If the fire that ravaged parts of the 18th century Kalas Mahal in Chennai this week is symptomatic of the callousness with which we treat precious heritage buildings in this country, the eagerness of the Tamil Nadu Minister concerned to demolish what remains of it suggests a disregard for history and aesthetics that is, quite simply, monumental. What is happening in Chennai is indicative of the state of heritage conservation in the country. At a time when the Archaeological Survey of India is celebrating its 150th anniversary, doubts about the protection of the Taj Mahal still persist. Many monuments have gone mysteriously missing as in Delhi. Varanasi, one of India's ancient cities, is yet to be comprehensively conserved. The greatest concern of all is the future of 700,000 unprotected heritage structures spread across many cities. As important as protected monuments, these buildings are the most vulnerable since they are in use and do not have sufficient legal protection.
Home to about 600 heritage structures, Chennai is notorious for losing its historic buildings to mysterious fires. Kalas Mahal is the fifth victim. What lies damaged, if not entirely lost, is an important piece of Indian history. The Kalas Mahal along with its adjoining structure, Humayun Mahal, is an early example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. A hybrid building style that combined Hindu and Saracenic elements originated here, spread across the country to reach Ajmer and Baroda, among other places, and eventually influenced the architecture of New Delhi. When the British took over this palace from the Nawab of Arcot in 1859, they enhanced its architectural importance and creatively used it as a public office. Unfortunately, post-Independence, this nationally significant complex was neglected. Had these buildings been properly retrofitted, much of the damage could have been prevented. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has done well to intervene and stop the Public Works Department from hastily demolishing the Kalas Mahal. The committee she has constituted to study the condition of the building should do a scientific analysis, with nationally respected conservation experts leading the decision-making. It should also look at the entire building complex, and come up with a comprehensive plan to highlight the heritage value of the place. A well-restored Kalas Mahal will set a good precedent and Chennai could show the way for other cities to follow.
Keywords: Kalas Mahal, Archaeological Survey of India
I do not live in India. I am proud to call myself an Indian and immensely proud of India's cultural heritage. In Western countries, people do lot of research for preserving historical buildings. They make chemical analysis of the paint on the buildings and use the same pain t on these historical buildings. When temples are renovated in India, they use gaudy paints. It is the people not the Government who try to preserve historical buildings and cultural heritage. Government's contribution is very little. Do people of India really give a hoot about preserving their heritage and culture? I often wonder about it. Look at the amount of money invested in taking stupid vulgar movies and honoring the movie stars in Tamilnadu. How many of the movie producers and movie stars would be willing to restore India's historical buildings to its past glory? People of Tamilnadu should come forward to restore these buildings and preserve the culture and heritage of Tamilians.
''we are happy that structures are to be saved for heritage value.But what about preserving the life stories of men and women who had contributed the glories of this state over the years.We are boasting of 2000 yrs about this part of the country but we do not speak of any great people apart from Kamaraj,EVR,Ambedkar,Gandhi,Anna and MGR. No doubt they are great and we have memorials for them.But what about others? 2000 yrs should have had bigger names also.We should know about them.The memorials fpr them would be also important and relevant for many generations.
This is sad to see not only the destruction of heritage due to fire, but the further destruction due to demolition. There are means to protect cultural heritage from fire that allow risk-informed decisions to be made by stakeholders in developing cost-effective solutions. These include mitigation solutions that are low cost/high impact solutions that greatly enhance protection of our heritage. In looking at fires in historic structures, common themes continue to arise as to why they become so devastating and that we must mitigate against. These include the significant combustible materials and ignition sources present, no detection that delays notification of emergency responders, breached fire separations that allow fire to spread and no automatic suppression systems. Hopefully these are being addressed in other buildings including Fort St George.
Chris Marrion - Fire & Risk Expert, New York
We, of late, evince scant respect to our legacies and heritages. Perhaps, in our scramble for huge money, we pursue the wrong track to cultural progress. Doing so, we not only make a deprivation to ourselves but commit a cruelty to the posterity. Even the British during the pre-independence days, displayed a patronising stance in the matter of preserving monuments. The partial ravge of Kalas Mahal by a "mysterious fire" is another instance of our neglect towards one of the surviving souvenirs of our tradition. We are notorious in demolishing the heritage constructions to pave the for raising skyscrapers that house pubs and star hotels. This contrasts our cultural impulses with those of the Western countries like Germany who keep keen interest in preserving the original features of time-honoured constructions while making their renovation or remodelling. The heritage constructions flaunt disparate architectural, sculptural and aesthetic strands of civilizations and must be conserved.
I think the people of chennai should start a massive signature campaign to protect their heritage structures.I had seen the khalas Mahal when i had visited India in 2006,it was realy magnificant.It is high time the Heritage panel will restore the monuments
When our politicians do not know the word 'heritage', leave alone it's meaning, we can not expect these structures to be preserved.It is a sad, but an unfortunate truth, that we elect people who are unfit to govern us. By the time we elect good people most of our heritage structures will perish.
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