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Fig. 145. Map of Delhi City.

When visiting the old Delhis it is a good plan to drive again through the City and to leave it by the Delhi Gate. Humáyun's tomb, an early and simple, but striking, specimen of Moghal architecture, is reached at a distance of four miles along the Mathra road. Outside the City the road first leaves on the left side the ruined citadel of Firoz Sháh containing the second Aşoka pillar. North and south of this citadel the town of Firozábád once lay. It ended where the Puráná Kila' or Old Fort, the work of Sher Sháh and Humáyun, now stands, a conspicuous object from the road about three miles from Delhi. The red sandstone gateway very narrow in proportion to its height is a noble structure, and within the walls is Sher Sháh's mosque. The fort and mosque are the last important works of the second or Tughlak period. Hindus call the site of the Old Fort, Indarpat. If any part of Delhi has a claim to antiquity it is this, for it is alleged to be one of the five "pats" or towns over which the war celebrated in the Mahábhárata was waged. A recent cleaning of part of the interior of the fort brought to light bricks belonging to the Gupta period. From Humáyun's tomb a cross road leads to the Gurgáon road and the Kutb. But the visitor who has seen enough of buildings for the day may proceed further down the Mathra road and reach the headworks of the Agra Canal at Okhla by a side road. The view looking back to Delhi up the Jamna is fine.

The Kutb Minár.—Starting for the Kutb from Humáyun's tomb (page [207]) the Dargáh of the great Chistí saint and political intriguer, Nizám ud dín Aulia, is passed on the left. He died in 1324 A.D. Just at the point where the cross road meets the Gurgáon road is the tomb of Safdar Jang, the second of the Nawáb Wazírs of Oudh. He died after the middle of the eighteenth century, and the building is wonderfully good considering that it is one of the latest important monuments of the Moghal period. Six miles to the south of Safdar Jang's tomb the entrance to the Kutb Minár enclosure is reached. The great Kuwwat ul Islám mosque of Kutbuddín Aibak (page 204) was constructed out of the materials of a Jain temple which stood on the site. Evidence of this is to be found in the imperfectly defaced sculptures on the pillars. An iron pillar nearly 24 feet in height dating back probably to the sixth century stands in the court. The splendid column known as the Kutb Minár (page [205]), begun by Kutbuddín and completed by his successor Shams ud dín Altamsh, was the minaret of the mosque from which the mu'azzin called the faithful to prayer. The disappointment that may be felt when it is seen from a distance is impossible on a nearer view. Its height is now 238 feet, but it was formerly surmounted "by a majestic cupola of red granite." Close by is the Alai Darwaza, a magnificent gateway built by Alá ud dín Tughlak in 1310, about 90 years after the Minár was finished. Five miles east of the Kutb are the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakábád (page [206]).

Delhi past and present.—The Delhi of Aurangzeb was as much a camp as a city. When the Emperor moved to Agra or Kashmír the town was emptied of a large part of its inhabitants. It contained one or two fine bazárs, and nobles and rich merchants and shopkeepers had good houses, set sometimes in pleasant gardens. But the crowds of servants and followers occupied mud huts, whose thatched roofs led to frequent and widespread fires. In that insanitary age these may have been blessings in disguise. "In Delhi," wrote Bernier, "there is no middle state. A man must either be of the highest rank or live miserably.... For two or three who wear decent apparel there may always be reckoned seven or eight poor, ragged, and miserable beings." The ordinary street architecture of modern Delhi is mean enough, and posterity will not open an eyelid to look at the public buildings which its present rulers have erected in the city. But at least the common folk of Delhi are better housed, fed, and clad than ever before. It is now a clean well-managed town with a good water supply, and it has become an important railway centre and a thriving place of trade. Since 1881 the population has steadily increased from 173,393 to 232,837 in 1911. In 1911-12 the imports into Delhi City from places outside the Panjáb amounted to 9,172,302 maunds. There are some fifteen cotton ginning, spinning, and weaving mills, besides flour mills, iron foundries, two biscuit manufactories, and a brewery. The city is well supplied with hospitals including two for women only. Higher education has been fostered by S. Stephen's College in charge of the Cambridge Missionary brotherhood. The Hindu college has not been very successful. Delhi has had famous "hakíms," practising the Yúnáni or Arabic system of medicine, which is taught in a flourishing school known as the Madrasa i Tibbiya.

Imperial Darbárs.—In this generation the plain to the north of the Ridge has been the scene of three splendid darbárs. When on 1st January, 1877, Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India (Kaisar i Hind) it seemed fitting that the proclamation of the fact to the princes and peoples of India should be made by Lord Lytton at the old seat of imperial power. On 1st January, 1903, Lord Curzon held a darbár on the same spot to proclaim the coronation of King Edward the VIIth. Both these splendid ceremonies were surpassed by the darbár of 12th December, 1911, when King George and Queen Mary were present in person, and the Emperor received the homage of the ruling chiefs, the great officials, and the leading men of the different provinces. The King and Queen entered Delhi on 7th December, and in the week that followed the craving of the Indian peoples for "darshan" or a sight of their sovereign was abundantly gratified. None who saw the spectacles of that historic week will ever forget them.

Fig. 146. Darbár Medal.