Purana Qila

Purana Qila

Subject: Art and Culture

Section: Architecture

Context: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is all set to begin excavation  at  Delhi’s Purana Qila again. The excavation will be led by Shri Vasant Swarnkar and would be the third season of excavation at Purana Qila after excavations in the year 2013-14 & 2017-18.

Concept:

• The site is identified as ancient settlement of Indraprastha, a continuous habitation of 2500 years at Purana Qila was established in earlier excavations.
• The findings and artefacts unearthed in earlier excavations comprises painted grey ware, belonging to 900BC, an earthen pottery sequence from Maurya to Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput, Sultanates and Mughal periods.
• Excavated Artefacts such as sickles, parers, terracotta toys, kiln- burnt bricks , beads , terracotta figurines, seal and dealings etc. excavated earlier are now displayed at the Archaeological Museum inside the fort complex.
• Purana Qilla, the 16th-century fort, was built by Sher Shah Suri and second Mughal emperor Humayun. The fort is standing on a site with thousands of years of history.
• Padma Vibhushana Prof. BB Lal  also carried out excavation works inside the fort and its premises in the year 1954 and 1969 -73.
• 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.

Purana Qila 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. HumayunDarwaza was named so because Humayun’s tomb is visible from here.
• TalaqiDarwaza 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.