Pols of Ahmedabad - - Vaarso- Hertiage Walk

The old, walled city of Ahmedabad is a contrast to the new city that’s known for its spic and span environs, well laid out roads and dedicated bus lanes,

A visitor can choose morning or evening heritage walks, organised either by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation or private players like the House of MG. The old city has around 360 ‘pols’ or gates with the Mahurat Pol being the first. Each pol, in some cases suffixed with ‘khadki’, leads into a small housing colony where people pursuing different vocations used to live. The deep division of social strata is evident from some of the names, for example ‘Khacharasi ni Khadki’ or where the sweepers and rag pickers lived.

The old city throws up magnificent Jain temples, densely populated market areas and many structures bound to pique tourist interest. The guides will not miss pointing out at the old Ahmedabad Share and Stock Brokers’ Association where Dhirubhai Ambani started his career as a broker.

Besides this structure in Manek Chowk, we find small traders with their desks filled with weights, measures and chemicals promising to check purity of gold ornaments. Moving ahead, we make our way to Rani na Hajiro and Juma Masjid, two of the biggest landmarks in that part of the town

I did heritage  walk with my high cgool friends . 

કાળુપુર વિસ્તારના શેખામુંજાલના મહોલ્લામાં દાવુદી વહોરાઓ છેલ્લા ૩૦૦ વર્ષથી રહે છે

( I got a chance for Daudi  Vhora  and their Haveli at Siddhapur  

'કડવું સત્ય' સંભળાવી દેનારા કડવા પટેલોની વસ્તી ધરાવતી કડવા પોળ

કાળુપુરમાં આવેલી ટંકશાળની પોળ અને તેની આસપાસની પોળો

ઘાસીરામની પોળ પચરંગી વસ્તી ધરાવતા સાંસ્કૃતિક માહોલથી વીંટળાયેલી છે

રાયપુર ચકલામાં આવેલા નાઈવાડામાં મુખ્યત્વે બ્રાહ્મણો અને પટેલો રહેતા હતા

રાયપુર વોર્ડમાં આવેલી લાંબા પાડાની પોળ નાની પણ કૌવતવાળી છે

15 ઓગસ્ટ 1947નો દિવસ સર્જવામાં અમદાવાદની પોળોએ બલિદાનો આપ્યાં હતા

કાળુપુરમાં આવેલી કેટલીક પોળોનાં મહેનતકશ અને સફળ કારીગરો અને વેપારીઓ

દેરાસરો,જ્ઞાનમંદિર તથા ભોજનશાળા દ્વારા પાંજરાપોળે તેની આગવી પરંપરા જાળવી રાખી છે

નારીવાદી આંદોલનનો પાયો નાંખનાર સ્ત્રી પાત્રો

Ashok Shila Lekh

I am  fast forwarding from   2500 BC to  300  BC.   From Lothal to Ashok's Shila Lekh.


History lovers can visit the Ashok Shilalekh or the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka.  They may see  a jackpot in this  rock. It gives  an unique  connection to India's Past. If you are  an Indian or know tid-bits of the Indian history, then you must know "Chakravarti Samraat Ashok"  from Maurya dynasty and his writings on stones known as "Ashoka Stambh". Indian  national symbol have been taken from it



About 2 km east of Junagadh and 3 km from the foot of Girnar Hill, between the two places, is an edict of Emperor Ashoka inscribed on a rock dating from the 3rd century BC. The Ashokan edicts impart moral instructions on dharma, harmony, tolerance, and peace. An uneven rock, with a circumference of seven meters and a height of ten meters, bears inscriptions in Brāhmī script etched with an iron pen.It is interesting to note that Ashoka traveled all the way from Kalinga (present day Orissa) to this far away place in the west.


The inscriptions in Ashoka's 14 rock edicts on a large boulder are all done in Brahmi script. In the same rock, you can also find inscriptions in Sanskrit by the Saka (Scythian) ruler of Malwa, which have been added to it, around 150 C.E. by Mahakshatrap Rudradaman.


Ashoka was the third monarch of the Mauryan dynasty in India, anointed as emperor in 274 BCE, and is regarded as one of the most admirable rulers in world history..Although he is a major historical figure, little definitive information was known as there were no available records of his reign until the 19th century when a large number of his edicts, inscribed on rocks and pillars, were found in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan

The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the British East India Company. These scripts were found on the pillars at Delhi and Allahabad and on rock inscriptions from both sides of India, and also the Kharosthi script in the coins and inscriptions of the north-west.  The history of deciphering of the  script   by  James Prisep is also  very  impressive.



References

1. Ashoks Major Rock Eddicts 
2. Eddicts of Ashok 
3. Brahmi script   introduction  and  Brahmi lanaguage books  
4. Brahmi scripts ( wikepedia)  
5. James  Prinsep    archaeologist  who deciphered Brahmi 
6. Ashoka: The Search for India’s Lost Emperor by charles Allen