The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan | Page 8

also a city near the present Kutb Minar, built by a Hindu rajah, about
57 B.C. according to General Cunningham. This was the original (or
old) Dilli or Dehli, a name of unascertained origin. It appears to have
been deserted during the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni, but
afterwards rebuilt about 1060 A.D. The last built of all the ancient
towns was the Din Panah of Humayun, nearly on the site of the old
Hindu town; but it had gone greatly to decay during the long absence of
his son and grandson at Agra and elsewhere.
At length New Dehli—the present city—was founded by Shahjahan,
the great-grandson of Humayun, and received the name, by which it is
still known to Mohamudans, of Shahjahanabad. The city is seven miles
round, with seven gates, the palace or citadel one-tenth of the area.
Both are a sort of irregular semicircle on the right bank of the Jamna,
which river forms their eastern arc. The plain is about 800 feet above
the level of the sea, and is bordered at some distance by a low range of
hills, and receiving the drainage of the Mewat Highlands. The greatest
heat is in June, when the mean temperature in the shade is 92¡ F.; but it
falls as low as 53¡ in January. The situation—as will be seen by the
map—is extremely well chosen as the administrative centre of
Hindustan; it must always be a place of commercial importance, and
the climate has no peculiar defect. The only local disorder is a very
malignant sore, which may perhaps be due to the brackishness of the

water. This would account for the numerous and expensive canals and
aqueducts which have been constructed at different periods to bring
water from remote and pure sources. Here Shahjahan founded, in 1645
A.D., a splendid fortified palace, which continued to be occupied by his
descendants down to the Great Revolt of 1857.
The entrance to the palace was, and still is, defended by a lofty
barbican, passing which the visitor finds himself in an immense
arcaded vestibule, wide and lofty, formerly appropriated to the men and
officers of the guard, but in later days tenanted by small shopkeepers.
This opened into a courtyard, at the back of which was a gate
surmounted by a gallery, where one used to hear the barbarous
performances of the royal band. Passing under this, the visitor entered
the 'Am-Khas or courtyard, much fallen from its state, when the rare
animals and the splendid military pageants of the earlier Emperors used
to throng its area. Fronting you was the Diwan-i-Am (since converted
into a canteen), and at the back (towards the east or river) the
Diwan-i-Khas, since adequately restored. This latter pavilion is in
echelon with the former, and was made to communicate on both sides
with the private apartments.
On the east of the palace, and connected with it by a bridge crossing an
arm of the river, is the ancient Pathan fort of Salimgarh, a rough and
dismal structure, which the later Emperors used as a state prison. It is a
remarkable contrast to the rest of the fortress, which is surrounded by
crenellated walls of high finish. These walls being built of the red
sandstone of the neighbourhood, and seventy feet in height, give to the
exterior of the buildings a solemn air of passive and silent strength, so
that, even after so many years of havoc, the outward appearance of the
Imperial residence continues to testify of its former grandeur. How its
internal and actual grandeur perished will be seen in the following
pages. The Court was often held at Agra, where the remains of a similar
palace are still to be seen. No detailed account of this has been met with
at all rivalling the contemporary descriptions of the Red Palace of
Dehli. But an attempt has been made to represent its high and palmy
state in the General Introduction to the History of Hindustan by the
present writer.

Of the character of the races who people the wide Empire of which
Dehli was the metropolis, very varying estimates have been formed, in
the most extreme opposites of which there is still some germ of truth. It
cannot be denied that, in some of what are termed the unprogressive
virtues, they exceeded, as their sons still exceed, most of the nations of
Europe; being usually temperate, self-controlled, patient, dignified in
misfortune, and affectionate and liberal to kinsfolk and dependents.
Few things perhaps show better the good behaviour — one may almost
say the good breeding — of the ordinary native than the sight of a
crowd of villagers going to or returning from a fair in Upper India. The
stalwart young farmers are accompanied by their wives; each woman in
her coloured wimple,