Team KMPA attends 247th GC meeting at Bhopal
Hosted by the Bhopal Master Printers Association (BMPA) founded in 2016, the 247th Governing Council meeting of the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) was held on the 7th and 8th of December, 2019, at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Bhopal under the Chairmanship of Mr. Dibyajyoti Kalita, President, AIFMP.
The meeting was inaugurated by P. C. Sharma, cabinet minister of Law and Legal Affairs Department, Public Relations, Science & Technology, and Civil Aviation of Madhya Pradesh. Ashok Gupta, President, Bhopal Master Printers Association welcomed the GC members. During the function the new edition of the Talking Bhagavad Gita was unveiled on 8th December, 2019 by Mr. Sharma in the presence of Manish Rajoria, Director, Aadarsh Pvt. Ltd., central India’s largest printing and publishing unit. During the function, Ankita Shrivastava, currently Vice President of Aadarsh Pvt. Ltd. was honoured for winning two gold medals and a silver for India in the World Transplant Games organized by the Olympic Association.
The GC members were also treated to a royal Nawabi dinner at the beautiful lawns of Bhopal’s Jehan Numa Palace Hotel, Shyamla Hills.
A six-member KMPA delegation including GC members S. Saji, O. Venugopal, Biju Jose, and GB members G.Venugopal, R. Haridas, and Shaji Manjooran participated in the meeting.
The team also visited many prominent places in and around Bhopal.
The Taj Ul Masajid, a massive 19th-century red-stone mosque built in Indo-Islamic style of architecture featuring white domes, imposing minarets, and carved arches was visited. It is the largest mosque in India and one of the largest mosques in Asia, located in the heart of the city near the Upper Lake along National Highway 12.
The construction work of this large 2,50,000 square feet mosque was started by Nawab Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal and continued to be built by her daughter Sultan Jahan Begum, till her lifetime. The mosque was not completed due to lack of funds, and after a long lay-off after the War of 1857, construction was resumed in 1971 by Allama Mohammad Imran Khan Nadwi Azhari and Maulana Sayed Hashmat Ali Sahab of Bhopal. Finally the renovation was completed as recently by 1985 and the eastern gate entrance was renovated grandly using ancient motifs from Circa 1250 Syrian mosques. The mosque has a pink facade topped by two 18-storey high octagonal minarets with marble domes, an impressive main hallway with attractive pillars, and marble flooring resembling Mughal architecture the likes of Jama Masjid in Delhi. It has a courtyard with a large tank in the centre, with a double-storeyed gateway with four recessed archways and nine-cusped multifold openings in the main prayer hall. The massive pillars in the hall hold 27 ceilings through squinted arches of which 16 ceilings are decorated with ornate petaled designs.
Another destination was the the Sanchi Stupa, a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa. Located at the hilltop of Sanchi town in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, 46 kilometres north-east of Bhopal, it is one of the oldest stone structures in India and an important monument in Indian architecture. Originally commissioned by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chhatri, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to honour and shelter the relics. The original construction work of this stupa was overseen by Ashoka, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant of nearby Vidisha.
The monuments at Sanchi today comprise a series of Buddhist relics dating back to the Maurya Empire (3rd century BCE), continuing with the Gupta Empire (5th century CE), and ending around the 12th century CE. It’s probably the best preserved group of Buddhist monuments in India. The oldest and also the largest monument is the Great Stupa also called Stupa 1, initially built under the Mauryas, and adorned with one of the, now famous, Pillars of Ashoka.
Altogether, Sanchi encompasses most of the evolutions of ancient Indian architecture and ancient Buddhist architecture in India, from the early stages of Buddhism and its first artistic expression, to the decline of the religion in the subcontinent.
Sanchi monuments, now recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site, have been inscribed on the world heritage list of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
From the Bhopal GC, team KMPA returned with a lot to learn. A great experience all-together.