Top 6 hidden tourist places in south Delhi
In the triangle enclosed by the Ridge and the Yamuna river lie, not the conventional “seven cities” of Delhi but as many as fifteen different Delhis. But a map showing the successive cities of the Delhi area has little consonance with the modern map. The pressure on urban land has drastically changed the landscape, so that to identify the boundaries needs imagination. Of these, the first four are in the south, and the next three are further north, on the river, Delhi 8 and 9 were the British Civil Lines, in the far north, and Lutyens’ Delhi, centred between the oldest Delhis and Shahjahanabad.
Until the 1960s, Delhi was informally categorized as “Old” and “New”, to distinguish the older cities from the currently settled one. Today “Old” and “New” persist in official terminology, but the average citizen uses the terms “North”, “West”, “South”, “East” and “Central” — an indication of the urban sprawl. In this Greater Delhi many old townships have been swallowed up. They have certain common features — a cluster of old monuments, with an adjacent village settlement; in most cases the fields of the villages have been taken over for housing estates, so that both monument and “urban village” are hemmed in by modern “colonies”. Lord Curzon’s enthusiasm led to many of the major monuments being “protected” and their environs landscaped, but many of the smaller buildings have disappeared or are quite hidden.
A local saying lists the three things necessary for setting up a town — badshah, badal, dariya — a king, clouds and a river. The Yamuna was a useful means of transportation, the clouds brought the rains which filled the storage tanks necessary for Delhi’s arid climate, and the kings used the landscape of Delhi to site their cities and its rock to build their places. In the 13th
century the Il-baris occupied the city of Prithviraj Chauhan on the Ridge (it continues to be called Qila Rai Pithaura) and contributed some beautiful pieces of architecture, to be seen in the Qatb Minar complex. Alauddin Khilji (1290-1316) built a new palace at Siri, in the plains. The Tughlaq dynasty, in a span of less than a century, built three fort-palaces — Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah and Feroze Shah Kotla.
This chapter introduces you to the four southern cities — Mehrauli and the Qatb Minar complex, Siri, Tughlaqabad and Jahanpanah. The French traveller Rousselet who visited Delhi over a century ago strongly recommended that the Qatb Minar should be saved till the end, but the order of viewing will obviously depend on the visitor’s convenience.
The surviving buildings are relics of urban cultures where beautiful gardens, cool and colourful interiors, elaborate ritual and a vibrant cosmopolitan culture contributed to make Delhi the rival of Baghdad and Isfahan. Though so much has been lost, the well built and intelligently ventilated structures and the painstaking artisanship speak for themselves. Also Visit – Delhi Sightseeing Tour by Car
Mehrauli—Qatb Minar
About 11 km (7 miles) from India Gate, Mehrauli has been continuously inhabited since the 12th century, if not earlier. Until 60 years ago, Mehrauli was separate from Delhi, a half-day’s tong ride away. Its mango groves, hills and fields made it a pleasant summer resort for the city dwellers, although most of the groves and fields have now disappeared. Fortunately, the monuments are protected, and this is the Archaeological Survey’s showpiece in Delhi; some sections have been landscaped by the Delhi Development Authority. Development is bringing piped water from the river to Mehrauli, but the best potable water you can get is from one of the old wells which are dotted about on the hillside. This area has to be explored in three sections — the Qatb Minar complex, the village of Mehrauli, and some monuments on the Mehrauli—Gurgaon Road.
The Qatb Minar complex
The significance of these monuments, quite apart from their sheer beauty, is that they number many “firsts”. Qatb-ud-din Aibak was anxious to proclaim the political victory of Islam in North India, and he speedily did this by demolishing many Hindu temples and using their dressed and carved stone to lay out the first mosque in India — the Quwwat-ul-Islam (Victory of Islam) mosque —where the columns and the three arches of the prayer-hall’s screen bear the stamp of local craftsmen in the manner of their ornamentation. This is seen even more exquisitely in the wavelike effect obtained by using slabs of varying shades of sandstone, in the walls of lltutmish’s tomb in the north-west corner of the complex. Though bereft of its dome, this is noteworthy for being the first known example of the use of the squinch, the technique for laying a dome on a large frame.
In each of the dynasties that ruled Delhi, there was invariably one great builder. For the ll-baris it was lltutmish, who added many distinctive touches to structures begun by Qatb-ud-din. Ala-u-ddin Khilji added a gatehouse, the Alai Darwaza, for the mosque. This is a perfectly proportioned structure, though in photographs it looks squat alongside the Qatb Minar. In it we get the true arch, the shallow dome, the dramatic combination of white marble and red sandstone, geometrical carvings and “lotus bud” fringes — all features to be found in later buildings. Bishop Heber found the words to de-scribe the total effect: “They built like giants, and they finished like jewellers”.
