Leaving campus at 9, we walked to the highway where we caught a share auto heading to Sonepat. The share auto had two rows within it at the back and space for two next to the driver. Packed in there, we got to the town in about 20 minutes. Revanth was pretty impressed with the layout of the town on google maps, and its grid structure, but that was the last time either of us were pleasantly surprised by the town.
Our first stop of the day was the tomb of Khwaja Khizr, behind the Khwaja Khizr park. The tomb dates back to the time of the Lodis, and is not too elaborate in construction. In front of it is a 4 acre public park that provides access to the monument.
The tomb of Khwaja Khizr, 1520's Lodi era
The monument is accessed by a flight of stairs and a large gateway that leads to a large courtyard. In front of the stairs is an open to sky brick platform with two tombs. Built between 1522 and 1524, this tomb was built for the Sufi saint Khwaja Khizr son of Darya Khan Sarwani. There are a lot of floral motifs used around the structure.
The park was filled with people of all ages, divided according to age roughly. The young boys (and the occasional girl in their group) were playing their own games, the older boys were playing cricket, and the old women were sitting and talking amongst themselves.
The park was filled with people of all ages, divided according to age roughly. The young boys (and the occasional girl in their group) were playing their own games, the older boys were playing cricket, and the old women were sitting and talking amongst themselves.
As we entered the park, a group of young boys were playing with a puppy, running around with it, and picking it up and moving it around on the single pathway approaching the monument. The pup could hardly move, and would waddle after the boy who clicked his fingers at the dog, jumping backward as he did. Revanth approached them and took some selfies with the pup, and struck up a conversation with them. As we moved towards the monument, he noted that the boys playing there were all upper caste, with names like Sharma and Khatri. In rural - or semi-rural as Sonepat was - Haryana, caste discrimination is pretty high.
Just then a ball from the older boys who were playing cricket struck Revanth's bag. The boy who'd hit the ball came forward to apologise, but Revanth was not too upset.
As we climbed the steps of the monument, an old lady, one of a group sitting at the base of the monument, asked him if he was ok, having seen him get hit. She then asked him why he hadnt gone on to scare or threaten them a little. We later talked about this, and realised this sort of thinking is practically absent in South India where people are just generally much nicer.
The tomb structure has inscriptions all around, and over every door structure. The floor was covered in pigeon shit, which of course I had to step on when i went in.
The tomb of the Sufi, with another tomb beside it, not visible in the photo
After we left the monument, stopping for a while at the buffalo pen next to it, and watching two bulls fight, we walked through the town. Both of us were amazed at the lack of aesthetic the town had to offer, and the essentially rural quality it had. There were hardly any vehicles on the road, E-rickshaws plied quite regularly but apart from them there were not too many cars or other vehicles. Houses were small, and only the upper caste had big houses. People were relaxing by the roadside, smoking hash and cigarettes.
We walked along the streets, getting thoroughly confused in the maze-like alleyways. Hardly any of the monuments on our list were marked on Google maps, and some had multiple generic markings. We ended up at a main road just as it started to rain, so we took an auto back to Delhi road where the share autos ply towards Ashoka.
Of course, just as we reached Delhi road the sun came out. So we went into a roadside cafe and had a snack. Realising it was economically unfeasible to return to the town area, we asked about the Durga mandir, that was originally a mosque (not in that way, but the temple was a mosque).
Tucked away in a narrow gully by the main road, the minarets of this temple peek out from behind houses. When we first tried to enter, we passed the entrance to the gully. When we arrived, we almost missed the temple. The front of it has a large boards covering the minarets and domes, which confused us. As we entered, an old man greeted us with 'Ram Ram'. The next exchange had us very confused. "Whats in the temple?" he asked us. We both weren't sure what to respond. "Nothing" he replied himself, and left.
In an old area called Mohalla Khan lies the mandir/masjid. The area's antiquity is vouched for by the intricate doorways seen around. The mosque was built during the decline of the Mughals in the 18th century. It was in use till the time of partition, when the Muslims (of then-Punjab) crossed over to Pakistan. Even after it became Haryana, the mosque remained in disuse. Of late, it has been used as a Durga temple, though slowly all evidence of its history are being erased.
The inside shows no evidence of a mosque, and the entrance area just outside the temple/mosque is filled with other constructions. The whole place is tiled up, and it could well be a twenty year old temple if not for the minarets and the domes.
It seems from a few articles that I later went through, that its only in the last decade that the inside was modified and the front covered. The first link, though with terrible grammar and bad photos, gives one an idea of the place in 2013.
Revanth was insistent on a good photo of the domes. So we went around the side streets. Finding a decent location on a slope, we clicked some. But he was not satisfied. If only we could enter one of these houses and go to a terrace, he reminisced. Finally he built up the courage when two children entered a house. He asked them for those inside and they were quite nice people. A woman came and talked to us, and she gave us permission. Though there was also a man, it was the woman who seemed to have more say. As we noted, the women of Haryana seemed much tougher and able to hold their ground better, than women in the South, for the most part. They let us go to their terrace and take photos of the domes. After reading the article in the second link, I'm not so confident they will survive for many years to come.
We then left for college, thanking the owners once again. We would definitely be back another day, to complete our quest to explore Sonepat's monuments.
The domes and minarets as seen from the back, from a stranger's terrace, 18th century Mughal
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