The Sethi Family

I happened to come upon these interesting articles about Mohalla Sethian in Peshawar and it made me kind of nostalgic about the good old days that my grandparents must have had in the old pakistan before partition... i wish i knew more about our history there. I will surely visit Pakistan someday and get a feeling of the good old days :-)

" One of the oldest parts of the city situated in the heart of Peshawar, Mohalla Sethian presents a fine series of 18th and 19th century architecture. It depicts a mixed artisanship of Bukhara, Kashmir, Golkanda and Iranian cultures.

The roofs of these palatial mansions or havelis located in Bazaar-i-Kalan are connected to each other by wooden bridges, depicting a kaleidoscopic world inside the weather-beaten, brick-walled houses. The havelis speak volumes about the aesthetic sense and love for embellishments of their once-rich occupants.

The small Kashmir bricks known as Waziri were used in the Mughal era from Lahore to Agra. The use of limestone, colourful glasswork, embossed settings of flowers on wooden doors, windows, frames, arches and columns and aroosi engraved by Bukhara artisans take any visitor to the bygone days when Peshawar was ruled by exiled Afghan princes.

Sethis were the businessmen of Peshawar. These traders earned huge profits in trade with India, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The palatial residence of the Sethis, built in 1882 by Haji Ahmad Gul, is proof of this fact.






Ahmad Hasan Dani, in his book Peshawar - Historic City of the Frontier, describes the palatial residence of the Sethis. He says: "It is a highly-embellished building in the typical style of the domestic architecture of a rich man, presenting highly-carved wooden doors, balconies, a mirrored and painted reception room with open upper storeys to catch the fresh breeze and underground rooms in two stages for protection from the summer heat. A highly-carved wooden doorway leads into a court where business was transacted.

A bent passage gives access to the interior. The main house forms round an open court, 32x30, paved with bricks. The surrounding rooms show highly-carved wooden arches resting on pillars with panels showing variegated motifs...the whole building gives an appropriate idea of the old type of houses."



The three-storey building consisting of a tehkhana, balakhana and a dalan opening through a triple-arched entrance has a colourfully-painted ceiling. An interesting feature of these buildings is the colourful ceilings designed and painted in different colours in every room. The variety in design and paint of the ceiling and colour combination is awe-inspiring.

The cut-glass fixed on the walls reflects the colourful panels embellished with antiques and vases. Hundred-year-old chandeliers in blue and yellow, imported from Belgium, enhance the beauty of the room.Muhalla Sethian would have attracted more tourists if it were open to them, but it is still inhabited by the Sethis and the beauty and grandeur is inaccessible to the public. This old and historic Muhalla should be preserved."

and another one i got hold of was the following one which talks about some Karim Baksh Sethi and his palatial house :



"... Sethian Street is very wide and less winding as compared to other streets of the old city. The houses were built on the style of havelis with large entrance doors.

Sethi Karim Baksh’s house was built in 1900 its woodwork and walls decorated with frescoes looking like something from the other world. The Sethis had flourishing business ties with Shanghai, Kabul, Bombay, Amritsar, Karachi and Central Asian states. The socialist revolution of 1917 reversed their fortunes, and their millions in Russian currency became worthless overnight. They built spacious havelis for their families and participated in a lot of public welfare activities. Between Gorekhatri and Ghanta Ghar, there used to be a huge well of cold water known as Sethi Karim Baksh Well. It had many spools for pulling up water. In the scorching heat of Peshawar, passersby used to drink the sweet and cold water from the well.

With the passage of time, their families expanded. Some of them moved to other cities and most of them shifted to new housing societies. Maintenance of these huge havelis had become very expensive for them. Though some of the old families are still living in the havelis, they use just a portion of it and keep the rest closed. The ladies of the Sethi family used to make really delicious Mughlai dishes...."

and yet another article which talks about the great havelis that were present in the Sethi Mohalla and presumable bad state they are in currently

"Peshawar is one of the ancient cities of Pakistan and the sub-continent. The Havelis of Mohalla Sethian in Peshawar represent exquisite architecture. Though many of them have been destroyed due to the apathetic attitude of the people towards the heritage value, some of them could still be saved.

Built across narrow streets, these Havelis used to be the abodes of the affluent businessmen of yore from the Sethi family. For nearly 2000 years, these narrow streets have shown no change except for the fact that these streets can no longer cope with the modern vehicles. Sethis carried their merchandise from India to China to Central Asia. Successful merchants as they were, they built eight big, beautiful Havelis in the 18th century. They retain the old world charm to this day with lot of timber going into their construction. The Sethi family originally hailed from Chamkani where they originally built houses on several kunals of land. Though several of them have been deserted for long by families who have shifted to more upmarket areas of the city, they are worth preservation. Neglect and apathy have pushed several of them to the verge of disaster. One of these large mansions has now been turned into a furniture -making unit.

Says Suhail Sethi, their ancestors were fond of building grandiose mansions. They even built several mosques and the Islamiah College of Peshawar. Almost every such mansion used to have a 'Cheenikhana' where chandaliers, lamps and crockery from Samarkhand and Bukhara were displayed in shelves. These havelis followed the same broad pattern of two-storeyed structures raised around fountains and a large central court-yard. Every plank, pillar and bracket was carved with hand. According to furniture maker Mukarram Khan, such carving is not possible today.

Each Haveli used to have a basement where according to elders, one needed a blanket to wrap while sleeping even in the hottest summer. The precious architectural heritage today urges immediate steps to save the remaining vestiges of the past. Citizens of Peshawar have urged the members of the Sethi family to chalk out a plan to preserve the heritage for the future."

Labels: peshawar, sethi mohalla