Delhi is well connected
by air, road and train to all the other cities of India. Major international
carriers also service Delhi. It is especially convenient to use the city as
a base for travel to Western and Northern India.
The epic Mahabharata refers
to Delhi as Indraprastha, supposed to have been founded by the Pandavas in 1450
B.C. Indraprastha's remains have been excavated within the ramparts of the Old
Fort (Purana Qila).
Around 320 AD when India was known as the Golden Bird, the
Gupta and the Maurya dynasties, mesmerised by the elegant vistas of Delhi also
ruled from Indraprastha till the Muslim invasion in the latter half of the 12th
century. It was taken over by the Muslim slave kings. The Khaljis ruled for
over a century and built a new capital Siri, in 1302 AD where today stands the
imposing Siri Fort area and the Asian Games Village.
After the Khaljis, the
Tughlaks in the early 15th century increased building activity in Indraprastha
with the construction of the Tughlakabad Fort (built by Ghyias-ud-din Tughlak).
In addition Ghyias-ud-din Tughlak's successors established two new cities -
Jahanpanah (asylum of the world) and Ferozabad (Kotla Ferozeshah).
The first Mughal conqueror
and emperor, Babar, chose Agra for his capital, although his son, Humayun, returned
to Delhi and built the Purana Qila as his fort and seat of governance. Then
came the Suri dynasty, with Sher Shah Suri choosing to remain in Delhi, which
he rebuilt in 1542 A.D, with its centre also in Purana Qila.
This was roughly
the time when the capital got its name Dilli, although some historians attribute
it to Raja Dillu who was supposed to have ruled in this area as far back as
100 BC Although the next Mughal emperor, Akbar, preferred to shift back to Agra
and Fathepur Sikri, his son, Jehangir preferred Delhi and began work on building
the historic Red Fort (Lal Qila) in 1638 A.D.
But long before all this
during the 11th century AD, a Hindu King, Anangpal is credited to have built
the first city, Lal Kot and after them the Lodi dynasty is supposed to have
set up of the sixth of the seven cities around the still-existing Lodi tombs.
The seven unique cities
of Delhi were Lal Kot, Siri, Tughlakabad, (the ruined fortress east of the imposing
Qutab Minar said to have become a ghost city 15 years after it was built following
a supposed curse from the Sufi saint, Azam-ud-din) Jahanpanah, Ferozeshah Kotla,
Lodi Tombs and the Purana Qila.
About
the City
Delhi's colourful history
and its legacy of monuments inspired the British to build their new capital
here. If India represented for the British that portion of their empire on which
"the sun never sets" then for Edwin Lutyens, the world famous architect commissioned
to design New Delhi, the finished city was the "Rome of Hindoostan". Thanks
to his foresight Delhi is a city of space, of light and greenery, of wide avenues
and garden vistas and fountains and plazas. 
Perhaps the Persian inscription
on the ceiling of the Diwan-e-Khas (Hall of Nobles) in Shah Jehan's Red Fort
fired Lutyen's imagination. In it the poet, Firdaus, extravagantly claims, "If
there be a paradise on Earth; it is this, oh it is this, oh it is this". Certainly
echoes of the "paradise", in the form of architectural style, details and materials,
are found in Lutyen's neo-classical design for the new city including the Parliament
House, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, Connaught Place, the administrative buildings
South and North Blocks…
Besides respecting and incorporating
tradition in the new buildings, Lutyens preserved as landmarks and marks of
identity the grand ruins of the seven cities that existed at different times
on this historic site. So when the visitor drives through Delhi, he can glimpse
them in the picturesque and well-preserved old monuments that dot the city.
