Pande Sanjana Adesh Niti

HR4002

Reading Ruination

This research explores Saraf Bazaar, a historic market street in Bhuj, where ruined buildings reflect cycles of neglect, preservation, and transformation. These ruins, shaped by shifting power dynamics involving royals, colonial authorities, and local traders, offer insights into the street’s complex political history. Focusing on four partially ruined buildings—the Chavdi Police Station, the Nagaarkhana Gate, the Old Vegetable Market, and the Bhid Chabutra—the study examines their emergence, decline, and transformation. Neglected buildings, unlike intact ones, reveal histories of decay and obsolescence, uncovering Saraf Bazaar as a contested site where architecture acts as a medium of power and assertion.

View Additional Work

Report Content

Reading Ruination ;Uncovering Saraf Bazaar as a site of power negotiation among the royal family, colonial authorities and traders

Capturing the textures of ruination and decay of architecture in Bhuj

Site journaling as a method of recording observations on site

Visual ethnography as a tool to generate primary data sets

Analysing the transformation of Chavdi Police Station, as an institution of early colonial presence in Bhuj

Analysing the transformation of Nagaarkhana gate, as a symbolic representation of royal power

Analysing the transformation of the old vegetable market, as a tool of social control under the colonial regime

Analysing the transformation of Bhid Chabutra, as a marker of identity and resilience by the traders of Bhuj

The layout of the street, with the royal family occupying their position at either end, colonial presence at the central crossroad, and the traders asserting their presence at Bhid Chowk

Final panel representing the research argument through visuals