The Idea of Delhi

Research Articles The Idea of Delhi Swapna Liddle* The year 1911 marked an important point in the history “That is that this could not be considered to be Delhi. The of Britain’s rule over India. It was when the colonial plain is destitute of historical associations.”5The Ridge, state took the important decision to shift the capital which flanked it, obstructed “all views of the older Delhis from Calcutta to Delhi, a move that was seen as “a bold of the past.”6 stroke of statesmanship”.1A recent study of the official The site that was eventually picked was east of the correspondence through which this resolution was finally Central Ridge, and an important consideration here was adopted, reveals the complex motivations that led to it, precisely that it was on the edge of, and overlooked, a the most important being to craft an image of an empire number of Delhi’s historic sites. It was pointed out that if that would be more acceptable to the Indians themselves, one stood on the rocky eminence known as Raisina Hill and thus help to counter the rising national movement.2 and looked eastwards towards the Yamuna, from left to The move to Delhi, and the creation there of a new right in one sweep, one could see the seventeenth century imperial capital city, was designed to place the British city of Shahjahanabad; the fourteenth century city of Empire at the end of the long line of empires that had Firozabad; the fifteenth century fortress known as Purana ruled from this historic city. The symbolism of the Qila, which was believed to be the site of the ancient city gesture was immense. The Viceroy, Hardinge, justified of Indraprastha; the massive fourteenth century fortress it mainly in terms of what the city meant to Indians of Tughlaqabad; the cities of Jahanpanah and Siri, also themselves, saying, “Delhi is still a name to conjure with. of the fourteenth century; and finally the oldest extant It is intimately associated in the minds of the Hindus with Delhi – the eleventh century fortress of Lal Kot/Qila Rai sacred legends which go back even beyond the dawn of Pithora. Apart from these historic ‘cities of Delhi’, there history. ….To the Mohammedans it would be a source of were a number of other monuments scattered between unbounded gratification to see the ancient capital of the them – the shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya, Safdar Jung’s Moguls restored to its proud position as the seat of the mausoleum, the tombs of the Lodi dynasty, and the Empire.”3 astronomical observatory known as Jantar Mantar.7 When it came to choosing a site for the new capital that To those familiar with the geography of Delhi, this was to be built in Delhi, historical associations proved list of the sites that New Delhi would overlook, is clearly equally important. The town planning committee was symbolic rather than realistic. It would be far-fetched explicitly told “that the new site must be Delhi – that is to imagine that Tughlaqabad, over thirteen kilometers an area in close physical and general association with the away as the crow flies, or even Lal Kot, nearly ten present city of Delhi [by which they meant Shahjahanabad, kilometers away, were exactly ‘overlooked’ by the new or what we today call Old Delhi] and the Delhis of the city. Moreover, in the early twentieth century, the site past.”4It was for this reason that an otherwise suitable site of Indraprastha was notional rather than real. A village – the Naraina plain, was rejected. The latter comprised called Indarpat was located in and around the Purana the area to the west of the Central Ridge – the tail end of Qila – the villagers living in houses within the fort and the Aravali hills, an important natural feature. Though it cultivating the lands outside it. It was name and tradition was in many ways an ideal site, in the eyes of the Town rather than archaeological remains that linked this Planning Committee, it suffered from one serious defect, Indarpat to the Indraprastha of the ancient scriptures. Ancient texts spoke of a location beside the river Yamuna, * Swapna Liddle, Independent Researcher and Convener, where Indra, the king of the Gods, had performed Delhi Chapter, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and sacrifices and worshiped Vishnu. It thus came to be Cultural Heritage) known as Indraparastha. There was an another name 14 The Idea of Delhi linked with Indraprastha; it was said that this spot on the Exactly when during the long rule of the Tomars this bank of the Yamuna was blessed by Vishnu, who called it may be, is not clear. There are traditions that associate ‘Nigambodhak’, where a knowledge of the Vedas could the