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

SufiThursdays

I am a traveler, You are my road.
I go from You to You.
Zeynep Hatun

Her Holiness Bibi Zuleikha Saheba, the venerable mother of his holiness Sultan-ul-Mashaikh (chief of the saints), Mehboob e Ilahi Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya, may God purify their graves, repaired to the next world on the first of Jumada II in the year 648 Hijra (31 August 1250 AD).

This inscription is on the northern wall of the grave chamber of Bibi Zuleikha, also known as Mai Saheba. She was buried in the same room where she lived. Like many other families of central Asia, Bibi Zuleikha’s parents Khwaja Ali and Khwaja Arab migrated to India during the Mongol invasions of Bukhara. They settled down in Badayun, then an important town in Awadh (now Uttar Pradesh). Khwaja Arab gave his daughter Bibi Zulekha in marriage to Khwaja Syed Ahmad, the son of Khwaja Ali.

There are many legends associated with her. The most famous one was that she chose her son over her husband in a dream in which she was asked to make a choice between her husband and son, as only one was destined to die. Her husband passed away soon after and left Bibi Zuleikha feeling very remorseful. She was only comforted by the fact that she had no control over her dreams as these were involuntary experiences and life and death are a matter of God’s will.
Whenever there was no food in the house Mai Saheba, would tell her son, ‘Nizam! Today we are the guests of Allah.’ She had total belief in God’s will and taught her children that He would send spiritual nourishment which differed from worldly food.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya wrote that when his mother prayed, she appeared to be in direct communication with God. He would witness her prayers being accepted without any delay. Every month, on sighting the new moon, he sought the blessings of Mai Saheba, placing his head on her feet. He writes that just before she left this world, she was ill for a few days and would often weep.
When her weeping and distressed son asked her, ‘O Maqdooma e Jahan, in whose care will you entrust me?’ she told him to go and sleep in the adjoining house of Sheikh Najibuddin Mutawakkil and said she would tell him the next day. He spent the night in anguish and as soon as dawn broke, rushed to her side and fell crying at her feet. She held her son’s right hand and whispered, ‘O Allah, I entrust my son to Thy care,’ and recited the kalima before leaving this world for the next.⁸ Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya says that he felt a deep state of contentment after these words.

The entrance to Mai Saheba ki Dargah is through a narrow lane in Adchini. Once upon a time it had its own doorway with a baoli inside it. Today, it is a very well maintained dargah and most of it has been renovated and built recently. There is a beautiful chandelier in the shrine chamber, which has a glass decoration on the roof, giving it a beautiful hue. There are other graves in the chamber with her daughter Bibi Jannat grove by her side. The other graves include Bibi Zainab, the daughter of Bibi Jannat.
[…]

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

The one who is out of my sight, left a wound in my heart

The soft earth reflects the footprints

— Mirza Bedil

The great Persian poet Abdul Qadir Bedil was born in India in 1644 AD during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan, and died in 1720 AD when the Mughal empire was faltering under Emperor Mohammad Shah. Popularly known as Bedil Dehlvi, he was a highly respected poet. He was born to an Uzbeki family from Turkestan that moved to India in the early seventeenth century.

Daryâ nakashî, agar nahangî nakunî bar kooh natâzî, ar palangî nakunî

yak jur’a-e tust, qulzam-e kown wa makân ai hawsêla-e khîyâl tangî nakunî

You cannot sip the ocean, if you cannot be like a whale

You cannot gallop up the mountain, if you cannot be like a tiger the world’s ocean becomes one gulp for you

O the patience of imagination, if you do not lose capacity

Mughal empire was faltering under Emperor Mohammad Shah. He was born to an Uzbeki family from Turkestan that moved to India in the early seventeenth century.

He was considered a Sufi saint by many, since he believed the world was in eternal, constant motion. His tomb or mazaar is near Pragati Maidan, well-kept and known as Bagh-e-Bedil.

Nayab Muttawalli, whose family has been the caretaker of the place for at least 600 years, told me about the story of the controversy around the name of the place. He says this building was built eighty years ago by a Nizam of Hyderabad, and spruced up in 2006 for the visit of Emomali Rahmanov, the then-president of Tajikistan.

The original tomb is said to have been near a haveli by the river Yamuna, but his body was taken back to Kabul.

Dr Abdul Ghani corroborates this in the book Life and Works of Abdul Qadir Bedil, which draws its history from an admirer of Bedil from his times, a man called Bindaban Das “Khushgo”. He writes:

“[Bedil] was down with typhoid fever towards the end of Muharram 1133 AH (Nov 1720). After four or five days the fever disappeared, and, thinking that he had recovered, Bedil took a bath on the 2nd of Safar 1133 AH (December 3, 1720). On Wednesday the 3rd of Safar there was a relapse of fever, which remained for the whole of the night. Nawab Ghairat Khan Bahadur … was with him for the whole of the night. Sometimes Bedil swooned, and then came to himself. When he regained senses, he would burst into laughter involuntarily. The hopes of recovery waned at last, and at dawn the condition changed horribly. It was Thursday, 4th Safar 1133 AH (December 5, 1720) when six gharis had passed after sunrise, the Bedil’s soul winged its way to Heaven. His sacred remains were buried in the courtyard of his house, on the bank of the river Jamna, at the place specified by himself.”

Khushgo is said to have written the chronogram for the tomb:

Alas! Bedil concealed his face from this world! That pure jewel sleeps under the earth

When Khushgo asked his intellect for the chronogram

It said ‘Mirza Bedil departed from this world

I have no idea where this tombstone is.

(Excerpted with permission from HarperCollins India.)

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“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”.

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-in-law 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.”

