LAST FULL DAY IN DELHI   JAN. 18

We headed today to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and symbol of New Delhi, the Qutab Minar, an example of Indo=Islamic architecture toped by a 234 foot high tower, built in the 12th century by the 1st Muslim dynasty. It was built by the "slave" king who set himself up as king after the conquerer of this area left. It took from 1119 - 1198 to build, out of beautiful pink sandstone, that is extremely hard and shows very little deterioration or wear and tear. It is another outside mosque that was built with materials from destroyed Hindu temples when they took over. So the pillars are all different styles stolen from many places. The tower has an inner spiral staircase and tourists could go up to the 5 levels before 1985, but now is too dangerous. There is Arabic script on it but the builders were Hindu so they added lots of flowers, bells (not part of any Muslim rituals, but Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, etc.) The bottom level has round and then angled parts for stability. Has withstood 6.9 earthquake repercussions from the Pakistani 7.8 one. It never was intended as the kind of minaret where they call to prayer - too high and impractical. Just a statement of the power and ME< ME< ME of the ruler!!

We ran into a large group of middle school aged students with their papers and questions. They stopped to check their answers with Daisy, figuring she knew it all! Very cute! There is a handicapped ramp and she told us the story. A few years ago Stephen Hawkings was visiting the site. They said they would lift him up the stairs. He said, no, that meant that others like him wouldn't have access! They built the ramp in a day, and it remains for all!! Yea, Stephen!

In the middle of the ruins of the mosque is a lone iron column. The King found it in east India and had it moved to the middle of the temple. He didn't notice the writing in the middle that sang the praises of another Hindu king!  The column has been here since the 12th century unrusted!! This is remarkable for iron ore! so 100 years ago, some British group removed a piece to analyze the contents and found it was really purified iron, about 99% pure! So no one knows how engineers back then were able to smelt this iron to remove the impurities that cause the rust! Daisy gave us a list of other amazing accomplishments from these ancient societies back then. Chess was invented here! So was algebra, trigonometry and calculus! I always thought it was the Greeks! The number system was invented here. The scientist Aryahatta invented the digit zero.  Sanskrit is considered the mother of all higher languages, the most precise and suitable for computer software. The place value system and the decimal system were developed in 100 BC here. India is the largest democracy, the 6th largest country, and one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10,000 years).

Haven't written in a couple of days so I'll try to catch up. We visited a Sikh temple before we left Delhi. It was amazing and interesting to learn about Sikhism. I thought Sikh's were from a state in the north between Bhutan and Nepal called Sikkim. WRONG! Sikhism began in the north of India in Punjab where invaders came through the Kyber Pass from Afghanistan, Iran, etc. It is an all inclusive religion and one of their main tennents is providing a community kitchen to serve ANYONE who shows up. The temple we visited serves 30-40,000 hungry people every day. We listened to a Sikh guide give an explanation, and then he came in when Daisy was doing her explanation, and proceeded to interrupt and correct her narration! Then we went into the kitchen and saw the piles of donations people leave, huge bags of rice, beans, vegetables to be cooked that day. In the kitchen we helped roll out some nan, Indian bread, looking like a puffed tortilla, made from wheat. Huge vats of lentil soup and other cooked dishes were being prepared. There was a hug empty dining hall, where later people would sit in rows and eat their food and then clean up. All eat together.

Muslim tomb outside Sikh temple. People were bowing as they passed.

Entrance to Sikh temple

Donated food

Sikh man waiting for food

Our Sikh guide inside that interfered with Daisy's presentation.

Main temple. Very plain inside. No statues or images.

Orange and yellow seem to be the colors related to Sikhs.

Peeking inside the temple.

We all had to walk barefoot. See my feet later!

Open courtyard

Receiving tea or some drink.

Donated vegetables

Big room filled later with those eating.

Ladies cooking nan

Rolling out the dough.

Me rolling dough.

Barbara rolling dough.

Temple built by rich family that housed Gandhi in his last 144 days. Ecumenical. 

Sikhs originally, 500+ years ago, objected to the Hindu gods/goddesses, priests, and all the rituals related to Hinduism. They were kind of like the Puritans in England - wanted to get rid of all the trappings of the religion. They do not have any statues in their temples, They believe god is in themselves (kind of like the Buddha-in-you of Buddhism). Sikhism is India's fourth-largest religion and has existed for 546 years, beginning with the birth of its founder Guru Nanak.  It is also the fifth largest religion in the world^[2][3] with 25 million followers in the world as of year 2010.

The Sikhs were the main force in the British Army and were fierce warriors, probably because they had to deal with so many barbarian invaders through the Kyber pass. They have 5 kind of rules: Men do not cut their hair - they tie it in a knot and wrap a turban around it; they carry a comb, usually up in their hair or turban; They wear a sword (and sometimes a pistol) on a belt; they wear underwear (Daisy said it's to remind them before they commit adultery; and I forget the 5th one. I was very impressed by the whole thing and learned a lot. 

We then went to where Gandhi was assassinated in 1947, while staying at a rich Indian's home. 

One of the poor sleeping on the side of the roads.

Betty, this is where you and I would have been staying!! :)

Footsteps followed Gandhi, 79, and his last walk out to the garden to greet his guests. This is the spot where a Hindu man, who objected to Gandhi's support of payment to Pakistan from India of ompensation for properties lost with forced migration. 

Gandhi's last belongings.

His room, with homesput loom at the foot of the bed. He advocated boycotting British made goods from Indian cotton. Advocated homespinning and ha a mass burning of British cottons. 

Nehru watching Gandhi's cremation. 

As Gandhi walked to his death, on the shoulders of his two aides. 

The way Gandhi walked around India. 

Gandhi and Buddha

The big gong at the exit of the home where he was murdered. 

Usually Gandhi stayed with the poor when he came to Delhi. But he was in such frail health at 79, after several long fasts,  that this supporter insisted he stay at his palatial home for the last 144 days of his life. His room was very simple. One of the negative things I learned about Gandhi is that he was married at 15, his wife was 16, and he stayed with her until her death when they were both in a British prison. But he had 4 sons. One of them died on the streets, an alcoholic, and his other 3 sons were pretty much ignored by Gandhi and never accomplished much in life. Puzzling!