In the centre of the back wall of the Diwan-e Aam is a 21 feet wall with 318 panels that depict the famous Orpheus legend.
Orpheus was a Greek prophet, a legendary musician and poet who could charm all living things and even stones. In this panel he is shown playing the lute, while a lion, a leopard, a deer, a dog and a hare sit at his feet, listening in complete rapture. The occurrence of this panel as a backdrop to the Mughal throne is deliberate as it approximates the legendary throne of Solomon, the prophet king and ideal ruler on whom birds and beasts sat in peaceful attendance. [Ebba Koch]
Its 318 panels, said to be the work of European jeweller Austin de Bordeaux, with various exquisite carvings of birds and beasts made in inlay work are placed in a special marble recess that measures 7 yards x 2.5 yards. Its artistry is confounding for the human mind.
Beresford, in his book, The Delhi Guide, describes it before the 1857 Uprising and says it was an 8-feet panel with precious stones also embedded in it.
In September 1857, after the fall of Delhi, many treasures from the Red Fort were looted. This panel was one of them.
It was appropriated by Captain John Jones and sold by him to the British government for 500 pounds. They placed it in the South Kensington Museum.
Sir John Marshall reports in the Archaeological Survey Annual Report 1902–03 that it was hoped that the plaque would be restored in time for the Delhi Durbar (Lord Curzon’s Darbar of 1903), but it arrived too late to be in time for that. It wS installed shortly after the durbar.
He also adds that the panels ‘have now been replaced behind the throne, and many other panels have also been cleaned of the lac with which they were covered, and their mutilated surfaces re-polished.

Photo from the time that there was no plexiglass around it

Excerpt from: “Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi”
#ShahjahanabadTheLivingCityofOldDelhi #redfort #shahjahan #mughalarchitecture #orpheus #1857

“Damsel in distress” is a popular way of portraying women – as helpless creatures without any resources to protect themselves, who need men in their lives to keep themselves safe. From my readings of history, I have found this trope to be inauthentic; women were indeed quite resourceful — they had to be, for the men were often out on campaigns and kept busy by trade.

I came upon a book titled Lal Qila ki ek Jhalak by Syed Nasir Nazir. Nazir was born in Delhi on August 16, 1865. His early education was under the tutelage of his father, a noted poet with the pen name “Malaal”.

The latter were also very brave — ready to fight back, blow for blow.

Inclined towards pursuing medicine since childhood, Nazir made a name for himself as a physician. The Rais of Dharmpur appointed him as a tutor for his children, and as a physician for himself. After the death of Rais of Dharmpur, he came to Delhi. Here, he found himself drawn to spirituality and led a life of seclusion. He wrote a series of articles for the magazine Saqi, later published as Lal Qila ki ek Jhalak.

In the book, he describes events inside the palace, as heard from Banni Khanum, the daughter-in-law of the female daroga or superintendent of the palace kitchens. She had accompanied her mother to the palace and remained connected to the royal kitchen till 1857. Nazir chronicled her memoir in the shape of 76 stories.

One appealed to me personally because as a young girl, my maternal grandmother had also once foiled an attack on her house by dacoits by pretending to smoke the huqqah loudly and making growling noises. The dacoits, who had decided to loot the house thinking no man was present inside, fled — thinking the men of the house have returned. I used to love listening to this story as a child.

So, the story on dacoits written by Nazir, as narrated by Banni Khanum, is especially memorable:

The Mughalani and the dacoits

There were two important centres of Naqshbandi Sufi saints in Delhi’s Shahjahanabad. One was the khanqah or hospice of Mirza Jan e Janan and the other the baradari of Khwaja Mir Dard. I was a follower of the latter’s maternal grandson.

Because of these saints, all of Turkomania seemed to have come into Shahjahanabad.

Hundreds of their followers lived inside the city — in fact, one locality of Sabzi Mandi had been named Mughalpura after them.

(These Mughals were not related to the larger empire but so called because they came from Central Asia and served as soldiers in the Mughal army. The women were called Mughalani.)

They were very brave warriors and had joined the royal army, showing their prowess in the Deccan campaigns. When Shirin Beg and Shakkar Beg came prancing upon their houses from Lahori Darwaza till Chandni Chowk, they would always come to blows with the people of Dilli.

