Welcome to Tushar, Maya, Mala, and Juhi, posting from Delhi.   

A guided walk around New Delhi from Maya, Mala, Juhi and Tushar

Hello Everyone

As I promised to share pictures of historical sites of Delhi, so today, we (Maya, Juhi, Mala and I) decided to walk around the Old Delhi, which used to be the capital of the Mughal Empire, known as Shahjahanabad (The city of Shahjahan, contemporary Mughal emperor). We managed to walk approximately 11KM. I would also like to share some fascinating historical facts about this medieval city, hope you would enjoy. 


It is being said that Delhi had been built, destroyed and rebuilt 7 times, and Shajhahanabad is one of them. Considering several factors, Shahjahan in 1639, decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi. Delhi was considered to be a sacred place by Islamic rulers, as many sufi saints and their forefathers were buried here. Shahjahan also used it as a medium to express the imperial ideoology as it was called the axis-mundi where the earth and heaven meet, depicted as the centre of cosmos. Red Fort was the epicentre of it, and it was also the residence of the ruler. In this way, Shahjahan tried legitimising himself as the ruler of the universe. 

Apart from its ideological background, this city depicts the classic example of the Indo-Islamic architectural style. The city, also named as The Walled City, was originally enclosed with 14 gates, like Delhi Gate, Lahori Gate, Kashmiri Gate and so on which was actually geographically directed towards these regions(Delhi, Lahore and Kashmir). This walled city contains marvelous monuments, like Red Fort, Jama Masjid(Mosque), Fatehpuri Masjid, Jain Temple, Sheeshganj Gurudwara and the Town Hall. Also, this city has a central street, Chandani Chowk (Moonlight Square) which apparently got its name from the moon's reflection in a large pond of water. 


Old Delhi is also famous for its wholesale markets. For instance, Khari Baoli(for dryfruits), Bhagirathi Palace (Asia's biggest wholesale market for lamps & lights), Chawri Bazar (for brass, copper articles & wedding cards), Dariba Kalan(for silver jewellery) and the very famous Chor(Theft) Bazar, as the name suggests it’s a market where you’ll find a lot of stolen and duplicate products. One thing that contrastingly stands out is the delectable street food in Old Delhi, especially the non-veg food of Karim and Al-Jawahar. 



We spent a great time today rambling for this great program. Thank you so much for adding me to this group and for giving me this wonderful opportunity. 

Thanks and Regards

Maya, Juhi, Mala and Tushar




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