Partition Museum & Dara Shukoh Library Cultural Hub — Attraction in Delhi

Entry to the museum is free. It is one of the two museums in country that documents the reality and trauma of partition. The museum is quite well spread out and you will need at least three hours to fully see the museum. There is ample parking space and clean washrooms.

This Partition Museum has a special focus on Delhi, and the impact that the events of 1947 had on the city and the refugee population it accommodated. It is both a memorial as well as a museum dedicated to those millions of men, women and children who lost their homes, and often their lives, overnight. While setting it up there was a fresh impetus to collate memories and personal experiences of Partition that were in danger of being lost as the eye-witnesses and survivors are now in the evening of their lives. Most have been lost to us forever, as it is now 75 years since the Partition. In the Partition Museum, we also honour the resilience of those who lived through it.

The museum is divided into seven galleries. The journey begins in the 1900s with the rising resistance to the British Raj. Key moments in the period 1900-1946 are highlighted and there are descriptions of the chaos of early 1947 when riots engulfed much of India. Partition was declared, and the borders were drawn in an ad-hoc manner within a mere 5 weeks, dividing Bengal and Punjab in two. These divisive decisions led to people's lives being torn apart. They fled their homes without food or shelter, arriving at refugee camps across the two nations

Partition changed the demographics of Delhi forever. A Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation was set up on 6 September 1947. The Central Provisional government improvised and constructed scores of tents in any available open space. Schools and other public buildings provided temporary shelter. In Delhi, all large monuments and their grounds, such as Humayun's Tomb, Safdarjung's Tomb, Purana Qila and Tis Hazari, served as refugee camps.

Facing unending violence, many refugees were forced to separate from their beloved homes, families, and friends to migrate over long distances to unknown lands. For most refugees the years following the Partition were brutally hard as they struggled to survive and rebuild their lives. The government provided some relief by building new townships and setting up vocational training centres for employment for the refugees. But nothing was ever enough to compensate for what the refugees had lost. As people settled down, they reconstructed their lives from scratch and began connecting with the different social and cultural aspects that make life meaningful. Eventually, a few of those who were able to visit their childhood homes would recount each detail of that joumey as though it were indelibly etched in their memory. After all, memory remains the only paradise for refugees through which they can revisit their past lives and beloved homes, hastily left amidst the sudden anarchy of Partition.

This is a people-focused museum that uses oral histories, objects and photographs to tell the story of these helpless millions. The transformation of Delhi by the Partition is at the heart of...

Being a lover and ardent reader of Mughal History, I wanted to visit Dara Shikoh Library for a long time and the visit was a dream come true. Emperor Shah Jahan's eldest and beloved son Dara Shikoh was one of the few liberal minded person in Indian history and stands second to none other than Akbar in his understanding and love for all religions equally. Had this Crown Prince been the successor to the throne after Shah Jahan, the history of India would have been much different. Prince Dara Shikoh lost in battle with Aurangzeb and later captured and beheaded brutally in front of his son. His head was presented to Shah Jahan in Agra Red Fort, who was living in captivity of Aurangzeb. Shah Jahan lost his control on seeing it and pulled his beard till it started bleeding. After all the Emperor behind the Taj Mahal had now got confirmed that his kingdom and freedom had been taken from him forever. Dara Shikoh's was buried in Humayun's tomb complex in Delhi, but the grave is still unknown among the many of them. The good part of the story is that the lost Crown Prince Dara Shikoh had been given the recognition he deserved by the Modi Government. The historians are trying to identify his grave by studying the documents of those times. The Dara Shikoh Library was the residence of Dara Shikoh inside the walled city of Shahjanabad and it's proximity to Red Fort was an advantage. Now it has nothing that belongs to that that times except the building complex which in itself had been partitioned and altered by various residents, britishers and government. Now it had been converted into a Partition Museum and the history of Dara Shikoh and this building is displayed along with sketches and maps in the foyer area. The entry is free but online registeration is required. Photography is not allowed at all. There is no parking available as this building is inside a college opposite to Kashmiri Gate Market and vehicles are not allowed inside. It will be best to go on Sunday as the markets are closed and the traffic is less. It is at a walking distance from Kashmiri Gate metro station. The admirers of Dara Shikoh can only stand and feel that the Crown Prince...

One of Delhi’s newest museums, the Partition Museum is housed in what used to be the library of the 17th century Mughal prince Dara Shukoh. After Dara’s death (at the hands of his brother Aurangzeb), the library went through turbulent times, eventually becoming, for some time, the home of the British Resident in Delhi. The form of the building as it now stands, with high ceilings, shuttered windows, tall columns along the façade, etc, dates back to its time as the Residency.

Entry to the museum costs Rs 50 per adult Indian, and no photography is allowed inside the building. The museum is divided into two separate galleries: the Partition gallery, and the Sindh gallery. You’re advised to begin with the Sindh gallery (since the exit leads out into the garden from the Partition gallery). The Sindh gallery explains, through text, photographs, artefacts and more, the culture of the Sindhis, and how they were affected by the Partition, since Sindh, with fairly large numbers of both Hindus and Muslims, was handed over to Pakistan and not divided.

The Partition gallery is larger than the Sindh gallery, and has similar text, photos, letters, audio and video recordings of people talking about the Partition, installation art commemorating the Partition, and much more. There are various objects that came through the Partition; there’s a replica of a train compartment with belongings strewn about that were actually carried by migrants; there’s also a screened-off section with a warning of graphic violence (I have to admit I didn’t go in here).

Very interesting, informative, and poignant reminder of the Partition, especially of its impact on Delhi. The museum has a souvenir shop and a café etc...