Gujri Bazaar Ahmedabad – The 600-Year-Old Heritage Market of Sultan Ahmed Shah

"Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings."

- Walt Disney

Heritage! An asset given in goodwill to the new generation, new age, to take the helm of something so magnificent, that it is a legacy of its own, more like a bow fired into a void which will be ever flying if its provided the right amount of selflessness.

Travelling back to 1414, I found myself in the rule of Sultan Ahmed Shah of Ahmedabad, A Mughal crown basking beside the river banks of Sabarmati, The story of Sultan Ahmed Shah and his city of Ahmedabad shining bright under the Mughal moon after suppressing a rebel by his own uncle and other minister's of his court.

Sultan Ahmed Shah is an important ruler in the history of Ahmedabad and successor to Ahmad Khan and grandson of Sultan Muzaffar Shah - who founded the Muzzafarid Dynasty. His reign lasted from 1411 to 1442 which built the very foundation of today's modern Ahmedabad - A UNESCO World Heritage City. 

The city is a treasure trove in itself, with jewel studded relic's, monuments, stories, folk lore's of its time, it never fails to amuse me, even till this day. There is always to see something and even more to miss out every time you are out exploring the city. To get you interested - there is a memorial for a sparrow- which apparently died in a cross fire of police during Roti Riots - Navnirman Andolan of March 2, 1974, known as Chakli Smarak and even Chakli Kimbli in Dhalni Pol of the city. Interesting right?

600 Year Bazar

Soon after taking over the helm of Ahmedabad, Sultan Ahmed Shah started with building the gates and walls of the city, along the same lines in 1414, Sultan started the 'Khaas Bazar', Now known as the Ravivar Bazar - A Sunday Market in modern times. Initially it was setup in tents on Friday's and adopted the name Shukravari Bazar for the same reason.

The Bazar in itself had a triumph with communal riots of 1914 and 2002 - it found itself stopping and starting in the dates of history and shifted it's location's accordingly from Siddi Saiyed Mosque to Old Session Court of Ahmedabad and since then now at the city's iconic Riverfront, after then Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat - Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated it to public on Feb 3, 2014.

The market dawn's on people when they make their way to it from the city's other Iconic Ellis Bridge, a landmark itself, the market's hustle and bustle thaw's over one's visual sensation on the approach afar. A majestic yawn of 32,000 square feet, the market spread's it arms from 1414 to today's modern times, as a hug to all the residents, traders, buyers and tourist's.

Market is maintained by Ahmed Shah Gujri Association and gives membership to more than 1600 traders, from which 400 are female's. Another interesting fact behind this market is, members of the association pay a rent of Rs 3/- and Non Member's pay a rent of Rs 6/- to the association and in return the association pay's rent to the municipal body of  Rs 302/- against the land they use on every Sunday. This has since not changed to promote the flee market and maintain it's heritage value.

Much interestingly with such low rent's and almost a foot fall of 5000 people on a single day (I doubt its even more), the area is spanking clean, much cleaner then the modernized area's of the city I have visited. Traders and vistor's here must consider this place as their temple of work or even a home to achieve this fleet with such a large foot fall.

Considering this amount of business and footfall, there are said to be approximate of 7000 to 10,000 trader's who get business directly and indirectly from this weekly market, and to control the footfall and it's related vehicular traffic - there is a giant 16,500 vehicle capacity parking area which can accommodate both 2 wheelers and 4 wheeler's at a mere cost of  Rs 20/- for whole day. Initially the whole plot, where the current market bustle's was a shanty town for years before, home to nearly 20,000 people, it was decided to redevelop the whole river bed which cuts through the city and beautify it to the likes of other river side cities of the world such as Paris on Seine, Prague on Vltava, Venice on it Canals and similarly Ahmedabad on Sabarmati. 

In earlier times, before the city had its complete makeover there was a local saying that I personally grew up listening, people use to swear on the river water's flow, for example once I remember my friends back in school we all were talking, one of them was so scared of passing the math exam that day he said that "If I pass the math exam it would be the day our city would have water passing through Sabarmati river. "meaning the water was never going to pass through the city nor my friend was ever going to pass the exam, eventually the exam got cleared but latter was remaining until now. The river now flows clean, lush, rustling through the city 24*7 with joy and greenery all around. Do make it point to visit the whole belt of the newly developed city's riverfront, specially in the morning and once sun starts to set. It's one of the other must do while in Ahmedabad.

Goddess Of Wealth At The Gates

Soon after Sultan Ahmed Shah took over the family coup and foiled it, he ordered to built the gates that marked the entry and exit point into his city. As usual, seen across all mughal king's and their kingdom's, these gate's were high walled, majestic, hand carved - history etched into the very stones and foundation such that not an inch of these gate's are boring. You will stare in amazement. The design's in each window is different from other.

