Purana Qila

The Purana Qila occupies the ancient mound which conceals perhaps the ruins of the city of Indraprastha of Mahabharata story. Sher Shah Suri (1538-1545) demolished the city of Dinpanah built by Humayun and on the same site raised this citadel. It is believed that Sher Shah left Purana-Qila unfinished, and it was completed by Humayun. There are several sites associated with the story of the Mahabharata and had been dated around 1000 B.C.,its occurence here seemed to support the tradition of Purana-qila being the site of Indraprastha, capital of the Pandavas. Purana Qila originally lay on the bank of the Yamuna.

The Qila was a living part of the city until 1914, when a village within the fort walls was found incompatible with the Qila’s new-found grandeur, and was cleared. Later, the fort became the site of several temporary settlements. During the second world war, there was a camp of nearly 3,000 Japanese civilians from across British-ruled Asia. After the partition of India in 1947 and the ensuing violence, the Qila sheltered thousands who were fleeing Delhi, as well as those who had moved there. Some of these new settlers remained until the early 1960s.

From then on, the Qila has stood in a landscaped stupor. Today, the fort is surrounded by a zoo, and the moat is a spot for boating and zorbing. Aside from history enthusiasts and couples seeking privacy from the crowded city, few enter the red sandstone gate between the fort’s stout bastions.

The general depression on the northern and western sides of the fortress suggests that a wide moat connected with the river existed on these sides, which were approached through a causeway connecting the fortress with the main land.