Delhi

Clockwise from the top: Lotus temple, Humayun's Tomb, Connaught Place, Akshardham temple and India Gate.

Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders with the state of Uttar Pradesh in the east and with the state of Haryana in the remaining directions. The NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres (573 sq mi). According to the 2011 census, Delhi's city proper population was over 11 million, while the NCT's population was about 16.8 million. Delhi's urban agglomeration, which includes the satellite cities Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida in an area known as the National Capital Region (NCR), has an estimated population of over 28 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in India and the second-largest in the world (after Tokyo).

Quotes

Syed Mahmudul Hasan: Although constructed of destroyed Hindu temples, the Mosques at Old Delhi and Ajmer once and for all set the fashion to be followed by later mosques in Muslim India…

Harry Shattuck: We had admired the presidential palace and parliament houses, paused beside the striking India Gate,...

Harry Shattuck: Lal Qila, the massive 17th Century Red Fort, once was home to 5,000 residents. Built between 1639 and 1648 with red sandstone brought from Rajasthan by Mogul King Shah Jahan,...

Harry Shattuck: Old Delhi is bereft of splendor: Jama Masjid is the largest Muslim mosque in all of Asia.

• My home was the Dome of Islam.
  It was the qibla for kings of the seven climes.
  Delhi is the twin of pure paradise,
  a prototype of the heavenly throne on an earthly scroll.
  • Amir Khusrow, quoted from In the Bazaar of Love: The Selected Poetry of Amir Khusrau (2011), introduction xvii.

• With evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the 6th Century BC, Delhi is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. The legendary city of Indraprastha from the epic Mahabharata is said to have been situated where Delhi now lies. Thought to have been built and destroyed 11 times, evidence of at least eight distinct settlements can still be seen in Delhi.
  • Rakesh Kumar Bhatt, in History and Development of Libraries in India, Mittal Publications, 1 January 1995, p. 172

• Indraprastha was the town founded by the Pandava brothers of Mahabharata fame as their capital. Here, the eldest among them, Yudhishthira, became the “ruler of righteousness” (dharma-râja). ... The new town was dedicated to Indra. ... Indraprastha was founded as the capital of the Pandavas’ small-time kingdom but the area was destined by fate to become the capital of the Delhi Sultanate, the Moghul Empire, Samrat Hemachandra’s short-lived Empire, British India spanning the whole Subcontinent, and now the Indian Republic. It is a source of pride, and worth celebrating, that here, the “righteous ruler” once chose to highlight the great universal ideas personified in Indra. Therefore, the open-minded Delhiites all agree: Indraprastha amar rahe!
  • About Indraprastha, the oldest part of Delhi. Elst, Koenraad. Hindu Dharma and the Culture Wars. (2019). New Delhi : Rupa.

• Delhi, also known as Dilli or Dehli, and in earlier incarnation as Indraprastha and Yoginipura, has an ancient past.
  • A.G. Krishna Menon, in Delhi: A Heritage City: 20 Walks through History, INTACH, Delhi Chapter, 19 November 2013, P.9

• Much of Delhi’s regional importance came from the location in the watershed between the Ganga and the Indus river systems...In the sixth century BC, Delhi formed part of the Kuru kingdom, one of the Mahajanapadas or ‘great states.’ In the Buddhist documents of that period, Indapatta (identified with Indraprastha) is mentioned as the capital of the Kuru state.
  • A.G. Krishna Menon, in "Delhi: A Heritage City: 20 Walks through History", P.9

• One evidence of the continuing importance of Delhi, as a location in the third century BC, is the inscription (edict) engraved here on the instruction of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka... the edict is to be found on a rock in the area in modern Kalkaji.
  • A.G. Krishna Menon, in "Delhi: A Heritage City: 20 Walks through History", P.9

• Although constructed of destroyed Hindu temples, the Mosques at Old Delhi and Ajmer once and for all set the fashion to be followed by later mosques in Muslim India…
  • Syed Mahmudul Hasan, Mosque Architecture of Pre-Mughal Bengal, Dacca (Bangladesh), 1979.

