3 history - archaeological survey of india

III-01Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan,

RED FORT, DELHI

A collaborative project of ASI and CRCI

HISTORY

3 HISTORY

Mughal Emperor Shah J ahan, who commanded vastterritories stretching from Kashmir to the Deccanand from the North-West Frontier Provinces toBengal, conceived of a new capital on the banks ofthe river Yamuna and in the vicinity of the erstwhilecapital of preceding Islamic dynasties, the city ofDehli. Agra had been the capital of the Mughalempire during the long and fruitful reigns of Akbarand Jahangir, as well as in the initial years of ShahJahan’s reign. Before the Mughals it had been thecapital city of the rulers of the Lodhi dynasty.

Shah Jahan’s selection of Delhi as the site for thenew capital may have been influenced by a range offactors. For one, its location on the bank of a riverensured abundant water supply as also protection tothe city from attacks from at least one direction. Also,Delhi being upstream from Agra on the river Yamunameant that transport and communication betweenthe two cities could be easily and quickly conducted.Further, since Delhi was not too far from Agra, thetransfer of the capital could be carried out relativelyeasi ly . Further, Delhi had a rel ig io-spir i tuallegitimacy due to the shrines of several Sufi saintsbeing located there. The existence of a canal, builtunder the Khiljis and extended during Akbar’s reign,may have been a contributory factor in deciding theexact site for the city and the Fort.1 Shah Jahan hadthis canal repaired and extended upto the chosen site.

The foundation for the palace in Delhi was laid onthe night of Friday, the 25th of Zi’l- Hijja, in the12th year of the auspicious reign, corresponding to1048 (29 April 1639).2 Ustad Ahmad and UstadHamid were the architects in charge of planning andexecuting the construction of the royal palace. They,in turn, were supervised by the governor of Delhisuba (province)3. Construction began on Friday, 9 thMuharram/23 rd Urdi Bahisht of the said year (i.e.,13 May 1638) . On 24th Rabi-u l -awwal/20thFarwardin, AH 1058, the work was completed, andin consultation with astronomers, 24th Rabi-ul-awwal/3rd Farwardin, AH 1058 (18 April 1648) wasselected as the auspicious date for the emperor toshift to his new palace, Quila-i-Surkh [‘red fort’].4

The construction of the Red Fort at Delhi cost Rs.60 lakh and took 9 years, 2 months and some days5

to be completed. Till 1857, the Red Fort at Delhi

From top to bottom:

Plate 3.1: Delhi Gate, 1857-58 (see the crenellationsof the barbican); Robert and Harriet Tytler;Oriental and India Office Collection;

Plate 3.2: Delhi Gate, 1890s (the crenellations ofthe barbican replaced by bunkers, foreground withmounds of debri); Lala Deen Dayal; CurzonCollection- Oriental and India OfficeCollection.

Plate 3.3: The Diwan-i 'Am from the west

(top right), The imperial jharoka in the Diwan-i 'Am (bottom right), 1840s; Mazhar ‘Ali Khan;Oriental and India Office Collection.

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was the seat of the Mughal emperor.

Over the preceding centuries, India had come to playa dominant role in the intra-Asian trade network,due, in part, to its strategic location. Also, Indiaproduced almost all the goods and commodities thatwere in demand in world trade. Indian cotton textileswere highly in demand in Southeast Asia where theywere preferred to Red Sea bullion as a means ofexchange – even the price of commodities was decidedin terms of Indian cotton. Gujarat , the mainproducer of cotton, thus became prominent. It wasnot possible to invest in the spices of Southeast Asiawithout Indian cotton, leading to a preponderanceof Gujarati merchants as powerful intermediaries inthe trans-Asian exchange. Malabar pepper and easilyprocurable cinnamon from Sri Lanka were much indemand in the Red Sea region. The spices producedby Indonesia and Malaysia were also much more easilyaccessible to Indian merchants than to Arabs.

Plate 3.4: Naubat Khana,1857-58 (the Diwan-i-Amforecourt was enclosed by an arcade,the principle entrance was throughthe Naubat/ Naqqar Khana) ;Oriental and India OfficeCollection.

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Indian ships thus carried cotton textiles to SoutheastAsia, exchanging it for spices, carrying these all theway to the Red Sea ports, exchanging them forbullion which they then brought back to India. Therewas an unprecedented inflow of bullion into theIndian economy at the time due to heavy exportsand minimal imports, a further testimony to thecommanding role played by the Indian subcontinentin Asian trade from the tenth to the fifteenthcenturies. A growing number of Indian merchantswere permanently stationed at Arab, Persian and EastAfrican ports.

With the annexation of Gujarat and other prosperousports, the Mughal rulers were able to command andchannellise unprecedented resources due to themassive influx of bullion from overseas trade,combined with an efficient, sophisticated andeffective military-revenue administration.

