Pakki Dhakki: A Heritage Lost in Silence, A Shared Responsibility to Reclaim

"Heritage is not only about the past—it is about shaping inclusive futures through memory, place,
and participation."
—
Francesca Giliberto

This global vision finds intimate expression in the narrow, stone-paved lanes ofstrong>Pakki
Dhakki/strong> in Jammu. This is not heritage in abstraction; it is lived, layered, and quietly
eloquent. Tucked into a steep hillside overlooking the Tawi River, Pakki Dhakki once carried the
social magnetism that localities like Trikuta Nagar and Gandhi Nagar command today. It was a coveted
address, humming with intellectual, ritual, and culinary vibrancy.

During my fieldwork, I walked through this storied terrain alongsideVaibhav SharmaandNidhi Verma, residents whose memories thread lineage and locality with striking clarity.
Here, ancestral homes speak through weathered facades and hand-carved doorways; temples emerge at
turns, both unexpected and tender. Each pathway recalls the footsteps of poets likestrong>Dinu
Bhai Pant/strong>, astrologers likeAnant Ram Sharma, and royal chefs whose
craft once nourished the Dogra court. Every silence echoes with the presence of palace women who
trekked the incline for ritual ablutions at the river and worship at the Radha Rukimini temple.
Pakki Dhakki is not just a place; it is aspatial archive, where memory and
architecture remain entwined, waiting to be re-read.

The Paved Slope of Power and Piety

The namePakki Dhakki—meaning "paved slope"—derives from its distinctive stone-laid
stairways connectingMubarak Mandi, the royal palace complex, with the sacred banks
of theTawi River. Unlike other dhakkis (slopes) in old Jammu, which remained
earthen or loosely paved, this was the only properly laid stone route used daily by palace staff and
royal women.

Its strategic location and durable construction made it a prized settlement for those serving the
Dogra court: astrologers, water carriers (bishtis), chefs, artisans, and ritual
specialists. Over time, it became an aspirational address—where proximity to power met the dignity
of labour.

A Sacred Geography of Jammu

Along with important addresses, Pakki Dhakki is stitched with a sacred geography of temples, rituals,
and intergenerational belief. At its heart lies theRadha-Rukmini temple, nearly
200 years old and the only known temple in North India where Rukmini is venerated alongside Radha
and Krishna. Pilgrims once bathed in the Tawi before ascending the dhakki to offer rituals here.
Abandoned after the monarchy's end, it was revived by residents and is now managed by theDharmarth Trust.

Across from it stands a modest Radha-Krishna temple nestled into the hillside. Below, where the slope
flattens near the river, begins a cluster of shrines linked by a tiled walkway connecting Pakki
Dhakki to Dhounthly Dhakki. Steep stairs descend to theNarsingh Ji temple, which
houses ashaligramwith an open mouth signifying the Narsingh avatar. Though rebuilt, its
sanctity remains.

A little ahead stands the remarkableSavitri temple—possibly one of Jammu’s
oldest—built entirely of stone blocks with a pyramidalshikhar. Its interiors glow with
miniature-style murals depicting the Ramayana and Krishna Lila. The Dharmarth Trust oversees its
care. Nearby, theDakshineshwari Kalika temple, though a recent structure,
enshrines a Kali Mata idol believed to be five centuries old and visually akin to Bahu Fort’s icon.
Adjacent Shiva temples, a black Shivalinga beneath a canopy, and a weathered one recovered from the
Tawi, complete this sacred complex.

These temples do more than mark devotion; they map the spiritual choreography of palace women and
pilgrims. Oral histories speak of a now-lost staircase, descending vertically from Mubarak Mandi to
the riverbank near Savitri temple. Elders even recall a pulley-powered lift system once used by
royal women, testimony to a kingdom’s entangled ritual and architectural intelligence.

The Silence of Neglect

Despite its rich historical fabric, Pakki Dhakki stands today in quiet decline. Its tiled lanes, laid
only after persistent persuasion from residents, remain fractured and uneven. Many ancestral homes
lie in disrepair as families have migrated to newer neighbourhoods, and with reduced patronage, the
temples that once anchored daily life have begun to crumble. These are not just physical signs of
neglect; they mark a deeper erosion of memory, identity, and civic responsibility.

Though drains have been installed, the air is thick with stench due to poor maintenance. The tiled
trek, once envisioned as a heritage walk, is now choked with overgrown grass and scattered garbage.
Ironically, this stretch remains one of the few open spaces amidst the dense cluster of built-up
areas, offering a potentially picturesque morning walk but it lies unused and unloved. A troubling
apathy hangs heavy in the air.

