Hauz Khas village today is one of Delhi’s urban villages. It is today known for its cafés & designer shops. There are art galleries, curio shops as well as some selling antiques. The famous Deer Park is also in the same village. It is a large patch of greenery almost surprising the first time visitor with its variety of trees & the large area. Hidden among all this a medieval tank & a madrasa, going back to the 14^th century. (more…)

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 ruins in Hauz Khas are one of the most amazing sites in Delhi. Tucked away behind the numerous shops in Hauz Khas village, this magnificent monument reveals itself slowly to us as we approach it. The ruins around of are that of the madrasa founded by Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq in the 14^th century. It is built on the edge of the tank, which supplied water to the capital city of Siri. It was built by Alauddin Khalji, the ruler of Siri, who called it Hauz i Alai. Later, Firuz Shah repaired it and called it the Hauz Khas. The madrasa is a double storeyed structure, the colonnaded halls probably being lecture halls. At the junction of the two wings of the madrasa is Firuz Shah’s tomb. It has been recently repaired; however, one of the graves in the chamber was badly damaged yet again. Continue Reading This Post

Hauz Khas is one of the historic neighbourhoods in Delhi. The locality gets its name from the reservoir, Hauz i Alai, built by Alauddin Khalji for his capital city of Siri. About 50 years after Alauddin Khalji, Firuz Shah Tughluq restored the dried-up tank, built his own tomb and madrasa along its edge and called it Hauz Khas or ‘royal tank’. The madrasa complex is impressive even after more than 6 centuries. The tank, in a much altered state, still holds some water. The complex has remains of assembly halls, small-cell like rooms, a mosque and several tombs which probably of prominent members of the madrasa. Firuz Shah’s tomb stands at the junction of the 2 wings of the madrasa. Parts of the monument complex, including Firuz Shah’s tomb is currently undergoing restoration work by Archaeological Survey of India. This heritage walk covers monuments in Hauz Khas village and the adjacent Deer Park. There are 3 prominent monuments in the Deer Park: Lodi period tomb called Bagh i Alam ka Gumbad, and two Tughluq period tombs, the Kali Gumti and the Tuhfewala gumbad. Bagh i Alam ka Gumbad is much like the Lodi tombs in Lodi Garden. Continue Reading This Post

The ruins in Hauz Khas village are among the most fascinating in Delhi. The neighbourhood gets its name from the reservoir, ‘hauz i alai’ built by Sultan Alauddin Khalji in early 14^th century, for his capital city of Siri. About 50 year after Khalji, Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq restored the silted up tank, built a madrasa along its edge and called it the ‘hauz khas’. The massive madrasa complex along the lake was among the most important in the Islamic world in the 14^th century. A contemporary poet wrote in its praise:

The courtyard was soul-animating, and its expanse was life-giving. Its dusk was musk-scented, and its fragrance possessed the odour of amber…Nightingales, so to say, were singing their melodious songs everywhere. It appeared, as if they had guitars in their talons and flutes in their beaks.

Today, the view is equally grand. Continue Reading This Post