• I asked my soul: What is Delhi?
  She replied:The world is the body and Delhi is life.
  • Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, in Khushwant Singh Delhi: A Novel, Penguin UK, 1 September 2010, p. 16

• A Paradise, that's Delhi
  Humpty Dumpty, hocus pocus, hurly burly
  If there is a paradise on earth, it is Delhi
  Full of people, overflowing
  Markets onto the road going
  Full of fumes, full of gases
  Full of ultra modern asses
  Full of shining, made-up faces
  Full of heart and cancer cases
  Car and truck and motorcycle
  Full of vehicle on the vehicle
  Full of jolting, full of stoking
  Full of lanes and bylanes choking
  Full of housing haywire going
  Full of sewage into Jamuna flowing
  Full of callous indifference breeding
  Full of pastures fast receding
  Full of power, and still power crisis
  Full of smoothly rising prices
  Full of girth and grime and mirth
  Our Delhi is a paradise on earth.
  • Khushwant Singh, in Who will be our next President?, Hindustan Times, 13 April 2007

• We had admired the presidential palace and parliament houses, paused beside the striking India Gate, inspected the 16th Century Humayun's Tomb--a forerunner to the Taj Mahal--and cruised past scores of international embassies. Now, without crossing a border--or pausing at a stoplight--we were in a different world.
  • Harry Shattuck, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world, Chicago Tribune1, 4 May 2006

Upinder Singh:...the stately layout and architecture of Lutyen’s Delhi bear the imposing imprint of British imperial rule.

• Delhi’s history is etched over its landscape in stone. Magnificent forts, mosques and tombs of the Sultanate and Mughal periods evoke the aura of the medieval world while the stately layout and architecture of Lutyen’s Delhi bear the imposing imprint of British imperial rule.
  • Upinder Singh, in Delhi: Ancient History, Berghahn Books, 1 August 2007, p. xi

• Delhi area has an incredibly long and eventful ancient past, beginning thousands of years ago in the stone age and merging at the other end into the medieval period when the Rajputs made-way for Delhi Sultans in the twelfth century.
  • Upinder Singh, in Delhi: Ancient History, p.xi

• Delhi--created at the end of the 12th Century from the ruins of seven ancient cities--is a microcosm of all India. The city of 13 million people is the nation's capital and cultural heart. New Delhi is home to grand hotels, fashionable homes, spacious parks and broad promenades. Old Delhi is compact, crowded and chaotic.
  • Harry Shattuck, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world

• In its long history Delhi has been on several occasions the victim of military occupation accompanied by pillage and rapine, and these occasions have sometimes altered the course of the city’s fortunes, both materially and culturally. One such occasion was its capture by Qutubuddin Aibak on behalf of Sultan Muizud-Din Muhammad-ibn-Sam of Ghur in 1192 or 1193. Others, much later, were Nader Shah’s capture of the city in 1739, followed by its occupation by Ahamd Shah Durrani, the British in 1803, and the destruction which accompanied the uprising of 1857 and its suppression.
  • Rakesh Kumar Bhatt, in History and Development of Libraries in India, Mittal Publications, 1 January 1995, P.172

• The period from 1724, to Nadir Shah’s invasion in 1739 was one of rapid internal decay of the empire, but one of outer brilliance for Delhi as far as its cultural life was concerned. The phase of 1740 to 1760 was period of growing anarchy.
  • Rakesh Kumar Bhatt, in History and Development of Libraries in India, P.174

Delhi Durbar held in 1911 and capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912

• Modern Delhi began with the slow revival of the city under British domination. During the ‘Delhi Renaissance’, approximately 1830 to the outbreak of uprising of 1857, Delhi exhibited the beginnings of a cultural ferment; Western technology and idea entered the city and supported each other.
  • Rakesh Kumar Bhatt, in History and Development of Libraries in India, P.175

• Lord Lytton (1876-80) organised the Delhi Durbar in 1877 to entitle Queen Victoria Kaiser-i-Hind ...Delhi was made capital in place of Calcutta in 1912; Coronation Durbar of King George (V) and Queen Marry was held at Delhi in 1911.
  • Muktikanta Mohanty, in Macmillan's General Knowledge Manual 2010, Macmillan, 1 February 2010, p. 17

• Lal Qila, the massive 17th Century Red Fort, once was home to 5,000 residents. Built between 1639 and 1648 with red sandstone brought from Rajasthan by Mogul King Shah Jahan, the Red Fort is surrounded by a 1.5 mile wall. It initially served as the capital of Shah Jahan's empire. The same king commissioned construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra as a monument to his wife... A shopping bazaar is within.
  • Harry Shattuck, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world

