#Crumblingheritage

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Pahadi Dhiraj, Old Delhi.

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Shah burj, Red fort Delhi.

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Khan-e-Kalan Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad Atgah Khan

Shamshuddin Muhammad was the son of Mir yar Muhammed of Ghazni. Shamshuddin started his life as a soldier in Kamran Mirza's army and once saved Humanyun from drowning in ganges. As a reward Humanyun took him into his personal services and appointed his wife as one of Akbar's wet nurses(angah).

Later shamshuddin beacame the chief advisor in akbar's court.As his wife Jiji Angah was Akbar's wet nurse,he was also designated as akbar foster father and therefore was called 'Atgah', Atgah Khan was a father figure in Akbar's life.

On 16 May 1562, Adham khan son of Maham angah brutally murdered Atgah Khan in the hall of public audience Diwan-e-aam,Agra fort.

Diwan-e-aam,agra.

Akbar was so infuriated with Adham Khan's act that he ordered him to be thrown from the ramparts of agra fort.

The body of shamshuddin was brought to Delhi and was buried near the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin.

Atgah Khan's tomb was constructed by his son Mirza Aziz kokaltash.

The tomb of atgah khan depicts architecture during akbar's reign with stone screens and wide bands of calligraphy with verses from the Quran carved in stone.

Inside, there are remains of some finely incised and painted plaster. There are three graves inside the central one is of Atgah Khan, the one to the east is that of Jiji Angah and the other is unidentified.

To the west of the tomb is a wall mosque, decorated with beautifully coloured tiles that are unfortunately, very damaged. The bright blue, green and yellow pigment s derived from crushed, coloured stones have not faded through the centuries.

[ariverinpursuit]

ᴊᴀᴍᴀᴛ ᴋʜᴀɴᴀ, ɴɪᴢᴀᴍᴜᴅᴅɪɴ ʙᴀsᴛɪ

Jamat khana also known as Khilji Masjid is a capacious mosque, it is one of the earliest mosques in delhi which is still active and offer prayers five times a day.

It was commissioned by Khizr Khan son of Sultan Alauddin Khilji in 1315 - 1325 AD.

The gateway of the mosque veritably resembles Alai Darwaza built by Alauddin khilji in 1305 AD.

The structure was earlier constructed to serve as the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, but the saint wished to be buried in an open courtyard therefore it was later converted into a congreagational mosque.

Jamat Khana is the largest structure in Nizamuddin Basti and also the oldest.

Jamat khana is not an ASI protected monument, it is maintained by the dargah committee.

The masjid is a large structure which is 100 ft wide and the central dome reaching 50 ft in height.

[ariverinpursuit]

ᴄʀᴜᴍʙʟɪɴɢ ᴅᴇʟʜɪ : sᴀᴅᴀʀ ʙᴀᴢᴀᴀʀ

It was dirty, smelly, filthy, crowded with a loud outcry.

Rickshaws, autos, cars,cows everything was just beside me just some centimeters away.

It was an october evening humid, nobody seemed comfortable here like no one. There were buyers from all over the city probably retailers, small shop owners and entrepreneurs who came here to buy stuff like cosmetics, jewelry, accessories to name a few, after all we were in the biggest whole sale market of asia. With such a heavy title comes the commuters the laborers who carry heavy loads on their heads, those bundles literally needed 11 more heads to cover the whole area they were that big but alas! I don't know how they do it but they too didn't seem comfortable at all.

These were my first fifteen minutes in the market and i was actually pretty disturbed with all that traffic noise and the people who were passing by really close and also the push and pull around.

In the mean time i looked up and saw some really ugly hoardings of shops advertisements, political promotions and they were not very pleasent to see, until i looked little more further and saw some beautiful blue window panes, which i later realized were doors!

They just seemed different as if they dont belong here with these ugly shops, i was thinking about it when suddenly some rickshawala honked "aage badho madam" "bich me kaha khade ho"!

My mom too asked me to move faster but i cant took my eyes off the patterns which were peeking through those hoardings.

As i moved further i realized that the whole lane was filled with such half crumbling balconies, windows and doors.

I was looking here and there trying to click pictures and my mom asked me to sit in a rickshaw as we need to go to khari baoli to buy some spices (for achaar)!

On our way to khari baoli i saw some really interesting structures (there were some crumbling old houses, most of them were converted into godowns and dingy shops ) and as we were moving through the lanes i turned right and saw this massive white 'Haveli'.

I was like wow! The first thing that attracted me was not the designs and the patterns but its hugeness, it was three or four stories but from the bottom it seemed really tall.

And then there was this sudden flashback!

Two teenage girls were gigling standing in the balcony, a servent sprinkling water in the aangan, something was going on in the house or maybe it was just their day to day activities, an old man was sitting in the baithak smoking hookah probably a merchant or a seth, some middle aged woman was calling someone upstairs, young men flying kite on the terrace screeming 'kai po che' then i saw their manja... Manja? Thats not manja thats a wire! There were wires above my head what? Yes wires! Welcome to khari baoli again, flashback was over!

PS one of the ugly hoardings says 'Haveli Ram Mulk Raj'.