EVOLUTION OF SETTELMENTS AND PLANNING PROCESS

The Maharaja Sayajirao University,

Vadodara

OLD DELHI

MURP-2014/15 | PARTH SADARIA

• Delhi stands with the oldest cities of the world like Rome and Istanbul. • Delhi was even called the ‘Rome of the East’ or ‘Rome of Asia’ .

DELHI

• Delhi is a city that bridges two different worlds……

• Old Delhi, once the capital of Islamic India, is a web of narrow lanes lined with crumbling havelis and mosques.

• New Delhi created by the British Raj is composed of spacious, tree-lined avenues and imposing government buildings.

• Many a times the city was built, destroyed and then rebuilt.

• A number of Delhi's rulers played a dual role, first as destroyers and then as creators.

• Delhi has been the political hub of India.• The Pandavas of the Mahabharata had their capital at Indraprastha,

which is believed to have been geographically located in today's Delhi.

OLD DELHI – MSU MURP-I | PARTH SADARIA

GEOGRAPHY• Delhi is second-largest metropolis city

and Capital of India. It is the third largest city.

• Delhi is main starting point for North India. It is surrounded on three sides by Haryana and to the east, across the river Yamuna by Uttar Pradesh.

• The Yamuna river and terminal part of the Aravali hills range are the two main geographical features of the city.

• These area of the city’s lungs and help maintain its environment. The Yamuna River is Delhi’s main source of drinking .

“THE SEVEN CITIES OF DELHI”

Indraprastha c. 1450 BC

Lal Kot c. 700-1000 AD

Qila Rai Pithora 1170 AD

Mehrauli 1192 AD

Siri c. 1300 AD

Tughlaqabad c. 1330 AD

Ferozabad 1354 AD

Dilli Sher Shah 1540 AD

Shahajahanabad 1639 AD

INDRAPRASTH Of Mahabharat

• Delhi is an ancient city .It is said that after Rome Delhi has the largest number of 500 years old buildings.

• The oldest reference to Delhi is in Mahabharat when lord Krishna asks for five villages for Pandavas ieIndrapat, Bagpat,Sonipat , Tilpat & Panipat(Current names).

• Indraprasth is the ancient name of Delhi and possibly the oldest name of the city.

• ASI excavations have revealed a three thousand year old inhabitation at Purana Quila area .

• Village Indrapat finds a mention in old British time records in same area till new Delhi started getting constructed .

• Curiously Delhi government website does not recognise it as the first Delhi .

• We do call it the first Delhi. Mahabharat and Dhritrashtra

LAL KOT & QILA RAI PITHORA • The iron pillar of Mehrauli is having some

inscription of Gupta period.• In 1966 an Ashokan rock edict was discovered in

Sriniwaspuri area.• The next mention of Delhi is of a fort named ‘

Lal Kot’ made by Inscriptions Prithvi Raj Chauhan Anangpal (731-36 AD) .

• Suraj Kund was made by another Tomar King.• Lalkot was extended and renamed by Prithvi Raj

Chauhan as ‘ Quila Rai Pithora’.• This is generally believed to be the second

Delhi. • Thick walls of both the the fort are still left

intact near Lado Sarai in Delhi. • Lalkot Wall Site Quila Rai Pithora

MEHRAULI – Slave Dynasty

• After Prithvi Raj Chauhan ,the city went into the control of Islamic invaders for more than seven hundred years who made several important buildings which have survived the passage of time .

• Mohammed Ghauri left a slave QutubuddinAibak in charge of Qutub Minar Two Views Delhi.

• He used art work of some old Jain and hindutemples and with some new materials made Qutab Minar at Mehrauli in the year 1193 A.D.

• Allauddin Khilji tried making another copy of Qutub Minar just near by but left it unfinished .

• It can also be seen near Qutab MinarUnfinished Qutub Broken Temple Remains

SIRI – Allauddin Khilji

• Alauddin Khilji ( 1296AD) is the next big name in Delhi’s history .

• His tomb is at Hauzkhas lake made by him.• The Siri fort is supposed to have eight thousand

severed heads of invading Mongols burriedunder it by Allauddin.

