This historic 16th-century fortress has for generations been rumoured to conceal the remains of Indraprastha. It is even flanked by a green space that has been named Indraprastha Park. The endless conjecture could soon be confirmed or denied, with the Archaeological Survey of India ASI about to conduct a second major excavation of the site in two years. If Indraprastha is finally found, the Indian Government plans to turn the site into a major tourist attraction.
All this rests on the efforts of a dedicated group of Indian archaeologists. Yet so certain are some archaeologists that Indraprastha is buried beneath Purana Qila that the ASI is about to start again. Excavations in search of the lost city have been carried out on this site since the s.
Those first searches were prompted when researchers found a link between Purana Qila and one of India's most important texts, the Mahabharata. This epic poem, about , verses long, is believed to have been written more than 2, years ago. It is hotly debated which parts of the text are based on fact and which elements are fictional.
But it is considered to offer many reliable insights into this period of Indian history, including details on the city of Indraprastha and clues to its possible location. Mahabharata is about the Kauravas and the Pandavas, two groups of relatives engaged in a long conflict with each other. It refers to Indraprastha as a major city that was the capital of the Pandava Kingdom from about BC. Indraprastha is considered to have been the first significant settlement in the Delhi area, which has since hosted a succession of kingdoms and giant civilisations.
At some point, Indraprastha fell from grace, either conquered or abandoned. The mystery surrounding the lost city makes my visit to Purana Qila even more engrossing. It is already, at surface level, an extraordinary place. Built in the s as the hub of a burgeoning city created by the Mughal Emperor Humayun, it was the site of a sequence of battles in the 16th century. Fortunately this red sandstone complex remains in fine condition, decorated by three enormous and magnificent gates, called Humayun Darwaza, Bara Darwaza and Talaqi Darwaza.
Inside the fort are several intact lookout towers, ceremonial halls and the Qila-I-Kuhna Masjid, a large mosque embellished by a sequence of curved arches. Yet, even as I admire these ancient structures, it is the folklore about Indraprastha that dominates my mind.
It was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandava s in the Mahabharata epic. Under the Pali form of its name, Indapatta , it is also mentioned in Buddhist texts as the capital of the Kuru mahajanapada. Modern historical research pin its location in the region of present-day New Delhi, particularly the Old Fort Purana Qila. The city is sometimes also known as Khandavaprastha or Khandava Forest , the name of a forest region on the banks of Yamun river which according to the Mahabharata had been cleared by Krishna and Arjun to build the city.
It was one of the five places demanded for the sake of peace and to avert a disastrous war, Krishna proposed that if Hastinapur agrees to give the Pandavas only five villages named Indraprastha Delhi , Swarnprastha Sonipat , Panprastha Panipat , Vyaghrprastha Baghpat and Tilprastha Tilpat if these five villages was given to pandavas then they would be satisfied and would make no more demands.
Duryodhana vehemently refused, commenting that he would not part even with land as much as the point of a needle. Click here to join our channel indianexpress and stay updated with the latest headlines. Divya A Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not ne The Dinpanah park includes the Purana Qila.
The nomenclature had raised the ire of certain sections. Delhi News.
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