Where Stones Speak – Rana Safvi

#MyUsTour in San Francisco

ranasafvi — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 06:12:49 +0000

I was invited by Kashif ul Huda the founder of Two Circles dot net for a series of lectures and talks in USA.

“We at TwoCircles.net is honored and excited to bring to the United States Rana Safvi for a lecture tour of several cities.”

http://twocircles.net/2019mar01/429730.html

The first of these organized by TCN was on 3rd March 2019 in San Francisco.

By the grace of God it went off very well. A delicious dinner in Chandni restaurant was followed by a brief talk by Kashif on TCN and then my ppt and presentation.

Even though it was post dinner, the full house was engrossed and engaged in listening to the stories of Mehrauli and it’s kings embellished of course with Urdu couplets and stunning visuals.

At Dhaula Peer Dargah, New Delhi

ranasafvi — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 01:09:52 +0000

We often pass by the place on the main Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, near Lado Sarai crossing without realizing there is a dargah of a saint known as Dhaula Peer .
Hazrat Makhdum Sheikh Haidar “Dhaula Peer” was the nephew nephew of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq who was mesmerized by the teachings of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and gave up a life of ease and royalty to lead an ascetic life of a Sufi. He immersed himself in prayers and devotions and alongside as per sharia which encourages self dependence also earned a living by making and selling soap. Apart from that he wore pristine, unblemished white clothes
This led to the sobriquet Dhaula Peer.
Another version for the name Dhaula is that a mountain of white soap suds were made as he made his soap cakes.
He died in 1357 AD and his grandson Muhammad Kabir built a simple single domed tomb over his grave, in the same place where he lived.
There is a madarsa and mosque in the compound and quite a few of very old Graves.
It has a inscription on the front which says this is the resting place of Hazrat Makhdoom Haider who was famous as Dhaula Peer.
Asif Khan Dehlvi

At Dhaula Peer Dargah with Yajanekka Aroraa and Asif Khan Dehlvi

Lest we Forget : Book Discussion on the Forgotten Cities of Delhi

ranasafvi — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 05:01:50 +0000

https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/lest-we-forget/article24463034.ece

JULY 20, 2018 11:13 IST

UPDATED: JULY 19, 2018 20:18 IST

MORE-IN

Sprinkled with engrossing details, Rana Safvi’s “The Forgotten Cities of Delhi” explores the Capital’s layered past like a personal journey

From jinn mamu to the king of serpents, historian Rana Safvi’s book “The Forgotten Cities of Delhi” combines the real with the supernatural, taking its readers on a journey through the corridors of time. The sequel to her book “Where Stones Speak”, this book brings together riveting anecdotes with surprising facts about the nation’s capital and the many monuments dotting it— living witnesses to the interplay of light and shade across the city.

At a book reading session in Gurugram’s DLF Club 5, the author was in conversation with Asif Khan Dehlvi, founder of Delhi Karwan, and photographer Syed Mohammad Qasim whose evocative and imaginatively captured photograph became the cover of the book. Safvi regaled the audience with folklore and history from the pages of her book, such as the many names that Delhi was bestowed with. From Delu in 50 BC, it became Dhilli under the Tomars (after 700 AD), and later was reverentially referred to as Hazrat-e-Dehli, finally shortened to Dehli. It was only under the British that the city became ‘Delhi’, in accordance with the rules of the English language, where the letter ‘h’ cannot be placed before ‘l’. The word ‘Dehli’ itself carried a reference to the city being the ‘Dehleez of Hindustan’, or the threshold of India.

“The Forgotten Cities of Delhi” is sprinkled with myriad such engrossing details, in particular about the syncretism of the city — markedly visibly in the Indo-Islamic architecture. How many of us, for instance, know about the tomb that is decorated with Swastikas? The book uses four hitherto unexplored books as its sources, including two Urdu ones: Sir Syed’s “Asaar us Sanadeed” and Basheer ud Din Ahmed’s “Waqeyat-e-Dar ul Hukumat e Dehli”. The third is an out of print book which the author procured from the United States. “I’ve used these books along with my own experiences, plus more research,” says Safvi. But the defining part of the book is its style, which is akin to a personal journey.

Safvi narrates how a reader messaged her and said that reading the book was like taking a walk with her. Conducting heritage walks through the city is an art the author has mastered, and she makes a conscious attempt to write as if she were describing things during one of those walks, weaving in elements of the supernatural, such as jinns and fairies. One is reminded of the “City of Djinns” by Dalrymple, which has quite similar elements. But Safvi concurs, “He has written it from a very British point of view and a western sensibility. I am writing it as someone who’s steeped in this culture, who has spent her entire childhood listening to these tales. Mitti mein doobi hui hoon,” she emphasises.

Her book is connected to the mitti or earth in more ways than one. Her trips to the various de-listed monuments didn’t always present the prettiest of sights. The Zamarrudpur monuments, for instance. “That was the one most difficult to reach,” says Safvi. “We had to walk through narrow gullies and mounds of garbage, and one of them could only be reached through a lavatory. Also in Begumpur, there was so much filth because people used to come in the mornings to do their business. I had to throw away my shoes after I came back!” she exclaims. There’s also the tale of the man in Zamarrudpur who kept trying to keep her from taking photographs, and when she returned the next day, snapped at her with: “Aap phir aa gayin!”

The locals around these places are apprehensive of anyone trying to take photographs, for they fear that the authorities would demolish the numerous structures that have cropped up around them. Most of these monuments are de-listed though, and nothing can be done to conserve them. But public awareness is very important, says Safvi. At the very least, people need to be made aware of the presence of these receptacles of history in their midst. She also has an interesting and novel idea for the conservation of lesser known monuments: asking schools to adopt one of these.

“I talked to the principal of Vasant Valley. She said she wanted to adopt the Sultangarhi monument. They can then build programmes around it as well — quizzes, brochures, heritage walks. But ASI wasn’t ready for this.” Safvi explains, adding, “The only way forward for people to save these monuments is when they consider a sense of ownership. Apnepan ka ehsaas. For that we need children to get associated with it.”

But what significance does history have for a nation’s present and future generations? Is the past really important for those moving into the future, their sights set on the horizon? “These monuments and heritage are a living history,” emphasises Safvi. “If we do not appreciate and understand our living history we will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

The Forgotten Cities of Delhi : Book discussion in DLF Club 5, Gurgaon

ranasafvi — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 08:09:31 +0000

On 8th July 2018, an event was organized by DLF Club 5.It was very well attended. The discussion was between Asif Khan Dehlvi the founder of Delhi Karwan, Syed Mohammad Qasim and myself. Asif an integral part of my journey in Where Stones Speak moderated it very beautifully.Some moments from itq

