City Improbable- Writings on Delhi

by Khuswant Singh

  On the following day, Sunday, it was brought to my knowledge that a great number of infidel Hindus had assembled in the Masjid-i Jami of Old Dehli, carrying with them arms and provisions, and were preparing to defend themselves. Some of my people who had gone that way on business were wounded by them. I immediately ordered Amir Shah Malik and Ali Sultan Tawachi to take a party of men and proceed to clear the house of God from infidels and idolaters. They accordingly attacked these infidels and put them to death. Old Dehli then was plundered.

  I ordered that all the artisans and clever mechanics, who were masters of their respective crafts, should be picked out from among the prisoners and set aside, and accordingly some thousands of craftsmen were selected to await my command. All these I distributed among the princes and amirs who were present, or who were engaged officially in other parts of my dominions. I had determined to build a Masjid-i Jami in Samarkand, the seat of my empire, which should be without a rival in any country; so I ordered that all builders and stonemasons should be set apart for my own especial service.

  By the will of God, and by no wish or direction of mine, all the three cities of Dehli, by name Siri, Jahan-panah and Old Dehli, had been plundered. The khutba of my sovereignty, which is an assurance of safety and protection, had been read in the city. It was therefore my earnest wish that no evil might happen to the people of the place. But it was ordained by God that the city should be ruined. He therefore inspired the infidel inhabitants with a spirit of resistance, so that they brought on themselves that fate which was inevitable.

  When my mind was no longer occupied with the destruction of the people of Dehli, I took a ride round the cities. Siri is a round city. Its buildings are lofty. They are surrounded by fortifications, built of stone and brick, and they are very strong. Old Dehli also has a similar strong fort, but it is larger than that of Siri. From the fort of Siri to that of Old Dehli, which is a considerable distance, there runs a strong wall, built of stone and cement. The part called Jahan-panah is situated in the midst of the inhabited city. The fortifications of the three cities have thirty gates. Jahan-panah has thirteen gates, seven on the south side bearing towards the east, and six on the north side bearing towards the west. Siri has seven gates, four towards the outside and three on the inside towards Jahan-panah. The fortifications of Old Dehli have ten gates, some opening to the exterior and some towards the interior of the city. When I was tired of examining the city I went into the Masjid-i Jami, where a congregation was assembled of saiyids, lawyers, shaikhs and other of the principal Musulmans, with the inhabitants of their parts of the city, to whom they had been a protection and defence. I called them to my presence, consoled them, treated them with every respect, and bestowed upon them many presents and honours. I appointed an officer to protect their quarter of the city, and guard them against annoyance. Then I re-mounted and returned to my quarters.

  Entry into Delhi

  BABUR

  This account, written in 1526, is taken from the Babur Nama, and has been translated by Annette Beveridge.

  (21 April) We marched next day and when we had gone two miles, dismounted for the sake of the horses on a bank of the Jamuna.

  (24 April) On Tuesday, 12 Rajab, after we had halted on two nights and had circumambulated the tomb of Shaikh Nizam Uddin Auliya, we dismounted on a bank of the Jamuna opposite Delhi. That night we made an excursion into the fort of Delhi and spent the night there.

  (25 April) I circumambulated the tomb of Khwaja Qutb Uddin [a native of Osh in Fergana] and visited the tombs and residences of Sultan Ghiyas Uddin Balban and Sultan Ala Uddin Khilji and his minaret, the Qutb Minar, and his tanks called Hauz Shamsi and Hauz Khas—and the tombs and gardens of Sultan Buhlul Lodi and Sultan Sikandar Lodi. Having done this, we dismounted at the camp, and there drank araq.

  We bestowed the Military Collectorate of Delhi on Wali Qizil, made Dost Beg the finance minister of the Delhi district, sealed the treasuries, and made them over to their charge.

  (26 April) We dismounted on a bank of the Jamuna opposite Tughlaqabad.

