Ruins Waiting For Respite

Sir,
Having once been an integral part of the proud heritage of the Dogra desh, Mubarak Mandi,with its fortified monolithic blocks constituting palaces, offices, domes and courtyards, can soon turn out to be the ‘Mohenjo-Daro of Jammu and Kashmir’. Lack of priorities is the one and only reason behind the deprived state of this 150-year old monument that presently lies in shambles atop a hill. The dilapidated building has collapsed many times in the past, because of which it has become almost impossible to traverse a few portions of some structures, which being completely buried under the mud, while some of them have fallen apart during the restoration work. The constitute part of this structure (made up of bricks, pebbles, wood, stone, ornamental grills, and decorative artefacts) needs preservation beyond imagination. Otherwise, years from here, archeologists will have to excavate these materials to study and analyse the structure of these buildings.
However, the Dogra Art Museum, located inside the Pink Hall of the Mubarak Mandi complex, has been preserving the cultural heritage of the Dogra Dynasty since 1991 rather articulately, and has in its possession, over 5500 works of exquisite art, spanning over the last 1600 years. Firstly, the Dogra Art Gallery was established at Gandhi Bhawan by the first President of the Republic of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, in the auspicious 54thyear of the20th century A.D. Subsequently in 1991, the gallery was upgraded to a multi-purpose museum by shifting it to the aforementioned Pink Hall of Mubarak Mandi complex. The museum is famous for the Rasmajari series of Basohli paintings, which consists of 124 paintings in total out of which 72 are on display. These miniature paintings depict scenes from great epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Krishan-Sudama, Radha-Krishna, as well as Mughal portraits of Dogra rulers etc. They are not only pleasure to the eyes but also give us an insight into the way of living of the people of that time. The preservation of these paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, Dogra costumes, jewellery, arms and armory is the only step taken to preserve the historic symbol of their proud heritage. But, is this enough?
This site is threatened by weather vagaries and improper restoration, because of which it may very well be recognized as an archeological site instead of a historical site in the near future. Only  improved conservation methods can  safeguard this palace. What is needed here is a need for a vibrant heritage committee in the state and special financial assistance to save these monuments from getting razed to the ground.
Yours etc…
Niyamika Singh
Jammu

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