A Heritage Walk to Feroz Shah Kotla, a fortress built by Sultan Ferozshah Tughlaq in 1354 as he established the fortified city of Firozabad on the banks of river Yamuna as the capital of Delhi Sultanate, was organized by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, Govt of NCT of Delhi, on 5th November, 2011. It was a very well organized event, anchored in an exemplary manner by Dr Navina Jafa, an erudite scholar who has done her doctorate in the Mughal period of Indian history.
What is left of the Feroz Shah Kotla complex today are the ruins of the fort front, a Baoli (a well or a pond as a source of water), and the ruins of a mosque. Most of the fort and the city of Firozabad were dismantled by subsequent rulers who reused the stones and structures as building material for their own buildings. Amidst all the ruins, an Ashoka Column (pillar) stands majestically on the roof of the uppermost section of a three-tiered arcaded palace pavilion opposite the congregational mosque right in the middle of the fortified area. The 13.1 meter high pristine polished sandstone pillar from the 3rd century B.C. and attributed to the Mauryan emperor Ashoka was moved from Ambala by Sultan Ferozshah Tughlaq and installed in the fort complex in 1356. The sandstone pillar has not lost any of its sheen even today as it shone bright in the morning sun when we visited the heritage complex on 5th November.
As we entered the fort complex, on the left was a little slot on the wall where believers are supposed to be invoking the ‘Jinns’ (spirits) for their blessings. We were told this practice started as early as 1970s and, therefore, had nothing to do with history per se or the heritage of the site itself. Our well-informed anchor of the walk told us that the adjacent Feroz Shah Kota Cricket Stadium was established in 1883 but the first official cricket match was held at the ground only in 1934.
Outside the complex and bang in the middle of Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg is a park complex housing the Khooni Darwaza where the captured enemies were tortured with hot pouring oil and being hung from stone carved stone hooks at the top of the darwaza. We were told by our guide that Emperor Aurangazeb, in his bid to capture and consolidate political power, killed his older brother Dara Shikoh, cut his head and put it on one of those hooks for public display, and later on, buried Dara Shikoh’s headless body in the Humayun Tomb complex in Delhi.
Here are a couple of stills from the walk, for more please visit our facebook page :
