Visit To Sultan Garhi;Thursday 4th of September

   The Heritage Action Research Team was back into action with another visit to Sultan Garhi,the tomb of Iltutmish's eldest son,Nasir ud-din Mahammud.What is fascinating about this tomb is that it is also revered as a shrine by the residents of the nearby villages.We all went together to see the tomb's transition into a shrine on the tomb's auspicious day:Thursday.

    At the tomb,we saw a much different atmosphere from what we had ever seen before,there was an ongoing langar,many devotees were going to the shrines and offering thier prayer.We split our team into three parts one was going to interview the flower seller,the other group would interview the people at the langar and my group went into the tomb to interview various devotees who were offering their prayer.As we interviewed the many devotees,we discovered many new facts:

1. The devotees come to worship Peer Baba.
2. According to tradition,they always pray to Peer Baba every Thursday,that being the holy day of Peer baba.
3. The devotees also told us that they believe that everything that they wish for comes true when they ask Peer Baba.
4. One man told us that behind Sultan Garhi there had been a village known as Milakpur(Malikpur) who used to pray at this shrine.Then,the water ran out from their well and they had to leave that area but they still come and pray at the shrine.
5. The group that went to the langar found out that it was being managed by the Shehrawat family,residents of the erstwhile Milakpur village.
6. For the prayer,devotees go below the octagonal chattri and lay a chadar,light aggarbattis,place a garland of flowers and as prasad put laddus,pedha and gudh(jaggery).
7. Certain devotees described their prayer as a parampara(tradition) and some as aastha(faith).
8. Young men climb upon the chhatri and put water and grain for the birds as a part of their prayer,every Thursday and Sunday.
9. Adjoining the tomb and near the Tughlaq era well is another shrine of Dada-Bhaiya which has been for almost 150 years as told to us by one man.He also told us that the shrine is incomplete as the government is not allowing them to construct as Sultan Garhi is a protected monument and construction is banned.

      Overall this trip was a very productive one and we seemed to have got a much deeper insight into Sultan Garhi.I would like to thank Mr.Jha,Mrs.Shukla,Mrs.Ghoshal and Mrs.Aggarwal for this wonderful research trip.We hope to very soon develop this knowledge into a movie and a written brochure/manuscript.

AIIS-Trip II

4th Field Trip-To American Institute of Indian Studies

 On the 11th of March our team,HeART(Heritage Action Research Team) visited the AIIS once again.This time our main purpose was to explore their audio visual archives,delve into oral history and get a better understanding of the art of audio and study of ethnomusicology(the study of music in a social context:any form of performing arts such as plays,dance,music and poetry).

 We were welcomed to the institute by Mr.Uma Shankar,a famed,distinguished audio wizard.He introduced us to the field of ethnomusicology,that the ARCE(Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology) houses over 25000 hours of recordings,with technology from the early 20th century.He said that music is a medium through which people interact but written notes capture the context of the spoken material much better than audio records.Mr.Shankar was joined by Dr.Shubha Chadhuri,the head of the ethnomusicology department spoke to us extensively about the archives and the concept of oral history through a power point presentation.

  Dr.Chadhuri told us that these recordings are mostly created by researchers and people who are making documentations.she also said that the archive has to deal with a major problem,keeping up with the pace of developing technology and taking a lot of care of these records and the equipment required to play them.In the power point presentation,Dr.Chadhuri explained that oral history is a form of recent history as narrated by a practitioner,community member or an individual,it the use of personal knowledge,questions and answers,collecting and creating memories.These are found in the from of audio recordings,notes,photographs and videos.She further on said that this form of history is very different as it contains first person accounts,personal voices and recollections,what people remember,what is their opinion,it adds to the value of written accounts and has the capability to create "documents" in a field of research where none exist.
  Dr .Chadhuri added on by saying that when we go about oral history projects,we should do a small share of background research as it helps an interviewer be more prepared and ask better questions.As a piece of advice we were told to have immense respect for our subjects,we should listen with care,take down meticulous notes,not interrupt and always keep in mind that your subject is the one with the knowledge not you.We can collect a vast variety of things that come under the title of oral history,they being:

• Memories and recollections
• Stories,Legends and myths
• All manner of oral account

 Another extremely part of oral history is preserving it in the form of documents so that they can be referred to easily later and we should always keep the 5 W's in mind.They should be preserved with a number,identity,label or marking.Dr.Chadhuri pointed out the advantages of archiving oral history:

1. Other people sharing same interests can use the work
2. The people who recorded them can get easy access to them
3. The work can be used in the future
4. Fact-Your Oral histories are the only record of your creation
5. Each document created is unique in it's own way

Oral histories are archived in three steps

1. The original copy is preserved
2. The text/spoken material is transcribed
3. All material is indexed,catalogued and made available to others

These documented oral histories have many uses:

• Films and documentaries
• Museums and exhibitions
• Research
• Dramatization

 The documentation of oral history also has many ethics surrounding it:

1. Be honest and transparent about your purpose
2. Remember these are precious,personal memories and accounts,community representations or cultural expressions that is being shared.
3. Take permission beforehand(Free prior informed consent)
4. Share copies of recordings and photos as relevant
5. Give copies of agreement forms

We then visited the audio archives where Mr.Shankar showed us different types of equipment to store audio,equipment to play it and of course the archive section which is kept at a cool temperature of 16 degrees celsius and humidity of 45%.He also told us the laws of physics applied when recording and tips and tricks to a better audio clip.

