Tag Archives: MirzaGhalibKiHaveli

Down Sacred, Secular Street: Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

There is a lot to be said about a country, as diverse in its faiths as India, and as tolerant in its attitudes towards each. Today’s political factions and media warmongering may create tensions between India’s many religions; sow the seeds of dissension in the populace, yet the architecture of our cities tells a very different narrative. While taking a cycle-rickshaw or walking down Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, one can palpably experience the sacred yet secular way of life that is so typical of India.

CycleRickshaw

Chandni Chowk, a bustling, busy market for over three centuries was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in the 17th Century. The name Chandni Chowk, meaning a ‘moonlit crossroads or square’, could have originated from the pool that was built into the centre of the complex that shimmered on full-moon nights or from the silver traders that dominated the market at the time. This market served as an artery of trade in the walled capital city of Shahjahanabad, with gates leading to different parts of the empire from Lahore (present-day Pakistan) to Kashmir. Even in today’s bustle, the streets of Chandni Chowk retain their historical flavour.

LalMandir

As you start the trail from the Red Fort, the red sandstone citadel of Shahjahanabad, you pass the Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir on your left. As history would have it, Shah Jahan had invited some Jain merchants to stay in the city and permitted them to build a temporary structure for worship. While he did not allow a ‘shikhara’, the carved tower-like superstructure characteristic to most Hindu temples, the post-Independence period saw considerable reconstruction. The temple is distinct, as it has influences from Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, and is one of the oldest and most well-known places of worship for Jains in Delhi.

Adjacent to the Jain temple is the Gauri Shankar Temple, an eight hundred year old structure dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati, built by a Maratha soldier. While the temple structure has been rebuilt, the older lingam inside with silver snakes talk of the rise of Shaivism in India. Legend has it, that the temple was around at the time of the Mahabharata, and has seen Yudhisthira worship here. Today, devotees flock to the temples to ask blessings for a contented married life.

SikhMan

Continue down the lane, the Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib built in 1783, stands witness to the Sikh resistance to the Mughal Empire, as it marks the site where the ninth Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded at the orders of the emperor Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam. Ironically, a tense political environment led to this structure alternating between a gurudwara and a mosque in the years after it was built, with the British Empire judicial body finally granting the Sikhs worhsipping rights in the early 1900s. 

SunehriMosque

Sharing a wall with the gurudwara is the Sunehri Golden Mosque erected by a Mughal nobleman, a gold-domed structure that is largely hidden from view on the busy street that is Chandni Chowk today. It commands a view of the entire marketsquare and was the vantage point for the Persian invader, Nader Shah who ordered a brutal massacre of the city folk due to an insult to his guards as they passed through. That fateful day, the streets of Chandni Chowk must have flowed red with the blood of over thirty thousand innocents, as today’s markets do with bright, red-and-gold wedding saris.              

Opposite these two structures, stands the Central Baptist Church, the oldest Christian missionary in north India. With all the other houses of faith nearby, it is strange that land should be acquired by a Baptist Missionary Society along this very stretch to erect a Christian mission, perhaps Christianity’s own, little bastion on secular street.

FatehpuriMosque

At the end of the road lies Fatehpuri Mosque, a 17th Century structure in red sandstone and marble with a little square fountain at the centre. After the bustle of Chandni Chowk, a strange calm pervades the mosque and at prayer time, one can imagine the chants resounding within the walls calling everyone of the faith together.

SpiceMarket2

One of the offshoots from Chandni Chowk, leads to an area known as Khari Baoli, a giddy maze of markets that sell teas, spices, nuts and herbs. Walking (and sneezing!) through the lanes of shops with neat piles of produce from the different regions of the country, it is easy to imagine the market being at the heart of trade in the bygone days. Retrace your footsteps towards the Fatehpuri Mosque, then a short cycle- rickshaw ride away is the Kinari Bazaar, specializing in wedding ceremony materials, with everything from brightly embroidered saris to wedding trays for gifts, from gaudy garlands and golden tassles to footwear and jewelry.

KhazanjiHaveli

The legacy of the Jains, is also preserved in some of the old havelis (or mansions) tucked away into one of the many labyrinthine lanes that branch off from the main road. The Khazanji ki Haveli, ‘the treasurer’s mansion’ is a dilapidated, decrepit 800-year-old property that once had beautiful wooden carvings, intricate designs on its marble pillars and the jaali work that is typical in Mughal style architecture. The haveli was connected to the Red Fort by a tunnel, long since blocked up by the government, which served to transfer wealth to the royal coffers by the treasurer and bookkeepers. Once a proud home of the Mughal treasurers, the dilapidated haveli houses humbler folk, who pay nominal rents to unconcerned owners. The property may have commercial value if converted to heritage hotels, however legal disputes, government apathy and a present-day disregard for history, would perhaps wipe out these last, few witnesses to the grandeur of Shahajanabad city.

GhalibkiHaveli

Another such haveli in the vicinity is the Mirza Ghalib ki Haveli, the residence of a famous Urdu poet who moved from Agra to Delhi and immortalized the fading allure of both cities in his couplets. The Archaeological Survey of India realized the heritage value of the site, and in 2011 renovated it into a tiny, dimly-lit museum nook that exhibits replicas of the poet’s books and accessories like clothes and utensils. Perhaps the poetry within the book replicas may still evoke a sense of the past, as it touched upon topics like the transience of life.

Lost amidst these lanes is an 18th Century building broken up into nine parts called the Naughara, literally ‘nine houses’, one of the present-day vestiges of the Jain community, complete with a beautiful marble temple of intricate carving.

JamaMasjid

A cycle-rickshaw ride away through many more twisting-turning lanes, is the Jama Masjid, a mosque constructed by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (more renowned for his Taj Mahal in Agra). The Jama Masjid, was originally called the Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa, meaning ‘mosque commanding a view of the world’, and despite the lofty name, the Old Delhi walk gives credence to the idea of Shahjahanabad city being at the centre of the Mughal Empire’s commerce in bygone eras. Today, the mosque stands as an anchor through the turbulent, tumultuous times for the Muslim community in India.

Thus, tracing the tides of time, the ebb and flow of people and communities, of empires and faiths, the Old Delhi Walk gave us a taste of the secular, sacred India that throbs within the heart of a politically-disrupted metropolis.

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RabriFalooda

* For the foodies, there are other delectable tastes along the way: Rabri Falooda, hot jalebis, oily parathas and Mughal delicacies at the famous Karim’s – a cozy restaurant that boasts of a tradition of over a hundred years!

JalebiWallah

Know more about the 8 ancient cities of Delhi: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=960666433974909&id=456637484377809