There are 21 historically documented gates of the city. All a master piece but due to the expansion of the population and accommodating ever growing traffic, few walls and perimeters of the gate's had to be collapsed to let the modern horses and carriages with diesel and petrol engines flow into and out from the already congested, noisy old city.

There is an unconfirmed yet widely used folk lore that run's parallel to the collapsing of the old city walls, it is widely believed by the old and original residents of the city that when it was announced that some part of the perimeter walls will be collapsed to accommodate the new bridges that would link the two parts of the city beautifully divided by the river, it would bring bad omen to whole city, there was a long discussion that followed to its decision (I too faintly remember of the same), but once the walls were gently brought down. later the city had suffered an severe earthquake. The epicenter was in Bhuj ironically on 26th of January 2001 but massive destruction was there across the effected cities and even in Ahmedabad. The original story was that the Manek Burj should not be destroyed that connects both part of city by the iconic Ellis Bridge that doesn't rust and till date both the Burj and Bridge remains intact and a world UNESCO Heritage site.

Moving forward, The gates where Goddess of Wealth - Laxmi, still stands waiting for the sultan to give her a visit. Interesting?, The folk lore goes, one fine day Goddess Laxmi came to meet the Sultan, she was paused in her path by the guards at the gate and asked the purpose to which a willingness to meet the sultan was expressed by the goddess, overwhelmed the guard ran to Sultan expressing that the Goddess of Wealth is at the gates, Sultan upon hearing this and probably known to the religious presence of the goddess and her blessing, immediately drew out his sword and beheaded the guard - in the attempt to not let goddess know that sultan will ever come or not and till date sultan has never gone to greet the goddess at the gates, in fear that she will leave and he and his city will not get a chance to prosper in a divine intervention, this story still lives in hearts of all citizen's of Ahmedabad, specially in the trader's and businessman who operate near those gates. The gates are called Teen Darwaza - The Three gates.

The Goddess Laxmi still stand's waiting for the sultan and showering blessing on the city for immense prosperity and wealth and I believe somewhat it is true because once you get a chance to visit this place there are 2 prominent point's here the enigmatic temple of Bhadra Kali Devi - Goddess of the city and near the Burj - India's 2nd Largest 9 foot tall idol of Goddess Laxmi in the Mahalaxmi Temple, blessing the city since.

The most beautiful part of this story is a light, that has been running since it's inception by devotion towards Goddess Laxmi and has been burning bright and upkept through rains, winds, storm, holidays and history by the Muslim's in the area. Such a beautiful place to view, a joy you would only feel when personally here.

The Diya - light, still burn's bright in a lower corner of the central gate of the three gates, towards the inside of the city.

This whole area from Bhadra Kali Temple Up to Gandhi Road is laden with history amalgamated with modern chaos and hustle. On one hand the relic's of Mughal time quietly stand and stare while on the other hand hawker's, trader, visitor's, worshippers pass by each other in a perfect chaotic sync. The Three gate's is very interesting as the shoulder gates are smaller and narrower in size and length compared to the center gate which is tall, broad and deeper within - which is made purposefully that way to accommodate elephants and the behemoth convoy's that followed during meetings and Sultan's celebration or battle cry departure's.

The place where currently small businesses and hawker's thrive was initially a ground level terrace, a huge empty plot - parking spaces of those era's to act as stables for the horses and camp's for the gold and brass studded elephants and throne's on it. That's the reason, if you stand in center of this terrace you will see its a gigantic empty plot, temporary camp ground for even the soldier's that must have travelled with these majestic animal's along with their supplies.

Another interesting thing to surely see without fail is the Farmaan, Open letter written and inscribed on stone in a 8th century ancient language of Dev Nagri, Which was issued by the Maratha Empire's Governor Chimanji Raghunath in the year of 1812, post death of Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1442, 370 years later, stating rights for women's in their families ancestral properties, the Farmaan was issued to both Hindu's and Muslims, the Farmaan translates as:

"Let the daughter get her due share of fathers property without any hitch. So is Lord Vishwanath's command. If you defy, the Hindu will have to answer Mahadev and the Mussalman will have to explain to Allah or Rasool"

The whole time here, in the city is always joyous, fun, lot of heat, chaotic while simultaneously a prefect blend of history, religion, love and an aroma in the air of by gone times that still echoes' silently.

The only thing I personally felt was such historical significant monuments need better protection then it already is, it needs to be well preserved and away from regular human touch and vehicular passing through out the city and its monument's as these are non renewable, one cannot regain it original form once it is damaged - if so it would need more like Japanese Kintsugi process but that level of dedication, ikigai and patience come's at a cost far more in modern times to this priceless relic's of time and history.

With this, I hope you come visit the Unesco World Heritage City of Ahmedabad. If you are a foreigner it would definitely be a cultural shock but worth it if you choose to spend time correctly here with the right eye.

