Out of Phase: Portals at Hauz Khas

People, they say, like to live in large cities but want it to feel like a small village. Surprisingly, this optimum arrangement is possible even in an ugly crowded polluted sprawling foul megatropolis like modern Delhi. There, right amidst the mess, is the village enclave of Hauz Khas – a small cul de sac closed off from the insane traffic, a place that houses artists, poets, nightclubs and fashionable eateries. It is a remarkable thing to discover in such a city. Unfortunately, it is no longer a secret and so Delhi’s rising middle class are moving in rapidly and will, inevitably, ruin the village ambience within a few short years.

Originally Hauz Khas was a former incarnation of Delhi itself. It was once the centre of the city under the pre-Moghul Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth century. The ruins of the city are the structural basis of the modern “village” which hugs the stone walls of the old city. The Sultan, Firoz Shah, had constructed a “tank” – in fact a sizeable lake – at the site, along with mosques and a large madrassa. When the Mongols sacked Bagdhad, this place – the Hauz Khas madrassa – became for a while the premier learning centre of the entire Mahometan world. It is built in the rough-hewn style of the Delhi sultans, that is, quite distinct and noticeably more unadorned and more primitive than the later Moghuls who brought a more sophisticated Persian influence to northern Hindustan, but this roughness – virile, solid - has a beauty and charm of its own.

The present author spent a pleasant afternoon exploring the ruins of the madrassa and the tombs of the sultan and his sons, along with the modern village, several weeks ago.

For photographic purposes the outstanding feature of the ruins are the extant portals and gateways – something that always attracts this author in any case. Portals – doorways, gateways, passageways – are always of interest because, of all architectural features they tend to last longer than roofs and walls and windows, and, of course, they have an enduring symbolic significance. A portal is a mystery. What lies beyond? Spatially it signifies the passage from one world to another. Temporally it signifies the passage from one phase or condition to another. It is a place that inherently signifies transition, transformation, initiation. Its celestial archetype is the portal of the sun, the gates of the solstices and equinoxes – with the ‘watchtowers’ either side - through which the sun (along with the planets) passes on its journey.

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Below are some of the portals to be found in the ruins of Hauz Khas: