We began the first day of the new year by recommending you to visit all the 12 monuments in Lodhi Garden. But Delhi has many gardens, and many of them have monuments. Take Sunder Nursery, which has greater number of monuments than even the grand old Lodhi Garden—20 in all. Six monuments within the park are in fact part of the Humayun Tomb UNESCO World Heritage Site; the emperor’s mausoleum stands beside the park.
Sunder Burj, which dates from 16th century, is the oldest monument in the garden. (Mayank Austen Soofi)
Sunder Burj, which dates from 16th century, is the oldest monument in the garden. While the 18th century Mughal Pavilion is its youngest, and most secretively situated (see photo). It stands out in its poignant beauty, with walls embossed with the likenesses of arches and flowers. The monument draws a lot of peacocks. It is also a popular backdrop for hosting high-brow talks, and one evening, while the learned panellists were discoursing on profound stuff on literary matters, a peacock suddenly appeared on the top of the monument, and stole all the thunder.
The grandly named Sunder Mahal is another prominent structure in the park. The 17th-century sandstone edifice is called a mahal, or palace, but is in reality a tomb–though the grave in the underground grave chamber is missing. During the daytime hours, the city’s smoggy sunlight sneaks into the monument through its doorways and vaults, spreading unevenly into the shaded corridor. Consequently, a visitor is continually stepping through zones of light and darkness.
Then there is the Lakkarwala Burj. The 16th century monument is noisily beautiful in the evening, because the sun sets exactly behind its dome. It flanks a semal tree, which produces a great amount of flowers during the spring months. The monument is also distinguished for casting a startlingly clear reflection in the water of the adjoining lake. The Lakkarwala’s imagery on the lake is not an accidental beauty. The lake was the creation of Muhammed Shaheer, the architect who designed the new Sunder Nursery, but who sadly died before the park was thrown open to the public some years ago.
One other notable edifice in the park is Mirza Muzaffar Hussain’s tomb. It is encircled by a self-contained garden (with a resident brown dog!). Visitors to Sunder Nursery rarely enter this slightly wild garden-tomb, although the popular Farmer’s Market is held every weekend just outside its gate.
Lastly, and not at all least, is the small and beautiful Sunder Burj, the garden’s centrepiece. As the day-end rays of the setting sun enter through various pores of the monument, they generously scatter in the shape of fatty drops across the stone walls of the interiors. The effect is out of this world.