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Depending on your age, you would associate Jodha Bai with Durga Khote or Aishwarya Rai.

Durga Khote made a royal but very motherly Jodha Bai with her dimpled cheeks and cuddly appearance in K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azamwhile Aishwarya Rai in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar, with her designer jewellery and ethereal looks was, of course, the quintessential queen.

We have no historical reference to judge the two portrayals since in reality Akbar had no wife called Jodha Bai.

Harems abound, not queens

The harem was like a well-run, well-organised department of the Mughal administration and Akbar had made the rule that all the wives and concubines would be named after the city of their birth to avoid confusion of similar names. So a Jodha Bai would typically be from Jodhpur, but Akbar’s Rajput wife, as shown in the movies Mughal-e-Azam and Jodha Akbar, was from Amer (later, a part of the kingdom of Jaipur) and thus could not be called that.

In fact, her name is said to have been Harka Bai/Hira Kunwar, she was the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amer and she was given the title “Mariam-uz-Zaman” or Mary of her age by Akbar.

We also don’t know if she was Prince Salim’s mother or not (Salim ascended the throne as Jahangir). Most historians are of the opinion that Jahangir was born of a concubine and that is why, though he gives a very candid description of his life in his memoirs, The Tuzuknama or Jahangirnama, Jahangir never once mentions the name of his mother, even though he gives the names of many of his and his father’s wives.

These are the references to his mother (who remains unnamed) in his memoirs:

“When my mother came near the time of her delivery, he [Akbar] sent her to the Shaikh’s house that I might be born there.”

When he mentions “Maryam-zamānī”, he refers to her deferentially but not as his mother:

“On Sunday, the 26th of the above-mentioned month was held the marriage feast of Parwīz and the daughter of Prince Murād. The ceremony was performed in the house of Her Highness Maryam-zamānī.”

The name Jodha Bai as the wife of Akbar is mentioned by Col James Tod in his book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. In a 1920 edition of the book, the editor William Crooke, quoting Ain-i-Akbari, clarifies that the princess of Jodhpur was married to Jahangir, not Akbar. The princess of Marwar (Jodhpur) was the daughter of Raja Udai Singh and her name was Jagat Gosain/Manmati and she was given the title of Bilqis Makani.

Playwright Imtiaz Ali Taj, on whose play Anarkali the film Mughal-e-Azam is based, had clarified that it was historical fiction but none of the filmmakers bothered to research further.

Sultan Raziya, the monarch from Mehrauli

Another historical character who has suffered greatly is Raziya. As the first and only female sovereign of Delhi, she deserved much more attention than history gave her. To add insult to injury, most references that we find of her are of her fictitious love affair with someone who was her mentor and probably a father figure.

The stories of her alleged romance with him are a relatively recent concoction. No contemporary historian mentions it. Yet, that is how we remember her.

Kamal Amrohi in his film Razia Sultan not only showed her as more amorous than majestic, he also did not write her title properly.

She was vehemently opposed to being called Raziya Sultan as she felt that was the title given to a daughter or a consort. She was Jalâlat ud-Dîn Raziyâ the monarch of Delhi, appointed heir-apparent by her father Sultan Iltutmish who felt that she was worthier than twenty of his sons. It was a bold decision taken by a far-sighted king.

Yet, after Iltutmish’s death, the Turkish nobles put her brother Ruknuddin Firoz on the throne in April 1236. His reign was short-lived, as he was more inclined towards worldly pleasures than looking after matters of the state.

Raziya appeared one Friday at the Jami Masjid (congregational mosque) in Mehrauli, known today as the Qutub Complex, in the red clothes of a plaintiff and appealed to the people of Delhi gathered there. They had already experienced her statesmanship when Iltutmish had appointed her governor during his Gwalior campaign and, so, they put their weight behind her.

Khwaja Abdullah Malik Isami, in his Futuhas Salatin (1349-50), writes that she dressed herself in the garment worn by the aggrieved, and showed herself to the people assembled for the Friday prayers and, in the name of her father, appealed for help against the intrigue of Shah Turkan (Ruknuddin Firoz’s mother and de facto ruler).

The sight of her and her powerful words profoundly affected the people assembled there. This led to another radical step: an agreement between Raziya and the people of Delhi. lsami tells us that Raziya even entered into an agreement with the people to the effect that “she was to be given a chance to prove her abilities and if she did not prove to be better than men, her head was to be struck off”.

She was crowned the Sultan of Delhi in October 1236. Coins were struck in her name Sultan-ul-Azam Jalatat-ud duniya wa din, Maikat-ul bint Iltutmish us Sultan Mihrat Amir-ul-Momineen (the great Sultan, the glory of the world and the faith, the queen, the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish, the beloved commander of the faithful).

The khutba or Friday sermon was read in her name and even the Caliph of Baghdad accepted her as the ruler of Delhi. Later she adopted the title of Nusrat Amir-ul-Mu’minin (helper of commander of faithful, that is, Caliph).

She discarded female attire and the veil for the male royal dress. Raziya rode unveiled. Her administrative capabilities were never in doubt, and she ruled wisely and well. She had controlled the Turkish nobles by using the strategy of pitting them against each other.

She was destined to be great but her shortcoming, as Minhaj-us-Siraj writes in 1400 AD, was: “She was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex.”

Her undoing was that she refused to be a puppet in the hands of the Turkish slave nobles who held very important posts in the Delhi Sultanate. She appointed the Abyssinian slave Malik Yaqut as Amir-e-Akhur or commander of the horses — an important post as the Sultans were forever expanding or defending their boundaries.

