KASHMIRI GATE-THE MUTINY OF 1857!



Red Fort from Jamuna side.

I simply love Delhi! Dilli is the place of all the dilwallahs! There is simply no place like Delhi. It's not only yours truly who loves Delhi, but there have been many others before me and there will be many more after me who will love this city.

Delhi they say was built seven times. In the beginning there was Lal Kot and Quila Rai Pithora founded by Anangpal and Prithviraj Chauhan. Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated by Mohd Ghori in 1192. Qutubuddin Aiback his slave became ruler and developed Mehrauli, the next city. He also built the Qutab Minar.

The next city was Siri founded by Allaudin Khilji. This city is located near Hauz Khas area. The next city was Tughlakabad created by Ghiyassudin Tughlak.

Shergarh or Purana Quila was then founded by Sher Shah Suri, who wrested power from Humayun. Incidentally the GT Road or Grand Trunk road which connected the country from West to East was erected at the behest of Sher Shah Suri. This road went from Peshawar to Calcutta.

Shajehanabad or the Red Fort was erected by Shah Jehan who had already immortalised Mumtaz Mahal by making the Taj Mahal for her.

Well this little bit of history of the love of rulers for Delhi is only an aside.



NICHOLSON CEMETERY

What I want to tell you about today is the walk that I went to from the Nicholson Cemetery to the Lothian Cemetery. Between these two cemeteries lies a lot of living history. History of education, rivalry of educational institutions, the Siege of The Kashmiri Gate, the uprising of the Mutiny of 1857 and a lot more. The British magazine(arms depot), despots, White nawabs, Ochterlony, the advent of the Railway, post and telegraph, the Walled City and the Civil Lines.

 Lothian Road is an important road. The huge peepal, and neem trees in and around this road stand mute witness to the fall of the Mughal and the rise of the  British empire! They watched the lives of the Indian noblemen and the British rulers!

Nicholson cemetery is near ISBT( Inter State Bus Terminus) in Old Delhi. Brigadier General John Nicholson was instrumental in the defeat of the Indian Mutineers in 1857. Nicholson was a much loved General and was mortally wounded during the 1857 Mutiny. He was barely 34 when he died. His name was Indianised to Nikel Sain by his Indian soldiers. I call it Mutiny as the East India Company was the virtual ruler and the rebellion was against the de facto ruler. Our last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was actually already getting a pension from the East India Company!

This cemetery has the grave of this much loved military leader. It also has the grave of Yesudas Ramchandra  an Indian who was a teacher of Mathematics at the Delhi College, and had converted to Christianity.

ST. STEPHEN'S COLLEGE-OLD BUILDING

Interestingly, three famous colleges were located in very close proximity to each other in Kashmiri Gate area. The magnificent and haughty St Stephen's College, which was exclusively for white and Christian students.

HINDU COLLEGE-FIRST BUILDING

The Hindu College established by Shri Krishan Dass Gurwale in 1899 to enable Indian students to get higher education.  In fact in 1902 Rai Bahadur Lala Sultan Singh donated a part of his property in Kashmiri Gate for the College as without their own building the college would have had  to close down.  The third was the historic and ancient Delhi College. Legend has it that the famous poet Mirza Ghalib was offered appointment as a teacher in Delhi College. On the appointed date Mirza arrived in a palanquin. He kept waiting at the gate expecting to be welcomed by the Principal himself! When the Principal did not come to welcome him, Mirza returned home and refused to take up the assignment. Suffice to note that Mirza Ghalib was facing a lot of financial hard ships and actually was surviving on financial help provided by the Nawab of Rampur!

DARA SHIKOH'S LIBRARY

Much before the British arrived, during the 17th Century, Dara Shikoh the eldest son of Shah Jehan and the real heir to the Mughal throne was a very literate and scholarly prince. He had built a magnificent Library near the Delhi College. It was massive and contained a number of books. Dara Shikoh was executed by his brother Aurangzeb, who had already usurped the throne. After the British captured power Sir David Ochterlony, the first British Resident of Delhi, built his opulent palace above this Library.

