Mughal Pigeon-Rearing Tradition Survives in Delhi

A small group of pigeon keepers in Old Delhi is still practicing kabootarbaazi, a Mughal-era craft of breeding and training birds to return home over long distances. (reuters.com) Reuters reported on April 21 that Azhar Udeen, 30, releases more than 120 pigeons from his terrace near Jama Masjid each day with his younger brother and friends. They feed the birds, train them to fly in formations and sometimes race them above the crowded lanes of the old city. (reuters.com) The practice survives only in pockets of New Delhi, where older neighborhoods still have rooftops, coops and communities built around the birds. Reuters said the keepers are passing the skill down through generations even as the capital’s dense construction and rising land values reshape the area around them. (reuters.com) Kabootarbaazi dates to the Mughal period, when pigeon keeping spread as a courtly pastime and a display of handling skill. In Delhi today, the birds are trained to orient themselves, respond to calls and return to their home loft after long flights. (aljazeera.com) (homegrown.co.in) Old Delhi has long been one of the tradition’s best-known centers because neighborhoods around Jama Masjid and Shahjahanabad still support rooftop flying. A 2025 feature by Local Samosa described the pastime as a fading sport in the city, with fewer active practitioners than in earlier decades. (localsamosa.com) (reuters.com) The birds themselves are part of the skill. Keepers raise different breeds, condition them over months and rely on routine feeding and repeated release flights so the pigeons learn their route back to a single home terrace. (reuters.com) (ndtv.com) The appeal is not only competitive. Practitioners told Reuters the rooftop sessions also provide a daily social ritual in a fast-changing city, where the sound of handlers calling to flocks still carries over one of Delhi’s oldest districts. (reuters.com) For now, the tradition endures one flight at a time: a few men on a terrace near Jama Masjid, more than 120 pigeons overhead, and a Mughal custom still visible in Delhi’s sky. (reuters.com)