Delhiwonders Delhi History

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Delhi History

When Delhi succeeded to Indraprastha, is still involved in doubts, which all the learned labor that has since been devoted to the question, has not helped us in clearing up. No contemporary record of this succession exists; but we may accept it as historically true that in the first century after the Christian era Vikramaditya of Ujain invaded the territory that once went by the name of Indraprastha then occupied by its Kumaon conqueror, Sukwanta and annexed it to his own kingdom. Whether the name Dilli was then substituted for that of Indraprastha, or by a course of events unknown to history is superseded that of the capital of Yudishthira, it is impossible to decide. Accepting it as a fact, that there is no mention of Dilli till its occupation by Vikramadiya, that is about 78 A. D., then is is not possible that its name was known to any of the Grecian historians who have given an account of India. Neither is it mentioned in the later records of the historians of the Muhammadan invasions, which bring us down to the eleventh century of the Christian era. It was not the capital of Vikrama litya who came from Ujjain; it was not the capital of the powerful Guptas (78 to 319 A. D.) nor of the great kings of Kanauji (550 to 650 A. D.) it was not known to the Chinese pilgrims Fa Hian and Hewn Thsang who visited the country and its neighborhood (600 to 640 A. D.) nor was it famous enough to attract the cupidity of Mahmud of Ghazni, or the notice of the historians of his Indian coupuests Al Biruni, who has the credit of “presenting a picture of the Mussalman knowledge of India at the end of the tenth century who lived many years in India and learnt Sanskrit in the time of Mahmud’s invasion, never mentions Dilli. He had heard of Kanauj, Mahura (Mathura) and Theresar, and in giving the distances of several important cities from Kanauj, je notices Mirat, Panipat, and Kaithal, but does not notice Dilli. Utbi, the author of the historian of Mahmud, was not aware of the existence of any such place, although four great cities in its neighbourhood had been sacked by the Ghaznavi conqueror. Utbi describe the passage of the Jumna, the capture of Mathura, the conquest of Kanauj, but he had evidently not heard of Dilli. With so much of historical neglect to account for, it is impossible to resist the inference that when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded India, Dilli was an obscure town.

The accounts which ascribe it to Raja Dalip are discarded by all; admitting, as we do, that Indraprastha was more ancient than Dilli, the latter could not have been founded by one the ancestors of Yudishthira.

Equally apocryphal is the well known tradition, that it was built by a member of the Ton-war family in the year 919 B. C. and eas called Dilli from the Hindi word dhili, the soil of the place being too soft to hold tent pega.

There is yet a third account of the foundation of this city, one which native writers who disbelieve the first two, consider more reliable, but which in my opinion is hardly more credible. It is said that one Raja Delu, king of Kanauj, who held Dilli as a subject kingdom, had a Governor there of the name of Sarup Date, who built a city on the deserted site of Indraprastha, and called it Delu after his paramount Lord, the King of Kanauj. In support of this opinion it is stated that Dilli was also called Delu, and the poet Amir Khusrau is quoted as an authority on the subject:

But it also appears that King Delu lived in the year 328 B.C. and that he was a sontemporary of porus, that he was overcome by him, and that Dilli was held by the conqueror who was also the king of Kumaon.

That the dity of Dilli was founded by some Raja of that name is highly probable, but it is useless to speculate for any greater amount of certainty either on the date or the exact circumstances of its foundation. According to General Cunningham, the name of Dilli first occurs about the time when a Raja of Kumaon, having conquered the place, was in his turn overcome by Vikramaditya of Ujain, and of this event we are told that, there are four different versions; firstly, in the conquest of Delu by king porus of kumaon; secondly, in that of Raja pal of Dilli b Raja Sukwanta of Kumaon, both of Whom fell under the two stories exactly the same. Thirdly, in that of Raja Nilaghpati of Dilli by a Raghuvansi Raja named named Sonkhdhwaj, Who again is overcame by Vikramaditya of Ujain; and fourthly, in the deposition of King Rasal of Hind by a rebel who in his turn is conquered by Barkamarys.

Of the several dates given by different authorities of the foundation of Delli, The only one which it is necessary to notice is that of General Cunningham, but I must confess that the grounds of his opinion do not appear to me altogether satisfactory, nor does that General himself regard them as such.

He adopts Abu Rihan,s opinion that the Vikramaditya who conquered the Hill Raja lived about 135 years after Vikramaditya who founded the era, identifies the former with salivahana, the founder of the Saka Era, who, like Vikramaditya the conqueror of the Sakas, is said to have reigned for ninety years, and finally fixes the date of the defeat of the Saka conqueror of Dilli in 73 A. D. Which is the initial year of the Saka era.

General Cunningham then considers it safe to place the foundation of Dilli, at some earlier period, and that “perhaps the date of 57 B.C. or contemporary with Vikramaditya, as redorded by Ferishta, may not be far from the truth.”

