CHAMPANER, GUJARAT:

Delhi-based photographer Amit Pasricha, 51, loves old buildings. He loves them enough to have put together several coffee-table books about Indian monuments. But in this hunt for old buildings, ruins and crumbling edifices he stumbled upon enough obscure, neglected spots, what he calls ‘laawaris structures’, to realise their stories needed to be shared with the world too.

That sparked an Instagram project, India Lost and Found, in March. The page posts about three photos every other day, of a lesser-known structure somewhere in India. The shots feature intricate stone detail, magnificent domes propped up by slender minarets, stairs leading up to nowhere.

Each picture is captioned with interesting details – an anecdote about the king who commissioned the structure, the materials used, or what the motifs mean.

In August, Pasricha also launched a website, as a more permanent repository of his pictures. He calls on historians, archaeologists, architects and other experts to help “imagine the pulse of the place, the throb of civilisation past as it flourished”. This results in tidbits of information that are as surprising as they are memorable.

Food writer Anoothi Vishal collaborated on connecting the architecture to culinary history. She pointed out that Jahaz Mahal in Mandu, MP, was built during the Khilji era, “when the samosa was introduced into the continent as a mince pastry for the elite”.

Another collaborator, Anita Baig, a heritage conservationist and author, says that the project has helped showcase lesserknown bits of Indian heritage to new viewers. “After 30 years of studying heritage buildings, the project showed me sites and structures I had never heard of!” The challenge, Baig says, is to keep the information objective and factually correct without compromising on the storytelling. “It needs to be well-researched and there must be feedback. That’s when we know people are interested.”

Narayan Vyas, a former archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India, says public projects like Pasricha’s help make conservation easier.

“It is impossible for the ASI to cover all the monuments scattered across India, so there will always be a few unprotected ones,” he says. “We need more local initiatives to help identify and maintain these historical structures.”

The seven arches or Saat Kaman stand near the southern face of the Pavagarh hill fortress. Built by the Solanki kings in the 15th or 16th century, it was captured by Sultan Mahmud Begadah in 1484 and renamed Muhammadabad. Today, only six of the seven sandstone arcs remain of the strategic military outpost.

At this fort built by the Portuguese in 1559, steps lead to a network of cellars believed to have been used to store supplies for the soldiers camped here. There’s a monastery on the premises that was once a centre of theological study and hosted scholars from far and wide.