Delhi is the place which inspires me to read about history,
not only because I’ve grown up here but also because, it is a 5000 year old
city, still thriving and expanding. The flyovers, metros, MNCs and the buzzing
markets pretty much define the modern Delhi. You would be amazed to know that having
been mentioned for the first time ever only in the ancient text of Mahabharata,
the city of ‘dhili’ has been expanded by the slave dynasty, khiljis, tughlaqs,
lodis, mughals and of course the Brits. It’s rather fascinating how we move
around the roads of delhi without ever giving a thought to the extensive
history of the place.
I took out time to visit the abandoned Tughlaqabad fort and the
tomb of Ghias ud-din Tughlaq today. Ghias ud-din Tughlaq himself wouldn’t be able
to identify his empire today as in the modern India, it is adorned with a metro
station on its name, all weather roads, flyovers, swanky cars and traffic
lights. He would be shocked to see the ruins of his fort and not to forget, his
spirit would probably haunt the ASI(Archaeological Survey of India) too.
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| The ruins of the Tughlaqabad fort |
Legend has it that Ghias ud-din was so obsessed with his
dream fort that he ordered all the labourers in Delhi to work only on his fort.
His contemporary Saint Nizamuddin Auliya, a Sufi saint, got pissed with him as the work on
his baoli (well) was stopped due to these orders. The workers started
working for Tughlaq during the day and for the saint during the night. Ghias ud-din
didn’t like this either and he cut off the oil supply to Nizamuddin so that his
workers are not able to light the ‘mashaals’ to work at night. This in turn
further infuriated the sufi and to rebut, he blessed the water of his baoli to
turn it into oil. Listening to this bit of history, I wondered, what if Saint Nizamuddin
Auliya existed today! His spell would solve all our problems and
usher us into a world of serene Syria, peaceful Middle East and resource
abundant countries all over the world. I bet he would be preached like a God
and Obama-like people would bow in front of him. Wishful thinking, I guess.
Anyway, I was all the more amazed by what I heard further, the saint uttered a
curse which was to resonate throughout history right until today: Ya rahey
hissar, ya basey gujjar (may the fort remain unoccupied/infertile, or else
the herdsmen may live here). The effect of the curse is evident as the fort was not inhabited for long by the Tughlaqs and everything around that fort area thrived and became an urban
settlement, leaving behind only the cursed portion, now known as the
Tughlaqabad village.
Another of the saint's curses was Hunuz Dilli dur
ast (Dilli abhi dur hai or Delhi
is still far away) because of which
the Emperor, after winning a war in Bengal, while returning to Delhi, died just
outside the contours of the city and couldn’t see his fort one last time.
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| one of the many baolis in the fort |
The fort has high fortified walls which are thick and made
of quartzite stones which were dug from the quarry inside the fort itself. The
quarry was deep and was filled with water, giving the palace a beautiful look.
The fortification was in place to protect the fort from the attacks by intruders,
especially the Mongols.
Along the fortified wall is an uphill area where one can
find deep granaries which were used to store grains for emergencies. They look
like normal pits and can be easily ignored if one doesn’t know of their
existence. But, they are a peculiar feature of the fort and are a worth watch. Infact,
I think the concern of the emperor for the food security of his subjects is
creditable and a few lessons can be learnt by the modern administration itself.
You know the most fascinating fact I got to know is that a
fort always has entry from the north and as we proceed south, the entry gets
restricted. So, you always find the diwan-e-khas after the diwan-e-aam. Today,
in the Tughlaqabad fort, the entry is from the south just because it is well
connected with the flyovers. But what is amusing is that right where the
private area of the emperor must have existed, we now find a cricket match
happening where the cricketers from the village nearby congregate to utilize
the vast barren land. In the manicured lawns where the queen must have sipped
her evening tea, the endemic thorny plants mar the landscape and test my
imagination power.
One can also spot the royal hamaam (or Jacuzzi) right in the
middle of the ruins of a vast chamber.
The underground rooms remain a mystery as nobody knows what
they might have been used for. They could be the summer shelters as they remain
cool all the time, or even prisons as they have no ventilation or even
bazaars(the market places). It gives you a chance to run the horses of your
imagination and analyse the conditions and needs of the people back then and
conjecture based on that!
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| The underground chambers |
There is probably just one remnant in the complex with a
roof on the top and it was probably their mosque just because it faces west!
The most intriguing feature of all is the secret passage way
in the fort which was used during emergencies to evacuate. It is dingy and
creepy and must not be traversed by the faint hearted. I could imagine the
bygone times when it must have been lighted up by the soldiers and used to
escape from the enemies.
The tomb of Ghias ud-din Tughlaq is connected to the fort by
an elevated causeway but is intersected by the modern mehrauli badarpur road
which led me to realize how our history coexists beautifully with our busy
lives. But alas, millions cross that road daily for their offices but few
reflect upon the history or think about the royal city that existed in the 14th
century at this very place..the wars that must have been fought, the arrows and
the dynamites that must have been used or the royal festivals that must have
been celebrated there.
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| The tomb of Ghias ud-din Tughlaq |
Unlike the fort, the tomb is well preserved. It is made of
red sandstone and white marble. It reflects the Indo Islamic architecture as the
Persians came with their culture to our Hindustan and this led to exchange of
thoughts and cultures, as well as, architecture. Where the dome is a part of
the Persian form of architecture, the usage of kalash on top of it as a bad conductor
to save the building from lightening is adopted from the hindu culture. The beautiful
flowers carved on the marble are another feature of the hindu architecture
which the Persians adopted. The mausoleum is a beautiful manifestation of the
fusion of the two cultures and is a reminder of an India which belongs to both,
hindus and muslims.
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| The fascinating Indo-Islamic architecture |
All this proves that India is not just an emerging economy,
but a re-emerging nation because it has such a rich history and has been the center of power since long and for long. People of this modern
state should respect the forts, the heritage and the land which is a melting
pot of races. Next time around when you visit the Tughlaqabad area, just take a
minute to replace the cars with elephants and horses, vertically rising
buildings with a citadel, bricks with sandstone and quartzite, and allow
yourself to slowly fade into the charm of the 14th century Delhi and
revel in it.
