In his book City of Djinns, William Dalrymple paints an intricate portrait of New Delhi, a city steeped in history yet pulsing with the life of a modern capital. While reading this book, you will feel as though you are speaking directly to the spirit of nostalgia that lives within the walls of Delhi.
According to some, Delhi has been reincarnated seven times – with New Delhi being the eighth. Some say, present day Delhi has been built on the ruins of seven cities, namely, Lal Kot, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah, Ferozeabad, Dinpanah, and Shahjahanabad. I wonder if any other city in the world can claim to be such a phoenix, reborn from its ashes time and again. One of the most poignant reflections Dalrymple shares is that, “Whoever has built a new city in Delhi has always lost it: the Pandava brethren, Prithviraj Chauhan, Feroz Shah Tughluk, Shah Jehan …”. Those who shaped Delhi’s skyline eventually lost their creations, a theme that resonates through the city’s long history.
Delving into mythology, the Pandavas, heroes of the Mahabharata, were born in the Dvapara Yuga, which in terms of historical epochs, could be loosely associated with the later Vedic period, from approximately 1100 BCE to 500 BCE. Mahabharata is the story of the Bharata dynasty and imparts within its scriptures, lessons on humanity, duty and morality. It does so by focusing on the rivalry between two cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, fighting for their right to rule over the kingdom of their ancestors. The rivalry began when the Pandavas were granted a piece of land called Khandavaprastha by their uncle, King Dhritarashtra. What was once a barren and forested area was transformed into a thriving capital called Indraprastha, through their efforts and divine help. In a bid to take away the land from the Pandavas, the Kauravas invited the Pandavas to a game of dice – which was rigged – and through deceit won Indraprastha, leading to the exile of the Pandavas. When the brothers returned from exile, the Kauravs denied them their rightful land and thus began the great battle of Kurukshetra. Today, this legendary land is part of what we know as New Delhi. So you see, even in Indian mythology, Delhi, Indraprastha to the Pandavas, was taken away from those who built a new city in it.
In the 12th century began the rein of Prithiviraj Chauhan, who history remembers as the brave warrior who lost his life defending Delhi from the invasion of Muhammad Ghori. Though Prithiviraj Chauhan ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in present-day Rajasthan, he played an instrumental role in shaping the infrastructure of Delhi. He is credited with extending and fortifying the earlier Lal Kot area, which formed the core of the first city of Delhi. The fortified city, which eventually came to be known as Qila Rai Pithora, served as the capital of the Chauhan dynasty. The extensions made to Lal Kot by Prithviraj Chauhan were designed to bolster the city’s defenses, reflecting his military foresight and the strategic importance of Delhi as a power center. When Ghori first invaded India, Prithiviraj Chauhan was able to stand his ground and protect his kingdom. But when Ghori attempted to overthrow the king in the second battle of Tarain, Delhi slipped from Prithivi’s grasp, marking yet another chapter of loss in Delhi’s storied past.
Ferozabad was the fifth incarnation of Delhi, gifted to it by Feroz Shah Tughlaq. Feroz Shah founded Ferozabad in 1354 and established many mosques, madrasas and canals to improve the life of the citizens of the city. Though Ferozabad was not lost in a military coup or an invasion, Feroz Shah’s empire did fall – gradually, but surely. After his death in 1388, the Sultanate of Delhi witnessed a rapid decline. The administrative machinery had become corrupt and many smaller states had already started asserting their independence. When Timur (Tamerlane) invaded Delhi in 1398, his army caused widespread destruction and chaos. The invasion birthed the end of the Tughlaq empire, and led to the fall of the Delhi Sultanate.
In 1533, Humayun, built the city of Dinpanah. Dinpanah, which means “Shelter of the Devout” was built by Humayun on the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi and aimed to provide a place for scholars and researchers to meet and debate ideas. Though Humayun inherited the throne from his father, Babur, who was the first ruler of the Mughal empire, he faced challenges from multiple adversaries including his own brothers. Sher Shah Suri, the formidable leader of the Sur Empire in Bihar and Bengal, defeated Humayun in the Battle of Kannauj (or Bilgram, 1540), leading to Humayun fleeing to Persia. After a period of 15 years, Humyaun returned back to Dinpanah and defeated Suri, and thus regained his claim on the land. However, a year later, Humayun tragically died after falling down the stairs of his library in the Dinpanah fort (Purana Qila in Delhi), which he himself had commissioned.
Shah Jahan, was the fifth Mughal emperor, and his downfall is perhaps the most poignant thus far. After becoming the ruler, he renamed Delhi as Shahjahanabad, the then-new capital of the Mughal Empire. Shah Jahan had four sons, Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad, and each held substantial military commands and harbored imperial ambitions. When Shah Jahan’s health began to decline in 1650, the fight for the throne intensified even further. Aurangzeb was notably the most aggressive one of the four sons and displayed political prowess and military acumen. He defeated Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan’s favorite and the chosen successor, at the Battle of Samugarh in 1658 and declared himself as the emperor. After winning the battle, Aurangzeb imprisoned his father, in the Agra Fort. In a bitter irony, the emperor who once built a beautiful palace for his wife, ended up spending his later years imprisoned in a fort, under house arrest. Shah Jahan could only watch on helplessly as his son used force to either execute or suppress Shah Jahan’s other sons.
Coming back to the present – a few years ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned a Rs. 22,000 crore development project in the capital, New Delhi. The project aimed to build and refurbish the government buildings on part of the 4-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, located at the heart of the national capital. It was argued by the government, and its supporters, that the current infrastructure of the Parliament is not sufficient to hold joint Sessions of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha and doesn’t provide the adequate facility to support a technology upgrade. A major contention the citizens of the country raised was that the money being deployed towards the project could have been better utilized towards the government’s efforts at managing COVID-19. India’s actual death rates from COVID-19 are still a mystery and one can only estimate based on the images of dead bodies floating in the river. We can’t ever be certain just how many of those who died from either not having access to oxygen or beds, could have been saved, had we been able to provide the adequate resources.
The new Parliament building was inaugurated on May 28, 2023. And today, almost a year later, India is going to the polls. While the picture on your television screens may be of a rosy and optimistic Bharat, a Bharat confident in her Prime Minister’s ability to lead her forward a third time, the picture on the ground is somewhat different. Even the most devout of followers are now asking if perhaps, the emperor really deserves to lead them for a third time? Chances are the incumbent government will come back to power again but now, people are finally asking, if it deserves to. As elections go on, the narrative of Delhi’s cursed legacy of ambitious construction followed by decline looms large. Will history repeat itself, or will this time be different? Regardless, Delhi’s story is far from over; if history tells us anything, it is that Delhi is always poised for another rebirth.