• Siri is a word derived from hindi word Allauddins Makbara Hauz khas lake.

• Chor Minar is a small tower on which severed heads of thieves , criminals and invaders were hung.

• Alluddin Khilji’s Delhi is generally called the third city of Delhi.

• Madarsa at Hauz Khas Chor Minar

TUGHLAQABAD – Mohammad Bin Tughlaq• Ghiasuddin Tughlak (1326 AD), the founder of

Tughlak Dynasty , made the Tughlakabad fort .• His tomb is also near by . There is a big water

reservoir called Baoli .• It is said that when his fort was being made, the

labour used to work at night for HazratNizamuddin to Ghiassuddin’s MakbaraTughlakabad Fort make a baoli under the light of oil lamps .

• Tughlak took away the oil but lamps were lit by water and baoli was completed .

• Chirag Dilli derives its name from this story.• Another welknown Tughlak was the maveric

Mohammed Bin Tughlak ( 1351 AD)who tried and failed in shifting his Sultanet HQ to Daultabad in Maharashtra .

• Tughlak’s Delhi is generally Considered as the fourth City of Mausoleum of Ghiasuddin Baoli at Nizamuddin Delhi.

FEROZABAD – Feroze Tughlaq

• Firoz Shah ( 1351AD) was the next Sultan ( Tughlaq Dynasty)to make a new city at Delhi .

• The present Cricket Stadium of Delhi called Kotla Grounds area has many stone edicts of his time.

• Top pictures are of his fort’s now destroyed gate and his tomb at Firozabad West Gate Lodhi Garden Area Hauz Khas. now demolished.

• He carried the forty feet long stone pillar of Ashoka’s time intact from Ambala and installed it in the area .

• His Delhi is generally called the Fifth city of Delhi .

• The last picture is of Lodhi Tomb another landmark in Delhi in Lodhi Garden.

• Ashoka Pillar Kotla Lodhi Garden Area

SHERGARH – Sher Shah Suri• Sher Sha Suri (1540-45) was a gifted General and

Founder of Sher Garh city in Delhi .• Humayun , the son of Babar had a checkered

career . • He lost battle to Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan and

fled to Iran.• He regained his kingdom in the year Purana Quila

Sher Garh 1546 .• He completed /remade the Purana Qila at Delhi . • Excavations at Purana Qila .Some people call his

Delhi as Din Panah .• Humayun tomb is an outstanding World heritage

building .• It also has the headless corpse of Dara Shikoha

burried there Humayun Makbara, HumayunTomb.

SHAHJAHANABAD

• Before New Delhi was made Shahjahan(1628-59) was the greatest builder who made Red Fort and Jama Masjid .

• The main road in Chandini Chowk was a canal.

• Lal Quila Ajmeri Gate Delhi had fourteen gates out of which Turkman Gate, Kashmiri Gate , Delhi Gate, Ajmeri Gate and Nigam bodh gate have survived . Shahjahanabad was the Kashmiri Gate Jama Masjid seventh old city of Delhi.

SHAHJAHANABAD / OLD DELHI

• Seventh planned city of Delhi.

• Shahjahanabad was the city with the colossal Red Fort and its14 gates.

• The Mughal emperors shifted their base from Delhi to Agra

• The fort still stands along with the historic architecture of the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk.

• The old city was surrounded by a wall enclosing approximately 1500acres, with several gates.

• Nigambodh Gate- North/East, leading to historic \ Nigambodh ghat on Yamua River.

• It was built on the north eastern side of the Shahajahanabad.

• It is located on the Ring Road near the Yamuna Bazaar.

• It derives its name Nigambodh Ghat from the burial ground here.

• The etymology of Nigambodh is derived from Sanskrit words ‘Nigam’ which means the “Ved” and ‘bodh’ means “knowledge”, meaning realization of knowledge.

• According to a folk legend, Lord Brahma (the creator) took a bath in the Yamuna River at this ghat to recover his lost memory and by this act Brahma not only got back his memory but also remembered the place he had kept his sacred books.

• In the past, the gate was closer to the ghat and nearer to the Salimgarh Fort.

