# The Seven Cities of Delhi/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V
SIRI, TUGHLUKABAD, AND JAHANPANAH
Foundation of the three cities—Tughlukabad—Tomb of Tughlak Shah—The city—Khirki Mosque in Jahanpanah—Sat Palah—Tombs near Khirki—Roshan Chiragh Delhi—Bedi Mandal —Begampur—Shrine of Khwaja Nizam-ud-din AuHa—Adjacent buildings.
Map of Tughlukabad, p. 104.
Siri was built by Ala-ud-din in a.d. 1303. The site of this city is partially occupied by the village of Shahpur, but hardly anything of the walls remains, for they were removed by Sher Shah, to build the walls of his city. We know from the Memoirs of Timur that there were seven gates, of which three opened towards Jahanpanah, but we have mention in history of the name of only one, the Baghdad Gate, presumably one of those on the western side. The walls, we are told by Ibn Batuta, were seventeen feet in thickness, but only mounds of earth remain to mark their position. Inside this city there was a Palace of a Thousand Pillars, but ​this also has gone, and the only monument connected with the city which now exists is the Hauz Khas of Ala-ud-din, seldom visited, and worthy of no special mention.
Tughlukabad was founded by Tughlak Shah about A.D. 1321, and must have been constructed with great rapidity, for that monarch only lived until 1325, and no work can have been done after his death. The plan shows the walls and gates : what authority, other than tradition, the compilers had for the names of the gates is not known.
The walls of Jahanpanah were constructed, about A.D. 1328, by Mahomed Tughlak : there were six gates in the western wall, and seven in the eastern, but the name of one only survives, the Maidan Gate on the west, near an old idgah. The walls of this city also were removed by Sher Shah.
To Face p. 104.
​however, can be seen two forts which lie to the south of the city. The nearer was built by Mahomed Tughlak, and called the "City of the Just Man," an attribute to which he did not add that of "merciful." It is also called by his name.
Tomb of Tughlak Shah.—This lies about midway in the south-western side of the city, and opposite the citadel. It is built in a fortified enclosure, which was once surrounded by water, held up by a dam, thrown across the valley near Mahomedabad Fort. The Tartar was always careful to build his tomb during his lifetime, for he could never be sure of any one performing that office for him after his death; Tughlak had already built one tomb for himself in Multan. His habitual caution is shown by the fortification of a tomb built in a lake, but it is probable that he used this little fort as a summer house, and did not wish to be surprised outside the walls of his citadel.
The approach is by a causeway, under which the water has long ceased to ripple, and the openings in which have become silted up. The entrance to the enclosure is by a fine gateway, commanded by a bastion close by, and, even if the gate were forced, it would not be easy to get in alive, for there is a sharp turn, and the steps ​are open to attack from above. The masonry is magnificent, the stones with which the fort is built are very massive, and many must weigh five tons apiece; the walls slope from the top, and the whole effect is one of stern grandeur.
The interior of the fortified enclosure is raised, and is probably built above an outcrop of rock, or this may have been arranged to provide the height for the underground apartments. The shape of this fort is singularly irregular, and flanking defence was fully provided, by corner bastions. The parapet is raised, and the embrasures are rather curious, three upright stones forming two openings for fire, with a curved stone across the top to protect the head. One other feature in the surrounding walls must be noticed : Hindu pillars, lintels, and slabs are introduced in places, and thus break the monotony of the arcades below the parapet.
In the arcade to the left of the entrance there is a small grave, which is reputed to contain the bones of the favourite dog of Tughlak Shah; this is a wonderful tribute to that animal, when we remiember that dogs are considered unclean by Mahomedans. On the south side of the work there is a place for drawing up water from a shallow well sunk in the rock below. At the western corner of the pentagonal fort there have ​been preparations made for a tomb; this was to have been similar to one at the other corner, which contains the bones of a great minister of Tughlak Shah, and Is crowned by a marble dome. The underground apartments are approached from the arcades.
The kings tomb (see p. 193) is within the enclosure. Is massive and plain, but yet effective, with panels and a band of marble to break the monotony of the red sides. The marble facing of the dome was probably the first to be attempted, and is therefore not particularly well fitted. The chief feature of the exterior Is the tremendous "batter," or slope of the walls, a feature which is absent in the earlier tomb of Altamsh, or the Alai Gateway, but is characteristic of buildings of this period. Its introduction may have been due to experience of earthquakes. These walls are over eleven feet in thickness at the base and only four feet thick at the top. The interior Is plain. Above the pendentives to the dome, which are generally similar to those of the Alai Gate, are lozenge-shaped stones instead of brackets to support the upper course of the development of the circle, thirty-four feet in diameter.
There are three graves inside—those of the founder, his wife, and son Mahomed ibn Tughlak : in the grave of the latter were placed a number ​of deeds of acquittance, as mentioned in the history, on page 197.
