Review: Gardens of Delhi by Swapna Liddle and Madhulika Liddle
Written in a lucid style, this beautiful volume provides historical, architectural and horticultural details of 14 of the capital’s most popular parks
Delhi may have been declared unlivable by those who can afford to escape, but, for those who have to stay on, respite comes in the form of the city’s gardens. A new coffee table book titled Gardens of Delhi, written by sisters Swapna Liddle and Madhulika Liddle, chronicles 14 of them. Swapna is a historian who leads heritage walks in Delhi and volunteers with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage to advocate for the urgent need to preserve the city’s historic sites. Madhulika is a writer of historical fiction and an amateur naturalist, who is particularly interested in trees and birds.
“We have tried to include a variety of gardens — from historic palace gardens to those that originally lay on the high road, some laid out by royal patrons, others as outcomes of commemoration or even litigation,” they say in the introduction. Their research is based on government files from the Delhi State Archives, and conversations with naturalists, historians, guards, caretakers, and staff members at various gardens.
Written in a lucid style, devoid of jargon, and suitable for nature lovers who enjoy visiting gardens but have not the faintest idea of how to identify a tree, creeper or shrub, the book looks at gardens as social, recreational spaces. It provides historical, architectural and horticultural details in a language accessible to non-experts.
We learn from the Liddles that Delhi, which has numerous gardens surviving from the Mughal period, is “not naturally conducive to lush vegetation”. They note, “With a fairly low annual rainfall, which is moreover concentrated in the monsoon months, the natural vegetation of Delhi is described as ‘semi-desert’, with relatively few, rather thorny, medium-sized trees”. It seems a miracle then that the oldest surviving garden in Delhi — located in Vasant Vihar — dates back to the 14th century, when the Tughlaq dynasty ruled Delhi.
This book covers Lodi Garden, Hayat Baksh Bagh, Roshanara Bagh, Shalimar Bagh, Qudsia Bagh, Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Talkatora Garden, Mughal Garden (also called Amrit Udyan), Sunder Nursery, Buddha Jayanti Park, Nehru Park, National Rose Garden, The Garden of Five Senses, and Indraprastha Park in detail. Each one gets a whole chapter.
The authors write with great affection for the plant and animal kingdom. They invite us, for instance, to visit the Ullu ka Ped (Tree of Owls) at Nehru Park because it is not only the oldest tree there but also home to several owls. They also delight us with the names of tree species like kamandal ped and makkhan katori found at the Garden of Five Senses.
Unfortunately, biodiversity parks get only a paragraph each in the last chapter titled “The Green Spaces of Delhi” where they are bunched together. Created under the aegis of Delhi Development Authority in collaboration with Delhi University’s Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Systems, these are the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, Neela Hauz Biodiversity Park, Tilpath Valley Biodiversity Park, Kamla Nehru Biodiversity Park, Aravali Biodiversity Park, Tughlaqabad Biodiversity Park, and Kalindi Biodiversity Park.
The photographs by Prabhas Roy are truly magnificent, and it is difficult to imagine this book without them. The sunlight filtering through the dense canopy created by leaves and branches is a visual treat, as is the sight of flowers showing off their bright colours in the springtime. It is wonderful to be reminded that these large open green spaces do exist in a concrete jungle.
These gardens are excellent spots for romantic dates, and for picnics with friends and family. The photographs show that even those who relish their solitude gravitate towards these gardens. And if you are a regular visitor, this book also highlights some lesser-known details about these familiar spaces. The authors point out, for example, that Sunder Nursery has around 300 species of trees including Brazilian ironwood, cacao, leza, pink cedar, skunk tree, naag kesar, gaub persimmon, golden champa, chamrod and kachnar. They add, “…many of the more unusual ones can be seen in the less regimented, more ‘wild’ areas off to the left and right of the central corridor”.
This book will also delight trivia hunters. Did you know, for instance, that Mughal Garden, which was named Amrit Udyan in 2023, might have been called “The Garden of Unity” if poet and politician Sarojini Naidu’s suggestion had been heeded? Apparently, Viceroy Charles Hardinge turned down the idea.
Another fun fact is that the proliferation of vilayati keekar which, according to the authors, “must go down in Delhi’s horticultural history as one of the greatest mistakes ever made”, has to do with the shifting of India’s capital from Calcutta to Delhi. PH Clutterbuck and WR Mustoe, who were assigned the task of choosing and planting trees and shrubs to beautify the avenues of the new capital, chose American mesquite, known in India as vilayati keekar.
It was ideal for rapid greening because it has “one of the deepest root systems in all of the tree world, allowing it to grow and even thrive in places where other trees, struggling to draw scarce water from the ground, give up and die.” Sadly, vilayati keekar has robbed sunlight and water from indigenous species like the salai, pisangan, kaala siris and the ghost tree.
Additionally, this book presents information that is relevant for those interested in diplomacy, international relations and peacebuilding. The Buddha Jayanti Park, for instance, has an eight-feet tall statue of the Buddha. The authors state, “The memorial was a gift of the Tibetan people to the people of India, in gratitude for their hospitality in offering refuge to those fleeing Tibet after the takeover of their land by China.”
The western plot of the National Rose Garden in the diplomatic enclave of Delhi’s Chanakyapuri was renamed India-Africa Friendship Rose Garden in 2015 while the eastern plot was named BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Garden a year later.
In a nutshell, this book is pleasing to the eye and nourishing for the mind. It is a must-read.
Chintan Girish Modi is a Mumbai-based journalist who writes about books, art and culture. He can be reached @chintanwriting on Instagram and X.