Page 101 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

DELHI  99

v Tughluqabad contriving to have a gateway
collapse on him. Both are
Off Mehrauli-Badarpur Rd.
q Jasola Apollo. Monuments: buried in Ghiyasuddin’s Tomb,
Open daily. attached to the Tughluqabad
Fort by a causeway that
The third of Delhi’s early crossed the dammed waters
capitals (see p95), Tughluqabad of a lake. Constructed in red
is dominated by its spectacular sandstone and inlaid with
fort, built by Ghiyasuddin white marble, the tomb’s
Tughluq early in the 14th sloping walls pione ered a style
century. The fort was so sturdily that was used in all subsequent
constructed that its rubble-built Tughluq architecture.
walls, following the contours of
Pots displayed at the unique the hill, survive intact all along b Baha’i House
Sanskriti Museum the 7-km (4-mile) perimeter.
Rising from the citadel to the of Worship
c Sanskriti right of the main entrance are
Museum the ruins of the Vijay Mandal Bahapur, Kalkaji. Tel (011) 2644 4029.
q Kalkaji Mandir. Open 9am–5pm
(“Tower of Victory”). To the left is
Anandgram, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Rd. a rectangular area where arches Tue–Sun (to 6:30pm in summer).
q Arjan Garh. Tel (011) 2696 3226. are all that remain of a complex Closed public hols. Prayer services:
Open 10am–5pm Tue–Sun. Closed of palaces, houses and halls. 10am, noon, 3pm & 5pm.
pub hols. ∑ sanskritifoundation.org
Legend has it that when Delhi’s most innovative modern
This unusual museum is set Ghiyasuddin tried to prevent structure, the Baha’i House
amid beautifully landscaped, the building of the baoli at of Worship is a world where
spacious grounds. Exhibits are Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s silence and order prevail.
displayed both in the garden dargah (see p86), the saint Designed by the Iranian
and in specially constructed cursed him, saying that one architect Fariburz Sahba, it
rural huts. The collection itself is day only jackals and the was completed in 1986.
equally unusual in its devotion Gujjar tribe would The arresting shape
to objects of everyday use that inhabit his capital. of its unfurling,
have been exquisitely crafted A good view of 27-petalled, white
by unknown, rural artisans. OP the fort and of the marble lotus has
Jain, whose personal collections smaller, adjoining given it its more
gave birth to this museum, has Adilabad Fort, is popular name,
donated combs, nutcrackers, possible from the Ghiyasuddin Tughluq’s Tomb the Lotus Temple.
lamps, toys, foot-scrubbers and walls. Adilabad was The edifice is
kitchenware, to demonstrate built by Muhammad bin Tughluq, circled by nine pools and 92 ha
how even the most utilitarian who is believed to have killed (227 acres) of green lawns.
objects can possess an innate his father Ghiyasuddin by The Baha’i sect originated in
beauty. Terracotta objects from Persia and is based on a view
all over India, in every shape and of humanity as one single race.
size, are also on display. They Followers of all faiths are invited
include pots made in traditional to meditate and attend the
techniques unchanged daily 15-minute services
for centuries, and figures in the lofty auditorium,
of South Indian which can seat up
village deities. to 1,300 people.

The lotus-domed Baha’i House of Worship, one of Delhi’s most spectacular sights

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