Purana Qila prepares history walk for G20 guests

Subject : History

Section :Art and Culture

Concept :

During the G20 Summit in Delhi in September, visiting delegates will be taken to the Purana Qila to travel back 2,500 years in time.
Currently, one of the excavated trenches at the site is being turned into a visitors’ spot by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), where those who walk in can see “a continuous habitation of 2,500 years”, according to the agency.
At eight metres below the ground level on the excavated trench are traces of pre-Mauryan era (6th to 4th century BC), and gradually, as one comes up, the soil layers have cultural deposits of various other kingdoms of Delhi that existed before the Mughals came in — the Mauryan empire, the Shungas, Kushanas and the Rajputs.

PuranaQila

PuranaQila is built on the banks of river Yamuna and is the oldest fort of Delhi.
It has been said that the fort was previously built by the Pandavas for their kingdom Indraprastha as some grey ware of that period was found during excavation.

PuranaQila under Mughals

PuranaQila was renovated by Humayun in 1533 and it took around five years to complete.
The fort was built inside Din Panahwhich was a small city in Delhi. Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun in 1540 and captured the fort.
Sher Shah Suri ruled for five years and in his reign he constructed many structures inside the fort and named the fort as Shergarh.
After winning again, the renovation of the fort continued by Humayun.
Shah Jahan wanted to shift his capital from the old fort so he constructed Lal Qila or Red Fort.
New Delhi became the capital of British India in 1920 and Edwin Lutyens linked Rajpath with PuranaQila.

Gateways of the fort

The walls of the fort are 18m high and the circumference of the fort is 1.5km. There are three gates in the fort which are
Bara Darwaza
HumayunDarwaza
TalaqiDarwaza
The Bara Darwaza is still in use and it faces west. Humayun Darwaza was named so because Humayun’s tomb is visible from here.
Talaqi Darwaza or forbidden gate is the third gate of the fort. Each of the gates has two storeys and are built with sandstone. Each gate also has two bastion towers made up of marble.
Qila-i-KuhnaMosque: Sher Shah Suri built this mosque in 1541. Five doorways are there having pointed arch in each. In this mosque the king and his courtiers used to offer prayers.
Sher Mandal: The construction of Sher Mandal was started by Babur and completed by Humayun. The building is made up of red sandstone and is octagonal in shape. Babur used the building as an observatory and library.