TEERTHANKER MAHAVEER COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

M.P. TOUR (29th March- 6th April, 2015) – Report

Group:

Students: 1st Year

Faculty: Ar. Gaurav Agarwal & Ar. Kanika Agarwal

Aim: This report aims to provide an overview of the study

tour of Madhya Pradesh conducted from 29th March 2015 to

6th April 2015. It contains a brief description about the places

visited and the Measuring drawing assignment done as a

part of 1st year (2nd Semester) syllabus by the group of first

year students in the guidance of faculty.

The main aim of the tour was to complete the measuring

drawing of a building having iconic architectural features

and along with visiting the places having buildings which

are relevant to the students of architecture. For this

purpose Taj-ul-Masajid, Bhopal was chosen for the

measuring drawing assignment which is built in Islamic

architectural style. This kind of exposure helps students to develop their creative skills and broaden up their imagination

and also seeks to identify best practice in those areas which require additional analysis and attention.

The journey to Madhya Pradesh started on 29th March 2015 at noon from Moradabad

from where the students and faculty boarded a bus to Delhi. From Delhi, the group

boarded Bhopal express train for Bhopal.

Group reached Bhopal on 30th March at 8 a.m. in the morning. From Bhopal station the

groups moved to the hotel and after freshen up and breakfast the group headed towards

Taj-ul-Masajid for starting up the work, i.e. measuring drawing of the Masjid complex.

Taj-ul-Masajid is a Mosque situated in Bhopal, India.

"Masajid" means "Mosques” (Plural of "Masjid") and

"Taj-ul-Masajid" literally means "Crown among

Mosques". It is the largest Mosque in India. The

construction of the Mosque was initiated during the

reign of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar by

Nawab Shah Jahan n Begum (1844–1860 and 1868–

1901) of Bhopal and continued to be built by her

daughter Sultan Jahan Begum.

The Mosque has a pink facade topped by two 18-storey high

octagonal minarets with marble domes. The Mosque also has three

huge bulbous domes, an impressive main hallway with attractive

pillars and marble flooring resembling Mughal architecture the likes

of Jama Masjid in Delhi. It has a courtyard with a large tank in the

centre. It has a double-storied gateway with four recessed archways

and nine cusped multifold openings in the main prayer hall. The

Quibla wall in the prayer hall is carved with eleven recessed arches

and has fine screens of trellis work. The massive pillars in the hall

hold 27 ceilings through squinted arches of which 16 ceilings are decorated with ornate petal designs. Group finished

their work on the next day by noon i.e. 31st March 2015 taking all the measurements, photographs and sketching the

details and views from various angles of the building.

After completing work at Taj-ul-Masjid by 31st March, the group

had lunch in the market nearby the complex and headed

towards their next destination to Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav

Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) also known as National Museum of

Humankind. National Museum of Humankind is an anthropology

museum that represents an integrated story of the evolution of

man and culture with special reference to India. It spreads over

an area of about 200 acres on the Shyamla Hills in the city.

This museum depicts the story of mankind in time and

space. Located on Bhopal's upper lake, 'Rashtriya Manav

Sangrahalaya' can be accessed either from Lake View

Road or from another road near Demonstration School.

IGRMS has a few permanent exhibitions, broadly

categorized as:

a) Open-exhibitions

b) Indoor galleries (Veethi-Sankul and Bhopal Gallery)

c) Periodical/ Temporary exhibitions.

Group spent rest of the day visiting the museum as it has many interesting structures. It was a great learning experience

for the students as they learnt about the habitats of various regions of human being and the techniques used in the past

for performing various daily activities.

The next day on 1st April group headed towards their next

destination to Sanchi- a Buddhist Monestary. The Buddhist

vihara at Sanchi is famous for its Great Stupa, located at

Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the state of Madhya

Pradesh. It is located 46 km north-east of Bhopal.