The Iron Pillar is one of the more puzzling elements in the mosque courtyard. Its inscription proclaims it to be of the 4th century, but does not explain how it came to be where it is. No one has been able to explain how it has remained free of rust. It tantalises the visitor with the popular belief that the person who can encircle it with their hands held behind their back will have their wish granted (it is now fenced off).
The Qatb Minar is also a puzzle: watchtower or minaret of the mosque? It is the joint effort of many individuals — Qatb-ud-din built the first storey, the rest being added by Iltutmish and modified by Feroze Shah Tughlaq who carried out some necessary repairs. The cupola he installed was damaged by earthquake, and a British engineer raised a new one. This was criticised by a later Governor-General, and was accordingly removed; it now stands as a pleasant little canopy on the lawns. Despite being the product of so many hands, the Minar has a remarkable aesthetic integrity, with its rounded and angular flutings and exquisite stalactite-pendentive brackets to support the balconies. Thomas Metcalfe’s daughter Emily has delightful descriptions of picnics on the top storey; later visitors were only allowed as far as the first storey. At present no one is allowed into the Minar, because the staircase is judged to be unsafe.
West of the complex is the tomb of Ala-ud-din Khilji, and a madarsa (school) established by him. Southeast of the Minar, outside the Qatb complex, is the dilapidated tomb of Quli Khan, which in the 1840s Thomas Metcalfe converted for his own use by extending each of its octagonal sides to make a room. He also felt called upon to contribute to the built landscape of the area by constructing two pyramidal towers near the entrance, a kos minar and the towers of a Gothic palace on the further rocks.
Mehrauli
Reached by taking the road to the left as one leaves the complex, Mehrauli is a linear village which, among other things, has a major wholesale vegetable market. At its northern end is the massive octagonal building which is the tomb of Adham Khan, a general in the Mughal army in the 16th century; the tomb was built by emperor Akbar, who had himself sentenced Adham Khan to death. If we walk down the village street, on the left is the shrine of Bakhtiyar Kaki, a Muslim saint of the early 13th century, whose resting-place has been renovated from time to time. Many of the rulers of Delhi are also buried nearby. Adjacent to the shrine is Zafar Mahal (named after the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah, whose pen-name was “Zafar”). This three-storey sandstone building of the 18th century, in some ways resembling the entrance-way of the Red Fort, is a reminder of the Mughals’ habit of spending some time every year in Mehrauli. Along the busy street one can glimpse the occasional arch or dome that proclaims a period building; many of these are being “renovated” and en-larged beyond recognition. At the far end of the village, on the right, is Jahaz Mahal (Ship Palace), so called because it is on the bank of a large tank, the Hauz Shamsi. While the Hauz dates back to Iltutmish, the Mahal is of the 16th cen-tury. On the left side of the street is a jharna (spring), the overflow from the tank. Early in the month of October, Mehrauli celebrates its own festival, the Phul-walon-ki-Sair (Flower-sellers’ Procession) which originated in the 16th century. The highlight is a procession of people carrying decorated floral fans blessed at the shrine of Bakhtiyar Kaki and at the Hindu temple of Jogmaya near Mehrauli village; these are brought to the Jahaz Mahal for a formal ceremony. Also Visit – Golden Triangle Tour Packages
Sultan Ghari, Jamali-Kamali
South of Mehrauli, at a distance of 5 km (3 miles) along the Mehrauli—Gurgaon Road, is a little cluster of ruins on the left. In the midst of these is the tomb that Iltutmish built for his son, who died 4 years before him. Apart from its ornate mihrab on the western wall, this bears little resemblance to the tomb of lltutmish in the Qatb complex. This structure has a quiet austerity, with its domed bastions of mellow golden sandstone, its colonnaded enclosure and octagonal tomb-chamber.
Returning to the Qatb area from Sul-tan Ghari, you reach a massive modern Jain statue on a rocky hill on the right. On the left, a signpost points to the Jamali-Kamali tomb, which is set back from the road and not immediately visible. This large 16th century mosque was built by a Sufi poet whose pen-name was “Jamali”. The first-floor plat-form of the mosque affords a superb view of the surrounding area. In an enclosure next to the mosque is the tomb of Jamali, designed by him to frame his verses in a rich ornamentation of blue, white and red. Near the mosque is a well laid-out park, and the curious might speculate about the structures covered by the undulating slopes. Further north is a large roofless building, the tomb of the emperor Balban.
