Capital heritage

A hand clasp across the oceans ensured Delhi a splendid cathedral. Jamila Verghese writes about the Capital’s Cathedral of the Redemption.

A stained glass window gifted to the Cathedral a few years ago

The book inside an old trunk had a blue hard cover with thick worm-eaten pages. I had discovered the minutes register of Delhi’s Cathedral of the Redemption. Soon one was drawn into the myriad problems and delights of the saga of the building of this church.

It was 1914. Rev. T. R. Dixon in England, had just received orders to set sail for India to serve as chaplain of the projected cathedral in Delhi, a city yet to assume its former role as India’s capital and seat of the British Indian empire. Sir Hugh Keeling, member of the Building Committee and Chief Engineer of Delhi, had been assigned responsibility for planning the city’s road and rail network.

On August 29, 1923, he noted that work on the Cathedral had been disrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. After several meetings and competitions, and in consultation with Sir Edward Lutyens, Chief Architect of New Delhi, H.A. Nesbit Medd was requested to design the Cathedral.

This magnificent pile—a symphony of white Dholpur stone sandwiched between a roof and plinth of red sandstone and elegant columned porches — is one of the few monuments in Delhi built in close collaboration and consultation between the people in Delhi, the government, city planners and people in England. However, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, insisted that no assistance should be sought from the Government. Thus challenged, monetary and other help poured in from all quarters, with prayers for a sister church.

The Cathedral is made of white Dholpur stone sandwiched between a roof and plinth of red sandstone. — Photo by A.J. Philip

A note from Rev. Dixon records that on February 23, 1927, Lord Irwin laid the foundation stone of the cathedral within a canopy placed directly under what would be the Cathedrals’ central dome. Bishop George Barnes of the mother Diocese of Lahore, which at that time included Delhi, conducted the service consecrating the Cathedral. Seventy five years later, The Cathedral, Church of the Redemption, has been designated a heritage monument.

A hand clasp across the oceans ensured Delhi a splendid cathedral. Among the monetary and other donations received were, King George’s silver cross on the High Altar. Above it was a copy of Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna and Child from the side chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, and still further above that, three Italian sculptures of the Virgin Mary, the crucified Christ and St John gifted by York Minster. Carved wooden pews came from Lord and Lady Willingdon.

Sir Alexander Rouse —Lutyen’s Chief Engineer who succeeded H.A. Nesbit Medd completed his plans for road and rail.

The City Fathers’ decision to superimpose the present on the past has taken its toll. Among roads renamed, Rouse Avenue is now Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and Keeling Road is Tolstoy Marg. Among eminent Indians who witnessed the birth of the new city were Rev. J. C. Chatterji, Rai Bahadur Sohan Lal, Kunwar Maharaj Singh, Sir Sobha Singh (father of the writer Khushwant Singh), Sardar Dharam Singh and a host of others.

Even before the Cathedral was completed, services were organised for about a dozen or so persons in the common room or ‘chummeries’ around the Gole Post Office (Alexandra Place), with the assistance of the Cambridge (now Delhi) Brotherhood. The Cathedral’s only property at the time was a sheet of paper! Services were conducted in English and Tamil, and for a few others in Urdu which preceded Hindi in the area, by B.N. Sarobar, assisted by Eric M. Massey, both government officials.

The Cathedral has also been known for the music it has offered. Regular Easter and Christmas choral presentations and organ recitals as well as memorable renditions of Hindustani classical music. Memorable among those recitals are the one by Amjad Ali Khan in 1985, and more recently, by Shujaat Hussain Khan in December 2006 to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of the Cathedral.

The Cathedral has commemorated events that have moved the nation and the world. Among these was a deeply moving memorial service for Mahatma Gandhi at which Lord Louis Mountbatten read the Lesson. Services for King GeorgeV and Queen Mary, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord  Irwin, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Mountbatten, and the Cathedral’s architect, H.A.N. Medd.

Every February, the Cathedral holds a fete, the proceeds from which, together with donations from members of the congregation and friends of the church, support over 140 well children of leprosy patients` to help them live healthy, productive and financially stable lives, and equip them for the future. Funds also go towards the upkeep of this historic Cathedral that two countries built.

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