India: Lost Mughal magic on stone recreated piece by piece at Red Fort

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Stone jalis were a favourite of the Mughals. That’s why they are seen at almost all Mughal monuments. Apart from acting as ventilators, these also accentuated the architecture.

Till today, original Mughal marble jalis can be seen at Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi’s Red Fort. But jalis at Red Fort are in a terrible shape.

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Now, for the first time, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has embarked on a challenging task of restoring missing jali work with new ones made from the same marble used by the Mughals centuries ago. Doing this complicated work are artisans who have been specially trained in the craft.

The jali work at Khas Mahal really stands out for its intricacy. There are six small jalis on either side of the monument with open gaps, and a large one at the centre of the monument where a big chunk has been missing for decades. For years, ASI did not touch any of the marble jalis. But a few months ago, talks began to conserve these. “This was a new arena for us. Conservation of marble jalis was very delicate work and required complete precision, right from the quality of the stone, to the cutting and shaping and fitting in the gaps of the jali window,” said N K Pathak, superintending archaeologist (Delhi circle).

The first challenge was finding the right kind of stone. “We sourced the marble from Makrana in Rajasthan, the same place where the Mughals had sourced it from. But just any marble stone wouldn’t do the job. We tried out at least half a dozen marble types before finding one with fine grains that would set in with the original marble in the monument. The composition of the marble had to be exact because it wouldn’t work if the grains were too coarse, the marble too smooth or water porosity not zero. We could not compromise on quality,” said archaeological engineer Munazzar Ali.

Once the stone was finalised, artisans from Agra were brought to cut and shape the marble. The jalis in Khas Mahal had both geometric and floral designs, and the artisans who have done similar stone work at Taj Mahal spent weeks cutting the stones with a machine and then manually shaping it with traditional tools. ASI officials said the artisans can take anything from days to weeks and even months to create perfect stone jali work.

To ensure the new jalis fit perfectly, ASI first did a laser scan of the entire jali work and then traced the missing elements. Work on the jalis has been completed and finishing touches are being given. A huge slab of marble, over a foot long, has been identified for the task. “Just getting this piece ready has taken months. While jalis are relatively common in Mughal architecture, this piece has a blend of both floral and geometric patterns and is very detailed,” Pathak said.

But that isn’t the only problem. “The missing piece is also very large and just shaping the curves for a perfect fit has taken weeks. Artisans have spent hours on this stone work, and after it is finally fitted in, we will use sandpaper for final finishing and smoothness. Chemical cleaning will be the last step,” said Pathak.

ASI policy does not allow reconstruction, but it was possible to do this with the jalis because the monument body had evidence of it, and archival material showed the entire piece. “The patterns were already there and we just had to replicate it to complete the whole piece,” said an official..

The final stage would involve applying ‘mud therapy’. “This will be done so that the new and old can blend. There will always be a little variation, but after some time, colour differences will fade,” the official added.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com