Sultan Ghari
My brother, a great historian told me once that I remember
the dates of historical events better than him, of course he was being modest
at that. My liking or disliking for
History is due to our schooling, as you know schools and teachers play a great
role in molding a man. I did like it and was good at drawing up the physical
domains of each of the dynasty’s. I don’t know beyond that and wanted to brush
up my history a little as I have more spare time, see I am a not-tired
‘retiree’ so have a lot of energy and time.
Luckily the group called INTACH (The Indian National Trust
for Art and Cultural Heritage) keeps conducting what are called ‘Heritage
Walks’, visits to some of the historical monuments in around Delhi NCR.
It was March, end of the winter and was getting hotter. I
looked up their calendar of walks and found one such walks to Sultan Ghari on
24th March 2013. I booked for this walk. I had done a few walks before
with INTACH. They have very knowledgeable walk leaders, well versed with the
background information about the monuments. They have clear diction and
communication. I got the directions from their website and realized it is the
same monument which I used to see every time I pass through Mahipalpur near
Vasant Kunj. I used to wonder about this and no one could tell me till 24th
March!
Shams-ud-din Iltumish was the third ruler of the slave
dynasty and was earlier a slave to Qutb-ud-din Aibak. He later married Aibak’s daughter and after
Aibak’s death dethroned Aram Shah to become the ruler. He had three sons and a daughter but developed
his eldest son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud to be his successor. Nasiruddin was a good
ruler but unfortunately dies a premature death. Iltumish constructed a tomb in
his remembrance in village Malakapur near Vasant Kunj. This place is called
Sultan Ghari.
Sultan Ghari
The entrance to Sultan Ghari is like the gate of a Fortress
and we walk into a courtyard like area with stone walls and an octagonal
construction in the middle. This happens to be the structure housing the tomb
of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud the saintly ruler. The entrance to this tomb is through
a narrow passage like that of a cave, hence the name ‘Ghari’.
We go down this
narrow twisting stairs to the tomb area. There are no lights and the only light
was the one coming through the entrance. Besides the tomb of Nasir-ud-din there
are two smaller tombs which were not identified. I was told that the actual
tomb is always underground with some sort of external structure above the tomb.
This tomb of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was considered a dargah of
a saintly ‘peer’ and devotees of both Muslim and Hindu communities visit this
place especially on every Thursday. A
visit to this tomb is almost mandatory for all newly weds from the villages of
Mahipalpur and Rangpur.
The whole place looks like a fortress with a courtyard and
the tomb at the centre. The architecture is more of Persian and at places have
some architecture from Hindu temples like the Lotus flower at the base of
pillars. There seems to be some On the west side there is the Qibla with marble
architecture and some inscriptions from the Quran.
The tomb was renovated by Firoz Shah Tuglaq. Outside this
Sultan Ghari but in the vicinity is a Chhatri, a tomb of another son of
Iltumish.
The famous woman warrior Razia Sultan is the daughter of Iltumish who was given the reins as a
ruler as other two brothers were incapable of ruling.
For more information see Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ghari
There are so many heritage sites within Delhi NCR which
being in Delhi never had time to visit.
I suggest that we can all take some time off to relive the
history and realize how and what all good the rulers have done in their times.
This can be done by participating in Heritage Walks organized by INTACH which
charges just Rs200 per walk.
Our walk Leader was Ms Jaya Basera
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