Delhiwale: Graves of Mehrauli

Mehrauli, rich in history, features royal and sacred graves, including Emperor Iltutmish and Sufi mystic Hazrat Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

Old Delhi is towards the north of the Capital and is pretty old. Mehrauli is towards the southern end and is far older. It is a graveyard of various epochs of Delhi’s overlong history, containing material fragments from the Tomars to the Lodhis to the British. Mehrauli is also a land of very many graves. These graves are of royals as well as of fakirs, and also, famously, of people from the transgender community—a cemetery takes its name from their colloquial identity.

Mehrauli is a graveyard of various epochs of Delhi’s overlong history. (HT Photo)

Mehrauli’s most historic grave is of Emperor Iltutmish, who fathered Razia Sultan, the one who went on to become Delhi’s first female ruler. You need a ticket to have an audience with Iltutmish’s stately stone qabar, for it is ensconced within the UNESCO world heritage site of Qutub Minar.

You need no ticket for a darshan of Mehrauli’s most sacrosanct grave. Sufi mystic Hazrat Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki’s sprawling shrine has hundreds of graves, some of which are so tiny that they must be of infants. That said, dozens of average-sized marble graves claim the dargah’s principal courtyard, where the mystic’s gigantic grave commands the attention of pilgrims. The saint’s grave is actually always invisible, buried under thick layers of roses and sacred chadars. While the aforementioned marble graves lie on one side of the courtyard, fanning out in neatly arranged rows. They all are without inscription. (Sometimes a sensitive pilgrim, after offering prayers at the saint’s decorated grave, walks towards these bare graves, and places a red rose on each).

Three more airy yards within the same shrine are similarly crammed with graves, two of which exude the ghostly sannata of a conventional graveyard. The shrine also has one of Delhi’s most exquisite graves. Marooned in a deserted corner, beside a neem tree, its marble is carved with ornate floral patterns.

Believed to be a Lodhi-era graveyard, the Hijron ka Khanqah lies hidden behind the shops and stores of Mehrauli’s congested village-like bazar. A caretaker asserts that the 50 graves here are sacred to contemporary Delhi’s transgender citizens, the cemetery’s regular visitors.

Mehrauli’s most visible monument (after the lanky Qutub Minar that is!) stands on a hillock, and is the tomb of Mughal noble Adam Khan. His grave is as narrow as a straight line. His mother was also said to be buried within the same tomb. Her grave is lost to time.