For a cricket crazy nation Feroze Shah Kotla is a cricket stadium with some famous and some forgettable stories about the game and all there is in...but surprise..surprise, its the 5th city of the eight cities that Delhi is made up of (Indraprastha, Mehrauli, Jahanpanah, Tughlakabad, Shahjahanabad, Siri, Lutyens and ofcourse Ferozabad!)
Some facts and Trivia -
- It was built by Feroze Shah, who was a cousin to Bin Tughlak and succeeded him to the throne of Dehli in 1351; He ruled for about 37 years and lies buried in Hauz Khas in his tomb;
- His father was a sepey-salar in Tughlak's army and his mother was supposedly a hindu princess.
- The Islamic reign was still in its nascent stages during his rule and he also faced a lot of resistance like his predecessors, but he had learnt to be patient and non-extremist and that helped him survive for long!
- But what strikes most is his choice of place to build the palace , a most intelligent one, because he was the only one who thought about building it on the banks of Jamuna to beat the scarcity of water in an arid city.
- The city was destroyed and plundered by Taimur in 1398 when he attacked Dehli and plundered it.
The Complex today houses the ruins of the fort, a circular baoli (this is a
unique one considering its the only one in that shape in the city, a pyramid with a Ashoka Stamb (bought in from Ambala ) and the Jami Masjid is said to have captured Taimur's fascination so much that he ordered all the workers in and around Dehli to be sent to his other provinces and he commissioned a similar mosque in Samarkand
unique one considering its the only one in that shape in the city, a pyramid with a Ashoka Stamb (bought in from Ambala ) and the Jami Masjid is said to have captured Taimur's fascination so much that he ordered all the workers in and around Dehli to be sent to his other provinces and he commissioned a similar mosque in Samarkand
But what strikes the most is the view from the top of the pyramid....you can see the new Dehli emerging from the old. The place is very well maintained by ASI and is a must do for a winter afternoon; The lush green grounds and the chirping of parakeets and other birds make for a relaxing experience. As this is an offbeat location you would hardly see any crowd, taking the experience to a new level.
How to reach there:- The Complex lies next to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park on Bahadur Shah Zafar marg. Its a 1.5 km walk from the Barakhamba Metro station.
It's interesting that we actually sort of "celebrate" monuments built by islamic invaders (Moguls) who came to Bharat to loot/destroy our country and convert Hindus to muslims. Our govt also distorts the history too much to please muslims...
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