Let Us Reclaim The Glorious Heritage That Is Indraprastha

In Dwapar Era of the Indian calendar stood Indraprastha’s most beautiful palaces and an assembly hall. The city of Indraprastha was carved out at a suitable location on the Yamuna banks by the Pandavas, with support of their mentor and friend Vasudeva Krishna — scion of Sursena Janapada. The city had well-planned habitation, entertainment areas and market places. Indraprastha was landscaped with gardens, water bodies, flora and fauna. It had royal houses, dwelling areas for pious men, traders and workers, who gathered here to enjoy the fruits of a progressive and wealthy kingdom.

The spectacular assembly hall (‘sabha griha’) was created by artist Maya and gifted to the Pandavas who had saved his life from the forest fire at Khandavaprastha. Krishna, Pandavas and Maya transformed the barren forest land, the share of kingdom given to the Pandava brothers by their uncle, the Kuru King Dhritrashtra.  Learning about the marriage of his nephews, the Pandavas, to Draupadi, the princess of powerful Panchala Kingdom of Drupada, Dhritrashtra decided to divide his kingdom.

He thought it wise to ensure that his sons, especially Duryodhana, and his brother Pandu’s sons, ruled separately, stopping their consistent rivalry over claim to the Kuru kingdom. The Pandavas were given five areas, roughly comprising current day Baghpat, Indrapat, Panipat, Sonipat and Tilpat. This division of Kuru gave rise to Indraprastha, the mighty capital city of Yudhishtra, Bhim, Arjuna, Nakul and Sahdeva.  The grandeur and affluence of ‘Indrapat’ was enviable.

The inaugural ceremony of the ‘sabha griha’ was graced by the mightiest rulers from far and wide, encompassing the Aryavarta of ancient Bharata Desha. This reflected the influence and strength of the Pandava Kingdom for generations. Pandavas were among the most powerful rulers of ancient times, and Indraprastha, the most coveted and desired capital.

Where is this alluring city? How do I know it really existed? Am I dreaming or spinning tales for a kick? No. Let us go back to our beloved ancient city Indraprastha.

A drive through the Mathura Road in New Delhi takes you to Sundar Nagar and Pragati Maidan. At the Delhi Zoo area, are remains of old structures, the Purana Quila. What’s the antiquity and history of this massive enclosure now limited to high broken fortifications and gates?

How many of us know that the visible ruins here, no older than the times of Humayun and Sher Shah Suri, actually stand superimposed on the ancient Indian city of Indraprastha? A tourist to Delhi is usually taken around the Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar. He goes back with the impression that Delhi is no older than the 12th century CE.

To a historian, the broken walls, gates and ruins in this area give the impression that this place is hardly a few hundred years old. An archaeologist will tell that the standing structures here are located on an ancient mound which, several meters higher than the surrounding ground-level of Mathura Road, is concealed by the fortification-wall, built first by Babar’s son Humayun, and later by Sher Shah Suri, who conquered Indraprastha from Humayun. Sher Shah destroyed Humayun’s city and built here his own city Shergarh. Though we see parts of Shergarh, the real history of the earlier civilisation lies buried and disturbed — much below this.

Indraprastha was the city of gritty rulers. Though ruined by many conquests, it retained its status, not just in Mahabharata and Indrapat Mahatma, but also in alternative hard and factual documentation, giving historical evidence of its existence through inscriptions and other authentic historical references.

Indraprastha is the first city of our current capital city. The Pandavas not only established this spectacular city, but also ruled over it for long after the tragic war at Kurukshetra. Ptolemy, the celebrated Alexandrine geographer who visited India during the second century AD, has marked in his map of India ‘Daidala’ close to Indrabara (Indrapath) and midway, between Madurai or Mthura, and Batan Kaisara or Sthaneswara (Thaneswar).

