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Delhi is a city of mysterious eternity where an empire
rose and fell before the dawn of history. Here the old
ruins declare a majestic and imperial past. The eternal
Yamuna bears witness to the glorious and turbulent 5,000
year old history of Delhi. A history which begins with
the creation of Indraprastha by the Pandavas and the
transformation of this barren gift of the Kauravas into
a peaceful retreat.
It's hard to think of Delhi as anything but the capital
of India but for a surprisingly long time Delhi was
not the hot seat of power. Delhi has always been a convenient
link between Central Asia, the northwest frontiers and
the rest of the country. An inscription dating from
the time of Asoka, the famous Mauryan king, tells us
that Delhi was on the great northern highway of the
Mauryas and linked their capital Patliputta (near modern
Patna, Bihar) with Taxila (Takshashila), now in Pakistan.
This was apparently the route that Buddhist monks took
on their way to Taxila, the intellectual hotbed in those
days, and Central Asia.
The real foundations of modern Delhi, however, were
laid in 736 AD by the Tomar Rajput rulers who built
the fortified Lal Kot near Mehrauli. In 1180, the Chauhans
expanded this settlement and established Qila Rai Pithora,
considered the first city of Delhi. Hardly any remnants
of this original settlement can be found today, though
some of its walls were used to build the Qutb Minar
in the 13th century AD. The builder of Qutb Minar, Qutb-ud-din-Aibak,
founded the slave dynasty or the Delhi Sultanate with
its base at Lal Kot. In 1290, Ala-ud-din Khilji, the
most dynamic of the Delhi sultans came to power in Delhi.
With the ascendancy of the Tughlaq dynasty, the third
city of Tughlaqabad was set up about 8 kms from Lal
Kot. This citadel habitation was soon abandoned when
the capital of the Tughlaqs was shifted down south to
Daulatabad.
In 1398, the Mongolian army of Timur invaded Delhi
and plundered it. The Lodi dynasty, which came to power
in the 15th century, constructed several fine monuments
that are well preserved around the Lodi Garden area.
The increasing power of the Lodis was cut short in 1526,
when Ibrahim Lodi died fighting Babur on the plains
of Panipat, close to Delhi. Sher Shah, the great administrator
who expanded his kingdom across the plains of India
and built the arterial Grand Trunk Road, re-built the
city and named it Shergarh. The ramparts of this city,
now known as Purana Qila, lie to the southwest of New
Delhi.
Delhi had been the seat of Mughal rule and the Mughal
capital in the medieval period. The Mughal emperor Shah
Jahan built his fort, the Lal Qila and the huge well
laid out city, Shahjahanabad, in 1648 AD. It took 10
years to build. The city fort had 14 gates many of which
still exist. This city survives as the old Delhi of
today.
Finally, the British built New Delhi, south of Shahjahanabad
and shifted their capital from Calcutta in 1931. In
the six decades since the creation of New Delhi as the
Capital of British India, the city has undergone a sea
change.
Touroftajmahal.com provides information on History
of Delhi and different ideas about tours to Delhi.
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