Zafar Mahal

About Zafar Mahal:

• This is the last structure built by the Mughals and served as a summer palace for the Mughal family.
• Location: It is located in Mehrauli village, which is in the Southern part of Delhi.
• It was built in memory of the Hazrat Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakthiar Kaki, the renowned Sufi saint to whom almost all the Mughal Emperors were disciples.
• Zafar Mahal stands next to the Dargah of Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.
• It was started by Emperor Akhbar Shah II and was finished by the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who also gave it the present name of Zafar Mahal. 
• It consists of two components: one being the Mahal or the palace, which was established by Akbar Shah II during the 18th century and the other being the entrance gate (Hathi Gate) that was developed during 19th century by Bahadur Shah Zafar II.
• The Zafar Mahal complex also contains some cenotaphs of the later Mughal Emperors.
• The famous festival or the annual procession known as Phulon ki Sair also starts from here and is a festival that had long ago been started by the Khawja Bhaktiyar Kaki himself as a protest against the British. 

 

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Q1) Who was Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki?

Hazrat Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a renowned Sufi saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. Khwaja Qutbuddin’s original name was Bakhtiar but his title was Qutbuddin. The additional suffix of ‘Kaki’ to his name was attributed to hint by virtue of a miracle that emanated from him at a later stage of his life at Delhi. Popularly, he is also called Khwaja Kaki and Hazrat Qutub Saheb.

Source: Conservation work at Delhi’s Zafar Mahal set to begin