Harking Back: Mohallahs, galis, kuchas, katras… an ongoing history

One of the most delightful studies focussing on the architecture of traditional houses in the walled city of Lahore was carried out by four Japanese scholars almost 25 years ago. They also studied Varanasi, Jaipur and Ahmadabad and laid before us how castes, religions and professions in the sub-continent played a major role as a city unfolds over time.

The scholars, Shu Yamane, Shuji Funo, Hitoshi Ara and Norihisa Numata, did an exceptionally detailed study of the spatial pattern of the urban tissue of the walled city, and how ‘mohallahs’, ‘kuchas’, ‘galis’ and ‘katras’ emerged. They studied the social details of every family and explained just why cul-de-sacs existed, how the Hindu caste system influenced urban planning, how with the coming of Central Asian rulers urban planning changed, and how both these influences meshed to form a unique city unparalleled anywhere else.

But then this study was not in isolation. This team from Japan spent well over two years studying other walled cities of the sub-continent, they being Varanasi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. The lessons learnt from this massive research were applied in urban expansion plans in Japan. The introduction of inner courtyards, a sort of peaceful space for the family, was introduced which later research was to claim prevented families from splitting.

The study explained the role of ‘mohallahs’ to ‘kuchas’ and how ‘galis’ and their relationship to ‘katras’ played a role in forming the ‘mohallah’. Here one notices that the original ancient part of the city - that is the area to the east of Bazaar Hakeeman beyond the ‘ghati’ and the west of Shahalami Bazaar beyond the ‘ghati’ and to the south of Paniwala Talaab beyond the ‘ghati’ there, in my estimation the foundations of the ancient walls – has a different social spatial design to the Akbar-era expansion of Bhati Gate (gateway to the Bhatti Tribe) and that to the east of Shahalami where the Cossack horsemen (Chabaksawars) settled.

Here a Central Asian social spatial design comes into play. The very culture, let alone the Punjabi vocabulary they use, of these two areas is strikingly different. It is possible that the original language spoken by these newcomers influenced the way they spoke Punjabi. It is amazing how almost every gateway has a different way of delivering the sound ‘ray’ as well as ‘tay’. In my estimation this makes the walled city a most colourful set of humans living in complete harmony with their history and environment.

The Japanese research points out to three different building designs, they being the ‘haveli’ with a central courtyard and rooms around it, the ‘khoti’ with a courtyard on the first floor and the simple ‘makan’ with no courtyard. My dear friend Masood Khan, an MIT and Harvard trained architect and a person who surely deserves to be honoured for his long and important architectural and conservation efforts to save old Lahore, once explained just how ‘modern’ urban spatial designs have empty spaces around houses but no courtyards. His explanation seemed to suggest that these were designs without a soul. This effectively reduces how a family communicates among themselves let alone their neighbours.

His views seem to confirm what the Japanese scholars concluded and it is interesting just how much there is to learn about old Lahore. These days in Cambridge a scholar from the Lahore School of Economics is researching how the very nature and traditions of the inhabitants of the walled city has changed given the majority population of the city now being Afghans. With the aggressive thrust of business houses emptying of the city of its original inhabitants, we see how scores of Afghans live in each house, with the spatial design encouraging close family co-operation. This assists them in survival. Over the centuries Afghans have poured into old Lahore with every invasion, always to be assimilated into the city’s local culture and language.

The designs of this ancient place is reinforcing the joint-family way of thinking, which it must be said is a positive attribute with some drawbacks. This calls for a lot of sociological and linguistic research to take place. These research studies should assist architects when they design houses so as to gel families instead of promoting an ‘isolationist’ tendency. One can say that this is what is happening all over the world as economic progress sets in. The ‘individual’ is overtaking the ‘collective.’ But then it also makes sense to understand the role of urban spatial design to our unique changing sociological needs.

Now that the old walled city of Lahore is being studied by a new younger set of scholars, it has to be said that interest in it being a tourist attraction now needs to be associated with the new realities that face planners. Here it might interest readers to know that after the tragic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a huge debate has sparked off about whether the burnt out timber tower should be rebuilt in its original design using oak timber, or whether a new design using modern materials should take its place, yet remaining true to the ‘spirit’ of the entire structure. The mantra is that all historic monuments always remain a ‘work in progress.’

Here one French newspaper ‘Le Monde’, much to my surprise, printed an article mentioning Lahore’s missing walls as an example. Seems the French are more interested than we are in our heritage. The central dispute is whether a new wall should come up as close to the original design as possible, or a new design keeping in mind its historic pattern should be built. The central proposition is that all historic buildings should remain an ‘ongoing project’, always being upgraded but always keeping the central theme of the structure intact.

Masood Khan certainly supports the Unesco rules of conservation, but also accepts their strict rules concerning ‘rebuilding’ as close to the original as possible. When the Shahi Hammam inside Delhi Gate was saved from becoming a wedding hall which was once leased out by the Punjab government, the decision to conserve the place meant that a few portions had to be rebuilt. But then today how would experts like Masood design the walls that the traders have knocked down?

Mind you having walls would encase the sociological structure of the city with central courtyard houses that promotes joint families. Having crumbling historic houses being converted to warehouses is diametrically the opposite of what our historic city stands for. In the end one will have to yield. By current reckoning it will be the historic city. Surely this is not the Lahore we all wish to inherit, or let our children inherit. That is why experts have been advocating the building of a new ‘walled trading city’ across the Ravi with a nearby truck stand.

There is no doubt that if the walls are rebuilt with impressive gateways it would give rise to hundreds of small hotels and new tourism-related businesses. The actual earnings of the city would actually rise. There would be a dramatic improvement in the culinary traditions that today are taking a dent.

So what needs to be done? The trader classes will resist change, of this have no doubt, for by their very nature they support entrenched economic interests. But then all new or repaired structures should have some element of history to them. If the Japanese can learn from our spatial urban history, then surely it makes sense that we should build on what we already have.