The latter were also very brave — ready to fight back, blow for blow. People from both sides would be left wounded, but no one would ever complain to the police.

One day, when I came to the baradari to pay my respects to my spiritual master, I saw around 50 women and children from Mughalpura had assembled there.

I asked Imami Begum Sahib, the granddaughter of Mir Dard and wife of Maulvi Nasir Jan, “Hazrat why have so many of these Mughalpura women come here today as there’s no urs (birth anniversary of the saint) or wedding?”

Begum Sahib said, “They are beset with problems and so have left their homes in fear and come here. Khanum, you know their men, from age 12 till 50, have accompanied the emperor in his Deccan campaign? These women and their small children were left alone at home. Some eight days ago, a beggar came to their door, asking for alms.

One of the women told her servant to give some flour to the beggar.

The servant, not only gave him the alms but also informed him, ‘Baba, these 20 houses belong to the families of Vilayati Mughals (mercenaries recruited from Central Asia) and as they have gone on a campaign, there is no man [to protect] them. However, these people are very rich from their plunder and their houses are full of money.’

The beggar listened to her intently before moving on, continuing his chant for alms.

When the servant returned, the women asked her what had taken her so long — what had she been telling the beggar?

She recounted her conversation with the beggar, and the women were furious with her for telling a stranger that there were no men in the homes to guard them.

They were scared that the beggar would plan a robbery and loot their houses at night, and even ravage them.

Their houses have windows, which open into one another’s and soon, this disturbing news reached everyone. The women got together and held a conclave on the best way forward. At night, they dressed in men’s clothes, picked up their husband’s weapons and climbed on top of the roofs of their houses. The night passed peacefully.

The next day, the beggar came again, calling out for alms. The servant ran out upon hearing his voice.

‘Liar,’ the beggar scolded her. ‘You had said there were no men in these houses; yet, at night, their roofs were packed with men with swords and guns in their hands, guarding the homes. I saw it all myself. They had even lit torches.’

The servant replied, ‘Baba I wasn’t lying. Truly, there are no men here but God save us from these women! They are very cunning, masters in dissembling. At night, they wore their husband’s clothes and with their weapons they climbed the roofs, pretending to be men.’

When the servant returned home, the Mughalani asked, ‘What did you tell Shahji today?’

When they heard her speak, all the women began wailing and cursing her. ‘Now that the beggar knows the truth, they will come and overpower us tonight – they will loot and plunder us! It is advisable that we take all our valuables and seek shelter with Hazrat Begum Sahiba in the baradari before evening sets in. Let us leave this ungrateful wretch here to face the music.’

The same day, the Mughal women came here with all their valuables and money.

Yesterday, a man who had come from Mughalpura gave us the news that the same night the women had left their homes, there was a dacoity in the neighbourhood. The robbers raided many houses but didn’t like anything there and returned empty-handed. In their anger, they severely beat up the servant and told her, ‘You have needlessly troubled us.’

The Mughal women were very amused by the news of the beating the servant had received.

Now, Hazrat Baba has written to the police, who have promised to provide them security.

These women will return to their houses in a few days.”

Note: Location – lambi Gali. The erstwhile Excelsior theatre was built in part of it.

As was the custom of those days sheikh Najib was buried in his house. It is a simple dargah with one room containing two graves in the centre and two small ones on the sides. It is in a small compound next to a brand new mosque.

The first one is of Bibi Fatima Saheba, daughter of Baba Farid Ganj e Shakkar. The other two are of infant sons of Sheikh Najibuddin Mutawakkil: Sheikh Ahmed and Sheikh Ismail.

Sheikh Najibuddin was a scholar saint of great repute, and once his neighbor, the young Nizam ( Mehboob e Ilahi) asked Sheikh Najibuddin to pray that he could become a Qazi.
Sheikh Najibuddin remained silent. When Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya came a second time with the same request he replied, ‘Why do you want to become a Qazi? You are destined for something else.’
Next to it is an old graveyard and once people wanting to get salvation from the barakat of the saint would have been buried there.