This signalled that the Turkish slave nobles may not be able to manipulate her and one of the nobles, the governor of Tabarhinda (Bhatinda) Malik Altuniya, rebelled against her.

She rode out against him at the head of her army to Tabarhinda and was captured.

Malik Yaqut was killed in the battle and her brother Bahram Shah was raised to the throne of Delhi in April 1240 AD by the Turks.

Not one to give up, she struck a political alliance with Malik Altuniya and married him, and was thus released from captivity.

She marched back to Delhi against her brother Bahram Shah, with Malik Altuniya at the head of his army. They defeated her, and she was killed in October 1240. Today, Raziya lies buried in a nondescript corner of Old Delhi in a simple stone grave.

Whenever we do think of Raziya Sultan, it’s the image of Hema Malini and a soot-coloured Dharmendra that flashes before our eyes.

I just wish that those not from a historical background would realise that there is a difference between history, historical fiction, comics and films.

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I could also see signs all over warning anyone enterprising enough to venture in and despite my passion to uncover the secrets of Delhi’s monuments my resolve weakened and I returned home.

A few days ago, the man known as Prince Ali Raza died inside this shikargah. His body was also discovered by chance. Many newspapers have proclaimed that the last Prince of Oudh has died a lonely death.

This shikargah had been allotted to his mother Vilayat Mahal as she had ensconced herself with a son and daughter, and many dogs in New Delhi Railway station’s waiting room in the 1970s.

She apparently refused Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s offer of a DDA flat as being beneath the dignity of a direct descendant of the Last King of Awadh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. Rajiv Gandhi obviously possessed a sense of humour and offered the medieval hunting lodge, which she took up.

She lived there with her children, many dogs, and some family heirlooms, in a monument with no doors, windows, electricity or even running water. ISRO supplied them with water from their connection.

She died of natural causes or committed suicide in 1993. The daughter Sakina died few years later. Now while the family did indeed lead a lonely life and died all alone I know Prince Ali Raza was definitely not the last surviving prince from the house of Oudh/Awadh.

The British exiled Nawab Wajid Ali Shah to Calcutta in 1856. He took some of his family and four wives with him leaving the rest of the family behind. So while there are obviously many descendants in Calcutta and Lucknow, and I feel there is a remote possibility that their claim is true, the known descendants contest it. They say that this family’s claim of being the descendants of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is incorrect as all the known ones draw a stipend from the government and Vilayat Mahal’s name is not on that list.

In a letter to the prime minister in 1985, Anjum Qudr the descendant of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his wife Begum Hazrat Mahal wrote, “All their descendants to this day, we being their great grandchildren, get Political Pensions from the Govt. of India through West Bengal or Wasiqa through the UP governments. ‘Begum Vilayat Mahal’ is not recorded anywhere and gets no such hereditary pensions. In fact she has no past history of more that about 15 years, since she last invented a claim.”

I talked to Manzilat Fatima, the graceful and dignified great great granddaughter of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the brave freedom fighter Begum Hazrat Mahal.

Begum Hazrat Mahal was one of the most successful leaders of the first war of Independence and declared her son Birjis Qadr the King of Awadh.

In a film made recently on Begum Hazrat Mahal, Kaukab Qudr Meerza says, “I am proud of the fact that I am the great grandson of that peerless woman who shed her veil and the rattle of whose sword heated up the revolutionary fervour in Awadh in 1857. She threw herself into the blazing fire, burning all around and gave up her life to give a new life to the Indian struggle for freedom.” I called up Manzilat Fatima to check this claim and this is what she had to say, “I have been receiving innumerable queries from friends and acquaintances regarding the relationship of the so called late prince to the Royal Family of Awadh?! It amuses me to even think of how some people who lived and died as victims of their own fallacies, have any credibility of a relationship with the famous king and queen of Awadh. I completely deny this claim and I am totally in agreement with my Bade Abba late Prince Anjum Qudr’s (eldest grandson of King Birjis Qudr) challenge of the same.I uphold the legacy of my family’s lineage and maintain dignity of our royal ancestors. We have our roots in the two most powerful dynasties that the country has known, the Mughal and the Awadh combined, of course Awadh being the stronger of the two in our case.”

She says there are many other descendants in Kolkata and Lucknow and that they do meet each other off and on.

Unlike the popular image of nawabi kababi royals the descendants of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and Begum Hazrat Mahal lead a very successful, down-to-earth life. Perhaps that is why they have never been in the eye of the media. They don’t fit into stereotypes of macabre erstwhile royals committing suicide by eating their powdered diamonds or eking out an existence by selling their family jewels or worse still appearing in shoddy costumes to play king.

Manzilat’s father Kaukab Meerza was a Professor of Urdu in AMU, Aligarh and penned two books on Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his legacy. Her elder brother Irfan Ali Meerza has retired from the railways, and younger brother Kamran Ali Meerza is a hardware engineer running his own business. Her eldest sister Talat Fatima retired as principal of Government Law College, Dholpur, Rajasthan. She also authored Cyber Crimes, the first book on cyber law. The second sister, Saltanat Fatima, runs a successful confectionery business in Noida called Chocolates and More. The youngest sister Rafat Fatima is a teacher at a senior school in Calcutta.

Manzilat runs a very successful catering service in Kolkata named after herself, Manzilat’s. She is committed to preserving the cultural legacy of Awadh and, with a wonderful sense of humour, calls her takeaway service “Nawabi Kababi” — her galaouti kebabs and paranthas, biryani, haleem and pasandas are very popular in Kolkata.

This family does not need to live in palaces and wear showy costumes to proclaim their royalty; their grace and dignity is enough to show that they have accepted life and adjusted to the times they live in.

And the legacy of the Nawabs of Awadh lives on and in safe hands.