Revisiting memories in old lanes: book review of The Forgotten Cities of Delhi

ranasafvi — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 17:00:26 +0000

Posted at: Jul 8, 2018, 1:23 AM Last updated: Jul 8, 2018, 1:23 AM (IST) Pankaj K Deohttp://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/spectrum/books/revisiting-memories-in-old-lanes/616379.htmlDeath and destruction are perhaps in the core of Delhi’s DNA, for it is situated on the bank of the Yamuna, which is called ‘Yami’ in Hindu mythology and happens to be the twin sister of Yama, the god of death. Yama and Yami are the divine binaries—Yama represents Death, whereas Yami represents life force. So, Delhi, like a phoenix, has the propensity to rise from the ashes, and history is witness that the city has risen from its ruins several times.The culture, faith, and architecture of all those who came to the city from places afar got amalgamated into the city’s persona. Each dynasty that came to rule Delhi set up a new capital to distinguish itself from the previous ones. Rana Safvi’s sequel, The Forgotten Cities of Delhi brings to its readers the stories of the capitals that existed before New Delhi and their monuments—forts, tombs, dargahs—in her inimitable style. The narrative she builds around these monuments is laced with many asides and beautiful Urdu couplets that are telling comments on this hoary city’s past and present.The age-old city today accommodates in its ambit the ruins and graves of its various rulers and prominent inhabitants over the centuries. And Safvi’s book is a treasure-trove of information on Delhi’s cities — the city of Mehrauli to the city of Shahjahanabad— and its denizens who once walked its terra firma with all the pomp and ceremony due to their social stature but now lie buried here, mostly forgotten. Many such personages from the past seem to strike a conversation with you when you peruse the pages bedecked with an eclectic range of couplets chosen carefully to describe the place and its history.Every time a new city came up with the advent of a new ruler or a dynasty, it cannibalised the previous ones. Safvi writes: “When Emperor Sher Shah was building his city, Shergarh, much of the material for building was taken from Siri. Recycling was always in fashion.”Safvi also brings into focus the paradisiacal imagery that underlies the architecture of Delhi monuments from Iltutmish’s tomb to the Taj Mahal, the Mughal masterpiece. She quotes art historian, Catherine Asher, in the preface: “A new theme was introduced in the inscription of Iltutmish’s tomb, one that became especially important for the Mughals, that is, eternal paradise as a reward for the true believer of the Day of Judgment.” Gardens were made as earthly replicas of a cosmographic model as conceived in Abrahamic religions—the garden at the beginning of time, such as Eden, and the Garden at the end of time that awaits the believer on the day of judgement.Safvi elaborates, “While Sikandar Lodi’s tomb was the first garden-tomb to be built in India, it was Emperor Humayun’s tomb that went on to become a template, resulting in the Taj Mahal at Agra.” Gardens as enclosed arenas mark the sacred zone for the dead within a profane world. One may, however, say that the vision of Paradise as a central theme of architecture is evident even in the residential buildings of the Mughals. For, Diwan-i-Khas in the Red Fort in Delhi has the famous Persian couplet of Amir Khusrau inscribed on it: “If there be a paradise on the earth it is this, it is this, it is this.”The dream of paradise seemed to be fading in the twilight phase of the Mughal dynasty as Mirza Ghalib who saw the end of the Mughal empire, wrote: “Hum ko maalum hai jannat ki haqiqat lekin, dil ke khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khayal achchha hai” (We know the reality of the paradise, but Ghalib, the idea sounds good to keep the heart happy).As you flip through the pages, Delhi’s best-kept secrets keep tumbling out about every nook and cranny of the city’s myriad monuments—from Suraj Kund and Kalka Devi Temple to Dadi Poti ka Gumbad in Hauz Khas to the tombs of Princess Jahanara and Raziya Sultan. One discovers that what we call Jor Bagh today was once Bagh-e-Jadd (garden of the ancestors) since it was a garden meant for the funerary buildings of the Lodis. The Safdarjung Tomb, another garden tomb, is also located near the Lodhi Gardens.One comes to know that the area, where now the new Barapullah flyover stands, had a Mughal era bridge with 11 arches and 12 pillars. That the haunted place, Bhuli Bahtiyari ka Mahal, was a palace constructed by Bu Ali Bakhtiyari. The author had made innumerable trips to these monuments in the process of compiling information for this book.She gathered many anecdotes during such journeys. One such anecdote is about the place called Jhandewalan. The place was named so because it used to host a fair in the Hindu month of Asadh (roughly June-July) where Brahmins would put their flagstaff or jhanda to conduct pavan parichha or wind testing to make weather forecast. In order to inspire the readers to find the places she describes, the author also provides a list of historical trails at the end, which history buffs can embark on in their free time. Overall, a wonderful book.Amazon linkhttps://amzn.to/2uczskp

Chunamal ki Haveli, ShahJahanabad, Dilli

ranasafvi — Wed, 16 May 2018 19:24:07 +0000

Lala Chunnamal, a wealthy textile merchant helped the British during the Uprising of 1857 and women their favour.

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.

Baoli in Qutub saheb ki dargah in Mehrauli

ranasafvi — Wed, 16 May 2018 19:13:28 +0000

In 2014 while researching for Where Stones Speak the blessings of Qutub Sahab & luck helped us and Syed Mohammad Qasim Asif Khan Dehlvi and I were able to go into Qutub Sahab ki baoli and explore it. Unfortunately it’s in a bad shape : a water body which could supply water to entire Mehrauli lies neglected

Monuments as Popular Meeting Places : Safdarjung Tomb,Delhi

ranasafvi — Tue, 15 May 2018 02:56:17 +0000

mere mahboob kahiN aur mila kar mujhse

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:

Qila Qadam Sharif in Paharganj, Delhi

ranasafvi — Mon, 14 May 2018 00:53:53 +0000

It was called Qila Qadam Sharif with a fortified wall, bastions & grand gateways. Now just another neglected and rundown basti

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.

Tohfewala Gumbad & Thanewala Gumbad in Hauz Khas

ranasafvi — Fri, 11 May 2018 19:03:54 +0000

Many heritage enthusiasts confuse Tohfewala Gumbad in Shahpur Jat with Thanewala Gumbad.

Both are different and both are in Shahpur Jat.

I’ve had this conversation with many people.

The Thanewala is inside the village. It was a baradari but as police station was near it , it got this name in the late 19th century

There’s one more in Deer Park also known as Tohfewala Gumbad.

The first photo is of Tohfewala Gumbad in Shahpur Jat

2. Is of Tohfewala Gumbad in Deer Park

3. Is Thanewala Gumbad in Shahpur village. Actual name Baradari so called Bec of police station near it

Purana Qila

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 20:22:03 +0000

This was definitely a gateway at foot of Qila e Kuhna mosque in Purana Qila

Dargah of Syed Badruddin Samarqandi

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 20:18:07 +0000

Syed Badruddin Samarqandi is one of the 22 khwajagan of Delhi

His Dargah is at the foot of Firoz Shah Kotla and it’s said the walls had to be diverted to make way for it.

He was a friend and contemporary of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya

Amarnath Ji has been visiting Dargah of Syed #Badruddin #Samarqandi daily since a baby as his father was a devotee too

At foot of #FirozShahKotla

Arziyaan a common sight in all dargahs

The fort wall was made in such a way as to accommodate the shrone

Two Bhairon Temples near Purana Qila

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 20:11:59 +0000

I also visited the two Bhairon Temples near Purana Qila.

Both claim to be the original Pandav temples.

Tombs inside Delhi Golf Club

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 20:05:23 +0000

A royal tour inside the Delhi Golf Club unveiled unknown treasures from the Mughal era.

