DELHI

'Delhi came as a shock. There were so many people and oh, the traffic.'  (Tina Turner)

'....Delhi is not a city, but a collection of villages' (Vijay Nambisan)

'I met a hundred men going to Delhi and every one is my brother'  (Indian Proverb)

Next stop was to be Delhi, but first a very long and quite tedious coach trip largely on featureless motorways. 

Many of us had begun to experience a cough and sore, gritty eyes which at first we had put down to bad luck but increasingly had wondered if it was due to increased levels of pollution. As we got nearer to Delhi the going got much slower and the roads, even on a Saturday, ever more congested. We had expected Delhi to be the most polluted stopover so far but even so the brown sky was worrying. We were to learn later, through the BBC on the internet, that we were travelling into what was about to be declared by the Indian government a Medical Emergency brought about by a deadly combination of seasonable smoke from stubble-burning and from the fireworks set off to celebrate Diwali, mixed with exceptionally high pollution from road traffic and industrial processes. No wonder that in all our time in Delhi we were never to see the sky, but a thick, cloying brown fog! Never once in our time there did our Tour Operator, Saga, make any of this known to us, although it was making the headlines throughout the world, let alone offer us advice about what was best for us to do. Nor did they respond to the comments and complaints we made about this on our return home.  

HISTORY:

One of the world's oldest continually inhabited major settlements, much of Delhi's ancient history is lost. The name Delhi is linked to the Maurya king Dhilu who ruled the region in the 1st century BC. Extensive historical  coverage begins with the Delhi Sultanate of the 12th century, a series of 5 successive dynasties established in 1206. With Delhi as their capital and a centre for culture, the Sultanate ended in defeat in 1526 with the creation of the Mughal Empire which then ruled the area for 3 centuries until it in turn was captured in 1803 by the British East India Company. The defeat of the Indian Rebellion in 1857 marked the start of direct British Rule in India and in 1911 the capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi, a new city of wide boulevards and stately adminstrative buildings designed by Edwin Lutyens. After India's independence  from the British in 1947, New Delhi became the capital of the newly-formed Republic of India.

PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENCE:

First stop on our time in Delhi was the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace, formerly Viceroy's House), the largest residence of any head of state in the world. With 4 floors and 340 rooms, and a floor area of 200,000 square feet, it was built using a billion bricks and 3,000,000 cu ft of stone with little steel.
  With the decision in 1911 to relocate the capital from Calcutta, about 4000 acres of land was acquired to begin the construction of the Viceroy's House, Edwin Lutyens being given the primary architectural responsibility. Construction began in 1912 and Lutyens travelled between England and India almost every year for 20 years to oversee the project.

The design of the building used heavy classical motifs in order to emphasise Britain's power and imperial authority. Lutyens' early designs were all entirely European in style, dismissing local building tradition as primitive and 'Moghul tosh' (!). Eventually he was persuaded on political, not architectural, grounds to include various Indian elements to the building, including several circular stone basins on top of the building, as water features are an important part of Indian architecture. 

The Jaipur Column, standing in the middle of the courtyard in front of the residence, was also designed by Lutyens. The Maharaja of Jaipur having offered in 1912 to sponsor its construction to commemorate the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, Lutyens submitted his design in 1920 and its construction was completed in 1930.

SIKH GURDWARA BANGLA SAHIB:

Our visit in the morning had been pleasant but not overly interesting and there had originally been nothing else organised for the rest of the day. Not for the first time, Rudy stepped in with an unscheduled, and very successful, visit to what  had originally been built as a small Sikh shrine, the first of nine built in Delhi in 1783. 

As all visitors are requested to cover their hair and not to wear shoes, we all duly donned the available head -scarves and made use of the shoe-minding service before entering the complex. 

As ever, there was no shortage of people making their way to the holy river, known as a Sarovar, inside the complex. It is said that in 1664 the 8th Sikh Guru came to visit the king, whose palace was on the site, and cured people who had contracted smallpox and cholera by distributing them water from this water tank. Worshippers still believe in the medicinal properties of the water.

As in all Gurdwaras, the concept of langar is practised, and all people, regardless of race or religion, may eat in the now air-conditioned langar hall.

The Langar (food) is prepared by gursikhs who work there, and also by volunteers who like to help out.

What a delight for the senses! As well as the mouth-watering aromas of the food, we were entertained by vibrant music.

 JAMA MASJID:

Our last morning in Delhi took us right into the narrow streets in the heart of the old city. As we got off the bus we were hit by the sounds, colours and sheer numbers of people as we were accosted by the first beggars we had seen so far, but they were brusquely scared away by Rudy.

 

Then a bit of a climb up the steps to the entrance where you have to leave your shoes .........

North east entrance

......and make sure you are appropriately covered.

 One of the largest mosques in India, Shah Jahan built the Jama Masjid (meaning 'mosque commanding the view of the world') between 1650 and 1656 on the Bho Jhala, one of the two hills of the old  Mughal capital city. It was built by more than 5000 workers at a cost of one million rupees at the time. Constructed of alternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble, it is oriented toward the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia which lies to the west.

An open courtyard facing the eastern gateway is at least 325 feet square and can accommodate 25,000 people. (The mosque as a whole has a capacity of 85,000!) The eastern gateway was originally reserved for royal usage. Two 40 metre high minarets mark the northeast and southeast corners of the building. Three large marble domes rise from the roof of the interior prayer hall which is adorned by a series of high cusped arches, standing on 260 pillars.

Courtyard

Inlay detail of interior arches

Lamp

Detail of a balcony

As this picture shows, as we left there was no mistaking the heavy pall of pollution hanging over the city.

QUTUB MINAR:
The Qutub Minar is a minaret  and 'victory tower' built in 1193 to celebrate Muslim dominance in Delhi after the defeat of Delhi's last Hindu ruler.  A few kilometres south of Delhi, it is a UNESCO Heritage Site 72.5 m high, tapering from 2.75 m in diameter at its peak to 14.32 m at its base, with 5 distinct storeys and alternating angular and rounded flutings. 

 

Caligraphy on upper base section

Decorative motifs on upper levels

The surrounding archaeological area  contains many beautiful funerary buildings, notably the Alai-Darwaza Gate built in 1311, and 2 mosques, including the Quwwatu'l-Islam, the oldest in northern India.

MAUSOLEUM OF EMPEROR HUMAYUN:

The tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun was built on the orders of his first wife. Construction began in 1565 and was completed in 1572, costing 1.5 million rupees paid entirely by the Empress. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian sub-continent, the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale and inspired several major architectural innovations culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal. 

The cenotaph of the Emperor is located in the centre of the upper tier of the mausoleum in a large room decorated with several rows of arched windows. His real burial chamber, however, lies in an underground chamber, exactly beneath the upper cenotaph, accessible through a separate passage which remains closed to visitors.

The tomb stands in the centre of a Persian-style 30-acre garden, a Char Bagh (this Paradise Garden divided into 36 squares by paved walkways) and is crowned with a white Persian style marble dome.

The beautiful surrounding gardens contain the tombs of the emperor's favourite barber and the Empress, and from the 17th to the 19th centuries was gradually filled with the tombs of Humayun's descendants.

The Arab Serai is a16th century caravanserai (a roadside inn) built by Humayun's widow in 1560/61 to shelter 300 Arab mullahs  whom she was taking with her during her hajj to Mecca.

No detail is known about Bu Halima but she must have had an important place in Humayun's harem and was a part of his father's entourage to India. It is possible she may have been Humayun's wet=nurse .