PURANA QILA

Mughal Emperor Humayun started building Purana Qila is 1553 to mark his ascension with a new citadel and city. The sprawling ruins are a part of the sixth city of Delhi. Purana Qila was completed by Sher Shah Suri after defeating Humayun to wrestle control of the city. The site had religious and sentimental value since it was close to the burial place of one of their most revered saints, Nizamuddin Auliya. Sher Shah took it over in 1540 CE and renamed it Din Pannah.

The imposing red sandstone arch entrance of the Purana Qila is the gateway to centuries of history. It was (i) arguably, the site for Indraprastha, the palace of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata, (ii) a bastion for Afghan ruler, Sher Shah Suri and Emperor Humayun, (iii) a British site when the capital moved from Calcutta to Delhi, (iv) an internment camp for the Japanese during World War II, and (v) a shelter for refugees fleeing the pogrom in Pakistan after the Partition in 1947.

The fort is a melange of various structures over 300 acres green surrounded by a moat linked to the Yamuna river whose banks once lapped at the walls of the fort. There are three entrances to the fort: (a) the western Bara Darwaza (Big Gate) with two storeys, the lower one was used as the entrance at the level of the moat, (b) the southern Humayun Gate that is divided into two storeys with a high arch in the middle; and (c) the Talaqqi Gate, better known as the forbidden gate. A story associated with the Talaqqi gate states that one of the queens vowed to open it when her husband returned victorious from battle but he was killed in the battlefield and it has been shut since then. It is believed that Edwin Lutyens aligned the central vista or Kartavya path as it is now known with the Humayun Gate.

There are two museums in the fort, one on the history of Delhi and the other with finds from various excavations. Excavations have uncovered evidence of shards of painted grayware pottery dating from 1200 BC to 600 BC. This indicates that the site was inhabited during the Mauryan, Sunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput, Sultanate and Moghul periods. A terracotta plaque of Goddess Gajalakshmi dating to the Gupta period and a 900 old sculpture of Vaikunta Vishnu of the Rajput period are some of the findings and surprisingly, some coins, seals that may date back to the settlement of Indraprastha.

One of the few surviving buildings, apart from the walls and ramparts is the Sher Mandal built in 1541 by Sher Shah. It is sparse with white and marble inlay where one can still see the terracotta pipes and chutes that supplied the water to the step well. Emperor Humayun died on its steps while tripping over his cloak when he rushed to heed the call of the azan (prayer).