National Zoological Park

National Zoological Park

The National Zoological Park (originally Delhi Zoo) is a 176-acre (71 ha) zoo near the Old Fort in Delhi, India. A 16th-century citadel, a sprawling green island and a motley collection of animals and birds, all in the middle of a burgeoning urban Delhi. The zoo is home to about 1350 animals representing almost 130 species of animals and birds from around the world. Currently, the director of the zoo is Shri Amitabh Agnihotri, IFS. The zoo can be seen on foot or using a battery-operated vehicle which can be rented at the zoo. Visitors are not permitted to bring any food other than drinking water, but there is a canteen in the zoo

Chhatarpur Temple

Chhatarpur Temple

Chhatarpur Temple (Officially: Shri Aadya Katyayani Shakti Peetham) is located in a down town area in south of Delhi - Chhatarpur. This is the second largest temple complex in India, and is dedicated to Goddess, Katyayani. It is located at Chhatarpur,on the southwestern outskirts of the city of Delhi and is just 4 km (2.5 mi) from Qutub Minar, off Mehrauli-Gurgaon road.

Red Fort

Red Fort

The Red Fort is a historical fort in the city of Delhi in India. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal dynasty for nearly 200 years, until 1857. It is located in the center of Delhi and houses a number of museums. In addition to accommodating the emperors and their households, it was the ceremonial and political centre of the Mughal state and the setting for events critically impacting the region.

The National Rail Museum

The National Rail Museum 

The National Rail Museum is a museum in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi which focuses on the rail heritage of India it opened on the 1 February 1977. It is located in over 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land with both indoor and outdoor exhibits. A toy train offers rides around that site on regular days.Museum remains open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm (Last entry 4.30 pm) Tuesday to Sunday. Museum remains closed on every Monday and National Holidays. The Indoor Gallery is now fully renovated and opened to the public.

Purana Quila

 Purana Quila

One does not have to go far to see the old fort or Purana Quila standing stoically amidst wild greenery.Built on the site of the most ancient of the numerous cities of Delhi, Indraprastha, Purana Quila is roughly rectangular in shape having a circuit of nearly two kilometers.

The thick ramparts crowned by merlons have three gateways provided with bastions on either side. It was surrounded by a wide moat, connected to river Yamuna, which used to flow on the east of the fort. The northern gate way, called the Talaqui darwaza or the forbidden gateway, combines the typically Islamic pointed arch with Hindu Chhatris and brackets; whereas the southern gateway called the

Humayun Darwaza also had a similar plan.

The massive gateway and walls of Purana Quila were built by Humayun and the foundation laid for the new capital, Dinpanah.

The work was carried forward by Sher Shah Suri,who displaced Humayun, Purana Quila is the venue for the spectacular sound and light show held every evening.

Lodhi Garden

Lodhi Garden

Lodhi Gardens (Hindi: लोधी बाग़ is a city park situated in New Delhi, India. Spread over 90 acres (360,000 m²),it contains, Mohammed Shah's Tomb, Tomb of Sikandar Lodi, Shisha Gumbad and Bara Gumbad,architectural works of the 15th century by Lodhis- who ruled parts of northern India and Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of modern-day Pakistan, from 1451 to 1526. The site is now protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The gardens are situated between Khan Market and Safdarjung's Tomb on Lodhi Road and is a hotspot for morning walks for the Delhiites.

Kalkaji Mandir

Kalkaji Mandir

Kalkaji Mandir, also known as Kalkaji Temple, is a Hindu mandir or temple, dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Kali. This temple (mandir) is situated in the southern part of Delhi, India, in Kalkaji, a locality that has derived its name from the temple and is located opposite Nehru Place business centre. The temple is accessible by public transport on Kalkaji Mandir (Delhi Metro) and is near Bus Terminus-Nehru Place and Railway Station-Okhla.The general belief is that the image of the Goddess Kalka here is a self-manifested one, and that the shrine dates back to Satya Yuga when the Goddess Kalika had incarnated and killed the demon Raktabija along with other giant demons.

