Qadam Sharif And Nearby Qutb Road Structures

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Qadam Sharif was originally built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq (14th c.) as a tomb for his son Fateh Khan, but the structure has been heavily altered since. The tomb, now located in the Pahar Ganj area, was enclosed inside an irregular kot (fortification) with gateways to the north and east. Little remains of these fortifications except the eastern gateway and parts of the northern gateway. Both were double gateways.

The structure gets its name from a marble slab said to have a foot imprint of the Prophet Mohammad (brought over from the Middle East), which was once the burial stone of Fateh Khan but is now locked away and displayed only once a year, on the day of the Prophet Mohammad’s birth.

These photos are also in a flickr set.

Eastern gateway of the fortifications around the tomb

A new structure over a small bastion adjacent to the gateway, which follows the rounded shape of the bastion

Inner gateway of the double-gate system

Another gateway and remains of a wall just before the tomb. The lintel is now barely 5ft above the path

Courtyard before Qadam Sharif

Qadam Sharif entrance

Qadam Sharif

Side dome

Fateh Khan’s grave

Side arcade

Late-Mughal dalan to the right of the entrance dome

Decorative work (and swallow’s nests) on the inside of the entrance dome

The encroached-upon northern gateway. We can see the corner battlements in between modern buildings

Northern gateway and adjacent bastion. We can see the distinctive Tughlaq batter to the fortifications

The northern gateway is completely closed/encroached save for this little side passage that still functions as a path in and out of the kot

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Mosque and Tomb on Qutb Road

Just east of Qadam Sharif on Qutb Road (on the eastern edge of the Pahar Ganj area, nowhere near Qutb Minar) lies a mosque and tomb (14th/15th c.) that could once have been enclosed together by walls and formed a single unit, just like the small but evocative tomb complexes of Shah Alam and Makhdum Sahib. Unlike those two well-preserved examples, a road now separates the mosque from its tomb (or possibly the gateway to the enclosure) in this case, the enclosing walls have disappeared, and the structures (both tomb and mosque) are being used for commercial purposes.

Click here for flickr sets of this mosque/tomb, Shah Alam‘s complex and Makhdum Shaib‘s complex.

Mosque

Back of the mosque

Mosque interior

Tomb/gateway

7 thoughts on “Qadam Sharif And Nearby Qutb Road Structures”

  1. thank you for all these pictures… it is a pity so much of what remains has been encroached upon.

    I wonder if you’re familiar with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s book ” Asar us Sanadid”. Written before the fateful events of 1857,it contains descriptions of Delhi’s monuments( some of which no longer exist). To the everlasting delight of those interested in the city’s past, the said book carries a great number of illustrations.

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    • Hi Tarun, yes I think I’ve heard of Sayyid Ahmed Khan before with regard to Delhi monument historiographies. Thanks for putting me on to the book – I’ll try and get my hands on a copy!

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  3. Hi Varun,
    Great pictures. The myth attached to Qadam Sharif is that the great traveller and sufi Makhdoom Jahanian Jahan Gasht had brought the “qadam sharif”- the rock with the Prophet’s footprint to Delhi after an encounter with Prophet’s voice at Mecca. The Tughlaq king wanted the rock to be laid for his own grave but, Fateh Khan his beloved son died before him and it was used for his grave.
    The Qadam Sharif complex also has the grave of Nawab Shamsuddin Khan- the Nawab of Ferozepur Jhirka and Loharu- who was hanged for the murder of William Fraser.

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  4. Pingback: Seven Delhi Mosques Built by Khan Jahan Junan Shah | Sarson ke Khet

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