After changing the name of Kerala to Keralam, now the issue of changing the name of Delhi has arisen. BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal has written a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah demanding to change the name of Delhi to Indraprastha. The MP has written in his letter that the names of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Bangalore have been changed to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. He says that the basic identity of Delhi is from Indraprastha, hence the national capital of the country should be named Indraprastha.
The MP’s letter raises the question as to how Delhi got this name. Let us know its story. To know where the word Delhi came from, first we have to understand how the name Delhi came from Indraprastha. Ancient and historical name of DelhiIt was Indraprastha. During the Mahabharata period, this was a city settled by the Pandavas. It was considered a major part of the Kurukshetra region.
Where did the name Delhi come from?
The story of Indraprastha is related to Mahabharata. It is said that Dhillu Raja, a descendant of Kunti’s eldest son Karna, established the city in south-western Delhi around 800 BC. This is confirmed by Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s book Satyarth Prakash. Raja Dhillu ruled here. Later he was also known by the names Dhillu and Dilu. Gradually, due to corruption in the name, its name came to be known as Delhi.
Many modern historians believe that Raj Dhillu belonged to the Maurya dynasty and date his reign to the first century BC.
Red Fort.
Who settled Lal Kot?
There is mention of Anantpal of Tomar dynasty in the modern history of Delhi. In 1020 he established the Royal Resort Anandpur. Gradually he expanded the kingdom to a distance of 10 km in the west and it was called Lal Kot. Tomar kings ruled here for 100 years. In 1164 AD, Prithviraj III (Rai Pithora) made the fort grand and constructed many buildings. In this way the city was named Pithora.
In the last days of the 12th century, Prithviraj III was defeated by Muslim invaders. In the year 1206 AD, Qutubuddin Aibak laid the foundation of the slave dynasty in Delhi and started his rule from Lal Kot itself.
Alauddin Khilji.
The rule of Khilji dynasty began
In the last decade of the 13th century, Jalaluddin Khilji of the Khilji dynasty captured Delhi. During this reign, the Mangalas started plundering around Delhi. To avoid these, Jalaluddin’s successor Alauddin Khilji (ruled 1296-1316) built a city to the north-east of Qutub Minar. Whose name was Siri. Alauddin Khilji made this his capital, which is called Siri Fort.
Siri Fort.
After Khilji, command passed to Tughlaq dynasty
The rule of the Khilji dynasty ended in the year 1321 and the command of Delhi came into the hands of the Tughlaq dynasty. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (reigned from 1320 to 1325) had established a new capital by the name of Tughlakabad, but due to shortage of water, Siri was made the capital back.
Ghiyasuddin’s son Mohammad bin Tughlaq left Siri and made Devagiri the new capital by the name of Daulatabad. However, in the year 1354, his successor Firoz Shah again changed the capital and established his capital on the banks of Yamuna near Old Indraprastha. Presently it is called Firoz Shah Kotla.
Babar laid the foundation of the Mughal Sultanate in India.
Delhi came into the hands of Mughals
In the last days of the 14th century, Taimur Lang attacked Delhi and looted a lot. The Sayyid dynasty ruled from the year 1414 to 1451. Lodi dynasty occupied this place from 1451 to 1526. In the year 1526, Mughal emperor Babar captured Delhi, although he made Agra instead of Delhi as the capital.
After Babar, Humayun took command of the Mughal Sultanate and established a new city named Deen Panah on the banks of Yamuna. In the year 1540, Sher Shah Suri snatched power from Humayun and changed the name of Humayun’s revered city to Sher Shahi. The fort built by Sher Shah here is today called Purana Qila.
Humayun.
Shahjahan shifted the capital from Agra to Delhi
Humayun regained power from Sher Shah Suri. After this, Akbar and Jahangir ruled from Agra, but in 1639 Shahjahan started searching for a city for the new capital and the search ended in Delhi. Started establishing the capital north of Purana Qila in Delhi and built Fort Urdu-e-Maula, which is now called Red Fort. In the year 1648, Shahjahan made his capital here and it was called Shahjahanabad. This is called Old Delhi.
Shahjahan.
This is how the British captured Delhi
During the reign of the Mughals, Delhi was attacked several times by the Marathas. During the same period, Nadishah of Iran also attacked and laid dead bodies in Delhi. After Aurangzeb, the status of the British started increasing in Delhi and in the year 1803, the British captured Delhi, but kept the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as the ruler. The situation changed with the first war of independence in 1857. The British ended the rule of Bahadur Shah Zafar. From here the Mughal rule ended and the British started rule.
Bahadur Shah Zafar. Photo: Getty Images
Capital shifted from Delhi to Kolkata and then back to Delhi
Even though the British were victorious in the strategy of capturing Delhi, they made Kolkata (now Calcutta) their capital. In the year 1911, it was announced to shift the capital from Kolkata to Delhi. The responsibility of redesigning Delhi was given to Sir Edwin Lutyens. He established a new city, which is called New Delhi. In the year 1912, the British shifted the capital to Delhi and took command of power from here till 1947.
In the year 1947, Delhi was made the capital of the Republic of India and after independence, assembly elections were held here for the first time in 1952 and Brahm Prakash became the first Chief Minister of Delhi.
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