AURANGABAD: The once artistic monument of “Panchakki” is in danger of being lost to posterity. Its water system popularity known as “nahar” is the only surviving evidence of water distribution introduced into India by Babar. It is still operative but sadly in need of urgent repairs which have been carried out only once or twice in the 275 years of its existence.
Today the exterior of this tourist attraction is being gradually transformed into a commercial complex and in the interior is the Marathwada wakf board office. For this unhappy state of affairs the technology and the archaeology departments are solely to blame.
What greatly attracts visitors is the water system which was an engineering feat of Malik Ambar the architect of the city of Aurangabad The water was only for the personal use of the Badshahs and the Amirs and their gardens untill Malik Ambar worked Out an intricate network to enable the water to reach every house. Assistance of engineers from Iran was sought and the work was completed in four years.
Foreigners visiting Aurangabad late in the 18th century were so enamored of the place that they referred to the monument as a paradise on earth with the water acting as a balm while they rested under the spreading thick foliage of a 300-year-old banyan tree. It was a picturesque sight with the water falling like a thick sheet into a huge tank below.
The entrance to the historic building was-the grand stately Mahmud Darwaza and the buildings of the medical college and hospital nearby provided a beautiful synthesis of ancient and modem architecture
With the pipes having been broken at several places the water has been diverted either into the fields or to construction areas thus reducing the large mass of water to a trickle.
Dr.Dulari Qureshi historian and scholar and also a member of the tourist advisory board has suggested urgent repair to these pipes and the cleaning of its source if there is to be a revival of its original charm. “
According to Dr. Dulari even the” water which comes through the nabaar falls into the Kham river and is wasted. But if the same water is diverted to create a garden. around the monument and in the” vicinity it would add to the beauty” of the place.
But this dream of a green belt with a heavenly rose garden could) only be realized if the mina bazar which occupies the entire facade and entrance and the steps leading to the inner chambers is removes.
As soon as the visitor enters” monument instead of witnessing the earlier water tank the lush green lawns on either side of the pathway in the waterway meandering at the edges of the lawn they see ugly wooden boxes and. shops screening the tank that waterfalls and the lawn.
But as if this was not enough wakf board has occupied the inner chambers for its office. The inner building which consists of a durgah built in memory of Baba Shah Musafir who migrated from Ghazdvan in Bukhara a mosque madrissa a library a sarai and below houses for the Zenana have totally lost their refined charm.
Confronting these structures is an oblong reservoir with fountain erected later by nobles with a huge hall below the reservoir support by pillars which is extremely cool even in the summer The disciples of Baba Shah Musafir had enlarged these open halls to accommodate the biggest research library in Asia consisting of rare books of calligraphy Scholars from all over Asia requested his library. Today this library which occupied the major portion of these halls has been pushed into a small room. Most of the books have simply disappeared or sold. To add to all this the wakf board also holds.
Id gathering till premises mushaira and till recently the peace foundation committee has let the premises out to organize their function inside the monument.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 26, 1992