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it was built by Maham Anga, Akbar’s wet nurse

Janab Bashir Ahmed Nizami has been leading prayers for 70 years in the Khairul Manazil mosque. I met him in August 2014.

Says now he’s so weak that he falls down and at times forgets.

Does not have any govt support. The ASI hasn’t allowed him to electrify the mosque and he has to rely on oil lamps, which need Rs200/day. He doesn’t have the resources and is dependent on donations.

Said people from Afghanistan and Iran are very generous but he’s now past age of struggling.

He lives in the premises.

Bazar e Musaqqaf translated into English means, “covered bazaar”. Its history dates back to the 17th century. It was inspired by another marketplace which Shah Jahan had seen in Peshawar in 1646.

ASI is currently restoring it. Paintings have been found under the layers of paint.

By Ghulam in in 19th century

There were also high expenses being incurred because of his wars against the Deccan kings.

Both these acts necessitated increasing taxes to enhance the treasury coffers to meet large expenses.

He was also facing rebellions.

Two natural calamities like sought and plague had added to the suffering of the people in the country. Urgent solutions had to be found to remedy the distress conditions.

The dam Satpula or the seven arches bridge or gate controlled weir/dam, was built to tap the water resources of the local nallah (stream) feeding the Yamuna river, which could be used to bring large areas of flat land in the vicinity under controlled irrigated agriculture to grow food crops to stem the famine conditions.

This solution was also thought to provide the much needed defense to the walls of the newly built city of Jahanpanah.

Gallery Text :

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453350

Gallery Text :

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453350

On the third Diya, Badshah is weighed in Gold and Silver …. The Qila is illuminated on all sides. Puffed rice, candy, toys made from the candy, lemon and small clay houses are distributed to everyone by maidservants. At night, mud houses made by the royal children are filled with puffed rice and batashe and lamps lit in front of them.’
There is also a fascinating list of dishes served at an average meal for the emperor.  It describes 26 types of rotis, 24 types of rice dishes and an equal number of curries, kebabs, vegetable dishes and pickles. And this, in a time when the emperor was short of money!
— Read on www.livehistoryindia.com/cover-story/2018/12/05/glimpses-of-a-lost-delhi

30 November 2018

Twilight Diaries

Swapna Liddle

A rare look into the everyday life of the last Mughals

City of My Heart: Accounts of Love, Loss and Betrayal in Nineteenth-Century Delhi | Rana Safvi | Hachette | 288 Pages | Rs 499

THOSE WHO SEEK to know the history of Delhi in the 19th century must overcome what is a major obstacle for most Indians today—an unfamiliarity with Urdu. Since this was the language of the city in the 19th century, this lack of familiarity leads one to rely almost exclusively on sources authored by the British who ruled Delhi. It goes without saying that this leaves us with a very skewed perspective of the history of the city. Apart from the generally complex colonial relationship, there were points at which the Indian people and the colonial state faced each other in sharp conflict—such as the Revolt of 1857— and contradiction. Necessarily, one can expect accounts from opposing sides of the divide to tell different stories. Our understanding is bound to be woefully incomplete, unless we take the trouble to read both versions, the British and the Indian.

The fact, however, remains that Urdu, particularly its script, is understood by a small minority today, which puts these important sources of history out of the reach of most. It is therefore heartening to see an effort being made to make Urdu texts accessible through translations. The selection in City of My Heart by Rana Safvi focuses particularly on the Mughal royal family during the reigns of the dynasty’s last two emperors, Akbar II and Bahadur Shah ‘Zafar’. This volume features four separate works translated into English, three in their entirety and the fourth as a large extract.

The result is a fascinating look into little known aspects of Delhi’s history: the customs, traditions, language, and beliefs of the Mughal royal court and family, and even the personal histories of some of its less known members. These texts are important cultural documents, recording for posterity the details of an institution that disappeared forever in 1857 with the exile of Bahadur Shah to Burma, and the deaths or exile of the extended royal family, which, till September 1857, had lived in the Red Fort.

The texts offer a rare look into the details of the everyday life of the extended household of that period’s Mughals. We are told of the food, clothes, ornaments, furniture and vehicles used by different groups of individuals at particular times. We learn of the formality and etiquette associated with the durbar—when the emperor held court, either within a larger assembly or even within the seclusion of his own household. The daily and seasonal routines of the family, particularly the emperor, are described. The reader will enjoy detailed descriptions of varied festivals and other socio-religious observances within the Red Fort, such as the two Eids, Moharram, Diwali, Dussehra, Holi, Raksha Bandhan, the Persian New Year or Nauroz, and the little known Akhri chahar Shanbeh—literally, ‘the last Wednesday in the month of Safar’. The sheer variety confirms the impression that the Mughals subscribed to a very eclectic mix of beliefs and practices.

There is no denying the value of these texts, and hence their translation, to those interested in the history of Delhi. Yet, it is wise to stay alert to their limitations. The first two texts in the volume have a considerable similarity in content—a detailed documentation of the Mughal court, culture and household. The older of the two, Bazm e Aakhir, was published in 1885 and was written by Faizuddin, who had seen the Mughal court at close quarters. The later one, Dilli ka Akhri Deedar, was published in 1934, and according to its author, Wazir Hasan Dehlvi, was based on older books and the oral testimonies of those who remembered those times. One suspects, however, that few of these would have been first-hand. There would have been very few people alive in 1934 with memories from before 1857.