Sharing few picture's that I clicked during my visit back in time below.

Until next one, Que Sera,Sera!

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Click here for the complete detail Vlog on Youtube: 600 Year Market

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(Afar - The Teen Darwaza & Market)

(The Window's of Teen Darwaza)

(Abrupt Chance Meeting with a local guest from Rajasthan)

(The Farmaan By Maratha Governor)

(A Local Female Trader Selling Custom made Hand Carts - 'Lahri's')

(Happy Meetings - A Trader Enjoying Breakfast - Idli & Sambhar in Bazar)

(The Divine Calling - Lady giving service of flowers at Laxmi Temple, Ellis bridge)

(All images are of my own and resharing or reusage is strictly prohibited without prior permission)

A World Without Men: A Reflection on Balance, Void, and Existence

The wish was granted. The higher power heard and had enough of it, they are bored and utter irritated with the same prayer's every day, "We don't need men, We are fine without them, Need a world without men, Why should men have all the fun?" they said its enough, and snapped the fingers! Click!

The morning followed with it's general calmness yet a storm brewing along side the Ghana coffee in the machine, men are gone from the world, the complete gender doesn't exist anymore! Poof! vanished without a trace from the yesterday and even yester years! Whole history of the existence of race on earth, men has been erased like the writing on the beach, a clean slate. But yet the one thing was left behind, memories of them being around but only within those were living, rest everything was a wiped clean, books, scriptures, paintings, statues, everything that was dedicated to or made for men was gone.

Strange thought, isn't it? Well, first the world barely noticed it, the female gender had already taken over the partial remains' from the yesterday so everything was working smooth, it was just another day at office, no one noticed a regular joe hasn't checked in. Who cares? if they don't check in for the next couple of month's, female's are good enough to head ahead without the regular joe's of the office.

Trains are running on time, children are laughing in the park, playing tea parties. offices are running smoothly, women are getting paid fairly and climbing the ladder's faster as all women understand each other telepathically and empathetically, they are completing each other's sentences even before it has been thought inside the brain, the surface of the earth has not suffered a single crack, well immediately at least. But the world has all together has gone silent, and that's noticeable, every few hours, leading to minutes and then to seconds of the day, everyday...

Then come's a day, the kids are playing in the park, no guidance, no one to look after them, while the only remaining gender is busy making the world go round, cluttering, blabbering across the keyboards in their work, making the ends meet, but the kid in the park is now bored, sad, feeling lost, feeling alone and starts crying as there is no one around she can look up to, she can cling onto just of the sake of it, just for that little nap after a hard tea party she had and the friend forgot to give her the cookie at the table, and now there is no one to console her that it is alright let's her hold a pinky finger and takes her to buy a ice-cream from the nearest ice-cream truck.

The fight in the school broke out, the girls had their own version of fight's and fight club's, pulled each other hair's till they looked they had just been jolted with 1100V's of electricity with a bruised lip and knee to no one to come aid to except the school nurse she did her best, but she needs that band aid kiss that she will no later get it once her mom returns back in the evening.

There are female pedophile's now roaming in the neighborhood, knowing there are no beardy giant's wanting to stop them in the path just by the look of it, she is now brave, arrogant and twitchy for the next pray, before she has one and disappears into the dark alleyways, it has been reported but not enough unit's to be dispatched immediately at the location as the gender is stretched thin and no one to cover for in the void's that has been freshly left behind while there are the other's societal outreaches being piled up.

The train's are running good until the coupling came loose over the period of time, no one is available immediately due to void, but the engines are useless without the bogeys attached, you get the vibe of it, the heavy work is yet to be filled in, train's are getting late, people have started reaching no where without the transport's network working smoothly, the work is now piling up on the world from high rise multi billion dollar, electricity guzzling enterprises, its trickling down from errors, maintenance bloopers, the heavy things need more newly trained worker's to take the risk, or looking down from the 50th floor and still get that bolt riveted into the girdle.

The ageing mother has forgotten her last medicine and insurance policy that has been yet not filed, with no records of her being able to remember, the hospitals has given the final notice to clear the bill and discharge or take legal actions, the border's around the world are suddenly not 100% guarded, there are void's there too, the brotherhood has gone into ghost mode, but not even omnipresent, the grenade's are no more being hugged by the fellow to save the team, no more blood stained last letter's handed over too. Female's are running it all, with whatever best they know of all, the one's that are hardened and are ruthless are gaining slowly over the ones that remain, the encore of breaching the pinned down location's are replaced by thin yet roaring battle hardened lady officer's but yet lack the immediate impulse to jump into the fire fight that the men carried before, the hesitation...

