Old City of Ahmedabad :: Around 360 pols within a fortified compound

#Ahmedabad #Pols

The old city of Ahmedabad located on the Eastern banks of the Sabarmati river is made up of around 360 pols within a fortified compound. The earliest ‘Pol’ to be incorporated was aptly christened ‘Mahurat Pol’ and was built adjacent to Manek Chowk.



UNESCO has declared Ahmedabad as a world heritage site, thereby becoming the first Indian city to get this status.
With huge courtyards- A Gujarati household essential, intricately carved wooden facades and frescoes and colourful exteriors, the pols were not only bright and lively but also strategically built for safety and security during the war. Along with having a front entrance, each Pol had a back entrance for the women and children to escape to the labyrinth of lanes that connected the pols whereas the men used the front entrance to face and negotiate with the enemy. Ever since then, these Pols have harbored life and culture and given way towards the urban lifestyle. Most of the people living in the Pol are cottage industry workers and can be found sitting on the charpoy (cot) in their courtyards, stitching, binding books, sewing etc. The nonchalant Gujrati chatter that falls upon your ears is interesting to decipher, but perhaps what is more intriguing are the bemusing names of these pols and the stories behind them. The 19th-century laureate Poet Dalpatram, notable for Gujarati and Sanskrit poems would welcome you to his house in the Kavi Dalpatram Chowk in Lambeshwar ni Pol, as he sits in the huge paved courtyard in the form of a glimmering bronze statue, installed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Just ahead through the tangle of bylanes is a murky well surrounded by shabby rooms on either side. The well was the primary source of water for the nearby pols until it was shut in 1962 by WHO officials stating that the water was unhealthy. Not surprisingly, this pol was named as the Kuawala Khancha Doshiwada Ni pol which literally translates into the salty water well pol.



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