Temples in Delhi

New Delhi Government Buildings

Delhi has been the capital of an empire for over five hundred years. But when the British took over in 1857, they moved the capital to Calcutta, where the East India Company was headquartered. In 1911, plans were made to build New Delhi as the capital, but World War I delayed the building until 1920-31. Meanwhile the old Mogul capital was renamed Old Delhi. The entire government area is laid out in a symmetrical pattern with wide streets with the exception of the circular parliament building which was an afterthought. We walked up to the Presidential Palace which was home to quite a few monkeys.
Next we went to Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India, built in 1650, it can hold 20,000 in its open air courtyard. Compared to others mosques we've seen, this one is very simple. From the mosque, we could see a large carnival area from the 9 day festival that had ended yesterday. From here we took a rickshaw ride through the Chadni Chowk Bazaar. We felt sorry for the rickshaw driver with the streets narrow, crowded and pot holed. He often lost his momentum and had to push hard to get us moving again. In one portion, he ended up walking us. Many of the merchants here are wholesalers for the country's other markets.

Jama Masjid

We then stopped at a Kashmir cooperative to see their hand-tied carpets. These are silk carpets, that aren't hand-weaved, but hand-tied in a figure 8 pattern, so that every point of color is another thread. After the carpet is completed; it is sheared close to bring out the color. These carpets actually improve as you walk on them, polishing the threads. As you can tell, we decided to buy one - we've been to 5-6 of these carpet sales rooms, these Kashmir carpets were more ornate, higher quality, and at a lower price then we've seen before.
In the afternoon, we visited a Sikh temple, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib. Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev in the 15th century. The Guru was well traveled and founded this philosophy after seeing the discrimination and injustice of the times. It has three principles:

1. Work hard
2. Pray and remember God
3. Care for the poor

He also preached equality between castes, creeds, and  gender. Nine teachers completed the philosophy and their teachings are written in their holy book. The temple has a copy of the book surrounded by gold and marble with a priest passing a horse hair fly swatter over it. Of course, Sikh men are easily recognized by their turbans covering their uncut hair. We also visited their kitchen which feeds 10,000-15,000 people every day, an example of practicing what they preach.

Stirring soup in the kitchen