Delhi Sightseeing Notes
DELHI
Delhi is a massive metropolis, at last count at least 17 million people, rapidly on the move with infrastructure projects (highways, metros, and airport) gearing for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. It also has an enormously enchanting past that should be remembered as you negotiate its rapid expansion and urbanisation, maddening crowds and chaotic traffic.
It has been the capital city for so many of India's rulers that every bit of its landscape speaks of a glorious past. It is indeed the city that symbolizes India's myriad and turbulent history. The Mughal emperor Shahjahan built the city, now known as "Old Delhi", to serve as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government.
One of the best ways to appreciate the city’s conundrums and complexities is by reading William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. Published in 1994, his book is a mesmerizing exploration of the many dynasties that have reigned through the city interwoven with his contemporary journey living in the city over a year and describing the quirkiness of its inhabitants.
Delhi is so vast, it requires patience to discover its beguiling qualities and many contrasts from the labyrinthine, impossibly densely populated streets of Old Delhi and its Mughal past to the vast and treed imperial avenues of New Delhi. Surprisingly there are quiet pockets midst the mayhem, secluded parks and gardens, out of the way shopping precincts, exclusive residential zones.
SIGHTSEEING IN DELHI
New Delhi
New Delhi is a monument to British Imperial ambitions solidly set in a city so fluid that it took less than 20 years for the planned municipality to be historically obsolete. Under architect Edward Lutyens, New Delhi was to encapsulate the spirit of British sovereignty in marble, stone and grandeur.
The scale of the city and its wide ceremonial avenues echoed Moghul architecture, but the buildings are classical in design and only faintly Indian. The result is spacious and palatial and, compared to many planned cities, still remarkably useable despite its large unshaded areas.
Highlights include the India Gate, a solemn monument built in memory of the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War I, The Presidents Palace, Rashtrapati Bhavan, (formerly Viceroy House) and the Indian Parliament built in 1931, designed by Lutyens.
The Red Fort, Delhi
The red sandstone walls of the massive Red Fort (Lal Qila) rise 33m (108ft) above the clamour of 'Old' Delhi as a reminder of the magnificent power and pomp of the Moghul emperors. The fort's main gate, the Lahore Gate, is one of the emotional and symbolic focal points of the modern Indian nation and attracts a major crowd each Independence Day. It is named for the fact that it faces Lahore in Pakistan. It's entrance leads to Delhi's most crowded bazaar, Chandni Chowk, that must be seen and experienced to be believed!
The walls, built in 1638, may have been designed to keep out invaders, but today they mainly keep out the noise and confusion of the city, making the fort and its gardens and pavilions a peaceful haven from the surrounding chaos.
The Red Fort, with a circumference of over 2.2 kilometres, was laid out by the banks of the Yamuna river in the 17th century. The Mughal emperor Shajahan built it with the ambition of concentrating the Mughal power in one monument. Unfortunately for the emperor, before he could move his capital from Agra to Shahjahanabad in Delhi, he was taken a political prisoner by his son Aurangazeb.
Humayun's Tomb
Built in the mid-16th century by the senior wife of the second Mughal emperor, this is the first important example of Mughal architecture in India. It's also one of the most beautiful buildings in the city and should not be missed. The elements of its design are echoed in the later Taj Mahal.
It comprises a squat building with high arched entrances topped by a bulbous dome and surrounded by formal gardens. The gardens also contain the red-and-white sandstone and black-and-yellow marble tomb of Humayun's wife and, somewhat surprisingly, the tomb of Humayun's barber.
Qutub Minar, Delhi
The highest stone tower in India, the Qutub Minar was built by Qutbuddin Aibak, the viceroy of Mohammed Ghori in 1192. It was built to celebrate Ghori's victory over the Rajputs. The tower and the victory are very significant, because both heralded the birth of a new dynasty - Slave Dynasty. And it laid the foundations of the Delhi Sultanate.
The Minar is a five-storey building with a height of 72.5 metres. The first storey of the Qutb Minar was completed in the lifetime of Qutbuddin. His son-in-law and successor, Iltumush, added the next three storeys.
