Non-violence as a principle

Principles of non-violence have been important to the Gujarati society and they have manifested symbolically and physically in the traditional architecture of this region. The stone and wooden bird feeders, temporary animal shelters, animal keeps, animal hospitals and water places for animals have found an architectural expression of Gujarat. The wooden bird feeder is a beautiful looking object, however, when analytically drawn, its complexities surface. The stone ones are also equally complex, however, when these two types are compared; the local knowledge of the craftsmen comes to fore. A ‘modern’ Panjara Pol was built in 1939 by the rich merchants of Ahmedabad in the then outskirts of the new part of the city. From the viewpoint of their concern for animals,employed construction system and their astuteness; this animal keep and the ‘hospital in the tower are true symbol of the societal values of nonviolence of the Jain and the Vaishnav communities. It was almost entirely built with the help of precast concrete jalis (grills) and other components; including the operable doors and windows. The wedge shaped areas with the protected shelters on two sides and a hay storage place have a water place for the animals. This tower is the ‘Animal Hospital’ where the large animals are treated and secluded while smaller animals are treated on the subsequent upper floors with birds on the top chamber! Practically no wood is used, most of it is from precast panels and the slabs of the animal shelters have been made with brick and lime mortar with galvanized iron providing nominal reinforcement. The central tower with a clock and a weather cock atop was a land mark of that area till the sixties.
Panjra Pol or Animals Rescue and Care Centre, Ahmedabad (1936)

Panjra Pol or Animals Rescue and Care Centre, Ahmedabad (1936)

1 A polygonal plan with shelters and open ground with water fountain. Clockwise: 2 Tower in the centre of the Panjra Pol is the hospital where the larger animals are treated on the lower floor and birds on the top floor. 3 The entire Panjra Pol is built with typical precast elements. 4 A Panjra Pol in Saurashtra.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Author’s measured drawing of a chabutra (wooden bird feeder) at Patassa Pol, Ahmedabad. (Measured Drawn in 1986)

Gujarat

Gujarat

1 A bird feeder in stone and a community well in Idar. Clockwise: 2 A wooden bird feeder in Ahmedabad. 3 An auspicious door lintel with birds carved on them – Kutch. 4 Stone bird nests to facilitate roosting and laying of eggs, Kutch.