Just Like That | The Rise and Fall of Delhi's Wealthy: A True Story - Hindustan Times
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Just Like That | The Rise and Fall of Delhi's Wealthy: A True Story

May 27, 2023 08:10 PM IST

Do you know which Indian family bought the first car in Delhi? Or, at whose house the first telephone was installed?

Do you know which Indian family bought the first car in Delhi? Or, at whose house the first telephone was installed? People and lineages get lost in the mist of time. The once powerful and rich fade away, and new people take their place. The common thing among both is that at the peak of their resplendence, they think that this is how things will remain forever. But transience is the essence of this ephemeral world. As Ghalib so succinctly summed it up: Har bulandi ke nassebon mein hai pasti ek din (It is the destiny of every pinnacle to decline one day.)

The richest person in the city just about 150 years ago was a man called Lala Chunna Mal. His haveli in Chandini Chowk occupies an entire block, and even its current dilapidated state reveals what it must have been in its grandeur(Wikimedia Commons) PREMIUM
The richest person in the city just about 150 years ago was a man called Lala Chunna Mal. His haveli in Chandini Chowk occupies an entire block, and even its current dilapidated state reveals what it must have been in its grandeur(Wikimedia Commons)

When I was writing and researching my book Mansions at Dusk: The Havelis of Old Delhi, (with Sondeep Shankar as the photographer), I realised forcefully how true Ghalib’s observation is. In the vast metropolis of Delhi, how many would know that the richest person in the city just about 150 years ago was a man called Lala Chunna Mal. His haveli in Chandini Chowk occupies an entire block, and even its current dilapidated state reveals what it must have been in its grandeur. It was his family that acquired the first car in Delhi, which was proudly parked outside the haveli, and attracted hordes of dazzled crowds. In 1877, Chunna Mal’s descendants installed telephone instruments in the haveli, again attracting a crowd of wondering admirers.

Chunna Mal’s forefathers had migrated to Delhi from Lahore around the end of the 16th century. In time they built up a flourishing business in shawls, brocades and textiles. The real opportunity for the family came after the Revolt of 1857. After the British recaptured the city in September of that year, they forfeited the lands and property of vast numbers of people who they suspected to be on the side of the rebels. These properties were auctioned off at cheap prices, and the major beneficiaries were a small cartel of the very rich who had remained loyal to the British. Chunna Mal was one of them. In a bizarre exercise of acquisition of property, he bought over a great portion of Chandini Chowk itself, much of the other property in the city, vast tracts of suburban land, and most of the royal court’s jewels. Even the Fatehpuri Mosque at the end of Chandini Chowk was bought by him in 1860 for a little over 39,000. It remained his private property until 1877, when Lord Lytton returned it to the Muslims. But four villages around Delhi were given to Chunna Mal in return.

Delhi was devastated after 1857, but Chunna Mal’s haveli stood out for its affluence and splendour. In one of his letters, Ghalib, a contemporary, wrote that while the rest of Delhi was plunged in grief and darkness, Chunna Mal’s haveli was so flooded with the light of chandeliers that it made night look like day. One of his businesses was money lending, and his debtors included Mirza Fakhru, the son and heir of the last Moghul emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. When Mirza Fakhru could not repay his debt in time, Chunna Mal had the power to obtain an order from the British magistrate to seize the royal scion’s assets. The prince escaped only by moving his assets to the Red Fort, where the royal family enjoyed immunity!

Who could have thought then that the fortunes of such a family could ever decline? But that is what the alchemy of time does. One of Chunna Mal’s successors, Ram Kishen Das, was the founder, managing director and the largest shareholder of the Delhi Cloth & General Mills Co. Ltd. (DCM). It is said that the father of Lala Shri Ram worked as a humble munim (clerk) in the haveli. In time, Lala Shri Ram rose to become one of the leading entrepreneurs and industrialists of India, and bought DCM, even as the fortunes of the Chunna Mal family declined.

Ram Parshad (1951-65) was the family’s last karta or head. Today, the haveli lies forlorn and neglected, with some family descendants lingering in it. The ground floor has been rented out to shops and is a wholesale cloth market. The stables at the back of the haveli have also been rented out. The rent received is a pittance. Most of the properties of the family have been sold. The Swiss Hotel in Civil Lines was bought by the Oberois in 1968. The landmark Ludlow Castle, also in Civil Lines, was acquired by the government, as was Gulabi Bagh, near Roshanara Club, measuring 24 acres. Ram Bagh, in the then suburbs of Delhi, which had a swimming pool and a mini zoo, was sold in 1950 for a paltry sum of 4 lakh rupees.

Fortunes are never static. A large clock, overlooking Chandini Chowk, still adorns the frontage of Chunna Mal’s haveli. The clock has not been functioning for decades. Nothing could be more symbolic of how times change.

Pavan K Varma is author, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). Just Like That is a weekly column where Varma shares nuggets from the world of history, culture, literature, and personal reminiscences with HT Premium readers

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