it, making it too narrow.

SHAHI BAGH BUILDING

ShahiBagh (Royal Garden), once famous for its thriving vegetation, scented flowers and a zoo with a large population of lions, cheetahs, bears and wild boars, has wooden pavilion located in its center. This building, with idiosyncratic architectural design of wooden crisscross ceiling and walls and large entrances from all four directions, was designed by Preston Phelps, well-known painter of the Monadnockand was constructed by Sir William Merewether Lockyer, Commissioner of Sindh in September 1871. The building is also at the verge of deterioration.

C&S COLLEGE BUILDING

The classical historical building of C&S Government Boys Degree College was named after its founders, Chella Sing and Sital Das, and was constructed from 1927 to 1932 with an approximate cost of Rs.300,000 donated by various Hindu businessmen and traders. As Sindh was a part of Bombay the province of India, therefore the governor of Bombay had inaugurated the college on June 17, 1933 and was affiliated with Bombay University. During 1930s, there were overall 77 graduates in all of Sindh and it is due to this college that 70 of them were only from Shikarpur. The college playing constructive role in the development of education in the province has produced a huge number of high profile personalities including Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, former Care-taker Prime Minister of Pakistan, and ShaikhAyaz, a celebrated Sindhi poet. The building being in deplorable condition has been waiting for repairing work for its survival.

HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING

Built with efforts of Wadhu Mal, a Hindu businessman, in the early 20th century, the historic building of Government Boys High School No.02, once called Hopeful Academy, has a spacious double-story limestone structure adorned with patterns, carved stone frames, arches and accents. One of the special features of the building is its hall named Latif Hall, placed at the center of the building.

A number of monumental buildings have been affected by construction works underway in their surroundings. Wooden doors, windows, and intricate designs carved out of teak have been stolen from historical buildings and sold at high prices

The hall, with unique architectural design, has wooden beams carved in the shape of cheetah’s face. The classrooms are spacious and each one of them has four doors, two in the South direction and two in the North. Presently, the building’s survival is under threat because of the mismatched new construction of its damaged portions that has defaced its external and interior exquisiteness.

SHEVA MANDLI SHANKAR ANAND BHARTI TEMPLE

Founded 166 years back, the building of ShevaMandli Shankar AnandBharti temple, one of the city’s oldest buildings named after its founder Shankar AnandBharti, has a main hall for worship known as Samadhi, a separate place for Guru GranthSahb and a place of worship for Shiv Ling. In one room many Samadhis stand wherein many Hindu saints including Sultan AnandMaharaj and KishanMaharaj are buried. Another room is reserved for the path of Granth Sahib, where Hindus sit and recite the holy book. The building hasa lot of importance and high esteem among Hindu community has been deteriorating due to the lack of maintenance and repairing work of its damaged portions.

Shikarpur was added to the list of ‘100 Most Endangered Sites’ by World Monuments Watch list in 2008, 2010 and 2014. The stakeholders in this situation have done nothingto preserve cultural heritage of the city yet. Viewing the grave situation of cultural heritage, Sindh government in coordination with national and international donor agencies and trusts should shoulder responsibility to take constructive measures and concrete initiatives inproviding financialand technical assistance to preserve these monumental buildings. To ensure prevention of destruction of the buildings and selling and purchasing of woodwork and artifacts taken out of them, a heritage watch group needs to be set-up.

The writer is an academic, and can be reached on Twitter @ARShykh

Published in Daily Times, September 9^th 2017.