Chawri Bazar
Chawri Bazar is a specialized wholesale market of brass, copper and paper products. Established in 1840, with a hardware market, it was the first wholesale market of Old Delhi it lies to the west of Jama Masjid in Delhi.
It can be reached by taking the street just near the middle projection of Jama Masjid's western (rear) wall. It was accessible via the Chawri Bazar underground station of the Delhi Metro.
History
Once popularly known for its dancing girls and courtesans in the 19th century, frequented by nobility and rich alike. After the advent of British as the tawaif culture faded out, subsequently prostitutes came to occupy the upper floors of the market. This eventually lead to the area becoming hub of criminality and thus the Delhi Municipal Committee evict them from the area, all together., the street is named after a Marathi word chawri, which means meeting place. The street got this name mainly because here a 'sabha' or meeting would take place in front of a noble's house and he would try settling the disputes before it would reach the emperor. A second reason is probably that a gathering used to get organized when a respected dancer performed and showed the finer nuances of her skill. The whole ambience of the street however got changed after the 1857 war when British destroyed many huge mansions of the nobles.
