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Delhi, where a empire rose
and fell before the dawn of history; where citadels of emperors
appeared and disappeared; a city of mysterious eternity whose old
ruins proclaim a majestic and imperial past and whose present pulsates
vibrantly with the ever flowing life of India. The eternal Yamuna
bears witness to the glorious and tumultuous 5,000 year old history of
Delhi.
A city of great antiquity, Delhi has been traditionally credited with
being the capital of the Kingdom of the Pandavas, the heroes of the
Mahabharata. The area around the Yamuna River (near Purana Qila) has
been identified with the city of Indraprastha, mentioned in the
Mahabharata as the Pandava capital. Evidence shows that Delhi was
situated an important trunk route during the Mauryan period, and the
famous geographer Ptolemy, who came to India in the second century AD,
has referred to a place as "Dilli".
It took centuries for Delhi to take center stage of attention once
again and till date it has continued to dominate the every aspect of
the Indian life. The modern Delhi was founded by the in the 8th
century AD by Tomara Rajputs who were later supplanted by the
Chauhans. Prithivi Raj Chauhan, the last ruler of this dynasty, was
defeated by Muhammad Ghori in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192.
Thus came the end of the Hindu rule at Delhi. It now became the pivot
of the Muslim rule in India, which continued till 1857 when the Mughal
Empire came to an end.
Delhi Sultanate was founded by Qutab-ud-din Aibak, the Turkish general
of Muhammad Ghori. He started the construction of Qutab Minar, which
was completed by his worthy successor Iltutmish (1211-27). The dynasty
is aptly named as the Slave dynasty as its founder was one of the
slaves of Muhammad Ghori.
Under successive dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, which ruled the
different parts of India from Delhi, four cities were founded. Delhi
Sultanate came to end with the last dynasty of the line succumbing to
the onslaught of the Mughals. The First Battle of Panipat in 1526
sealed the fate of Lodi dynasty whose ruler Ibrahim Lodi was defeated
and killed by Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire which was
destined to dominate the political landscape for more than 300 years.
After his death in 1930 Babur was succeeded his son Humayun who had to
flee from India in the face of striking brilliance of Afghan chieftain
Sher Shah. Sher Shah. Sher Shah was the brain behind the Grand Trunk
Road which has been described as 'such a river of life as exists
nowhere else in the world' by Rudyard Kipling, who set much of his
novel Kim along this road.
But the reign of Sher Shah did not long last. Humayun was able to
snatch his kingdom from the weak successors of Sher Shah. Humayun died
fall from the stairs of library in 1556, his wife Banu Begum
constructed a wonderful garden tomb for him near Nizamuddin, in the
style that was to set the pattern for the development of Mughal
architecture. Delhi lost it somewhat pride of place during the rule of
Humayun's successors Akbar and Jehangir. During their rule, Agra
became the center of power.
However Delhi regained its prominence once again in 1628 when Prince
Khurrum, Akbar's grandson, became the Mughal Emperor who assumed the
pontifical title Shah Jahan, "Ruler of the Universe", Shah Jahan
embarked on an ambitious and extravagant plan of constructing some of
the finest Mughal monuments, including the world famous Taj Mahal in
Agra. Shah Jahan founded the new walled city of Shahjahanabad, which
now comprises Old Delhi. This was the seventh incarnation of Delhi,
which was home to the mighty Red Fort and the huge Jama Masjid,
fringed by bazaars. Shah Jahan was deposed and imprisoned in Agra by
his ruthless son, Aurangzeb, who ruled from Delhi until 1681, when he
transferred his capital to the south India until his death in 1707.
Aurangzeb's death set the process of the decline of Mughal Empire. For
the next sixty years, Delhi witnessed acute palace intrigues and
rivalry among the nobles. Chaos and confusion reigned supreme. This
provided opportunity to the foreign powers to invade the county. As a
result Delhi has to face the successive onslaughts from various
quarters. In 1739 it fell victim to the plunder and ruthless massacre
perpetrated by Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia. The relatively plain
tomb of Safdarjung (near the Lodi Gardens), built in 1754 is witness
to the decline of the Mughals both in terms of power and finances. The
later Mughal rulers were reduced to puppet kings and the empire came
to an end in 1957 when the last Mughal emperor who was declared leader
of the Indian Mutiny or "First War of Independence" was captured and
sent to Burma by the British. The uprising caused a lot of bloodshed
before Delhi was brought under the British control.
After a period of more than 50 years, Delhi was once again made
capital of India in 1911. Calcutta now Kolkata served as the British
capital during this break period.
With Indian Independence in 1947, the last representative of the
British India, Lord Mountbatten lost all authority, and the
democratically elected Congress government came to power with
Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of India. Today, Delhi
has the distinction of being the largest secular democratic country in
the world and is growing in all directions. |