These texts record the exile of Bahadur Shah and the deaths of exile of the extended royal family resident in the Red Fort

What both share is a curious silence about the British presence in Delhi and indeed within the Red Fort itself during the period they talk about. Daily interactions of the emperor and royal family with representatives of the British East India Company are attested to by sources such as original court diaries and newsletters of the time. This silence in the older work is probably explained by the fact that it was written less than three decades after the Revolt and its harsh suppression by the British. People were still too fearful to even speak on a subject that may be controversial: that is, Mughal-British relations. At the same time there was a desire to document an institution, Mughal royalty, which had disappeared forever, and whose culture had to be documented especially for the benefit of a younger generation that was born or came of age only after 1857.

As for Dilli ka Akhri Deedar, its motivations were very different. It was written at a time when India’s Freedom Movement was at its zenith, and the author used his account of the Mughal court mainly as a medium to critique British rule. Critical comments are sprinkled through the text, ostensibly through the voice of a certain old lady, Aghai Begum. One strongly suspects, though, that this was a literary device used by the author to express his own opinions. For instance, the old lady complains, ‘Everyone is struggling to earn a livelihood and to live a decent life in these expensive times… we produce the grains, and others enjoy it…. Earlier whatever was produced here was consumed here.’

If this is supposed to serve as a comparison betweenAghai Begum’s memories of the last two Mughal emperors’ reigns and life in Delhi of the 1930s, there is a definite weakness in the argument. The era of Akbar II and Bahadur Shah was not that of the Mughal Empire, but of East India Company’s rule. The pertinent part of the lady’s remarks is not her comment on the peace and prosperity of Mughal times, but her criticism—which is actually the author’s—of British rule.

The other two works in the volume are ‘Arsh’ Taimuri’s Qila-e-Mu’alla ki Jhalkiya’n, published in 1937, and part of Khwaja Hasan Nizami’s Begamat ke Aansu, circa 1920. These give many more details about individual members of the royal family, and in the latter case, particularly their fate after the Revolt of 1857 was put down. They provide specifics that may not be found in other sources. Nevertheless, we must allow for a fair degree of romanticisation in their writing, though there appears to be less of a political intent than in the account of Wazir Hasan.

Arsh Taimuri and Hasan Nizami, like Wazir Hasan, relied on the memories of an older generation for their accounts. For people who had lived through 1857, the view of the period before it was always refracted through the prism of the traumatic events of the Revolt. Those who survived often lost loved ones, property, and livelihoods. To them, the world before 1857 was an idyllic one populated by all that they had now lost. It should not surprise us that to some extent at least, they describe an overly rosy, idealised scenario.

There is no doubt that these texts give us valuable insights into the cultural milieu of the Mughal world just before 1957, incorporating a wealth of description that cannot be found in other sources. At the same time, we should be aware of the political and social contexts in which they were written, and how these circumstances may have affected the picture they drew of the past. In that sense, they provide an insight into their own times as much as they do into royal life in the last days of the Mughal Empire.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/books/twilight-diaries

‪He had converted to Christianity ‬which was held against him.

‪Buried in St James Church in Kashmiri gate ‬

Az Naksh wa nigaar e dar wa deewar shikasta

Asaar e padeed ast sanadeed e ajam ra[i]

The marks and engravings on the ruined walls and gates

(They are) the remnant signs of Persia’s ancient monuments

For the past four years I have been engrossed in translating the two edition’s of Sir Syed’s book on Delhi: Asar us Sanadeed. In pursuance of that I visited each and every monument that he has listed in both. Though he talks only of 130 monuments in the second book, in the first there is a detailed description of almost every building present in Shajahanabad in 1847.

In that he described the haveli of his maternal grandfather Nawab Dabir-ud Daulah Marhoom ki haveli as:

Towards Faiz Bazaar is the haveli of Nawab Dabir-ud-Daulah Amin-ul-Mulk Khwaja Farid-ud-din Ahmed Khan Bahadur Masleh Jung. This haveli used to belong to Nawab Mehdi Quli Khan and was bought by him after his death.

Sir Syed’s mother, Aziz-un Nisa was the eldest daughter of Khwaja Farid. Khwaja Farid’s family originally from Iran had migrated to Delhi two generations earlier.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s grandfather was Mughal aristocracy and was given the title of Jawwad-ud-daula as well as a mansab of 1000 infantry and 500 cavalry in the reign of Alamgir II.

Syed Ahmed Khan inherited this title at the age of 19 after his father, Syed Mohammad Muttaqi Khan Bahadur who held the mansab and title before him, passed away.

Sayyid Muttaqî was a mystically inclined man with an uncertain income as the Mughal Empire was on the decline and his pension would be irregular and at times less than the assured amount. He had been offered the post of wazir by the Mughal emperor but he had declined as he wanted the freedom to pursue his inclinations and hobbies. He was an expert teerandaz and swimmer.

His ancestral mansion was near Jama Masjid and had suffered in the various attacks on Shahjahanabad in the 18^th century. At the time of his marriage to Aziz-un Nisa it was unfit for living in and perhaps he lacked the resources to repair it.

Prof Iftikhar Alam Khan in his book Sir Syed: Daroon e Khana refutes the common perception that Saiyyad Muttaqi moved in with his father in law and writes that after his marriage to Aziz un Nisa, he moved in to a new house built for his wife in the precincts of his father in law Khwaja Farid’s palatial mansion, known as Haveli Mehdi Quli Khan. The two havelis were separated by a road.

Sir Syed was born here on 17^th Oct 1817.

A typical mansion in 17^th c as reconstructed by Stephen Blake would look like:

These mansions were often quite large and could cover an entire block. A high thick wall of stone and in some cases a moat surrounded the haveli. A lofty naqqarkhana housed the daily guard, drummers and trumpeters and other household musicians. A large forecourt surrounded by a row of rooms under an arcade immediately inside. Here were places for the soldiers and servants of the household and for the horses, elephants and attendants attendants of visitors.