Residents, who no longer see themselves as stewards of their heritage, often forget that this is
their inheritance to safeguard and pass on.Heritage must be lived to be preserved,
and right now, Pakki Dhakki is being lived through silence, a silence laden with erased rituals,
crumbling shrines, and fading identities.

Institutional Oversight and the Missing Heritage Map

This neglect is not merely local—it is mirrored and magnified by institutional oversight. TheSmart City Mission, despite its stated commitment to inclusive urban renewal, has
failed to recognise Pakki Dhakki as a heritage asset worthy of investment and visibility. Its plans
focus on infrastructural upgrades and marquee projects, often privileging spectacle over substance.
Pakki Dhakki, with its layered history and living sacred geographies, has been left off the map,
literally and figuratively.

Similarly, theMubarak Mandi Heritage Society, tasked with conserving the palace
complex and its surrounding precincts, has yet to embrace Pakki Dhakki as an integral extension of
the royal urban landscape. Despite its proximity and historical entwinement with Mubarak Mandi, the
locality remains excluded from conservation dialogues, tourism circuits, and interpretive
frameworks. This omission reflects a narrow understanding of heritage that isolates monuments from
the communities, rituals, and everyday spaces that gave them meaning.

A Paradigm Shift: Historic Urban Landscapes

What is needed is a shift from monument-centric preservation tostrong>landscape-based
stewardship/strong>, as advocated byUNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscapeapproach. Pakki
Dhakki is not a peripheral zone but a connective tissue of memory, movement, and meaning. Its
exclusion from revitalisation plans is not just a planning failure; it is a missed opportunity to
foster cultural continuity, civic pride, and inclusive urban futures.

Technically speaking, the issue of local communities and their well-being has gained increasing
attention in heritage conservation discourse, especially since 2005. While the inclusion of local
communities in heritage site management was first emphasised in UNESCO’s 1996 Operational
Guidelines, highlighting the need for their collaboration and approval in site nominations, the
theme of community well-being is a more recent concern, formally emerging in the 2019 revisions.
Scholars such asChiara Bortolottohave argued that "protecting intangible cultural
heritage is inseparable from the concerns of local communities" (2020), whilestrong>William
Logan/strong> has framed cultural practices as a form of human rights that must be recognised
and safeguarded (2007). These perspectives underscore that heritage conservation cannot be divorced
from the lived realities of those who inhabit and sustain these landscapes.

Moving Towards Participatory Renewal

In the case of Pakki Dhakki, the disconnect between institutional planning and community stewardship
reflects a broader global tension: between top-down revitalisation and bottom-up resilience. As
global frameworks remind us, heritage must be conserved not only as a cultural asset, but as a
dynamic resource for social cohesion, ecological sustainability, and community well-being.

We can transform passive neglect into participatory renewal by launching citizen-led heritage walks,
reclaiming memory through interpretive signage, and petitioning for inclusive policy action. Pakki
Dhakki’s legacy deserves to be lived again—through footsteps, stories, and care.

A Call to Action

To reclaim Pakki Dhakki as a vital cultural landscape, it is essential to adopt a holistic and
participatory approach that echoes the ethos ofstrong>UNESCO’s 2011 Historic Urban
Landscape/strong> recommendations, aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11.4, and reflects
the priorities of the New Urban Agenda.

• Restore Pedestrian Corridors:Connecting Mubarak Mandi and the Radha-Rukmini
  temple to create a curated heritage trail, layered with mnemonic and architectural memory.
• Expand Tourism Circuits:Use interpretive signage and digital storytelling
  archives to enhance visibility and engagement.
• Establish Community-Led Heritage Cells:Collect oral histories and maintain
  shrines to foster grassroots stewardship and civic agency.
• Formal Recognition:Recognise Pakki Dhakki as a "Historic Urban Enclave" to
  ensure access to preservation funding and policy inclusion.

These efforts must be mirrored in education and outreach, embedding the neighbourhood’s legacy into
curricula, field visits, and intergenerational storytelling to support cultural literacy. Such
integrated actions not only safeguard physical spaces but restore the emotional and narrative
textures of the city.

Preserving Pakki Dhakki is not just an act of remembrance—it is a shared responsibility and a promise
to future generations. Its stones speak not of obstacles, but of enduring verses in the city’s
sacred text, waiting to be reread through care, imagination, and collective will.

Secretary-General, ICICH-ICOMOS | Co-Counselor, ICOMOS-India

A heritage scholar bridging fieldwork with global advocacy, focusing on the preservation of
cultural landscapes, memory, and intangible heritage.