QUDSIA BAGH

(Pronounced qdeshiya) 
Hidden in the lanes of calm Civil Lines of Delhi. Extremely hard to notices.I had drived cross the beautiful ruins of qudsia bagh but never notice the piece of history lay there.
The 18th century establishment was a walled garden that sheltered a palace and yamuna river flowed besides this structure. The yamuna is now nowhere near and its place is taken by the Ring Road.

The enormously spread garden palace was built in 1748 by Qudsia Begum, one of the wives of Muhammed Shah Rangila,a Mughal emperor. Qudsia seduced the emperor when she was a dancer in the court and was then known as Udhman Bai.She later gave the mughals their last emperor.

 It is said that the garden had three storied fort-like walls all around it, with massive gateways on all four sides, but during the 1857 revolt, this garden was used by the British troops as their camp and most of the walls and gateways were destroyed. 

Later, it was restored by the British in their own style, and the entrance to the garden was restricted to locals, who were allowed to enter only at certain times during the day. What remains today is one gateway, one colonial-looking building which might have been the palace, and a mosque. The gateway is called Hathi or Elephant gate, and even in its ruined state, it looks majestic. 
The mosque is simple, with three domes, and is still a functioning mosque, and the colonial building standing in the middle of the garden looks like it may have been built on top of an existing building. Both mosque and building have recently been restored.
The garden was built in the traditional Persian char bagh (four garden) style, and was originally divided into four parts by the flowing water bodies and walkaways. There was also a raised pavilion to sit and admire the garden, and the four parts had various flower beds and fruit trees.
Today this garden is well maintained and a lot of birds, particularly peacocks, can be seen there. It is ideal for a peaceful walk, but also to sit back on a bench and admire the traces that history has left behind and imagine its lost grandeur.

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