Heritage Club Activities Lesser Known Monuments

Introduction Heritage club of your school, like all the other clubs focuses on one specialized aspect, in this club you will be learning about our country’s rich and composite heritage. The main aim of this club would be to take up activities and initiatives to spread awareness among the school community about our country’s cultural and social value.

This activity focuses on exploring lesser known monuments of our country, which are also a very crucial part of our history; they serve as important links in understanding the socio – cultural dynamics of their time period, and widen our understanding of built heritage sites.

As we all know, India is one of the most ancient civilizations of the world and hence the range of built material remains that we have, is also very varied. The organization that primarily looks after all such important heritage buildings is the Archaeological Survey of India, which is present in most Indian cities and towns. The ASI’s work is also supplemented by the State Archaeology Departments and Non – governmental organizations like INTACH, which support this mammoth task of conservation and preservation of heritage sites across the country.

So while some monuments like the Taj Mahal, Humayun’s Tomb, Gol Gumbaz and the Charminar are too well known to students as well as general public, there is a lot more that needs to be discovered and be known about in order to appreciate the heritage of our country and learn from our ancestors.

Following are some examples of lesser known monuments from across the country:

Chor Minar, New Delhi - The monument belongs to the Khalji period

1 and was built in the 13th century. It is called the Chor – Minar! Its nomenclature derives from the primary function of the monument. It is believed that this monument was built by the ruler to send out the message, loud and clear that anybody found violating the laws of the land and found guilty of misconduct would face the wrath of the ruler.

This minar is built of rubble masonry, and stands on a platform, which has a height of 7 inches. The platform has recessed arched on 3 sides, it has around 225 holes. It is said that these holes displayed the severed heads off miscreant especially those found guilty of grievous faults.

A more plausible and historical explanation about this monument comes from some historians who opine that the severed heads were not of thieves but of Mongol invaders, this was done by the ruler to discourage the regular Mongol attacks on India. It is said that the heads of chiefs were displayed and the rest of the heads were piled up near the structure to strike fear in the hearts and the minds of invaders and send out a clear message.

Bhuikot Fort, Solapur - The Solapur fort or the Bhuikot Fort meaning (Fort built on Flat Land) is a 14th century fort, built by the Bahamani rulers, the fort is known for its impressive technical architectural design, which is oblong and irregular in design.

The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb lived in this fort for a long time during his Deccan Campaign, also Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II is said to have held the possession of this fort. This fort also has a ruined Hindu temple and a small zoo, its known for lush green surroundings and ecological richness. It forms the backdrop to the Siddeshwar Temple as well.

Kamal Basadi, -The Kamal Basadi is a dated to the year 1204 and is said to have been built by the Chalukaya rulers. The chief of this temple is Lord

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Neminath, whose idol is found inside the temple. It is made of black stone.

The temple has a tiered roof which resembles the structure of a pyramid, the Mukhamandapa or the roof of the temple has a beautiful lotus carving, which are 72 in total, of these 24 petals have figures of the Tirthankra, the rest 48 are meant for present and future . The temple gets its name from its elaborate ceiling design.

Ujjayanta Palace, Agartala: This palace was built by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a two storied mansion, which is a mix of various architectural styles namely Greek Roman and Mughal. The palace is placed within a Mughal style garden, surrounded by water pools. The lighting and the fountains further add to the exquisiteness of this monument which now serves as the building of the State Legislative Assembly.

Getting Involved

In order to explore monuments which are slightly less well – known, but nonetheless equally important, here are some suggested activities that you can undertake as a heritage club:

1. You can start with selecting a place i.e. a city or town that you want to know more about - once you have done that, you can look up information on the web about the place, this information should be supplemented with the help of books.

You can then collate your findings and submit a report to your heritage club in-charge.

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 In this report you can talk about the history of the city/town  Heritage Sites in the city/town  The material heritage of the place  Suggestions for conservation and preservation, if any

2. You can also select a lesser known monument, in your own city/ town. You can spread more awareness about the monument -

 By organizing a visit/ heritage walk to this monument  You can share you experience of the visit, with other students in the morning assembly and urge them to take care of our heritage.  You can make a one page information sheet about your monument and make it digitally available.

3. Organize cleanliness drive

 Most public places in India are known to be littered and dirty by visitors, who do not display any sense of responsibility to public spaces; most heritage sites also have a similar story.  Thus when visiting a heritage site, you can also organize a cleanliness drive.  You can also raise awareness among other visitors, by requesting them not to litter the site.

4. You can organize an intra- School, painting and essay competition on the topic – “Lesser Known Monument”.

 Students will have to draw and paint about lesser known monuments from the city or from different cities of India  In the essay, students can write about - the unique architectural features of the monument, its historical importance, suggestions for conservation etc.  The best entries can be awarded with a heritage club badge and passport.

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5. Your school’s annual festival can have a section on “heritage and its value”.

 You can showcase activities of your heritage club over the year.  You can also stage a play or compose a song, narrating the importance of historical structures (or any theme/ monument of your choice)  You can use art forms like dastangoi, qawwali, street plays etc to make your presentation more creative and engaging.

The above listed activities are designed to guide you to explore different kinds of heritage structures and learn more about them, in order to be more aware and responsible citizens of our country.

References www.thedelhiwalla.com marvelousbelgaum.in www.karnataka.com www.tripuratourism.gov.in www.solapuronline.in

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