I saw dilapidated tombs, mosques and Graves inside the well manicures lawns

Thank you authorities who extended so much courtesy

Tomb of Saiyed Abid: Delhi Golf Club

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 19:58:00 +0000

This tomb in a walled #Bagichi or small garden ( now also swimming pool) is that of Saiyed Abid an important Mughal noble

An imposing gateway of which only one side remains leads to it.

The ASI has labeled it wrongly because Asar us Sanadid clearly shows that the one with the imposing gateway is Saiyed Abid tomb.

Now a swimming pool

#DelhiGolfClub

The Asar us Sanadid clearly shows this doorway leading to Saiyed Abid’s tomb

The entrance to the Baghichi or walked garden inside which tomb was set. The water channels are now a swimming pool

Mughal Tomb : Delhi Golf Club

ranasafvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 19:44:39 +0000

Inside an unknown Mughal era tomb in #DelhiGolfClub

It is very beautiful . Must have been magnificent in its time

Some twitter reactions to Where Stones Speak

iamrana — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 22:38:17 +0000

Where Stones Speak at World Book Fair 2016

iamrana — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 18:31:49 +0000

Lucknow Literary Carnival, November 2015

iamrana — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 17:17:48 +0000

A discussion on Where Stones Speak Historical Trails in Mehrauli
The first city of Delhi
With noted author and journalist Ms Mehru Jaffer

A Traditional Welcome

Memento presentation by Mr. Jayant Krishna

Coverage in Hindustan Times, Lucknow

Where Stones Speak Book review in Synergy Online

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 17:05:14 +0000

Where Stones Speak : Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi

By Rana Safvi

BEFORE

AFTER

“Sense how
Even the smooth stones ache
With stories of their own
In the shuddering light of day.”
― Scott Hastie

‘The stones of ancient cities speak only to a chosen few. Rana Safvi is for the city of Delhi what, in another age, Ibn Hayyan was for Andalusia and Pachymeres was for Constantinople.’ – Rakhshanda Jalil

Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you fore defeated
Challengers of oblivion
Eat cynical earnings, knowing rock splits, records fall down,
The square-limbed Roman letters
Scale in the thaws, wear in the rain. The poet as well
Builds his monument mockingly;
For man will be blotted out, the blithe earth die, the brave sun
Die blind and blacken to the heart:
Yet stones have stood for a thousand years, and pained thoughts found
The honey of peace in old poems.”
― Robinson Jeffers, Selected Poems

And so Mehrauli is the oldest of Delhi’s seven cities. Once the thriving capital of the Tomar and Chauhan dynasties and the Dar ul Khilafat of the slave dynasty, today it lies forgotten. Its congested lanes and crumbling ruins are lost in a mishmash of history and modernity, the living and the dead rubbing shoulders with each other.

Blending stirring Urdu couplets with haunting visuals, author Rana Safvi walks us through the oldest of Delhis, describing the religious diversity of Mehrauli’s monuments: from the rocky Qila Rai Pithaura to the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, from Zafar Mahal, the last great monument built by the Mughals, to the holy waters of the Hauz e Shamsi; each structure a living memory of an era dissolved in history.

Embellished with stories and legends of a bygone era, and soaked in the sights and sounds of Sufi dargahs, mosques, temples, churches, gurudwaras and Buddhist monasteries, Where Stones Speak effortlessly reveals a little known, bewitching Mehrauli.
Rana Safvi is a historian with a deep love for verse and a passion for the culture and heritage of the Indian subcontinent. She combines her enthusiasm for both in her writing. She runs a popular blog, ‘Hazrat e Dilli’, which talks about Delhi’s culture, food, heritage and age-old traditions. She is founder and moderator of #Shair on Twitter, a forum that has revived popular interest in Urdu poetry in a major way.

Rana is a postgraduate in History from Aligarh Muslim University. She lives in Delhi with her family.

Hogi iss dher imaarat ki kahaani kuchh tau
Dhundh alfaz ke malbe mein maa’ini kuchh tau

Surely a story behind these ruins, somewhere
Search the debris of words, the meaning in there, somehwre
(Shahpur Rasool)

http://thesynergyonline.com/bookreview.htm

Where Stones Speak Book Review in The Statesman

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:59:51 +0000

Mehrauli reflects India’s diversity

PTI

New Delhi, | 04 October, 2015 http://www.thestatesman.com/news/features/mehrauli-reflects-india-s-diversity/94665.html

image: http://www.thestatesman.com/cms/gall_content/2015/10/

(Facebook)

A church that wears the look of a temple and a mosque too, a festival that dates back to the Mughal rule and numerous monuments that have stories to tell.

A new book ‘Where Stones Speak‘ by historian Rana Safvi tells many little known stories associated with monuments around Mehrauli, the first and also the oldest of the seven cities that make modern day Delhi.

The author takes the reader through the narrow, congested lanes of Mehrauli, describing the religious diversity of its monuments, from the rocky Qula Rai Pithoura to the Dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya temple, telling stories associated with these.

Mehrauli is home to India’s ancient pluralistic and multicultural tradition. It is here that the Mughal emperors offered tribute to the Yogmaya temple and the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

Also befitting is the St. John’s church built on the ruins of a Mughal fort- the structure incorporates the architectural features of a mosque and a temple, truly symbolising the syncretic culture of Mehrauli and India, the author says.

Nothing epitomises the multicultural flavour of Delhi as the ‘Phool Walo’n Ki Sair‘ or ‘Sair e Gul Farosha’n‘, the procession of flower sellers that is currently held in October after the monsoons.

It began when in fulfilment of her vow Mumtaz Mahal Begum, wife of Akbr Shah II (1808-1837) organised seven days of merry making and celebrations when her exiled son Mirza Jahangir was allowed back in Delhi by the British. Hindus and Muslims joined the festivities and on public demand the emperor decided it would henceforth be an annual affair. Akbar Shah also offered a ‘pankha’ (a fan made of flowers) at the nearby Yogmaya temple.

Till the Mughals ruled, this festival was celebrated with great pomp and show. It is held even now and pankhas are offered on behalf of President of India and the Lt. Governor of Delhi, the book says. The festival was stopped for some years, but later restored, the author says.

The appointment of Razia was a radical step in those days when women were confined to the harem alone. But Sultan Iltutmush, though a far-sighted visionary, had not taken into account the aversion that the nobles had in being ruled by a women and her brother Ruknuddin was on the throne.

However Razia was made of sterner stuff, she presented herself to the peole from the terrace with her grievance.

People of Delhi then proclaimed Razia as the new Sultan.

This was one of the first instances of a popular vote of sorts because people were given a chance to crown their monarch, the author says.

However, Sultan Razia, though hailed as a great monarch, was not allowed to reign for long and was removed and later killed. She was known as Sultan Razia and not as Razia Sultan as is commonly written. She rejected the feminine Razia Sultan, a weak title, shrugged off her feminine clothes and donned the robes, tunic and turban of a man. Sultan Razia also stopped wearing a veil, the author says.

The original founder of Delhi probably chose the rocky Aravali hills in Mehrauli as his headquarters, for the strategic and military advantages it offered. “Thus it was necessity rather than caprice on part of the rulers, which required the shifting of Delhi to either, say near the water source to accommodate a growing population or to build a strong defence, the book says. This led to Delhi being built several times over- as many as fourteen, it says.