In 1954-55, Professor B B Lal, the doyen of Indian Archaeology, carried out trial excavation alongside the passage leading down to Water Gate in the eastern fortification wall. There, he found, from the top downwards, structures ascribable respectively to the Rajput, Gupta, Kushan, Sunga and Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) periods, the last one from 6th-7th century BCE. The trial trench further revealed that below the NBPW levels, there lay the remains of the Painted Grey Ware Culture, of which, however, not much could be exposed because of the superimposed structures.

To the south, between the Purana Qila and the Humayun’s Tomb, there is an open area from which a lot of the Painted Grey Ware was picked up. It was here that the earliest settlement began, going back to ca. 1000 BCE. The settlement shifted a little to the north, to the area now enclosed by Purana Qila.

As per Prof B B Lal, the Painted Grey Ware is the earliest common pottery that connects all Mahabharata sites — Hastinapura, Mathura, Kurukshetra, Kampilya, and Indraprastha. The foregoing evidence clearly establishes that the Purana Qila and its neighbourhood represent Indraprastha of the Mahabharata times. In fact, right up to 1947, there used to be a small village inside the Purana Qila, known as Indrapat, evidently, a name derived from the ancient Indraprastha.

Owing to lack of attention, the ancient structures exposed in the 1954-55 excavation are now in utter ruins. The recent excavations by ASI have been coved, showing no trace, only a signage saying ‘Excavated Site’.

The well-planned city spread over a vast area of current Delhi, had its main center at Purana Quila region. As per Buddhist Texts, this kingdom was known to have had many towns and villages. The most important was Indapatta. It was from here king Dhananjaya Korabya from the Yudhitthila gotta (scion) ruled over his kingdom. ‘’The town of Indapatta was seven leagues in extent. It was noted as one of the three chief cities of the contemporary Jambudipa” (R  E Frykenberg — Delhi Through The Ages, 1986).

Indian history analysts are aware that Purana Quila was the symbol of power. Subsequent rulers or invaders wanted to make it their seat of control. This was to prove their authority over this important region, but more significantly, authority over ancient Bharata’s glorious legacy.

Continuity of Indraprastha is well-documented in the ancient texts as well as Mughal and British era writings. Indraprastha went through neglect, but an inscription of 13th century reveals its existence as a ‘Paragana’. Ain-e-Akbari of Abul Fazal mentions that Indrapratha was taken by Humayun to build his fort. The 1857 Mutiny period map, Delhi Gazetteer of 1883-84, Revenue Survey of India 1877 Map, ‘Imperial City’ records and Notifications of 1911-13, are a few maps named here that record Purana Quila and the areas around it as ‘Indrapath’.

R.E. Frykenberg in his well-researched book Delhi Through The Ages says: “…Memories of this earlier time-and-space context are preserved not only in the epics and the Puranas and in the tales of the Buddhist Jatakas, but also in the oral traditions about the place-names surviving to this day—although the facts in detail may still lie buried underground …”. He further enumerates — “The city was situated on the banks of a river named Yamuna… was fortified with ramparts, having towers ,… and was surrounded by a moat., ….. served by streets and was linked by roads to other contemporary cities of note like Varanasi. The city had gardens, ponds, public monuments and recreation centers (chitrasal). It was inhabited by specialists such as learned Brahmans, wealth-seeking merchants, and skilled craftsmen…..There were market-towns and other satellite townships not far from the chief city of Indraprastha. These were so well known that the Buddha could select them for preaching some of the most important of his discourses.”

How many of us know these facts, or that, Indraprastha had an enviable security set up and broad roads, enabling easy movement of men and trade. Besides Vyasas Mahabharata, the Delhi Archives give interesting details of this coveted center of power. During the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, in 2010, we came across advertisements suggesting that our civilisation is over 5000 years old. Indraprastha is the site of that period. Let us be aware and respect this invaluable heritage. As professor B B Lal says, ‘Neglect Me not, please’, cries out the most ancient Delhi.