#qabristan #grave #dargah

https://youtu.be/xH2ygqSlAWw?si=OidTt_HCRhTinoY6

“When I reached the bazaar via the Jama Masjid, I was presented with a strange sight. Corpses were piled like logs. This was the same place where the dervish had made the prophecy to me four months before the ghadar, saying there would be bloodshed at this spot.
I went ahead and saw more dead bodies. When I asked the people of the bazaar how this had happened, they said, ‘One party of the British army reached the steps of the Jama Masjid, and some people were looting the houses of the common folks. The British soldiers wanted to enter the Masjid. The Muslims gathered inside saw this and feared that they would now kill inside God’s house. They thought it would be better to go down and fight the soldiers. The Muslims came out of the Masjid Darwaza and down the steps. The British forces aimed their guns at them. The ones who survived kept moving forward and a terrible fight ensued.
‘A huge uproar arose in the city. People ran out of their houses with whatever they could lay their hands on—wooden sticks, rods from their beds, swords and so on. Some of the British party were killed—they are the ones whose bodies are lying here. The rest ran off to join their army.’
I went via the Dariba Kalan through the Khooni Darwaza to the front of the kotwali. I saw dead bodies piled up, lining the street from the Jama Masjid to the kotwali. There were many corpses at the point where I had been fired at in the morning. I saw a metal bag filled with gunpowder in front of the kotwali hauz.”
And ends with
“By evening, the rioters had spread all over the city, all the way to Hamid Ali Khan’s kothi. The British forces had set up cannons near the kothi, and this prevented them from moving further, since they didn’t even have a gun to protect themselves. The chaos lasted all evening, after which the tired people came back to their houses.
At midnight, the British soldiers started the slaughter. They entered houses and began killing those sleeping inside, climbing on to the roofs to get at those sleeping there too.
In the morning, people living near and in Kashmiri Darwaza, Badar-Roo Darwaza and Kabuli Darwaza, as well as those in the Subhan Phatak, started running towards our side of the city.”

Fall of Delhi
OTD 1857
Despite strict orders against individual looting, many of Delhi’s treasures filled the pockets of the troops who captured the city during the Uprising of 1857
The loot was supposed to have been handed over to official prize agents who would then auction it and divide the proceeds. As this print depicts, the agents and their soldiers had few scruples when it came to how they gathered the loot. Contemporaries estimated the auctioned Delhi treasure to be worth over half a million pounds.

Many have described Red fort and Shahjahanabad as the Garden of Eden and perhaps that is why like Adam, the last Mughal Emperor and his wife, Zeenat Mahal, were banished from its bosom for partaking of the forbidden fruit of freedom from the British company rule.
nikalna KHuld se aadam ka sunte aae hain lekin
bahut be-abru ho kar tere kuche se hum nikle

#Ghalib #bahadurshahzafar #mughalempire #uprising1857 #firstwarindianindependence #ShahjahanabadTheLivingCityofOldDelhi

On the night of 17th September, 1857 the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar left the Red Fort using the khizri gate seen in this painting by boat. He knew the British were baying for his blood and wanted to prevent bloodshed of his children as he called the residents of Shahjahanabad
He went by boat to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and then later to Humayun’s tomb.‬

Last prayer of Bahadur Shah Zafar, before leaving Qila as recorded in Begumat ke Aansoo : “Khuda, Hindustan ke Hindu Mussalman mere bachhe hain. Inki hifazat karna mere amal ( karm) ki saza inhe Na mile angrezon ke haath ” in 1857 after fall of Delhi
Related by his daughter Kulsum Zamani Begum who saw him praying on his musalla the night he left it.
In Shahzadi ki Bipta

#cityofmyheart #bahadurshahzafar #mughal #uprising1857 #firstwarindianindependence #fallofdelhi #humayuntomb

‪Jahanabad tu kab is sitam ke qaabil tha‬

‪Magar kabho kisi ashiq ka ye nagar dil tha‬
‪ #Sauda #shahrAshob‬

The plaque put up by British on Mutiny memorial on the ridge says
20th Sept 1857: the city was evacuated by the enemy.
Indian Govt renamed it Ajitgarh and put up another plaque saying those who are referred to as enemy were Patriots who fought colonial rule

On October 6, 1650, the foundation stone was laid for a Jama Masjid by the emperor himself and it was built under the supervision of Sa’dullah Khan, the prime minister, and Fazil Khan, the khansaman or the head of the imperial household establishments.
It was built in six years at the cost of Rs 10 lakh by 6,000 workers. The cost didn’t include the price of the stones that were presented, according to Basheeruddin Ahmed in Waqeat e Dar-ul Hukumat Dehli, by various rajas and nawabs.
The mosque was set on a plinth of 30 feet; it is 261-foot long and 90-foot wide. Its three marble domes with black stripes are a landmark, an icon of the area if you will, and visible for miles around.

