22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

MULTAN, Jan 21: After completing conservation of 125-year-old Shah Sadiq Nehang mausoleum in Jhang, the archaeology department has started perusing archives to find what Persian verses were written on its mosque's were missing or damaged tiles to finally complete the project.

"The conservation of the mausoleum was completed on Jan 15, 2004, but exact Persian verses are now required for the mosque to enable our calligraphers write those on new (similar) tiles in kashikari art for its restoration," said an official of the Punjab archaeology department.

Horizontal and vertical panels of single tiles embellished with Persian verses in kashikari at the back and front of the mosque were either missing or damaged to the extent that left verses illegible.

"We will either ask the Sajjada Nasheen to provide us with old pictures of the mosque or search old records for this purpose," he said, and added that a meeting would also be held to discuss the matter.

The archaeology department allocated Rs3.1 million for the project, including Rs1.294 million for mausoleum, which began in July 2000. It is learnt that for a certain period after February 2002, funds could not be released. "Conservation is much more time-consuming and complicated than erecting a new building," he said. "The process of cooling lime and making glazed cream out of it for plaster alone takes six months."

Hazrat Muhammad Shah, better known as Shah Sadiq Nehang for being a leader of Nehang group of Sikhs, was a Muslim saint of Qalandria lineage, who shifted from Sindh to Jhang during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, a report of the provincial archaeology department quotes Bilal Zubary's Tazkaratul Auliya-i-Jhang.

The saint had died in AH 1181 (AD 1767) and buried in his original room according to his desire. The existing structure of the mausoleum was erected over his grave in AH 1295 (AD 1878), over a century after his death, by his then Sajjada Nasheen, Hazrat Muhammad Panah Shah.

The whole surface of internal walls of the mausoleum and the mosque is beautifully decorated with floral designs in Fresco Bouno Work. Badly damaged designs have been restored by craftsmen while retouching in Fresco was also done after washing the walls either with glycerine or Pears soap where needed.

Dressed bricks have been used in underpinning process on around three-foot salt-affected walls on the exterior of the four sides of the mausoleum and the mosque, coupled with a damp proof course (DPC) application to avoid further damage due to salt. The remaining seven feet altitude of the mausoleum's salt-affected exterior on its all four sides was restored by underpinning process and then tile work in kashikari, depicting old designs in traditional blue colour.

The Kashi tiles being used in conservation were designed and baked at the plant of the archaeology department, Multan. The crown of the mausoleum's door was also decorated with Fresco work while paint on the wooden door was removed.

Its dome, measuring 24 feet in external diameter, has been plastered with 1.5-inch-thick glazed lime layer after two inch thick layer of kankar lime. Its four-foot-high pinnacle, besides 12 others (all 1.5-foot-high) have also been replaced. Three domes of the mosque have also been plastered with lime while as many pinnacles replaced.

"What remains is that we have to fix leaf-styled Kashi tiles, besides fixing other kashi tiles and their panels on the mosque's interior," an official said. But this could not be done unless we fixed the tiles with Persian verses first due to their arrangement in the overall design, he added.

The floor of the mausoleum, measuring around 6,500 square feet, and its boundary wall (over 250 running feet), however, could not be constructed as no allocation was made for the purpose.-APP