Khari Baoli, Spice market in Old Delhi, India

Khari Baoli is a spice market in Old Delhi with hundreds of shops spread through narrow lanes. The sellers trade in bulk quantities of spices, dried fruits, nuts, herbs, and tea leaves, serving wholesale buyers and food businesses.

Khari Baoli takes its name from a saline stepwell whose foundations were laid by Khwaja Abdullah Laazar Qureshi under Islam Shah Suri and completed in 1551. The market grew around the Fatehpuri Masjid, built in 1650 by Fatehpuri Begum, a wife of Shah Jahan, beside the Lahori Gate of Shahjahanabad. Well and gate now lie buried beneath the market road.

Shops here are still known by serial numbers, such as "Chawal Wale 13" or "21 Number Ki Dookan", and are run by the ninth or tenth generation of families who founded them in the 17th and 18th centuries. The pickle shop Harnarains, begun in the 1860s and now Harnarains International, has supplied Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

Early morning visits between 8 and 10 AM let you watch fresh deliveries arrive and sidestep the intense midday crowding. The foot traffic is heavy, so wear comfortable shoes and be ready to navigate through tight passages.

The Gadodia Market, on the south side of Khari Baoli, was built by wealthy merchants in the 1920s and is described as Asia's largest wholesale spice market. The stepwell that gave the street its name, and the Lahori Gate beside it, now lie buried under the market road; only copies of the well's inscriptions survive, in Aasar Us Sanadeed and Miftah Al Tawarikh.