Beyond the Protected Built Heritage Sites: A geospatial study of Malaprabha River Valley

NIAS Lecture Hall
Nature of the Event
NIAS PhD: Open Defence of Thesis
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Venue
NIAS Lecture Hall
Event date
29 June 2022, Wednesday, 1130 hrs
Other details

By Kuili Suganya Chittirai Balan
School of Humanities

Abstract

The three heritage epi-centres of the Malaprabha River Valley, in Karnataka: Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal are developed as heritage precincts of Early Chalukyan heartland. Although the Valley is a lived landscape housing heritage structures from times before and after Early Chalukyan period. Though the heritage charters (national and international) and pedagogies advocate for integrated study of heritage by including their landscape and recognise the limitation of a monument centric approach, the existing processes remain monument centric.The primary objective of the doctoral research was to identify, document and geospatially analyse the Valley’s heritage built environments for addressing questions around built heritage and their landscape by not limiting to the protected monuments. This doctoral research used water harvesting features and hydrology to explore, study, and analyse the Valley’s heritage built environments. Towards this, a list of heritage built environments (both protected and unprotected) were compiled, geotagged, and geospatially analysed. This list - from multiple sources (such as colonial records, cartographic sources, and existing online government databases) - had to be freshly prepared due to non-availability of ready reliable geospatial data. The present study visualized and analysed the Valley’s built environment as an imbricated palimpsest, by foregrounding their physical landscape which enabled the appreciation of ecological and socio-cultural significance of the many unprotected structures. The study highlighted that the structures that qualify as heritage need not carry the typical physical fabric similar to the protected monuments. Rather, they can be architecturally insignificant, mundane-looking structures having continuity into the present times through collective memories and carry socio-cultural significance. The statistical analysis indicated the importance of recognising the potentials and strengths of the settlement’s physiographic parameters (as hydrology, hydro-geomorphology, geology, and soil). Recognising the relevance of the small structures and thoughtfully made subtle terrain modifications at Badami's environs highlighted the dependency of the protected monuments on such inconspicuous landscape features. The present work emphasizes that water features (both natural and man-made) proved to be the visible or sometimes invisible link that weaves together the Valley's protected and unprotected heritage built environments.

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