SA Site Cover: The Tale of Tughlaqabad by Rattan Kaur Rainu

Every ruined city has a story, a curse that it holds, one mistake that brought down every single wall it had.

Rattan Kaur Rainu is a Research Wing Member
 at Speaking Archaeologically since August 2018

Delhi was one of the major cities during the Medieval Era in India. It was ruled by six dynasties like Tughlaq and Khaljis. Delhi was destroyed and rebuilt seven times. It is a city which was supposedly ruled by the Pandavas during some point of time and was home to the Turko-Afghan raiders from the north. Delhi held the position of  the capital for almost the whole Medieval Period. It is the city of the cities. A city which encapsulates many cities like Siri, Shahjahanabad, Jahanpanah, the Tughlaqabad among the other architectural jewels.

Delhi is both my birth place and hometown. One thing that comes naturally in a Delhiite is love for the monuments and the casual way of avoiding the ruined monuments, which we see while driving through the jam packed roads. It is not like the monuments don’t fascinate us, it is because who has the time to stop and look at it?

During my school days I remember, our school being really concerned that their students do not forget history but lose the art of ignorance towards it , so they took us for ‘Delhi darshan’ every once in two years. We went to different monuments each time, of course some of the favourites made it to the list each time.

An underground passage 

It was during Grade Six that we went to Tughlaqabad Fort for the first time. Coincidentally, it was the same year we studied about  the different dynasties and trust me, before the visit to these enormous and beautiful complexes, history was never as appealing as it was after. I did not really remember who built the monument back then but I surely knew that this pale building was known as the Tughlaqabad Fort.  I really loved it and as my classmates were getting pictures clicked, I looked upon enraptured at the beautiful walls of Tughlaqabad.

A bricked tower covered with crawlers 

After almost a decade, I went back to the old city now in ruins. While I was on my way, I was hit by a sharp wave of nostalgia, thinking about the walls and  the huge facade. I had blurry images about how the building looked and I was pretty sure that the condition I saw it in nine years ago would have been improved, but guess what?

I entered the ruins of Tughlaqabad. As scary as it sound, but I probably might have been the only one in the fort but as soon as I entered, I realised it was not true. Not a lot of people came there but there were some  on a leisure trip. I went into the wrong direction and so, the security guard redirected me to  the Fort and he told me not to wander to the deserted places.

If you have been to Tughlaqabad you would know that it isn’t just a building or two, it used to be a city and hence the complex is neverendingly vast. It has a lot of trees, almost a small jungle inside the fort.

Top view of Tughlaqabad Fort 

I began to see familiar places. But the fort was not what it was when I had last visited it.  A lot of trees, creepers and weeds are now where the bricked floors of the complex used to be. Cattle and goats were all over the place. I saw goats grazing and cows  were tied in what were once beautiful verandas. The city-which one can not ignore even today if you pass by it-is deteriorating day by day.

A beautiful veranda converted into shelter for cows

So, I was walking and I saw a beautiful wall with arches. How beautiful once it must have looked in its heyday! And now it was completely gone: only weeds and grass were left of this beautiful wall, which will collapse in a year or two if not restored.

An arched doorway completely in ruins

When you enter the complex one can see a beautiful area at a distance which is a part of the fort but is now inapproachable and as much as I wanted to go there I just could not ,because no path connected it to the rest of the fort. The other parts,which were intact and still haven't started falling apart, were vandalised with the names written all over them by the ignorant lovers or littered by the insensitive people who thought nothing more of it than as dumpyard.

A fort, which was once constructed by the powerful Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, is now falling apart. Even in the state of ruins, one cannot overlook the magnificent construction of Tughlaq era. Tughlaq dynasty ruled over Delhi for almost a century with rulers like Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq and Feroz-Shah-Tughlaq. This was one of the strongest dynasties that ruled over Delhi.

Tughlaqabad was built by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq in 1321 CE and was the third city of Delhi. Ghiyas-ud-din or Ghazi Malik built it to keep the Mongol marauders away. It took four years for the construction of this majestic  fortress. A folklore however, has a novel take about why city of Tughlaqs is in this state today.

Ruined wall of the fort

According to the folklore, Ghias-ud-din picked a  fued with Nizzam-ud-din Aulliya, a prominent 14th century Sufi Saint. Ghazi Malik made mandatory for all the workers in Delhi to be employed in the construction of his fort. But at the same time, Nizammuddin was building a stepwell or a baoli near the present day Dargah of the saint. During the day time, the workers  carried out the construction of the fort, by the night, the baoli. Ghiyas-ud-din got to know about this and furiously  forbade the sale of oil to Nizamuddin , so no lamps could light up the construction site at night. The saint then magically turned the water in the tank to oil, and cursed Tughlakabad “Ya basse Gujjar, ya rahe ujjar.”( May this be inhabited by herdsmen or remain unoccupied.)

A dome roofed room with three arches

This myth may satisfy the appetite of a good story but the real  reason was the scarcity of water, which led to the abandonment of the fortress.
This beautiful city, in our very own country’s heart is deteriorating substantially.  From pillar to stone, everything is falling apart and in the coming years, the fort will only be left in our history books. Although it comes under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India and you have to buy a ticket to enter the fortress, the restoration of this fort is not very impressive. The condition of the fort is degrading and needs extra care.

A staircase to tower

So what can we do to save it?
First things first: stop writing your names on every historical monument there is. It doesn't embellish it nor immortalises you. Rather, it murders the historical essence of the place, damaging the building beyond repair sometimes, rendering it unfit for the few amongst us, who wish to study it!

Secondly, stop throwing rubbish at any and every possible place. Bins were invented for a reason and it is time we use put the invention to use! If there are no bins around, put the rubbish back in your bags and do not pollute the environment of the heritage sites.

Thirdly, the fort complex is not a grazing ground. Turning historical monuments into pasture grounds is neither sustainable nor cool!

What can the authorities do? First of all make the fort more approachable, the nearest metro station is five kilometers, the visitors are less in number and hence the maintenance is not well.

As Tughlaqabad is in the capital of India and still the progress of the restoration is extremely slow, the authorities should also keep a check on increasing the pace of restoration. Tughlaqabad is in agony, you can feel the pain the building is suffering from, it needs immediate attention. It will die a ruin if not restored. Ghazi Malik's dreamland would turn into dust if not looked upon.

Monuments usually tell us a lot of tales, some of them even teach us life lessons. The tale  Tughlaqabad narrates is of rise and fall. Come what may, every rise will be followed by the fall. To avoid a similar spiral down, history perhaps is useful for all of us, as a teacher and as a mirror, which is why it should neither be tampered with and nor can it be completely destroyed. It can be forgotten but never be ignored.

Space with an arched roof