Purana Qila (Old Fort)
¤ 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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