P hoolwalon-ki-sair (flower sellers’ festival) or Sair-e-gulfaroshan (as it was originally called) was a monsoon festival of the late Mughal era, when flower sellers and citizens gathered near Mehrauli in Delhi, for a celebration marked with dance, music and revelry. The fair was documented well both by colonial officers and Mughal courts. The first fair was held in 1812 when the Mughal queen and Akbar Shah II’s wife Mumtaz Mahal Begum fulfilled her promise of building a floral canopy over Chishti Sufi Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki’s shrine after her son Mirza Jahangir returned from exile.

The festival, held over three days last week, has since then been associated with flowers. Mehrauli was a popular retreat for the Mughal royals during the monsoon. Historical accounts mention emperors such as Akbar Shah II enjoying a show by acrobats and musicians. An account by scholar Saiyid Ahmad Khan describes fountains and lush gardens alive with the cooing of cuckoos and peacocks. Later accounts by Fazl ul Din, chronicler to Delhi’s former regent Mirza Ilahi Baksh, mention the crowds as well as the excesses that marked this festival. It was also associated with the shringar rasa , a time for love and joy, song and dance, food, fun and frolic. According to Fazl ul Din, everyone, rich or poor, took part in the festivities. The sair or the procession would be led by royal musketeers, trumpet players, elephants, flower sellers and their pankhas (handheld fans) decorated with a thousand flowers.

Even now, the procession first visits the Jogmaya temple, and the Bakhtiar Kaki shrine on the next day, as they did years ago. Despite its brief discontinuation around the non-cooperation movement, the festival has been a symbol of communal harmony.

Jagan Negi is a Delhi-based freelance photographer

Ode to flowers: A Kathak performance at the Jahaz Mahal in Mehrauli during the Phoolwalon-ki-sair last week

Lit for the night: The tombs of Mehrauli, some of them dating back to the Lodhi dynasty, are decorated with flowers and lights for the festival

Ode to flowers: A Kathak performance at the Jahaz Mahal in Mehrauli during the Phoolwalon-ki-sair last week

In sync: Following tradition, a qawwali performance is held at the shrine of Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki during the festival

In celebration: The festival has held on to its syncretic nature with perfomances depicting different cultures. A raas-leela performance by a dance troupe

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Floral trail: The festival recently introduced folk performances from ethnic tribes, such as the Himachali troupe seen above