Waiting for the minarets to shake

Richly carved, the niches in the lower section of the minarets are ornamented with varied floral patterns. Along with the Sidi Sayyed Jaali, the shaking minarets are the monuments that epitomise Ahmedabad.

The killer quake had damaged two storeys of the northern minar completely and caused cracks in the southern minar. Repairs were taken up by the ASI. ‘‘But repair work was interrupted for six months during the riots. We resumed repairs three months back and expect to complete them by March-end,’’ says V Nair, senior conservation assistant, Ahmedabad. Nair is supervising work at the Gomtipur site.

The twin towers were known to shake when even one of them was pushed. ‘‘You had to lean against the minar and push it, it would shake,’’ says Rehmat Ali, keeper of the masjid. ‘‘I have shaken the minar myself many times.’’

The ASI has now completed work on the southern minar and work is on in full swing on the second minar. ‘‘We have not effected any change in the structure and are reconstructing it as it was. Whether the minar will shake or not, we’ll have to wait and see. The fact that the minarets shook was discovered much later,’’ Nair says.

ASI experts admit they don’t know what causes the minarets to shake. ‘‘The shaking of minars is a complex phenomenon and we do not know what causes it,’’ D R Ghelot, ASI’s superintending archaeologist at Vadodara, says.

The ASI has reportedly undertaken repair work at the site at a cost of Rs 4.5 lakh. ‘‘We are using available evidence at the site, photographs and video recordings for the reconstruction work and are trying to maintain the monument as it was by using mortar made in the traditional way. We’re using glue, jaggery, urad dal and lime water in the repair work,’’ Ghelot says.

Many skilled artisans have been brought in for the work. Stones for reconstruction are being sourced from Dhrangadhra (near Surendranagar) as most of the monuments in the city are built from this sandstone. But though the ASI has pressed skilled artisans into service, their work is no patch on the original: the carvings are distinctly inferior in quality as compared to the work the artisans did 500 years back.

Speaking about the minarets, Ghelot says: ‘‘The southern minar today stands minus two storeys, they’re believed to have been damaged in 1819 in an earthquake. There’s no recorded evidence but this is believed because there are passing references to the minar in some documents.’’