History of Delhi.

1. HUM1023
Indian Heritage and Culture
Digital assignment – I
Name: Harendra Singh
Reg.no: 15BCE1186
Question. Write history of your state.
Answer.
Delhi
The Indian capital city of Delhi has a long history, and has
been an important political center of India as the capital
of several empires. Much of Delhi's ancient history finds
no record and this may be regarded as a lost period of its

2. history. Extensive coverage of Delhi's history begins with
the onset of the Delhi Sultanate in the 12th century.
Since then, Delhi has been the center of a succession of
mighty empires and powerful kingdoms, making Delhi
one of the longest serving Capitals and one of the oldest
inhabited cities in the world. It is considered to be a city
built, destroyed and rebuilt several times, as outsiders
who successfully invaded the Indian Subcontinent would
ransack the existing capital city in Delhi, and those who
came to conquer and stay would be so impressed by the
city's strategic location as to make it their capital and
rebuild it in their own way. The core of Delhi's tangible
heritage is Hindu, Islamic (spanning over seven centuries
of Islamic rule over the city) with expansive British-era
architecture in Lutyens' Delhi dating to the British rule in
India.
Significant prehistoric sites in Delhi include Anangpur (in
the Badarpur region), as well as Harappan excavations
near Narela and Nand Nagari. References to Delhi's
history in ancient literature are based on myths and
legends. According to the Hindu epic Mahabharata, a city
called Indraprastha, “City of the God Indra”, was the
capital of the Pandavas. There is a strong belief that

3. Purana Qila was built over the site of ancient
Indraprastha. Northern Black Polished Ware (c. 700-200
BCE) have been excavated at the site, and pieces of
Painted Grey Ware were found on the surface,
suggesting an even older settlement, possibly going back
to ca. 1000 BCE.
In 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka
(273-236 BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspur. Two
sandstone pillars inscribed with the edicts of Ashoka
were brought to by Firuz Shah Tughluq in the 14th
century. The famous Iron pillar near the Qutub Minar
was commissioned by the emperor Kumara Gupta I of
the Gupta dynasty (320-540 CE) and transplanted to
Delhi during the 10th century.
Cities of Delhi
It is popularly said that Delhi was the site for a total of
seven different cities between 3000 BCE and the 17th
century BCE, although taking smaller towns and
strongholds into account, as many as 15 settlements can
be identified. All the earlier locations of Delhi fall within
an area commonly called the 'Delhi Triangle,' bounded

4. on the south and the west by the Aravalli Range, known
as the Delhi Ridge, and to the east by the Yamuna River.
Notable settlements to have been established in the
region include:
Historic map of Shahjahanabad (now known
as Old Delhi), in 1863.

5. 1.Indraprastha, supposedly built by the Pandavas.
2.Surajkund (Anangpur), Tomar city dating from the
9th or 10th century, where a large masonry tank can
be found.
3.Lalkot, built ca. 1052 A.D. by the Tomara ruler,
Anangpal. In ca. 1180 A.D. Prithviraj Chauhan
extended and fortified it as a defence against
invaders; the city then became known as Qila Rai
Pithora. This area, now called as Mehrauli, was also
the seat of the Mamluk (Slave) dynasty.
4.Siri, first established as a camp for protection
against invading Mongols by Alauddin Khalji, and
fortified in about ca. 1303 A.D.
5.Tughluqabad, built by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq in ca.
1320 A.D. A subsidiary fort Adilabad was built by his
son Muhammadbin Tughlaq in ca. 1325 A.D.
6.Jahanpanah, Refuge of the World, name given to
the area enclosed by walling-in of the suburbs
between Qila Rai Pithora and Siri, built by
Muhammadbin Tughluq in ca. 1325 A.D.
7.Ferozabad, built by Firuz Shah Tughluq in ca. 1354
A.D.;all that remains is the palace, known as Feroz
Shah Kotla. Feroz Shah’s building activity indicates

