There are many hoary places of worship in the Capital.

Besides Sufi dargahs, even older than the 13th century one of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, recently devastated by terrorists in Sindh, Hindu and Sikh shrines of Delhi attract a multitude of devotees throughout the year, much more than those at the mazaar of the Qalandar in Sehwan, where the monsoon is said to die.

Vivacious Runa Laila made "Dama-dam mast Qalandar…" a popular lip-synching tune, but before her Hemant Kumar sang his heart out with "Darshan do Ghanshyam/Akhian pyasi re", while Shyam himself virtually loiters in the gaons and galis of Gokul.

Corresponding to his time is the Yog Maya Mandir in Mehrauli. Kalkaji temple and Nigambodh Ghat date back to Mahabharata times and the ghat even beyond, as Brahma is believed to have meditated at the place to re-memorise the Vedas and later the Pandavas performed penance there too. Kunti Mata temple in Purana Qila is also a relic of Mahabharata days.

The Kali temple of Kalkaji was the earliest known place where Shivratri was celebrated by those who came from the suburbs of Mathura, Kosikalan, Faridabad and Ballabgarh.

The first Kali temple, historically speaking, was built by Seth-turnedRaja Kedarnath of Akbar's court in the 16th century, though legends say there was one at the place in primeval times too.

Kalkaji temple's present building was built in 1764 in Shah Alam’s time and a fair is held there every Tuesday in honour of Goddess Kali.

As a consort of Shiva in virulent form, beside the shivalayas, she also attracts the god's devotees. The establishment of the Shiv Sabha in 1910 by the Hindu Mahasabha meant a new focus on Lord Shiva, whose shivalayasin the Capital were earlier outnumbered by Ram temples devoted to the second deity of Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. A cursory survey of the shivalayas in Delhi should be a revelation.

The one in Naraina Vihar is said to be about 118- years-old but whose history is mixed up with Narainpal, a grandson of the famous Anangpal.

In its present form, it was built by Chaudhuri Ram Das Tanwar in Samvat 1941 but in all probability it marks the site of Narainpal’s temple constructed in the 12th century.

The most famous Shivalaya in Old Delhi is the Gauri Shankar Mandir of Gangadhar, a Maratha soldier of the British army in the 18th century.

It was then known as shivalaya Apa Gangadhar. INTACH lists the Shivalayas of Delhi as follows: shivalaya near the exit gate of New Delhi Railway Station, built in the late 19th century; then the many shivalayas of Katra Nil, Chandni Chowk, like shivalayaKunnji Maharaj and another one built along with it in the late Mughal period. Manakchand’s Shivalaya was built in 1845 and Bada shivalaya in 1816 (Akbar Shah’s reign).

Shivalaya Ghanteshwar Mahadev came up in 1850, Bahadur Shah Zafar's time, so also Dhummimal’s Shivalaya and Pandit Hari Ramji-ka-Shivalaya.

The Mahadev Mandir opposite Old Delhi Station, is of the late 19th century. The shivalaya in Kanjhaola, the Shiva Mandir in Nizamuddin and the shivalaya in Jal Vihar, Lajpat Nagar, are all of the late Mughal period. One would also like to mention the shivalaya outside Pusa Institute, which draws villagers of Todapur-Dasghara on Mahashivratri (which fell on 24 February).

After Partition, a lot of shivalayas have mushroomed but none with a notable history. Only four Sikh shrines are listed officially by INTACH but according to the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee there are at least 10 of them. Among these Dukh Bhurjan Gurudwara is housed in a building dating back to Tughlak times ~ more than 200 years before Sikhism became an established religion.

The paradox lies in the fact that Dukh Bhurjan, the monument to one Woebegone, was earlier known as Mitthas tomb and converted into a gurudwara in later times. The building has a Tughlak period canopy, crowned with a finial. Its screens and open spaces have been walled up to make it look like a house of prayer

. A similar fate befell the tomb of Itbari Khan Khwajasarai, near Akbar's mausoleum at Sikandra. It too has now become a gurudwara linked to a huge pond built by Sikandar Lodhi and which subsequently came to be known as Guru-ka-Tal after Guru Tegh Bahadur camped there.

