Ghadiyal Ki Chatri during restoration work
The dome and the golden spire are almost equal to one storey high. These two chatris add to the beauty of the City Palace skyline. The two located on either side of the Badi Pol, main entrance, of the City Palace Museum are called the Nakkar Khana Ki Chatri (on the east) and Ghadiyal Ki Chatri (on the west).
Ghadiyal Ki Chatri during restoration work
The Nakkar Khana is the space at the entrance of palaces reserved for making announcements. The Palace was considered as the official timekeeper of the State in the old times. On the west-side is the Ghadiyal ki Chatri. This was before any mechanical clocks were manufactured. The official astronomer would calculate the time according to the position of the Sun and the Moon, and the time would change accordingly in the summer and the winter months.
The Ghadiyal Ki Chatri had a water clock to calculate the time to sound the gong. The water clock they used worked as follows:
A large copper vessel, size 13" in diameter by 61⁄2" deep was filled with about 5 litres of water, with about 11⁄2" being kept empty from the brim. In this, a smaller empty copper vessel, size 7" in diameter by 4" deep was placed. This second vessel has a pin-point hole at the bottom
Ghadiyal Ki Chatri after restoration work
through which the water starts filling the empty vessel through capillary action. The vessel takes exactly 221⁄2" minutes to fill when water starts coming from another hole on the side of the vessel. This was the indication for the time keeper to sound the huge metal alloy gong kept suspended in the chatri. Hence the gong was sounded every 221⁄2 minutes and in 24 hours it was sounded 64 times.
Reinstallation of gong after restoration work
The time of the day and the night was divided into 8 'Pahars', with each 'Pahar' being of 3 hours duration. At the end of each 'Pahar' the gong was sounded again. The 1st 'Pahar' started at 4 am and at the completion of the 1st 'Pahar' the gong was struck once, on completion of the 2nd 'Pahar' the gong used to be struck twice and so on after each 'Pahar' for the general population of the city. The 4am sounding of the gong was also called 'Gajar' which was the wake-up call. This was before the advent of watches and clocks in every home.
Restoration and conservation of Ghadiyal Ki Chatri was completed in November 2009. An architectural landmark at the Palace entrance, the Chatri was restored using traditional methods and is an exemplary conservation of tangible and intangible heritage.
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