Visit to Hauz Khas

Being a hard core trekker, my feet were itching for some good exercise after the trek to Har Ki Dun in May 2010. Was browsing through the net and found an organization called Delhi Heritage Walks dealing with such walks in Delhi. Though I am not particularly very keen on monuments but did well in my History at School, could remember the various rulers, dates, etc. Thought this will be a good idea to give my feet some exercise at the same time will help brush up my long forgotten History of old Indian dynasties, rulers and architecture.

I booked myself on a walk through the Hauz Khas village, literally translated into an “important water Tank”. It was a Saturday and didn’t want to take my car out so took the Metro to Green Park. This is the closest metro station to visit Hauz Khas. It was getting late for the rendezvous at the deer park gate so hurriedly took an auto and paid Rs25/-. Reached the gate at about 3:25pm and found a very young crowd, all participants in the walk. There were some journalists, architects, photographers, tourists.

We waited for two more of the participants and started the walk at about 3:35pm. The entry is not from the deer park gate but further down the road. Very inconspicuous gate, would have missed the entry but for the guide.

Hauz Khas was initially built as a water reservoir by Allauddin Khilji in the 13th century. The water from this reservoir was used to supply water to the inhabitants of the village. Later the king Ferozeshah Tughlak renovated it, built the madrasa and a beautiful garden. He also built his tomb which has a unique enclosure bounded by stone structures adjoining the tomb. I was surprised at the massive size of the water tank filled with water. We could see some birds near the lake and a fountain in the middle.

There were mosques in the premises. There we could see some very small rooms with a small ventilators, couldn’t figure out what it was. Looks more like meditation sites.

After visiting the garden, the ‘class rooms’ of the madrasa we entered the deer park and visited more of the historical ruins. There were structures called “Kali ghumbaz”, “Tohfa Ghumbaz” and many more. The park was without the deer (I understand they were kept in enclosures) but heavily wooded. It was beautiful to walk through the park. Never knew such a thing existed right in the middle of the city.

After a 1.5 hrs walk a bit tired but felt good and took an e-rick to the metro. Costed me Rs15/-

We were allowed to take pictures and you can see (above) some of them.