The author also suggests an itinerary for those who want to take a look at the monuments in Mehrauli and its monuments.

Where Stones Speak book Review in The First mail

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:55:26 +0000

Mehrauli: Monuments that speak of India’s multiculturalism

A church that wears looks of a temple and a mosque too, a festival that dates back to the Mughal rule and numerous monuments that have stories to tell.

A new book ‘Where Stones Speak’ by historian Rana Safvi tells many little known stories associated with monuments around Mehrauli, the first and also the oldest of the seven cities that make modern day Delhi.

Mehrauli is home to India’s ancient pluralistic and multicultural tradition. It is here that the Mughar emperors offered tribute to the Yogmaya temple and the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

Nothing epitomises the multicultural flavour of Delhi as the ‘Phool Walo’n Ki Sair’ or ‘Sair e Gul Farosha’n’, the procession of flower sellers that is currently held in October after the monsoons.

Till the Mughals ruled, this festival was celebrated with great pomp and show. It is held even now and pankhas are offered on behalf of President of India and the Lt. Governor of Delhi, the book says. The festival was stopped for some years, but later restored, the author says.

However Razia was made of sterner stuff, she presented herself to the peole from the terrace with her grievance.

People of Delhi then proclaimed Razia as the new Sultan.

This was one of the first instances of a popular vote of sorts because people were given a chance to crown their monarch, the author says.

The author also suggests an itinerary for those who want to take a look at the monuments in Mehrauli and its monuments.

– See more at: http://www.thefirstmail.in/news/news-details/85220-mehrauli_monuments_that_speak_of_indias_multiculturalism#sthash.OXhAJIPs.dpuf

Where Stones Speak in Outlook Hindi

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:52:19 +0000

गंगा-जमुनी तहजीब बयां करते महरौली के पत्‍थर

OCT 04 , 2015

एजेंसी

amazon.in

“एक गिरजाघर है जो मंदिर सा दिखता है… और मस्जिद सा भी। एक त्यौहार है जो मुगलों के दौर से चला आ रहा है… जी हां , महरौली का हर पत्थर कुछ बोलता है और हिंदुस्तान की नायाब गंगा-जमुनी तहजीब के तराने सुनाता है। ”

दिल्ली के बसने का सिलसिला महरौली से शुरू हुआ था और राना सफवी की नई किताब व्हेयर स्टोन्स स्पीक दिल्ली के इसी सबसे पुराने शहर की एेतिहासिक इमारतों से जुड़ी कई भूली बिसरी कहानियों से हमें रूबरू कराती है।

राष्ट्रीय राजधानी के सबसे लोकप्रिय स्मारकों में शामिल कुतुब परिसर की मस्जिद की दूसरी मंजिल के बारे में शायद ही लोगों को मालूम हो कि यह अपने जमाने में औरतों की मस्जिद थी, और इसी मंजिल पर दिल्ली के लोगों ने रूक्नुद्दीन फिरोज शाह को हटा कर रजिया को अपना सुलतान चुना था। महरौली की तंग धूल भरी गलियों से गुजरते हुए राना हमें इन इमारतों की धार्मिक विविधता से रूबरू कराती हैं। इनमें किला राय पिथौरा से खाजा कुत्बुद्दीन बख्तियार काकी और योगमाया मंदिर शामिल हैं और हर इमारत से जुड़ी हजार दास्तानें हैं। मुगल शहंशाहों ने यहां देश की बहुलवादी और बहुसांस्कृतिक परंपराओं को रोशन किया और जहां खाजा कुत्बुद्दीन बख्तियार काकी को खिराज-ए-अकीदत पेश की, वहीं योगमाया मंदिर में अदब से सिर झुकाया। महरौली की इन्हीं गलियों में सेंट जाॅन्स चर्च भी है। एक मुगल किले के खंडहर पर बने इस चर्च मेें मस्जिद और मंदिर दोनों की वास्तुकला साफ झलकती है जो महरौली और भारत की मिली जुली संस्कृति का एक नायाब नमूना है।

बहरहाल, दिल्ली की इस गंगा-जमुनी तहजीब को सबसे अच्छे ढंग से सैर-ए-गुल फरोशां पेश करती है जिसे आम दिल्ली वासी फूल वालों की सैर के नाम से जानते हैं। फूल बेचने वालों की यह सैर अक्तूबर में होती है। इस सैर की अपनी एक कहानी है। अकबर शाह द्वितीय (1808-18370 की पत्नी मुमताज महल बेगम ने अपनी मन्नत पूरा होने पर और ब्रिटिश हुक्मरानों से अपने निर्वासित बेटे मिर्जा जहांगीर की दिल्ली वापसी की इजाजत मिलने के बाद सात दिन का जश्न मनाया था। इस जश्न में हिंदू और मुसलमान सभी जमा हुए और लोगों की मांग पर बादशाह ने इसे हर साल मनाने का फैसला किया। इस मौके पर अकबर शाह ने नजदीक के योगमाया मंदिर पर फूलों का बना एक पंखा भी चढ़ाया था। आज भी यह सैर धूमधाम से आयोजित होती है। अब राष्ट्रपति और दिल्ली के उपराज्यपाल की तरफ से पंखे चढ़ाए जाते हैंं।

महरौली गंगा-जमुनी तहजीब व्हेयर स्टोन्स स्पीक राना सफवी दिल्ली खाजा कुत्बुद्दीन बख्तियार काकी Where Stones Speak Rana Safvi multiculturalism Mehrauli Delhi Khwaja Kutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

Where Stones Speak in The Hindu Metro Plus

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:49:26 +0000

Stories in stone

September 13, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Travel & Tourism

Historian and writer Rana Safvi’s blog, ‘Hazrat-e-Dilli’, is a little corner of the Internet dedicated entirely to the Capital — its new and old architecture, the dizzying variety of food, age-old traditions and much more. Her new book, “Where Stones Speak”, is another tribute to Delhi, and arguably its first city, Mehrauli. Safvi traces Mehrauli’s history through simple words and haunting couplets, takes us through its diverse monuments and weaves facts with storytelling in a way that paints a picture achingly beautiful in its richness and depth.

Excerpts from an interview:

What brought about the idea?

Delhi for us was just a transit point for changing trains to Lucknow or Nainital. Except for a visit to Red Fort and Qutub Minar with a university group I had never visited any of its beautiful monuments. It is only in the past few years when my daughter shifted here that I spent time in Delhi. I started going out for heritage walks with various groups. It was during these that I realised though there was a lot of material it was scattered and quite a lot of it was in Urdu so inaccessible to many. I wanted to write a book on the lines of Hearn’s “Seven Cities of Delhi” but when I reached Mehrauli the first city I realised that it had enough treasures to form a full book on its own. This book happened – I had set out to write something else. I feel it was blessed and willed by Mehrauli’s guardian saint Qutub Sahab.

It’s an ambitious book, one that would require you to go through reams of material. What kind of initial research did you do?

The first thing I did was to shift from Dubai to Delhi NCR as I accessed books for research. I did not want to rely on online resources only. I went through bibliographies of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and books written on Delhi. I went to the Urdu Bazaar. Then I bought the books. I feel I became Flipkart’s biggest customer, with books pouring in every week. I have built quite a library now and it’s ongoing. ASI itself has many books on Delhi especially on the Qutub Complex which I went through. Their library and photo section are treasure houses and I got a lot of help from them. There are many Urdu books available. A 1919 book by Bashiruddin Ahmed called ‘Waqi’at-Dar-ul-Hukumat Dehli’ is full of stories and anecdotes.

