''For other places with the same name, see

Wazirabad (disambiguation) Vazirabad or Wazirabad ( fa, وزيرآباد) may refer to: Afghanistan * Vazirabad, Afghanistan, a village in Balkh Province, Afghanistan * Wazirabad, Kabul, a neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan Iran * Vazirabad, Fars, Iran * Vazirabad, ...

'' Sarai Kale Khan is a village in

South East Delhi South East Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. This district was carved out in 2012 along with Shahdara, taking the total number to 11 administrative districts in Delhi. Geography The South ...

district in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. This is a Gurjar village of clan Basista/Bosatta. This place is remotely connected to other parts of

through the means of

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colour-cod ...

Pink Line (Delhi Metro) The Pink Line (Line 7) is a metro rail line of the Delhi Metro, a rapid transit system in Delhi, India. It consists of 38 metro stations from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar, both in North Delhi. The Pink Line, with a length of , is the longest ...

. It also has Inter-State Bus Terminus. It is adjacent to the

Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station (station code: NZM) is a railway station in South Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It is one of the five main sta ...

. It is one of the five main stations in Delhi and is the originating and terminal station for 60 trains. Sarai Kale Khan is the terminus for most buses heading for towns south of Delhi. It is also a DTC bus depot for the Mudrika Seva (Ring Road Bus Service) and many other bus routes.

History

The area was named ' ki sarai', a '' sarai'', or rest house for travelers or caravans and royal route from Mughal imperial courts and

Chandni Chowk The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was bu ...

to their retreat at

Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven medieva ...

some away. The sarai itself named after a Sufi saint, Kale Khan of 14th–15th century, whose resting place along with that of another Sufi saint of Delhi, resting place of travelers is today situated inside the

Delhi Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New Del ...

complex. Though a Lodi era structure ''Kale Khan ka Gumad'' is also situated at Kotla Mubarakpur Complex in

South Delhi South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

, the tomb is dated to 1481 AD as per an inscription on the Mihrab inside the tomb, this Kale Khan was a courtier in the Lodi period during the reign of

Bahlol Lodi Bahlul Khan Lodi (12 July 1489) was the chief of the Pashtun Lodi tribe. Founder of the Lodi dynasty from the Delhi Sultanate upon the abdication of the last claimant from the previous Sayyid rule. Bahlul became sultan of the dynasty on 19 A ...

Nawab Faizullah Beg, son of Nawab Qasim Jan, a courtier in reign of

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...

(r. 1728–1806), was a courtier in

Bahadur Shah Zafar Bahadur Shah II, usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' Victory) was born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) and was the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor as well a ...

's reign, and built a complex later known as Ahata Kaley Sahab, so named a saint named Kaley Khan, who lived here for a while, after whom area was later named. The complex was later acquired by Bunyadi Begum, poet

Mirza Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

's sister-in-law, and housed the poet after he was released from debtors' prison.Of Ghalib's abode, masjid and muse
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', 8 January 2007.Retracing Ghalib's footsteps
''

'', 14 February 2007. The name ''Sarai'' derives from the time of the rule of the

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

, under whom a paved road network was built, with roadside inns called "Serais" every twelve miles.

Sarai Kale Khan Inter-State bus terminus

Sarai Kale Khan Inter-State Bus Terminus Sarai Kale Khan Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) is a major bus terminus complex in Delhi, India catering to bus services to Haryana and Rajasthan states. Built to decongest the over-crowded Kashmere Gate ISBT, which was unable to bear the inc ...

is a major

bus terminus A bus terminus is a designated place where a bus or coach starts or ends its scheduled route. The terminus is the designated place that a timetable is timed from. Termini can be located at bus stations, interchanges, bus garages or bus stops. Te ...

complex in

, India catering to bus services to

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

states.

References

External links

Sarai Kale Khan
at ''

wikimapia Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...

''
What’s in a name? (History behind the name)
at

{{Neighborhoods of Delhi Neighbourhoods in Delhi Caravanserais in India