
Chandni Chowk
Ancient bazaar outside the Red Fort, once the commercial heart of the Mughal capital.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Chandni Chowk in Delhi returns to March 1739, when the Persian emperor Nadir Shah, having crushed the Mughal army and entered the city as conqueror, climbed the roof of the Sunehri Masjid overlooking this bazaar. It traces the market itself back further, to the Mughal princess Jahanara, who built it as a canal-lined promenade nearly a century earlier, and to the rumor that swept the crowd that Nadir Shah had died. Watch for the golden domes of the Sunehri Masjid above the rooftops — that's the roof he was standing on when the crowd's mood turned against him.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Main Bazar
Dense historic market street where Mughal grain trade gave way to the global backpacker trail.
Gadodia Market
Wholesale spice bazaar in a nineteen-twenties merchant's mansion, supplying North India's kitchens.
Kinari Bazaar
Mughal-era market lane packed with gold lace, zari, and bridal embellishments for Indian weddings.
Red Fort
Fortress of red sandstone built in the seventeenth century where Mughal emperors held court.
Chawri Bazar
Historic bazaar where a tawaif entertainment district became a wholesale paper and brass trade.
Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib
Sikh shrine marking where the ninth Guru was beheaded for refusing forced conversion in 1675.