Yogmaya Temple - Wrapped in Layers of Time

Hidden in the mystic alleys of Mehrauli village stands the 5000 year old historic Yogmaya temple - a temple dedicated to Goddess Yogmaya, sister of Lord Krishna. Many legends are associated with this place of worship. One says that it was originally built by the pandavas of the Mahabharata epic. Mehrauli was also known as yoginipura after this temple, according to 12th century Jain scriptures. 

According to another legend, Yogmaya was the sister of Lord Krishna born to his foster mother Yashoda. When the cruel king Kansa tried to kill her, she flew away and predicted that the child who would eventually kill him is born already. She then established a home for herself here at the Aravallis. 

Another local legend also says Krishna and Arjun came to pray here during the Mahabharata war after Abhimanyu (Arjun's son) was killed by Jayadrath. Arjun took a vow that he would kill the slayer of his son by next evening. But the following day the Kauravas continued to keep him away from Arjun to protect him from his wrath. Arjun and Krishna came to this temple to pray at such a time to ask for blessing from the Goddess. With her magical powers or 'maya' she created an illusionary eclipse that gave Arjuna the opportunity to kill Jayadrath.  

The temple that we see today was constructed in the 19th century during the Mughal rule with support from Lala Sethmal.  People living around this temple now are actually taking care of this place of worship. It is said that all these people come from one common ancestor hundreds of years ago and are still carrying on with the traditions and customs of the ancient times, voluntarily and amicably with unflagging devotion even today. 

Adham Khan's Tomb

Popularly known as Bhul bhulaiya, the tomb of Adham Khan and his mother Maham Anga, constructed in 1951 by emperor Akbar, lies at the entrance of Mehrauli village.

Adham Khan was a general in the army of the Mughal emperor Akbar and the son of his wet nurse Maham Anga, a very influential and powerful woman of her times. When Akbar's favoured general Atgah Khan became the Prime Minister in the imperial courts, Maham Anga was angered. Adham Khan could not bear to see his mother unhappy and in a fit of jealousy and anger, murdered him. Emperor Akbar punished him instantly by throwing him down the 40 feet high ramparts of the Agra Fort not once but twice as he was found to be alive after the first fall. Soon after, his mother also died of grief. Akbar sent the bodies of Adham Khan and Maham Anga to Delhi with full honor and respect and built this tomb where he buried the mother next to her son. 

The chamber is octagonal in shape with a dome in the architectural style of the Lodi dynasty, whom the Mughals considered as traitors, ironically. The tomb lies on a raised platform and is surrounded by a corridor that has three semi circular openings on each side. Since visitors used to often lose their way through these passages hence this tomb is locally known as 'bhul bhulaiya' or maze. 

And this is not all. This tomb has seen a lot more. 

A British Officer named Blake converted this tomb into his private residence and removed the graves in order to make way for his dining space. Even after his death it was being used as a Rest House for the British. Later it was converted into a post office and then to a police station. Finally Lord Curzon took initiative to restore the monument, and ordered to vacate it. He restored the grave of Adham Khan back to the original position. The mother's grave however could not be restored as nobody could identify what could have been the exact resting place of this powerful woman who died grieving for her son. 

It is considered bad for women to visit this tomb. This is because of the curse of queen Rupmati whose lover Baz Bhahdur was killed by Adham Khan during his invasion of Mandu. Roopmati also died soon, cursing Adham Khan saying that no woman would ever visit the tomb of the man who was responsible for the death of two lovers. To this day it is considered an ill omen for women to visit this tomb as it is supposed to mar conjugal happiness. 

Today this historic place is a home for homeless beggars, jobless people and stray dogs, carefully masquerading the turbulent history of bloodshed, murder, jealousy and intrigue of times gone by.  

