Monuments get a caretaker

To get a feel of Mukerba Paik — actually Makbara Paik (the tomb of Paik) — all you need to do is to take a close look at a beautiful octagonal tomb ensconced between the circular wings of the grade separator at the intersection of GT Road and Outer Ring Road.

Did you know that Paik means a messenger of God?
To get a feel of Mukerba Paik — actually Makbara Paik (the tomb of Paik) — all you need to do is to take a close look at a beautiful octagonal tomb ensconced between the circular wings of the grade separator at the intersection of GT Road and Outer Ring Road.

HT Image

The tomb of Paik (Mukerba Paik), Dara Shikhon Library, Turkman Gate, Sarai of Azim Ganj inside Delhi Zoo and five other monuments in the city figure in the preliminary notification of the State Department of Archaeology (SDA) on Friday.

The SDA officials are hoping that the notification would help strengthen the maintenance of the monuments.

Though historians are unable to tell us anything about who this Paik was, the tomb with an odd height and circumference is a memorial to the messenger and a harbinger of goodwill to the denizens here.

An official from the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) said, “The plaster peeled off at several places due to neglect. It was apparently applied recently using modern techniques including cement. What we are planning is to re-do the entire thing with lime mortar.”

The existence of this monument with Lakhori brick masonry was threatened when the Public Works Department (PWD) came up with the proposal for the huge grade separator within metres of the Lodi era tomb of Archaeological Value A.

Said Director of the Department of Archaeology Keshav Chandra, “We plan to bring out notification for almost 90-odd monuments before the Commonwealth Games.”