KHIRKI MOSQUE.
To face p. 109.
​ It is sad indeed to see these Cyclopean walls rent asunder by pipal trees (the seeds of which have found shelter in the crevices), disintegrated by rain and wind, and fast being levelled with the dust. It may not be out of place to express a hope that the efforts of restorers may be directed to this city, founded so carefully on the solid rock, and deserving a better fate. Restoration will never make it habitable, on account of the want of water; so that there is no fear of incurring the wrath of the saint who cursed it. It would be most interestinor to see the citadel of this fourteenth-century city as it was ; this is not impossible of attainment, for the stones have not been removed to any great extent.
Khirki Mosque. — The village of Khirki lies just within the south-eastern wall of Jahanpanah, and the mosque is a very fine one. It was erected about a.d. 1380. In plan it is square, and within the encircling wall there is a colon- nade ; but the interior, instead of being left open, as other mosques of the time were, has arcades in the shape of a cross : four open courts are thus left. The roofs are supported by massive monolithic columns, which are the feature of mosque architecture of the period, but they are differently disposed. At each corner of the four ​open courts four columns are grouped together, and along the sides of the courts there are double columns, while the roofs of the surround- ing arcades are supported, sometimes by single, sometimes by double columns, but all symmetrically arranged ; the illustration gives a very good idea of the arrangement. The small sections thus formed are covered in by low vaults, but at each intersection of the arcades there are groups of nine domes rising from the fiat roof; there being nine such intersections, there are eighty-one domes, and the total is made up to eighty-five by the addition of four domes, one over each of the three entrance-gateways and the fourth over the prayer-niche to the west. The gateways and prayer-niche are flanked by sloping towers, similar to those at the Kalan Mosque. The windows in the outer walls are closed by heavy sandstone grilles. Hindu architecture is represented by heavy door lintels, and by the drip-stones around the courts supported by lintels on brackets, also shown in the illustration. Altogether this mosque is well worthy of an Inspection.
Sat Palah. — In the wall of Jahanpanah to the east of the village of Khirki there is a double- storied "regulator," of seven openings in each tier, through which were drawn off, from time to
SATI MONUMENTS NEAR TUGHLUKĀBĀD.
MOSQUE AND TOMB OF YUSUF KATĀL.
[To face p. 111.
​by the wall. The date of the erection of this was A.D. 1326, in the reign of Mahomed, son of Tughlak Shah.
Tomb of Shaikh Yusuf Katal, disciple of Kazi Jalal-ud-din, Lahori.—This lies just north of the village of Khirki, and dates from somewhere about A.D. 1500. It is a pretty little pavilion with a small dome supported by twelve pillars, which are filled in between by pierced red sandstone screens. It may have been taken as a pattern for the tomb of the Imam Zamin, near the Alai Gate, under the Kutb Minar. The drip-stones are carved to represent tiles, and encaustic tiling brightens the cornice round the dome. A ruined little mosque stands close by. From here a good view is obtained of the walled enclosure of Roshan Chiragh Delhi.
Tomb of Kabir-ud-din Aulia.—This building, of red sandstone, with marble decoration and sloping walls, resembles the tomb of Tughlak Shah; it stands a little to the north-west of the last-described building, and contains the remains of the son of Yusuf Katal. It is called the "Lal Gumbaz," or red dome.
Not far off, there is a small object which looks like a chance rearrangement of some stone pillars which had been found lying about; ​on the top is a stone, shaped somewhat like the half of a pumpkin. Below ground is a tiny cell, only three feet wide, and almost filled up with soil. This is declared to have been the abode, below by day, and above by night, of Kabir-ud-din Aulia, who is buried in the Lai Gumbaz; but one may be pardoned for being sceptical about this. Hard by there is a well, which bears the date of A.D. 1410.
To the north and east of this may be traced the ruins of the walls of Siri, and trees, half hidden, to the north, mark the village of Shahpur. The wall of Jahanpanah ran outside the enclosure of Roshan Chiragh Delhi.
Tomb of Bahlol Lodi.—About half a mile to the eastward of the tomb of Kabir-ud-din Aulia there is a mausoleum, built in the same style as that of Yusuf Katal; close to this is the rather roughly built tomb of the first of the Lodi dynasty. It has twelve doors, and five domes, and was probably the summer-house of the king during his lifetime. The garden round it has long since ceased to bloom, but water to irrigate it in abundance must once have flowed in the deep and sandy ravine, on the farther bank of which is the enclosure of Roshan Chirāgh Delhi. Bābar, in his Memoirs, mentions having visited ​the garden. Around the mausoleum there is now an extensive cemetery.
