Forgotton City of Delhi : A Historical Village
Contents: Preface. 1. Brief history of Delhi. 2. Pre-historic age of Mehrauli. 3. Formation of cities of Delhi and their association with Mehrauli 4. Social set up of Mehrauli since it was Yognipura. 5. Name of Mehrauli. 6. How Meharauli became Delhi. 7. A real estate of historical buildings. 8. Adam Khan’s tomb. 9. Hizron ka Khangah. 10. Yogmaya temple. 11. Dadbari of Yoginipura Jain temple Mehrauli. 12. Qutab Minar. 13. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Memoril. 14. Shrine of saint Khwaza Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. 15. Zafar Mahal Lalmahal. 16. Sardgaha. 17. Construction of Baolis step wells. 18. Gandhak ki Baoli. 19. Razon ki Baoli. 20. Shamshi Talaab. 21. Zahaz Mahal. 22. Phool Walon ki Sair (Flower procession). 23. Jharna-the water fall (first Mughal garden of Delhi)…..
Mehrauli is an ancient township with written record of over 1200 years of regular settlement. It enjoys the status of being the first of seven cities of Delhi. There appears to be some confusion or contradiction regarding number of cities of Delhi. Some historians noted the number of cities as seven and some others as ten and this number of cities goes upto 16. Turning the pages of medieval history of Delhi determines over 100 significant settlements in the entire region of Delhi out of which Mehrauli had emerged to be the first urban settlement since the beginning of 8th century.
Due to its location in the spur of Arravali Hills, rocky tracts, vast forest area it provided a protected site of first choice for establishing a seat of power by several kings, monarchs, emperors and sultans of Delhi that played a vital role in development of magnificent artful historical buildings in this town. Even the design and outlay plan of individual houses used by public have distinct features of architecture representing the royal significance of this village. The World Heritage Site of Qutab Complex, a major attraction for tourists is located in Mehrauli. More than 200 hundred other historical structures and buildings scattered all over in large number in the village of Mehrauli are still to be identified. A large complex of about 200 acres has been classified as Mehrauli Archaeological Park by the Government of India. Though some efforts have been made to preserve these structures with the help of INTECH but much leaves to be desired.
The so called first city of Delhi was ruled by about 90 Kings, Rulers, Sultans, Emperors and Badshas right from 736 AD to 1857 AD. Thereafter East India Company has entered in 1856 occupying ridge area constituting an irregular regiment of negotiate surrender of Bahadur Shah Zafar who preferred to spend his much time in Mehrauli. These variations of Kingdoms and rulers constituted at least seven dynasties where each dynasty created a spur of its own architectural and archaeological creations in the forms of articulate palaces, mosques, tombs, shrines and buildings of public domain which attracted the attention of World heritage Committee of UNESCO making observation about Mehrauli in following words.
