Delhi: Nizam-ud-din basti and shrine
This article was written between 1902 when conditions were Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles |
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: Nizam-ud-din, village and shrine in 1902
Crossing the canal near the Sabz Posh tomb, the village and shrine of Nizam-ud-din are immediately reached on the left. North of the Dargah are a number of buildings of the severer middle Pathan type, including one on the left of the side road to it, known as the Barah Khambhe, or Twelve-Pillared (which seems to have been a tomb chamber with arcades round it, and may have been the original of the Chausath Khambhe, and another behind it of red sandstone, known as the Lal Mahal, or Red Palace.
This was once a very pretty pavilion of the earlier Pathan style (very possibly it was a building of Ala-ud-din for royal accommodation when the court visited the saint), and, with the interior of the mosque of the Dargah, links that style to the buildings of severer mould on this site. Among these again, at the south-east corner of the village, is a fine roofed mosque, known as the Sanjar mosque, which once had four courts, like that of Khirki each measuring forty-three by thirtythree feet.
These are larger than the Khirki quadrangles, but the arcades between the courts being much narrower than these, the total area covered by this mosque is considerably less than in the case of the more southern example. It was built by Khan Jahan in 1372 A.D., and is well deserving of a visit, though much of it is now filled up with mud houses. To the east of the mosque is a fine tomb, also of the middle Pathan period, known locally as that of the Talanga Nawab.
The first Khan Jahan was originally a Hindu follower of the Talingana, or Warangal chief, who was brought to Delhi after his capture, and this tomb is no doubt connected with the latter or some descendant of his.
The Dargah or shrine of Shekh Nizam-ud-din-Aulia
The Dargah or shrine of Shekh Nizam-ud-din-Aulia, whose full title was Shekh-ul-Islam Nieam-ul-hak-wa-ud-din, is with the other Chisti shrines at Ajmir, the Kutab, and Pakpattan, one of the principal places of Muhammadan reverence in all India.
This saint was the last of the four, and successor to Shekh Farid-ud-din of Pakpattan, known as Shakar Ganj. No story in the annals of ancient Delhi is more widely told than that of the quarrel of those, frequent mediæval opponents, the King and the Priest, for do not the desolation of Tughlakabad and the bitter water of the shrine tank bear witness to it to this day. In its full form the tale runs that the Emperor Tughlak Shah impressed the workmen of the saint to finish his new fortress and city.
The saint thereupon prosecuted his labours on the tank by means of oil light, whereupon a royal mandate forbade the sale of oil to him. The prayers of the saint then prevailed, so far that the workmen were miraculously supplied with light from the water of the tank, which enabled them still to work upon it at night.
In his wrath, the Emperor cursed the water of the tank, and it became bitter, and the saint in retaliation cursed the city of Tughlakabad What is more certain, is that Tughlak Shah did meet his death through the treachery of his son, assisted by the Shekh, who, while the king was approaching Delhi, and was known to be uttering threats against him, kept on saying tranquilly to his disciples: “Dilli hanoz dur ast” (“Delhi is still distant”), a saying which has passed into a proverb in India.
If, as tradition runs, the Shekh also had knowledge of the death of Jelal-ud-din-Khilji, which seemed at the time supernatural, it may be shrewdly suspected that he was also in league with a parricidal nephew on that occasion. He was, no doubt, one of the leading politicians of his day, and as such was probably as unscrupulous as his compeers and opponents, but there seems to be no ground whatever for attributing the origin of Thagism to him, and, as a matter of fact, this must have been Hindu.
The saint, who settled at Delhi in the time of the Emperor Balban died at the advanced age of ninety-two, in 1324. According to Abulfazl, he was known as Al Bahháth, the Controversialist, and Mahfil Shikan, the Confounder of Assemblies.
The entrance gate to the Dargah bears the date of 1378 A.D., and, like the inner gate beyond the tank, was built by the Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlak, who next to Ala-ud-din was the greatest of the early benefactors of the place. The plan of the interior given here, the first ever made, will render the following description of the interior intelligible. On either side within the entrance is an old Pathan tomb, and by that, on the right, is a mosque of two storeys, a rare arrangement; south of it again is the marble pavilion and grave of Bai Kokal De, a prima donna of the Emperor Shah Jehan, and behind that is an old cupola borne by red sandstone pillars.
The gravestone of this lady is a very beautiful one, and should be visited from the gallery at the south end of the tank, to which the paved way, picturesquely covered in at the end, leads along the east side. The tank, or Baoli, into which men and boys dive from the surrounding buildings, is named “Chashma dil kusha,” or the “Heart-alluring spring” (this gives the date of 713 H., or 1312 A.D., which does not correspond with the era of Tughlak Shah, who was murdered in 725 H., after a reign of four years); an archway now in the water on the east side of the tank is said to conduct to a cell once occupied by the saint.