#jamamasjiddelhi #minaret #jamamasjid #mughalarchitecture #delhitrilogy

I had shared that the Jama Masjid, Delhi has relics attributed to the Prophet pbuh anf Hazrat Ali.
This is the Quran sharif attributed to Hazrat Ali.
As I had said in my video, scholars dispute it. There’s even a question mark over the one in Raza Library.
Marjin van Putten, scholar of early Quran mss says for the Raza library folio: “Palaeographically there is no doubt that it is NOT a seventh century manuscript (likelier late 8th/early 9th), so can’t be Ali’s.”

for this folio Marjin says “Very beautiful! Manuscripts in this style (Kufi D.I) stem from the middle of the 3rd century AH/9th century CE up until the early 4th/10th probably.” #earlyquran #koranKodex

This folio of the Quran sharif is said to have been written by Imam Hasan. In the Dargah Asar Sharif in Jama Masjid, Delhi.

Marjin. Van Putten, Scholar of early Quran manuscripts says “Gorgeous! I was not aware that there were complete Mushafs in this style. It’s quite early, but not quite early enough to have been written by Hasan.” #earlyQuranmanuscripts

‪Here rests Bi Mamola and may she rest in peace. Her’s is one of the prettiest graves I’ve seen.‬
‪#TurkmanGate
#ShahTurkmanDarwaza
#grave #Delhidiaries #Delhi #ShahjahanabadTheLivingCity ‬

On 12th May 1857 the Indian sepoys who had come from Meerut took out a silver throne kept in one corner of the Diwan e khas and crowned Bahadur Shah Zafar the Badshah of Hindustan

All those who rebelled against East India company did so under his banner.

Mirza Mughal C I C
#MirzaMughal eldest surviving son of Bahadur Shah Zafar
Who took over as commander of rebel forces on 12th May 1857
was shot in coldblood by Major Hodson on 22Sept 1857 after failure of uprising
( Picture 1- Mirza Zuheerooddeen, alias Mirza Mooghul Bahadur, 2nd Son.
by Ghulam ‘Ali Khan)

one popular account is that
After the murder of Mirza Mughal Mirza Khizr Khan, and his grandson, Mirza Abu Bakr
Hodson got their heads cut off and presented them to the Badshah saying that “This is your (Nazr – gift), which had closed and to renew it you had taken part in the rebellion.” The Badshah looked on at his sons heads and with surprising composure said ”Thanks to Allah, the descendents of Timur always come in front of their fathers in this brave way”.
After that the bodies were hung out in front of the Police Station and the heads were hung on the Khuni Darwaza (Bloody Gate).
source: Khwaja Hasan Nizami

Picture 3- The Dargah of Sheikh Baqi Billah in Paharganj, Delhi also houses a lovely cemetery. Very well cared for and peaceful.
The Mughal princes shot in1857 by Hodson are also buried here

#1857 #uprising1857, #firstwarofindianindependence #mirzamughal #hodson

‪Dopahar aur roza thoda mushkil ho jaata Hai.‬
‪That’s the time when you need a “Qaylulah” (borrowed from arabic [qeylule] meaning siesta) in your Khwaabgah (Sleeping apartment, bed-room)‬

‪Here is the doorway to Padshah Shah Jahan ‘s khwabgah in Red Fort ‬
‪#Ramzan #travelwithme ‬
#RedFort #Shahjahanabad #ShahjahanabadTheLivingCity #Delhi #heritage

