JNU Campus Over Time

 Take a good look at the picture.  This picture was among those released to the architects by JNU in 1973 to tell them about the condition of the territory they were to handle.  This was the beginning.  Obviously, one may ask if the earlier desolation was ’natural’ or man made.  To answer it one has to go back in time to see the evidence that the campus has yielded so far.

The story of human presence on the campus begins with the crude stone tools of the Early Stone Age.  More refined Late Stone Age tools and microliths used in making sickles for cutting grass have also been found on the campus.  These tools have been collected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).  Thus, the story of the campus goes back in time to the Early Stone Age, and so it continues till date.

The campus has yielded interesting evidence in the form of pictographs engraved on stone in one part of the campus.  In other words, we have here a step in the emergence of early writing, which takes us back to about 500 B.C.  Our campus seems to be the fifth place in India where such evidence has been identified by ASI.  Though much about it yet needs detailed looking into, that can only be done with a full survey of the campus which is being prepared by the ASI.  Evidently, those who engraved such drawings were not living in a desolate area.  All this helps us to conclude that the barrenness seen in the picture above was neither natural nor eternal.  Between these evidences and the next there is a big gap in human activity.  We should not ignore the fact that in the recent past, due to both natural weathering as well as to human destruction of nature, substantial amount of evidence has been lost for ever, as it has been converted into gravel.

During the Rajput phase, Prithviraj Raso, which speaks about this area, tells us that Yognipur, i.e. Mehrauli of today, was very near the Jamuna bank and was surrounded by a jungle; a woman without light at night could walk the distance in one Ghari (about 1½  hours), i.e. the distance between outer parts of Yognipur and the river was about one kilometer or so.  It is reasonable to assume that this jungle was the primordial jungle.  It must have been such a jungle in which the Stone Age and the later pre-historic people lived.  According to Ziauddin Barni, a courtier of Mohammad bin Tughlaq, this jungle contained broad-leaves of ’trees so tall as if these were talking with the skies.’  The jungle was evidently dominated by Sagawan or teak accompanied by other deciduous trees and dense brush wood on the ground.  Another contemporary author, the poet Asami in his Shahnama, mentions that this jungle was so dense that ’rays of mid day sun could not reach the ground’.

It is obvious from early Muslim period records that it was this jungle all around that eliminated the need for a protective wall round Yognipur / Mehrauli. When the Chauhans established their outpost in this locality to safeguard Qannauj, they built Qila Rai Pithora with a protective wall and moat; officers of the contingent lived in this fort while the soldiers, other paraphernalia of the army and their animals lived in the vicinity, i.e. in the area which partly today is the campus.  After their defeat, when the Chauhans retreated from Tarain, with the Turko-Afghans pursuing them, they tried to re-group and fight at Pithoragarh Fort.  In other words, the last battle between the Chauhans and Turko-Afghans took place in and around the campus area territory.  We can still see a number of graves beyond the campus boundary wall towards Pithoragarh.  With the beginning of Turko-Afghan rule, we have detailed record of changes that this territory round Mehrauli including our campus, underwent.

During the reign of Ghayasuddin Tughlaq, Meo tribals were regularly attacking and harassing the king living in Mehrauli.  The king did not know where they were hiding in the dense jungle.  Ultimately their hideout was discovered and in 1324 a big battle ensued at the Talkatora in which the Meo were defeated.  The same year the jungle was ordered to be cut down to the extent of 60 Kos (120 miles) from Tughlaqabad, i.e. till Sriska where the remnants are yet growing.  The land made available was given to nobles to convert it into orchards growing fruits and flowers.  This step not only secured Delhi but provided very cheap fruits to the capital city that the Arab travelers like al-Qalaqshandi considered to be cheapest in the Muslim world.

Al-Qalaqshandi mentions that ’the area of the whole city of Delhi would be about 40 square miles ... It has 27 identifiable localities each having its own name.  In its totality, the area is called Delhi and has Seri as the alternate capital.  On three sides of the imperial palace, east, west and north, there are gardens in rows each of which is eleven miles long.’  Barni mentions that around Delhi, i.e. Mehrauli-Tughlaqabad, there were 10,000 orchards and gardens.  Obviously, jungle clearance did not mean leaving the land barren.  It was turned into orchards all around.  Evidence of terraced gardens may yet be seen across the road from campus towards Vasant Vihar.  That this whole area was not desolate may be inferred from a number of small and big mosques in RK Puram 3&4 and near the Police Office across the road from the campus.  Munirka has a step-well of Sultanate times and Ber Sarai has a number of wells of the same period.

Ibn Battuta talks in detail about a hunt in Palam by Mohammad bin Tughlaq in which he participated.  Their route from Tughlaqabad to Palam passed through the area now in our campus.  He mentions it to be having dense growth of elephant grass interspersed with trees.  In other words, in spite of jungle clearance, orchard cultivation did not result in a situation wherein hunting could not be indulged in.  This situation continued as hunting expeditions of Akbar and of Jahangir underline that the land was yet densely forested though not as dense as earlier but sufficiently grassy for tigers to hunt in.

The Lodhis shifted their capital from Delhi to Agra which did reduce the significance of Delhi but, it seems, without affecting the greenery all around.  The Mughals, till the reign of Shahjahan, also ruled from their capital at Agra.  However, Delhi, i.e. the area of Mehrauli, Seri, Firuzabad, Kotla, remained important as the route to Kashmir passed through this part.  Hence, the nobles having their Jagir in Delhi kept the area green and flourishing.

With Delhi again becoming the capital under the name of Shahjahanabad, the area round Mehrauli once again acquired cultural significance due to the Dargah of Bakhtiyar Kaki and the Yogmaya Temple located there.  This significance only increased when Bahadurshah instituted the annual festival of Phulwaloon Ki Ser in which a fan made of flowers was taken from the Dargah to Yogmaya Temple and in response the same was sent from the temple to the Dargah.

During the rebellion of 1857, people of these areas along with small principalities like Jhajjar and Ballabgarh sided with the rebels.  After the suppression of the rebellion, while the Rajas were hanged, these small states were merged into Faridabad district as Tehseel and the orchards were devastated and turned into grazing ground.  In 1930, when Delhi became the capital of British India, stone for construction of New Delhi was mined from areas now in the campus and all around. Coupled with grazing this mining further deteriorated the surface condition and vegetation.  This was the situation, at the moment when India achieved independence in 1947.

Land in this area was acquired by the government for public purposes and part of it was allotted to JNU.  After receiving compensation, the villagers cut down all the trees and sold the timber to earn additional money.  From this moment the area fast turned into what we see in the picture.  After erection of the campus boundary wall and stopping of grazing the situation started to improve.  With conscious efforts, gradually, the Campus started to get better day by day.  What is seen today is the result of persistent collective effort with consciousness of the significance of nature all around.

When we recall the past and look at the present, we have to admire the efforts of teachers, students and staff of all categories who faced all the problems and contributed to this greening of the campus.  We can proudly recall the words of Ghalib.

            I have dipped the tip of every thorn with the blood of my heart

            So doing I have written the Canon for the cultivation of a wilderness

(Aghashtaim har sar-i-khari ba khun-i-dil Qanoon-i-baghbani-i-shara navishtaim.)

Jawed Ashraf, Retired Professor, School of Life Sciences

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