The format for the case-study of the Pahadi Imli mohalla includes a record of

Case studies of Haveli-type houses observations of life in the gali and other public spaces in addition to these
items.

live Much of the material was gathered by conducting taped interviews with a
These case studies aim to portray a picture of the houses, the people who 2 for Many interviews in
question checklist (see appendix this). of the were
in them, and the neighbourhood in which they are set. The manner of finding
Hindi or Urdu; these were translated as they were transcribed. Some were
the houses is described in Chapter 2. from it is
and choosing originally in English. If the information came a particular person
ascribed (eg. SID: ) but not placed in inverted commas unless it is a direct
........
The Drawings quotation from the interview transcripts.

The drawings of the houses were made from surveys carried out for the study. Houses where no interviews were conducted are treated more briefly than the
There were two degrees of detail of survey represented by final drawings at format given above describes.
of1: 50 and 1:200 respectively. Some of the 1:50 drawings have also
scales
been shown furnished to give as detailed a view as possible of a
representative sample of houses. Room names are not given on the drawings Photographs:
because the concept of fixed room use is inconsistent with the original ethos
of the houses. Service rooms of fixed use - kitchens, bathrooms, wcs are The photocopied photographs included here are selection from the survey
shown by symbols -a cooker, a bathing square and a wc pan respectively. documentation. A set of 80 plates including many in colour can be found in
The use of the other spaces is described by the key diagram (not to scale) that the portfolio "The Havelis of North India" in the Visual Islamic Art Unit at the
follows the description of the house in the written part of the case study below. Royal College of Art, London. This portfolio contains presentation material
from the fieldwork for this study, including the drawings. The survey
The context plans were redrawn from maps which contained very different documentation is separately held by the author.
degrees of detail for different cities.

Written material and diagrams A note on numbering

The first character in the number for the haveli houses is always H (for the
Format villas its is V). The next part of the number is the initial of the town eg JI for
Jaipur or Js for Jaiselmer. The last part is a serial number. On the drawings
1A general d_Puj_b
ýin of the house and neighbourhood. the town initial is not given.
2 Diagrammatic hU to plans.
3A description of the construction of the house The numbers of the houses are not consecutive because not every house
4A histo of the house as far as discovered. looked at during the fieldwork is included here.
5 People: a kinship diagram of the residents; what they do.
6 The daily pattern-of activities.
7A table of apao-a--and activities.
8 Characteristics of the house and household:
this covers seasonalchanges
use of the courtyard
climatic comfort
purdah
servants
security and neighbours
furniture-whether Indian or Western
the household's possession of modern
'consumer goods'
9 The aspirations of the people about their home.

The kinship diagrams indicate generations from the oldest to the youngest in
the following order: rounded cornered rectangle - sharp cornered rectangle -
ellipse - circle.
 HD 01. 'DCM Haveli', Balli-Maran of this room is the tehkhana -a semi-basement which extends in
front of the dalaan to form a raised platform - chabootara. The side
wings are single storey along the sehen and become two storey on
A large haveli in the famous old Muslim mohalla of Balli Maran. the chabootara and extend into the dalaan forming upper galleries
The house is a quite unaltered Mughal period haveli of a Muslim noble overlooking the central space. The dalaan has an inner part, the dar-
now used as a school to teach local women handicrafts. The only dalaan, beyond a screen of columns. The furthest corners of the plan
entrance is from the very active bazaar which forms one of the main are occupied by store rooms - kothris,
routes in the walled city. A passageway leads through the typical
grand portal to the small men's courtyard. The old servant's rooms Construction
and stables along the passage are now rented as shops. The men's
room - diwankhana - makes a barrier between this Walls: Stucco on lakhori brick.
sitting/meeting
Floors: Stone slabs on timber joists, some replaced with steels.
courtyard and very large inner or family courtyard -sehen - to reach
Compacted topping of lime, sand and brick dust.
which the route 'dog-legs' round the side hiding it from the public
realm. On axis in the sehen is the dalaan - the principal room -which Roof. Finely ground thin screed of lime, sand, brick dust and additives
is double height. Under part on construction as floors,
Stonework: Carved columns, chajjas mehrabs and supporting
,
brackets.
Paving: Stone slab paving on chabootara and in dalaan. Brick in
courtyard.

History

Locally this house is simply known as being 'very old', 200 or 250
years. This is a very typical reply to the question 'How old is this
building? ' and cannot be relied on. It has not so far been possible to
date it more closely. The use of lakhorl bricks establishes that it is
no later than mid/late I 9th C. The proportions of the columns and
mehrabs place its architectural order in a high Mughal tradition
which would suggest early l9th century or before and certainly pre
"Nutiny" ( 1857). According to Maheshwar Dayal I the oldest known
family in Balli Maran had settled there during Aurangzeb's reign
( 1669- 17 17) and that is the earliest date that could be ascribed to
this haveH.

In 1937 the school for teaching handicrafts to women was founded by

the famous Bharatram family who owned the house. This is what has
D FLOOR FIRST FLOOR
enabled the house to survive intact in an extremely crowded and
commercial neighbourhood where properties like this one fetch
1 ENTRANCEFROMSTREET 2 COURTYARDOF DIWANKHANA(MEN*S) 3 DIWANKHANA millions as warehousing and manufacturing premises.
4 DOGLEGPASSAGETO ->5 MAIN, OP FAMILY, COUPTYAIRD6 WELL
People
7 CHABOOTARA(PLATFORM)WITH TEHEKHANA(BASEMENT)UNDER 8 DALAAN 9 DAR-DALAAN
Though no details are known of who lived in this house, judging by
10 KOTHRIS II ROOMS 12 KITHCHEN 13 WASHROOM/WC 14 UPPER GALLERIES AND ROOMS.
similar houses (eg Ali Manzil HD 09) such a haveli would have had a
15 LOWER ROOF TERRACES

Dayal Maheshwar, Rediscovering Delhi, the Story of Shahjahanabad, S Chand &co, New
Delhi 1975

Haveli-type houses, Delhi Havel! -type houses, Delhi

 A
joint family of between ten and forty people and a domestic staff of
'. "

xv Two A k,
perhaps five to ten. suit
I 'I ý P' 21ý.,)-r

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The use or rooms. -. 1
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WIN Up

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Normally the only men allowed beyond the diwankhana would be
ip
members of the family or very close friends. The dalaan would have
been the main living space where female guests too would be vow;
"-ý ..... jut

received. The only occasions when unrelated men were let into this
space would be functions like poetry readings, performances by
musicians or dancers and othe celebrations and festivals. On these
occasion the women would be restricted to the upper galleries from
which they could see but not be seen.

The side rooms on the sehen would have been used for kitchens, wash
house and keeping water (drawn from the well in the courtyard) and
fuel. Those on the chabootara on both levels would have been the
usual multi-purpose living/sleeping rooms. I

The large and well ventilated basement - tehekhana - would have

been used for siestas in the summer and for storing valuables. Except
in cold weather or rain women and children would sleep in the
courtyard and men there or on the roof.

None of the habitable rooms have doors and different types of screen
would have been hung over the openings from the iron hooks and
eyelets provided in the walls: wetted patchouli mats during the hot
summer winds, chick blinds to keep out the sun at other times, heavy
curtains during the cold weather.

I Source Conversations
- 'with caretaker and with S. Shafi, A Hassan, Said Khan, Begum
Hamida Sultan and others on lifestyle in Muslim havelis.

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