The enclosure for the grave of Qazi Hamiduddin Nagauri is on the left of the main entrance to the shrine of Qutub Sahab on a raised platform. He belonged to the Suhrawardi order, whereas Qutub Sahib was a Chisti saint but the two had met in Baghdad many years earlier and had become Qutub Sahib’s close friend. It was in his lap that Qutub Sahib breathed his last. Later it was Qazi Hamiduddin Nagauri who passed on the relics of Qutub Sahab to his successor, Baba Farid who was not present at the time of the saint’s demise. There is a separate enclosure to the left of entrance to the shrine.
The qazi’s knowledge of Islam and Islamic jurisprudence was enormous, and he had the honour of teaching Qutub Sahib the Ulum-e Zahiri or external sciences.
His book Lawa’ih (Flashes of light) no longer exists, but was a very important text of its time and was used by Baba Farid while teaching his disciples.

At the entrance of his shrine this quatrain by him is inscribed on the wall. This is also recorded in Fawaid al-Fu’ad:

An aql kuja ki dar kamal-e tu rasad

Van ruh k:uja ki dar jalal-e tu rasad

Giram ki tu parda bar girifti zi jamal

An dida kuja ki dar jamal-e to rasad
Where do i have the aql to grasp your perfection

Where is the spirit ( rooh) in me that might mirror your majesty (Jalal)?

I accept that You unveiled Your Beauty
But I do not possess the eyes that can encompass Your Beauty

( Translation based on a Urdu translation done by Prashant Keshavmurthy on the spot which I had recorded. Mistakes if any are in my understanding )

#sufism

One is in Mehrauli while the other is in Shahjahanabad known as Puranik Dilli or Old Delhi.
We have documented proof for the foundation of Delhi from the first Tomar king onwards.

Raja Anangpal Tomar founded it in AD 736. He probably chose the rocky Aravalli hills in Mehrauli as his headquarters for the strategic and military advantages it offered. It was one of the reasons why Qutbuddin Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi, and some of his successors continued to live in the Lal Kot/Qila Rai Pithaura area for some years till Kaikobad moved to Kilokhari.

Delhi was built over several years as successive rulers felt the need for fortification against enemies, or wanted to go closer to sources of water, or just wanted to create a magnificent city. The seven cities are still extant; the eighth city was designed and built by Edwin Lutyens.

The first city of Delhi — Lal Kot/Qila Rai Pithaura — is situated in Mehrauli. The seventh city of Shahjahanabad, where Lal Qila is situated, is 23 km away from Lal Kot. In between are the ruins of the five other extant cities: Siri, Jahanpanah, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad and Dinpanah/Sher Shah Garh.
The Tomars ruled over it from AD 736 but it was Anangpal II who re-peopled it and built Delhi’s first Red Fort in 1052-60CE. It seems probable that Anangpal II was forced to move to Delhi from Kanauj after the attack by Mahmud of Ghazni on Kanauj. Here, the Tomar kings, Anangpal and his successors, reigned undisturbed for a century, during which time they were able to build the city walls and construct masonry, dams, and tanks.
The excavations undertaken by the ASI in this area showed that the citadel was oblong in plan and “the high stonewalls to its west which enlarge the original enclosure and are usually regarded as its area are a later construction”. It also shows the presence of a palatial building.

the two Red Fort of Delhi : they are 26 km and 600 years apart approx.

#lalkot #redfort #ShahjahanabadTheLivingCityofOldDelhi #shahjahan #tomar

In #Mehrauli is the chillahgah of Baba Farid near the #dargah of 14th century Sufi saint #AshiqAllah.
This adjoins an old wall on the western side and bastion of Lal Kot and the area is hilly.

The word ‘chillah’ is derived from the Persian term ‘chehel’ for the number forty. It is a meditation technique where one goes without food for forty days and nights, a period spent only in spiritual penance and meditation.
Once When Khwaja Mu’in-u’d-din Hasan Sijzi visited Dehli, Qutub Sahib presented his disciples to him and everyone received his blessings according to his merit. Later Sultan-ul- Arifin asked : “Baba Qutb-u’d-din ! Is there any other disciple of yours?
Qutb-u’d-din replied, “There is one Mas’ud by name who is sitting in Chillah.
Sultan ul Arifin got up and said ; “Come along and let us see him.’
Both the saints went to his cell and opened the door. Baba Farid was so weak that he could not get up to pay his respects to the saints.
Helplessly and with tears in his eyes he placed his head on the ground When Sultan ul Arifin saw this he said : Qutb-u’d-din ! How long will you burn this poor fellow in the fire of penitence?
Khwaja Garib Nawaz Sultan ul Arifin said for Baba Farid “‘Baba Bakhtiyar ! You have caught a noble falcon which will not build his nest except on the
holy tree of Heaven. Farid is a lamp that will illuminate the Silsilah of the derweshes.”

