Of models and role models

R.V. Smith says the city of Agra was the model on which Delhi was planned

May 22, 2011 06:32 pm | Updated 06:32 pm IST

When Delhi was planned by Shah Jahan, it had Agra as its model, a comparative study of the two cities by yours truly has revealed. Whatever embellished the Capital of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan was re-introduced in Shahajahanabad and whatever was gross omitted. The narrow streets of the older city were a hindrance to the smooth flow of traffic. They choked when State processions were taken out. Shah Jahan was a boy in 1608 when he witnessed the procession of Captain William Hawkins, the British envoy to the court of Jahangir that winded its way to the Agra Fort from Phulhatti, where the English were stationed. Though it was a spectacle of pomp and show, the procession got stuck for long in Seb-ka Bazaar , Kinari Bazaar and Johari Bazaar . This sort of thing the builder of the Taj did not want to see in his dream capital.

The dancing girls of the bazaars , excluding Johari bazaar but including Kashmere Bazaar , found room in Shahjahanabad also. But they were accommodated in Chawri Bazaar and not in Chandni Chowk. Now the dancing girls have almost disappeared from the Agra bazaars and their kothas look dark and forlorn. The sound of the sarangi and tabla is missing and so too is the classical voice of the tawaif singing a poignant ghazal or thumri. The courtesan's nasal intonation however ceased in Chawri Bazaar when the red light area was shifted to G.B. Road after the Partition. The flats here did not have balconies like the ones in Chawri Bazaar where the dancing girls were visible easily from the road, reclining against pillows and making explicit gestures sometimes.

The new habitat was dull and drab, were the mujra was just a cover-up for flesh trade and not entertainment in itself. Unfortunately, those who occupied the lower portions of the kothas in Chawri Bazaar, the eunuchs did not find a place in G.B. Road and had to move back to Ajmeri and Turkman gates.

The shops that came up in Chandni Chowk and the mohallas surrounding the Jama Masjid were low compared to the ones in Agra, where few of these now survive. The most conspicuous is the one in Kashmere Bazaar , where a cosmetics seller plies his trade. The shops were made high for two reasons: to enable men horseback to buy things without having to dismount, and the second: to provide safety to the shopkeeper against snatchers and looters in times of discord, like the ones witnessed during the invasions of Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah Abdali and the Jats. The reason why the shops were kept low in Shahjahanabad pointed to the comparative peace and tranquil of Shah Jahan's reign, which turned out to be the golden age of the Moghuls.

The old Delhi gazetteer says that (even after 1857) the view of the city of Delhi from the Ridge was picturesque. “In the foreground are the houses of the English, interspersed with trees, and in the distance the city wall surmounted here and there by tall acacias, while over all rise the Minarets of the Jama Masjid and the Fort. But perhaps the most striking view is that of the eastern face of the Palace (fort) which greets the traveller as he crosses the Old Jamuna Bridge on his entrance into the city….”

The account also refers to the shops in Chandni Chowk, on either side of the nehar that flowed through it, and the massive neem and peepal trees that provided shade and comfort. The scenario was such that one felt that one was in the Venice of the East. Those planning the redevelopment of Chandni Chowk should keep this in mind if they really want it to regain its pristine glory. As for Agra, the Chandni Chowk in the fort that inspired Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's daughter) to recreate a larger Moonlight Street in Shahjahanabad, there is no redevelopment plan as such. Its old bazaars have become just as dingy as its kothas.

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