PURANA QUILA

Amidst the glitz and glamour of Delhi city, stands an old yet attractive monument called Purana Quila or Old Fort. Purana Quila is spread in the area of almost two kilometers and is rectangular. Purana Qila, is one of the oldest forts in Delhi. The site has been continuously inhabited for 2,500 years and remains dating from the pre-Mauryan period have been found. The present citadel was begun in the time of Humayun and its construction continued under Sher Shah Suri.

The site is often identified with the site of Indraprastha, the capital of the kingdoms of the Pandavas from the Mahabharata. Excavations have concluded that it was the site of the Pandava kingdom of Indraprastha, estimating 900 BCE as the period of the Kurukshetra war.

The origins of the Purana Qila lie in the walls of Dinpanah, the new city of Delhi constructed by Mughal emperor Humayun. Abul Fazl states that he built the fort in the place of that of ancient Indraprastha. The founder of the Suri Dynasty, Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun and made changes to the fort, strengthening its fortifications and completing its walls. He also had another fort built there called Shergarh, where the governor resided. His project, however, was a continuation of Humayun's construction of a citadel for a royal city. He also built many structures inside the fort.

Purana Qila and its environs flourished as the "sixth city of Delhi". In the year 1556, on 7th October Hindu king Hem Chandra Vikramaditya was crowned in Purana Quila, who had defeated Akbar's forces decisively at Battle of Delhi (1556). Edwin Lutyens who designed the new capital of British India, New Delhi, in the 1920s, had aligned the central vista, now Rajpath, with Purana Qila. During the Partition of India, in August 1947 the Purana Qila along with the neighboring Humayun's Tomb, became the site for refugee camps for Muslims migrating to newly founded Pakistan.