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Purana Qila (Old Fort)
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¤ Humayun- The Mughal Emperor Costructed The Fort
When the second Mughal emperor Humayun decided to make a
city of his own he decided on the site of the ancient
city of Indraprastha. Humayun was quite a scholar with a
fine grasp on such matters and so it is certain that the
site was chosen deliberately. When his Sher Shah Suri
overthrew him, he destroyed most of Dinpanah (refuge of
the faithful) as the city of Humayun was called to make
way for his own Dilli Sher Shahi or Shergarh.
Incidentally, Humayun was probably the only emperor in
history who built a city in Delhi and did not give it
his own name – this was typical of Humayun's rather
sophisticated and dreamy character. The Layout of The
Massive Colossal
In plan the Old fort, now simply called Purana Qila by
Delhites, is irregularly orbital. The walls of the
immense Qila tower down on the road that takes one to
Pragati Maidan from the height of 18m, and run on for
about 2km. It has three main gates – the Humayun darwaza,
Talaqi darwaza and Bara darwaza (which one uses to enter
the fort today). The double-storeyed gates are quite
huge and are built with red sandstone. of all the gates
entry was forbidden from Talaqi (forbidden) darwaza, the
northern gate. It is not clear why this was so. Other
Attractions of The Fort
Sher Shah Suri and his successor could not complete the
city, and when Humayun defeated Sher Shah's son to take
back his city, he did not deal with Dilli Sher shahi as
the latter had done with Dinpanah. In fact the Mughal
emperor very handsomely completed the city and even used
several of the buildings like the Sher Mandal, a rather
pretty two-storeyed octagonal building. Humayun used
this as his library and, then tripped to his death from
its steps.
¤ Excavation of Grey Ware Pottery
Several excavations have taken place in the Purana Qila
in an attempt to prove, or disprove as the case may be,
whether it is indeed the site of Indraprastha or not.
Diggings have yielded Painted Grey Ware pottery which
has been dated to 1000BC. Similar stuff has been noticed
in other sites associated with the epic Mahabharata as
well, which seem to conclusively prove that this indeed
was the place where Indraprastha once flourished. These
excavation have also thrown up material, like coins,
associated with the Gupta (about 4-5th century AD) and
post-Gupta ages (700-800AD) of Indian history as well.
¤ Qila-i-kuhna Masjid
One of the most fascinating buildings, and also one of
the few that still survive, in the Purana Qila is the
Qila-i-kuhna masjid. Sher Shah Suri built it in 1541
(also see History) and he was obviously out to make a
definite style statement. The mosque is quite a place;
its prayer hall measures 51.20m by 14.90m and has five
doorways with the 'true' horseshoe-shaped arches.
Apparently the idea was the build the whole mosque in
marble, but the supply ran out and red sandstone had to
be used instead. But the builder used the material at
hand very skillfully and the result is quite spectacular
– the red sandstone and the marble contrast beautifully
with each other to give the mosque a very distinctive
air. The mihrabs (prayer niches) inside the mosque are
richly decorated with concentric arches. From the prayer
hall, staircases lead you to the second storey where a
narrow passage runs along the rectangular hall. The
central alcove is topped by a beautifully worked dome.
In the courtyard at one time there was a shallow tank,
which had a fountain. The mosque has an inscription
which says 'As long as there are people on this earth,
may this edifice be frequented, and people be happy in
it.' A noble thought – amen to it. |
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