The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi is the oldest stone structure in

India and was originally commissioned by the emperor

Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a

simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of

the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like

structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to

honour and shelter the relics. The group returned to Bhopal

around 3 p.m. after visiting the Sanchi stupa. Students learnt the basics elements of Buddhist architecture and the

construction technique in brick.

After returning from Sanchi group had lunch and then

they headed to Bharat Bhavan. It is an autonomous

multi-arts complex and museum in the state of capital

Bhopal, established and funded by the Government of

Madhya Pradesh. Opened in 1982, facing the Upper

Lake, Bhopal, it houses an art gallery, fine art

workshops, an open-air amphitheatre, a studio

theatre, an auditorium, a museum tribal and folk art,

libraries of Indian poetry, classical music as well as

folk music. It is designed by famous architect Charles

Correa. Here he found the possibilities of a series of

terraced gardens, which would be seen cascading

down to the lake.

The visitors enter at the highest level and walk down a pedestrian

spine, flanked by a pattern of courtyards, to reach the various parts

of the complex. Each curve and space defines itself.

Each of the part of the building is distinct yet flows easily into one

another, linked by meandering paths. The total effect is one of the

surprise and pleasure. There is always a moment when the eye can

rest and the mind contemplates. The visit to Bharat Bhavan

concluded the day and students had an experience of interlinking &

inter-relating various spaces together and also came to know the use

of levels in a complex. The use of landscaping elements on terraces and the amphitheatre facing the sea provided a

great learning experience to them.

On 2nd April group left for the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in early morning. Rock Shelters are located about 45 km

south east of Bhopal on the road to Hoshangabad. The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site of the

Paleolithic age, exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent, and thus the beginning of the

South Asian Stone Age. It is located in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh, in the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary.

At least some of the shelters were inhabited by Homo erectus more than 100,000 years ago. Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters is approx. 30,000 years old. The caves also

deliver early evidence of dance. They were declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. The name Bhimbetka

(भीमबठैका) is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata.

The word Bhimbetka is said to derive from Bhimbaithka, meaning "sitting place of Bhima".

Returnig to Bhopal after visiting Rock shelters on the way group visited

the town Bhojpur which is situated on the Betwā River, 28 km from

Bhopal. The site is located on sandstone ridges typical of central India,

next to a deep gorge through which the Betwā River flows.

Bhojpur is famous for the

incomplete Bhojeśvar

temple dedicated to Shiva.

The temple houses one of

the largest liṅga-s in India, 5.5 m (18 ft) tall and 2.3 m (7.5 ft) in

circumference. It is crafted out of a single rock. The building is under the

protection of the Archaeological Survey of India. The style of the sculpture

on the building confirms an early to mid-eleventh-century date for the

structure.

The building as it stands consists of the

inner cella or garbhagṛha, supported by

massive pillars, surmounted with an

elegant corbelled dome. The outer walls

and superstructure of the temple were

never built. The group returned to hotel

and after taking some rest they left for

shopping in the local market nearby hotel.

The group left for Gwalior by bus around midnight. The bus

reached Gwalior on 3rd April at 12:30 p.m. and the group

moved to the hotel for freshening up and lunch. In the

afternoon group left for Gwalior Fort.

Fort is an 8th-century hill fort which consists of a defensive

structure and two main palaces, Gurjari Mahal and Man

Mandir, built by Man Singh Tomar. The fort has been

controlled by a number of different rulers in its history. The

Gurjari Mahal palace was built for Queen Mrignayani. It is

now an archaeological museum. The fort and its premises are

well maintained and house many historic monuments

including palaces, temples and water tanks. There are eleven

temples to Gautama Buddha and tirthankaras of Jains.

Students saw light and sound show in the evening which

depicts the whole story the fort from starting till end by the

technique of light and sound.

