"Delhi" Delhi by MM212

Divided into two administrative parts, Delhi and New Delhi, the capital of India is one enormous metropolis. The government and its offices reside in New Delhi, the official capital, while most of its historic neighbourhoods and monuments lie in Delhi. In reality, however, the metropolis consists of numerous districts and villages stitched together by the expansive modern urban sprawl.

Among the few cities I have seen in India, New Delhi/Delhi was undoubtedly my favourite. It was a rather pleasant surprise to see how clean, orderly and civilised the New Delhi part was compared to other cities in India. Furthermore, due to its status as a capital city for longer than any other in India, historic Delhi inherited an astonishing number of splendid monuments from various architectural periods. Despite these traits, the capital city is often understated by guidebooks or tour guides, but it is an error. One should contemplate dedicating more, rather than less time to this wonderful city.

This page focuses on the historic monuments and districts of Delhi that pre-date the British planned city. For the rest, check out the separate page dedicated to New Delhi.

A bit of history...

The plains in which Delhi lies, on the western bank of the Yamuna River, had been inhabited for several millennia, but as a city, it was not officially founded until 1060 AD. In that year, the Punjabi dynasty that ruled the region built a citadel named Lal Kot a short distance south of today's New Delhi. This very fortress became the base of the Moslem armies led by Qutb ad Din Aibak to conquer the region In 1193. Aibak named it Qila Rai Pithora and commissioned Qutb Minar, the mosque complex that was to symbolise the "Might of Islam". Following this conquest, several centuries of Moslem rule saw the blossoming of a sophisticated Indo-Islamic culture that helped reshape Indian culture, architecture and society to this day. The Delhi area remained intermittently the capital of this civilisation until the Mughal Empire was extinguished once and for all by the British in 1857. From its founding, however, the capital city was built and rebuilt seven times by various rulers, each time at a different location within today's metropolis, but none was actually called Delhi. The eighth and final iteration was by the British rulers who in 1911 decided to build a whole new city, this time named New Delhi, in the plains and hills between the various ancient sites of Delhi, and moved their capital here from Calcutta. Inaugurated in 1931, the new capital of the British Raj boasted wide boulevards, monumental architecture and exquisite parks, all befitting an Empire. The British thus restored Delhi's status as the capital city, which continued to be the capital of India after independence in 1947.

16-day India itinerary in Feb/Mar 2009:

Mumbai - Elephanta Island; Aurangabad - Daulatabad - Ellora - Khuldabad - Ajanta; New Delhi; Jaipur - Amber - Fatehpur Sikri - Agra - Sikandra; New Delhi - Delhi