OK, my second day and I'm writing already! I know, it's crazy. I think this just helps me digest some of what is going on. I had a really cool ghandi quote that I was trying to transcribe from my camera, but my batteries died so you are going to have to wait. But, today was a good day.
First, more Mughal architecture. The Red Fort, built by Shah Jahan and lived in by his son usurping son Aurungzaeb (I hope I got that spelling right). More formal gardens, and water works. There was a beatiful throne area for receiving peasants, etc, and then an even more sumptuous one for the dignitaries. That second one had a stream of water flowing through it running perhaps several kilometres long on very subtle grading. Kind of cool. The part through the throne room carried hot perfumed water from the royal baths. These guys knew how to live! I also figured out a few more things about the Mughals. The first one was Bubar, and he was the one thought to be descended from Genghis. Genghis was Mongolian, and so Mughal became the name for them. Bubar had a son Akbar who became one of the greatest Muslim kings this part of India ever saw - patron of the arts, etc. Bubar, Akbar - does this sound familiar to anyone? And elephants too?? Anyways, Red Fort has alot of potential, but it's 19th and 20th century military uses saw alot of the details stolen or removed, and sadly the hot perfumed water no longer runs. They are slowly doing a piece here, a chunk there, but...
Next, a walk through the old city. This picture is from Chandni Chowk, an old crazy marketplace area with all these winding side streets and vendors of all types. I had very yummy little rice dish with lamb, special sauce, and fresh onions on it for 10 R. ($.25) outside my the gigantic mosque (more later). Also, perhaps against the wishes of my family, I went to a big Jain temple (Digambara Temple) where they have a bird hospital (I did think about avian flu, but...). The Jains believe that all life is sacred, and so they put their faith into action by taking in injured pigeons, parrots, parakeets, you name it and trying to nurse them back to health. Martin I thought of you. More on Jainism later - when I actually understand what it is. It is related to Hinduism, but I'm starting to realize that Hinduism basically absorbs other religions over and over again and makes them it's own. An interesting thing I read today - some think that the word Hindu comes from the times of Alexander when they decided that everybody who lived on the far side of the Shindu river were alike one another, and so called them Sindus, but through transliteration to the Greek the S was lost. I am trying to do some back reading on Hinduism. I think I'm starting to get a big picture perspective. I am not quite ready to write about it yet. From the temple I went through the market (see picture) and to the Jama Masid, a HUGE mosque that can house 25,000 worshippers at a time. I couldn't go in right away because they were doing prayers, but when they were finished they let me and other non-Muslims in. It's pretty cool. In the big courtyard where all the prayer happens they've painted white lines to create "lanes" where you put down your rug to pray. This mosque was built by Shah Jahan as well, finished in 1658.
First, more Mughal architecture. The Red Fort, built by Shah Jahan and lived in by his son usurping son Aurungzaeb (I hope I got that spelling right). More formal gardens, and water works. There was a beatiful throne area for receiving peasants, etc, and then an even more sumptuous one for the dignitaries. That second one had a stream of water flowing through it running perhaps several kilometres long on very subtle grading. Kind of cool. The part through the throne room carried hot perfumed water from the royal baths. These guys knew how to live! I also figured out a few more things about the Mughals. The first one was Bubar, and he was the one thought to be descended from Genghis. Genghis was Mongolian, and so Mughal became the name for them. Bubar had a son Akbar who became one of the greatest Muslim kings this part of India ever saw - patron of the arts, etc. Bubar, Akbar - does this sound familiar to anyone? And elephants too?? Anyways, Red Fort has alot of potential, but it's 19th and 20th century military uses saw alot of the details stolen or removed, and sadly the hot perfumed water no longer runs. They are slowly doing a piece here, a chunk there, but...
Next, a walk through the old city. This picture is from Chandni Chowk, an old crazy marketplace area with all these winding side streets and vendors of all types. I had very yummy little rice dish with lamb, special sauce, and fresh onions on it for 10 R. ($.25) outside my the gigantic mosque (more later). Also, perhaps against the wishes of my family, I went to a big Jain temple (Digambara Temple) where they have a bird hospital (I did think about avian flu, but...). The Jains believe that all life is sacred, and so they put their faith into action by taking in injured pigeons, parrots, parakeets, you name it and trying to nurse them back to health. Martin I thought of you. More on Jainism later - when I actually understand what it is. It is related to Hinduism, but I'm starting to realize that Hinduism basically absorbs other religions over and over again and makes them it's own. An interesting thing I read today - some think that the word Hindu comes from the times of Alexander when they decided that everybody who lived on the far side of the Shindu river were alike one another, and so called them Sindus, but through transliteration to the Greek the S was lost. I am trying to do some back reading on Hinduism. I think I'm starting to get a big picture perspective. I am not quite ready to write about it yet. From the temple I went through the market (see picture) and to the Jama Masid, a HUGE mosque that can house 25,000 worshippers at a time. I couldn't go in right away because they were doing prayers, but when they were finished they let me and other non-Muslims in. It's pretty cool. In the big courtyard where all the prayer happens they've painted white lines to create "lanes" where you put down your rug to pray. This mosque was built by Shah Jahan as well, finished in 1658.
And finally, to the Ghandi Smriti. This is why I wanted to put the Ghandi quote. The Smriti (sim-reety?) is on the site where Ghandijee was killed and where he lived his last 144 days. It was controversial at the time, because it was not in the poor Hindu area as he had in the past. He said his Muslim friends felt safer visiting him here, as well as it being more convenient for dignitaries who wished to discuss matters of state. This second picture is the room in which he spent the last days. I like the picture because it shows how austere he wanted things to be. He felt that simple accomodations brought him a sense of clarity and peace. It was in this room that he did most of his "receiving" of various Hindu, Muslim, and western leaders. There is kind of a wacky but interesting "multimedia" museum there as well which was neat but a bit overwhelming - too many long films. My favorite interactive thing was the "pillar of castelessness" where the people in the room have to old hands to close a circuit which lights the pillar up. If they break hands, the pillar goes dark again. It's a very peaceful location. You can follow a set of concrete footsteps across the grounds a few hundred yards and kind of relive his last steps, up to the location where he was shot (it was a Hindu extremist, he kneeled down as if to pay his respects, and shot him several times with a pistol concealed between his hands in the prayer position. Ghandi had had several attacks or threats made on him leading up to this point and, over the past few days had been talking about the possibility of his death. Some of his words .... I'm not sure when he said this, but... "History is replete with instances of men who by dying with courage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violent opponents."OK, that's it. I'm starting to like Delhi more. What a mess of contradictions. On my way home today I stepped off the ultra modern subway (one person told me it and NYC are the only two metros in the world open 24/7) with escalators and spotless floors and trains (built in 2005) and into border-town looking street with bike taxis and giant potholes and dirt and dust. I think my little Tibetan colony may be in the path of "progress". With this new subway, I'm sure property values in housing-poor Delhi are getting all tweaked. They say the government plans to bulldoze little Majnu-Ta-Killa, though plans are currently on hold. It would be a shame. I like the feeling that all the monks and Tibetan people bring. Across the street I saw a huge housing development under construction, it must be over 50 acres in size.
Tomorrow to Agra for Taj Mahal। I'll probably get back to late to write. I'm going with the Lipstick and Wanderlust woman, but only to share the car because she has a business meeting there for her India book "Wanderlust and Lipstick : India?"
अदिओस,
John
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