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ABSTRACT
The haveli is one of the most common traditional built forms used as a dwelling place in large parts of the Indian subcontinent since precolonial times. Even as havelis are increasingly being acknowledged today as cultural assets, the large corpus of surviving havelis in the country continues to encounter sentiments ranging from apathy and neglect to vandalism and destruction. The case of a modest haveli in a Haryana village exemplifies built heritage conservation, positioning the haveli as an asset for the entire village community. This haveli can be regarded as a role model for the reassertion of the worth of village havelis, whose collective contribution as cultural heritage sites cannot be underestimated, making a strong case for their safekeeping for the future.
INTRDUCTION
The haveli is a traditional built form type that was used as a dwelling place in large parts of the Indian subcontinent since pre-colonial times. The word is believed to be of Arabic origin, loosely meaning a mansion and in the Subcontinent it came to be associated as a residence of the elite and the wealthy. Among the earliest references to havelis are from the era of Muslim, notably Mughal, occupation of the Subcontinent. Several accounts, both indigenous and foreign remark on the presence of this built form type across the built landscape of cities, towns and the countryside. James Forbes (1834), travelling in Mughal India in late 18th century as a writer for the East India Company compared havelis to the palaces of European nobility and declared the former to be much larger in size. Indigenous descriptions were also along the same lines with eulogistic prose being employed by writers to describe havelis particularly those belonging to the elite. While elite havelis were generally seen as worthy subjects of encomium, their more modest versions that came up in large numbers across smaller settlements including villages, regarded the former as models worthy of emulation. Havelis have been a subject of both general interest and scholarly research in architecture with those in urban areas tending to attract the limelight (Pramar 1989; Verma & Shankar 1992; Tillotson 1994; Goel 2003; Jain 2004). Further they can also serve as popular places of tourist attraction both for the general visitor and the heritage...