How difficult was it to find preserved records and materials for the book?

ASI publications are the best source for records and materials. Records of excavations and research done from the time of Sir Alexander Cunningham in Delhi in the latter part of 19th Century are all available with them. Carr Stephen’s 1876 book “Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi” was also invaluable. Many British officers of ASI have written books on Delhi in late 19th and early 20th Century. Maulvi Zafar Hasan’s book, ‘Monuments of Delhi’, published in 1916 for the ASI details all the monuments of Delhi. Many of these are lost to us now. For contemporary history I relied on ‘The History of India, as told by Its Own Historians’ Henry Miers Elliot and John Dowson. Some of the books are now out of print or badly reprinted. I got these from the U.S. where there were second hand sellers.

Delhi’s history is a curious mix of facts and folklore. What kind of balance were you looking to provide in this book?

I have taught history in middle and senior school for many years. I know how bored people get if we just keep presenting fact after fact. I tried to use the same technique I used for my students: tell the story as accurately as I could and make it interesting. I have used anecdotes I found in my reference books as well as a few recounted to me. Wherever they are unsubstantiated by records I have mentioned that too. I have tried to enliven it by using Urdu verses which describe the stunning photographs taken by Syed Mohammad Qasim better than I ever could with my prose. It also embellishes the prose and breaks the monotony of facts. This is a style not used by any other English book on history (at least I haven’t come across it). It has been used in Urdu books though not to this extent.

What is the legacy of this past, and how you think it defines contemporary Delhi and its people?

In 1947, when India was partitioned, many of the old inhabitants of Mehrauli and Shahjahanabad left for Pakistan. The refugees who came here were shell-shocked by the trauma of being torn away from their native lands and having to start anew. For them it was survival that mattered the most. These old buildings held no meaning for them. There was a lot of encroachment those days. Those who didn’t migrate had different problems to cope with. Thankfully, the interest in heritage and our cultural legacy has once again been awakened. The younger generation is identifying with it and showing interest in preserving it. This can be seen in the wealth of books and programmes on our historical and cultural legacy.

Delhi is a juxtaposition of age old monuments and modern architecture. Do you think even by themselves these structures carry an impact?

For me every stone has a story to tell. It is up to us to tell those stories in such a way that these monuments speak to everyone. This can’t be done only through dry facts. It’s only when factual stories are associated with it that people will remember and talk of them fondly. For instance the feedback I get is that Sultan Razia’s story has made them look at Quwwatul ul Islam Mosque with new perspective. It is no longer a pile of stones but a place where a great historical event took place. Structures carry impact when we associate something which we found interesting with it. I don’t know how far I have succeeded but that has been my attempt.

source: http://m.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/stories-in-stone/article7646035.ece

by Swati Daftuar / September 12th, 2015

Where Stones Speak in Financial Express

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:45:25 +0000

Monumental challenge

By Nitin Sreedhar | The Financial Express – Sun 27 Sep, 2015 3:35 AM IST

ASK ANYONE about Ugrasen ki Baoli in New Delhi and chances are your question will be met with a puzzled expression. That’s because not everyone is aware of the existence of this centuries-old step well, which is located on Hailey Road, hidden snugly behind the buzzing commotion and tall buildings of Connaught Place. The baoli, made with rubble and dressed (cut) stones, is said to have been built by Raja Ugrasen, the forefather of the Agrawal community in the 14th century.

Similarly, many people travelling on the Dilshad Garden-Rithala stretch of the Delhi Metro often catch glimpses of a tall red tower when they reach the Tis Hazari station, but not many know about it. The 33-metre-high structure is the Mutiny Memorial tower, which was erected in 1863 in memory of deceased soldiers of the Delhi Field Force during the Revolt of 1857. One of the oldest monuments in the capital, it is located on the northern ridge in the Civil Lines area of New Delhi.

These are just two of the many monuments in Delhi that have escaped the public eye and have been, literally, consigned to history. Sadly, they are also in dire need of restoration. There are also some that suffer because they are in the shadows of bigger, more prominent structures—the incomplete Alai Minar within the Qutab Complex is one such specimen. The unfinished minar was part of Sultan Alauddin Khilji’s plan to build a monument that would be taller and more spectacular than the Qutab Minar. Its construction started in 1311, but was abandoned when

Khilji died in 1316. Today, the 24-metre-high structure lies in ruins, just next to the majestic Qutab Minar.

In fact, many monuments, including the Dara Shikoh Library, Turkman Gate, Ghalib’s Haveli and the aforementioned Mutiny Memorial, only find space in the ‘lesser-known monuments’ category on the Delhi Tourism website. While negligence and vandalism remain the main points of concern for such architectural structures, climatic and maintenance issues also add to the dismal scenario.

Rana Safvi, historian and author of a recent book, Where Stones Speak: Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi, says there are many monuments in Delhi that remain unsung. “The reason they are hidden from the public eye is because they are in very congested areas and not publicised enough,” says Safvi, whose book looks at the monuments in Mehrauli, the oldest of Delhi’s seven cities (the capital is said to have been the site for a total of seven different cities in the old days).

One such monument is the Firoz Shah Kotla fort, which is all that remains of the fifth city of Delhi, Firozabad—it was built by Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq in 1354. Though the high walls of the fort attract plenty of devotees every Thursday, when prayers and offerings are made to the djinns of the fort’s mosque, its popularity dims before the floodlights of the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket stadium, which lies adjacent to it.

Conservation and creating awareness are equally important, say experts. “Awareness can only come via active promotion on social and print media, and through books and programmes, which are interesting enough to make people want to go and see these monuments for themselves,” says Safvi.

One of the primary problems in conservation is the lack of sufficient resources, says AGK Menon, the convenor of the Delhi chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), an NGO that regularly conducts heritage walks and talks in the city. “There is no money to develop the areas in and around such monuments. Therefore, a lot of heritage sites remain neglected. They are vandalised, encroached upon and eventually lost,” he says. The second and probably the biggest problem, Menon says, is to do with awareness. “There are 174 monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Delhi. Qutab (Minar) and Humayun’s Tomb are, of course, known because they are prominent, but how many people know about the others?” says Menon, adding that Intach has undertaken conservation work on many monuments around the city, including the Mutiny Memorial tower.

While Menon believes the government, public and media each have an equally important role to play, Safvi thinks the best way to conserve monuments is by public participation. “Conservation is possible with the participation of the general public. Also, if corporate houses were to partner with the ASI and help it restore or fund conservation, we could see them in much better shape,” says Safvi, adding, “We need stricter laws for encroachment. The ASI is doing the best it can with the resources it has on hand, but the repairs needed in conservation efforts are very expensive—in some cases, the ASI has to match the original material used, which is very costly.”

Menon says undertaking conservation projects requires “various levels of action”, but it all comes down to inculcating a sense of pride in residents. “We have to value the fact that we are living near a historical monument. We need to have pride in our city. It is absurd when politicians say they will transform Delhi into Shanghai,” says Menon.