Tughlaqabad Complex
From the Qatb complex take the road to the left, but instead of going past Jamali’s mosque, take the road on the left. After about 8 km (5 miles), you will come to the massive walls of the Tughlaqabad fort. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq had this built as a defensive outpost, but it was hardly used. Legend ascribes this to the fulfillment of a curse of the saint Nizamuddin; the emperor had turned down his request for masons to build a shrine, and he had prophesied that the royal fort would remain uninhabited. With most of its buildings gone, the desolation today is even more striking. The visitor now enters it from a small gate on the southeast, but when it was inhabited, it was approached by a gentle gradient from the northwest, where lay the adjoining city (now a village). Entrance halls in the south-west led to the palaces and up to the high point of the citadel on the east. Deep water-storage tanks, passages with cubicles let into the sides, and subterranean passages, make the fort a delight for the adventurous. However, it is wise to visit the fort as part of a large group, because a number of attacks on visitors have been reported.
The fort was connected by an embankment to a smaller fort to the south; Adilabad was built by Ghiyas-ud-din’s successor, Muhammad. Like the larger fort, it is so ruined that it is hard to imagine it as having once contained palaces. One can only wonder at the massive building activity under the Tughlaqs in the Delhi area alone. That this was not always utilitarian and austere is borne out by the tomb of Ghiyas-ud-din, enclosed in a heavy stone wall, which suggests that it also doubled as a fortified outpost. This structure was an island, set in the vast body of water that lay south of the fort. The tomb is perfectly preserved. Like the Alai Darwaza, it relies for dramatic effect on a combination of sandstone and marble. It marks a point of departure in its sloping sides. From the ramparts of the stone walls one gets a pleasant view of fields and forts. It is a quiet place in comparison to the Qatb complex, with long spells of silence broken only by the chatter of monkeys and the rustle of banyan leaves.
Siri and Jahanpanah
Ala-ud-din Khilji’s citadel on the plains to the northeast of Mehrauli was called Siri. Located between present-day Khel Gaon Road and Tito Road, this was a round fort, serviced by a huge water reservoir, the Hauz Khas, and by an elaborate system of channels linked to the river, which can still be seen today. Sections of the tall walls of Siri are to be found behind the houses to the north of Panchsheel Road and south of Siri Fort Road. Little remains of Khilji buildings apart from a mosque in the village of Shahpur Jat, south of the Asian Games Village campus. A great deal is buried under the ground, and the exact location of Ala-ud-din’s famous 1,000-pillared hall will perhaps remain a mystery.
Muhammad Tughlaq planned to link Rai Pithaura and Siri by a defensive wall, which would also enclose his own city, called Jahanpanah (Refuge of the World). As with Siri, we can identify sections of this wall along the Saket road linking Tito Marg and Aurobindo Marg. Unlike Siri, the citadel of Jahanpanah survives. Vijay Mandal (south of Sarvapriya Vihar, across from the Panchsheel Club) has a dramatic set of high arches which indicate the entrance. Within the complex, the ground indicates two levels, the first one being the base of a spacious platform with traces of posts which must have held up a canopy. Higher up, there is a suggestion of chambers to the south, and colonnaded rooms leading to an octagonal structure with a flat roof over which also a canopy was fixed. The king is supposed to have reviewed troops from this vantage point.
To the south of Vijay Mandal is the impressive mosque of Begumpur, reached by walking through Begumpur village. This is supposed to have been one of the many mosques built by Khan-e-Jahan Telingani, the minister of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. It has a resemblance to the mosque at Kalu Serai (about 1 km/half a mile southwest of Vijay Mandal), that at Nizamuddin, Masjid Kalan near Turkman Gate in Shahjahanabad, and the Khirki Masjid: all these are built of stone and rubble, most of them multi-domed with sloping sides. Begumpuri Masjid is so hemmed in by the village that its grandeur cannot be viewed from a distance. Its stately flight of steps leads to an interior dominated by an arresting central arch with soaring minarets.
On retracing our steps to Sarvapriya Vihar, it is worth going the short distance down the curving road from Panchsheel to Malviya Nagar, to look at Lal Gumbad. This is thought to be the tomb of the saint Kabir-ud-din Auliya, 1, but because of its proximity to Vijay Mandal, it has been suggested that Muhammad Tughlaq built it for himself. Covered in dull red sandstone, with a minimum of marble, it bears a certain resemblance, because of its sloping sides, to Ghiyas-ud-din’s tomb.
From Panchsheel Club, travelling eastward to Tito Marg, a right turn at this junction and another right turn at the point where it joins Saket Road brings you to Satpula. This ruined structure is all that remains of a weir built to regulate the flow of water into a large reservoir which fed the channels that crisscrossed the Delhi area. On top of the bridge was a school. Near Satpula is the little village of Khirki, in which is the mosque of the same name. The name Khirki (window) refers to the stone lattice windows of this interesting mosque, unusual in being enclosed. Its cloistered courtyards are reminiscent of a medieval monastery.
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