The is a low vaulted cell – 5ft 8 inches in height and 16ft by 7ft 6 inches. There is a simple niche on the western wall.
Today people come here with mustard oil and offer it for lighting lamps.
It’s now kept locked with an iron grill but earlier when it was open I have sat inside and felt a deep sense of calm

#sufism #delhi

The tomb of Haji Rozbih, one of the first Sufi saints to enter Delhi, is near the Fateh Burj of the Qila Rai Pithaura. It is a simple, open-air, whitewashed and plastered grave. It is believed that Haji Rozbih lived in a cave near the ditch of the fort and thanks to his teachings and persuasive gentleness, he was responsible for many conversions to Islam. Next to his grave is the grave of Bibi, believed to be a female relative of Prithviraj Chauhan who became a disciple of Haji Rozbih.

However, as per new research by Prof Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot, Prithviraj Chauhan never visited Delhi. So no one knows the identity of Bela.

On my initial visits in 2013-15 I had met Rahmat Miyan, the khadim, the caretaker of the dargah who spent all his time safeguarding this area, and even slept there, be it summer or winter.

Today I couldn’t see him.and hope he’s fine.
And it was fun to expire again with Asif

I would like to take you to a monument that’s no longer a dargah though a Chishti Sufi saint lies buried there.
Sheikh Kabiruddin Auliya was a disciple of Hazrat Roshan Chiragh e Dilli. His dargah is in Malviya Nagar

It was famous as Lal Gumbad as it is made of red sandstone. Its marble decoration on the gateways and sloping walls, resembles the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq Shah.

There is a famous legend attached to this dargah. It is reported that some thieves came to steal the golden finial. As there was no staircase, they fixed iron stirrups on the western wall to scale the top. However, they could not succeed in their nefarious mission and fell down from the top and were blinded. Two of the stirrup rings still remain, giving the monument another name: Rakabwali Gumbad. It is believed that if one looks carefully we can still see their bloodstains near the rings. I didn’t find any though.

The compound is quite big with three wall mosques, another small gumbad .
The main tomb was locked but houses an unknown tomb and innumerous graves scattered all over.

It’s a non ticketed monument which means it doubles up as park for the locals. I saw women making Dal badi and papad, children playing and some men playing cards near the locked entrance.
I could see many graves inside. Unlike most other dargahs in that area where locals come and light agarbatti and make offerings on Thursday this one looks lonely and forsaken. I have no idea when the doors were last opened.

The whole compound is unkempt, overgrown and not in a very good condition.

Magar jab shukr-e-ne’mat mein jabin jhukti hai bande ke
Woh sachi bandagi hai ik sharifana ita’at hai
Josh Malihabadi

you have probably passed by it, or even prayed in it without realising the history of Defence Colony ”s Jama Masjid.
Khwajasara Basti Khan was an important noble in the reign of Sultan Sikander Lodi. Though today it’s in a limited area but he had enclosed an extensive piece of land near Hazrat Nizamuddin basti and built a mosque, baoli and tomb in it with an impressive gateway as an entrance to it. The tomb was built in 1488 AD. The baoli dried up centuries ago but the gateway, tomb and mosque survive despite many additions.

The gateway is a white building with a lofty dome and very soothing to the eyes. It is built of stone and mortar and measures 35 square feet and stands on a plinth. It was locked so we could not see inside but we were told it was a store room now.

There is a madarsa and mosque, which is attached to the gateway and covers up most of the area of the complex. It was very neatly lined with wooden benches for holding books and bookcases – the Quran and other books were kept in it.

A double staircase in the courtyard leads to a pretty, white coloured gateway through which one enters the upper portion. The tomb itself stands on a raised terrace and contains five arched cells in each of its four sides. The dome is white while the rest of it is painted a bright red. It measures 21 square feet and its height is 60 feet.

