‘Purana Qila’ or Old Fort is said to be located at the site of Indraprastha, where the magnificent drama of the epic Mahabharata was enacted.
The fort that you see there today was originally the inner citadel of Dinpanah, the city established by Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1533 AD. Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun in 1540 and rebuilt parts of the fort, calling it Shergarh. Back from exile after 15 long years, Humayun reclaimed the throne, but within a year he fell to his death climbing down some stairs inside the fort. What a chequered past it has seen!
Thanks to Priyadarshi Dutta for this snap!
A Date With Delhi 
I read somewhere that Humayun was a great patron of the written word and it was in his royal library that he fell to his death…
Btw, Love the pic!
Indeed, twobitwo. The library is one of the few structures still standing inside the fort.
Glad you liked the pic 🙂
Great picture and wonderful history. Makes me wish I could have been there in that glorious past. No wonder my ancestors wanted to keep India so much.
Haha, interesting perspective from a Brit 🙂 And I know exactly what you mean when you say “wish I could have been there in that glorious past”. I have often dreamed of a time machine that would enable me to see those times bygone.
Oh me TOO!! It is one of those awkward things being a Brit and knowing our selfish past (along with other European states). I live in fear of finding out my Raj family did something I would not be proud of – but I think generally they helped rather than hurt – my Gran worked in the Calcutta hospital, for instance, and helped many injured Indians. So I hope I have nothing too much to be ashamed of.
But I can understand the British mentality of control. When I visited Darjeeling last year I just could not help thinking “If I could, I would take over this country and keep it for myself – it is so overwhelmingly beautiful”. I wrote about it in my blog and how it was not proud of such feelings. But India IS such an incredible country…
Well, you should be proud of your Gran! Probably that’s where you get your helpful streak from 🙂
As for Darjeeling- unfortunately haven’t been there yet. But having seen a number of lovely hill stations in India, may be I, too, would love to own one!
I think when you live in a place you feel like you own it already. When you visit a wonderful place though you just don’t want the experience to go away.
I saw a great film – 1947 Earth – that had a scene with a British man in it who basically revealed something about us Brits that often goes overlooked in the history books. “This is my home” he said very sadly. No excusing our actions – which were selfish in the extreme and took a Hitler to hold a mirror up to ourselves and realise what was going on – but for people like my family who were ordinary folks who had lived their entire lives in India, they were being wrenched away from their heartland.
That is something of what I feel each time I leave Bangladesh and when I left Darjeeling last year. 😦