A few years ago, while exploring Bhuj, a small city in Gujarat, India’s westernmost state, a beautiful, initially mysterious structure of pillars supporting an enclosure adorned with hundreds of holes. I came across. It seemed to me that it was a geometric abstraction of a giant tree, until the pigeon peeked through one of the openings.
Soon, hundreds of birds entered and exited the magnificent birdhouses. Locals say that this building is called “Chabutra”.
During his first four months of stay, and then during a follow-up visit to the entire district of Kutch, including Buji, he took pictures, collected local stories, recorded the memories of people related to the building, etc. , Started recording beautifully crafted birdhouses. ..
The old bird tower I met was made of wood and stone. The new specimens are mainly made of concrete and are much more colorful and vibrant. Each design is different.
Bird breeding and feeding are common practices in many parts of India. However, in different cities, the collective affinity for birds is expressed in different ways. Some communities participate in pigeon breeding known as kabootar-baazi. This includes tame birds, health care, training to fly in specific directions based on verbal instructions, and preparing for flight competitions. Others are focusing on conservation activities. Yet others build chabutras.
In the Kutch district of Gujarat, most villages and settlements have elegant birdhouses. Structures paid by residents are often designed and built by masons who can express the spirit of the community without training as a designer.
The house is not just a place for birds to stay. It also functions as a communal space. Older men and women are sitting in the shade. Children play nearby. Festivals may be held around it.
Like humans, birds utilize several types of housing, so I prefer to classify birdhouses as bird dwellings. Some structures are like salais and motels, where animals stop by a bit before moving on. Others are 40-story high-rise condominiums.
Analyzing Shabutra from an architectural point of view, it can be described as Indo-Saracenic, Brutalist, postmodern, or contemporary.
Chabtra can also be associated with the religious and cultural identity of its community. Many believe that building a building as a monument to the deceased friends and family and providing food to them is like feeding the souls of the deceased. Some Hindus believe that serving food in a building is like feeding God.
Therefore, it is not surprising that large donations of bird seeds are often made at important social events such as funerals, weddings and childbirth. In some towns, donating grain to a communal Chabtra can serve as a kind of punishment, or even a mandatory community service.
While working on the discovery and recording of Kutch’s Chabutra, I visited dozens of villages throughout the district and talked to countless people who helped store and maintain the structures. Also, historic wooden hives in several places, such as Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s most populous city, are well documented, but no similar attention is paid to Kutch’s hives. Hmm.
The purpose of this project, which I have been working on for the past seven years, was to make up for the lack of attention paid to Kutch’s Shabutra in particular. 2001 catastrophic earthquake It destroyed many of the famous stone specimens.
The quake turned many historic Chabutras into rubble, but it also paved the way for the new structures we see today.