• Old Delhi is bereft of splendor: Jama Masjid is the largest Muslim mosque in all of Asia. Dating to the 17th Century and commissioned by Shah Jahan, Asia's largest mosque was built of sandstone and black marble over six years by 5,000 laborers. Five gates remind Muslims that they are to pray five times daily, and up to 20,000 gather here--with women and men typically praying at different times. Climb the steps of a 130-foot-tall minaret for panoramic views of Old Delhi.
  • Harry Shattuck, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world

• Chandni Chowk is the street--an imperial avenue under Shah Jahan's reign--extends from the Red Fort. The name often is applied to connecting alleys and streets. It's jammed with makeshift shops, markets, rickshaws, carts drawn by horses and oxen, cows, goats and pedestrians.
  • Harry Shattuck, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world

• Partition was a total catastrophe for Delhi. Those who were left behind are in misery. Those who were uprooted are in misery. The Peace of Delhi is gone. Now it is all gone.
  • Begum Hamida Sultan, in William Dalrymple City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi, Penguin, 25 March 2003 , p. 55

• Once through this ruined city did I pass
  I espied a lonely bird on a bough and asked
  What knowest thou of this wilderness?
  It replied: 'I can sum it up in two words:
  ‘Alas, Alas!”
  • Khushwant Singh, in Delhi: A Novel, Penguin UK, 1 September 2010, p. 140

• Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has betrayed the people of Delhi.
  • Vijay Kumar Malhotra, The Times of India (2012) [1]

• It was a big challenge for me when I decided to start with the Sufi night. It took a while for the crowd to understand the music that was being played at the club since Delhi's crowd is more used to listening to hip-hop and Bollywood music, but the introduction of Sufi music definitely brought in a change.
  • Akshay Anand, The Times of India (2012)[2]

• The soil and climate in Delhi are also not favourable for anthrax.
  • Riaz Khan (Delhi Zoo curator), Money Control (2012)[3]

• Delhi does not have legislations and policies which recognise the city’s values. The state government has not been able to identify the unique elements and outstanding universal values yet.
  • Rohit Jigyasu, Deccan Herald (2012)[4]

• As you go from New Delhi to Old Delhi suddenly, the streets are narrower. Suddenly, there are bicycle-rickshaws instead of cars. Suddenly, there are more people. Suddenly, everything is different.
  • Raj Ahluwalia, in The old and the new of Delhi: Within city, it's a whole other world

• In Delhi one could manage a drink and dine off other people all 365 days...Delhi had over a hundred embassies, High Commissions and legations. Diplomats in Delhi did not have much work to do. Most of their energies were directed to wining^[sic] and dining officials of the External Affairs and other ministries of the Government of India, cultivating non-official locals, and celebrating their independence days.
  • Khushwant Singh, in The collected novels , Viking, 1996, p. 406

• That's Delhi. When life gets too much for you all you need to do is to spend an hour at Nigambodh Ghat, watch the dead being put to flames and hear their kin wail for them. Then come home and down a couple of pegs of whisky. In Delhi, death and drink make life worth living.
  • Khushwant Singh, in Delhi: A Novel, p. 26

• They grouped into nativities - Bengalis, Biharis, Bandladeshis, South Indians, Northeasterners, Kashmiri Pandits and Punjabis - or sought refuge in professional identities. They were Delhiites because geography and the pursuit of common goals made them so and not because the city offered a unifying identity. Delhi now belonged to everyone who lived in it, but no one belonged to Delhi. The original Delhiites too were missing from public life - they preferred the city of memory.
  • Anupreeta Das, in Seminar, Volumes 514-520, R. Thapar, 2002, p. 12

• It is now almost a cliché that the Partition transformed Delhi from a Mughal to a Punjabi city. The bitter experiences of the refugees at the hands of Islamists in Pakistan encouraged them to support right-wing Hindu parties ... Trouble began in September (1947) after the arrival of refugees from Pakistan who were determined on revenge and driving Muslims out of properties which they could then occupy. Gandhi in his prayer meetings in Birla House denounced the 'crooked and ungentlemanly' squeezing out of Muslims who left for Pakistan. Despite these exhortations, two-thirds of the city's Muslims were to abandon India's capital eventually.
  • Ian Talbot and Gurharpal Singh, The Partition of India (2009), p. 118–119

See also

• History of Delhi