  (27 April) On Friday, Mallah Mahmoud Farabi and Shaikh Zain Khawafi went with a few others into Delhi for the Congregational Prayer, read the qutba (i.e. declaration of the legitimacy of the new ruler) in my name at the Congregational Mosque, Jam-e Masjid, distributed a portion of the treasury money to the poor and needy, and returned to the camp.

  The Building of Shahjahanabad

  SAMSAM-UD-DAULA

  The opulence of the Mughal empire was at its zenith during the reign of Shah Jahan, probably the wealthiest man in the world in his time. Shahjahanabad, the palace complex that he built in Delhi, took over nine years to complete and cost 6.5 million rupees. This extract is taken from the eighteenth-century text Maathir-ul-Umara.

  The engineers after extensive search selected a site which was situated close to the Capital, Delhi, and was situated between its outskirts and Nurgarh. On the 25th Dhu’l Hijja of the twelfth year, 1048 AH (19 April 1639), in accordance with the royal orders, building arrangements were assigned to the Governor of Delhi Ghairat Khan, nephew of Abdullah Khan Firuz Jang. And on the 9th Muharram (2 May) of the same year the foundations of that impregnable fortress were laid. And a huge contingent of trained stonemasons, skilled in both plain and decorative work, builders and carpenters were brought from all parts of the kingdom in accordance with royal orders, and building work was started. After only a part of the foundation had been laid, and some necessary materials collected, Ghairat Khan was nominated as the Governor of Thatha, and the governorship of the suba of Delhi and the arrangements for the construction of the lofty building were, therefore, assigned to Ilahawardi Khan. In two years and some days he was able to raise the walls of the fort to a height of ten yards along the river bank. After that the governorship of the said suba and the control of building operations was transferred to Mukramat Khan, who held the high office of the Mir-i-Saman. As a result of his unstinted efforts this huge fort with its heavenly appurtenances was completed in the twentieth year. It had on all corners heavenly palaces, and at every angle gardens and parks; in its layout and beauty it resembled a Chinese picture gallery, but surpassed the latter in its grandeur:

  So much skill has been expended in its construction,

  That skill itself is busy in its decoration.

  One of the prophetic sayings of Amir Khusru, which he had composed earlier in praise of Delhi, was now fulfilled:

  Verily if there is a Paradise on earth,

  It is this, it is this, it is this.

  At a cost of sixty lakhs of rupees [the fort] was completed in nine years, three months and some days.

  The lofty fort, which is octagonal according to the Baghdad style, is 1,000 royal yards long, and 300 yards broad. Its walls are built on the red stone of Fathpur. Its height including the battlements, from the foot of the wall, is 12½ yards. Its area is six lakh yards, which is double of the great fort of Akbarabad (Agra) and its perimetre is 1,650 yards. It has twenty-one bastions, seven circular and fourteen octagonal; four gates and two windows. Round it is a moat twenty yards wide and ten yards deep; this is supplied with water from a canal connected on two sides with the river Jumna—except on the east side where the wall of the fort abuts directly on to the river—it was built at a cost of twenty-one lakhs of rupees. The royal mansions, consisting of the Shah Mahal with a silver roof, Imtiyaz Mahal with the bedroom known as the Burj-i-Tala (the Golden Chamber), and the private and public Daulat Khana (Palace), and the Hayat Bakhsh garden cost twenty-eight lakhs of rupees. The palaces of the Begum Sahiba and other chaste inmates of the harem cost seven lakhs, and other buildings, such as the bazaar and the guard houses inside the mighty fort, which were designed to serve for the royal manufactories, were completed at a cost of four lakhs.

  On 24th Rabi I, 1058 AH (8 April 1648) in the twenty-first year of the reign, which day had been selected by the royal astrologers for the royal entry, orders were issued for arranging the paraphernalia of a royal f
east and a convivial entertainment …

  From the date of the auspicious entry of the Emperor into the heavenly building there was a continuous grand feast lasting ten days. Every day hundred people were exalted with the grants of suitable Khil’ats, many were gratified by increases in their ranks and the grant of titles, while others received grants in cash, horses and elephants.