Safvi agrees, “We go for holidays to Europe and the far east and come back awestruck, but rarely notice the treasures in our own backyard. When you go abroad, the one thing that stands out is cleanliness. In India, we don’t think twice before littering or scraping our names on walls of historical monuments… We have to see these structures as part of our cultural and historical legacies, not just as bricks and stones from the past,” Safvi adds.

https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/monumental-challenge-220500383.html

Here Stones Speak in Hindustan Times

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:41:22 +0000

In search of Delhi’s first city, Mehrauli

Manjula Narayan, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Updated: Aug 29, 2015 14:07 IST

Built of red and buff sandstone, Qutub Minar has five storeys and four balconies. (Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

Author Rana Safvi leads a walk through Mehrauli, where Prithviraj Chauhan’s army fought Mohammad Ghori’s men, and where Timur pledged not to sack the city of Delhi

Safvi is one of those few Twitter celebrities – she has about 20.6k followers – who isn’t given to relentlessly pummelling the ether with tweets full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Her Twitter feed offers Urdu poetry, ruminations on Delhi’s culture and heritage, occasional panegyrics to Krishna, great pictures of historic landmarks, and a glimpse into her own erudite, graceful personality. So when I learn that she has written a book on Mehrauli, the oldest of Delhi’s seven cities, I waste no time in fixing to wander with her through the precinct.

We meet at Qutub Minar’s gate and make our way into Mehrauli and past Emperor Akbar’s foster brother Adham Khan’s tomb. Son of the emperor’s wet nurse Maham Anga, Adham Khan was thrown off the ramparts of Agra fort for killing another of the ruler’s foster brothers. The monument is currently being restored and already the intricate tiled pattern in the central dome seems to be emerging from under centuries of grime.

Rana Safvi at Adham Khan’s tomb. (Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

Trudging down lanes that wind past homes and shops, we arrive at the Shahi Eidgaah where the Delhi sultans once offered their Eid prayers and where Timur pledged not to sack the city. “He called all the ulema and the nobles and promised that he would not destroy or kill people. Then, his women went to see the famous Imarat e Hazar Sutun in Adilabad, where someone misbehaved with them. Some locals also fought with his soldiers. So then Timur revoked his promise, sacked Delhi and killed thousands of people,” Rana says. The silence that follows the story is rent only by the screeching of parrots.

Wandering further into Sanjay Van – where once the city sprawled – we come upon the dargah of Aashiq Allah or Nazariya Peer. “A lot of people come here, especially with babies, to ward off the evil eye,” Rana says. The complex includes a cave where Baba Farid Ganj-Shakkar is believed to have meditated without food or water for a long stretch. Close to the dargah, which has a fair number of visitors even on a muggy afternoon, are a number of graves. “That’s Ganj e Shaheeda’n, which means ‘the place where the martyrs are buried’,” Rana says explaining that the martyrs here were Mohammad Ghori’s soldiers, who fell in the battles against Prithviraj Chauhan in 1191-92. Watching a family of mongooses scramble away from the graves and into the forest, I think about the ephemeral quality of human existence, of vital young men sinking into graves from one century to the next, hacking at each other till the end of Time. Rana draws both of us away from sombre thoughts and to the well close by where Baba Farid “did his chillah-e-makoos”, a feat that involved hanging upside down for 40 nights.

Where Stones Speak; Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi. Rana Safvi; HarperCollins (Rs.499; PP183)

Soon we are trudging down winding paths through the jungle and past the remains of a fort wall. “This is where the original city was; where Anangpal Tomar, Prithviraj Chauhan’s grandfather, established Lal Kot,” says Rana adding that the later Sultans called it Qila Rai Pithaura. The Qila was eventually abandoned by Alauddin Khilji for Siri Fort. “It’s called Siri fort because of the 8,000 Mongol heads he had buried in the foundations. That’s the legend,” Rana says as we return to the busier part of Mehrauli past overflowing garbage heaps and remnants of more ruins, a testament to how badly we treat our magnificent historical sites that would otherwise rival the monuments of Rome. But whatever the state of our built heritage, you must pick up a copy of Rana Safvi’s book. Full of information about Mehrauli’s monuments and interspersed with legends and poetry, Where Stones Speak is the handbook you should cart along on any exploratory walk through an area where ghosts canter past unseeing crowds in the evening light.

1. Qutub Minar

(Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

At 72.5m with 379 steps and built of red and buff sandstone, the Qutub Minar has five storeys and four balconies. Built by three sultans and repaired by many, the history of its construction is all given in the inscriptions on the various levels of the minar. It is the tallest ashlar masonry minar in the world

2. Adham Khan’s tomb

(Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

The son of Maham Anga, Emperor Akbar’s foster mother, Adham Khan murdered another of the ruler’s foster brothers, Atgha Khan, in a fit of rage. For this, he was twice thrown off the ramparts of Agra Fort. His mother died of grief six months later. Akbar built this monument to Adham Khan. Maham Anga is also believed to be buried in the complex though her tomb is no longer visible.

3. Shahi Eidgaah

(Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

The date of the Eidgaah’s construction is not known but it definitely existed during Timur’s invasion of Delhi in 1398 AD. Now made of whitewashed brick, it has a small doorway in the centre of the west wall. This was used by the sultans so they didn’t have to cross the common courtyard.

4. Lala Kot Wall

(Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

Angpal Tomar, Prithviraj Chauhan’s grandfather established Lal Kot, parts of whose wall is still visible.

5. Dargha of Aashiq Allah

(Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/HT)

The dargah was built in 1317 for Sheikh Shahabuddin, who is also known as Aashiq Allah or Nazariya Peer

6.Ganj e Shaheeda’N

These are the graves of Mohammad Ghori’s soldiers who died while battling the forces of Prithviraj Chauhan.

7. Baba Farid’s Well

The well at the entrance to the Aashiq Allah dargah is where Baba Farid is believed to have done his Chillah-e-Makoos, a form of penance where the person hangs upside down.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/in-search-of-delhi-s-first-city-mehrauli/story-cdPyi97lpOCtVx4l5RZNLM.html

http://m.hindustantimes.com/books/in-search-of-delhi-s-first-city-mehrauli/story-cdPyi97lpOCtVx4l5RZNLM.html

Interview with Rediff.com on Where Stones Speak

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:37:23 +0000

The Mughals were struggling financially after Shah Jahan’

September 21, 2015 09:11 IST

‘Aurangzeb spent a major part in the Deccan. The later Mughals were looted by Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali. The Mughals had no money to build. That’s why Zafar Mahal, the only palace they built in Mehrauli, was built very shoddily and quickly fell into ruin.’

‘Mehrauli spans a much longer period of time than any other city of Delhi,’ says historian Rana Safvi.

IMAGE: The Qutb Minar is Mehrauli’s most well known monument, the complex seen here in night-time. Photograph: Ankush Arora/Reuters

Everyone is aware of Delhi as a major tourist destination, but very few know about Mehrauli, the first city of Delhi, the city of seven cities.

Historian Rana Safvi explores this in her book, Where Stones Speak, Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi.

Safvi tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com she wanted to write about the seven cities of Delhi, but when she started research on Mehrauli she found that not much is known or written about Mehrauli, the first documented city of Delhi that lies within its heart.

