06-11-2005, 01:56 AM
From Pioneer, 10 June 2005
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A dream called Dilli
Utpal K Banerjee
THE IDEA OF DELHI, ED ROMI KHOSLA; PHOTOS BY NITIN RAI MARG PUBLICATIONS, RS 2500
O easterners Know then that Dillee,
Which used to be a special and chosen place
Amongst the cities of the world,
Attracted as its inhabitants the select and topmost members
Of each profession, avocation
and calling.
The city grew in eminence Until the Heavens themselves
envied it.
Fate visited it with devastation.
I too once inhabited the place which is now a desolation...
This is how Mir Taqi "Mir", the 18th century master of Urdu poetry, composed his verse bemoaning the fate of his beloved city. Repeatedly a victim of invasion, arson and despoliation, Dillee then was learning the lesson that being "a heaven on earth" was risky business and "Mir" ascribed the calamity as arising out of the envy of the heavens. He fled Dillee.
Indeed, over the ages, Delhi has always been a dream by caparisoned powers that, more often than not, went awry. The movers and shakers of this earth have come to this landmass and staked their claims to a little territory termed a synonym of Delhi. And yet before long, their might was brought to dust and their glory reduced to history.
The various settlements that have collectively been called Delhi have always been centres of importance for the sovereignties that successive rulers carved out in Northern India. Delhi was strategically located on the fertile plains of the Yamuna river and its immediate hinterland, enclosed by the hills of the Southern Ridge. The triangular space, formed between the southwestern flow of the Yamuna and the southeastern escarpment of the Ridge became a natural place for human habitat. The seven (or were they nine?) Delhis are all located within this triangular area. It is only the recent suburban extensions that have crossed the Yamuna to spread eastwards and reach further south: all beyond the triangular plain.
Going back eons, Delhi is believed to be ten times older than even the Himalayas! Far away from the southern Gondwanaland, this region came into being one billion years ago, but remained submerged under the Tethys Sea for about 400 million years. It made its reappearance during the Great Convulsion some 600 million years ago, whereas the Himalayas arose 500 million years later. The Tethys Sea that had washed the Delhi Ridge subsequently disappeared.
Jumping from ancient "dream" times to proto-history, one notices how the kingdoms have swung, like a pendulum, from north to south and then back, all within our triangular plain. Chronologically speaking, the legendary Pandavas founded the earliest capital city of 'Indraprastha' circa 1450 BC, with Maya, the architect, building a splendid palace and court for them. Raja Dillu's 'Dilli' - that probably gave Delhi its name - came about circa 100 BC, a little southwest of Indraprastha. Now the swing was to the south with the next big city 'Surajkund' to emerge in circa 1024 under the Tomaras on the southern Ridge with a large amphitheatre for water reservoir that continues today as a popular resort. Anangapal of the Tomaras shifted to a walled city, 'Lal Kot', on a rocky outcrop of the southern Ridge. <b>The tilt to south continued unabated, with the famous chivalrous king Prithviraj Chauhan expanding the city -within 'Qila Rai Pithora' - four times, complete with fine temples and a tall tower. </b>
<b>Turks overthrew the Rajputs and usurped 'Qila Rai Pithora' as their capital city in early 13th century, with the tall tower converted as Qutb Minar.</b> In 1288, Kaiqubad shifted the capital to 'Kilojri,' 10 km northwest to the western bank of the Yamuna. In 1302, the ambitious Alaudin Khalji built 'Siri', two kilometres from 'Lal Kot'" within a circular fort with seven gates and an external reservoir, Hauz Khas, still extant. Tughluq Shah built his capital 'Tughluqabad' in 1320, about five kilometres from 'Siri' on the Southern Ridge. The same century saw two more cities with Muhammad Tughluq building his capital 'Jahanpanah' in 1334 between 'Siri' and 'Qila Rai Pithora' and Firuzshah Tughluq making his own citadel, 'Firuzabad' (now Ferozshah Kotla) in 1351. The triangle lay dormant over a century and a half when the Lodis transferred their capital to Agra.
During the Mughal era, the pendulum swung north, when Humayun founded in 1530 a new capital 'Dinpanah' at the old site of Indraprastha. It was expanded and completed as 'Dilli' by Sher Shah Suri in 1542 with strong walls around, as seen in the Purana Qila. The next Mughals, Akbar and Jahangir, shifted their capitals to Agra, but Shah Jahan built a grand city on the Yamuna banks, laid parks and gardens and founded Chandni Chowk, the then richest street in the world. Thus was born 'Shahjahanabad', to which the capital shifted back in 1648. What was a very large and resplendent township, with 27 towers and 14 gates, is now 'Purani Dilli'. Delhi had by then acquired a mystic aura, raising the belief that whoever held Delhi ruled India!
