India Travel

Jami Masjid in Central new Delhi

Related Properties from Gurgaon

Old Delhi and north of Connaught Place in Delhi

If you find Paharganj too much of a travellers' hang-out, or Connaught Place too impersonal, head for Old Delhi, where foreign tourists seldom stay. Here you'll find yourself swamped by the noise and smells of the least modernized area of the capital. Prices are low and standards not very high, but the hotels are well sited for visits to the Red Fort and Jami Masjid, and you can guarantee constant activity on the crowded streets, excellent food at long-established restaurants and superb sweets from roadside stalls. If the noise of Chandni Chowk proves too much, you could opt for a

Jami Masjid in Ahmedabad

A short walk from Teen Darwaja along Gandhi Road leads to the spectacular Jami Masjid, or Friday Mosque. Completed in 1424. it srands today in its entirely, except for two minarets destroyed by an earthquake in 1957. Avidly buzzing with people, the mosque is even busier on Fridays, when thousands converge to worship. A wide flight of steps leads to a vast marble courtyard surrounded on three sides by shady arched cloisters, known as dalans. A meeting place as well as an area for prayer, the courtyard has a water tank used for ablutions in its centre, and at the west

Jami Masjid and the bazaars to the Agra in the Western UP

Opposite the fort and overlooking Agra Fort railway station, the Jami Masjid or "Friday Mosque" was built by Shah Jahan in 1648 and dedicated to his favourite daughter, Jahanara Begum. Standing on a high plinth approached by stairs, and with five arched entrances to the courtyard, the mosque is crowned by three large sandstone domes distinguished by their zigzag bands of marble. Along the wings of the main prayer wall, panels of beautifully inlaid sandstone similar to those decorating the main gateway of the Taj Mahal, add an appropriately feminine touch. Still in use today, the mosque is one of

Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad) in Central New Delhi

Although it's not in fact the oldest part of Delhi, the seventeenth-century city of Shahjahanabad, built by the Moghul emperor. Shah Jahan, is known as OLD DELHI. The original city walls spread for seven miles, enclosing the sprawling fort, Lai Qila, and the formidable Jami Masjid, or "Friday Mosque'l. Old Delhi's mam thoroughfare, Chandni Chowk, a seething mass ot hooting, pushing cars, tempos, cycle rickshaws and ox carts, was once a sublime canal lined with trees and some of the most opulent bazaars of the East. Today the city walls have crumbled, and houses and shops have long since spilled

Old Delhi

Among the shops, offices and houses in Old Delhi's crowded streets, simple, grubby, unadvertised hole-in-the-wall food halls serve surprisingly good, and invariably fiery, Indian dishes for less than Rs2().There are few upmarket places in the heart of Old Delhi, but a number of larger, cleaner restaurants on the outskirts otter surroundings more conducive to leisurely and relaxed eating. The restaurants listed below are marked on the map ot Old Delhi on p.123. Chor Bizarre, Hotel Broadway, 4/15Asaf Ali Rd. Pure, but pricey. Kashmiri taraml and wazwan, made all the more enjoyable by imaginative decor and a servery made from a 1927

Raj Ghat in Central New Delhi

When Shah Jahan established his city in 1638, its eastern edges bordered the Reiver Yamuna, and a line of ghats, or steps leading to the water, was installed ilong the riverbanks. Ghats have been used in India for centuries, primarily for worship, but also for washing clothes and bathing, and for the final ritual, cremation. Raj Ghat, the site of the cremations of three of modern India's most revered figures, Mahatma Gandhi (1948), Indira Gandhi (1984) and her son kajiv (1991), is more of a park than aghat,lying well away from the river bank. The Mahatma's samadhi, a low black

