For whom the bells toll: Delhi's rusting, forgotten clock towers

Before wristwatches and smartphones, time in Delhi moved to the rhythm of water clocks and the Sun.

- Aheli Das

NEW DELHI:

Mentions of water clocks date back to the 17th century during Shah Jahan's rule. Later, in the 18th century, the famous Jantar Mantar was built to use the Sun's position to read time.

Sohail Hashmi, writer and heritage activist, explained how drums of water were used to track time. "A vessel filled with water was used to float a smaller perforated vessel placed in the Red Fort. When it sank completely—which it did so every three hours—it marked one-eighth of the day, known as a 'prahar.' At this moment, drums would be beaten to declare the time."

A century later, "water clocks" were replaced by the grand astronomical instruments of Jantar Mantar, which mapped time through celestial movements.

Then came the British, bringing with them the chime of mechanical clocks and the rise of the "ghantaghars"—majestic clock towers that stood like sentinels, their bells marking the pulse of the city. But time has not been kind to these towers. Today, these once-majestic structures stand forgotten, rusting away amid the city's ever-changing landscape.

Chandni Chowk Clock Tower One of Delhi's oldest clock towers stood before the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk, once the heart of the city's civic life. The Town Hall was the office of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for decades, before their offices were shifted to Minto Road in 2011.