Statue of bereft grit

Purana Qila,Delhi

The panoramic lake, abutting boundary of Purana Qila, Delhi might have kept the fort insuperable from enemies is now used for boating. The breathtaking view of crowned gateway of the decrepit fort was like a reminder of a bereft grit. According to History, I was standing at Indraprastha, the capital of Pandavas of Mahabharata. Purana Qila is also popularly known as the fort of Pandavas. It was built, demolished, re-built and renamed several times and through the ages different human civilizations have kept here their impressions of existence.

Entrance of Purana Qila,Delhi

In the premises of crumbling ruins of Purana Qila, excavations have revealed the settlements and construction works during Sunga, Saka, Kushana, Gupta era dating back to even third century B.C., was like a treasure of curiosity for the History lovers and like a natural treatise of human civilizations. The area under vast stretch of derelict ramparts was a symbol of power and happened to be erstwhile capital of Rajputs, Mughals, Afghans, where the trumpets of war elephants, sound of hooves of horses of warriors reverberated or a place once it was filled with bustles of human activities now bereft of human habitation and deserted.

Qila-e-Kuhna mosque,or Sher Shah mosque,Purana Qila,Delhi

It was inexplicably ecstatic experience to share the soil for awhile, within the vast stretch of rampart, I was standing at a place where the greatest warriors of History have laid their footprint, the creepers have overrun the stone walls with their banners of existence like numerous settlements existed and vanished towards extinction. It was rather like a walk of present age, on numerous human settlements buried under the earth.

The crowned gateway of Purana Qila,Delhi

Mughal emperor Humayun, named the place Dinpanch and it served the as capital of Humayun and Sher Shah Suri during their reign. The structures survived over centuries of the decrepit fort have their own story to tell about the incidents and mishaps of History happened here. The library also called Sher Mandal where Humayan slipped from stairs and died or the spectacular Qila-e-Kuhna mosque built by Sher Shah Suri in 1541were still upright. The silent witness of many incidents it was the place where the Humayun was buried initially before his body was shifted to its existing place and it is the place where dreams of a Hindu King shattered after second battle of Panipat, or served as the shelter for refugees after partition of India.

In the approaching evening we finished our Purana Qila visit and before leaving, once again I looked back. Like mirth of destiny the gloomy desolate capital was like waiting, might be looking towards regaining its lost sheen.