ROSHAN CHIRAGH DELHI.—This was the name given to one Nasir-ud-din Mahomed, disciple of Shaikh Nizam-ud-din Aulia, and successor of that saint; he died in 1356, his shrine was built by Firoze Shah in 1373, and the enclosure-wall was added by Mahomed Shah in 1729. The shrine resembles that of his master, and requires no description; it is not worth inspection.
BEGAMPUR MASJID.—A cross-country path skirts the village of Begampur, which contains two mosques, the larger of which takes its name from the village, and was built about the same time as those at Khirki and in Firozabad. Both mosques have numerous domes on the vaulted roofs. In the village there is also the Kalu Sarai, which has been much knocked about.
BEDI MANDAL.—The use of this building, which is close to Begampur on the west, cannot be exactly stated. It consists of a small room, with sloping exterior walls, on a high mound, which was once faced with masonry, and was built, most probably, in the reign of Mahomed Tughlak; Hindus, however, consider that it has a much greater antiquity. It may have been ​used as a watch-tower, or have formed part of the Palace of a Thousand Pillars; or, again, it may have been the building into the foundation of which many Moghal skulls were built, and have been a tower of Victory. But this is only speculation, and its original use will probably never be known.
SHRINE OF KHWAJA NIZAM-UD-DIN AULIA.—This group of buildings belongs to the time when Siri and Tughlukabad were being built, and is in the environs of the former, so will be described here.
In 1303 a great horde of Moghals, under Tarma Shirin, invested Delhi for some months, but suddenly broke up their camp, and retired. It was supposed that this was due to the efficacy of the prayers of this saint. He was the disciple of one Farid-ud-din, who was a disciple of Kutb-ud-din, who, in his turn, was the disciple of the famous saint of Ajmere, Muin-ud-din; his claim to saintliness was, therefore, a strong one. In these days, he is considered the greatest of them all. His differences with Tughlak Shah have already been mentioned; when Nizam-ud-din heard that the king was coming to chastise him, he calmly said, "Dilli hinoz dur ast" (" Delhi is yet a long way off ")—words which have become ​a proverb, for Tughlak never reached Delhi. General Sleeman, the great authority on the Thugs and principal exterminator of that garotting sect, mentions, as a significant fact, that Thugs, both Hindu and Mahomedan, worshipped at this shrine; but then they were peculiarly superstitious, and this may have meant little, although It is more than probable that Nizam-ud-din plotted against Tughlak Shah, and had a hand in his death. The descendants of the sister of Khwaja Nizam-ud-din are guardians of the shrine to this day, and are at all times exceedingly courteous; the father sheltered a number of European refugees from massacre in Delhi in 1857.
The shrine, as it is to-day, has been embellished by gifts from many generous Mahomedan kings and nobles. The date of the death of the saint is given on the front of the Jamatkhana Mosque close by, as A.D. 1325. This mosque was built by Firoze Shah in 1353; the centre dome of the five is no less than fifty-two feet in diameter, by far the biggest dome of that period.
JAHANARA BEGAM.—This princess is one of the attractive personages of Indian history. She was a firm supporter of her eldest brother, ​Dāra Shikoh—certainly a more attractive character than that nimazi " (that bigot"), as he called his brother Aurangzeb, who put him to death. Jahanara shared the captivity of her old deposed father until his death, and then came to Delhi, was received with favour by her brother, the Emperor Aurangzeb, lived here fifteen years, and died in 1681.
The full text of the inscription on her headstone runs as follows:—
"Except (with) grass and green things let not my tomb be covered; for grass is all-sufficient pall for the graves of the poor. The fakir, the transitory one, Jahanara Begam, disciple of the saintly family of Chisti, daughter of Shahjahan, may God illumine his intentions."
It will be remembered that the Emperor Akbar regarded Salim Chisti of Sikri with great respect, even naming his eldest son after him. Salim Chisti also was a spiritual descendant of Muin-ud-din of Ajmere.
Tomb of Shams-ud-din Mahomed, Ghaznavi, Taga Khan, Azam Khan.—When Humayun was defeated at Kanauj, by Sher Khan, he escaped across the Ganges, but would have been drowned had not a soldier extended a hand to him and saved him; that soldier was the noble ​who here lies buried. He accompanied Humayun throughout his wanderings, and his wife was one of the foster-mothers of Akbar; consequently that emperor held him in high esteem. Akbar appointed Shams-ud-din Chancellor of the Empire; after the latter was murdered by Adham Khan, in a manner to be related, Akbar continued his favour to the sons and relatives of this noble, who were known, by the jealous, as the "tribe of foster-brothers."
The mausoleum is decorated, both outside and in, with plaster and mosaic, and the floor is laid with black-and-white marble stars ; marble appears in much of the other decoration, and the dome is overlaid with the same material. There are three graves within, those of Shams-ud-din, his wife, and his brother; the mausoleum was erected by his son, Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, who built the Hall of Sixty-four Pillars close by.