Gandhak ki Baoli

Just as you cross the Mehrauli Bus Terminus, you turn left inside a narrow nondescript lane leading to Gandhak ki Baoli, nearly hidden among clusters of buildings, shops and dhabas. 
Baolis were stores of water for people of yore, when there was no system of modern water supply through pipes. Gandhak ki Baoli or the well of sulfur is all of five stories deep and has a circular wall at its southern end. 
Legend says that one day emperor Iltutmish (responsible for completion of the Qutub Minar) visited the sufi saint Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki to pay his obeisance and found him in a disheveled state. On asking why he has not bathed, the saint replied that he could not because he needs a place to do so. On hearing this, Iltutmish immediately ordered for the construction of a well and thus it was completed in record time. 
The well got its name because of the smell of sulfur in its water and was believed to have medicinal properties. Until some years back divers used to jump from its top stories to retrieve coins which the devotees threw into the water. Today the water is nearly non existent and is not even usable. 

Tughlaqabad, the Curse of a Saint

Ya base gujjar, ya rahe ujjar.' (May [this city] be the abode of nomads or remain in wilderness.)

These words, with which the great Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya cursed Ghiyas-ud-din's city, seem to still echo all over the ghostly ruins of Tughlaqabad. The citadel frowns down ominously like some Gothic palace all over the Qutub-Badarpur road and seems to prefer its splendid isolation, which is of course not exactly what Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq had in mind when he started out building it. It would have broken the old sultan's heart if he had seen just how swiftly the saint's curse went into action; soon after his death in fact.

Tughlaqabad fort, situated as it was on high rocky ground, was ideally located

to withstand sieges. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq helped matters along by putting up formidable walls which, though short on aesthetic value, are excellent examples of solid unimaginative masonry and not the type that any invading army could hope to scale in a hurry. Tughlaq put ramparts towering at heights of anywhere between 9m (30ft) to 15.2m (50ft), and rising up to 29.8m (98ft) around the citadel, between himself and the Mongols.

  

It seems that even when he was far from being a king, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq had dreamed of raising his city, Tughlaqabad. Earlier, Ghiyas-ud-din had been a general (he rose to being the governor of an important province like Punjab, but that's another story) in Ala-ud-din Khalji's army. Once while on the road with Ala-ud-din, Ghiyas-ud-din, on spotting this area, mentioned to the sultan what an ideal setting it seemed to provide for a new city. Upon this the king indulgently (and, knowing Ala-ud-din, also perhaps patronizingly) replied, 'When you become king, build it.' Knowing fully well, as every boss, that while he was around there was not a shadow of a chance of anyone else taking his place. After the death of Ala-ud-din, various events conspired to put the general on the throne at last. Then he fulfilled his long-cherished dream.

The crumbling ruins of the Tughlaqabad Fort convey a sense of lost grandeur and remains as the only witness of the embattled past and the terror and valor associated with that period in Delhi. Many unforeseen incidents took place during the construction of this structure. The king had a spat with the great saint Nizam-ud-din regarding the laborers who were to work on this project. The king took away all the workers who were working on the saint's shrine at the time, for completing his own fort, thus incurring the wrath of the saint. The saint cursed the king and indeed the king was mysteriously murdered while on his way to Delhi in 1325. Almost immediately after the death of the king, this fort lost all its former glory as his son Jauna (Ulugh Khan) succeeded him under the title Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq and wanted to build his own new city instead of following in his father's footsteps. The fort was abandoned unceremoniously in the year 1327 and strangely, true to the curse of the saint, it soon became a haunt for the Gujjars tending their cattle within the abandoned fort of Ghiyas-ud-din.

The Hauz of Alauddin

There's a lot more to Hauz Khas than the posh market, the fashion street and the village. The complex is centered around a hauz or tank of area 28 hectares built by Alauddin Khilji, named Hauz-e-Alai, which took care of the water needs of village around it. After his death, the Hauz was abandoned and it became stagnant as the water channels got silted. Firoz Shah Tughlaq took over the responsibility of reviving this 

tank in the 14th century so that it can be used again. Not only he cleared up the tank, he planned a layout of an L-shaped structure starting with a mosque, the Madrasa-e- Firoz Shahi, a college for Islamic theology, calligraphy, mathematics, religious law etc by best teachers and scholars invited by Firoz Shah from Islamic countries all over the world.

