Where in Delhi can you find a clear blue sky, lush green surroundings, and good weather in August, that too, all at the same time? If someone would have asked me that a few weeks ago, I would have just said, ‘sapne mein. Ya fir udhar bhi nahin’ [in your dreams. Or not even there]. But that was BEFORE I visited the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. I’ll admit we were lucky with the weather. It had rained both the previous days. The kind of rain that’s too little to help increase agricultural produce, but causes flooding on Delhi roads anyway. But anyhow, the Park was beautiful— a vast expanse of gently sloping hillocks, dotted with monuments and ruins from the 13th century to colonial times.
Also, before I go any further and any Delhi-ites reading this start wondering whether this place even exists/why they’ve never heard of this—the Park is rarely referred to by its actual name, it’s locally called Jamali-Kamali (I can hear you all go ‘Ahh That!’), which is the name of a 16th Century Mosque inside the complex.
The Mosque (which is not in use now) was named after a Sufi Saint, Jamali, whos tomb is adjacent to the mosque. And if the question ‘Why is it called Jamali Kamali?’ has been plaguing you for centuries, generations, or even just the duration you’ve been reading my blog post, then fret not, THE ANSWER IS HERE! Step into Jamali’s tomb
and you’ll realize (if you’re into Indo Islamic history, or like me, if you had a great guide), that there were actually two men buried there! And there aren’t any historical records that tell us who was buried beside Jamali. Next best option, name him yourself. And what better name than one that rhymes with Jamali! Perhaps it helped that Kamal in Hindi/Urdu means wonder—pun intended maybe.
There are more monuments in the Park then one can visit in two hours, but we did manage to see the ruins of Balban’s tomb, Rajon ki Baoli, and Metcalfe’s Folly (seen in the picture).
Metcalfe was a British East India Company officer who bought a section of the Park for himself, landscaped it, and made it his weekend retreat (Just by the way, his clan of descendants can be seen doing similar things in Chhatarpur, Sainik Farms, MG Road etc etc). Also, to get things straight, in architecture, a folly is ” a costly, generally nonfunctional building that was erected to enhance a natural landscape” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Pun intended for sure. 😛
Okay enough of bad jokes and puns for this post, plus I didn’t find another monument with a pun-ny name (I can hear the sighs of exasperation by now). One last picture— of a construction worker’s daughter, at one of the monuments…
…and that’s all for today!
Life, the Universe and Tanvi 
Nice pictas… Well, I haven’t visited ‘Jamali-Kamali’ in the last 16 years that have been living in Delhi, I don’t get much time anyways…Yet you manage to give us a mini-tour through ur blog each time u write.. so thx 4 dat 😉
I’m glad you liked it, and thanks for stopping by 🙂
And for the record, the last pic renders me bamboozled, and slightly amused, and impressed too, each tym dat i luk at it 😛
hai Tanvi, nice to go through ur write up. as per me: The mosque and the tomb building was constructed in 1528-1529, not 17th Century, and Jamali was buried in the tomb after his death in 1535.
“Jamali Kamali”: ‘Jamali’ in Urdu language originates from ‘Jamal’ which means “beauty”. Jamali, was officially known as Shaikh Fazlullh or Jalal Khan, a renowned Sufi Saint who lived during the pre-Mughal dynasty rule of the Lodi’s (Sikander Lodi to the Mughal Dynasty rule of Babur and Humayun), and he was greatly regarded. whereas, Kamali was an unknown person but associated with Jamali and his antecedents have not been established. thus, their names are tagged together as “Jamali Kamali” for the mosque as well as the tomb since they are buried adjacent to each other.
after reading ur write-up i really felt to write some other facts about this place, would very soon post it on facebook, n would love to share with u.
thnks for sharing ur write-up and keep doing!