AKSHARDHAM

WHAT IS AKSHARDHAM

'Akshardham' means the divine abode of God. It is hailed as an eternal place of devotion, purity and peace. Swaminarayan Akshardham at New Delhi is a Mandir – an abode of God, a Hindu house of worship, and a spiritual and cultural campus dedicated to devotion, learning and harmony. Timeless Hindu spiritual messages, vibrant devotional traditions and ancient architecture all are echoed in its art and architecture.The mandir is a humble tribute to Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781- 1830), the avatars, devas and great sages of Hinduism. The traditionally-styled complex was inaugurated on 6 November 2005 with the blessings of HH Pramukh Swami Maharaj and through the devoted efforts of skilled artisans and volunteers.

SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE

Each element of Akshardham echoes with spirituality – the Mandir, the Exhibitions and even the Gardens.
The Akshardham mandir has over two hundred murtis, representing many of the spiritual stalwarts over many millennia. The spiritual premise of Akshardham is that each soul is potentially divine. Whether we are serving the family, the country our neighbors or all living beings the world over , each service can help one move towards divinity. Each prayer is a call towards improving oneself and moving closer to God.
A visit to Akshardham is a spiritually enriching experience. Whether it is in realising the power of prayer, in feeling the strength of non-violence, in being aware of the universal nature of Hinduism’s ancient principles, or just in admiring the beauty of God’s abode on Earth –- each element has a spiritual significance.

FACTS AND FIGURES

§  Opened 6th November 2005

§  Constructed by Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)

§  Inspired by HH Yogiji Maharaj (1892-1971 CE)

§  Created by His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj

§  More than 300,000,000 volunteer hours went into making the complex

§  Over 8,000 volunteers from across the world participated in building it

§  Mandir built from intricately carved sandstone and marble 

§  Exhibitions on Hinduism, including Bhagwan Swaminarayan's life and teachings such as prayer, compassion, and non-violence.

§  Open gardens, water bodies and step-well styled courtyard 

India Gate

The India Gate, (originally called the All India War Memorial), is a war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the ‘ceremonial axis’ of New Delhi, India, formerly called Kingsway. India Gate is a memorial to 82,000 soldiers of the undivided Indian Army who died in the period 1914–21 in the First World War, in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. 13,300 servicemen's names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.The India Gate, even though a war memorial, evokes the architectural style of the triumphal arch like the Arch of Constantine, outside the Colosseum in Rome, and is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Agrasen ki Baoli

Agrasen ki Baoli (also known as Ugrasen ki Baoli), designated a protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, is a 60-meter long and 15-meter wide historical step well on Hailey Road  near Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India. Although there are no known historical records to prove who built Agrasen ki Baoli, it is believed that it was originally built by the legendary king Agrasen,and rebuilt in the 14th century by the Agrawal community which traces its origin to Maharaja Agrasen

Qutb Minar

Qutb Minar,(also spelled Qutub Minar) at 73 metres, is world's tallest rubble masonry minaret. Qutb Minar, along with the ancient and medieval monuments surrounding it, form the Qutb complex, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The tower is located in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India. The Minaret of Jam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Afghanistan, is thought to have been a direct inspiration for the Qutb Minar in Delhi, which was also built by the Ghori (Mamluk) Dynasty. Made of red sandstone and marble, Qutb Minar is a 73-metres (240 feet) tall tapering tower with a diameter measuring 14.3 metres (47 feet) at the base and 2.7 metres (9 feet) at the peak. Inside the tower, a circular staircase with 379 steps leads to the top. Qutb Minar station is the closest station on the Delhi Metro.

Connaught Place

Connaught Place (कनॉट प्लेस) is one of the largest financial, commercial and business centres in New Delhi, India. It is often abbreviated to CP and houses the headquarters of several noted Indian firms. The main commercial area of the new city, New Delhi, during the erstwhile British Raj, its environs occupy a place of pride in the city and are counted among the top heritage structures in New Delhi. It was developed as a showpiece of Lutyens' Delhi with a prominent Central Business District.

Named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, construction work began in 1929 and was completed in 1933. A metro railway station built under it is named Rajiv Chowk (after Rajiv Gandhi).