Firoz Shah's  tomb is in the junction of the L shaped structure of the 'madrasa' he commissioned, overlooking the Hauz and also the tallest in height. 

The tomb contains four unmarked graves; three are made of marble and the fourth, near the east door, is of rubble and plaster. The central grave is that of Firoz Khan. The other two marble graves, which are similar to the central one, are ascribed to the son and grandson of Firoz Shah. 

Though Firoz Shah inherited a disintegrating empire with nearly empty coffers, thanks to the capricious reign of his predecessor Muhammad Bin Tughlak with his disastrous ruling policies, it didn't stop him from beautifying Delhi. History says he, during his reign, constructed 1200 gardens around Delhi...200 towns, 40 mosques, 30 villages, 30 reservoirs, 50 dams, 100 hospitals, 100 public baths and 150 bridges. 

Established in 1352, the Madrasa was one of the leading institutions of Islamic learning in the Delhi Sultanate. It was also considered the largest and best equipped center of Islamic studies in the world.  The village surrounding the Madarsa was also called Tarababad (city of joy).  It takes a little stretch in our imagination to feel the heart of the area, that was once thronged by artists and scholars from all across the sub continent.

Here’s what contemporary poet, Mutahhar has to say of the madrasa:

‘The moment I entered this blessed building through the gate, I saw a level space as wide as the plain of the world. The courtyard was soul-animating, and its expanse was life-giving. Its dust was musk-scented, and its fragrance possessed the odour of amber. There was verdure everywhere and hyacinths, basils, roses, and tulips were blooming and were beautifully arranged so far as the human eye could reach. It seemed as if the last year’s produce had in advance the current year’s fruits, such as pomegranates, oranges, guavas, quinces, apples, and grapes. Nightingales, so to say, were singing their melodious songs everywhere. It appeared as if they had guitars in their talons and flutes in their beaks.’

Now the tank is a few yards away from the building but initially its water would have lapped at the madrasa walls. One can see steps leading to the water. On the other side of the tank is a ruined structure called the ‘munda gumbad’ or the bald/roofless dome. It is believed that this pavilion once stood within the tank. So we can assume that the tank would have been at least twice its present size.

The architecture of Firoz Shah is stern, austre, utilitarian, hauntingly lovely in the night, and warningly forbidding during daytime. The glazed tiles came off a long time ago; now only the naked walls stand tall, like the spirit of this prolific builder and architect king, in spite of validating the lack of skilled masons and sufficient capital of his times. 

The pavilions in the garden are significant srtuctures as well, as they are believed to be the graves of teachers who taught the students of the madarsa. Pavilions also acted like classrooms where the students could sit and study in the presence of their departed teachers. 

Alai Darwaza - A Magnificent Gateway

One of the earliest gates in Delhi, built in 1311 by Alauddin Khilji is located at the Qutub complex. He wanted to built a large mosque. But Siri was not large enough for him as it already housed his palace of thousand pillars in it. For this reason he decided to enlarge the mosque at the Qutub. It is the main gateway from southern side of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. This is one of the first building in India to employ Indo-Islamic architecture in its construction and ornamentation. This domed gateway is one of the first of its kind and showcases the remarkable craftsmanship of the Turkish and Indian artisans who worked on it. With its pointed arches and spearhead of fringes, identified as lotus buds, exquisite inlaid marble decorations and latticed stone screens, it adds grace to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque to which it served as an entrance.