  Mir Yahiya Kashi composed the following chronogram of the date of completion of this great edifice:

  Shud Shahjahanabad az Shah Jahanabad (Shahjahanabad was established by Shah Jahan)

  1058 AH = 1648 AD.

  The Untouchables

  KHUSHWANT SINGH

  This extract is taken from Delhi: A Novel.

  It was a few days before Diwali that news of the Badshah Jahangir’s death was heard in Dilli. No one was allowed to light a lamp or kindle a fire in their hearth for some days. Our elders said that anyone seen smiling or heard laughing during the next forty days would have his head cut off. My mother would not let me go out to play with the other boys lest I forgot not to shout or laugh. That is why although I was only a small boy I can never forget that badshah’s death.

  When I asked my Bapu the name of the badshah who had died, he said ‘What will you do with the badshah’s name?’ None of the sweepers or cobblers in Rikabganj knew his name. Only the Mussalmans who lived in the sarai alongside the mosque and the contractor Lakhi Rai, who lived in a big stone house with his wives, eight sons and their wives, knew the badshah’s name. These Mussalmans and Lakhi Rai’s family went about with long faces as if their own mother’s mother had died. Some people feel very big if they can cry over the deaths of big people.

  ‘What have we poor untouchables to do with kings!’ I remember my Bapu saying. ‘They are all the same to us. One goes, another comes, zulum goes on.’

  I did not know who zulum was. When I was a little older my Bapu told me that zulum was not a man but what the rich did to the poor. We untouchables were the poorest of the poor. No one did anything to us except run away if we came near them. That, said my Bapu, was also a kind of zulum. It was in our karma. We had done bad things in our previous births. That is why we were born black and had to do all the dirty work.

  My Bapu called every badshah a zalim. This one who had just died, said my Bapu, was a very bad man because he drank more wine than Uncle Reloo who was drunk most of the time. Uncle Reloo told me that the badshah could drink twenty cups of arrack and eat tolas of opium every day and yet poke his queen and the other women of his harem every night.

  It was not so much the badshah’s drinking or womanizing that had made my father angry with him as what he had done to our Guru. ‘What is it to us how much he drinks and whose mother he fucks,’ he used to say. ‘But perish the man who raises his hand against our Guru.’ Most of us untouchables of Rikabganj had attached ourselves to the lotus feet of the Guru and begun to call ourselves the Sikhs of Nanak. No one had seen Nanak or the Gurus who came after him to save us. The badshah who had just died had killed our fifth Guru Arjun and put his son Hargobind in jail. So there was no reason for us to beat our breasts on this badshah’s death.

  Some years after he became king [the new] badshah, Shah Jahan, came to Dilli. He liked our city very much and said: ‘I am going to live here.’ He sent for his chief builder, Mukarram Khan, and told him: ‘Make a big fort along the river Jamuna, and inside that fort make palaces for myself and my queens. I also want the biggest mosque in the world.’ Mukarram Khan bowed three times before the badshah and replied: ‘Badshah, peace be upon you! If Allah wills I will build you as big a fort as at Agra with as many canals and gardens and fountains. You will also have the world’s biggest and most beautiful mosque. I will build it on Bhojla Hill so it can be seen from Palam and Qutub.’ Then Mukarram Khan asked Ustad Ahmed and Ustad Hira to make maps. When that was done he asked the badshah to come to Dilli. ‘Badshah, peace be upon you! Now put down the foundation stone, so we can get on with work.’

  What years they were! Everyone got work. We gave up skinning dead cows and buffaloes and carrying other people’s shit. Lakhi Rai got a contract to supply labour. As I was now old enough, he gave me a job to carry mud and stones.

  Dilli began to change. Every day a new building! Every day the city wall rising higher! Every day new minarets and domes rising into the sky! And so it went for many years. When the work was finished we had nine days of tamasha. Princes showered silver coins on the crowds. The badshah rode through the city on his biggest elephant and scattered gold coins by the palmful. His courtiers said, ‘We won’t call Dilli Dilli any more. We will rename it Shahjahanabad.’ But Dilli is Dilli and no king or nobleman can give it another name.