6. that the suburbs were still occupied; major mosques
were built inside Jahanpanah (Khirki and Begumpur)
and Nizamuddin; and the area around Khalji
reservoir Hauz Khas was developed.
8.Dinpanah built by Humayun and Shergarh built by
Sher Shah Suri, both in the area near the speculated
site of the legendary Indraprastha (1538–1545).
9.Shahjahanabad, the walled city built by Shah
Jahan from 1638 to 1649, containing the Lal Qila and
the Chandni Chowk. It was the capital of the Mughal
Empire during Shah Jahan's reign. It is presently
referred to as "Old Delhi".
10. Lutyens' Delhi or New Delhi, the city built
by the British on the south-west, declared Capital on
12 December 1911. On 12 December 2011 New
Delhi celebrated 100 years of serving as India's
National Capital.
Modern Delhi, referred to as 'Dilli' locally, derived from
its historical name Dhili, is an amalgam all of the above.
Officially, however, only seven of the above-mentioned
settlements are recognised. as historical cities with
distinct identities and indigenous heritage: Qila Rai

7. Pithora, Mehrauli, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Ferozabad,
Dinpanah and Shahjahanabad.
The rest are not officially identified as Cities of Delhi
because of some specific reasons.
Indraprastha, the legendary Ancient City is believed to
have been established 5000 years ago (c. 2800 BC), as
per the ancient Indian text- the Mahabharata. Though
very much a part of India's very Ancient history, it lacks
any tangible evidence to say without doubt that it
existed. Archaeological evidence exists, but in such
scarcity as be inconclusive. As acknowledged by British
historian Michael Wood in his BBC documentary The
Story of India,[10] the excavated ceramic pottery from
the site of today's Purana Qila in Delhi and the excavated
layers of the ancient city seem to match what the verses
of the Mahabharata indicate. More possible evidence in
its favour is the existence of a village named Indraprastha
very close to the Purana Qila that was destroyed by the
British during the construction of Lutyens' Delhi.
Jahanpanah is not considered as a City of Delhi because it
is very much in ruins and too diffused now to be

8. considered a distinct city. Moreover, sections of the city
still standing are now counted in Siri or Mehrauli.
Lodi Complex is not counted as a distinct city because
their architectures are too few to be counted as a whole
city. The Sayyid and Lodhi dynasties that followed the
Tughlak dynasty were far more concerned with restoring
stability than patronisation of arts or architecture. Tombs
erected in the honour of the rulers are the only
monuments of these times and these are scattered all
over current South and Central Delhis.
New Delhi, the Capital city of modern India is also not
counted as a City of Delhi because the structures of those
times are still in use as government buildings. So there
seems no such thing as "history" about it.

9. Early History
According to Indian folklore, Delhi was the site of the
magnificent and opulent Indraprastha, capital of the
Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata, founded
around 3500 BC. It was, one of the five prasthas or
`plains', which included Sonepat, Panipat, Tilpat (near
Faridabad), and Baghpat.16th-century, Persian historian,
Firishta, recorded a tradition that Delhi or Dilli was
founded by a Raja Dhilu before the Yavana (Greek)
invasions. However, it should be noted that the kings
then referred to the initial Muslim invaders as Yavanas.
Hindu texts state that the city of Delhi used to be
referred to in Sanskrit as Hasthinapur, which means
"elephant-city". The name Delhi may be derived from the
word 'Dhillika', though there are other theories.
According to Satyarth Prakash (1874)of Swami
Dayanand, Raja Dhilu (King Dihlu) founded ancient Delhi
in 800 BCE. It was the name of the first medieval
township of Delhi, located on the southwestern border
of the present Delhi, in Mehrauli. This was the first in the
series of seven medieval cities. It is also known as
Yoginipura, that is, the fortress of the Yoginis (female
divinities). It gained importance during the time of

10. Anangpal Tomar. In the 12th century, the city was
included in the dominions of Prithviraj Chauhan.
8th century to 16th century

11. The Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret at
72.5 metres, built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak of Turkic Slave
dynasty in 1192.

12. 16th century to 19th century
The India Gate commemorates the 90,000 Indian soldiers
who died in the Afghan Wars and World War I.

14. Hemu, Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, the Hindu emperor
of North India who resisted Mughals in the 16th century.

15. Raghunath Rao, the Maratha peshwa who played a key
role in capturing Delhi from the Afghans in the Second
Battle of Delhi.
Delhi today