The inner and third gate beyond that of Firoz Shah on the south side of the tank, which leads to the actual enclosure of the Dargah, is of much later date, but no longer bears any inscription. Beyond it is an extremely fine “imli,” or tamarind tree, affording a beautiful shade, and at the side of it is an octagonal marble receptacle, filled with sweets and milk on special occasions, like the great cooking pots at the Ajmir shrine.
In the angle behind this gate on the right is a Meeting Hall, or Majlis Khana, said to have been built by the Emperor Aurangzeb. In front of the gate and in the middle of the centre court is the Tomb of the saint, with the Jam’át Khana, or mosque, to the west of it. The structure over the tomb has been rebuilt and restored by many pious donors, and but little ancient work is left in it now. A wide verandah runs round the exterior, and light is admitted to the grave chamber by pierced marble screens in the inner walls of this. The ceiling of the verandah was restored at the expense of the late Mr R. Clarke, B.C.S. Round the grave, which is always covered, is a low railing of marble, and above it is a canopy of wood, inlaid with mother-o’-pearl.
Two inscriptions on the tomb describe it as the “Kiblahgah-i-khas-o-am,” and the Kubbai-Shekh, or the “Place of prayer to which all, great and small, turn,” and the “Dome of the Saint.”
Jam’at Khana Mosque/ Khizri Mosque
The Jam’at Khana Mosque, known also as the Khizri Mosque, is an extremely fine building of the ornate earlier Pathan style. It cannot have been the work of the Emperor Firoz Shah, who, however, restored it, and may have rebuilt the side rooms; and though called after Khizar Khan,1 the son of Ala-ud-din-Khilji, it seems probable that it was begun at least by the latter, as the centre bay more closely resembles the Alai Darwazah of that monarch than any other building in Old Delhi, and the son was murdered within a year of the death of his father. [1 Humayun is represented as seated on the ground to the right, clad in gold brocade over a crimson dress, and wearing a small reddish turband, such as Rajputs wear, with a black plume in it. His face is pleasing and intelligent, and he looks scarcely more than thirty years of age. Behind him stand three graceful and well-painted figures, reminding one of those recovered in the damaged frescoes at Fatehpur Sikri, one in blue with a chauri, one in white with, the king’s sword, and one in red with rose-water. Other graceful attendants stand by these, all wearing “kamar bands,” or waist-belts, and all well drawn and well painted, and showing unmistakable signs of Italian influence. Between the two kings is a green cloth with wine vessels and cups of silver, and fruit upon it.
On the left side is seated Shah Tahmasp, in a red dress over cloth of gold, girt by a black belt supporting the black scabbard of his sword; he wears a white gold-barred turband, wound round a high kulah, or pointed cap. Behind him are attendants with matchlocks and sword and hawks and golden dishes. In front of him are seated a body of Persian nobles in bright robes, each with his flagon, and in the right foreground of the picture are musicians with tambourine, flageolet, guitar, zither, and panpipes. Between these groups are two dancing girls performing elaborate body posturings, one clad in golden striped, and one in dull robes, and both with very long tresses behind, surmounted by large bosses of silver; the former is about to refresh herself with a cup of wine. Shah Tahmasp was the second of the Safavean kings of Persia, and reigned from 1526 to 1571.
It was to him that Queen Elizabeth commended Mr Anthony Jenkinson, addressing him as “The Right Mightie and Right Victorious Prince, the great Sophie, Emperor of the Persians, Medes, Parthians, Hiroeans, Carmanians, Margians, of the people on this side and beyond the river Tygris, and of all men and nations between the Caspian Sea and the Gulfe of Persia,” a commendation which availed the English merchant nothing, for he was ignominiously repulsed from the king’s presence.] The front arches, with their heavily engrailed curves, are particularly handsome and effective, and the carved work of the kiblah niche is unusually elaborate and beautiful. The fine timber doors and the Hindu heads of the doorways also deserve special notice. The golden cup hanging from the dome of the central chamber is said to be the one originally suspended there.
South of the tomb of the Shekh come the graves of many persons of note, and amongst them not a few of royal blood, resting as close as possible to his holy influence. Next to the mosque in the front row is a marble enclosure with the grave of Jahanara Begam, daughter of Shah Jehan and companion of his captivity, which she survived sixteen years, outliving her rival sister Roshanara Begam, by ten
The grave consists of a marble block hollowed out so as to form a receptacle for earth in which grass is planted: at the north side stands a handsome headstone, with verses supposed to have been written by the Princess: “Let green grass only conceal my grave: grass is the best covering of the grave of the meek.” On either side of her are buried the son and daughter of two of the late Moghal Kings—doubtless because the cost of a separate place of burial for them was not forthcoming.
