on
Eid in Chandni Chowk in 1843. The market's history dates to the founding of the capital city of
Shahjahanabad when Emperor Shah Jahan established the
Red Fort on the banks of the
Yamuna River, hemming his new capital.
Original Chandni Chowk 's caravanserai that constituted the original
Chandni Chowk (from
Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalf's 1843
album) The original Chandni Chowk, half-moon-shaped square, was situated before the
Townhall; its reflection used to shimmer in the moonlit water pool located at the front. A shallow water channel, whose source was the
Yamuna, ran through the middle of the straight street now referred to as the Chandni Chowk bazaar, with roads and shops on either side of the channel. This road had three bazaars. Chandni Chowk ("moonlight square") and its three bazaars were designed and established by Princess
Jahanara Begum,
Shah Jahan's favourite daughter, in 1650. Originally consisting of 1,560 shops, the bazaar was 40 yards wide and 1,520 yards long. The bazaar, fashion to resemble a square, was accorded ample elegance by the presence of a pool at the complex's center. The pool glimmered under the moonlight, a characteristic that inspired its name. The shops were originally arranged in a distinctive half-moon pattern, a design that has since been lost or altered over time. The bazaar gained renown for its thriving silver trade, leading to its association with silver merchants. This prominence earned it the moniker
Silver Street—a name rooted in its
Hindi counterpart, wherein silver is called
Chandi. The term
Chandni, which is closely derived from
Chandi, further emphasizes the cultural and linguistic connection to the bazaar's identity. The pool at the square was replaced by a clock tower (
Ghantaghar) in the 1870s. The centre of the market is still referred to as Ghantaghar. Chandni Chowk was once the grandest Indian market. Chandni Chowk was a significant route for Mughal imperial processions, hosting the grand displays of emperors and their entourages, highlighting its importance in the empire's cultural and architectural heritage. The tradition of grand processions through Chandni Chowk continued during the Delhi Durbar of 1903. Meanwhile, the British contributed to the area's architectural heritage by constructing the
Delhi Town Hall in 1863.
Original three bazaars :
Chandni Chowk, a central horizontal street within the walled city, featured a half-moon-shaped square illuminated by moonlight, located in front of the Municipal Hall. The road was divided into three equal sections, forming the Urdu Bazaar, Johri Bazaar, and Fatehpuri Bazaar. c. 1911 The term
Chandni Chowk previously referred only to the square that hosted the reflecting pool. Today, the entirety of the stretch that runs spans the middle of the walled city, from
Lahori Gate of the Red Fort to the
Fatehpuri Masjid, is known as Chandni Chowk. The road was subsequently trifurcated into the following
bazaars: •
Mohalla (neighborhood): a residential neighbourhood with
kuchas and
katras within
kuchas. •
Kucha or
Gali (street): Kucha in the Persian language is synonymous with "Gali" or street in the Hindi language. It is a street or a zone with houses whose owners shared some common attributes, usually their occupation. Hence the names
Kucha Maliwara (the gardeners' street) and
Kucha Ballimaran (the oarsmen's street). Kuchas either had rows of large Havelis or gated
cul de sac (dead end) "Katra" marketplaces along with them. •
Katra (gated cul-de-sac courtyard market-cum-residential complex in a street): are one-room quarters around a court with a single narrow entrance and inhabited by people of the same caste or occupation i.e. a zone with houses whose owners shared some common attribute, usually their occupation, hence the name. •
Dharampura Haveli, Gali Guliyan, designed in late Mughal style although parts show the influence of 20 Century architecture. During Mughal and late Mughal Period, a large numbers of Havelis were built by courtiers. •
Chunnamal haveli in Katra Neel •
Ghalib ki Haveli of
Mirza Ghalib, Gali Qasim Jan (Gali Ballimaran) • Haksar Haveli in Sita Ram Bazar, where
Jawaharlal Nehru was married on 8 February 1916 to
Kamla Nehru. She was born here, and her family sold it in the 1960s. Haveli used to host mushairas • Haveli Banarsi Bhawan with a water well is situated near to Shree Digambar Meru Jain Temple in the Masjid Khajoor area. • Haveli Naharwali, Kucha Sadullah Khan, where
Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan was born and his grandfather sold it to Prem Chand Gola after whom this area is now called Gola Market. This was originally owned by the
Raja Nahar Khan a Hindu convert of Mewat who converted to Islam during the era of
Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1355, hence the name. • Haveli Raja Jugal Kishore, a grand mansion with an imposing gate, which was adorned with a large ghanta-bell. Located adjacent to the gate, a room in the haveli opening towards the street, was given to Lala Sukhlal by the owners of the haveli as a philanthropic gesture to open a sweet shop, which came to be identified as ghante ke neechewala halwaii. (see
Ghantewala). A street is named after the haveli; Kucha-i-Haveli Raja Jugal Kishore between Kucha Maliwara and Kotwali Chabutra. • Naughara Mansions in Naughara Gali off Kinari Bazaar has 18th century
Jain mansions. It is a street with nine (nau) continuous havelies with brightly painted floral designs on the facade. Each of the havelies used to have a
gharha (water pot) placed at door for the thirsty passersby. There is a white marble Jain Svetambara Temple at the end of the street with stone elephant heads at the door, intricate carvings on walls and pillars, a museum on the ground floor with rare manuscripts embroidered in pure gold and silver threads and a black image of Lord Parasanath in the rare
kasauti stone on the first floor. Office of Atma Prakash Aggrawal at the beginning of the street houses numerous antiques and should not be mistaken as an antique shop. •
Zeenat Mahal Haveli, Lal Kuan Bazar Some other commonly used terms are
Chatta (the upper floor which arches over the street below),
phatak (door, usually to a katra or street which could be locked at night),
mahal (a palace, as in Taj Mahal),
kamra (a room),
kuan is waterwell, etc. was built by a Maratha general Appa Gangadhar according to one of the legends. • The
Central Baptist Church, it was built-in 1814. • The
Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib. The ninth
Sikh Guru,
Guru Tegh Bahadur and his followers
Bhai Mati Das,
Bhai Dyal Das and
Bhai Sati Das were executed nearby by the Mughals in 1675. The Gurudwaras in the form of memorials were built in 1783 after Delhi, the then Mughal capital was captured by the Khalsa (the corporate body of Sikhs) under the command of
Baghel Singh. Present Building was however built later in 1930. • The
Sunehri Masjid was built in 1721 by Roshan-Ud-Daula Zafar Khan in the reign of
Mohammad Shah. Persian invader
Nader Shah spent several hours on the top of the mosque on 11 March 1739 to observe the Katl-e-Aam (the killing of everyone in sight) that he had ordered, which resulted in 30,000 deaths. • The
Fatehpuri Masjid was built by Fatehpuri Begum in 1650, one of the queens of
Shah Jahan. == Present ==