  For some years after the building of Shahjahanabad, the badshah liked Dilli more than Agra. Then he began to like Agra more than Dilli. His visits to our city became less and less frequent. Tradesmen and artisans began to move back to Agra. People began to say that very soon Shahjahanabad would become like the other old cities of Dilli: Mehrauli, Siri, Chiragh, Tughlakabad, Kotla Firozeshah and Kilokheri, the abode of Gujars, jackals, hyenas and owls.

  I did not earn very much sweeping drains and cleaning latrines and had to borrow money from the Bania and Lakhi Rai. I had to pay interest on their money and when I was unable to do that, they refused to lend me any more. Because of this I was forced to take employment in the executioner’s yard attached to the kotwali in Chandni Chowk. This was really dirty work: first I had to get used to seeing a man’s head being hacked off; then see his arms and legs cut off. After this had happened it was my job to put the pieces together and lay them out for the people to see. As I worked I could hear the onlookers avoiding me as if I were a murderer. Every evening there were at least three to four unclaimed corpses to be carted off and dumped in the river or on the garbage mound. What will man not do to fill his belly!

  As I said before, I did not like this work. I did not like to shout dom, dom whenever I went out with the cartload of corpses. I did not like people covering their children’s eyes against me and blocking their nostrils against the smelly load I carried. Even the sentries at the city gates would draw aside to let me pass. I used to console myself by recalling my Bapu’s words: ‘Son, only two people can pass through the gates of Shahjahanabad without being questioned: the King and the untouchable!’

  It was on one of his visits to Dilli that Badshah Shah Jahan was taken ill. They tried to keep it secret but within a few hours everyone knew about the sultan’s ailment, mainly through the badshah’s doctor who was a gossip …

  My Bapu used to say that when a father hiccups his sons go for his purse. That was certainly true about the badshah’s four sons. No sooner had they heard of their old man’s illness than their hands were on the hilts of their swords.

  The king’s sons fought each other as hungry dogs fight over a bone. Dara’s son, Sulaiman Shikoh, defeated Shuja. Meanwhile Murad and Aurangzeb defeated Dara, captured Agra and made their old father prisoner. Then this fellow Aurangzeb tricked his brother Murad: he got him drunk, tied him up and threw him into a dungeon. He then finished off Shuja, Dara and Dara’s sons. This was how we had a new badshah—Aurangzeb—while the old badshah Shah Jahan was still alive. The Mussalmans in the sarai were happy. They said that the new badshah was a good man. He did not drink wine; he did not have concubines or courtesans; he did not allow dancing and singing in the palace; he ate little, slept little and prayed a lot. He spent on himself only what he earned by making copies of their holy book and selling them. They said if all kings had been like him, Hindustan would have long ago been rid of kafirs. Alamgir was the name they used for him—‘Alamgir, Zinda Peer, is a living saint,’ they said.

  Lakhi Rai was not happy. The new badshah did not give him any contracts. One day many years later when I was eating his leftovers in his courtyard I told him that the Mussalmans said Aurangzeb was a man of God because he did not drink wine or womanize. He lost his temper and said, ‘What about that slut Hira Bai?’ Then
he got frightened and made me swear that I would never tell anyone of what he had said. But I could not get Hira Bai’s name out of my mind. I asked the Bania, who also sometimes gave me his leftovers, about her. He made a ring with the thumb and index finger of his left hand and pierced it with a finger of his right hand. ‘But that Hira Bai is dead,’ he said. The Bania did not like Aurangzeb because he had imposed jazia tax on the Hindus. ‘Don’t tell anyone I told you,’ he said in a low voice, ‘but a tribe called the Marathas are going to finish him. Their leader Shivaji has stuck a big bamboo pole up the bottoms of these Mughals. Haven’t you heard how this Shivaji tore out the bowels of one of the badshah’s generals with his hands? In the name of Ram, don’t breathe a word about this to anyone or they will slit my throat.’