CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Shahi Hammam, Chipitola, UP

This step well (baoli) is well known as 'choron ki baoli' (thiefs' step well). It is located approximately half a kilometer from Meham on the Bhiwani-Meham road in Mohalla Kishangarh. It is one of the finest and the best preserved step-wells in Haryana. According to an inscription on the well, it was built by Saidu Kala, a chobdar to Emperor Shah Jahan in 1658-59 AD. The baoli, an elaborate structure of brick and kankar block, has one hundred one steps in three stages, separated by landings, leading to water level. At the end of flights of steps, is the circular well. The subsidiary staircases built within the thickness of the walls provide access to the landings. The step-well is currently surrounded by local dwellings.

The palace currently aligns the main market of the town like other monuments of the area. Built by Faujdar Khan in 1733, Sheesh Mahal complex consists of the main building and some small structures with a landscaped garden. This complex is approached by a flight of steps within a cusped arched gateway into a garden with interesting water channels and pool set within the garden. Sheesh Mahal is a double storeyed building made in local stone, slate and lime. The building is rectangular in plan with two staircases at both sides to access the first floor level. Flat wooden ceiling resting on beams span the interiors of the Mahal. The facade is adorned with arched openings and continuous peripheral stone brackets. The structures on the side of the palace and floor above the entrance block exhibit 19th century Colonial features and interventions from the British times.

The Tomb of Sheikh Chilli is built inside his madrasa complex at Thanesar in Haryana an ancient city adjacent to Kurkshetra, another ancient locality, 160 kms north of Delhi on National Highway one. From various accounts it could be estimated that Sheikh Chilli was a learned scholar who hailed from Thanesar and was also a spiritual advisor to Dara Shikoh. The tomb is placed at the highest level in the madrasa complex, in the middle of a terrace. Another rectangular tomb believed to be that of his wife is also located on the northwest side of the terrace. The terrace is approached by stairways in the northeast and northwest corners of madrasa. These tombs stand on a terrace/platform and the walls of the platform have twelve octagonal chatris built into them. Each dome was ornamented with glazed tiles which has disappeared now but retains the traces of blue, purple, and green tiles. The tomb was turned into a gurudwara (Sikh temple) by some Sikhs who are believed to have plundered the beautiful marbles of the tomb. The tombstones were later reinstated by the British rulers. It was restored by ASI later on. The Madrasa of Sheikh Chilli is situated on a high mound inside a walled compound, similar to a fortified structure. The tomb of Shaikh Chilli also forms part of the madrasa. The madrasa is composed of a central courtyard surrounded by an arcade with nine arches to each side. This architectural plan is modeled on Iranian prototypes. The middle hall in the northern side was used for teaching rooms. The three mihrabs in the western hall indicate its use as a small mosque. The mosque room is now used as a site museum maintained by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The rooms on the northern side which are interconnected to each other and attached to small courtyards were used to house teachers and students. A hammam is located on the southeast corner which is now used as a rest house by ASI. The madrasa was approached through two gateways earlier but currently it can be only accessed through the eastern gate.

The sarai is in the compound of the Sheikh Chilli's Madrasa and Tomb complex. The sarai adjoins the northern wall of the tomb platform at its southern end; the southern wall of the sarai however doesn't exist now. The sarai structure that seems to had fallen apart at several places in past makes it difficult to understand the original design of the building. It has only one gateway as against the customary two gateway sarais. Some remains of a structure that appears to be some kind of waterworks with water chanels, terracotta pipelines and conduits, survive behind the western wall of the sarai. The location of the sarai, adjacent to the 'Madrasa and Tomb complex', indicates that originally also it might have been conceived as a part of the complex. The Pathar Masjid (stone mosque) is built of red sandstone, on a high platform. The mosque is located on the western side of the Sheikh Chilli's tomb and madrasa complex. It's a small structure with a simple rectangular plan. The ceiling of the mosque rests on pillars that are decorated with floral designs carved in low relief. The pillars are also profusely decorated with floral designs with the bases over the mouldings presenting chaitya-window motifs. The qibla in the center of the western wall is flanked on either side by two arched niches inscribed with verses from the Quran. The masonry terrace forming the front court was certainly added at a later date.