In 1931 the British transferred their capital from Kolkata to the planned city of Lutyens' and Baker's majestic 'New Delhi' with well laid-out avenues and circles - now south of 'Shajahanabad' - covering nearly 30 sq. km. Independent India, since 1947, saw the influx of half a million refugees from Pakistan and their settlement in rehabilitation colonies, which are today thriving habitats just north of South Delhi, thanks to the Ansals and other builders. Delhi in the 21st century continues to grow, engulfing the old and modern city sites. It has spread to about 750 sq. km, crossing the Yamuna and spilling over the north, central and south Ridges. If one includes the contiguous urban sprawl of Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, it covers over 1200 sq. km and the pendulum, having swung ceaselessly over two millennia, has come to rest!
The book under review, with its well-planned coverage - along with splendid photographs and historical sketches - of the changing ideas of Delhi is a delight to read. These ideas have always been a transformation from "grand vision" to "grand adjustment" as most spectacularly seen in Lutyen's Delhi secured from government land and its periphery transformed into plotted colonies brought into being by private initiative, government agencies like the DDA and cooperative societies.
Contemporary Delhi can perhaps be viewed as an epic city that has a continuous narrative and ceaselessly adjusts to the rapidly changing demands of the middle class. Lutyen's Delhi - although surrounded by flyovers and dotted with metro stations - is still a city of parks and planted avenues, where the smell in the air is still of grass and floral plants. It is a pity that the Yamuna banks that should have rightfully belonged to the inhabitants of Old Delhi, have been relegated to wasteful memorial places and become a garden of dead relics!
The only missing link is the vision of the future idea: the Master Plan of Delhi. No doubt, this vision has been in flux and has undergone many "transformations" but surely the reader deserves to know where this "paradise on earth" is destined to go, as visualised by the redoubtable city fathers. This would have been a much deserved finale rather than the redundant views of Delhi through publicity hypes!
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A dream called Dilli
Utpal K Banerjee
THE IDEA OF DELHI, ED ROMI KHOSLA; PHOTOS BY NITIN RAI MARG PUBLICATIONS, RS 2500
O easterners Know then that Dillee,
Which used to be a special and chosen place
Amongst the cities of the world,
Attracted as its inhabitants the select and topmost members
Of each profession, avocation
and calling.
The city grew in eminence Until the Heavens themselves
envied it.
Fate visited it with devastation.
I too once inhabited the place which is now a desolation...
This is how Mir Taqi "Mir", the 18th century master of Urdu poetry, composed his verse bemoaning the fate of his beloved city. Repeatedly a victim of invasion, arson and despoliation, Dillee then was learning the lesson that being "a heaven on earth" was risky business and "Mir" ascribed the calamity as arising out of the envy of the heavens. He fled Dillee.
Indeed, over the ages, Delhi has always been a dream by caparisoned powers that, more often than not, went awry. The movers and shakers of this earth have come to this landmass and staked their claims to a little territory termed a synonym of Delhi. And yet before long, their might was brought to dust and their glory reduced to history.
The various settlements that have collectively been called Delhi have always been centres of importance for the sovereignties that successive rulers carved out in Northern India. Delhi was strategically located on the fertile plains of the Yamuna river and its immediate hinterland, enclosed by the hills of the Southern Ridge. The triangular space, formed between the southwestern flow of the Yamuna and the southeastern escarpment of the Ridge became a natural place for human habitat. The seven (or were they nine?) Delhis are all located within this triangular area. It is only the recent suburban extensions that have crossed the Yamuna to spread eastwards and reach further south: all beyond the triangular plain.
Going back eons, Delhi is believed to be ten times older than even the Himalayas! Far away from the southern Gondwanaland, this region came into being one billion years ago, but remained submerged under the Tethys Sea for about 400 million years. It made its reappearance during the Great Convulsion some 600 million years ago, whereas the Himalayas arose 500 million years later. The Tethys Sea that had washed the Delhi Ridge subsequently disappeared.
