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Purana Quila
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
Purana Qila
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.'