Revision as of 09:59, 23 February 2014

Extracted from:

Delhi: Past And Present

By H. C. Fanshawe, C.S.I.

Bengal Civil Service, Retired;

Late Chief Secretary To The Punjab Government,

And Commissioner Of The Delhi Division

John Murray, London. I9o2.

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Delhi:Khirkiin 1902

The mosque of Khirki is the most interesting of all the old Pathan mosques, and like that of Gulbargah, not far removed from it in date, and the much earlier one of Cordova built in the last quarter of the ninth century, is a covered mosque, which is a rare arrangement, broken in this instance by four open quadrangles in the middle of the arcades.

It was built by Jahan Khan in 1380, much about the same time as the Kalan and Begampur mosques and some years subsequently to that of Nizam-ud-din which it resembles most.

The exterior measurement of the mosque give a dimension of 192 feet each way. (The Gulbargah mosque is 216 by 176 feet). The sides of the quadrangles arc thirty-two feet square, and have three arches: each quadrangle is surrounded by pillared spaces of the same area as itself, and the total number of arches from front to back and from side to side being fifteen.

The plain square columns which carry them are fourfold at the corners of the courts, and twofold round the courts; the columns of the arcades in line with the former are double, and with the latter single, and the effect of the play of light and shade looking down the vistas of them and across the courts is very picturesque. A separate recess projects in the centre of the west wall, forming a mihrab. After 1857 the mosque was cleared of the villagers who had settled in it.

Lal Gumbaz

Two hundred yards north of the Khirki mosque is an extremely pretty sandstone pavilion, with pierced screens over the grave of Yusaf Katál, and half a mile north of this, and 500 yards east of the Begampur mosque, is a handsome tomb of red sandstone, sloping walls raised on a high base and surmounted by a white marble dome, very similar in general appearance to that of Tughlak Shah.

This, which is known as the Lal Gumbaz, is the grave of Kabir-ud-din Aulia, son of Yusaf Katal, and grandson of Shekh Farid-ud-din Shakarganj of Pakpattan. The tomb was built by Sultan Muhammad Tughlakj and is considerably smaller than that of his father—the internal measurements being twenty-nine feet, and the external forty-five, as compared with thirty-eight and sixty-one feet.

The interior of the dome is of red sandstone, and from the centre hang nine chains for lamps over the graves on the floor; at the head of that of the Aulia, is an elaborate lamp pillar. The pierced red sandstone grilles in the north and south walls of the tomb are very fine. East of the village of Khirki in the line of the defences of Jahan Panah is a fine work of masonry forming a sluice for the stream which enters here, known as the Sat Palah, or Seven Arches, built by Muhammad Tughlak Shah, in 1336 A.D.

Chiragh Delhi

Half a mile to the north of this is the shrine of Nasr-ud-din Muhammad, known as Chiragh Delhi (the Lamp of Delhi), the disciple of Nizam-ud-din Aulia, and last saint of renown at Delhi, who died in 1356 A.D.

The walls which enclose the shrine and village, and a huge untenanted area were built by the Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1729, and rise finely above the banks of the depression, which has worn under them a deep bed, once spanned by a bridge, as also by another lower down its course.

A picturesque gate in the west wall leads to the shrine between the tomb of Bahlol Lodi and a mosque. The Dargah is entered from the east by a gate built by Firoz Shah in 1373 A.D. The tomb chamber is surmounted by a dome of red sandstone surrounded by a broad dripstone : it has been much modernised at various times. A gold cup hangs over the grave, as in the Khizri mosque at Nizam-ud-din. In the north-west corner of the enclosure is a fine Assembly Hall.

The tomb of Sultan Bahlol Lodi (died 1488 A.D.) is occupied by the attendants of the Dargah, so that only its exterior can be seen. It is of unusual shape for a tomb, having five domes over it; the details of the sandstone decoration are all Hindu. To the front of it on the south side is a grave enclosure surrounded by a very beautiful pierced screen of red sandstone, which contrasts happily with the green shade above it.