In the next enclosure on the east lies Muhammad Shah (d. 1748), the unhappy Emperor who saw the capture of Delhi by Nadir Shah, and near the fallen head of her house lies the Moghal princess who was married to Nadir Shah’s son, and her baby.
The entrance to this enclosure and to that opposite on the further side of the passage is decorated with marble doors, on which extremely beautiful patterns of flowers and leaves have been carved. The conception of these hardly appertains to the region of high art, but the execution is well worthy of notice, as are the beautiful pierced marble screens in the walls of the enclosures.
The third contains the grave of Prince Jehangir, son of the King Akbar II.: it was under completion when Bishop Heber visited the Dargah. The people of Delhi say that the real cause of the prince’s removal to Allahabad was that he actually fired at the British Resident, Mr Seton, in the king’s palace, the ball passing through that gentlemen’s hat.
Yet another gateway leads from the central court to the well-shaded quadrangle on the south, which contains the Chabutra Yáráni and the tomb of the poet Khusrau, as well as many other graves, among them several of the actual disciples of the saint. The first was the platform where the friends of Nizam-ud-din-Aulia used to sit with him in his lifetime, and was thence called “the Seat of the Friends.”
The second covers the remains of the first and most renowned of the poets of the modern language of India, Amir Khusrau, popularly known as the Sugar-tongued Parrot (“Tuti-i-shakar-makál”), and also called in the inscription on his tomb Adim-ul-misal, or the Peerless, both designations giving the date of his death, 725 H., or 1324 A.D. He was a devoted friend of Shekh Nizam-ud-din, and died at an advanced age soon after his master, whom he refused to survive, Among the adventures of his life he was once captured by the Moghal invaders. The present tomb dates from the early years of the seventeenth century. The grave chamber is surrounded by two galleries, and the light which reaches it is very subdued.
[1This {which?} was the prince, whose loves with the Dewal Rani were celebrated in one of the most famous poems of Amir Khusrau.]
The well-known historian, Khondamir, was also buried near by, but the Dargah guardians are unable to point out his grave. Beyond the west wall of the southern court is an extremely pretty grave and mosque of one Dauran Khan; and outside the east wall of the central court — it can also be reached by steps from the gallery along the east side of the tank—is the tomb of Azam Khan, or Atgah Khan, commonly known as Taga Khan.
This man, whose actual name (this is really rather in the style of Humpty Dumpty in “Alice in Wonderland”) was Shamsud- din-Muhammad, saved the life of the Emperor Humayun on the occasion of his final and irretrievable defeat by Sher Shah, and won alike the further consideration of the Emperor Akbar, the title of Azam Khan, and the Governorship of the Punjab, by defeating Bairam Khan at Jalandhur when the latter went into half-hearted rebellion against his master.
His wife was a foster-mother to Akbar, as well as Maham Anagah and no doubt great ealousy arose between the families of the two ladies, which culminated in Adham Khan, son of the latter, murdering Azam Khan in the royal palace at Agra in 1556 A.D.
The murderer then proceeded to the door of the private apartments of the palace, and upon the Emperor issuing forth, tried to seize his hands in order to secure his pardon. Akbar, however, freed himself by violence, and laid Adham Khan senseless by a single blow, which the court chronicler assures us was like that of a mace, and his body was then, by the Emperor’s orders, twice thrown from the lofty palace terrace into the court below.
The corpses both of the murdered man and of his murderer were sent to Delhi, the former tu be buried here, and the latter at the Kutab, where his mother, who is said to have died of a broken heart, was soon laid beside him The tomb of Azam Khan must have been one of the most effective and pleasing specimens of polychromatic decoration in the whole of India, and even in its present halfruined condition will be considered by most people extremely pretty.
The red sandstone used in it is of an unusually fine colour, and the marble has assumed an ivory hue. Three graves stand on the marble pavement of the sepulchral chamber, decorated with white and black stars. The enclosure wall on the west side was once brightly decorated with encaustic tiles, of which some traces still remain. Two hundred feet to the south-east of this tomb, and practically opposite the Chabutra Yáráni courtyard, is the last building of special interest at the Dargah — the Chausath Khambhe, or Sixty-four Pillared Hall.
This is the family grave enclosure of the sons of Azam Khan and of his brothers, several of whom, like Adham Khan, were commanders of 5000, which was practically the highest military rank that could be attained in ordinary circumstances under the Moghal Emperors.
The building was raised by Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, foster brother of the Emperor Akbar, who died in 1624 A.D., and round him are buried a number of members of the family which was known as the Atgah Khail, or Gang, so widely did it spread and flourish under imperial favour. The grey marble arches of the hall are pleasing, and the effect of the interior is decidedly good, and reminds one in a way of the beautiful grey marble chamber of the Moti Masjid of Agra.
