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A fort bereft of splendours of the past

A fort full of the splendours of the past, that was Tughlaqabad. It's in ruins now and few visit it,…

A fort bereft of splendours of the past

(PHOTO: Shahnawaz Khan- Subrata Datta/SNS)

A fort full of the splendours of the past, that was Tughlaqabad. It's in ruins now and few visit it, but those who do hear in the mind's eye the blowing of trumpets, the clash of arms, the neighing of horses and the shrill commands of the officers as invisible armies move out to make fresh conquests.

Several hundred years ago it must have been a beautiful structure, strong and capable of breaking the heart of the most determined enemy who dared to cast covetous glances at the Tughlaq Empire. It was Ghiyasuddin who built it and his son Mohammad Bin Tughlaq, unjustly nicknamed the "Mad", who inherited it. They both lie buried within its precincts, almost forgotten and rarely visited by tourists, who come to Delhi every year. Time does take its toll even of the most magnificent of constructions.

Tughlaqabad is no exception though legend would have us believe that in this particular case it was the curse of Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya that was responsible for the decline and decay of the fortified city, actually the Third Delhi, which at one time afforded protection to thousands. Ghiyasuddin fell out with the saint, who cursed the emperor and his city in these words, "Ya rahe barbad ya base Gujar" (Either it will remain desolate or be inhabited by the nomad).

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The curse seems to have come true, for the city built with so much love and care by Ghiyasuddin is now a wilderness, where the wandering shepherd find pasture for his flock, even among the battlements, which are overgrown with plants and shrubs. But there are those who think the reason for the desolation of the fort was more political than religious. Mohammad Tughlaq was a devotee of Nizamuddin Auliya and had differences with his father on other issues too.

On the other hand, Ghiyasuddin did not like the "mad" prince and would have liked his younger son to succeed him. Fate willed it otherwise when a pavilion erected to honour the emperor on his return from a campaign in Bengal gave way and both he and his favourite son perished. The emperor's body was found cradling that of the little prince whom he loved so much.

Mohammad ascended the throne and began his own grandiose schemes. It was he who neglected the fortified city to build his own, Jahanpanah. His successor Firoze Tughlaq was also a great builder, who carved out a separate city for himself, Firozabad. Thus, the theory of the curse does not find many adherents.

However, what is important is the fact that the fort is neglected. It could be restored to at least some of its pristine grandeur and become a place of great tourist interest now that the Archaeological Department and the Tourism Minister have joined hands to launch such a project. Then when the scheme is implemented one would not have to extend one's credulity too much to imagine what Tughlaqabad must have been like in its heyday.

Until such time as the scheme materialises, the Gujars will continue to hold sway over these ruins. The Gujars are also linked with the gypsies, thousands of whom were taken away by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century to Afghanistan. Many of them migrated to Europe, where they are known as Romanis.

Gypsies in India continue to be nomads, who wander from place to place for work. Spring brings the gypsy girls to Delhi. They walk ever so gingerly in the lanes and by lanes, selling toys and tribal bric-a-brac for a song. But the tribes are dwindling fast and so are the girls.

Perhaps, it is modernisation that is driving the gypsies out of their nomadic existence or perhaps it is wanderlust that makes them give the wide berth to the fast developing urban regions. Many of them became puppeteers but television spoilt the show. Now their only forte is a fast-eroding tradition. Still they come to Delhi though in fewer numbers.

There is Tara, coy beyond her years, and Malini the flowergatherer, and the best of them all, Bindya, who sings the prettiest songs and charms the children and amorous youths with her come-hither looks. Some of them are easy prey to the lecherous. But they don't stay long at one place, for the gypsies do not go by the months, they follow the seasons and their whims. Those not camping in Tughlaqabad used to be camped in the piece of land behind Pandav Nagar in West Delhi, from where they are being evicted now because of a land development scheme.

The tents were pitched on one side and on the other there was a railway line and an open space, where the horses and cattle belonging to the nomads could graze. Several families dwelt in the area, which is criss-crossed with nullahs and overgrown with weeds, but the gypsies found it a sort of haven, where they could live with the sky as a canopy and count the stars, which they seemed to follow in their wanderings up to Tughlaqabad.

When not mending their drums and feeding their cattle the clans-folk, who have come from Rajasthan, sat watching the trains go by to Jaipur and beyond. But they bestirred themselves at twilight when they went to distant areas in the city to perform puppet shows and sing half-forgotten songs. Back in their tents they sleep it out till the forenoon when the long wait for twilight began again as the trains went by. Do they still camp at Tughlaqabad?

Yes, some do but Tughlaqabad, like Pandav Nagar, has been encroached upon by squatters. And now with strong government action, even the gypsy Gujars find it difficult to wander about in Tughlaqabad. So is this the end of the curse? Historian Percivial Spear said this in the early 1930s: "At Badarpur we turn right, cross the BB and CI Railway, and soon come to Tughlaqabad. We will drive right on until we come to a tomb with a marble dome and a wall round it on the left-hand side of the road. Now look around you. Close by you are the walls of the citadel or Fort of Tughlaqabad. There is a gateway, and if you go inside you will see the ground strewn with ruins of every sort. You can climb up into the fort and sit on the battlements and look at the view. Here the founder, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, often sat and looked over the plains of Delhi. See how high and strong the walls are. See how grim and stern they look! See too, that the walls do not stand straight up, but are sloping. This was to make them stronger still. "Now we will look at the marble tomb. We walk along a little causeway of stone and enter a fortified enclosure. Inside this stands a tomb of red stone with a white marble dome. You can see this dome from the Qutub Minar. This tomb is that of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the founder of Tughlaq dynasty. Beside him lies his wife Makh Dumai Jahan and his son Mohammed Tughlaq, who built the Bijay Mandal and the Begumpur Mosque, and died at Thatta in Sind in 1351.

"Now why is the tomb fortified and why is there a causeway to it? Look around carefully and you will see that the land is very flat and the road is raised some feet above it. On one side is the city and the hills was a lake or tank, and Ghiyasuddin’s tomb was in the middle of this lake. The causeway was necessary to reach this tomb. The wall around the tomb was built to protect it from Mongol raiders, who might loot it. Look again, and you will see that a stream runs into the plain from the city. This supplied the lake with water. Besides this there was the monsoon rain, which came down from the hills. At the end of this level plain towards Badarpur there is a bund, which kept the water in on that side. On the hill opposite is a small fort, called Adilabad. It was meant to protect the lake on that side."

Things have changed much since Spear’s times. The tomb area was known as Dar ul-Aman (abode of peace). It is no longer so, for it has become the haunt of criminal elements who rob, rape and murder with impunity. Leave alone women and girls, even boys are not spared by them. As for the gypsy girls, mamy of them have been kidnapped, violated and sold to brothels in Delhi and elsewhere for lifelong misery ~ like Lara (not her real name), who turned a wench from an innocent, comely girl, whom even Ghiyasuddin probably would have loved to keep in his harem.

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