This assimilation of exotic and indigenous architectural styles was possible due to a variety of factors: the Muslim rulers had to use, in most cases, Indian craftsmen and sculptors who were schooled in their own traditions. Though both the Indian and Islamic styles have their own distinctive features, some common characteristics made fusion and adaptation easy. Alai Darwaza still stands in full glory, in its elegance of red sandstone, inlaid white marble decorations, in its many scriptings and inscription carved on it and its latticed stone screens.

Just off Aurobindo Marg in the Hauz Khas area, stands the Chor Minar or the 'Tower of Thieves'. It was constructed under the rule of Alauddin Khilji. Legends say that it was supposed to be a 'tower of beheading', where the severed heads of thieves were displayed on spear through its 225 holes, acting as a deterrent to thieves. Near this place lived a colony of Mongols who had settled in Delhi. When the Mongols attacked Delhi, these local settlers were tempted to join their bretheren. Alauddin, the fierce and ruthless ruler, killed them on suspicion that they would destroy the safety of citizens and stuck their heads on spikes to be displayed on this tower as a warning to traitors.

The year was 1303 when Allaudin Khilji passed away and was buried at Qutub complex. This ambitious and aggressive ruler finally ended the journey of his turbulent life in a simple brick grave with no decorative marble covering or intricate ornamentations. The grave lies quietly on a small hill in a most unobtrusive corner of the Qutub complex and generally not the most sought after spot as far as the visitors are concerned.  

And Alauddin Khilji Built Siri



Siri was the second of the seven cities of medieval Delhi built around 1303 during the rule of Ala-ud-Din Khalji to defend the city from the tireless onslaughts of the Mongols, plundering the gardens and palaces in Delhi, relentlessly.

There's a popular legend explaining the name of his palace as 'Siri' which is derived from the word 'Sir' the Hindi word for head. It is believed that when the Mongols raided Delhi, Alauddin Khilji defeated them and all the generals and soldiers of the Mongol army were captured and brought to Siri where they were trampled to death by elephants. Nearly eight thousand of their heads were build into the walls of Siri Fort. Inside this fort was his supposedly magnificent palace which had a hall, that was known as the Hall of a Thousand Pillars. It had marble floors and grand decoration of stones. Now, all that we find are just ruins, which was once considered the pride of the city. Legend states that Allauddin's famous building had engaged 70,000 workers. There were seven gates for entry and exit, but at present only the south eastern gate exists.

Alauddin was a great warrior and defeated the Rajputs at Ranthambhor and Chittor in 1303. He also conquered the Deccan and annexed it to his empire. 

Legend says that he was enchanted by the beauty of Rani Padmini of Chittor and desired to bring her to his harem by force. He ordered his army to storm Chittor. But hard as they tried, the Sultan's army could not break into the fort. Then Alauddin decided to lay siege to the fort. It became a very long drawn siege and and gradually supplies within the fort started getting depleted!!

As the situation developed into a crisis, the King of Chittor, Rana Ratan Singh ordered that the Rajput soldiers would open the gates of the fort and would fight to death with the besieging troops. On hearing of such a decision, queen Padmini decided that with their men-folk going into an unequal battle with the Sultan's army in which they certainly would perish, the women of Chittor would have to commit the ritual called as 'Jauhar' to escape dishonour at the hands of the victorious enemy.

And so, they lit a huge pyre and all the women of Chittor jumped into its flames, one after another, following their queen. With all their women burnt to ashes, the men of Chittor had nothing to fear anymore. They decided to perform 'Saka'. Each soldier got dressed in saffron coloured robes and turbans, charged out of the fort and fought till death, the immensely powerful army of the Sultan.

After this monsterous victory, the jubilant troops of the Sultan entered the fort, only to find the charred bodies of the women, for whom they came all the way!! All their gallantry finally resulted in naught.

The bards of Rajasthan have immortalised this legend with poems and songs which still talk about the supreme sacrifice of the brave queen Padmini and the women of Chittor. The stories of valor of the Rajputs to defend the honor of their queen lives on forever.