{"id":206260,"date":"2022-03-28T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=206260"},"modified":"2022-03-03T04:19:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T04:19:08","slug":"delhi-old-and-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/03\/delhi-old-and-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Delhi \u2014 Old and New"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Delhi, the capital of modern India, has had a long chequered background. It has been plundered and rebuilt seven times over its long history.<\/p>\n

The Moghul emperor\u00a0Shah Jahan\u00a0<\/em>(1628 – 57) built many grand structures during his rule. These include the large\u00a0Red Fort<\/em>\u00a0complex constructed\u00a0next to the\u00a0Yamuna River.\u00a0<\/em>The formal independence ceremony of India on 15 August is held in this Fort where the Indian Prime Minister arrives and addresses the nation by a forceful Independence Day\u00a0<\/em>speech.<\/p>\n

Although Delhi has a long chequered history, it was not earlier the capital of British India. The British government decided to move its capital from Calcutta to Delhi only in 1911 since Delhi occupies a central region in the territory of India.<\/p>\n

After making it the Capitol, several grand buildings were constructed including the building for the University of Delhi that was earlier the home of the Lieutenant Governor General of British India. Another grand structure came up subsequently for his official residence which now is the residence of the President of India. Delhi University comprises several institutions including the well known St Stephens College<\/em>\u00a0where one can see a small church built within its boundary.<\/p>\n

The first significant city about a million years back\u00a0in this region\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0was known as\u00a0Indraprastha<\/em>\u00a0(IP) which had considerable historical and religious importance. It was located next to the river Yamuna and today is located near the Humayun tomb. <\/em>This city had almost crumbled by the fourth century BC.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, there is another college of Delhi University \u2014\u00a0IP College\u00a0<\/em>in the city.<\/p>\n

The Rajput kings founded in 8th century AD a city near IP and named it\u00a0Dhilika \u00a0 <\/em>from which the present name seems to have been derived. A large fort called Lal Kot<\/em>\u00a0was constructed during that period that displays the city\u2019s location today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Several important kingdoms including the\u00a0Tughlaka<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Lodi<\/em>\u00a0dynasties came up during the medieval period. They built some forts and palaces that showcase the architecture of that period.<\/p>\n

During the 16th and 17th centuries,\u00a0the Moghul dynasties of Akbar and Aurangzeb chose other cities as headquarters for their kingdoms. However,\u00a0Shahjahan\u00a0<\/em>sanctified the importance of the present region of Delhi that came to be\u00a0known after his name \u2014\u00a0Shahjahanabad.\u00a0<\/em>This region is sometimes today popularly known as Old Delhi.<\/p>\n

An important landmark of Delhi even today is the\u00a0Qutub Minar\u00a0<\/em>or victory tower whose height is about 73 m.\u00a0\u00a0It is a UNESCO heritage building constructed mainly of red sandstone. It is located in south Delhi.\u00a0\u00a0Its construction was started in 1198 by Kutubdin Aibak\u00a0<\/em>but completed in 1215 by his successor. Next to it is a mosque,\u00a0the first to be built in Delhi.<\/p>\n

The importance of the city gradually was curtailed by the plundering committed by different rulers both local and outsiders. This continued till 1803 when the British forces defeated the local rulers.<\/p>\n

Today, Delhi is a city of several architectural beautiful\u00a0buildings. These include the splendid\u00a0Lotus Temple\u00a0<\/em>built by the people of\u00a0Baha\u2019i\u00a0Faith <\/em>as a place of worship in 1986. Its outside appearance is similar to a building in Australia. The\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Baha\u2019i Faith <\/em>was propagated by\u00a0Bahai-ullah\u00a0<\/em>when he had to flee his home in the face of Islamic movements. Another beautiful\u00a0\u00a0modern building is the large\u00a0Akshardham Temple<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0that is a vast religious cultural complex.<\/p>\n

The British government in India built many structures\u00a0\u00a0as indicated earlier. One of these is\u00a0India Gate\u00a0<\/em>building with names of many Indian martyrs sculpted on it. The building resembles the\u00a0Arc de Triomphe\u00a0<\/em>structure in Paris.<\/p>\n

The photograph of Delhi accompanying this essay displays a few important buildings of the city.\u00a0\u00a0These include the\u00a0Red Fort,\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0Qutub Minar<\/em>,\u00a0the\u00a0India Gate <\/em>building, the\u00a0Lotus Temple<\/em>, etc.\u00a0These and a few mosques and Churches were constructed by different rulers during the long history of Delhi city.<\/p>\n

I welcome people of different countries or regions to visit the city and enjoy its various sites and structures including the\u00a0Akshardham Temple<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0that opened its doors in\u00a02005. It is one of the world\u2019s largest spiritual-cultural complex offering peace and joy to its visitors.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, an<\/em> educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, <\/em>A Garland of Ideas\u2014Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi.<\/em> ravipbhatia@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delhi, the capital of modern India, has had a long chequered background. It has been plundered and rebuilt seven times over its long history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":206261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[2808,260,759,953],"class_list":["post-206260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-delhi","tag-history","tag-india","tag-south-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}