“I felt it deserved its own separate story, and not as part of a book,” she says.

IMAGE; Metcalfe House, once a tomb, in Mehrauli. Photograph: Ankush Arora/Reuters

What differentiates Mehrauli from New Delhi or Shahjahanabad?

Mehrauli not only has the remnants of the walls and bastions of the ancient city of Lalkot built by the Tomars and Chauhans, it is also the scene of the earliest building activity of the Delhi sultans.

It is Mehrauli, not Shahjahanabad, which has the last building built by the Mughals as well. This city spans a much longer period of time than any other city of Delhi.

Why does Mehrauli not find as much prominence as a tourist spot as compared to other parts of Delhi?

Apart from the Qutub Complex and Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Mehrauli remains unknown because we haven’t developed it as a tourist attraction. Nor do we talk about its historical treasures.

You mention in your book that any city has to have three things: Dariya, baadal aur hakim (a river, rain-bearing clouds and a ruler who is willing and able). What did you mean by that?

Cities are built near rivers so that the populace has easy access to water. Firozabad onwards all cities were built on or around the banks of Yamuna, also called Jamuna, where there was sufficient rainfall which could be stored for use. Mehrauli had tanks which were filled by rainwater.

What was so enticing about Delhi that drew invaders from Muhammad Ghori to Ahmed Shah Abdali?

Dilli Hindustan ka dil thi (Delhi was the heart of India). There’s a saying that whoever ruled Delhi, ruled India.

You mentioned that Delhi was built several times over — as many as 14 times — till 1947.

I have described the 14 cities, their collapses and their restorations in detail in the book.

What was Hindu civilisation in Delhi like before the Muslim invasions began?

The contemporary literature we have from the early medieval period is all written by the Turks and Arabs. Al Beruni’s Tarikh Al-Hind (History of India) explores the Hindu civilisation, but I have not yet gone through it in detail.

Sultana Razia was from Mehrauli. Were you able to spot her palace, her grave?

Although it is not mentioned in the book, Sultan Razia lived with her mother in the Kushk-e-Firuz. It was behind the present boundary of the Qutub complex, after the madrasa of Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Turquoise tiles were excavated from that area by British archaeologists. She is buried near Turkman Gate in Bulbuli Khana.

IMAGE: Historian Rana Safvi, who has published Where Stones Speak, Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi.

What do the Arabic inscriptions on the old Delhi tombs say? Have you been able to decipher it?

Work on this has been done by Archaeological Survey of India historians under the British. I have relied on Maulvi Zafar Hasan’s Monuments of India.

You have explained in the book the reason for octagonal tombs among Muslims while referring to the concept of hasht bahist, which is the eighth paradise according to Islamic tradition.

Do we find any other architectural designs for tombs which are different during Muslim rule? Was it always mandatory to have octagonal tombs for Muslim royalty?

There are only a few octagonal tombs in India. Post Humayun, the Mughals built on the Persian concept of charbagh with rivers flowing in it to emulate paradise.

The Mughals never built much in Mehrauli. Why was that?

The Mughals were struggling financially after Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb spent a major part in the Deccan province. The later Mughals were looted by the raids of Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali. Even the Rohillas, the Jats and the Marathas plundered the treasury. They had no money to build.

That’s why Zafar Mahal, the only palace they built in Mehrauli, was built very shoddily and quickly fell into ruin.

You have highlighted the offerings of pankhas to the Yogmaya temple and the dargah of Qutub Sahab tradition started by the Mughal king Akbar Shah II, a practice which is seen even today. Were relations between Hindus and Muslims good during the Mughals in Delhi?

Contemporary historians highlight the bonhomie and common celebration of festivals inside and outside the fort. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the founder of the first Ramleela committee in Delhi. All these facts are beautifully described in Maheshwar Dayal’s book, Dilli jo ek shehar tha (Delhi, the city that was).

The presence of Jainism in Delhi finds a place in your book. Did Jainism prosper in Delhi?

We know from the existence of the Dadabari temple that Jainism flourished in Mehrauli, known then as Yoginipura. During the Tomar dynasty the Jain poet Vibudh Shridhar wrote the Apabhramsa work Pasanah Chariu (The Conduct of Parshva).

IMAGE: The Rajon ki Baoli (stepwell) in Mehrauli. Photograph: Ankush Arora/Reuters

You have been mentoring the #shair on Twitter for Urdu shayaris. You call yourself a champion of Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb. How did this idea originate and why did you feel the urge to start this trend?

#shair started in 2010 when I realised how many people enjoy Urdu sher-o-shayari. It’s a living example of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb wherein people from all walks of life join together to share and enjoy a common love for poetry.

Do you think the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, which you refer to, has come under threat?

Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb has been in India since time immemorial and while some people may oppose it, I don’t think they can succeed.

We have to stop pandering to communities for votes and setting up fear psychosis in each other’s minds. If only we remove ignorance about each other’s religion and culture, will we realise we are all the same.

It is as the Upanishads say: Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti. Truth is one; the wise call it by many names.

Syed Firdaus Ashraf / Rediff.com

http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/the-mughals-were-struggling-financially-after-shah-jahan/20150921.htm

Book Review of Where Stones Speak in Eenadu India Tue, 06th October 2015, 21:59 IST

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:33:21 +0000

Mehrauli: Monuments that speak of India’s multiculturalism

Published 04-Oct-2015 13:00 IST

Pic courtsey: Facebook/Where Stones Speak

New Delhi: A church that wears looks of a temple and a mosque too, a festival that dates back to the Mughal rule and numerous monuments that have stories to tell. A new book ‘Where Stones Speak’ by historian Rana Safvi tells many little known stories associated with monuments around Mehrauli, the first and also the oldest of the seven cities that make modern day Delhi.

Although it is one of the most visited monuments of the capital, not many know that the nondescript second floor a mosque in the Qutub complex was a women’s mosque and it was standing on this floor that the young Razia was chosen Sultan by people of Delhi overthrowing her tyrant brother Ruknuddin Firoz Shah.The author takes the reader through the narrow, congested lanes of Mehrauli, describing the religious diversity of its monuments, from the rocky Qula Rai Pithoura to the Dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya temple, telling stories associated with these.

However Razia was made of sterner stuff, she presented herself to the peole from the terrace with her grievance.

People of Delhi then proclaimed Razia as the new Sultan.

This was one of the first instances of a popular vote of sorts because people were given a chance to crown their monarch, the author says.