• Kashmiri Gate-North

• The Kashmiri Gate is a gate located in Delhi,

• it is the northern gate to the historic walled city of Delhi.

• Built by Military Engineer Robert Smith in 1835, the gate is so named because it used to start a road that led to Kashmir.

• Kashmiri Gate is one of the original 14 gates built into the wall to the north of the city

• Mori Gate - North

• Mori Gate, located in the Civil Lines area in north Delhi above the Red Fort, could be reached via the DufferinBridge.

• This walls within the Mori Gate area were fortified in 1809 after an attack on the city by Jaswant Rao Holkar.

• Kabuli gate -West

• Kabuli Gate or Khooni Darwaza literally translated means “Bloody Gate”, a “morbid sounding name”.

• It is an impressive double–storied structure.• Its construction is credited to Sher Shah Suri's

reign from 1540-1545 (though the fort walls of the Suri period have not been seen to extend to this gate).

• It was built largely with grey stone but red stones were also used in the frames of its windows.

• Though not within the walls of the Shahajahan's fort, it is located on the Mathura road opposite to the Ferozshah Kotla near Maulana Azad Medica Collage.

• At this gate, on September 21, 1857, during the Indian Rebellion, three sons of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, were executed by the British Officer, Captain William Hudson.

• Lahori gate - West

• The Lahori gate of the Old Delhi city, now only a bazaar square with small remnants at one end, used to lead east along the ChandniChowk to the Lahore gate of the Red Fort.

• Inside the Lahori gate is the grain market. • Outside the gate stands a mosque built by

Sirhindi Begum, wife of Shah Jahan, whom he married after the death Arjumand BanuBegum, Mumtaz Mahal.

• This Lahori Gate was also one of the last points captured during the siege of 1857.

• Ajmeri Gate-South East

• Ajmeri Gate, built in 1644, to the south–west of Shahjahanabad with a square plan, has high arched openings.

• The Sepoy Mutiny or the first war of Indian Independence in 1857 was fought at this venue also.

• The road, through this gate, leads to the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, and hence its name. A lovely park surrounds the gate.

• The Madrasa (Islamic school of learning) built by Nawab Ghaziuddin Bahadur father of the first Nizam of Hyderabad in 1811, west of the college lies the tomb of the founder and a mosque In the following years, it converted to Delhi college .

• Turkman Gate - South East

• Turkman Gate, located to the southern edge of Shahajahanabad is named after the Sufi Saint Hazrat Shah Turkman Bayabani.

• His tomb dated to 1240, before building of Shahjahanabad, is located to the east of the gate.

• It is approached from the Jawahar Lal Nehru Road, the old Circular Road, in the vicinity of the Ramlila Ground.

• It has a square plan with high arched openings.

• The tomb of Razia Sultan and Kali Masjid or Kalan Masjid are located in close proximity of the gate.

• The gate was the scene of Turkman gate demolition and rioting in 1976.

• Delhi Gate - South

• The gate links the New Delhi city with the old walled city of Delhi.

• It stands in the middle of the road, at the end of Netaji Subhash Chandra Road (or NetajiSubhash Marg), at the edge of the Daryaganj.

• The Gate was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1638 as part of the rubble–built high fort walls that encircled the Shahajahanabad, the seventh city of Delhi.

• The emperor used this gate to go to the JamaMasaid for prayer.

• The gate is similar in design and architecture to the northern gate of the walled city, the Kashmiri Gate (1853).

• It was built in sandstone and is an impressive and large structure.

• Near the gate entry, two stone carvings of elephants were erected.

Planning of Shahjahanabad• The city was planned according to

hindu planning principles of shilpashastra from vastushastra.

• The site was placed on a high land as in the shastra and was karmukha or bow shaped

• The arm of the archer was Chandni Chowk.

• The junction of the two main axes is the most auspicious point in the whole region and was therefore the red fort.

The designed infrastructure of Shahjahanabad comprised

• The fort• The Friday mosque.• The other major mosques, including the corresponding waqf properties.• The two main a wide street in town or city.• The bazaars around the Friday mosque.• The elaborate system of water channels.• The major gardens and the city wall.

