Delhi

 

Delhi is India’s capital and the country’s second largest city. The city is consists into two parts, New Delhi and Old Delhi. Many Mosques, monuments, and forts from India’s Mughal era can be found in old Delhi. The other Delhi is New Delhi, the imperial city established by the British as India’s capital. It is a large, open city with many embassies and government buildings.

Aside from its historical significance and role as a government centre, Delhi is a major travel hub. However, Delhi has not always been India’s capital, but it has played an important role in Indian history. Under the British, the settlement of Indraprastha, which appeared in the epic Mahabharata, was located roughly on the site of modern-day Delhi. Calcutta served as the capital until 1911, when New Delhi was built.

There have been at least eight cities in the proximity of modern Delhi. The first four cities were located to the south, near the Qutub Minar. Indraprastha, the first known Delhi, was located near present-day Purana Qila. The Tomara and Chauhan dynasties ruled the last Hindu kingdom of Delhi at the beginning of the 12th century, and it was also close to the Qutub Minar and Suraj Kund, which are now in Haryana.

The city was followed by Siri, which was built in the 12th century by Ala-ud-din near present-day Hauz Khas. Tughlaqabad, now entirely in rivers, stood 10 km south-east of Qutub Minar. The fourth Delhi, known as Jahanpanah, was built by the Tughlaqs in the 14th century and stood near the Qutab Minar. Ferozabad. The 5th Delhi, was built at Feroz Shah Kotla in modern-day New Delhi. Its ruins include an Ashoka Pillar relocated from elsewhere and traces of a mosque where Tamerlane prayed.

Emperor Sher Shah established the 6th Delhi near India Gate in New Delhi. Sher Shah, an Afghan ruler, defeated Humayun and seized control of Delhi. In the 17th century, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the 7th Delhi, relocating the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. In his Delhi, he visited the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid. Finally, the British built the eighth Delhi; the move from Calcutta was announced in 1911, and the city was not officially inaugurated until 1931.

Today, Delhi is a mix of the old and the new. Street acrobats, dancing bears, and monkeys continue to entertain in some parts of the city. At the same time, Delhi has some of the most talented Indian classical dancers and musicians. Young men and women in jeans stride alongside women in purdah. This is Delhi, which, according to its poet-king Bahadur Shah Zafar, was “the jewel of the world where dwelt only the loved ones of fate”.