30-12-2017
31°34'30.56"N
74°18'47.81"E
Bansi Mandir located in
congested streets of Anarkali Bazaar.
The mandir itself is located within the courtyard of a massive haveli.
At present, portions are rented out to various tenants and even the main
building of the mandir is used as a home by one of the numbers of families here.
This building would have been built
during the colonial period by a prosperous family wanting to expand out of the
congested walled city. Kanhaiya Lal and Latif don't mention it in their descriptions of Anarkali
so it must have been built or completed after the 1890s.
The façade is a long one and lines the Anarkali bazaar.
The decorative features on the main façade are broadly
European but the central section has a traditional arch framed by pillars and contains an elaborate
jharokha above the entrance. The wooden jharokha or balcony with its fine woodwork is still in a good
state of preservation. I could not able to take a photo of that work. The stairs lead up to the courtyard, in the
center of which is located the fine temple with plaster moldings.
Bansi Mandir, in the background the tall standing four minarets are of Badshahi mosque. Picture taken from top of Surgical Tower Mayo Hospital.
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