As regards the site of Dilli, the difference of opinion between native authorities and General Cunningham is equally remarkable. The former believe, and tradition is decidedly in their favor, that ancient Dilli was built on the ruins of Indraprastha, and that when it was re-peopled by Anang Pal, the founder of the Ton-war dynasty, it occupied the present site of Purana Qillah. According ot General Cunningham, ancient Dilli and Indraprastha were two distinct cities, and about five miles apart; the former he places on the ridge, near the celebrated Iron Pillar, which he believes to be one of the memorials of ancient Dilli.

It is not easy to determine on which side the advantage of argument lies; those who rely on tradition lose little as regards the weight of authority. It is by no means unlikely that ancient Dilli was founded on the site of Indraprastha, once the capital of a powerful empire, and that Anang Pal, I thought it better suited his ambitious views to restore this ancient city than to found a new one; this opinion is supported by Abul Fazl, and it has since been followed by every native historian of reputation. That in the accounts of the early Muhammadan kings, Purana Qil’ah is also called Qil’ah Indrapat, is in support of the theory adopted but the traditionary party.

On the other hand, General Cunningham’s position is one possibly of greater strength. It does not appear to me, however, a matter of “tolerable certainty that the Iron Pillar must have been erected in some conspicuous position, either within the old city, or close to it.” I am taking it for granted that General Cunningham is here speaking of the city which was occupied by Sukwanta for thirteen years and which was eventually conquered by Vikramaditya.

Whether or not the Iron Pillar occupies its original position, it is impossible to say; we know nothing of its maker, but what I consider the strong points of General Cunningham’s theory may be observed in reasoning back from the recent to the more distant past. There can be no doubt that Anang Pal, II, re-peopled Dilli in Samvat 1109, (A.D. 1052) ; this fact is recorded on the pillar and it may justify the inference that the city he “re-peopled” must have been the Dilli of Anang Pal, I; admitting this, it would be difficult to argue that the Iron Pillar which bears this inscription could have been place at any considerable distance from the city of which it was a memorial. Again, if Anang Pal, I, is justly entitled to the credits of having refounded Dilli, this could hardly be the case if he had founded a city five miles from the site of the older dity which bore the same name.

If we believe General Cunningham’s theory, we must set aside all that tradition says on the subject, and the authority of the most eminent of native historians, who have followed tradition. If we discredit his theory, we must be prepared to deny that Anang Pal, I, “re-founded” Dilli; that Anang Pal, II, “re-peopled” the same place, and that the Iron Pillar which bears the record of the latter event marks its site, and that the history of that city.

The well known tradition that after the defeat of the Saka Raja by Vikramaditya, Dille was abandoned for 792 years is explained by most writers alike, and it is supposed to be the term of years during which Dilli ceased to be the capital of the Pandu Raj. According to native historians, Anang Pal, I, removed his capital from Kanauj, and established himself at Indraprastha about 676 A. D. and in course of time his new capital was known as Dilli; according to General Cunningham the city of Dilli was re-built by Anang Pal, I, about 731 or 736 A. D.

As regard General Cunningham’s opinion that during this interval of 72 years, Dilli was once at leat the seat of Government, on the authority of the inscription of Raja Dhava, or that it was temporarily restored to some importance by an usurper of that name, I am inclined to accept Dr. Bhau Daji’s translation of the inscription, and Mr. Edward Thomas’s opinion, that King Dhava has not been identified with any potentate named in local annals, or with any sovereign whose place in history might be determined approximately from associations.

Abul Fazl’s mistake in placing the re-foundation of Dilli by the Ton-war in the fourth century of the Christian era is satisfactorily disposed of, both by General Cunningham and Syud Ahmed Khan. General Cunningham accounts for it on the supposition that the author of the Ain-i-Akbari had accepted the Balabhi Samvat 429 for that of Vikramaditya; the initial year of the Balaghi era is the 319th of that of Christ and the Balabhi Samvat 429, would, therefore, be 747 A. D. Similarly he explains that the date of the re-building of Dilli on the Iron Pillar refers to Samvat 419 of the Balabhi era. Which, with the addition of 318 years, would give the year 737 A. D. He also quotes from Nuh Sipihr of Amir Khusrau, a reference to Anang Pal, I, who is described as “a great Rai who lived five or six hundred years age,” which, with reference to the date when the poet wrote, gives the date of Anang Pal, I, between 700 and 800 A. D.

Both General Cunningham and Syud Ahmed Khan quote the following anecdote from Nuh Sipihr, but while the former gives the lions a place in the neighborhood of the Iron Pillar, the later locates them at Purana Qil’ah:

“At the entrance of his (Anang Pal’s) Palace, he had placed two lions, sculptured in stone. He fixed a bell by the side of the two lions, in order that those who sought justice might strike it, upon which the Rai would listen to their complaints and render justice” Syud Ahmed Khan also adds that the stone lions in existence in 1318 A. D.; but their subsequent fate is not known to history.

That Dilli was the capital of Anang Pal, II, who re-built a more ancient city of the same name, is very likely to be true, but I have already when that when Mahmud Ghaznavi invaded India in the eleventh century of the Christian Era, it was an obscure city of which the Mujammadans either heard nothing or were content of spare for its insignificance.

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