The Mehrauli Archaeological Park is one of the least known and yet, most interesting places in the city of Delhi. It is the poorer cousin of the Qutb Complex, adjacent to it, which is a World Heritage Site. The ruins in this Mehrauli park stretch all the way up to Andheria More. Our heritage walk this Sunday covers a small part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. There is a small clearing near the entrance to the park, beyond a gateway, which is a recent site of archaeological excavations. If we were here a little more than a year ago, the ground level was at least a feet higher and covered with vegetation. Now, one can see parts of rooms, some graves which are visible after excavations. There are probably remains of a settlement built around a courtyard. Balban’s tomb stands right next to it. A completely ruined structure, the main chamber of the tomb doesn’t even have the grave of the ruler for whom, it was built. Continue Reading This Post

Here are some pictures capturing details from our heritage walk at Qutb Complex on 2 October 2011. Vinay is a regular at our walks.

‘Keele to dheeli bhai, Tomara bhaya mat heen’

This couplet referring to the Iron Pillar in the Qutb Complex is one of the popular stories on how Delhi was named. Our heritage walk at the Qutb Complex explored similar interesting nuggets on Delhi and its history. Delhi is known for its capital cities, and it all started here in the Mehrauli area where the Qutb stands today. The first cities of Delhi, the Lal Kot, Qila Rai Pithora and then capital of the Turks were all here. The Complex also has the first congregation mosque, the Jami Masjid, which is popularly known as the Quwwat ul Islam mosque. It is distinctive for the reuse of material taken from temples, used to create the cloisters of the mosque. Some of the pillars have mason’s marks on them giving numbers to the pillars.

In the courtyard stands the famous Iron Pillar. Continue Reading This Post

It was a lovely morning when the students and teachers of Delhi Public School, Gurgaon joined us at the Qutb complex for a heritage walk. They were students of humanities from class 11 and 12 accompanied by their Principal, Ms Aditi Misra and two senior teachers, Ms Lisa and Ms Sapna Dhawan. There was slight drizzle and breeze which made it fun to walk around the monuments. There were 4 of us from Delhi Heritage Walks: Chhavi, Divya, Kanika and Vijaya to interact with the students.

The Qutb Minar needs little introduction, so we tried to discuss the lesser known details about the complex. What is today the entrance to the site is actually part of a serai dating to the late-Mughal time. Our first stop was the Quwwat ul Islam mosque, built from material taken from temples. Some of the students had visited an active mosque earlier, so they were familiar with Islamic religious practices; others were quick to note how the sculptures were disfigured. Continue Reading This Post