Moth-ki-Masjid in South Delhi

The Moth-ki-Masjid, built during the reign of Sikandar Lodi (1488-1517), is now all but abandoned, isolated in a rural setting within the rapidly spreading suburbs of south Delhi, 2km from Hauz Khas off the Delhi—Mehrauli Road. A milestone in the evolution of the Moghul mosque, its three-domed prayer hall, ornate mihrab and arches stand on a raised plinth, enclosed by walls pierced by an elegant red sandstone gate to the east. Legend has it that Sikandar Lodi picked a grain of moth (a type of lentil) which was then sown by his minister Miyan Bhuwa; the bumper crop multiplied again

The village group of Mandu in Western Madhya Pradesh

Some of the tort's best-preserved buildings are clustered around the village (all open daily 9am—5pm, $10 [Rs5]). Work on the magnificent pink sandstone mosque on the west side of the main square, the Jami Masjid. commenced during the reign of Hoshang Shah and took three generations to complete. Said to be modelled on the Great Mosque at Damascus, it rests on a huge raised plinth pierced by rows of tiny arched chambers - once used as cells for visiting clerics. A flight of steps leads up from the square to the large domed entrance porch. Beyond the ornate jali screens

Arrival and information of the Agra in the Uttar Pradesh

Agra has no less than six railway stations. The busiest is Agra Cantonment (Cantt), in the southwest, which serves Delhi, Gwalior. Jhansi and points south, has a tourist information counter, and is near most hotels. Trains from Rajasthan pull in close to the Jami Masjid at Agra Fort Station, further from the main hub of hotels. Don't be persuaded to get off at Agra City Station, an expensive rickshaw ride away from town. To get to a hotel, use the prepaid auto-rickshaw/taxi booth at Agra Cantonment Station (Rs40/90) or flag down one of the cycle rickshaws (Rs25) that wait in the

Humayun’s Tomb in South Delhi

Close to the medieval Muslim centre of Nizamuddin and 2km from Purana Qila. Humayun's Tomb (daily dawn to dusk; Rs5) stands at the crossroads of the Lodi and Mathura roads, 500m from Nizamuddin railway station which is one stop from New Delhi station on the suburban line. Delhi's first Moghul tomb was constructed from 1564 onwards, after the death of the second Moghul emperor, under the watchful eye of Haji Begum, Humayun's senior widow and mother of Akbar, who camped here tor the duration.The grounds were later used to inter several prominent Moghuls, and served as a refuge for the

Manek Chowk and the Tomb of Ahmed Shah in Ahmedabad

East of the jami Masjid, the jewellery and textiles market, Manek Chowk is a bustling hive of colour where jewellers work in narrow alleys amid newly dyed and tailored cloth. Immediately outside the east entrance of the mosque, the square Tomb of Ahmed Shah I, who died in 1442, stands surrounded by pillared verandas. Women are not permitted to enter the central chamber, where his grave, and those of his son and grandson, lie shrouded in cloth. Further into the market area, you'll find the mausoleum of Ahmed Shah's queens, Rani-ka-Hazira, surrounded by the dyers' colourful stalls. Its plan is identical

Khirki-ki-Masjid in South Delhi

Firoz Shah's Khirki-ki-Masjid, "The Mosque of Windows", famous for its heavy stone lattice windows, lies in the middle of one of South Delhi's villages close to the site of jahanpanah, Delhi's fourth city, 4km east of Qutb Minar and 13km south of Connaught Place. The battered bastions of the squat double-storeyed mosque, flanked by short minarets, give it a fortress-like aspect. Its unusual roof- there are only two covered mosques in north India - consisting of 25 squares capped by domes and flat sections, is open at the centre to allow light into a dark pillared courtyard, plagued by bats.

