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Gaur: Glory, Ruin, Rediscovery

Scattered across a strip of land that was once a confluence of the Old Ganges and Mahananda rivers, the ruins of Gaur are now distributed between the district of Maldah in West Bengal and Chapai Nawabganj in Bangladesh. Known variously as Gauda, Lakshmanavati, Lakhnauti and Gaur, this ancient city served as the seat of many powerful dynasties over time. It was ruled by the Buddhist Pala kings from the 8th century onwards and Hindu Sena kings from the 12th century on, eventually falling into the hands of the Delhi Sultanate in 1204. It thrived during the Bengal Sultanate, passing between prominent dynasties including the Ilyas Shahi, Habshi and Hussain Shahi kings, the remains of whose architectural heritage are still very much evident on this site.

 

It was Sher Shah Suri’s invasion of Bengal in 1539 that marked the beginning of Gaur’s decline — the city was sacked and left deserted in its wake. An outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1575 dealt it a death blow. The site lay abandoned for centuries during which nature took its course: the dense jungle grew between and among the ruins, and the Ganges, too, altered its course. It was also looted over this period by smugglers in search of buried treasure and dismantled piece by piece by brick-hunters.

 

This was the state of the ruins when Henry Creighton, an employee at an indigo plant near Malda, decided to document them with meticulous drawings and notes from 1786 until his death in 1807. Decades later in the 1860s, John Henry Ravenshaw, an employee at the Bengal Civil Service, spent years photographing these ruins. Published posthumously with the effort of his widow, Caroline Ravenshaw, these photographs show how the ruins of Gaur, even in their state of decay, reveal magnificent details from a bygone era of splendour. From these meticulous accounts which form part of the Sarmaya collection, we present 10 exquisite photographs and a minutely detailed map that together tell the story of the rise, fall, ruin and rediscovery of Gaur.

 

Curated by Sridevi Nambiar

 

Featured in this exhibition are images from the following rare books/albums  from the Sarmaya collection:

Gaur: Its Ruins And Inscriptions, 1878, by John Henry Ravenshaw. Acc.no. 2016.26.1

The Ruins of Gour: Described and Represented in Eighteen Views, with a Topographical Map, Compiled from the manuscripts and drawings of the late H Creighton, 1817, by Henry Creighton. Acc.no. 2020.1.8

A Map of Gour, 1801, by Henry Creighton

The site of Gaur, during Creighton’s inspections between 1786 and 1807, stood uninhabited and overgrown to the east of the Ganges. From the remnants of old embankments that once encircled the city, he estimated it to have stretched about 10 miles long and a mile to a mile-and-a-half wide. Creighton notes that the banks were built strong enough for good strategic defence and protection from floods, with several high gateways, most of them in ruins. Within, he marks out two grand roads that ran across the city, as well as ditches, canals, large and small tanks, and bridges scattered across it.

Kotwali Gate, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Now a checkpoint at India’s border with Bangladesh, the Kotwali Darwazah was once the central gate in the south wall of the city of Gaur. As its name suggests, it was where the Chief of Police (kotwal) was stationed. Battlements stood on either side of the gateway for military guards to fire from; the remnants of these are still visible. The arch of the gate, already in a state of decay when photographed by Ravenshaw in the 1860s, no longer exists. Despite its state at the time, Ravenshaw wrote of the gate as being one of the most imposing structures in the ruins of Gaur.

Corridor of Golden Mosque, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

The largest of Gaur’s ancient monuments, the Great Golden Mosque or Sona Masjid possibly owes its name to the fact that the domes were once gilded, traces of which were evident to Creighton during his inspection of the site between 1786 and 1807. The gilding no longer remains in this gigantic stone and brick structure built by Nasrat Shah in 1526, but the surface of the mosque is said to have once been ornamented to the extent that it seemed to be built entirely of gold when struck by sunlight. The mosque is locally also known by the name Baradwari, which translates to a building holding 12 doors, even though the structure holds only 11.

