A Sultan rests here, but not in peace

“Chirodin Kaharo Saman Nahi Jay/Aajke Je Rajadhiraj, Kal Se Bhikkha Chay”...

This song by Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, with a simple message (Good times do not last forever/Overnight, a great king may turn into a beggar), used to be cited by my mother quite often, to drive home the point that life is ephemeral.

I remembered it this morning, during a heritage walk with Delhi Karavan to the tomb of Sultan Bahlol Lodi, who was the founder of Lodi dynasty, the last rulers of the Delhi Sultanate before the Mughals came here. Lodi was an able military general who won many battles and administered a large tract of north India for a long 38 years from 1451, but his tomb now lies mostly forgotten and unkempt, deep inside the congested neighbourhood of Chirag Delhi, named after Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Mehmood Nasiruddin Roshan Chirag-e-Dehli whose dargah is situated nearby.

Of course, maintenance of such structures is difficult in view of the rapid urban growth, and to be fair, even Asar-us- Sanadid, the seminal 1847 work on Delhi by Sayyid Ahmad Khan, describes it as being in a “state of disrepair". But it somehow reminded me of another walk in March 2018 when we were led by historian Rana Safvi through narrow and dark bylanes of old Delhi to the grave of Sultan Razia. I was shocked to see that South Asia's first female monarch doesn’t even have a roof over her resting place! Time is a great leveller, after all. Bahlol's son Sikander Lodi's tomb is in a much better state, as it lies inside Lodi Garden.

After the walk ended, I walked some more on my own to see another Lodi-era structure, the tomb of Sufi saint Sheikh Yusuf Qattal in Khirki. It is a small tomb, but very nice to look at, with beautiful “jali" work. See for yourself.

Sultan Bahlol Lodi's tomb

Dargah of Hazrat Roshan Chirag-e-Dehli 

Tomb of Sheikh Yusuf Qattal

Darna Zaroori Nahi Hai

In every article about the so-called “haunted” places of Delhi, you can find some usual suspects; Feroz Shah Kotla, Sanjay Van, Bhuli Bhatiyari Ka Mahal, Chor Minar, Malcha Mahal, Khooni Darwaza and Mutiny Memorial, to name a few. Some even mention Karkardooma Court, though I don’t know why the ghosts will prefer “court-kacheri ka chakkar” when they have the ridge forests at their disposal.

I have visited several of these sites, but neither did I go alone (except for Chor Minar) nor after dark. So, I should not make any claim regarding their “bhootiya” rating. But even in broad daylight, some places emanate an air of eeriness. In that respect, I will give four stars to the abode of djinns at Kotla.

Sanjay Van looks like any other forest, and it seems that probably the rumours about the spirits roaming there were spread by anti-social elements who did not want anyone else to venture into their shelter. Bhuli Bhatiyari ka Mahal, a Tughlak-era hunting lodge behind the huge Hanuman statue in Jhandewalan, is unkempt, but not scary. Lovebirds and loafers are found aplenty at the site. Chor MInar in Hauz Khas, associated with stories of heads of thieves being hung from it, looks deserted, but can headless ghosts rest at a garden in the middle of a Delhi neighbourhood manned by security guards?

Kotla Feroz Shah, however, offers the perfect ambience for supernatural experience with its dark alleys, cave-like chambers with flickering flames of candles, hordes of bats, smell of burnt incense and pieces of paper left behind by people seeking fulfilment of their wishes by the resident djinns. I went there on a heritage walk once. Perhaps it was the effect of a series of odd stories narrated by the walk leader, or of the approaching twilight, but as I was capturing a video in the passageway, and suddenly realized that our group has gone ahead leaving me alone there, my footsteps became more rapid than required.

Yes, the video is still here and did not vanish mysteriously. (In pics: A collage of Sanjay Van, Bhuli Bhatiyari Ka Mahal and Chor Minar; the photo of the arches and the video is of Kotla Feroz Shah)

P.S.: I will never visit these places at night, because "bhoot se darr nahi lagta sahab, insaanon se lagta hai".

Temple Run: Lord Narasimha and Marjara-Keshari

Delhi has several temples built as a replica of or having resemblance to famous places of worship situated in the southern parts of the country, such as the Tirupathi Balaji Temple near Mandir Marg in central Delhi or the Uttara Guruvayurappan Temple in Mayur Vihar. I recently came across another such temple in Karol Bagh -- Sri Ahobila Lakshminrisimha temple.

