Conservation plan for the historic city of Dhar M.P.

Abstract

The thesis aims to study Dhar (M.P.) as the ancient planned city of Raja Bhoj and develop a conservation plan for the historic core, through a holistic approach. Dhar is located in the Malwa region of western Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town, the name of which is derived from Dhara Nagari (the city of sword blades), was made the capital of the Paramara chiefs of Malwa by Vairisimha II, who transferred his headquarters hither from Ujjain at the end of the 9th century. During the rule of the Paramara dynasty Dhar was famous throughout India as a centre of culture and learning. Dhar, once a fortified city, consists of several architectural landmarks of Hindu, Jain and Islamic architecture, including several bawdis and reservoirs as a part of the ancient water system. The thesis involves study of Dhar through Raja Bhoj‟s principles of traditional town planning as mentioned in his text, „Samrangana Sutradhara‟ and works of other scholars and co-relating it with the existing on-site evidences. It begins with the identification and listing of existing heritage structures and precincts; use, function and issues in these places. This further involves the graphical representation of the historical evolution of Dhar and its transformation in the present urban context, and the ancient cultural resources existing in the city. This would include quantification of how much of the cultural resources is surviving and what has been lost. The output of the thesis would be a conservation plan for the historic core of Dhar. This would include delineation of the core into zones for effective management and then develop guidelines for heritage zones. There would be proposals to manage identified and listed heritage structures and conservation strategies to protect the surviving cultural resources in the historic core of Dhar.