Lotus Temple

The Lotus Temple, located in Delhi, India, is a Bahá'í House of Worship completed in 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent and has become a prominent attraction in the city. Like all Bahá'í Houses of Worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all, regardless of religion or any other qualification. The building is composed of 27 free-standing marble-clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides, with nine doors opening onto a central hall with height of slightly over 40 metres and a capacity of 2,500 people.The Lotus Temple has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. A 2001 CNN report referred to it as the most visited building in the world.

Jantar Mantar

The Jantar Mantar is an equinoctial sundial, consisting a gigantic triangular gnomon with the hypotenuse parallel to the Earth's axis. On either side of the gnomon is a quadrant of a circle, parallel to the plane of the equator. The instrument is intended to measure the time of day, correct to half a second and declination of the Sun and the other heavenly bodies.

There are five Jantar Mantar monuments in India, of which the largest is in Jaipur which features many instruments along with the world's largest stone sundial. The Vrihat Samrat yantra is a sundial that can give the local time to an accuracy of 2 seconds.

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's tomb (Persian: آرامگاه همایون‎‎ Maqbara e Humayun Turkish: Hümayun Kabri) is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum (also known as Haji Begum),in 1569-70, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, a Persian architect chosen by her. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India, close to the Dina-panah Citadel, also known as Purana Qila (Old Fort), that Humayun founded in 1533. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale. The tomb was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993,^[ and since then has undergone extensive restoration work, which is complete.^[ Besides the main tomb enclosure of Humayun, several smaller monuments dot the pathway leading up to it, from the main entrance in the West, including one that even pre-dates the main tomb itself, by twenty years; it is the tomb complex of Isa Khan Niyazi, an Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri's court of the Suri dynasty, who fought against the Mughals, constructed in 1547 CE.

The complex encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun, which houses the graves of Bega Begum herself, Hamida Begum, and also Dara Shikoh, great-great-grandson of Humayun and son of the later Emperor Shah Jahan, as well as numerous other subsequent Mughals, including Emperor Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi Ul-Darjat, Rafi Ud-Daulat, Muhammad Kam Bakhsh and Alamgir  It represented a leap in Mughal architecture, and together with its accomplished Charbagh garden, typical of Persian gardens, but never seen before in India, it set a precedent for subsequent Mughal architecture. It is seen as a clear departure from the fairly modest mausoleum of his father, the first Mughal Emperor, Babur, called Bagh-e Babur (Gardens of Babur) in Kabul (Afghanistan). Though the latter was the first Emperor to start the tradition of being buried in a paradise garden.^[Modelled on Gur-e Amir, the tomb of his ancestor and Asia's conqueror Timur in Samarkand, it created a precedent for future Mughal architecture of royal mausolea, which reached its zenith with the Taj Mahal, at Agra.

Hauz Khas Complex

Hauz Khas Complex (Hindi: हौज़ ख़ास, Punjabi: ਹੌਜ਼ ਖ਼ਾਸ, Urdu: حوض خاص‎) in Hauz Khas, South Delhi houses a water tank, an Islamic seminary, a mosque, a tomb and pavilions built around an urbanized village with medieval history traced to the 13th century of Delhi Sultanate reign. It was part of Siri, the second medieval city of India of the Delhi Sultanate of Allauddin Khilji Dynasty (1296–1316). The etymology of the name Hauz Khas in Farsi is derived from the words ‘Hauz’: “water tank” (or lake) and ‘Khas’:“royal”- the “Royal tank”. The large water tank or reservoir was first built by Khilji {the plaque displayed (pictured in the gallery) at the site records this fact} to supply water to the inhabitants of Siri. The tank was de–silted during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–88). Several buildings (Mosque and madrasa) and tombs were built overlooking the water tank or lake. Firuz Shah’s tomb pivots the L–shaped building complex which overlooks the tank.

In the 1980s, Hauz Khas Village, studded with domed

tombs of Muslim royalty from the 14th to 16th centuries, was developed as an upper class residential cum commercial area in the metropolis of South Delhi, India. It is now a relatively expensive tourist cum commercial area with numerous art galleries, upscale boutiques and restaurant. Swans and ducks are among the attractions at Hauz Khas Lake - which is part of the attraction to visitors.