City Monument – Rang Mahal, Red Fort

June 6, 2011 · by The Delhi Walla · in Monuments

The Mughal harem.

[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The largest apartment of the Mughal harem, Rang Mahal – the palace of colours – is one of the most evocative architectural compositions in Red Fort, a 17th century world of courts, palaces, mosques, water channels and gardens, now all of them in ruins.

Shahjahan, the builder of Taj Mahal, raised the palace-fort complex on the banks of Yamuna, which, over the centuries, has moved away by several hundred yards. His walled world of marble buildings was the site of the decline and fall of the Mughals. The fort was looted by Nadir Shah, the king of Persia; and vandalized by the British, who ended the Mughal dynasty. After retaking Delhi following the 1857 rebellion, the British razed most structures in the Red Fort, including those that made up the harem. Daria Mahal and Khurd Jahan were destroyed. Only two buildings of the women’s quarters survive: Jahanara Begum’s mansion, which is the modern-day Archeological Museum, and Rang Mahal, which is barricaded with ropes. Peopled with queens, princesses, maids and eunuchs, the harem was barred to all men except the emperor and his sons. Today, bored constables sit inside.

Also known as Imtiaz Mahal (Palace of Pre-Eminence), Rang Mahal was the harem building closest to Khas Mahal, the Emperor’s private apartment. A pavilion built on a high platform, its façade has five nine-cusped arches. The floor is of marble. The river-facing wall has low windows. Each of the pair of small, cube-shaped rooms, on either side of the pavilion, is called Sheesh Mahal, the palace of mirrors. Its ceiling is embedded with small mirrors; its walls have panels of floral plasterwork.

A canal called Neher-e-Bhisht, which carried Yamuna’s water to the fort, runs through the length of Rang Mahal, the central area of which has a large lotus-shaped pool. With three borders of floral inlay, the pool was laid with precious stones; their colors shimmered under the water and were reflected on the painted walls and the ceiling. The effect gave the building its popular name; rang means colour in Persian.

Built in nine years, the Red Fort has twice the area of Europe’s largest palace, the Escorial in Spain (The Delhi Walla has been there). Unlike the palace of the Bourbons, Red Fort’s material magnificence is lost. Samsam-ud-Daula, an 18th century author, wrote that the palace apartments had carpets “prepared in Kashmir and Lahore out of selected wool with great skill and taste… in every apartment were placed jeweled, gold enameled and plainly worked thrones.” The chambers had embroidered canopies, golden curtains, and silver-thread screens.

Today, Rang Mahal’s stone jaalis are broken, the plaster is flaking off the walls, the floor is stained with bird droppings, and the canal is dry. Ignore all this. The sweeps of the arches, the latticework of the windows, the carvings on the roof, the vestiges of the painted gold arabesques and the milky-white stones of the lotus-shaped pool (almost) succeed in summoning back the veiled life of Rang Mahal. For a while, the lost time is regained.

Where Opposite Chandni Chowk Time 9am to 5pm (Monday closed) Nearest Metro Station Chandni Chowk

Once upon a time…