Lattan or Painted Mosque, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

The Lattan Masjid or Painted Mosque was once covered entirely by enamelled brickwork in green, yellow, blue and white. It is said to have been built by Sultan Yusuf Shah, among the last of the Ilyas Shah rulers of Bengal, in 1475, as per an inscription that Henry Creighton found in the area. Before being restored, the floor of the mosque is believed to have been damaged by trespassers digging for buried treasure. Such excavations were common among the ruins of Gaur, leaving remnants of large halls, passages, stairways and other structures that once made up the glorious city.

Section of Bais Gaji Wall, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Named Baiz gazi possibly because it measured 22 Bengali gaz (yards) in height, these are the remains of the old palace enclosure within the Fort of Gaur. The wall is said to have been 700 yards long from north to south and 230-300 yards wide, encircling the royal residence. Open areas and sites with buried structures were often vulnerable to having bricks removed from them for reuse by villagers until as late as the 20th century. In the 19th century, boatloads of stones and bricks are said to have been removed to build the burgeoning towns of English Bazar, Murshidabad, Rajmahal, Hooghly and even Calcutta. In fact, the Nawabs of Murshidabad are said to have charged local zamindars the high fee of Rs 8000 annually for permission to demolish and remove highly prized enamelled bricks and basalt stones from the ruins of Gaur. Carved stones from the site are also said to have been removed by Calcutta undertakers until the practice was stopped by the government in 1899.

Dakhil Gate - South View, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Built of small red bricks and with traces of extravagant ornamentation, this was once the principal entrance gate to the Fort of Gaur from the north. Estimated to have been constructed in the early 15th century, the gateway is also known as Salami Darwaza, likely because salutes were fired from adjacent ramparts.

Entrance to Ekhlakhi Mosque, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Presumably named Ekhlakhi because it is said to have cost one lakh rupees, this mausoleum bears three tombs — considered to be those of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, his wife and his son. Shah was the son of Raja Ganesha, a Hindu ruler of Bengal who came to power in 1415, marking the end of the first period of rule by the Ilyas Shah Dynasty. Upon his death, his son Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, a convert to Islam, seized the throne and ruled for 16 years. Notably, the doors and lintels of the mausoleum are covered with Hindu carvings.

Minar, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Firoz Minar is a five-storey-high structure estimated to have been built in the late 15th century by Saifuddin Firuz Shah, the most revered of the Habshi rulers of Bengal. Much like the Qutub Minar, to which it is often compared, the structure was built to be a victory tower. Firuz Shah, known as Malik Andil when he was an army general before coronation, is often considered the founder of Bengal’s Habshi Dynasty; his predecessor Shahzada Barbak had only ruled for eight months. Barbak’s capture of the throne from Fatah Shah in 1486 marked the end of the Ilyas Shahi Dynasty in Bengal.

Tantipara Mosque, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Tantipara, which means weavers quarters, is said to have been locally known as a mosque for Gaur’s weavers, a community essential to the city’s economy because of its location in a muslin-producing area. A brick building of uniform red and ornamented walls, the mosque is considered to have been erected in 1480.

Qadam Rasul Mosque, 1860s, by John Henry Ravenshaw

Built by Sultan Nusrat Shah in 1513 to house a stone representation of the footprint of the Prophet Mohammed, the Qadam Rasul Mosque is a one-domed square building within the fort enclosure. The relic, believed to have been originally brought by a saint from Arabia, was housed in Pandua before being brought to Gaur.

East Gate of Fort, 1860s, John Henry Ravenshaw

This gate is said to have been built in 1655 by Shah Shuja, and was noted by Ravenshaw as being relatively more modern in architectural style than the rest of Gaur. The city itself was long deserted by then, its decline rooted in the sacking of Gaur by Sher Shah in 1539. The gate is possibly part of Shuja’s failed attempt to revive the city to its former glory.