Behind the signs for lamps, sockets and cables hides one of the most surprising buildings in Old Delhi. Look at the classical columns peeking out between the billboards: this is the palace built in the early 19th century for Begum Samru, one of the most extraordinary women in the India of her day.

1From dancer to ruler

Her name was Farzana and, according to her biographers, she was a young dancing girl from Chawri Bazar, very close to here. At about fourteen she entered the life of Walter Reinhardt Sombre, a European mercenary who served various princes and was nicknamed Samru. When he died in 1778 she inherited his private army and the principality of Sardhana, near Meerut.

She stood under five feet tall, wore a turban and led her troops on horseback. In 1781 she was baptised a Catholic as Joanna Nobilis and had a great basilica built at Sardhana. She knew how to deal with the Mughals, the Marathas and, in the end, the British, and she died immensely rich in 1836.

2The bank of the uprising

After her death the palace changed hands. In 1857 it housed the Delhi Bank, and its manager was killed with his family during the uprising. Later it was bought by the merchant Bhagirath Mal, who gave it its present name. Today it's the heart of the city's largest wholesale market for electrical goods.

From a princess's salon to a light-bulb shop: Chandni Chowk never wastes a building.

3What to look for

  • The Corinthian columns on the facade, a rarity on this Mughal street.
  • The pediment crowning the building.
  • The electrical signs that now cover it.

Documented

Begum Samru ruled Sardhana from 1778, was baptised in 1781 and died in 1836; the palace later passed to the Delhi Bank and to Bhagirath Mal's family.

Sources and credits

John Lall, "Begam Samru: Fading Portrait in a Gilded Frame" (1997); William Dalrymple, "The Last Mughal" (2006); Swapna Liddle, "Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi" (2017).

Photos:

  • Classical columned facade of Begum Samru's palace covered in shop signs: Pinakpani, CC BY 4.0.

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