Description

The Purana Qila, which means 'Old Fort' in Hindi is believed to have been first built around 2500 years ago.  However, the fort we see today got a facelift in the 1530's by Humayun. This was his home for ten years until Sher Shah Suri, the Afghan invader, captured the city and exiled Humayun for the following ten years. Suri had the good sense to build massive walls and gates surrounding the fort - a small detail Humayun neglected in his city planning. But despite the new defenses, Humayun was able to reclaim the city after the ten-year exile, only to die the following year by a suspicious fall down the library stairs. 

Akbar the Great succeeded Humayun and moved the capital to Agra. The fort was repurposed, going through several iterations - a prison, a refugee shelter, a military stronghold, and its current function - a tourist attraction. 

I went, naturally, as a tourist. As a side note, if you don't like crowds, you won't like getting there. A good chunk of India's one billion plus population was milling around the street leading up to the fort. There is no way to approach the gate without physically contacting hundreds of people - it's more crowded than Six Flags. Once inside, the chaos fades and is replaced by the quiet reverence of history. The place is immense. All the structures are made of red sandstone. I did a lot of walking between monuments. My final stop was the library where Humayun took his fatal fall. Was it a fall or a push? We'll never know. The only thing that's certain is a man built a city, lost it, got it back, and promptly died.

As I stepped back out into the streets of Delhi I was once again in the middle of the mayhem - horns blaring, vendors yelling, street food sizzling. It was a sharp contrast to the silence of the ruins. Delhi is pulsing with life. Kings die, empires fall, forts crumble, but Delhi endures. 

Photos