MEHRAULI: DELHI

• What we today know as Purani Dilli (Old Delhi) is actually a misnomer. The city’s history far predates Shahjahanabad, with the oldest evidence of habitation  painted grey ware fragments found in Purana Quila  dating back to the Iron Age (circa 1100-800 BC)
• Historians identify seven cities of Delhi, dating from the 11th century onwards: Lalkot/Quila Rai Pithora/Mehrauli, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, Shergarh (present-day Old Fort), Shahjahanabad and New Delhi. Depending on how one counts and what one considers ‘a city’, this number can be as high as 11

• Mehrauli is widely considered to be the oldest ‘city’ of Delhi and is the oldest area of the metropolis to be continuously inhabited.
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• Like any city, Mehrauli has witnessed multiple cycles of building and rebuilding over the centuries
•  First founded as Lalkot in the 11th century by Anangpal II, a ruler of the Rajput Tomar dynasty, remains of the earliest version of the city can be found around Sanjay Van and the Qutab Golf Course
• This was later christened ‘Quila Rai Pithora’ by Mughal court historian Abu’l Fazl in his epic hagiography, ‘Ain-i-Akbari’.
• This city passed hands from the Tomars to the Chauhans, who are credited to have further fortified the complex
• The city fell into the hands of the Mamluk dynasty (Slave dynasty) in 1192. Under ruler Qutubudin Aibak, the first ruler of the Slave dynasty, the next round of construction began in the area
• Notably, he began the building of the Qutub Minar to commemorate his victory (though other explanations also exist to his motivations) as well as the Quwwat-al-Islam (Might of Islam) mosque, the oldest known mosque in north India (India’s oldest mosque – Cheraman Juma – was built by Arab merchants in Kerala)
• In the next century, a slew of building activities took place in the region with tombs, baolis (step wells), palaces and other fortifications built in the reigns of Iltutmish, Razia Sultan and Alauddin Khilji
• Mehrauli lay on a historic trade route, as the number of sarais (Ladho Sarai, Ber Sarai, Neb Sarai) around the area would suggest
• A sarai was a resthouse for weary travellers. In ‘Atlas of the Mughal Empire’, historian Irfan Habib writes that the area would have been along the trading route connecting Bara Pullah (a Mughal-era bridge in Delhi) to Pataudi, Rewari and Narnaul (in present-day Haryana).

•  Some historians cite the dargah as a reason for the city surviving the test of time  despite power shifting elsewhere, the dargah remained a revered destination for pilgrims far and wide
• Another spiritual centre for the community is the Yogmaya mandir, believed to be one of the oldest in the city
• Yoginis (semi-divine deities) have been an integral part of Indian folklore and this temple dedicated to them is believed to have been constructed by the Pandavas
• The cosmopolitan spirit and secular heritage of Mehrauli are perhaps best expressed in the annual community celebration of ‘Phool Walon ki Sair’ or Sair-e-Gulfaroshan (walk of the flowers)
• This 19th-century Mughal-era festival was revived in 1962 by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and has become the symbol of the city’s communal harmony since then
• The three-day festival includes processions and festivities led by shehnai players and dancers. An offering of pankhas (large floral fans) is made to the Yogmaya Temple and a chadar is offered at the dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki