Delhi’s Chandni Chowk: the ‘Mother of All Markets’

A cacophony of sights and sounds collide in the Chandni Chowk market.

By BEN G. FRANK
The Taj Mahal in Agra. (photo credit: REUTERS)
The Taj Mahal in Agra.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The news that Israel and India are drawing closer in tourism as witnessed by the recent meeting of The Travel Agents Federation of India in February in Jerusalem, caused me to think about traveling again to historic and “incredible India.”
And so digging out my India paraphernalia, I recalled my recent trip to that land whose flag is saffron, white and green. Now, I’m looking at a high-end Columbia University tour of India, called Mystical India. Highlighted in a visit to Old Delhi is a rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk market. It doesn’t say it in the brochure, but having traveled the world and having visited markets, it’s my opinion that Chandni Chowk market puts to shame most bazaars anywhere in the world. To put it bluntly, it is a shopaholic’s paradise.
The first thing I realize in my visit to this land of pashmina shawls and Rajasthan jewelry is that Chandni Chowk stands as the mother of all markets.
But at the get-go, one has to maintain a positive attitude about crowds. One must forgive the jostling in the teeming streets or that the bike rider steering an immense load of garments next to you will fall and topple both of you.
That’s why for me it is important to engage a bicycle rickshaw that carries passengers. Half the time, I thrill at the powerful unleashed energy of the market and the variety of goods and foods. And half the time, I must admit, I’m scared out of my wits as trucks and motorbikes come so close that I grip the sides of my rickshaw, much like the time I grabbed the side of the famous Cyclone roller-coaster in Coney Island in New York.
Descending the rickshaw and walking through almost nonexistent passageways, I realized that this market is by and large in utter chaos. But that’s what makes it great. I watch deliveries being made by carts, dollies, motorbikes and mini-trucks. How one finds a specific store is beyond me.
Sometimes the pathway is so narrow, the driver of the rickshaw has to get off and maneuver the vehicle on foot to let another conveyance pass. Passageways so tight that at times it’s difficult for a person even to walk on foot going one way and another coming at him from the opposite direction. As the song goes: “Something’s gotta give.”
MANY VISITORS stream down to Chandni Chowk, this great bazaar street, especially after Muslim Friday prayers. Some have labeled that sight “a seething and exhilarating vision of humanity.”
Chandni Chowk which means “silvery moonlit square,” was once part of the district of Shahjahanabad’s most elegant boulevards. Shahjahanabad was Delhi’s seventh city, built between 1638 and 1649 by Shah Jahan, who shifted the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. And historically, Delhi played a great role during the Mughal Empire, as it served as the capital from 1649 to 1857.
Shah Jahan was the builder of the Taj Mahal, his eternal monument to the memory of his wife, Mumtaz.
The Taj Mahal was described by a British visitor thus: “the mind seemed to repose in the calm persuasion that there was an entire harmony of parts, a faultless congregation of architectural beauties.”
The name Shah Jahan comes from Persian and means “King of the World.” He actually built the market but it was designed by his daughter Jahan Ara, and it remains one of India’s largest, wholesale markets.
Chandni Chowk, which was laid out in 1648, had a canal running through it and was lined with grand shops and mansions and has remained a bustling area where religious and commercial activity mix easily. Much of the market is wholesale, but retail sales are definitely welcome and made.
Everything in the world is here: costume and imitation jewelry, lacework, saris, ribbons, beads, buttons strings, as well as books. Some go for deities, from tiny Ganeshas to Kali to blue Krishnas. Beautiful garlands of artificial flowers, bells and candles abound. Of course what would a market be without the sweets? Take a deep breath and enjoy the pungent smells of the fruits, vegetables and spices. That’s why you should have a good sense of smell – for you will be assaulted by a cocktail of automobile fumes, aromas of Indian spices and perfumes, cooking oils and masalas.
Whatever it is, Chandni Chowk is a “one-of-itskind market,” noted one observer of this outstanding local site, especially when it comes to food. No wonder this market is called the food capital of India.
After a visit here, the aroma of Indian food may not disappear from your senses for hours; this is a foodies paradise; from snacks to meals.
Then there’s a cacophony of car horns, cycle rickshaw bells, hawkers’ vocal cords and blaring music, and a mishmash of electrical cables, sign boards and decorations.
NEARBY OF course, there are some must-see sights.
Marvel at the magnificent Red Fort (Lai Qila), the seat of Mughal power. These red sandstone battlements were erected on the banks of the River Yamuna, again by Emperor Shah Jahan. Once the seat of Mughal power, the Red Fort today remains a powerful symbol of Indian nationhood, for it was here that the national flag of India flew for the first time when India became an independent state on August 15, 1947.
Wherever I go in India and spy the national flag, a horizontal rectangular tricolor of deep saffron, white and green, with the Ashoka Chakra, a 24-spoke wheel in navy blue at its center, I recall the line from Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children: “A flag unfurls: it is saffron, white and green.” The book deals with India’s transition from British colonialism to independence as well as the partition of British India.
Another site near Chandni Chowk is Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, completed in 1656 by orders of Shah Jahan. This fascinating mosque took six years and 5,000 workers to construct and features a water fountain in the middle of a huge court where worshipers wash their feet. Its soaring minarets and marble domes are a preview of what I am to see at the Taj Mahal.
Later, I wander over to the Qutb Minar Tower, a World Heritage site built in 1193 by the Turkish slave king Qutb-ud-din Aibak to celebrate his victory over the Hindu Rajputs. Though a strong and ferocious conqueror and ruler, he possessed a fine sense of beauty, as evidenced by the five-story victory tower in this beautiful complex. Today, the monument is India’s highest single tower.
I began my first tour to India in Delhi, one of the world’s most historic cities, as well as the capital of the world’s largest democracy. Chandni Chowk is only one of its fabulous sites. Lois Hochberg of Boynton Beach, Florida – an acquaintance who has recently been to India – said that after Delhi and Agra, the latter the site of the Taj Mahal, she was ready to head back to India and take another trip to the south of the country.
This reminded me of a never-to-be-forgotten statement of the late Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of Indian independence from Great Britain and first prime minister. “India is history,” he wrote, and it possesses “a very long memory.” Anyone visiting Chandni Chowk will never forget the market either.
Ben G. Frank, travel writer and lecturer, is the author of the just-published Klara’s Journey, A Novel (Marion Street Press); The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond (Globe Pequot Press); A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe, 3rd edition; A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia and Ukraine, and A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and South America, (Pelican Publishing Company) Blog: www.bengfrank.blogspot.com, twitter @bengfrank