Ahobilam in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh is known as Nava Narasimha Kshetra as it is home to nine shrines dedicated to nine different forms of Lord Narasimha, spread over an area of about 5 km radius. The nine deities are Sri Jwala Narasimha, Sri Ahobila Narasimha, Sri Malola Narasimha, Sri Kroda Narasimha, Sri Karanja Narasimha, Sri Bhargava Narasimha, Sri Yogananda Narasimha, Sri Kshatravata Narasimha and Sri Pavana Narasimha.

Legend has it that the Ahobila Narasimha temple in AP was built at the spot where the part lion-part man incarnation of Lord Vishnu killed the demon, Hiranyakashipu. In fact, Andhra and Telangana are the abode of the most well-known Narasimha temples of India. Including the ones at Yadagirigutta and Bhadrachalam. During a trip to Vishakhapatnam last year, I had the opportunity to visit Simhachalam Hills, where the Lord is worshipped in the form of Varaha Narasimha, combining the incarnations of the Boar and the Lion-man. This temple has a magnificent golden Vimana (rectangular pyramid-style structure over the sanctum sanctorum) and is decorated with exquisite carvings on its walls.

Bargarh in Odisha, where my elder sister and her family were staying for a few years as my brother-in-law was posted there, is home to Sri Nrusinghanath temple. Before visiting it, I thought that it will be a place of worship dedicated only to the lion-man incarnation. But, interestingly, the temple at the foothills of Gandhamardhan Parvat is said to be the only Vishnu temple where the Lord is seen in a feline form. The presiding deity is made of black stone, with a face like a cat and a body like a lion. It is believed that Lord Vishnu took the form of Vidala Nrusingha, also called Marjara-Keshari (marjar is the Sanskrit word for cat), to destroy Musikadaitya (Mouse Demon). The demon, pursued by the Lord, entered into a hole in the hills and is still hiding there.

Photography of idols is prohibited in most of the temples (in Simhachalam, you need to deposit your cellphone), but I captured the picture of a beautiful Narasimha statue at an exhibition held in the National Museum in Delhi in May this year. The Bronze statue, of AD 1600–1700 and from Tamil Nadu, is originally an exhibit of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.

(Source: Website of Sri Ahobila Mutt and Odisha Review magazine, Feb-Mar 2015)

Ahobila Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Delhi

At Bargarh Nrusinghanath temple 

Nrusinghanath temple in Bargarh

Temple at Simhachalam

Bronze, AD 1600–1700, Tamil Nadu

Planes and Ruins

Aeroplanes fascinate me, (except when I am inside one). So here's an album to pay my tribute to the modern flying machines and old heritage structures. Plan(e) to add more photographs to it.

At the refuge of the world

After an extremely humid day which reminded me of my hometown (not in a positive way), Delhi had witnessed a pleasant morning yesterday. The grey clouds hovering in the sky and smattering of raindrops provided a perfect backdrop for a journey to the past – at a place which once apparently housed a thousand- pillared palace, and is now home to ruins of forts and tombs, narrow paths flanked by tall blades of grass, rubble, rocks and stray dogs.

This was a part of Jahanpanah, the fourth mediaeval city of Delhi, built by “mad king" Muhammad Bin Tughlak around 1326-27 by enclosing within its walls the areas under the first and second cities of Mehrauli and Siri. The walls and some other parts of its ruins are now found strewn over the present-day Saket and nearby areas. The complex we went to lies behind Sarvpriya Vihar club and comprises a few structures, the prominent of them being an octagonal two-storeyed edifice known as Bijai Mandal. The site may have housed the “Hazar Sutoon” (1000 pillars) hall described by Ibn Batuta in his travelogue, but no remnants of it can be seen now. However, Bijai Mandal offers a panoramic view of some localities of south Delhi. Amidst the cardboard-box buildings nearby, one can also spot the Tughlak-era Begumpur Masjid.

The Begumpur mosque and the ruins of Muhammad Bin Tughlak's citadel came alive with narration and performance by Nitika Arora of Darwesh heritage walk group, seamlessly binding together the stories of many eccentricities of  the monarch. A genius ahead of his times who wanted the best for his subjects or a cruel king whose decisions led to immense suffering for his people? The questions remain. But it is a slice of history which cannot be ignored and this is a site where the echoes of a bygone era can still be heard, despite the signs of modern ailments like littering, and use of the ruins as personal letter pad and private space for intoxication.