• The arrangement of these planned elements was influenced by certain site features, which precluded absolute geometry.

Major Streets

• The streets in Mughal capital were usually narrow and crooked.• the major streets in the new capital were designed as wide

and straight.• The east-west street called Chandni Chowk connected the

Lahori Darwaza of the fort

• It ran in a straight line forming a wide wide street with broad vista..

• The Fort was visible from any place on the street.

• This perspective view marked a new concept of town planning for the Mughal capital.

• Another main street the Faiz Bazaar or Akkarabadi Bazaar, was also wide and straight.

• It had a north-south axis and connected Delhi gate of the fort with the city walls Delhi gate and is about 1km in length.

• These major two streets developed as processional routes, as well as commercial arteries.

Five Main Streets• The basic network of the five main streets extended

from Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazaar to other gates and to different part of the walled city.

• The streets were built as the spines of major activities and developed as commercial thorough affairs.

• They connected the Ajmeri Darwaza with the JamiMasjid and Turkman and Lahori Darwazas.

• The other streets were less significant and were mainly built as access roads to the residential areas.

MAHALLA / KATRA

• There was a tendency of the cities' population to settle by ethnic affiliations and to live in the same neighborhoods.

• The urban community and the Mughal capital was formed by such districts or wards, known as mahallas and katras.

• These homogeneous units also define cultural as well as socio-economic activities.

• There were 36 mahallas in the walled city. Each katra had an enclosed space created between residential and commercial buildings having entry to a katra made through a gate.

• These courtyards were environmentally sound and acted as main ventilation shafts in a hot and arid climate.

CITY WALLS

• The layout o the city walls was based on a geometrical planning;

• A polygonal plan with gateways. The four main gates were Delhi Darwaza on south, the Ajmeri Darwaza on the south-west, the Lahori Darwaza on the westand the Kashmiri Darwaza on the north.

• These important gates were positioned according to the basic network of the city,

The Biggest Mosque In India

• Near the Red Fort about 500m away is the Jama masjid, the biggest mosque in India.

• It was begun by Shah Jahan in 1650 and completed six years later and the whole cost about a million rupees.

• It is hard to imagine a building more suited to evoking the awe of the majesty of Allah in man.

• The mosque stands on a rocky elevation.

• Its huge gateway looks down at you like fastidious connoisseur from an immense platform which has steps that lead up to it.

CHANDNI CHOWK• Built in 17th century by the Muslim emperor

Shah Jahan.• The favourite daughter of Shahjahan, Jahanara

laid the foundation of today Chandni Chowk.• which is the largest trading centre of North

India.• Market was once divided by canals to reflect

moonlight hence the name.• One of the oldest and busiest markets in Old

Delhi has around 2500 shops.

• Chandni Chowk runs through themiddle of the walled city, from theLahori Darwaza (Lahore Gate) of theRed Fort to Fatehpuri Masjid.

• Situated opposite the Red Fort, thebazaar has several galis (lanes).Each of these galis represent aspecialty of this market

• Located in Central Delhi.

RED FORT• The Red sandstone of the massive Red Fort rise 33 metres above the clamour of Old

Delhi as a reminder of the magnificent power and pomp of the Mughal emperors.• The walls, built in 1638, were designed to keep out invaders, now they mainly keep out

the noise and confusion of the day.

• Delhi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia_files• www.censusindia.gov.in• online pdf -CT.Lakshmanan B.Arch., M.C.P. Asst. Prof. (SG) SRM School of Architecture

• Delhi - 100 years as the Capital". The Hindu.

• "History of Delhi District". The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. 11. Oxford at Clarendon Press. 1909. p. 225.

• Kapoor, Pramod; Malvika Singh; Rudrangshu Mukherjee (2009). New Delhi: Making of a Capital. LustrePress. ISBN 978-81-7436-574-3.

• Delhi (1938), a documentary by BFI archives

• http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/080817/dmag9.htm PAST PRESENT: Shahjahanabad Before 1857 By Mubarak Ali

OLD DELHI – MSU MURP-I | PARTH SADARIA

THANK YOU

References