Ancient History of Delhi - 3000 BCE to 300 BCE - Old Fort Delhi - Indraprastha - Excavation
The earliest reference to a settlement in the Delhi area is found in the Mahabharata, an epic narrative about two groups of warring cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, both descendants of the prince Bharata. According to the narrative, a city called Indraprastha (“City of the God Indra”), built about 1400 BCE, was the capital of the Pandavas. Although nothing remains of Indraprastha, legend holds it to have been a thriving city. The first reference to the place-name Delhi seems to have been made in the 1st century BCE, when Raja Dhilu built a city near the site of the future Qutb Minar tower (in present-day southwestern Delhi) and named it for himself.
The next notable city to emerge in the area now known as the Delhi Triangle was Anangpur (Anandpur), established as a royal resort in about 1020 CE by Anangapala of the Tomara dynasty. Anangapala later moved Anangpur some 6 miles (10 km) westward to a walled citadel called Lal Kot. The Tomara kings occupied Lal Kot for about a century. In 1164 Prithviraj III (Rai Pithora) extended the citadel by building massive ramparts around it; the city then became known as Qila Rai Pithora. In the late 12th century Prithviraj III was defeated.
The first city of Delhi was Indraprastha and was home to Pandavas from the Mahabharata epic. Present-day Purana Qila is widely believed to be site of the famed Indraprastha, and the Archaeological Survey of India has carried out several excavations in the hope of discovering painted gray ware that would tie in with the period.
No conclusive historical evidence has, however, emerged and so Indraprastha remains shrouded in myth. But pre-Rajput artefacts that have been discovered point to smaller, ancient settlements in Delhi. At the Purana Qila, excavations revealed remains dating back to the 4th to 3rd century BC Mauryan period; in Jawaharlal Nehru University in South Delhi, tools dating back to Stone Age were discovered in the 1970s; and at the very heart of Delhi, in Bahapur near East of Kailash, there is a rock engraving of an edict from the time of Ashoka.
In the middle of the first millennium, north India was controlled by factions of Rajput clans, all fighting for power. Archaeological evidence indicates that the first group to make a city out of Delhi, then known as Dhillika, were Tomar Rajputs, who arrived as generals of the Pratiharas dynasty. They later established independent rule, using ancient Delhi as a capital.
Roughly contemporaneous to these ruins is Prithviraj Raso, a 12th century Brajbhasha epic poem that narrates a mythical story of how Delhi got its name, in an episode titled Killi-dhilli-katha (Pillar-Loose-Tale).
Once upon a time, according to the story, King Anangpal Tomar ruled in a city which had a pillar. The king was told that the pillar was rooted so deep into the ground that it rested on the hood of the king of serpents, the ruler of the underground realm. A Brahmin prophesied that Anangpal’s rule would last as long as the pillar stood.
But the curious king ordered the pillar to be dug up for examination, and found that its bottom was indeed covered in serpent blood. He immediately ordered it to be reinstalled, but the pillar was irremediably loose (‘dhilli’), providing the city with its name. In Prithviraj Raso, this act eventually leads to the destruction of the Tomars.
The pillar in this legend is widely thought to be the Iron Pillar, which continues to stand today, refusing to rust, in the middle of the Qutab Minar complex.
How Prithviraj Chauhan lost Delhi
In the mid-12th century, the Tomars were overthrown by the Chauhans, another Rajput clan. It was Prithviraj Chauhan III, the last Chauhan king, who further extended the Lal Kot citadel by building Qila Rai Pithora, fortifying the city against attacks by Turks. The remains of Qila Rai Pithora, named after the legendary king, are in present-day Mehrauli and at the intersection of Saket and Aurobindo Marg.
Chauhan ruled from Ajmer, but Delhi was an important city, albeit a provincial one compared to other Rajput-ruled cities of the time.
