In 1765, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia defeated Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali in the Battle of Amritsar and established the Katra Ahluwalia, a self-sufficient, small neighbourhood. “Such neighbourhoods were a common feature in the city,” says heritage architect Gurmeet Rai. Like the Har Mandir Sahib and the other sarovars of Amritsar, the katras were also made of the Nanakshahi bricks—thin, long, red blocks mostly found in Amritsar and Lahore; and named after Guru Nanak.
Ahluwalia also constructed the Ahluwalia fort to safeguard his katra. The divine, however, is ever-present here; the Udasin Ashram Akhara Sanglawala, founded in 1771 remains a place for ascetics to meditate. The slow march of change eventually led from the idyll to commerce; in the 1900s, Marwari businessmen transformed the fort into a residence-cum-business precinct. “Their gaddis (seats) and shops were placed in the front of the building and residences were at the back and on the upper floors,” says Balvinder Singh, former architecture professor of Guru Nanak Devv University.
Amritsar’s built heritage is the last remnant of the city’s eventful past, holding its ground amid the chaos of haggling tourists, cycle rickshaw bells and the smell of fried snacks. “It’s fascinating to see the many narratives of Amritsar; of the Afghans, Sikhs and English in the city’s old buildings,” says Rai, who worked on restoring the Golden Temple on the now revamped Heritage Street.