New Name for Delhi !
Union Minister for Urban
Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu, thinks that Delhi could be renamed Indraprastha or
Hastinapur. This has created debate among historians and cultural
experts, besides of course Hindutva activists. This is not the first time that
the controversy has erupted. At the time of Independence also there was a
debate on the Capital’s name. It was finally decided to retain it as Delhi in
preference to New Delhi because of historical associations.
The old Delhi
Gazetteer, quoting various sources, stated that the city of Indraprastha was
built by Yudhisthira son of Pandava upon the banks of the Yamuna, between the “more modern
Kotila of Firoz Shah and Humayun’s Tomb, about two miles south of the present
site of Delhi”. The river then flowed past Indraprastha but shifted its course
a mile upwards. “The Nigammbodh Ghat, near the old Calcutta Gate of the present
city, is believed to have formed part of the ancient capital.
Yudhisthira is
believed to have been succeeded by 30 generations of his brother Arjun’s
descendants until the last of the line was dethroned by the latter’s minister
Visarwa, whose family reigned for 50 years until it was ousted by the
Gotamavanas dynasty, whose 15 Gautama descendants were ousted by the Mayuras in
the first Century B.C., when the name Delhi first finds mention. According to
Gen Cunningham, the new city owes its inception to Raja Dilu, hence the name.
The Raja was the last ruler of his dynasty, identified by Ptolemy as Daidalar.
The city was also known as Dilli and Dillipur. Tradition, however, says it was
founded by Raja Dillipa, who according to Cunningham, was the ancestor of the
fifth generation of the Pandava brothers.
The Samvat era
started with this ruler’s accession in BCE 57. Some sources say after Vikramaditya the city lay deserted for 792 years. This is
improbable, according to the gazetteer, as the iron pillar(Ashok Stambh) near Qutub Minar
was built by Raja Dhava in the 3rd or 4th Century CE. It signifies that the
city was definitely inhabited during that period. Raja Dhava was a ruler of
repute exercising control over a large area. “The pillar is a solid shaft of
wrought iron, 23 ft-8 inches long, of which 18 and a half ft is above ground. But Ferguson
disputed Prince’s finding and stated: “My own conviction is that the pillar
belongs to one of the Chandra rajas of the Gupta dynasty, consequently either
to CE 363 or 400.”
The history of Delhi
may be said to begin with Bilan Deo or Anang Pal, who founded the Tomar
dynasty. It was during his reign that a learned Brahmin disclosed that the foot
of the pillar was driven so deep that it rested on the head of Vasuki, king of
the serpents, who holds the earth on his hood. The king to verify the Brahmin’s
claim, attempted to dig out the pillar and, finding it wet with blood, tried to
refix it but it remained loose (dhilla) which gave the city the name Dhili.
From 736 CE Delhi has
changed many names that is, since Anang Pal’s reign, whose descendant Anang Pal
II built Lal Kot. The Kot was later acquired by Prithviraj Chauhan, who united
the Tomars and Chauhan clans. From Lal Kot Delhi became the Sultanate of
Qutubuddin, and then Siri of Alauddin Khilji. It was Tughlakabad and then
Jahanabad of the first two Tughlak rulers, then Firozabad after Firoz Shah,
their successor. It then became Mubarakpur of the Sayyids. Came the Lodhis and
the Mughals, when the name Dilli was finally established and so it remained
till the time of the British, who anglicized it to Delhi, which was retained
after Independence. Say what you like, but Dilli, Dilipur, Dhilli or Dholika
were all transitional names pointing to the same root. If any change is really
required then the best name is Dilli, as it is pronounced by most people.
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