Advertisement
Published: November 6th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Humayun's Tomb
Neena and I stood infront of the beautiful mausoleum belonging to a Moghal emperor The date was 16th October, the day before Diwali - a big festival in India commonly known as The Festival of Lights - and as such the office was closing early for the day. I decided to make the most of this opportunity and met up with a friend to go out and explore Delhi. Incidentally the tale behind this friend is quite an interesting one.....The story starts when I was very young living with my family in the town of Macclesfield. My eldest brother was friends with a young girl of similar age named Neena and she and her family were Indian. At the age of about 7 she moved back to India, although I have no memory of this event or of meeting her as I was only 3 years old at the time. Our families managed to keep in touch, although over time the contact gradually reduced. Many years later through the modern invention of online social networking we managed to re-establish contact with Neena, and when I found out I was coming to India I added her as a ‘friend’. Her family are originally from South India but it turned out she now lives in Delhi and
Isa Khan Niyazi's Tomb
The tomb of an Afghan noble who fought against the Moghals we arranged to meet up. Since then we have visited many places together in Delhi and she has been able to show me interesting places to see, different ways to travel, and yummy places to eat! Her friendship has been invaluable in a city of so many people; it is nice to not always be just a face in the crowd and to have someone to share experiences with.
On this particular day we had decided to visit Humayun’s Tomb which is in the same area as the WWF office. So as to not get charged extortionate tourist fees we asked our auto driver to drop us at the main road near the entrance to the site, in hind sight this may not have been the best decision as crossing the busy road was more than a little dangerous, but it did mean that I got to walk along a road that runs all the way from Pakistan to Bangladesh (apparently) and to see Sabz Burj (another tomb) which stands in the middle of the roundabout. Humayun was Delhi’s first Moghal emperor and as such this was the first Moghal garden tomb, which was followed in style by the
Can we have a photo??
People all over this city seem to want to have photos taken with me, it seems as if white people are more rare than white tigers out here! Taj Mahal years later.
There are large grounds surrounding the tomb and also a number of smaller mausoleums and structures which are very impressive in their own right. Upon entering we headed first to the smaller attractions, deciding to save the best for last. The first tomb we saw actually predates Humayun’s by 20 years and belongs to an Afghan noble called Isa Khan Niyazi (who actually fought against the Moghals). I though it was very beautiful in a slightly rugged way and the afternoon light captured it nicely. Within the tomb there was a very narrow, VERY steep, flight of stairs that you could climb to reach the upper level and see down into the chamber and out towards the surrounding area. I decided to brave the uneven footing and was rewarded with a lovely view, although on the way down I did have to climb backwards and slowly so as not to fall. Following this we saw an old mosque structure (which I also climbed up) and a number of other building and arches which I don’t remember the names of. We then stopped to have tea and to sit and relax in the calm and tranquil
A very steep climb
Looking out from one of the upper levels towards the mosque grounds. As with Raj Ghat, this area was once again a complete world away from the noise and the hectic life of the city, and it was so good to be away from traffic.
As we walked through the archway to Humayun’s tomb I caught my first glimpse of the beautiful structure. It really is a work of art, and the red sandstone with black and white marble is very impressive. I stood still to take it in from a distance and then we gradually approached walking alongside the dramatic water channels and passing fountains on the way. Unfortunately they are doing some restoration work so there was some scaffolding attached to the main dome, but we were still able to move around everywhere and see the views both inside and out. Standing close by is another smaller monument so we decided to take a look. The sign before it read Barber’s Tomb and I remembered reading about it in my guide book so I recounted the tale of how it was Humayun’s barber’s tomb and he had a special position as he held a knife to the emperor’s throat everyday. It turns out though that this story is
Up close
We were also able to go within the tombs, although apparently they're just for show and the real bodies are deep underground just a myth (although told as fact in my guidebook) and no-one actually knows for sure who the tomb belongs to. After my story Neena told me another about how Humayun’s farther was called Barbur and perhaps somewhere along the way there had been mistranslation and tomb belonged to his parents. Who would you rather have buried near you?....your father?....or your hairdresser?
There was one more tomb we wanted to see called Nila Gumbad (‘blue dome’) but it lies outside of the main compound so we had to go on a little adventure to get there. We found a side gate along one of the garden walls open (and un-manned) and so headed out and walked around the surrounding grounds. On our way we passed a Gurdwara which kindly allowed us in to listen to evening prayers - very beautiful singing and drumming - and to share some food with them. We then eventually made to our destination but it turned out to be quite unimpressive and run down without the protection of being within the main compound. When we got back to the main gardens it must have been nearly closing time as every where was deserted. It
All to ourselves
Leaving at closing time meant it was very peaceful and we got the view all to ourselves was such a wonderful moment to be able to see the building from head-on without a single other person in sight and definitely worth staying late for.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0238s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
ٍSameh
non-member comment
wonderful
hey Hannah, wonderful blog, missed you so much XXX Sameh