by phileasfogg

New Delhi, India

December 21, 2010

Best of IgoUgo Among the most intriguing of Delhi’s medieval emperors was the 14th century ruler, Firuz Shah Tughlaq. Like his predecessors and his successors, Firuz Shah too built a city of his own, with its palaces and mosques and citadel (FiruzShah Kotla, today ...Read more Among the most intriguing of Delhi’s medieval emperors was the 14th century ruler, Firuz Shah Tughlaq. Like his predecessors and his successors, Firuz Shah too built a city of his own, with its palaces and mosques and citadel (FiruzShah Kotla, today lending its name to Delhi’s main cricket stadium). Unlike most other rulers, however, Firuz Shah was also something of a conservationist: he spent a lot of time and effort in repairing and adding to earlier structures. The Qutb Minar, for example, owes two of its storeys to Firuz Shah. Firuz Shah also carried out a number of building projects. One of the finest of these is the Hauz Khas (‘imperial tank’).

Hauz Khas is today known more as a somewhat posh market, with designer showrooms, antique shops and specialty restaurants. Go beyond those, walking till the end of the Hauz Khas Village, and you’ll enter the area occupied by Firuz Shah’s hauz (‘water tank’, actually an artificial lake), the madarsa that surrounds it, and Firuz Shah’s tomb.

Although Timur attributed the construction of the tank to Firuz Shah, it had originally been dug out by an earlier ruler, Allauddin Khalji, in 1295 AD. The tank used to fill up every year during the monsoon. When Firuz Shah Tughlaq built the madarsa in about 1354 AD, the tank was supposedly vast enough to serve the needs of the madarsa for a full year, from just the rainwater it contained.

This complex is on two levels: at ground level—at the same level as the Hauz Khas Village Market—is the madarsa and Firuz Shah’s tomb. Below that, connected to the upper level through several staircases, is the watertank. The madarsa spreads out on two sides above the tank; at the corner, overlooking the watertank, is the domed tomb of Firuz Shah. The very fact that Firuz Shah Tughlaq built his tomb within the grounds of his madarsa is probably proof enough of his love for education!

Firuz Shah’s tomb is square, topped with a dome, and decorated with sparse red sandstone carving, and incised plaster. The interior of the dome has some pretty painted plaster, in blues and reds. The yard in front of the tomb has an unusual feature: a white marble railing that is more reminiscent of the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi than anything else.

Stretching out on either side of Firuz Shah’s tomb are the wings of his beloved madarsa, a school of higher learning that was one of the major madarsas of the eastern hemisphere and attracted scholars from as far away as Baghdad. The buildings of the madarsa are made largely of rubble, grey Delhi quartzite and plaster, and have battered walls (sloping from a broad base to a narrower top), square columns, and sparse ornamentation. The college included both living cells for scholars and masters, as well as rooms for their studies.

Other than the classrooms and the living quarters, the madarsa also had an assembly hall or majlis khaana, a long pillared gallery which you can still see near the entrance of the complex. Nearby is the mosque of the madarsa). Some of these are simple gravestones; others are more ornate, domed pavilions.

From the upper level, you can climb down one of the staircases that lead to the watertank below. Do be careful when you go down the stairs: they don’t have railings, and are steep and broken in places. If you’re nervous about descending this way, you can take the longer path around—back through Hauz Khas Village Market, into the Hauz Khas Deer Park, and through there.

Initially known as the Hauz-e-Alai (after Alauddin Khalji, who had built it), the watertank had begun to silt up by the 14th century. Eventually, the conservationist that he was, Firuz Shah Tughlaq had it desilted and lined with stone—which was why the tank came to be known as Hauz Khas, the ‘imperial tank’, in recognition of the royalty that gave it a new lease of life.

Almost diagonally across from Firuz Shah’s tomb, you’ll see a square, rather decrepit ruin atop a hillock. Known as the Munda Gumbad (the ‘shaved tomb’, because its dome has collapsed over time), this isn’t especially important, but it does have an intriguing connection to the Hauz Khas. The Munda Gumbad once stood in the centre of the watertank. If you take that into consideration, you realise how huge the tank must have been in its heyday.

No entry fee is charged for the Hauz Khas complex. If you like birds, do try and visit on a winter morning, when you’re almost certain to see some interesting birdlife on and around the water and the surrounding trees.

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