Within the complex, is the famous Iron Pillar that has stood for millennia without rusting, Quwwat-ul-Islam, the first mosque built in India, and the Alai Darwaza, the gateway to the complex erected by Alauddin Khilji.
Iron Pillar: a 7.2 metre high pillar, standing within the Qutb Minar complex, is a proof of India's advanced knowledge of metallurgy 2000 years ago and was erected sometime between the 4th and 5th century AD as a Dhavaja-stambha (flagpole) of a Vishnu temple.
Jama Masjid
Near the Red Fort, the great mosque of 'Old' Delhi is the largest in India, with a courtyard capable of holding 25,000 devotees. It was built in 1644 and was the last in the series of architectural indulgences of Shah Jahan, the Moghul emperor who also built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.
The highly decorative mosque has three great gateways, four towers and two 40m (135ft) high minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and white marble. Travellers arriving bare-legged can hire robes at the northern gate. This may be the only time you get to dress like a local without feeling like a prat, so make the most of the hallowed atmosphere.
Lodi Gardens - great if you are seeking some peace and quiet away from the mayhem of the busy streets and wish to go a for a walk or jog.
In these well maintained gardens are the domed tombs of Sayyid and Lodi rulers. This garden is known for its fountains, ponds, flowering trees, blossoming shrubs and artificial streams. Claridges hotel is nearby as is Khan Market.
National Museum
The National Museum is another interesting spot located very close to India Gate. The museum has a rich variety of all facets of ancient Indian history and also of central Asia. It provides a fascinating journey of what ancient India was all about: pottery, rare coins, art and architecture, costumes.
On the right of Rajpath at Janpath is National Museum or Yadughar with collections from Mahenjadaro, Harappa, Lothal, Kalibangan and antiques of prehistorical periods.
The collections of Indus civilization, Brahminical, Jain and Buddhist sculptural antiques are all represented, as well as paintings of Mughal, Rajput, Deccan periods.
National Gandhi Museum, run by a private foundation, which houses a great many photographs, a display of spinning wheels with some information on Gandhi's khadi (handmade cotton) crusade, and some of the Mahatma's personal effects, including the blood-stained dhoti he was wearing at the time of his murder.
Indira Memorial Museum
Another national museum at 1 Safdarjung Rd in memorium of Indira Gandhi, on May 27, 1985. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own body guard on 31 Oct, 1984.
National Gallery of Modern Art
Located in the Jaipur House near India Gate. The building was the palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur. It has around 4,000 paintings of modern artists and also includes graphics and sculpture.
Gandhi Smriti Museum
Mohandas K. Gandhi, better known as Mahatma (Great Soul), lived a life of voluntary poverty, but he did it in some attractive places. It was in this huge colonial bungalow, designed by a French architect for Indian industrialist G. D. R. Birla that Gandhi was staying as a guest when he was assassinated on his way to a prayer meeting in the back garden. Gandhi's bedroom is just as he left it, with his "worldly remains" (only 11 items, including his glasses and a walking stick) mounted on the wall. Pictures and text tell the story of Gandhi's life and the Independence movement; there's also a collection of dioramas depicting events in Gandhi's life. In the theatre, 10 different documentaries are available for viewing, on request. Take off your shoes before entering the sombre prayer ground in back; an eternal flame marks the very spot where Gandhi expired. This, not the National Gandhi Museum at Raj Ghat, is the government's official museum dedicated to the great sage and is most moving, specially when visited on the anniversary of his death, 30 January.
Chandni Chowk Old Delhi
The main street of 'Old' Delhi is a magnificent bazaar and as fine a monument to congestion, colour and chaos as you'll find in India today. In Shah Jahan's day, it was endowed with fine mansions, had a tree-lined canal flowing down its centre and was renowned throughout Asia; today it's jam-packed with artisans, traders and auto-rickshaws and comprises a fantastic cocktail of stench, movement, uproar and fumes. There's a Jain temple at the street's eastern end, near the Red Fort; at the western end is the Fatehpuri Mosque, built by one of Shah Jahan's wives in 1650. Streets are themed: spices, wedding decorations, dairy products....
Best seen on a bicycle rickshaw!