The four corners were marked by red chhatris of which only one remains. Internally, the dome was lined with red sandstone and is ornamented with alternate circular bands of white and black marble. But now not much of the marble remains.

When we visited it we found the tomb full of wooden planks and left- overs from construction activities. There were no signs of the grave, which is supposed to have been in the middle. Today this serves as the Jama Masjid of Defence Colony and is well maintained with a busy madarsa.

forgottencitiesofdelhi

delhi #khwajasara #jamamasjid #defensecolony #bastikhan #mosque #baoli #sikanderlodi

Excerpt from: “The Forgotten Cities of Delhi: Book Two in the Where Stones Speak trilogy” by Rana Safvi.

Can you imagine my delight when on my visit to this area in 2019, for research on Shahjahanabad The Living City of Old Delhi, I saw a wonderful sight. It had been repaired by Intach Delhi chapter and looked totally different.

At first I didn’t realise it was this same place but later found it was.

To my surprise I read it used to be an Imambara.
That’s as per the board there and there are references to an imambara which was converted into a hospital for infectious diseases in Paharganj by the British in Maulvi Zafar Hasan’s book.

I’m posting the 2013 &2019 photos.

ShahjahanabadTheLivingCityofOldDelhi #paharganj #imambara #mehrab

From 2019

The famous poet Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born on 27 December 1797 and witnessed the first war of Indian independence and the end of the Mughal Empire.
There are many stories about his life I share one here.
He led a very hard life and
was perpetually in debt and fought for his pension, but his wit remained intact. Writing about his pension, Mirza Ghalib said:

“Miyan be-rizq jeene ka mujhko dhab aa gaya
Iss taraf se khatir jamaa rakhna”
Miyan I have got used to living in a state of penury.
Be rest assured from my side.
And
“Ramzan ka maheena roze khaa khaa kar kataa. Khuda Razzaq hai, kuch aur khaane ko na mila to gham to hai!”
In the month of Ramzan, I lived by fasting and God is Bounteous and if nothing else, at least there is sorrow.’

He died on 15 February 1869 AD. He was buried near the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in the graveyard belonging to the Nawabs of Loharu to whom he was related to via his mother and wife’s family. It was a very simple grave ( image1) and only recognizable as the grave of a great poet because of the inscription on it:

Ya Hayyo Yaa Qayyum
Rashk e Urfi wa fakhr e talib murd
Asadullah Khan Ghalib Murd
Kal main gham o andoh mein ba khatir e mahzoon
Tha turbat e Ustad pe baitha huwa ghamnaak
Dekha to mujhe fikr mein tareekh ke, Majruh
Hatif ne kaha ganj e ma’ni hai tah e khaak

O Living, O Sustaining
The envy of Urfi and the pride of Talib is dead
Asadullah Khan Ghalib is dead
Yesterday I was distraught and grieving
I sat by the grave of my master,
As Majruh was pondering over a chronogram,
The guardian angel cried ‘beneath the dust is a treasure of meaning’
However, he survived that illness and eventually died in 1869. The present chronogram was written by his student Mir Majruh

The second photo is after AKTC built a pavilion over it.
Excepted from: “The Forgotten Cities of Delhi: Book Two in the Where Stones Speak trilogy” by Rana Safvi.

WhereStonesSpeak #forgottencitiesofdelhi #Ghalib #mirzaghalib #poet #mirmajruh #urdu #ghazal #Ghalibmazar #ghalibtomb

Mirza Izzad Baksh Bahadur popularly known as Nili Sahib , was the son of Shah Alam II, (1762-1825). He had six son’s and three daughters.
The two sons painted here are Mirza Kamran and Mirza Humayun, shown with their toys, in a palace interior.
The palace interior depicted here is very similar to the Imtiyaz Mahal and Mumtaz Mahal antechambers, however he didn’t live in the main mahal and had his mansion as did most of the princes elsewhere.
His mansion was later used as a prison for Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar after he was captured by Major Hodson after fall of Delhi

(Painted by the family workshop of Ghulam Ali Khan, Delhi c1810. And is in Grosvenor Gallery)