(Nirmal Dayani is a regular at Delhi Heritage Walks)

‘pictures of 1857 heritage walk at Kashmiri Gate, by Anirudh Singh Rawat‘

Photographs of heritage walk at Hauz Khas covering the monuments in Hauz Khas village & Deer Park. The monument is a madrasa built by Firuz Shah Tughluq & includes his own tomb. It is built on the edge of the Hauz I Alai, the tank created by Alauddin Khalji for his capital city of Siri. Firuz Shah renamed it Hauz Khas. Continue Reading This Post

The rebellion of 1857 is well known in Indian history. 1857 was the largest uprising anywhere against the British and Indians call it the first war of Independence, the Uprising or the simply the rebellion. For the other side, the British, it remains the Mutiny. After suppressing the rebellion, India was brought directly under the rule of the British Crown. Delhi was one of the biggest centers of the 1857 rebellion and our heritage walk in the northern ridge explores some of the sites where events of 1857 unfolded.

The first stop on our heritage trail is the Flagstaff tower. A look out space, it would have been one of the highest points on the ridge. This is where European men, women and children took shelter when they escaped the city of Shahjahanabad, away from the attacking rebels. They waited for help and when none came they moved further to Karnal. Now the area is surrounded by trees but photographs of 1858 show this land to be barren, with the Flagstaff tower standing lonely at this height. There was a photographer, Felice Beato who travelled around the country photographing the sites of the rebellion in the year 1858. His photos are a telling account of the situation then, and help us imagine it as we see those very sites today.

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The walk this Sunday came after a long break for me…I returning to doing heritage walks after a while…so a new start with gleaming new faces.. With a group of 20, our heritage walk started from the Nicholson’s Cemetery, a hidden historic gem of the city.  Here the graves-big n small decorated with red stone and marble are photographers’ favourite. Across the road crossing the metro line -( where once stood the wall demarcating Shahjahanabad from the outer ridge area) we reached premises of Kashmiri gate. Cannon ball marks from 1857 battles are still prominent around the gate which initially had a single entrance n later made 2 gateways by the by British official – Major Smith.  All major war strategies of 1857 were made by Indians from here. We moved along locating Fakhr-ul-Masajid built in memory of Shujaat Khan (commander under Aurangzeb) in 1728-29. Next to the mosque are famous old buildings of the Hindu College and St. Stephen’s College. Continue Reading This Post