The City of Aurangabad in Maharashtra

Captains of industry and five-star hotels may have supplanted Moghul emperors and palaces, but Aurangabad has retained much of its Islamic feel. Head for the Muslim quarter around the City Chowk area of the city and you'll see women veiled in long black burkhas, as well as mosques that continue to draw large crowds on Fridays. The old walled city, laid out on a grid by Malik Amber in the sixteenth century, still forms the core of Aurangabad's large bazaar area. It's best approached via Gulmandi Square to the south, along any of several streets lined with colourful shops and

Pandua in Central Bengal

The splendid Adina Masjid at PANDUA, 18km north of Malda, built by Sikander Shah around 1370, was in its day the largest mosque in the subcontinent. It now lies in ruins but these still betray the origin of much of the building materials - carved basalt masonry from earlier Hindu temples was used to support 88 brick-built arches and 378 identical small domes, the design following that of the great eighth-century mosque of Damascus. Other monuments include the Eklakhi mausoleum - one of the first square brick tombs in Bengal with a carved Ganesh on the doorway; and Qutb Shahi Masjid,

Jami Masjid to the Fatehpur Sikri in the Uttar Pradesh

At the southwestern corner of the palace complex, with the village of Fatehpur Sikri nestling at its base, stands the Jami Masjid, or Dargah Mosque. The alignment of the entire palace complex, which faces west instead of following the ridge, was determined by the orientation of the mosque's mihtab (prayer niche) towards Mecca. Housing the tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti, the mosque is unusual in that it is also a living Sufi shrine. The main approach is through the imposing Buland Darwaza (Great Gate), though you may choose to use the Shahi Darwaza to escape the attentions of touts, unofficial guides

The City of Central Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal has two separate centres. Spread over the hill to the south of the lakes, the New Market area, as its name implies, is a recent extension of the city -a modest agglomeration 01 shopping arcades, cybercafes, ice-cream parlours, cinemas and modern office blocks. Once you've squeezed through the strip of land that divides the Upper and (smaller) Lower lakes, sweeping avenues, civic buildings and pleasure gardens quickly give way to the more heavily congested old city. Focused around the Jam! Masjid mosque, the bazaar, in the area known as Chowk, occupies the dense grid of streets between Moti Masjid

Irnam Square to the Tajul Masajid in Madhya Pradesh

A short way southwest of the Chowk area. Imam Square was once the epicentre of royal Bhopal. Nowadays, it's little more than a glorified traffic island, only worth stopping at to admire the Mori Masjid on its eastern edge. The "Pearl Mosque", erected in I860 by Sikander Begum, Kudsia's daughter, is a diminutive and much less imposing version of Shah Jahan's Jami Masjid in Old Delhi, notable more for its slender, gold-topped minarets and sandstone cupolas than its size. Lining the opposite, northern side of the square near the ceremonial archway is a markedly more eccentric nineteenth-century building. The Shaukat Mahal

Dholka in Ahmedabad

A 35-kilometre journey southwest of Ahmedabad by bus or train brings you to DHOLKA, and its three majestic ruined mosques. The modestly proportioned Masjid of Hilal Khan Qazi (1333), featuring detailed tracery work, and the Tanka Masjid (1361), decorated with elaborate Hindu carvings, are both unaffected by Islamic design. More dilapidated, the Mosque of Alif Khan (1453) is distinctively Persian, dominated by solid square towers on either side of the facade. Dholka village is famous for its pomegranate and guava orchards, and also has a stunning wooden haveli temple.

Arrival and information in Delhi

Delhi is India's main point of arrival for overseas visitors, and has two airports, one domestic and one international. State buses from all over the country pull into the Inter-state Bus Terminal in Old Delhi, while private buses stop in the more central location close to New Delhi railway station. Trains arrive at the railheads in Old or New Delhi, both well connected to Connaught Place, the commercial centre of the city, by rickshaw and taxi. For a summary of the kinds of accommodation available in different areas of the city, which may well determine where you head first, see p.

Central New Delhi

The modern area of CENTRAL NEW DELHI, with its wide tree-lined avenues and solid colonial architecture, has been the seat of central government since 1931. At its hub. the royal mall. Rajpath. runs from palatial Rashtrapati Bhavan, in the west, to the India Gate war memorial in the east. At the north edge of the new capital lies the thriving business centre, Connaught Place. where neon advertisements for Wimpy, American Express, hotels and countless airline offices adorn the flat roofs and colonnaded verandas of high white buildings that curve around a central park to form an almost perfect circle. Central New