The Legend of Bhool Bhulaiya at Bada Imambara in Lucknow
A labyrinth of about a thousand passageways, the Bhool Bhulaiya at Bada Imambara in Lucknow, has intrigued traveler as well as architects for the last two hundred years. The fourth Nawab, Asaf-Ud-Dowhala,
commissioned the building during the drought year of 1784 AD to help
the poor make a living. However, from the time it was finished, it
became a symbol of pride and grandeur of Lucknow.
But what does the word ‘Bhool Bhulaiya’
mean? It’s not an easy word to translate, and it sort of means ‘a place
where you can forget directions and paths and get lost’! :)
Who were the Nawabs?
To understand anything about Bhool Bhulaiya better, it's important to know about its builders - Nawabs.
Quite surprisingly, it was only during my most recent visit to Lucknow
that I understood who Nawabs actually were. I always assumed that they
were kings who existed at the same time as Mughals, and somehow managed
to live peacefully with them so close by at Delhi.
The term Nawab comes from the Perisan word Naib
which basically means Deputy. Nawab was a title conferred by the
Mughals to their deputies across North India. It was a title for males
only and the female equivalent was begum (the most famous of them being Begum Nazrat Mahal).
With the mutiny of 1857, the Nawabs and their domains went into
decline, though the title didn’t disappear. It became a family title and
even now you can find true blue Nawabs in Lucknow, though with little
power or money.
What is an Imambara?
It is neither a mosque nor a dargah. An Imambara
is simply a hall where Shia Muslims come together for various
ceremonies, especially related to the Remembrance of Muharram. Muharram
is basically a period of mourning for all Muslims, especially for Shias,
and marks the anniversary of Battle of Karbala where Hussein-ibn-Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed in a battle. Imambaras are present in many other parts of Asia - in Bahrain and UAE they are called ma’tam and in Central Asia they are known as takyakhana. Some of the biggest and most significant Imambaras in the world are now located in India and Pakistan, which also have sizeable Shia populations.
History of Bhool Bhulaiya
The history of the Bhool Bhulaiya is
closely linked to the Bada Imambada. In the late 18th century Avadh was
reeling under severe drought and to provide employment to his people,
Nawab Asaf-Ud-Dowhala decided to build the Bada Imambada. You can think
of it as very similar to MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act). There are many other buildings in the country
which were built with this purpose, including Aga Khan Palace in Pune.
The guide will tell you that it was
designed by architects called especially from Persia (modern day Iran)
which was a prominent Shia kingdom back then, but the truth is a little
different. Once the Nawab decided to build the mammoth building, he
invited bids and it was won by Hafiz Kifayat ullah, an architect from
Shahjahanabad (present day old Delhi) who was already a famous man then.
Work on the building started in the 1784 and finished fourteen years
later.
So why was Bhool Bhulaiya built?
Even as the architects spent days,
weeks and months designing the Bada Imambada and the other buildings in
the complex (including the mosque and the step-wells), the architects
were given an interesting challenge to work on. For prayer purposes, it
was decided to build the Central Hall (170ft x 55ft) without any
columns! Its a very large structure and building it by conventional
means would have required columns to bear the load of the ceiling,
including the mammoth dome.
The ingenious architect decided to
work on reducing the weight of the ceiling by making it hollow - and
that exactly how the Bhool Bhulaiya was born! Unlike the buildings to
today, much pain was taken to design even this part of the building as
beautifully as any other part of the Imambada. The result is a labyrinth
of interconnected passageways and doors. There are about a thousand
such passageways and most of them lead you nowhere but another passage.
If you get into the labyrinth, it is quite easy to get lost and might
take a while before you manage to come out. Many of these passageways
open into windows which give you great views outside and some also take
you up on the ceiling.
As a kid I was literally sacred of going here by myself, and there were so many stories of people getting lost (and never be found again) that even when I went as an adult for the first time there, I was initially apprehensive to go in by myself. Anyway, I did go though not very deep and managed to come out. I had already hired a guide and want to know all the stories about the place so next visit was with him. Well, he was just as how any guide would be - full of stories, some real, and many fictitious.
As a kid I was literally sacred of going here by myself, and there were so many stories of people getting lost (and never be found again) that even when I went as an adult for the first time there, I was initially apprehensive to go in by myself. Anyway, I did go though not very deep and managed to come out. I had already hired a guide and want to know all the stories about the place so next visit was with him. Well, he was just as how any guide would be - full of stories, some real, and many fictitious.
