‘On the day of separation from you in helplessness and loneliness nothing consoles us but the sorrow we feel for you.

O Jamali, resort for protection to the door of the friend, for our refuge is the door of the beloved!’

There lie many a stories behind the picturesque ruins in Mehrauli. Delhi is well known as a historic city & within Delhi, Mehrauli is a minefield of historical & archaeological data. Our heritage walk in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park covers some stunning monuments which have incredible stories behind them! The above verse was penned by Maulana Jamali, a sufi & poet whose mosque & tomb gives the park its local name, Jamali-Kamali. (more…)

Our restlessness in your love has passed beyond bounds, our hope is that you will pity our weeping.

How could your pardon be known, had we not shown ourselves guilty!

These are verses penned by Jamali, a traveler and poet who lived in the 16^th century. Today his name lives on as an area in Mehrauli called ‘Jamali Kamali’ or the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. Our heritage walk in this park covers some very interesting landmarks of Indian history. We start our heritage trail near Balban’s tomb. The area around the tomb was recently excavated to reveal a courtyard and some rooms and grave platforms. (more…)

On the day of separation from you in helplessness and loneliness, nothing consoles us but the sorrow we feel for you.

O Jamali! Resort to the door of the friend, for our refuge is the door of the beloved.

These are verses by poet & traveller, Sheikh Fazlullah, who went by the pen name Jamali. And his name lives on today…the park where our heritage walk was organized is locally known as Jamali Kamali. Officially, the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, very few know it by that name. Our group of 20 odd met at the entrance to the Park and began exploring. The Mehrauli Archaeological Park is a minefield of archaeological remains! Everywhere the eye goes, there are remains of historic settlements, some almost devoured by vegetation. Continue Reading This Post

The Mehrauli Archaeological Park is one of the best areas to explore in Delhi. Located on the Aravallis, this area is extremely rich in history. Being the longest inhabited region of Delhi, the Mehrauli area has seen settlements for a thousand years now. This is where the first cities of Delhi came up, and even when the capital moved to other locations, Mehrauli continued to be inhabited. So this area is practically littered with monumental remains.

Our heritage walk starts at the entrance to the park. We walk towards a gateway, which gives way to a clearing. Continue Reading This Post

We started a bit later than the decided time: no one reached on time as no one seemed to know where the place was. Add to it the traffic jams in south Delhi and the result was a delay of good forty minutes. In fact, the first person to reach could do so only because he rode a bicycle and not a motor vehicle! Everyone complained that there is no signage to direct visitors to the park, until one of us pointed out the broken sandstone slab with the park’s name on it, lying on the ground. It was unanimously decided that this was in keeping with the ‘archaeological’ nature of the park and promptly stopped complaining!

A patch of land near the meeting point has been recently excavated. This is adjacent to Balban’s tomb. They have discovered a stone floor, a few cell-like structures and some graves. A couple of months back, this space was completely covered with vegetation and rocks. Now it is just ruins and heaps of mud. It is amazing to see how archaeological excavations alter an area. Continue Reading This Post