The gloomy getaway. The graveyard is dead. The last person was buried in 1985. Karbala, the Shiite burial ground in BK Dutt Colony, central Delhi, is reserved exclusively for the funeral of tazias, the ritual coffins of Imam Husain Ibn Ali, the prophet’s grandson. Every year on...
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The wall of the Walled City. It exists. The wall of the Walled City survives in places, like near Dilli Gate in Daryaganj. A 13 meter high rampart of random rubble, this segment of the Mughal-era fortification faces the brick buildings of Ansari Road, which has offices...
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Delhi’s oldest Mughal-era ruin. Its beauty lies in its tiled dome, rare in Delhi. Situated behind Humayun’s Tomb, Nila Gumbad, or blue dome, was on the banks of Yamuna, the course of which shifted down the centuries. Now it faces the platform number one of Hazrat Nizmauddin...
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Check the time. Formally Delhi’s largest pissoir, this 18th century tongue-red solar observatory underwent refurbishment that includes installation of public toilets. Built in the early 1700s by the founder of Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, this curious complex of concrete hemispheres, quadrangles and circles was originally...
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Ravaged by time. Time has reduced Darya Khan Lohani’s tomb in Kidwai Nagar East, south Delhi, to broken edifices of stone and rubble masonry. Lying next to the residential blocks of Delhi Development Authority apartments, this Lodhi-era monument stands on a grass-covered platform, which was built on...
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You’ll get lost here. On a hilly mound, this structure is more than just the ruined tomb of Adam Khan, a scheming foster-brother of Akbar whom the Mughal Emperor punished by having him hurled repeatedly from a parapet until he died. The octagonal monument, circa 1562, is...
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The relics of the Raj. At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, the empire of Great Britain comprehended the most civilized portion of mankind. Delhi was its principal possession. The Coronation Park in north of the city is the remnant of that empire....
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Delhi’s calming monument. It’s an escapist’s paradise. The chilla, or retreat, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya is Delhi’s most serene monument. Here, the city’s iconic 14th century sufi saint lived, meditated, and died. This was his khanqah – a monastery – where he also used to perform chilla-kashi,...
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Delhi’s scenic Hindu heritage. This is the most beautiful Hindu temple in Delhi. Situated near Dilli Gate, at the entrance of the Walled City, Shri Shiv Mandir can truly claim, among all Hindu shrines in the capital, to best preserve the essence of this faith. The temple,...
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The Lodhi-era beauty. Tucked in south Delhi’s Deer Park, it is one of the Capital’s most beautiful Lodhi-era buildings. Bagh-I-Alam Ka Gumbad, circa 1501, is a small joy. Instead of being a lonely spinster, like the city’s other Lodhi tombs, it is full of life. Grass grows...
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