The neighborhood of Mehrauli is a delight for a lover of history, for someone who revels in looking under the multiple layers of time. Mehrauli is the area where the first cities of Delhi came up & even when the capital shifted this area was never abandoned. Which means that as dynasties came & went, politics changed, the river shifted course, Mehrauli continued to be inhabited. So understanding the development in Mehrauli, its changes, helps us understand Delhi. (more…)

Tughluqabad is one of the most popular heritage trails on our calendar & we conducted it twice this winter on popular demand. The massive fortifications of the city of Tughluqabad are visible from the Mehrauli Badarpur Road, but nothing prepares you for the sight inside. The Tughluqs built like giants-& this is evident in the remains of this city. As far as the eye goes, it is a landscape of bare, (more…)

Our heritage walk to Tughluqabad is one of the most awaited events. It always gets a large crowd, last year we had 55 people, this year, 62. And winters are the perfect time to visit this massive site. There is large area to be explored, and walking here is almost a mini trek, with its rocky terrain & ruins almost consumed by vegetation. Add to it the reputation of its builders, the dynasty of the Tughluqs & the notorious tiff between the rulers & Nizamuddin Auliya, the revered Chishti sufi saint, which led to the site & the dynasty being cursed. (more…)

This was the last walk of the year & it gets colder every day! Still, there is nothing like walking through the ruins of Delhi to get warmed up. Our heritage walk this weekend was at Lodi Garden. Originally known as Bagh-i-Jud, it was a selected by medieval kings for the royal burials because of its close proximity to a dargah of a revered Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. The garden came up as a part of re-landscaping done during colonial rulers who named the garden as Lady Willingdon Park named after the wife of then Governor General. (more…)

There are many a legends about the city of Tughluqabad and the Sultans after whom it is named. As one approaches the fort, our first impressions are of colossal grandeur! The fort’s boundary walls carry on a great distance along Mehrauli Badarpur Road; they are about 4 miles in perimeter & its massive bastions looking formidable. Our heritage walk in Tughluqabad was almost a small trek with a dash of adventure. Many parts of Tughluqabad fort are completely ruined and covered with their own rubble & vegetation and our heritage walk explored the hidden features like the underground granaries, the palace area to the north and the royal escape route built into the fort wall!

The ruins of Tughluqabad are frozen in time. The city was abandoned shortly after it was built, after which there was no substantial settlement here, except a small one in the late Mughal period. Continue Reading This Post