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of the past and the reality of the present" (Fanshawe, 1902;
Duncan, 1906). In lieu of this, the Delhi has a multifaceted
personality. On the one hand it is an ancient city with traditions
centuries old and on the other a modern city with the pressure of
ever increasing population resulting into the hyper-urbanisation
(Mohan, 2003). Within Delhi, there exists one of the best
planned cities of the World, Shahjahanabad (Spear, 1951). One
can find the earliest examples of skyscraper (Qutb Minar), the
monument that inspired the Taj Mahal (Humayun's Tomb) and
a solid iron pillar (Mehrauli Pillar) which has defied rust for
over 1,500 years (Sharp, 1928).
1.2 Delhi - A Historical Perspective
Delhi is one of the most ancient and historic cities of India. The
earliest reference to its settlement is to be found in the famous
epic ‘Mahabharata’ which mentions about the city called
Indraparastha built along the bank of the River Yamuna. The
first medieval city of Delhi believed to have been founded by
the Tomars, the Tunvar Rajputs in 736 A.D. It was called Dilli
or Dhillika (Chopra, 1976; IGOI, 1989). Evidently, Delhi was
an important town, and perhaps also the capital of Haryana. The
name ‘Delhi’ is derived from the legend of Raja ‘Dillu’ who is
believed to have founded Delhi near the Qutb Minar. Its roots
can be traced to the 10" Century, the era of the Pandavas, when
Mai Danav built the capital of Indraparastha. Since then, this
site has been the capital of many kingdoms. Many cities have
risen and fallen here as is evidented by the Table 1.
City City Name Year Founder
Order Estb.
I Lal-Kot 1000 — Anangpal
lH Sin 1303 Alau'd-Din Khilji
III Tughluqabad 1321 Ghiyathu'd-Din Tughluq
IV Jahanpanah 1327 | Muhammad-bin Tughluq
V Firuzabad 1354 Firuz Shah Tughluq
VI Purana-Qila 1533 Humayun
VII. Shahjahanabad 1639 Shah Jahan
VIII New Delhi 1911 Britishers
Table 1. Historical ancient cities of Delhi
Archaeologists also claim that Delhi was a famous capital even
before the reign of Alexander the Great in the 4" Century B.C.
Delhi as a place name seems to have been referred to, for the
first time, during the First and Second Centuries A.D. Ptolemy,
City City Name Area Dist. from Real World Coordinates
Order Kms2 Qutb(Kms) Long.(D:M:S) Latit.(D:M:S)
I Lal-Kot 3.40 0.00 77:10:58.799 — 28:33L:51.817
H Siri 1.70 4.40 77:13:00.306 28:34:21.913
HI Tughluqabad 2.20 7.70 77:15:37.550 28:31:33.227
IV Jahanpanah 0.20 4.40 77:14:04.633 28:33:17.586
V Firuzabad 0.10 13.10 77:14:18.928 | 28:39:07.811
VI Purana-Qila 0.20 10.70 77:14:26.075 28:36:44.862
VIE. Shahjahanabad — 4.90 14.80 77:13:00.306 28:42:22.792
VIII New Delhi 12.20 10.50 77:12:38.864 28:37:13,452
Table 2. Spatial data for historical cities of Delhi
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B5. Istanbul 2004
the celebrated Alexandrine Geographer, who visited India
during Second Century A.D., had marked in his map ‘Daidala’
close to Indraparastha and in between Mathura and Thaneswar
(Spear, 1945). So, as regards origin of the name, Delhi derived
its name from Raja Dillu or Dhillu. The name of Delhi seems to
have been finally evolved from Daidala, Dhillika and Delhi.
The modern name Delhi is derived from Dihli or Dilli, the Hindi
equivalent of Dhilli of the inscriptions. To read in it Dehali, the
Hindi word for ‘threshold’, and to assert that Delhi signifies the
threshold of the country, is only fanciful. However, there are
various views as to how Delhi, the capital of India derived its
name. It may have come from Raja Dillu's Dilli (1* Century
B.C.) which was sited just east of Lal-Kot or from Dhilba
founded by the Tomar Rajputs in 736 A.D. And some say it
came from the medieval town of Dhillika located near present
date Mehrauli.
2. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
The main objectives of the study were as follows:
i to analyse the pre- and post-historical scenario of seven
cities;
i to assess the process of historical restoration of the
cities;
ili to examine the urbanisation impact on the cultural
heritage sites; and
iv to explore the suitable strategies for restoration and
conservation of the cities.
This study has also attempted to test the following hypotheses:
i Increasing pressure of population in urban areas is
responsible for destruction and removal of the historical
and cultural heritage sites.
il Unplanned urban sprawl is thus leading to engulfing of
historical sites in disregard of its impact on their
restoration and conservation.
3. DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY
This study is based on the primary as well as the secondary sources
of data collected and computed while keeping in view the specific
objectives of the study. The data for the pre-historical periods have
been collected from the Gazetteers of India. The post-historical
periods data have been collected from the different volumes of the
Archaeological Survey of India. There are number of implications
of urbanisation on the historical monuments such as the
landscape's physiological destruction, illegal land encroachment
and shrinkage of open spaces around them and occupancy of land
etc., attributes have also been gathered from the various secondary
sources. Thus, the present study has been supported by the
secondary sources of data generated through the extensive field
and literature survey of the records of Archaeological Survey of
India, Land and Development, Department of Urban Development
Ministry, Revenue Department, Forest Department and Delhi
Development Authority, etc. for the Delhi State. Whereas the GIS
software's like the Arc/Info, ArcView and GeoMedia have been
used for geographical analysis, integration, and presentation of the
spatial and non-spatial data. These tools are more effective for
monitoring and modeling as well as restoration and conservation
of the cultural heritage sites of Delhi.