OCHTERLONY'S RESIDENCY

 Ochterlony lived like a Nawab surrounded by khidmatgars, had 13 Indian wives, dressed like an Indian Nawab, smoked the hukka and hosted lavish nautch parties  where the Mughal Royalty too was invited. Today this building appropriately houses the office of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The city of Shahjehanabad was surrounded by a wall and even today that part of the city is called the 'Walled City' although the walls were broken down after 1857. There are only some bits and small stretches of the fortified walls still visible in some places. There were seven gates in the walls. They were the Lahore Gate, The Delhi Gate, The Ajmeri Gate, The Turkman Gate, the Mori Gate, Kashmiri  Gate, and Kabuli Gate.



KASHMIRI GATE



Kashmiri Gate had two gates side by side. One was made by the Mughals and had thin bricks, the other is said to be a replica made by the British and the bricks used by them are much bigger. Interestingly this gate was in constant use till a few years back. While travelling to the University I used to go under this gate everyday as buses too went on this road. There were marks of cannon balls on the gate and they were preserved as it was in 1857! This morning I could go up the stairs of the gate and see what the view from there was like and how thick were the walls.

Now the gate has been closed to traffic and a sort of memorial has been built there. To the north of this gate was Civil Lines where the British lived. That area was on the ridge at a height, therefore the British had an advantage and could watch all the goings on in the walled City. There is a Mutiny Memorial on the Ridge, near the Hindurao Hospital.

MAGAZINE -OPPOSITE GPO

The famous Lothian Road was the place where the arms and ammunitions of the East India Company were stored. It was called 'The Magazine'. This was right in front of the General Post Office. During the time of the Mutiny this magazine was blown up by the British themselves, so that the mutineers could not capture the arms. On the Lothian Road are also located the famous buildings of James Skinner, and St. James Church built by Skinner. Skinner was an Anglo Indian, knew excellent Persian-the court language and had founded the Skinner's Horse, a Cavalry unit of the Indian Army, which still exists.

Just next to the Railway line where it crosses the Lothian Road is the Lothian Cemetery. It is the oldest cemetery in Delhi. When the railway track was to be laid a part of the Cemetery was acquired for the railway tracks. The General Post Office, the Telegraph Office was also opened on this road. There used to be two famous book stores on this road. One was Atma Ram & sons and the other was Rajpal & sons. There used to be a famous halwai called Mithan Lal, besides the Carlton and Khyber restaurant on this road. Kashmiri Gate at one time was a posh area, as the British Officers lived here. They worshiped at the St. James Church. At the time of the Mutiny there was some bloodshed witnessed at the Church also where some British families had gathered to take shelter! Sir Thomas Metcalfe, an Agent of The East India Company, is also buried in the Churchyard of this Church. James Fraser too is buried in this Churchyard.



SKINNER'S HOUSE NEAR KASHMIRI GATE



BENGALI CLUB



On this famous road are also located a lot of Gun shops as well as Banks, and also the famous Bengali Club! This is the place where I had to send the Bank's Guard for servicing the Bank's guns and for getting the bullets etc!

Punjab National bank brought back memories of my in- laws who had their accounts and locker in the bank in the 1920's. Close by is Bela Road where my husband TNN was born and spent his childhood. In the premises of Dara Shikoh's Library was the Office where my father- in- law worked. He was then employed in the Education department of the Govt of British India. In the ruins of the Magazine TNN played with his friend Subhash almost 60 years ago. The amazing story is that they are still in touch with each other and a couple of years back they took a trip to Disneyland in LA. I was accompanying them and was amused to see their childlike excitement and thrill while taking all the rides. I guess they actually travelled back 55 years and had a whale of a time.

TNN'S FATHER'S OFFICE

Had I continued on my way south from the Lothian Cemetery I would have soon reached Red Fort and Chandni Chowk. I didn't go further on this road, as Kashmiri gate, the three colleges, the Siege of the Walled City the two oldest cemeteries of the City and St. James Church, in a day was enough for me!