To the east of Nizam-ud-din on the road to Mubarikpur are the remains of a fine bridge of later Pathan style, spanning the same ravine as is bridged near the tomb of Sikandar Shah Lodi, north of the village of Khairpur, and which joins that from Khirki and Chiragh Delhi near this point, and passes under the Barah Palah to the Jumna.
Delhi: the Khairpur buildings
[This the general area that begins with the monuments across the road from the Purana Quila (Old Fort)/National Zoo and continues towards the Lodi Gardens]
Proceeding west from Nizam-ud-din towards the tomb of Safdar Jang, the road passes the first-named village one mile and a half away on the left, and the last-named half-a-mile away on the right. Most persons will perhaps hardly care to walk or ride to Mubarikpur, but every one who can spare an hour should certainly visit the Khairpur buildings.
These are four in number. That nearest the road, and between it and the village, is the tomb of Muhammad Shah, third of the Syad kings (died 1445 A.D.), which is figured in Mr Fergusson’s “Eastern Architecture.” The building is octagonal, and has an exterior arcade, with sloping angles, similar to those of the tombs of Isa. Khan and Mubarik Shah; the decoration of the interior of the dome must once have been unusually beautiful.
In the village itself, 200 yards further north, is a striking mosque, approached through a very fine gateway, which, from a distance, looks like a tomb. The interior of the gateway, reached by a high flight of steps, is singularly well proportioned and lofty, and was evidently modelled upon the Alai Darwazah Beyond the gateway is an extremely picturesque courtyard, with a mosque on one side and an Assembly Hall on the other, bearing the date of 1498 A.D.
This mosque was once entirely covered by the most beautiful plaster decoration, and still retains much of this. The plaster was relieved by colour in the form of patterns of encaustic tiles, and is quite the most beautiful specimen of this class of ornamentation that exists in India. On the north outskirt of the village is a second tomb without name, on which some tile-work of very bright blue may still be seen; and 400 yards beyond it again is the tomb of Sikandar Shah Lodi, who died in 1517—only nine years before the Moghal conquest of India.
This tomb is strikingly situated in a walled enclosure which, like Chiragh Delhi stands on the banks of a deep depression, spanned by a bridge of seven arches, carrying the high road that then connected Firozabad and the north with Siri and Old Delhi.
The tomb itself is a fine building, but the situation of it is the most pleasing thing connected with it. The pillar which bears the lamp at the head of the grave was once a column of a Jain temple; and it is curious how Hindu details were beginning to reassert themselves in Muhammadan buildings just before the time of the fresh Muhammadan conquest by the Moghals.
The tomb and mosque of Mubarik Shah lie rather more than a mile south of the high road in the village of Mubarikpur. This king was the second of the little-known Syad dynasty, and was murdered in 1433 A.D. The tomb is octagonal in form, and is surrounded by an arched colonnade; it is the earliest of those built in the later Pathan style and, in consequence encaustic tile-work is employed on it but sparingly, the freer use of this being a subsequent development. The angles of the tomb have sloping buttress piers, and above the dome, surrounded by octagonal cupolas, is a lantern of red sandstone.
Rising above a battlemented wall in the midst of trees, it is very picturesque. Outside the enclosure of the tomb is a mosque with two rows of bays and three large domes. Beyond the village to the east is a group of large tombs of the same age, known as the Tin Burj; the principal of these is, according to tradition, the tomb of Khizr Khan, the first Syad king, but this is hardly probable. A mile south of Mubarikpur is the Moth-ki Masjid, a fine mosque built in 1488 A.D., by Sikandar Khan Lodi, which served as a model for that of Sher Shah in the Purana Kila and the Jamali Mosque at the Kutab.
The gateway leading to the mosque and its Hindu arch are very fine, and the back wall of the mosque, with its open flanking towers, is extremely effective; the decoration of the front may have inspired that of the Mausoleum of Humayun. Half a mile south of the mosque again are the ruins of the citadel of Siri, which now enclose the village of Shahpur Two hundred yards on the way to these ruins is a fine well with an inscription of Sikandar Lodi; and just outside them is a large mosque known as the Muhamdi Masjid, with a single dome.
The north-west defences of Jahanpanah, which connected Siri with Old Delhi, are well seen from here Outside these, and 300 yards west of the Siri wall, is an extremtly picturesque enclosure, known as that of the Makhdum Sabzawar, which well deserves a visit.
The interior, approached by a fine gate in the Hindu style, contains a handsome mosque in the severe Pathan style, but with a red sandstone dripstone, a rest-house, and a tomb covered by a cupola, which still has very beautiful text decoration in plaster inside, and once had fine pierced sandstone grilles all round. The little cemetery is overshaded by fine trees, and is quite one of the prettiest bits near Old Delhi.