founding of Dhilli with the Tomar ruler Anangpal I be gained simply by taking a dip in the waters. The sacred in the eighth century CE, but it is probable that the name significance of Indraprastha was enhanced by accounts specifically may not have been associated with the place in the ancient epic, the Mahabharata, which told of the till much later. Certainly the Jain texts, the earliest that setting up of a city here by the Pandavas.8The specific deal with Delhi, often refers to it as ‘Yoginipur’.12 identification of these locations with Delhi was strong in The possible earliest reference to Dhilli is to be found popular memory. Not only the village of Indarpat, but in a Sanskrit inscription on the iron pillar of Mehrauli. also the Nigambodh Ghat – the steps leading down to the This artefact, though dating from the Gupta period, has waters of the Yamuna, which adjoined Shahjahanabad, several later inscriptions. One of these is a short line, strongly identified the neighbourhood of Delhi with the which is generally translated as “In Samvat 1109 [1052 mythical past. British observers in the nineteenth century CE], Anang Pal peopled Dilli”.13The date is relevant, noted that the popular name for Purana Qila was Indra ka because it is generally believed that it coincides with the khera, literally, ‘the plain of Indra’.9 founding of what is taken to be the earliest fortified city The colonial rulers of the early twentieth the century of Delhi, that of Lal Kot, in Mehrauli. From this point saw a linear connection between the seat of the epic heroes onwards we are on firmer ground when associating to modern times, a trajectory of history that underlined the place with the name Dilli. One reason for this is the the aura of Delhi as a centre of power. This, after all, had Dilliwal coins that are believed to have been in circulation been the centre of power for many centuries, successively in the twelfth century.14 the seat of the Rajput and Tomar dynasties, followed by Be that as it may, Dilli in the eleventh and twelfth the Delhi Sultanate, which made it the capital of a vast centuries seems to have been politically a fairly minor empire. Finally, the Mughals too had made it their capital, town, associated with the Tomar dynasty. It had some particularly since the founding in 1648 of Shahjahanabad. additional importance for its connection with Jain In fact, the development of the aura of Delhi had been a religious teachers and patrons, since some of the Tomars long and often uneven historic process, the evidence of and their prominent courtiers were themselves Jain which can be found in a series of literary, epigraphic and patrons. One such was the rich merchant named Nattal numismatic sources. Sahu, who may have also held an important position at For the British, an interesting aspect of the problem the Tomar ruler’s court. He is said to have commissioned of identifying a site as Delhi, was the issue of the name a lavish temple around 1132 CE, the same time as the poet itself. Even as the city of New Delhi was being planned, Shridhar composed a text called Parshvanath Charit, under it had been pointed out by an old India hand that the his patronage. The importance of Delhi as a Jain centre spelling commonly used by the British, ‘Delhi’, and its increased later in the twelfth century, when the Jain consequent pronunciation, was wrong. The correct form preacher Jinachandra Suri’s visit and death in the year was Dilli or Dehli. The government decided that it would 1165-66 CE, resulted in the founding of a noted shrine, continue to use Delhi, not only because there seemed to known today as the Dadabari Jain temple.15 Sometime be no great public opinion against it, but also because around this time, that is, the mid-twelfth century, Delhi having to make a choice between Dilli and Dehli might seems to have come under the overlordship of the lead to controversy. This was because it was felt that Chauhan rulers, who had their capital at Ajmer. though Persian writers invariably spelt it as Dehli, the But Delhi’s rise to prominence as a centre of power older Indian texts and inscriptions spelt it Dilli. It was can be dated from after the Turks conquered it in the assumed that the former was a ‘Muslim’ preference and last decade of the century, and then too it was a gradual the latter a ‘Hindu’ one.10 process. The forces of Mohammad Ghuri, led by his The name Dilli, or actually its earlier form, ‘Dhilli’, is general Qutbuddin Aibak, conquered Delhi in 1193 indeed older, but there is no evidence for any considerable CE, sometime after the defeat of the Chauhan king antiquity associated with it.

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