To the right and left of the gateway, along the wall fronting the street, were the courtyards that held the men and goods of the great man’s establishment. Here were stables for horse, elephants and camels;apartments for servants, clerks, artisans, poets, physicians, laborers, religious specialists, record officers, treasuries, bakeries , kitchens and workshops for clothing,carpets, goldwork and fine embroidery.

Opposite the forecourt was the gate of the living quarters pf the prince/ amir and his family. The area was divided into two parts : the mahal sara set amidst flowers, gardens, trees, pools and fountains was the private living area. There would be a beautifully decorated shish mahal with Persian carpets and brocade curtains.

The public area of diwan khana was separated by a high wall and here the amir met guests. It would have bright and fine carpets, flowers etc

Near the Diwankhana would be a library

All apartments would be beautifully decorated.

Of course this was during the reign of Shah Jahan and possibly Aurangzeb. Khwaja Farid was appointed the Wazir by Akbar Shah II and the Mughal empire had declined and was living on fumes of its former glory. But he bought his haveli form the famous architect Nawab Mehdi Quli Khan and it must have had some of the features described above.

Naqqarkhana

Prof Iftikhar Alam Khan describes the haveli as having a mardana and a zanana quarter, a jalaukhana or forecourt, stables and apartments for the employees.

Anyway as part of my research I went to Faiz Bazar that is now Daryaganj and into the road named after him, Sir Syed road in Faiz bazar to find his haveli. I had already received many emails from Aligarians living abroad about the pathetic condition of his haveli. SO I was more or less prepared but even then it came as a shock.

The Faiz bazar area was once the pride of the Mughal Empire and that is why Nawab Dabir-ud daulah had his haveli there. It is now as in fact is most of Shahjahanabad little better than a slum with hanging wires and encroachment and dirt.

The entrance to this haveli, which must once have been a grand gateway, is now half encroached by a shop selling bags. The half that was approachable was whitewashed and one could see the lakhori bricks and the grime of ages. If there were any naksh o nigar here earlier they had faded away with time. The entrance was occupied by a number of goats and I had to jump over them to cross over to what must have once been a deorhi. Today it has a couple of doors.

Where was the naqqarkhana? Were the goats today’s musicians?

An open door showed an angan and some arched doorways. The present owner of the house was gracious enough to call us in and offer us tea but he denied that it belonged to Dabiruddaulah or Sir Syed. He himself had bought it from a Jameela Khwaja after partition.

The portion of the haveli, which was on the street, has long been demolished. All one can see after this darwaza are rows of very ugly flats and then another grand darwaza.

This time around the darwaza was not encroached but it had a fruit stall in front of it. When we entered we found similar scenes of encroachment and crumbling heritage.

Hafiz Javed who lives in this part of the house also denied that this was Sir Syed’s haveli and said it was restricted to the part we had entered earlier.

After this darwaza there is a Khadija hospital and then a cut in the lane. Locals tell me that this haveli probably existed all the way till this hospital.

Since everyone denied that this was Sir Syed’s haveli I came back to my trusted source: Waqeat e Darul Hukumat Dehli by Basheeruddin Ahmed written in 1919.

Basheeruddin Ahmed in fact writes about the haveli here as being two. One he identifies as belonging to Sir Syed, which at that point belongs to his grandson Ross Mahmood. They are however one as the house was later inherited by Aziz-un Nisa, who was Sir Syed’s mother.

Basheeruddin Ahmed identifies the house near Auliya Masjid that is near the Phool Ki Mandi. In turn he identifies Phool ki Mandi as near Tiraha Bairam Khan. This is a point where three roads go off in three different directions from an ancient Peepal Tree. [This tree still stands and there are still some flower sellers who have put up their small stalls on its roots].

The first road from here goes to jama Masjid and then Dilli Darwaza, the second goes to Faiz bazar on the left and the third ones goes on to the Phool ki Mandi.

His house is near Auliya Masjid near Tiraha Bairam Khan, which was inherited by his grandson Ross Mahmood.

This is exactly where we were standing.
Basheeruddin Ahmed goes on to write that:

Near the Auliya Masjid is the house of his maternal grandfather Nawab Dabir-ud-daula. He was a very important and wealthy nobleman. He had gone to the Shah of Iran’s court as the ambassador of East India Company. He was appointed the Prime Minister of Akbar Shah II. He was killed during a riot in Bombay.

Tiraha Bairam Khan

Now contrast this to the house that Sir Syed stayed in for seven months in London.

Goodenough House in London bears a plate with English heritage on top of it saying that:

“Sir Syed stayed at Goodenough House in London for 7 months during his trip to England (1869).

While researching I came upon many articles which describe the efforts and meetings of AMU alumni and officers with Delhi government officials to convert the haveli into a museum after Sir Syed’s home. We have sadly failed and seeing the number of pigeon hole flats, shops, people living here I though I don’t hold out much hope of anything happening in the future either, I appeal to Aligarians all around the world to pause and reflect; to see what they can do to set up a library or coaching centre in his name on this spot.

This is the man who had spent so much time in lovingly describing and documentiing Delhi’s monuments.

When post the destruction of 1857, when Sir Syed Ahmed saw the ruins of Akbarabadi mosque which he had glowingly described in Asar us Sanadeed as a “beautiful and heart pleasing masjid. It refreshes the eyes and rejuvenates the spirit,” he is said to have been in tears to see the rubble to which it had been reduced and allegedly said,

“Sahib angrezo ney Akbarabadi  masjid ko shaheed kardiya hai

“Sir, the Englishmen have martyred (demolished) the Akbarabadi masjid”.

