NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

The Rediff Special/Swapna Khanna

She lies among the untrodden ways

Shahi Masjid
Razia Sultana
Bulbuli Gate
Bhojla ki Pahari
Turkman Gate
Delhi

This illegible apology of an epitaph on the wall of a crumbling building in a congested bylane of the old city is the only evidence that Delhi's sole woman monarch, Sultana Razia, rests here.

The tomb of the vivacious beauty, who fell a prey to jealous brothers and conspiracy, is crumbling even as an apathetic government looks the other way.

Razia, daughter of Shamsuddin Iltutmish, second king of the Slave Dynasty, ruled Delhi for four years from 1236 AD. She faced much opposition from her nobles and was killed in battle on October 14, 1240, at Kaithal in Karnal district (Haryana), in the course of a rebellion spearheaded by her own brother, Muizzuddin Bahram Shah.

Razia was chosen by her father to succeed him because her brothers were steeped in corruption, wine and women. "Nothing is known about how the body came to be buried here," says Haji Istiaq Ahmed, an elderly person whose family runs the mosque and confesses that his family has nothing to do with the tomb otherwise.

As you pass through the narrow lanes of the ugly, modern-day jungle, where unplanned constructions compete for space with the finest frescoes of Tughlaq architecture, you come upon a square enclosure, inside which lies the unpretentious tomb of India's first empress.

The mausoleum at Bhojla Ki Pahari is now easy prey for encroachers who've hung ugly black sheets around the monument. Encroachment has resulted in the grave being cordoned off on all sides by ugly residential buildings. In fact, as one walks to Razia's weather-beaten tomb, one gets the feeling of trespassing through someone's private enclosure. The tomb has unpretentious architecture with an enclosure on a central platform. It has two graves, but the identity of the second is not known.

"It was one of the many deserted tombs in the possession of the ASI when the locals decided to call it their own," says former Archaeological Survey of India director-general M C Joshi. The locals have turned it into a place of worship, raising money and appointing a young imam Tohi Aalam, who leads the prayer five times a day.

Asked how anyone could pray at a tomb, the imam points to the mehrab in one of the walls. "If it was just a tomb, there would not have a mehrab for the imam to stand and preach," he argues. Aalam, himself a student, comes to the tomb five times a day for the prayers.

The tomb certainly looks like it had seen better days. Now it is crumbling under the vagaries of nature. Dust and grime accumulated over the centuries have wrought havoc. It is quite clear that the ASI has not given the monument the attention it merits.

Ansari M Irfan, a teacher who lives next to the tomb, says, "Nobody comes here to take care of the monument or even to inspect it."

The imam adds, "It's been almost a year since I have been coming to this place, but I have not met a single official of the Archaeological Survey, under whom the monument is, coming here to inspect the place."

Sadly, Razia's tomb is not the only one crumbling due to human indifference and Nature's onslaught. Barring a few, most monuments in and around Delhi are in a miserable state.

The Rediff Specials

Tell us what you think of this feature