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That the place is now named after one of the intellectual giants of Indian history, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is a fitting tribute to the times immemorial from which "at the stroke of the midnight hour," 14-15 August 1947, India woke to freedom and emerged as the largest democratic secular state in the world. The earliest reference to a settlement at Delhi is found in the Mahabharat, which mentions a city called Indraprastha built along the banks of the river, Yamuna, between Kotla of Feroze Shah and Humayun's tomb. According to the eminent archaeologist and numistalist Cunningham, Indraprastha was occupied by Yudhishtra in the 15th century B.C. The epic relates how the original inhabitants of the place, the Nagas and the Tashakas were subdued and expelled by the Pandavas to renovate the ruined city and built palaces and forts to look like Arnravati, the abode of the sovereign of immortals - Indra. Circumstantial evidence indicates that Indraprastha was one of the five extended places or Prasthas around which the great Mahabharat war was fought. The sites of four of these places are known - Panipat, Sonepat, Baghpat and Tilpat. Delhi would obviously make a natural site for the fifth. The area where the Purana Qila built by Humayun (1530-38 AD) and Sher Shah (1538-48 AD) stands is believed to be Indraprastha. The campus lay outside the Imperial fort but perhaps within the outer walls and ramparts of the city of Indraprastha. Ptolemy, the celebrated geographer from Alexandria, who visited India during the 2nd century AD indicated in his map of India the existence of Indraprastha and the place where it was located at that time. Strangely, however, there is no reference of Indraprastha or Dilli in the works of the Greek writers who chronicled the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. It is fairly certain that Dilli, as it was known during the 1st and 2nd century AD, was a city of little importance during the time of the Mauryas, whose capital was Pataliputra or Patna. Even the third Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka the Great (273-236 BC) did not consider the old Pandava capital worthy of his monolithic sand-stone pillars bearing his Mauryan precepts, though nearby places like Meerut and Topra (near Ambala) were selected. Dilli was thus for several centuries little more than a hinterland under the Mauryas and the succeeding -dynasties. According to reliable tradition Dilli was founded in 736 AD by the Tomars, a Rajput clan who ruled over the Haryana country with Dhillika (Delhi) as their capital. The first inscriptions, dated 1328 AD giving a sketch of the history of Delhi from the earliest times to the date of inscriptions, appear during the reign of Mohammed Bin Tughlag (1325-51 AD). After the Tomars, followed in succession the Chauhans, the Slave or Mamluk dynasties, the Khiljis and the Tughlaqs. Among the 11 rulers of the Tughlaq dynasty, only the first three were interested in architecture and each built a new capital in the city (1351-88 AD) Ferozshah Tughlaq, the third ruler built his new capital Ferozabad, also known as Ferozeshah Kotla, the ruins of which stand today a little distance from Maulana Azad Medical College, across Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. The campus was at that time part of a new and magnificent city. There were thus at the same time two flourishing cities a few miles apart - old Delhi at Qutab and the new city at Ferozabad. Thus, after a period of centuries since the Pandava capital of Indraprastha the Maulana Azad Medical College Campus again emerged as a place of historical importance and subsequently remained so. Prithviraj Chauhan, the last Hindu ruler of India was killed during the second invasion of Muhammad Shahib-ud-din of Ghor, and during the succeeding dynasty, lltutmish (1211-36 AD) formally made Delhi the capital. From this time onwards "Delhi rises and Lahore begins to sink gradually". Razia Sultana (1236-40 AD) who succeeded her father lltutmish, is perhaps the only woman who sat on the throne of Delhi. India waited for over 700 years for another woman to rule the country - Indira Gandhi. Razia Sultana fell victim to intrigues of the nobles. Her tomb is located in the crowded Bulbuli Khan just behind Turkman Gate. She established the Madrasa Nasaryya in 1237 in memory of her brother Nasir-ud-din. The fall of the Khalifa of Baghdad made Delhi the asylum of many a Muslim crown and refuge of exiled princes. Islam did not come to India by fire and sword. It came by way of political compulsions and expediency, by way of trade and commerce, by way of exchange of ideas through art, literature and philosophy. Feroze Shah Tughlak (1351-88 AD) founded the city of Ferozabad in 1534. Essentially a man of peace, he recompensed those who suffered at the hands of his predecessors, reformed criminal law, solved the food shortage problem, built a canal from the Yamuna to the dry country west of Delhi called Hissar Firuzah. He built a Madarsa in 1392 AD which is praised eloquently by the chronicler Zia-ud-din Barni. Two Ashoka pillars, one found at Meerut and another at Topra (Ambala) were brought to Delhi under his orders and erected at Ferozabad and on the ridge respectively. Traces of the outer wall of Ferozabad have disappeared but probably was a half hexagon, with the long side facing the Yamuna. The palace and citadel were provided with massive ramparts 18 metres high. The citadel is now in a very ruinous condition. Little is left of the palace walls and the great mosque. Ashoka's Pillar stands on a platform pyramidal in shape having three terraces, progressively decreasing in size. This monolith is 12.97 metres in height. It used to have a small golden dome on top of it but this was plundered by the Maharatthas and the Jats in the 18th century. The five inscriptions on the "Ashok ki lat" were deciphered by James Princep only in 1837 AD The full compliment of Ashoka's seven pillars edict are inscribed. The most notable feature of the pillar is its gold colour. Mauryan craftsmen were so skilled that they knew how to impart bright polish to common sandstone. Tom Carvat impressed by the shining surface thought it to be made of brass, [Bishop Heber fell into a similar error. Timur visited the place after the sack of Delhi and declared that he had never seen any monument comparable to this in all the numerous lands he had traversed. The ruined Jama Masjid of Ferozabad was described by Franklin in 1793 A D. and in detail similar to those of Khan-e-Jahan's mosque. This incidentally is one of the critical transition points in Indo Muslim architecture. Zia-ud-din Barni eulogized the mosque. Timur visited the building to offer prayers and was so impressed that he built a splendid mosque at Samarkand (Afghanistan) modeled on the same, employing masons whom he took along with him from India. Delhi however still remained the capital of the kingdom and according to Lane Pool "Ferozabad became the Windsor of London". . |
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