In the aftermath of the Uprising of 1857 and the sytematic persecution of the Muslim community especially the elite who the British felt were mainly responsible for the ‘revolt’, Sir Syed set about thinking of ways of rehabilitating the community. One of them was to integrate them into Indian society via western education and thus the idea of Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College which later went on to become the Aligarh Muslim University was born.

The foundation of a Jama Masjid or congregational mosque for the College students was laid in 1877 , though unfortunately due to many reasons its construction was delayed and it got ready only in around 1915 after Sir Syed’s death under Nawab Mohammad Ishaq Khan.

The inscriptions of the Akbarabadi Mosque were unique because they had the Surah Fajr inscribed on it and were by the same genius, Abdul Haq Amanat Khan, who did the inscription on Taj Mahal and Sikandra.

According to AMU Gazette, June 19, 1886, these inscriptions were presented to Sir Syed for use in the Jama Masjid by Shahzada Sulaiman Jah Bahadur, who bought them from a scrap dealer in Aligarh who had the rubble of 1857 monuments brought for sale.

These panels connected to the AMU Jama Masjid to the Taj Mahal.

Syed Ali nadeem Rezav, Chairman of CAS says that , “Apart from the fact that this was the last monumental mosque to be built in India with an arcuate true dome its mosque’s uniqueness lies in the fact that like the mosques of Akbar and Jahangir’s this mosque is probably the only mosque in India where it still happens.”

Sir Syed himself lies buried in a simple yet very elegant grave in its compound.

Sir Syed not only recreated the Akbarabadi mosque he laid the foundation of a university to him that many owe their education and career. Yet what are we doing about it?

For me the haveli symbolizes the way we alumni of AMU have nurtured Sir Syed’s built legacy. Just expanding the university and building more departments or new campuses in other cities and countries is not the way to pay respect to his legacy.

Seeing the situation created in the aftermath of 1857 where Muslims were disfranchised, thrown out of ShahJahanabad and generally looked upon with suspicion he decided that education was the only way to rehabilitate them, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan adopted a very pragmatic approach to solving the problem.

With a very farsighted approach and a vision for their future, his immediate concern was to rehabilitate them into the British government by providing a western education that would lead to the Muslim community getting government jobs and a say in administration.

In 1859, he established a Farsi Madarsa in Moradabad but realizing that acquisition of science and technology was essential and that Englsih was the language needed for that in 1863 the Victoria School in Ghazipur, where he was posted. In this school apart from science and history, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit were also taught.

In 1864 he established the Scientific Society in Ghazipur for translation of English, Persian and Arabic writings into Urdu.

He was quite willing to take the religious clergy, which opposed scientific education head on and was even called a kafir for his pains. He was ridiculed and ostracized but he forged ahead. As Akbar Ilahabadi said in his famous verse:

Saiyyad uthhe jo gajatt le kar to laakho’n laaye

Sheikh, Quran dikhaata phira, paisa na mila

Syed rose, Gazette in hand and got lakhs in donation

The Sheikh kept showing the Quran and got not a penny

“Call me by whatever names you like.
I will not ask you for my salvation. But please take pity of your children. Do something for them (send them to the school), lest you should have to repent” (by not sending them) he said.

So committed was he that in fact he even performed a skit on stage and recited a ghazal of Hafiz to collect funds for the college. His other friends even sang songs and enacted short plays.

In the first edition of the journal Tehzeeb al-Akhlaq in 1871 Sir Syed, wrote: “The objective of issuing this journal is to persuade Indian Muslims to adopt a complete degree of civilized culture, so that the hatred with which the civilized (cultured) nations view them should go away and they may also be said to be exalted and cultured nations of the world.”

This journal started in 1871 was aimed at social reformation of the Muslims. Sir Syed believed that Ijtihad (re-interpretation with the changing times) was the need of the hour and that taqlid (copying and following old values) should be given up.

He felt that it was the doings of Muslims on which the reputation of Islam depended not on fasting and prayer. For him compassion, kindness, and a genuine drive towards maintenance of a healthy social order were more important.

Sir Syed, felt that there was no end to moral progress as Islam where it is categorically specified that a believer must strive ceaselessly to improve his or her conduct till the last breath.

At a time when the acts of a handful of Muslims who indulge in acts of terrorism are confused with Islam this is an important point.
Instead of just playing the victim card we have to get out of it and face the reality. Once again Muslims are beleagured and are increasingly being made to feel the ‘other’. The only way out of it is again education and a scientific education at that.

The present day UP government by insisting on introduction of NCERT textbooks and making study of math and science compulsory is doing the community a big favour.

The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was founded in 1875 to provide a scientific temperament and education to Muslims and the best way to honour the legacy of its founder, Sir Syed is to make an education based on modern values, which will provide voacational skills and avenues of self-improvement and employment available to the community.

The college which as per the founder’s vision gave birth to Aligarh Muslim University was founded on the ‘principles of tolerance and progress’ and ‘to preach the gospel of free enquiry of large hearted tolerance and of pure morality’

Sir Syed’s vision which he said was as strong as ever, despite failing health in old age was of a strong India with Hindus and Muslims being ‘the two eyes of the beautiful bride that is Hindustan’.

He said, “O Hindus and Muslims! Do you belong to a country other than India? Do not you live on this soil and are not buried under it or cremated on its ghats? If you live and die on this land, then, bear in mind, that… all the Hindus, Muslims and Christians who live in this country are one nation.”

In the bicentinnial year of this reformist and propogator of scientific thought we must take up the cause of education once again. Why is it that a community which accounts for 14% of the country’s population only has 4.4% students enrolled for higher education? Simply devoting time to religious studies is not theway forward.