  It was truly an amazing experience thanks to Mr Uma Shankar,Dr.Shubha Chadhuri(to which I have immensely referred to for more information about oral history),Mr.Jha and Professor Khanna.I hope in the future we can achieve our goal and learn a lot more from this excellent institute.

 Our Third Trip-To American Institute of Indian Studies
On the 25th of February,2014 HeART(Heritage Action Research Team) went to AIIS to study on the two topics chosen by us-Sultan Garhi and Gadia Lohar.My topic of interest was the development of Sultan Garhi as a sufi shrine.
 We reached AIIS and were welcomed by Ms.Vandana Sinha who further introduced to us the institute,it's library and visual archives.It was extremely fascinating to see coins from the Gupta and Greek period.The institute had 15 photos of Sultan Garhi and it's surroundings from 1989.Our project would now be a lot more insightful as we will be able to make a visual comparison of Sultan Garhi over a time period of 25 years.Each photo in the archives had an information slip attached to it with it's location and a detailed description.
 We later had around 45 minutes to explore their colossal library which contained 75000 books.Their system of finding the books was very interesting,they had a index drawer almirah through which one could look for a key word of their book/topic and give a number to the librarian who would help you find the book.They have also digitalised this process.I looked through multitudinous keywords and after searching many books found a chapter of the book 'Delhi and it's monuments'which gave knowledge about this monument.
 I found out that this is the oldest tomb in India,was built for Slave emperor Iltutmish though his son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was buried there and the literal meaning of Sultan Garhi is Sultan of the cave.
  Extensive research also showed that the grandsons of Iltutmish were buried to the south of the tomb.The tomb's architectural has been heavily influenced by Rajasthani temples as well as mosques of the north-west.An interesting fact I found was that this tomb had been restored by Firoz Shah Tughlaq by using Rajasthani marble.The author of this book mentioned a document named Futuhat by General Cunningham which is said to give a deep insight into Sultan Garhi.I hope that this document can solve the mystery of Sulatn Garhi becoming a Sufi shrine.We also spoke to the chief architect who has been making plans of numerous monuments and temples of India.
 AIIS has also published over 2000 books and photographed museums and excavated historical sites.I would really thank Mr.Jha,Proffesor.Khana ,Mrs.Sinha and everybody behind the trip for such a wonderful learning.Iwish we could go back there again and pick up the information they have for us so we can achieve our goal.

My Topic for Research

  True Heritage is that a culmination of all are heritage without any discrimination between caste,creed or religion.Sufism is a belief that brings together Hindus and Muslims.My topic for research is how did Sultan Garhi earn it's title as a Sufi shrine from being a simple tomb and why it has such a complexed architechtural style as I mentioned earlier.I hope that by doing substantial research and by help from my teachers I can achieve my target.

Visit to Aravali Biodiversity park and Sultan garhi

 On our second trip,we went to the aravali biodiversity park and Sultan garhi.At the Biodiversity park first we spoke to Dr.Hussain Shah who gave us a talk on ecological services and advantages of our biodiversity,which is the interaction of all living organisms with each other.In the end we saw a movie on butterflies and it's 17 features:

1. They pollinate 87% of all pollen grains on Earth.
2. Enables many smaller species to live and thrive.
3. One of the best pollinators
4. They can only see red,yellow,orange and green.
5. A few flowers can only be pollinated by them.
6. They are very delicate.
7. Most caterpillars are green and brown and they camouflage very well on plants.
8. Butterflies only land on bright colourful flowers.
9. They are very sensitive to pollution.
10. Help in bio-control of weeds.
11. Are killed by insecticides.
12. 18000 species worldwide.
13. 1501 species in India.
14. The park has recorded 95 species.
15. Part of food chain.
16. Mud Puddling-males sit on mud and suck up nutrients.
17. Only lays eggs on specific plants.

We then saw the butterfly park followed by the rainforest which is still in making.

Next we went to sultan garhi,the first tomb ever built in India,that of the son of Iltutmish,heir to the throne,Nasir-u-ddin Mahmudd,the governor of Lucknawti,who died in battle.It was built in 1213.
It has a very different architechtural style which is octagonal in shape,it has watch towers,pillars stolen from Hindu temples,mosque had place for shivling and kalash and there were squire domes.
It is an underground grave where the people are buried and now it is not only a sufi shrine for Hindus and Muslims but on a yearly basis hosts a big mela for eunuchs.
This trip was very interesting and I am dearly looking forward to many more trips in the future.

Our First Heritage Visit

On the 8th October,our heritage group visited the Gadia Lohar community,Hauz-i-Shazmi,Jharna,Gandhak ki baoli and Jahaz Mahal.Though I was not there for the visit,I had visited Jahaz Mahal before and these are my views of the Mahal.
    The Mahal had recently been painted and restored in a very beautiful manner.The tale was of the time of the Sultanate when Qutubuddin Aibak dreamed that Allah's horse landed on that place and he ordered that the Mahal be built alongwith a watertank for the Mehrauli city.Still the restoration did not give that old charm of this historic building and for sure the government was not giving this monument and it's surroundings enough importance.