DELHI The City That Would Not Die: Jahanpanah

The story of Delhi, the capital of India, is not just the story of one city, but of at least eight (recorded and recognised) capital cities that shifted locations through the ages, finally settling down at the current location as the ninth capital of India. It has been the site of a succession of seats of empires, whose remains can still be seen in the current city of Delhi.

Jahanpanah. Illustrated by Miloni Munipally: Visual Storyteller at ThisDay

Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq built Tughlaqabad. After his death, his son Muhammad-bin- Tughlaq took over the capital in 1325, but soon abandoned it in 1327. The water of Tughlaqabad was brackish, and the heat was intense, which made life difficult. So, Muhammad moved to the modest fort of Adilabad on a hill to the south of Tughlaqabad, the ruins of which can still be seen along with the remnants of a much smaller Nai-ka- Kot or barber’s fortress built 700m away from Adilabad fort.

Thereafter, Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq decided to build another capital city by the name of Jahanpanah, meaning ‘refuge of the world’. The fortified city of Jahanpanah stretched from Qutub to about three miles to the north, connecting the walls of Qila Rai Pithora, Siri and Tughlaqabad. On the western side lay the great tank of Hauz-e-Khas, meant exclusively for the use of royalty and other noblemen. On the east, covering the area between Jahanpanah and Tughlaqabad, existed a lake, some of the sluice gates of which are still identifiable today.

To the south lay a rocky terrain, presumably used by the nobles for their sports. Sultan’s royal palace occupied the heart of the new capital city. The remains of the palace, generally referred to as Bijai Mandal, are still visible. Within the precincts of the palace, a big hall of public audience, some private apartments, baths, ladies chambers, as well as as a tower from where the Sultan reviewed his troops, have been identified.

Excavations have also revealed some gold coins from south India acquired during Sultan Alaudin’s reign. They were the first south Indian coins found in north India. Begampur Masjid, near Shivalik Enclave next to Malviya Nagar, the second largest mosque in the city after Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid, is a splendid surviving example of the magnificence of the architecture of those times. The close proximity of this mosque to Bijai Mandal suggests it to be a royal congregational mosque, supplemented by the evidence of a passageway connecting the mosque to the palace complex.

Moroccan scholar and explorer Ibn Batuta, who visited the Indian subcontinent in 1334- 42, has given a vivid account of the magnificence and the expanse of Jahanpanah. Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was the wealthiest Muslim ruler in the world at that time, having spread Delhi Sultanate to most of the Indian subcontinent. He patronised various scholars, qazis and wazirs in order to consolidate his rule. In fact, impressed by Ibn Batuta’s studies in Mecca, the Sultan appointed him as a qazi (judge) in his own court.

Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq chose Deogiri (in the present state of Maharashtra), renaming it Daulatabad, as his second capital. It was convenient to administer northern as well as southern parts of his kingdom from here. A mass shifting from Jahanpanah to Daulatabad was ordered. This did not go well with the people. They naturally resented leaving their homes, fields and trades behind. Many died while undertaking such a long journey. The Sultan soon realised his folly and ordered a return to Jahanpanah.

Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq aspired to conquer Babylon, Persia as well as China, but failed due to lack of resources and subsequent rebellion of his army. In a desperate attempt to fill his treasury again, he levied high taxes which increased the discontent further. Revolts against the Sultan began to brew, and over time resulted in the overall shrinking of the geographical reach of his empire. His expensive adventures emptied the treasury and eccentric economic policies caused a collapse in the revenues.

The Sultan died in March 1351 on his way to Sindh (now in Pakistan). Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was a refined scholar, with interest in subjects like philosophy, metaphysics, medicine, mathematics and poetry. Though a man of striking originality, he was extremely impatient, which reflected in his economic policies that failed due to lack of preparation. His nature of gifting lavishly and punishing excessively earned him the epithet of an eccentric king. However, he did extend the empire to great heights and no sovereign of Delhi until the time of Aurangzeb had ruled so vast a territory as Mohammad had done.

One of his contributions still visible today is a remarkable water harvesting dam called Satpula, located at about 800 metres east of Khirkee Masjid, close to Saket on the Press Enclave road. Khirkee Masjid is located in the heart of Saket’s dense high-rise housing complexes. The enormous and imposing mosque is one of the best preserved Tughlaq dynasty monuments in Delhi. An integral part of the southern wall of Jahanpanah, the double-storey Satpula dam has two sluices on each end and seven sluices in the centre at a much lower level.

At either ends are also fortified bastions with octagonal rooms with passageways and stairs. Satpula was built to tap the water of the local stream on the southern Delhi ridge feeding the Yamuna river as well as regulate the flow of rain water to help irrigate large areas of arid land in the vicinity. The stream that once flowed through Satpula was diverted further east long ago, leaving a site that can be explored on foot. The area that once was a reservoir has silted up and now functions as a park for the locals to play. The well-known mausoleum of Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya at Nizamuddin is also a part of Jahanpanah.

The main structure of the mausoleum was built by Muhammad- bin-Tughlaq after the Sufi saint passed away in 1325. The remnants of Jahanpanah’s wall are mostly concentrated in south Delhi, between Siri and Qutub Minar. Do look around carefully, next time you visit IIT Delhi, Adchini, Aurobindo Ashram, Panchsheel Enclave, Sadhana Enclave, Press Enclave or Malviya Nagar… This is a very brief account of the fourth city of Delhi… you can discover much more by walking through the above mentioned areas leisurely.

You can check out the books written by Sunita Pant Bansal here.