Jumping from ancient "dream" times to proto-history, one notices how the kingdoms have swung, like a pendulum, from north to south and then back, all within our triangular plain. Chronologically speaking, the legendary Pandavas founded the earliest capital city of 'Indraprastha' circa 1450 BC, with Maya, the architect, building a splendid palace and court for them. Raja Dillu's 'Dilli' - that probably gave Delhi its name - came about circa 100 BC, a little southwest of Indraprastha. Now the swing was to the south with the next big city 'Surajkund' to emerge in circa 1024 under the Tomaras on the southern Ridge with a large amphitheatre for water reservoir that continues today as a popular resort. Anangapal of the Tomaras shifted to a walled city, 'Lal Kot', on a rocky outcrop of the southern Ridge. <b>The tilt to south continued unabated, with the famous chivalrous king Prithviraj Chauhan expanding the city -within 'Qila Rai Pithora' - four times, complete with fine temples and a tall tower. </b>
<b>Turks overthrew the Rajputs and usurped 'Qila Rai Pithora' as their capital city in early 13th century, with the tall tower converted as Qutb Minar.</b> In 1288, Kaiqubad shifted the capital to 'Kilojri,' 10 km northwest to the western bank of the Yamuna. In 1302, the ambitious Alaudin Khalji built 'Siri', two kilometres from 'Lal Kot'" within a circular fort with seven gates and an external reservoir, Hauz Khas, still extant. Tughluq Shah built his capital 'Tughluqabad' in 1320, about five kilometres from 'Siri' on the Southern Ridge. The same century saw two more cities with Muhammad Tughluq building his capital 'Jahanpanah' in 1334 between 'Siri' and 'Qila Rai Pithora' and Firuzshah Tughluq making his own citadel, 'Firuzabad' (now Ferozshah Kotla) in 1351. The triangle lay dormant over a century and a half when the Lodis transferred their capital to Agra.
During the Mughal era, the pendulum swung north, when Humayun founded in 1530 a new capital 'Dinpanah' at the old site of Indraprastha. It was expanded and completed as 'Dilli' by Sher Shah Suri in 1542 with strong walls around, as seen in the Purana Qila. The next Mughals, Akbar and Jahangir, shifted their capitals to Agra, but Shah Jahan built a grand city on the Yamuna banks, laid parks and gardens and founded Chandni Chowk, the then richest street in the world. Thus was born 'Shahjahanabad', to which the capital shifted back in 1648. What was a very large and resplendent township, with 27 towers and 14 gates, is now 'Purani Dilli'. Delhi had by then acquired a mystic aura, raising the belief that whoever held Delhi ruled India!
In 1931 the British transferred their capital from Kolkata to the planned city of Lutyens' and Baker's majestic 'New Delhi' with well laid-out avenues and circles - now south of 'Shajahanabad' - covering nearly 30 sq. km. Independent India, since 1947, saw the influx of half a million refugees from Pakistan and their settlement in rehabilitation colonies, which are today thriving habitats just north of South Delhi, thanks to the Ansals and other builders. Delhi in the 21st century continues to grow, engulfing the old and modern city sites. It has spread to about 750 sq. km, crossing the Yamuna and spilling over the north, central and south Ridges. If one includes the contiguous urban sprawl of Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, it covers over 1200 sq. km and the pendulum, having swung ceaselessly over two millennia, has come to rest!
The book under review, with its well-planned coverage - along with splendid photographs and historical sketches - of the changing ideas of Delhi is a delight to read. These ideas have always been a transformation from "grand vision" to "grand adjustment" as most spectacularly seen in Lutyen's Delhi secured from government land and its periphery transformed into plotted colonies brought into being by private initiative, government agencies like the DDA and cooperative societies.
Contemporary Delhi can perhaps be viewed as an epic city that has a continuous narrative and ceaselessly adjusts to the rapidly changing demands of the middle class. Lutyen's Delhi - although surrounded by flyovers and dotted with metro stations - is still a city of parks and planted avenues, where the smell in the air is still of grass and floral plants. It is a pity that the Yamuna banks that should have rightfully belonged to the inhabitants of Old Delhi, have been relegated to wasteful memorial places and become a garden of dead relics!
The only missing link is the vision of the future idea: the Master Plan of Delhi. No doubt, this vision has been in flux and has undergone many "transformations" but surely the reader deserves to know where this "paradise on earth" is destined to go, as visualised by the redoubtable city fathers. This would have been a much deserved finale rather than the redundant views of Delhi through publicity hypes!
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->