Bahadur Shah Zafar (Bahadur Shah II), the ill-fated last Mughal emperor, had identified a sardgah, a vacant land for burial, at the complex of Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli, as his final place of rest—the sweep of history made him unable to fulfill his first wish. Now, even the enclosure that houses his empty grave is broken.
On December 10, writer Sam Dalrymple and Umair Shah, popularly known as ‘Sikkawala’, a social-media influencer chronicling Delhi’s history on Instagram, shared a carousel of photos of the alleged vandalisation of the lattice screen or jali present in the enclosure of the emperor’s empty grave.
TMS visited the site, once a summer palace of the Mughals, on December 12 and found that the jali had been hastily put back together by the security personnel on duty.
Why the Mahal matters
“Zafar Mahal is the most significant late Mughal monument in India. Not one, but three Mughal emperors are buried here,” says Dalrymple. Built by Akbar Shah II in 1820, the structure was reconstructed and expanded by Bahadur Shah II in 1847, ten years before India’s first war of independence, a period when the empire was crumbling and could not afford to build mausoleums as grand as the Humayun’s Tomb or the Taj Mahal. “So, they buried the emperors at one graveyard,” says Dalrymple.
The Mughals considered it sacred to be buried near the tomb of a saint. For instance, Emperor Huamyun’s tomb is near the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, while Muhammad Shah Rangila’s tomb is inside the Nizamuddin Dargah complex. Three Mughal emperors, Bahadur Shah I, Shah Alam II and Akbar Shah II, were, therefore, buried in a marble enclosure of the complex adjoining the shrine of saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. Bahadur Shah II, too, wanted his final resting place in the proximity to the revered saint. But it was not to be. He was deposed by the British after the Revolt of 1857 and exiled to Rangoon, now Yangon in present-day Myanmar, where he died of old age and was buried. Heartbroken, the former emperor wrote a ghazal right before his death:
Kitna hai badnaseeb Zafar
Dafn ke liye
Do gaz zameen bhi
Mil na saki kuye yaar mein
(How wretched is your fate, Zafar! That for your final berth you couldn’t get in your beloved land two meagre yards of earth.)
The jali of the vandalised enclosure is considered “one of the supreme architectural pieces”, says Dalrymple. It also finds mention in a recent book by the chief curator of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Navina Haidar’s Jali: Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture. Haidar writes in the book that in Sufi shrines jalis are “a point of encounter” between pilgrims and the divine.
“These jalis are executed in a delicate ogival lattice pattern (a textile form used in Ottoman silk), enclosed in gently cusped arches with naturalistic leaves, it is a style that became established in Aurangzeb’s period. I hope that the best craftsmen can be brought in to fix them and that vandalism is curbed,” she tells TMS.
All-round neglect
The broken jali is just one of the many cases of deterioration of the Zafar Mahal. The complex is heavily encroached upon, many parts of it have either been demolished or have been occupied illegally. “Diwan-e-Khaas, house of Bahadur Shah II’s brothers, Mirza Babur and Mirza Salim, and the house of Mirza Nilli, a relative of Bahadur Shah II, and Aurangzeb’s baoli are now gone,” says Dalrymple. While a report by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of 1923-24 mentions repairs at the Zafar Mahal, the site continues to lie in ruins. Unable to provide clarity on the last repair dates, the ASI Superintending Archaeologist, Praveen Singh, mentions that repairs have not been carried out for “ten years or even more”.
Despite the ASI’s promises to restore the site, it has only seen deterioration with time. “We are aware of the site’s condition and work is in progress,” says Singh. According to Singh, “this is a small damage” as the site is located in a remote area”, which makes it difficult for the authorities “to keep an eye on everyone”. However, the monument is just ten minutes away from the Qutub Minar complex. “A five-minute walk from there, and you will reach Sabyasachi’s store,” says Dalrymple.
Zafar Mahal stands amidst residential buildings and wires. “The area is heavily ghettoised, it is impossible that no one saw or heard anything being done to the site,” says Shah. Recalling an incident, he shares that he was once stopped from entering the complex because he had a camera with him for an educational shoot. “I had the permit, still, the guard made me call three different ASI officers before letting me enter,” he continues. “But you can see locals gambling and drinking inside the complex.”
Dalrymple and Shah both share that for visitors and photographers even with a permit, the movement inside the complex is restricted. The roof of the complex is shattered to the point that visitors are prohibited from entering. However, on the site visit, TMS found an on-going clothing brand shoot in the complex, while the staff freely roamed around the complex, even on the roof.
Historical grounds
Zafar Mahal not only served as an important site in Mughal history but is also linked with the freedom movement. Subhas Chandra Bose took an oath to free India from colonial rule at the proposed grave of the emperor under whose name the first battle of independence was started. Mahatma Gandhi too took an oath to fast unto death here on the condition of restoring communal peace and at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, which was set on fire during the post-Partition riots.
“It is high time for the restoration to start so that we can protect whatever we have left,” says Shah. While the ASI claims that restoration will start from the “next financial year”, whether or not it will happen, only time will tell.