International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B5. Istanbul 2004 
4. HISTORICITY OF ANCIENT CITIES OF DELHI 
The earliest known capital city of Indraparastha was founded by 
the Pandavas in 1450 B.C. Maya; the Danava architect built a 
splendid palace and court for them. Recent finds support the 
view that it was located inthe Purana Qila area. Other cities 
recorded are Surajpal’s Surajkund, Qila Lal-Kot which was 
built by Anangpal and Qila Rai Pithora of the brave and daring 
king Prithviraj Chauhan. Sometimes in the first century B.C., 
Raja Dillu built a city near about the present Qutb Minar. It was 
named Dilli or Delhi. 
py DELHI EN 
Sketch of Environs of Delhi 
Antique Map 1807 
  
  
  
; 
} 
au 9 i 
  
  
  
  
/ 
\ 
=. Source: Survey ol India 
Figure 1. Sketch of ancient historical Delhi 
  
  
  
Thereafter, historical records are not available for the next 10 
Centuries. Somewhere in the middle of the 11" Century A.D., 
the Rajput king Anangpal founded another city on the old ruins 
of the city built by Raja Dillu. It was built in red stones with a 
fort in it and was called as ‘Lal-Kot’. The city of Delhi in the 
12^ Century was the capital of Prithvi Raj Chauhan. He was the 
last Hindu Emperor of India. The city was situated near 
Mehrauli (Qutb) had the well-known fort Qila Rai Pithora in it. 
At the end of 12" Century in 1192, Prithvi Raj Chauhan was 
defeated by Muhammad Ghori. Then Delhi passed into the hand 
of Muslim Conquerors. Qutbu'b-Din reconstructed the city and 
called it Qutb. He gave to the World the Qutb Minar. Moreover, 
the remains of seven cities can still be seen across the landscape 
from the Tomar city of Lal-Kot to Siri, Tughluqabad, 
Jahanpanah and Firuzabad of the Sultans and then Purana-Qila 
and Shahjahanabad of the Mughals as is shown in the Figure 1, 
2 and 3 and evidenced by the Table 1. Every empire enriched 
the culture of the city, their remains stand as mute witnesses to 
their days of glory. Later on, the Delhi became the seat of power 
when the British decided to shift their capital here in 1911. 
Around the area of the Raisina hills of the Northern Ridge a 
new city came up. An imperial city designed by Sir Edwin 
Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker (Spear, 1945). Today, Delhi is a 
lively, thriving capital city, grown tremendously since 
   
      
Independence. Retaining the glory of its past while developing 
it into a planned city was the new challenge. However, the 
seven cities of Delhi with their geographical dimensions and 
their attributes have been presented in the Table 2. It also 
provides spatial info for the present New Delhi, the eight city of 
Delhi. All these historical cities spatio-temporal features and 
characteristics have been discussed here in the following text. 
  
= EE ne EEE EEE gy = 
DELHI N f^ NN 
Historical Cities 
DELMI 
Historical Cities 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Figure 2 & 3. Historical cities and location from Qutb Minar 
4.1 Lal-Kot 
The Lal-Kot was the first city of Delhi. Later on, it was 
extended and known as the Qila Rai Pithora. The city was 
expanded over an area of about 3.40 sq. kms. The Tomar 
Rajputs had established themselves in the Aravalli Hills south 
of the present Delhi, at least from the closing years of the 19^ 
Century, if not earlier. The bare and barren hills south of Delhi 
which were isolated and difficult to access were selected by the 
Tomars as a royal resort in preference to the plains; because of 
its safe shelter and less exposed to the onslaughts of the hostile 
Rajput clans (Cunningham, 1871). In these hills close to Delhi 
but within the present boundaries of Haryana, a large reservoir 
known as Suraj-Kund built by Surajpal. Nearby the village of 
Arangpur or Anangpur, is a dam ascribed to Anangpal of the 
same dynasty. Its close vicinity is dotted with ruins of pavilions 
and fortifications. It is a popular belief that Arangpur is the 
successor of Anangpal. 
  
  
  
  
  
Figure 4 & 5. Qutb Minar and Ashok's iron pillar 
Anangpal is, however, known as the founder of Delhi. It is 
believed that the first known regular defense-work in form of 
the Lal-Kot was built in Delhi. It may be regarded as the core of 
the so-called first city of Delhi. The Iron Pillar originally 
formed as early as 4” Century may have also brought to Delhi 
by Anangpal and now standing along with the Qutb Minar as 
shown in the Figure 4 and 5. Prithviraja III, also known as Rai 
  
  
   
    
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
   
   
   
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
   
  
  
   
  
   
TE 
roi 
m: 
on 
dW