The author also suggests an itinerary for those who want to take a look at the monuments in Mehrauli and its monuments.

http://www.eenaduindia.com/News/National/2015/10/04130011/Mehrauli-Monuments-that-speak-of-Indias-multiculturalism.vpf

Book Review of Where Stones Speak in India Today

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:28:41 +0000

Mehrauli: Monuments that speak of Indias multiculturalism

PTI October 4, 2015 | UPDATED 11:55 IST
New Delhi: A church that wears looks of a temple and a mosque too, a festival that dates back to the Mughal rule and numerous monuments that have stories to tell. A new book ‘Where Stones Speak’ by historian Rana Safvi tells many little known stories associated with monuments around Mehrauli, the first and also the oldest of the seven cities that make modern day Delhi.Although it is one of the most visited monuments of the capital, not many know that the nondescript second floor a mosque in the Qutub complex was a women’s mosque and it was standing on this floor that the young Razia was chosen Sultan by people of Delhi overthrowing her tyrant brother Ruknuddin Firoz Shah.The author takes the reader through the narrow, congested lanes of Mehrauli, describing the religious diversity of its monuments, from the rocky Qula Rai Pithoura to the Dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya temple, telling stories associated with these.Mehrauli is home to India’s ancient pluralistic and multicultural tradition. It is here that the Mughar emperors offered tribute to the Yogmaya temple and the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.Also befitting is the St. John’s church built on the ruins of a Mughal fort- the structure incorporates the architectural features of a mosque and a temple, truly symbolising the syncretic culture of Mehrauli and India, the author says.Nothing epitomises the multicultural flavour of Delhi as the ‘Phool Walo’n Ki Sair’ or ‘Sair e Gul Farosha’n’, the procession of flower sellers that is currently held in October after the monsoons.

However Razia was made of sterner stuff, she presented herself to the peole from the terrace with her grievance.

People of Delhi then proclaimed Razia as the new Sultan.

This was one of the first instances of a popular vote of sorts because people were given a chance to crown their monarch, the author says.

The author also suggests an itinerary for those who want to take a look at the monuments in Mehrauli and its monuments.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mehrauli-monuments-that-speak-of-indias-multiculturalism/1/489756.html

Delhi’s New Story Tellers

Rana Safvi, 58 Author

Rana Safvi describes her book, Where Stones Speak: Historical Trails In Mehrauli, The First City Of Delhi, as a labour of love. “I’ve been fascinated by the stories hidden in stones from childhood. This book is my tribute to those stories,” she says. Safvi’s book is an extensive research and a storehouse of stories on Mehrauli, the first city of Delhi. Safvi has done a Masters in History from Aligarh Muslim University. She is also a passionate promoter of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb-a cultural fusion of Hindu and Muslim elements. She runs a blog, hazrat-e-dilli.com, which is a treasure trove of “Delhi’s stories, food, customs, traditions, tehzeeb and monuments”.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhis-new-storytellers/1/470011.html

Book Review of Where Stones Speak in Business Standard

ranasafvi — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:25:56 +0000

Book Review: Where stones give history a voice

Rana Safvi’s informative account of the monuments of Delhi’s oldest surviving cities encourages readers to love and understand history

Debarghya Sanyal September 26, 2015 Last Updated at 00:28 IST

WHERE STONES SPEAK:
HISTORICAL TRAILS IN MEHRAULI, THE FIRST CITY OF DELHI
Author: Rana Safvi
Publisher: Harper Elements
Pages: 182
Price: Rs 499

Rana Safvi’s Where Stones Speak is, albeit unintentionally, a well-timed book. Even as the National Democratic Alliance rolls out a list of urban centres across the country scheduled to attain the next level of infrastructural development, under the Smart City project, Safvi’s book reminds the reader that such projects and the monuments they erect lack neither precedents nor the possibility of successors. Cities and urban centres have risen and fallen, kings and their most glamorous dreams have been eroded to ruins by time, and all that remain are tales and legends to piece together a seemingly probable history.

Delhi, where the NDMC area — comprising Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, Supreme Court, North and South Blocks and buildings abutting Central Vista and all the diplomatic missions — was the only area to qualify for the Smart City list, is a composite of several historical cities and royal capitals. Safvi identifies 14 Delhis from Indraprastha to Lutyens’. Each has been favoured by kings in their own time. Only seven survive, and the oldest among these is Mehrauli — a testament in stone to the eras of the Rajputs, Sultans, Mughals and British. (What we know as Old Delhi today, or Shahajahanabad as it was called in its heyday, is in fact an accomplishment in late medieval architecture and urban planning. In Mehrauli, we find much older buildings and complexes, making it the real Old Delhi.) And it is this Delhi to which Safvi takes the reader for a guided tour, bringing together poetry, history, anecdotes and photography.

When one traces the history of urban settlements in and around present day Delhi, there are several questions that will remain without a definite answer. The origin of the name ‘Dilli’, for instance. Was it Raja Dhillu and his capital Dhillika that gave the city its present name? Was it the loose or dheeli soil in this region? Or was it Chand Bardoi’s Killi-dheeli katha (The Tale of the Loose Nail) about the Iron Pillar in the Qutub complex?

And there are other enigmas — missing cenotaphs, a mishmash of architectural styles, hazy dates, conflicting historical readings and contradictory legends.

Safvi’s narrative reflects a strong urge to not overlook the contradictions or the gaps. She attempts to lay bare all the contradictory legendary tales about each particular monument and the period to which it corresponds. This is confusing at first; as the book progresses, however, the reader will understand that discrepancies in versions of history and legends shed light on the process through which not only architectural styles but entire cultures intermingled with time to construct the blueprint of the city we know now.

For instance, the pillars of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque originally belonged to 27 Hindu and Jain temples of Quila Rai Pithora. The legend of the Pandavas and the temples they built inspired Mughal emperor Akbar II to rebuild the Yogmaya temple on the site of an ancient temple believed to be the last of the original five. The first monuments built by the Mamluk sultans employed Indian artisan unfamiliar with Islamic architectural designs, and therefore reflect motifs characteristic to North Indian Hindu temple art.

Safvi explains that the discrepancies in monuments and legends are also a marker of passing time and changing eras. The Qutub Minar, centrepiece to both Mehrauli and the book, has a different design theme for each storey, each differing in height and having a different set of flutings, balcony designs and window carvings. This was because each new storey was added by a succeeding sultan. The purpose of the Minar, too, is a matter of debate. Was it a Mazina to the Quwwat-ul-islam mosque, from where the muezzin could call the faithful to prayer five times a day? Or was it a watchtower? Was the Qutub used for more than one purpose? The fact that Safvi does not try to pinpoint a single probability as the answer to her questions goes to show that she portrays the Minar as it is — the central symbol of transience and change in the Mehrauli historical complex.

Simultaneously, Safvi also tries hard to connect with the lay reader. Her annotations, end notes and the last chapter, which enumerates the Delhi Sultans in their chronological order, makes it that much easier for the reader to understand the lanes of history through which the book treads.

Moreover, by incorporating couplets from Urdu ghazals, snatches of popular hymns, shlokas from the Gita and Hindi poems, she not only provides welcome pauses in the narrative, but also indicates how the beliefs, customs and experiences of successive eras have trickled down into the popular culture of modern Delhi.

Safvi’s love for the “stones that speak” is evident in both the detail and the enthusiasm with which she tries to patch legends, scholarly theses and architectural knowledge. Having said this, the narrative happens to have a potential Achilles’ heel — its editing. Typos abound. Grammatical errors are not uncommon. There are also a few instances of sequencing errors in paragraphs, especially in the first chapter, making it a jagged read.

However, these are not flaws that a revised print cannot eradicate. Nor do they manage to outweigh the prime narrative. What’s more, the beautiful photographs accompanying each chapter, as well as the colour plates, amply make up for whatever gaps the text leaves.

Whatever its shortcomings, Safvi’s book is worth having at hand if you decide to go for a walk in Mehrauli’s time-lanes. This is not just about history, but rather the urge to love and understand history.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/book-review-where-stones-give-history-a-voice-115092400982_1.html