[i] This verse by Urfi gives the book its title

On the entrance it says

‏دروازہ مندر سری چتر گپت جی۔ مہاراج

Darwaza Mandir Shri ChitrGupt hi Maharaj

‏منشی بشمبر دیال پیشکار خلف منشی بھوانی پرساد۔

Munshi Bishamber Dayal peshkar khalf ( successor/son of) Munshi Bhawani Parshad

On top of Donor ‘s List

Waqt guzraan Meher guzar jaata hai

Insaan aata hai aake Mar jaata hai

Hai zinda javed wahi nek anjam

Jo aaun ke kuchh kaam bhi kar jaata hai

Suraj Narayan Meher Dehalvi

The area belonged to Mathurs who have now shifted from there according other parts of Delhi

At Dhaula Peer Dargah with Yajanekka Aroraa and Asif Khan Dehlvi

Says now he’s so weak that he falls down and at times forgets.

Does not have any govt support. The ASI hasn’t allowed him to electrify the mosque and he has to rely on oil lamps, which need Rs200/day. He doesn’t have the resources and is dependent on donations.

Said people from Afghanistan and Iran are very generous but he’s now past age of struggling.

He lives in the premises.

For more details read Forgotten Cities of Delhi

Khairul manazil or best of houses is a chronogram which gives the year of construction 969 AH or 1561-62 AD

it was built by Maham Anga, Akbar’s wet nurse

More details in my book

The Forgotten Cities of Delhi

https://amzn.to/2uczskp

The dargah where Qadam Sharif of Hazrat Ali is kept. On the right is Bibi ka Kaasa

Masjid built by Nawab Qudsia Begum

The Naqqar Khana or entrance

The dargah of Arif Shah

Dargah of Arif Shah

Details in The Forgotten Cities of Delhi

It was built next to Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and is surrounded by houses on all sides. Approach is through residences too.

Note the swastika on the walls.

Indo Islamic architecture at its best

The residence at the entrance

This must have been a Mehfil Khana for visitors to the tomb

Just some remnants of what must have been beautiful tile work on the outer walls

Decorations on the outside walls

The swastika made by the Indian artisans

Reciting the fatiha for his soul

More details in my book

The Forgotten Cities of Delhi

https://amzn.to/2uczskp

Built by his mother Empress Mumtaz Mahal wife of Emperor Akbar Shah Was supposed to be very pretty. Now just dirty and neglected

ShahJahanabad ‘s iconic Digambar Jain Mandir started as Urdu Mandir in a soldier’s tent in Shah Jahan ‘s reign, with 3 murtis from 1436 AD.

Urdu Mandir ( camp temple) in Urdu bazar or place where soldiers camped

Later on some Agarwal Jain merchants built a concrete temple.

The three main idols of Digambar Jain from 1436 are housed in the Sanctum Sanctorum

The area from Lahori Darwaza till here was called Urdu Bazar

It was built in 1905 and is unique for its half domes. This church was supposed to be built near Ajmeri Gate but shifted to present location when an underground medieval reservoir was discovered while the foundations were being dug

According to Sir Edward Maclagan, says a Delhi Archdiocese publication, there were 120 Catholics in Delhi during Shah Jahan’s reign in 1650. Their number went up to 300 by 1686 when Aurangzeb was on the throne. Two priests looked after them.

When the residents of ShahJahanabad were being exiled he not only stayed but flourished. He was amongst the first few people in the city to own a car and a telephone

His income in 1857 was around 1 lakh rupees a month.

The Haveli is built on three floors and has 128 rooms and is spread on half an acre of land.

The ground floor, originally meant to host grand functions of the family, was rented out in 1971 to shop owners, and has since been used for commercial purposes. Today, in this labyrinth of shops, it takes a few minutes for any visitor to find the entrance to the haveli.

It is one of the few havelis that still survive as residential property in ShahJahanabad.

It is located on the main Chandni Chowk road near Fatehpuri Masjid.

In fact he had even bought Fatehpuri Masjid for Ramzan 19000 from the British in 1857. Later in 1877 the British bought it back and restored to the Muslims.

bazm e shaahi meiN ghareeboN ka guzar kya maani

sabt jis raah pa hoN satwate shahi ke nishaaN

uss pa ulfat bhari roohoN ka safar kya maani

In Safdarjung Tomb:

Firoz Shah Tughlaq ‘s memorial (grave) for his son Fath Khan. So called because of an imprint of the Prophet ‘s foot buried with him as per his request.

The descriptions given of it in Dargah Quli Khan ‘s Muraqqa e Dehli show you a vibrant bustling place where kings, Queens and prince and princesses come to ask for boons and joined commoners who came to ask for theirs.

The Basant celebrations started from this Dargah.

Alas it’s all a far off dream now.

In front of the present walls of Qadam sharif Dargah in the bylanes of Paharganj, lies

Nawab Shamsuddin Loharu, father of Dagh Dehlvi,

2nd Nawab of Loharu 1827/1835, executed by the authorities in Delhi on 3rd October 1835 due to his particiption in a conspiracy to assasinate the Resident, William Fraser and in consequence Loharu and Firuzpur were confiscated, and the title of Nawab was denied.

Father of Daagh Dehlvi

“Next to the KoodaKatta” (rubbish dump)

Kaun jaye Zauq” par Dilli ki galiyan chhod kar

Dilli see where Zauq sleeps

Tho I should thank God for smaller mercies. A public lavatory was made on his grave. Thanks to efforts of Firoz Bakht at least that was removed & a memorial built in its place.

It’s called yaadgar e Zauq as no one knows where original grave was