Delhiwale: Monuments of Deer Park

Bagh-I-Alam ka Gumbad in Deer Park, Delhi, teems with wildlife and history. Monuments, graves, and graffiti adorn the ancient structures.

Lodhi Garden has monuments. So does Sunder Nursery. Deer Park has deer. But it too has monuments.

People stroll past the 16th century Bagh-I-Alam ka Gumbad and the Kali Gumti monument. (HT Photo)

Tucked deep within the sprawling south Delhi park, the 16th century Bagh-I-Alam ka Gumbad teems with little lives. Many squirrels, many pigeons. The bird bakbak sometimes grows so loud that you feel that there must be hundreds of birds inside the monument, and any moment they might lift the heavy thing up into the Delhi air and make it float like a flying palace.

This cloudy humid morning, the domed tomb chamber inside is actually devoid of birds. Three graves lie along the floor. The west-facing wall is sculpted with a Mecca-facing mihrab. The domed ceiling is embellished with floral patterns and calligraphies. Side staircases are locked with grilled gates. One of the arched jharokhas is showing the amaltas tree outside, decked with summertime yellow flowers. Suddenly birds fly into the silent chamber, the flutter of their wings echoing off the stone walls many times over.

The gumbad faces a roofless mosque, flanked on one side by a wall. The wall is sculpted into a series of arched taaks. The mosque’s stone floor is littered with nine graves—surfaces cracked, calligraphed inscriptions severely faded. A brown dog is lying atop a grave, asleep. Suddenly, he gets up as if jolted by an electric shock. He ambles confusedly about the graves and plops down on the cool mossy portion of the floor.

Some distance away, at the end of a walking track, the Kali Gumti monument too comprises of a domed tomb chamber. It also has a roofless mosque, flanked on one side by a wall. But both these ruins are much smaller than the aforementioned monuments on the other side of the track. The stone yard here is covered with fallen amaltas flowers. The tiny tomb chamber has no grave inside. Its walls within are defaced with I-Love-You scrawls. Some defacements appear to be mobile phone numbers. The west-facing mihrab has its entire surface defaced with a large heart, painted red. A half-burnt cigarette is lying in one of the taaks.