Historically speaking, Nanak Piyao Gurudwara near Rana Partap Bagh, GT Road, should be considered the oldest gurudwara since the founder of the faith, Guru Nanak, camped there in a garden, whose owner built a shrine in his memory called Pau Sahib.

The name Nanak Piyao was appended much later. Majnu-ka-Tila gurudwara, around which now a Tibetan locality has sprung up, is also of Guru Nanak's time. Sis Ganj Gurudwara in Chandni Chowk, marks the site of the Kotwali where GuruTegh Bahadur was imprisoned by Aurangzeb and later executed and Rakabganj Gurudwara the site where his headless body was cremated.

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib was originally a palace of Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber. It was here that the child Guru Harkrishan (the eighth in succession) died of smallpox on 14 March, 1664, when Aurangzeb had been on the throne for only a few years.

The palace came into the possession of Raja Jai Singh II in course of time, and it was from here that the raja supervised the building of the Jantar Mantar in the reign of Mohammad Shah Rangila. He later handed over the bungalow to the Sikh community which had petitioned him for it, and thus it came to be known as Gurudwara Bangla Sahib.

There are two shrines dedicated to the last Guru, Gobind Singh ~ Gurudwara Moti Bagh and Gurudwara Damdama Sahib. His two consorts, Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Devi have a gurudwara to commemorate them in Mata Sundari Road. Their samadhisin Bala Sahib gurudwara are also revered shrines as is the gurudwara of Banda Bahadur in Mehrauli.

Banda was executed, along with his son during Farrukhseyar’s reign on 19 June, 1716. The emperor, who had persecuted him and his companions (500 of whom were killed), did not stay very long on the throne and was ousted and killed in 1719 by his mentors, the Sayyid brothers, who have come to be known as "the King Makers".

Now Banda Bahadur has been honoured by the Delhi Government with the historic Barapullah bridge being named after him. As for Lal Shabaz Qalandar, Sufis in Delhi too recognise his immense contribution to Sufism in undivided India, when going to his shrine was part of the Ziyarat of pilgrims bound for Ajmer and Sindh. Runa Laila, now based in Bangladesh, must be sorely aggrieved at the tragic happening. Among Muslim places of worship and mausoleums, Junan Shah built several mosques ~ some say nine ~ in Delhi, of which the Khirki masjid is one.

A mosque similar to it was constructed by him in Nizamuddin. Bu Halima's tomb is more of a ruin though the gateway is well-preserved. But the same cannot be said of the gateway of Arab-ki-Sarai. The tomb of Sayyid Yasin of the Lodi period nearby on Mathura Road is another picture of neglect.

Afsarwala tomb and mosque of Akbar's reign, dating back to 1566-67, also shows deterioration. Afsarwala seems to have been a royal court official. The Sundarwala Burj, mahal and well of Sundar Bagh nursery are in need of better upkeep.

Bara Bateshwarwala mahal and Chhota Bateshwar wala mahal are also deteriorating. Bara Bateshwarwala mahal has the tomb of Muzzafar Husain Mirza, a grand nephew of Humayun, who died in 1603-04, a year or two before Akbar. The Chhota Bateshwarwala mahal contains the tomb of an unidentified nobleman of the early Mughal period.

Chilla Nizamuddin, nor th of Humayun's Tomb, erected by Firoz Shah Tughlak, now has Dumdama Sahib gurudwara as its neighbour and is a picture of neglect. So also the grave platform, east of Bhartiyan, built of Lahori brick and containing many unidentified tombs. Gol gumbad on Lodi Road and Khan-e-Dauran Khan's mosque, west of the Nizamuddin Dargah complex, are rapidly deteriorating.

The former is the tomb of Khan Bahadur Mansur Jung, who held the mansabh of 7,000 (horse) during the reign of Farruksiyar in the early 18th century. He died in 1739, when Mohammad Shah was on the throne in the year Nadir Shah invaded Delhi. the Gumti in Kotla Mubarakpur contains a pavilion of Lodi times and is in a seriously deteriorated state. A forgotton tomb, situated off Mathura Road in open land, east of the Nizamuddin flyover, also of the Lodi period, is slowly crumbling as it does not find mention in historical records.

There are many such structures dotted all over Delhi that are suffer ing neglect on that account.