The night view of the Gwalior city is picturesque from the fort as it

is located on a hill. This fort is built in Rajputana style of

architecture having chatris, arches and its facade is painted in

various colors of which only remains are left. After visit to the fort,

group headed to the famous local market of Gwalior for shopping

and eating street food. This concluded the day for them.

On 4th April group left for Mitawali and Padavali Temples which are situated near the suburbs of the Gwalior city.

Mitawali Temple: It is located in

the north of Naresar, situated

on the hundred feet high

mountain and also known as

sixty four Yogini temple. It is a

wonderful circular construction

of 170 feet radius on the style of

Delhi's parliament house.

Attached to circular verandah there are sixty four rooms and a big courtyard in the temple. In the centre of the temple

there is the circular temple of Lord Shiva and Lord Anuranjan.

Padavali Temple: This temple was built in the Gupta Empire.

'Gharon' village was inhabited near modern Padawali and around

Gharon there are the ruins of several temples, houses and

colonies. This new area of population is known as Padawali

because it is surrounded by several hills. Here was a magnificent

ancient Vishnu Temple which was later converted into a big

'Garhi'.

The terrace, the

courtyard and the

assembly hall of this

temple are the

'epitome' of ancient culture. The standing statue of a Lion on the ruined

gate seems to say that there was a time when he used to watch the

temple with his companion at its gate. More than fifty monuments of

different kinds can be seen at Padawali up to the valley of Bhuteshwar.

Visit to these temples was of great architectural importance for the students as it highlighted the basic fundamentals of

Hindu temple architecture that was followed in India. Minute carvings on the walls and ceiling showcased the

architectural marvelous of the craftsmen of that era. This visit concluded the day as these were around 30-35 kms from

the main city. The group returned to the city in the evening and then headed for the hotel.

On the next day i.e. 5th April the group left for Datia, which is

an ancient town, mentioned in the Mahabharata as

Daityavakra.

The town is 69 km from Gwalior and is surrounded by a stone

wall, enclosing beautiful palaces and gardens. The 17th-

century palace of Vir Singh Deo is a notable example of the

Hindu domestic architecture of North India.

The palace is a seven floor building and mainly has four

quadrangular parts with a "Mandap" or the main center

on the central point of the Palace. It is totally made using

stones and neither wood nor iron is used in this whole

palace. The eastern part of the palace is most beautiful

and the tombs contain beautiful pictorial drawings and

windows are beautifully carved out of stones.

The central tomb and the other two tombs form an

incredible view. The central tomb has a Lord Ganesha's

Temple inside and there is Lord Durga’s temple on both

the entrances of the palace. On the first part on the main

entrance there is a temple of the main house deity of

Bundels and one the second part there's a Dargah. A

1985 cyclone destroyed some parts of the palace but still this palace is a beautiful place to visit as it represents the

amalgamation of Mughal and Rajputana architecture and its beauty.

Datia was the last place visited by the group on the M.P. tour. The group left to Delhi by bus on 5th April night and

reached Delhi in the morning from here they took a bus to Moradabad and reached University campus around 11 a.m.

Conclusion: Madhya Pradesh is called the Heart

of India because of its location in the centre of the country. It

has been home to the cultural heritage

of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism etc. Innumerable

monuments, exquisitely carved temples, stupas, forts and

palaces on hilltops, create in the visitors mind visions of

empires and kingdoms, of the great warriors and builders,

poets and musicians, saints and philosophers; of Hinduism,

Buddhism, Jainism and Islam.

Students learnt various details, basic fundamentals,

construction techniques of different architectural styles

i.e. Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic style by visiting the

various monuments on the tour.

The cities visited during the tour are famous for the

shopping destinations of M.P. Shopping attractions

include bamboo work, metal & iron craft, tribal

accessories and many more.

Students had a different shopping experience altogether

on the tour. Though it was an educational trip, at the

same time the students learnt a lot of things about the

architecture style followed in the past. Apart from

students it was also a great learning experience for the faculty accompanying the group of students.