From everything the world had to offer and has to offer, now has no men in it, it has to be managed by the female's, the only living gender amongst all things living the god had blessed the land and ocean with. The catch here is, without men the population is limited and cant grow. The cross species trials from single mammals have miserably failed costing the very precious lives that remain, scientist cannot re-create a pattern into the DNA to compensate and reproduce without the male, like the many mammals could do. Is there a breakthrough here? But time is not a friend.

The option's have run out, the cards are all played, the time is unlimited, resources are massively abundant now, the population though is the only non renewable resource left which is getting depleted faster than any other resource's, with every passing day the age factor is playing its role, the silver hair's are fading across the world, possible a next 100 years are left for the population to either find a way to repopulate, find a way to extend their existence or they would eventually all wither away like dust on a windy day, leaving behind world left for the green's, that's what's left of it.

There are so many aspects that each gender specifically cover, which is unimaginable, yet it puts a 'my god' feel when we sit down and just think about it, even more when you put it into word's, it becomes a unfathomable abyss, which only get's darker as you seek more deeper, quieter. A white noise is what we would find, I guess at the end, screaming in silence.

The silence of the world was now deafening. Women had pushed boundaries, conquered roles, managed industries, governments, homes, and even wars, not just the one's with gun powder but with the emotional turmoil they were feeling without a counsil to their error's, miseries, loneliness yet they were proving to be surviving - at a cost which was depleting faster with every wrong decision. They were proving they could survive, lead, and thrive but many aspects and segment's they gasped with a nostalgia, with an feeling of void that somethings were better when men were around, could have been they felt the grunt? or just lazy like the good old day's and that men took care in their free time but none could question their strength anymore while they are gone, strength is no more an option - its the only choice. Yet, something lingered in every heart, an emptiness that no innovation, no committee, no laboratory could fill anymore. A void.

The granted wish was never about survival but the blessing was about balance. The perfect harmony of Ying and Yang, the echo of good and evil, the joy of action and passion.

The laughter of a father swinging his daughter high into the air.
The protective presence of a brother walking his sister home at night.
The quiet endurance of a husband who works silently so his family never feels the weight he carries.
The unspoken bond between a son and an ageing mother, where no words are needed — just his presence, now everything came to women unfiltered, untethered, nothing holding back, nothing soothing it down, a neat whiskey without water.

The other gender got a jibe at the creation, the care they thought was possessiveness, they felt it was the duty so to be done but in reality they were connections. And with the men gone, the world was no longer a home, just an efficient, well greased but a ticking time machine which was fading. I read once where it was so beautifully creative that the garden needs to be filled with multiple flower's, flowers of colors, smell, sizes, but a garden with one theme of same flower becomes boring, becomes unsmoothing, not natural, its garden because it has a variety, some are good, some are beautiful, some are just ordinary but their presence is important, the plugs in the walls.

It was never about women could do it all. There had been never any doubt that any other gender was lesser than the other, all were given the limbs and eyes that other had, the same gray matter that thought few thought's milder or stronger than the other, like the different flowers in the garden, But, the question was yet to be answered and still remain's unanswered, should they have to? Should either of the gender be survivable if the alternate was obliterated? Was that ever the point of humanity — to see who could replace whom?

The higher power, the 'param atma' as the Indian mythology denotes the almighty, had only granted the wish to show one thing, not that one gender is stronger than the other, but that life itself was designed to be shared. The creation was already thought for, the misfit is designed to be fit, Men and women — different, flawed, misunderstood at times — but together, they carried humanity forward, the interlocked into each other like a key to its only lock. It was the heart for the love. It was the creation of the creator to be in continuation in his image, his strength.

While the time flew past, the grass grew and got cut, the rains and droughts came and went by but all these while the truth that burned hardest was: Men had been here all along, in the shadow's manier times fighting battles no one saw, no one heard about, the ones that they left at the doorstep before entering their home, the mood that immediately snapped to something more reliable to save the sanctity of the place he was going to be for the next few hours before he began the wrestle again, breaking inside but smiling outside, carrying those transparent burdens on his shoulder's that only shrugged quietly so others wouldn’t have to. Their struggles were invisible, and in their silence, many assumed they were unnecessary, deal able. But very few knew even within the circle of the males that everyday they were seating at table where the dealer was always new, when the cards were dealt with no certainty of his win each time but promised it bruised his ego to make him humble and smile.

Silence is never absence. Mind that well, absence often comes and screams louder than anything else once it start's getting noticed, its like seating in the world's quietest room and slowly and gradually your ear's start picking up sound's that was never heard before, scaring with the new unknown even though those sounds were always there - omnipresent. And same were the men!

So, the question is not whether the world could survive without men. Clearly, it could not. The question is: Why did we ever believe they didn’t matter enough while they were still here? while they still are?

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Do let me know in the comments, your views, I would love to gain a new insight, this was my fictional tete-e-tete with you all.

(Image is AI generated with help of Gemini)