Badaun: This Sultanate city of culture and creativity is forgotten today

The Badaun of today is a place of many pasts, many identities. At the current time, if a person were to call it by its ancient name ‘Vodamayuta’ – meaning an ornament in the land of Panchala – even the town’s residents would burst out laughing. In historic times, its position in the northern Gangetic plain gave it considerable significance. Today, unfortunately, the only time Badaun comes into the news seems to be on account of one heinous crime or the other.

In the era of the Mahajanapadas, it lay squarely on the route that connected the powerful kingdoms of Hastinapur and Indraprastha with Panchala. All of these excavated sites have thrown up evidence of immense wealth, with Hastinapur lying in rural Meerut, Indraprastha in the heart of Delhi and the Panchala capital of Ahichhatra being just outside Bareilly. Badaun, then and now, lies at the heart of a route traversed through the centuries by seekers of both wealth and power.

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After the fall of Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192, the establishment of an Islamic Sultanate at Delhi changed the course of Indian history. Badaun was one of the places at the centre of this sudden change. Falling to the Mamluks – also called Slave dynasty by some historians – in the early 13th century, its strategic position saw it being transformed into a garrison town from which the plains could be monitored and controlled.

The town’s acme, although brief, came in the period 1210-14 when Iltutmish shifted the sultanate’s capital from Delhi to Badaun. Was it the added comfort of being in a garrison town that triggered this shift or a need to subdue the rulers of the plains more? While the reason for the shift to Badaun and back to Delhi has always been hazy, the shift did trigger cultural changes whose impact has lasted to this day.

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The most visible architectural symbol of that change is the Jama Masjid here. Constructed by Iltutmish in 1223, it is considered the second largest congregational mosque in India. Restored by the Tughlaks around 1350-51, it was severely damaged in a fire around 1571 and later rebuilt, making it a living repository of centuries of work and restoration.

Sadly, the Jama Masjid is also the repository of clashing cultures in the town, being the subject of a temple-mosque dispute. As per a case filed by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, the mosque was built after Iltutmish demolished a Shiva temple that stood here. The temple is said to have been built by a local ruler called Lakhanpal and later renovated by his son Mahipal. At the time of this author’s visit, the structure remains in active use as a mosque and photography is prohibited within. The dispute is not going away any time soon and all one can hope for is an amicable resolution.

The other medieval remains which dot the town are largely funerary monuments. The most elegant is undoubtedly the tomb of Nawab Ikhlas Khan, governor of Bengal during the reign of Aurangzeb. The structure is said to have been inspired by the Taj Mahal in style and intent, with the Nawab’s wife being the patron builder after her husband’s death in 1660-61. Built on a high stone platform and embellished by cupolas in each corner, the tomb has thick minarets rising from a central structure.

The town has many other tombs around, such as that of Makhduman Jahan and Chaman Rauza, but perhaps the most historically significant character lies buried in a vegetation-covered graveyard outside Badaun, in a village called Sheikhupur A partially ruined tomb here is that of Parwar Khanum, sister to Mumtaz Mahal. Parwar was married to a family that held the governorship of Badaun for a while. Apparently, her descendants still have property here. One sister has a Taj Mahal to her memory while another lies in a crumbling tomb outside Badaun. The heirs of the sister in the Taj are scattered far and wide, while those of the latter still retain a share of their legacy, regardless of the condition of their ancestor’s tomb. The contrasting ways of fate!

Of the temples in the town is a quaint one built by a Nawab Rai, possibly in the 19th century, which also houses a post office within. Existing monuments aside, the town has been touched by many historical figures. According to one account, Ashoka built a stupa here and called the place Buddhamau. A millennium plus later, the sufi Nizamuddin Auliya was born here. Also born here was Abdul Qadir Badayuni, 16th century CE nobleman at Emperor Akbar’s court and a chronicler who had the temerity to criticize his imperial master, though with the wisdom to publish the work after the emperor had passed.

Speaking of Akbar, it is said that he too visited Badaun. The object of his visit seemed to have been to pray for a male heir at the dargah of a figure called ‘Chhote Sarkar’, a sufi otherwise known as Syed Vilayat Shah. Locals attribute an imperial land grant to the dargah to the prayers being successful.

Sharing a birthplace with Nizamuddin Auliya and Abdul Qadir Badayuni was a more contemporary figure, the Bollywood music composer Shakeel Badayuni. Apparently, it was the cultural environment of Badaun that led him to seeking a profession in the creative arts.

Sadly, there is little sign of such a creative environment in the Badaun of today. If it still exists, it is well concealed within the privacy of homes. Apart from the tombs which seem to be stragglers from history, there is little to distinguish the place from dozens of other towns in north India. Perhaps one day, a little of its lost magic can be retraced. And it need no longer be in the news only for violent events.

The author is a heritage explorer by inclination with a penchant for seeking obscure sites. A brand consultant by profession, he tweets @HiddenHeritage. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.