Purana Qila was constructed by Humayun as the 6th city of Delhi. Sher Shah Sur demolished Humayun's buildings within and built his own. Humayun on recapturing Delhi, destroyed Sher Shah's buildings to build his own again but he died within 6 months of capturing Delhi and hence the Qila is bare today save for the Qila-i-Kuhna masjid and Sher Mandal, that Humayun had spared as he did not want to destroy the mosque even if it was Sher Shah's and Sher Mandal as it was the library. Humayun being lover of books will not destroy the library. He fell on the steps of Sher Mandal while coming down from the roof top and went into coma on 22JAN1556 and died 2 days later on 24th. So Sher Shah from his grave, still destroyed Humayun vide his building. Irony of fate???? Tomar Rajputs ruled from Lal Kot where presently stands the Qutub Minar Complex and the mosque there, Quwat-ul-Islam or Might of Islam stands on the plinth of the Great Temple of Lal Kot.

built with pillars stolen from the destruction of 27 Hindu and Jain temples----no wonder it looks so majestic

This is absolutely incorrect. The Qutub Minar was built from the remains of 27 Jain temples, not the Purana Qila. This is the kind of misinformation that forms the basis of many of our problems today.

Whatever! It looks kind of barren today, and the paddle-boats in the moat below doesn't do much for it's image. Poor old fort...

Kanu, All that the invaders did was hack off a few idols (especially nose and hands), rearrange a few of the slabs and add a Turkik look to it. That's all! You should be glad they did not make the poor slob haul this stuff all the way back to Turkistan!

fond memories of purana quila... dad was one of the excavators ...my fav childhood picnic spot. Now if my recollection is correct then this area saw a continious habitation from 1000 BC onwards as evident from Painted Grey Wares found in the excavation.PWG culture is of later Vedic period and maybe that could be the reason why B B lal felt it was indraprastha but it was merely a provisional theory based on very limited archaeological evidences.

Thanks Mita Chakravorty....for the fresh perspectives.

All conquerors like to imagine their conquests are final but remember the poem Ozymandias we studied in school?

@Asad Ahmed---as usual you are wrong and have jumped the gun by taking the wrong thread without reading Pulin Trivedi's post in its entirety---please read the last paragraph --where he says ""quote----Tomar Rajputs ................mosque there -Quwwat-ul -Islam or the might of Islam stands on the plinth of the Great Temple of Lal Kot""unqote.This Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque is a patchwork fusion of decorative Hindu panels taken from the destruction of 27 Hindu and Jain Temples --which is what I HAVE STATED.And if you want proof please visit the site and see this recorded on a plaque by the Archeological Society of India placed there Secondly the Qutab Minar was not built from the remains of 27 Jain and Hindu temples---at all ,The stone used was the local sandstone and carved intricately with beautiful caaligraphy And as --for misinformation--it is very clear who the misinformed one is and where the problems lie

@ Kanu: Hi Kanu, Asad maybe did not read the whole thing and jumped the gun, but where is the need to be so vehement? This is a platform for healthy discussion and exchange of information and idea.

@ Arvind: We are grateful that 'they' did not make the poor slob haul the stones to Turkistan. Re the mosque at Qutub, it ws built by destroying 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the neighbourhood, and we cannot run away from history. Facts remain facts. As for Example, A B Vajpayee in one of his poems has said, "Koi batlaye Kabul jakey kitni masjid todi maine (Hindus)? It was true when this poem was written but after Babri masjid demolition, we cannot claim that, right? So lets not run away from history to appear secular.

Mita Chakravorty may be right that the Purana Qila could represent the site of the ancient city of Indraprastha although the evidence is rather weak. But the 27 mainly Jain temples that were demolished were used to build the Qutub Minar, not the Purana Qila - a tablet at the Qutub clearly states that. The Purana Qila has nothing to do with the Qutub Minar; they were built approx. 350 years apart by different dynasties. I agree with Pulin Trivedi that 'this is a platform for healthy discussion' and not for spreading distorted political propaganda (some of which would qualify as a hate crime in the West).

Impossible to imagine that the landscape looked like this. The Majestic fort is now choked with development from all sides.

@Pulin----hi there---my response was entirely directed at the last lines of the post 'this is the kind of misinformation that forms the basis of many of our problems today'"----misinformation --whose???????

it is a beautiful painting, and is truly touching to see the landscape as it was then. very charming and beautiful. (and no pani puris in sight either).

Pulin, My comments were sarcastic, far from being of a secular nature. I continue to see so many posts here which downplay the destruction of Hindu temples and places of worship done by the Islamic invaders and their slave dynasties. I agree with you and Kanu on the comments. Last but not least, let these monuments be a reminder to everyone that "history shall repeat and those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it".

There is a basic difference between sarcasm and morbidity. At a more educated level, can anyone show evidence that the Purana Qila was " built with pillars stolen from the destruction of 27 Hindu and Jain temples----no wonder it looks so majestic". We are presumably talking about the Purana Qila here, not the Masjid-e Quwwatul Islam.

Asad, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” -Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propagandist

Time to move on gentlemen...I guess trenches have been dug deep enough. And yes...all of you are my friends. : )

I agree it is time to move on to a more sensible discussion. This has been an exercise in absurdity to read a quotation from Jozef Goebbels from those who themselves distort the truth. We have been discussing the Purana Qila, not all the demolitions of the past and the present.

It baffles me to see so much of repeated pent up anger....which I can only empathise with, but not support....since it tends to distort and distract the 'view' of an observer of history.

I thought you said "Time to Move on".....looks like you are fanning the fire...