With it long history of three thousand years, Delhi has undertaken the
rise and fall through various chequered events. The landmarks and
memorials in present Delhi apparently manifest the city's ancient history.
Delhi was first referred to as Indraprastha in the epic Mahabharata
and was supposed to have been founded by the Pandavas in as early
as 1450 B.C. whose remains have been excavated within the ramparts of the
Old Fort (Purana Qila).
Around 320 A.D., during the Gupta and the Maurya Dynasties, Delhi
became the center of imperial power, ruling the north of India. However,
in later times, the power had been shifted from kings to kings of various
dynasties, and some of them had built their new cities, resulting in the
emergence of seven townships of Delhi, namely Lal Kot, Siri, Tughlakabad,
Jahanpanath, Ferozeshah Kotla, Shergarh, and Shahjahanabad. All these
cities are the sites where the splendid ancient palaces and forts were
built, and remain as the testimony of the grandeur of Indian majesty in
the past.
The imperial power in India met its decline while the modern
Imperialism of the British rose into power in the 19th century. When the
last Mughal king had surrendered to the British Raj, Delhi was merely the
secondly important city as Calcutta became the capital of the British
Indian administration. It was not until 1911 that Delhi regained its
status as the capital when King Gorge V declared it the capital of the
British India in the spectacular Coronation Durbar.
Under the British rule, Delhi experienced the great face-lift up. The
famous architect Sir Edward Lutyens was appointed to design the New Delhi
as the eighth city of Delhi. Raisina Hill was then chosen as the focal
point of the city; the Rashtrapati Bhavan (The President's Residence)
along with the administrative buildings like the Parliament House and
Connaught Place were constructed. In January 1931, New Delhi was
inaugurated as the imperial capital of the British Raj and has remained to
this day as the capital of the Republic of India.
Delhi today is one of the fastest growing cities in India. The bustling
streets, skyscrapers, smoking-puffing factories seem to became a common
sight of Delhi while the same picture of people worshipping their Gods,
bathing and making their rites on the river bank in thousands years before
can still be seen today as well. This is why Delhi is always the prime
destination among tourists from all over the world.
This article is authored and copyrighted by
Royal Exclusive Travel Co., Ltd.
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