Ancient highways, sarais and kos minars, trade routes of a lost time
Our national highways speak volumes about cities that matter today, but these are not results of an epiphany. A look at ancient trade routes, their development and journey they set several villages on, including Gurugram.
One wonders how important routes such as the National Highway-8, which is now the main access to Gurugram along with Mehrauli Road and others, developed in the historical sense.
Driving past these routes today, one often comes across an old pyau (water stop), historical chhatris (dome-shaped pavilions) and other similar monuments. A look at this area as indicated in the Mughal Atlas of India by Irfan Habib gives us a clue about what this route may have been centuries ago.
The political and trade map of this area shows road links from Bara Pula (a Mughal period bridge in Delhi) to Pataudi, Rewari and Narnaul. While Sohna is located with its Sulphur Spring on the map along with Faridabad, there is no mention of Gurgaon or Gurugram, clearly indicating that this was not a significant town at that time. The location of Jharsa on the administrative map of this period is the only evident presence of this area. Few historic structures of Gurugram that are found along this route, such as Dhauli Piyao on the Mehrauli Road and was demolished during the construction of the Metro line, and Kaman Sarai that stands at the entry of the Old Sadar Bazar area are more recent structures, associated with the early 20th century when Gurugram had transformed from a village into a town during the Colonial era.
NH-8 or Mehrauli Road were clearly secondary routes during the Mughal period and before, possibly used more for transport of goods available in this area.
The 16th century mint in Narnaul and Indigo sourced between Sohna and Palwal area are marked on the Mughal period maps. Locals in Sohna also talk about the impressive, Mughal-period Hazrat Nazam ul Haq Mosque that was constructed using stone transported from Agra to Delhi. So, possibly this was a good route while major travel for people was via another route.
The most important historic highway through northern India that cut across Haryana was what we today know as the National Highway-1 or the Grand Trunk (GT) Road. The historic GT Road that passes through Haryana is known to be of the 3rd century Mauryan period, though it was largely developed in the 16th century by Sher Shah Suri. It was part of the Uttarapath during Mauryan period and later named Sadak-e-Azam and Baadshahi Sarak in the Sultanate and Mughal period, and finally renamed the Grand Trunk Road by the British. A large portion of this road traverses Haryana en route from its origin in Bangladesh and culmination in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) in Gurugram comprehensively documented the largest portion of the GT Road) in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
Therefore, this also consists of the widest range and largest number of historic buildings. Being a major highway during the 16th and 17th centuries, the monuments constructed in this region had a character fitting the environment of a travel route. The portion of the Grand Trunk Road in Haryana comprises several important structures starting from Palwal to Ambala, including rest houses called ‘sarais’, distance markers known as ‘kos minars’, bridges, stepped wells and gardens along with mosques and tombs.
Besides, Ballabgarh, Palwal and Fridabad in Harayna, the important town of Gharaunda is located on the Grand Trunk Road, about 18km south of Karnal. The town was once an important place on the highway. In 1632, a sarai was constructed here by Feroz Khan during the reign of Shah Jahan which remains the only important Mughal period ‘sarai’ in the State of Harayana today. It is an excellent example of Mughal architecture. The building itself is dilapidated, but two gateways around it are still in good shape.
A number of ‘kos minars’ (currently protected by the Architectural Society of India) built along this highway give us clear indication of its lost splendour. While some of these ‘kos minars’ today lie lost in agricultural fields because of the realignments of the GT Road, we see a few of them enclosed in a grilled boundary in the middle of the highway and speeding traffic.
The data documented by AIIS has been exhibited several times and provides a glimpse of this rich history of our region for the general public.
(Shikha Jain is state convenor, INTACH Haryana Chapter and member of Heritage Committees under ministries of culture and HRD. She is co-editor of book ‘Haryana: Cultural Heritage Guide’; director, DRONAH.)