Day 2 All - In the footsteps of Ibn Battuta in India

City of Jahanpanah

Mohammed bin Tughlaq, son of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq who built Tughlaqabad, constructed his new city of Jahanpanah between 1326 and 1327 by encircling the earlier cities of Siri and Lal Kot with 13 gates.

Mohammed bin Tughlaq, son of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq who built Tughlaqabad, constructed his new city of Jahanpanah between 1326 and 1327 by encircling the earlier cities of Siri and Lal Kot with 13 gates. But what remains of the city and Adilabad fort are large ruins, which leave much ambiguity and conjectures regarding its physical status as to why and when it was built by Tughlaq. Some of the structures which have survived partially are the Bijay Mandal (that is inferred to have housed the Hazar Sutan Palace, now destroyed), Begumpur Mosque, Serai Shaji Mahal, Lal Gumbad, Baradari with other nearby structures and scattered swathes of rubble masonry walls. From Ibn Batuta’s chronicle of the period (he lived in Delhi from 1333–41) it is inferred that Lal Kot (Qutb complex) was then the urban area, Siri was the military cantonment and the remaining area consisted of his palace (Bijaymandal) and other structures like mosques, etc.

City of Jahanpanah

Ibn Batuta has reasoned that Muhammad Shah wished to see a unified city comprising Old Delhi, Siri, Jahanpanah and Tughlaqabad with one contiguous fortification encompassing them but cost considerations forced him to abandon the plan halfway. In his chronicle, Batuta also stated that the Hazar Sutan Palace (1000 pillared palace), built outside the Siri fort limits but within the Jahanpanah city area, was the residence of the Tughlaq.

Bijay Mandal was once a big fort complex which said to house the ‘Hazar Sultan Mahal’ or the palace of thousand pillars – resident of the Badshah of India – Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq

Jahanpanah : Ibn-Batuta once stayed in this city and Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq lived and died here. With Tughlaq’s fascinating administrative and infrastructure skills, it was undoubtedly was the most glorious city in the world at that time.

Fruits available in India......Ibn Batuta's words about Mango

Dosa...Street food in Delhi