The Fort PalaceT The boundary walls of the fort form a shape

that is not totally -

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symmetrical. This is because thefo r t was bu i l t ad j acen t toSalimgarh fort. It is possible thatSalimgarh, which was used as aga r r i son a t the t ime ,complemented the Red Fort’splanning and function: since theeastern s ide of the Red Fortconta ined a l l the p r iva t eapartments, the Salimgarh garrisonmay have played a significant rolein defending this part of the fort.

The fort has six arched gateways,each of which had a d is t inctfunction. The Lahori Gate andDelhi Gate were for ceremonialentries and exits and for the useof the gene ra l pub l i c . TheKhizrabad Gate, under the KhasMahal, was for the emperor’spersonal use, especia l ly whenembarking on a boat journey onthe Yamuna. The fort has twenty-one burjs, of which 14 are roundand 7 octagonal.

Plate 3.7: Red Fort Map 1850;source Shahjahanabad/ Old Delhi,Tradition and Colonial Change;Ehlers, Eckart and Thomas Krafft,1993.

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The principles of symmetry and hierarchy mark muchof the plan of the Red Fort. In terms of symmetry,a clearly discernible central axis cuts through thecentre of the Lahori Gate, Chhatta Bazaar, the NaqqarKhana forecourt, Naqqar Khana, the Diwan-i-Amforecourt, the Diwan-i-Am and the throne therein,the garden of the Rang Mahal, the Rang Mahal.Outside the fort, the main street of the city, ChandniChowk also runs in a straight line on this very axis,which finally ends at the Fatehpuri mosque. Off thecentral axis ran a number of other streets. A street(at the centre of which ran a 4 gaz wide canal)perpendicular to the central axis terminated at theDelhi Gate. The point at which these two axes metwas marked by a hauz (tank) in the centre of theNaqqar Khana forecourt.

Plate 3.8: Shahjahanabad Map 1850;source Shahjahanabad/ Old Delhi,Tradition and Colonial Change;Ehlers, Eckart and Thomas Krafft,1993

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This north-south street continued north, past theNaqqar Khana forecourt to the Salimgarh gateway.Along the northern part of this street were locatedthe imperial stables (astabal), while the southern partof this street (emerging from the Delhi Gate) wasflanked on both sides by arcaded rows of shops.The imperial private chambers along the waterfront,on the eastern side of the fort, lay perpendicular tothe central axis.

Thus, a walk along the central axis would take thevisitor from fully public spaces (Chhatta Bazaar,Rastah Dilli Darwaza, the Naqqar Khana forecourtwhich was a gathering place for petty officials) to aslightly more rarefied but accessible space (the Diwan-i-Am forecourt) on to semi-private spaces (where onlyhigh nobles and dignitaries were allowed, such asthe Rang Mahal, the Diwan-i- Khas and the ShahBurj). The demarcation along the vertical axis was inthe form of significant perpendicular intersections

like the high fortification wall (and later the barbicanof Lahori Gate), the imposing (visually and audibly)Naqqar Khana and the arcades that separated theDiwan-i-Am court from the courtyard behind it.Even w i th in the Diwan- i -Am, spaces werehierarchically demarcated by railings of stone, silverand gold, designating the distance that people ofdifferent ranks were to maintain from the throne.Thus, during public audiences, the Diwan-i-Am waswitness to a hierarchical progression along the centralaxis in the arrangement of attendees, culminatingwith the emperor on his throne. Another dimensionof hierarchy apparent in the Red Fort is that somepublic structures were built of ordinary masonry andsome of red sandstone, while public structures ofimperial significance had touches of marble; theimperial private chambers were made entirely ofmarble.

Clockwise from bottom left:

Plate 3.9: Diwan-i-Khas, 1817-1852(extensive use of textiles on the royalpavilions); Ghulam Ali Khan; Orientaland India Office Collection.

Plate 3.10: Diwan-i-Khas, early 20th C(junipers in the green lawns, atransformed open space); ASI

Plate 3.11: Diwan-i-Khas, late 20th C(bushes with topiary work in greenlawns, altered open space); ASI

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Gardens were central to the planning and layout ofthe Red Fort. The Mughals inherited their penchantfor gardens from their ancestors who brought to thesubcontinent West Asian imperial traditions ofconceiving gardens virtually to represent paradiseon earth. This conception included shade- and fruit-g iv ing trees , f lowers of vary ing colours andfragrances, and flowing water. The Mughals addedto this the principle of symmetry.

The Hayat Bakhsh garden did not just aestheticallyarrange flora, but incorporated built structures thatcomplemented the garden and added to its beauty.The water channels, fountains, tanks, Sawan andBhadon pavilions (which were decorated with inlayand stone work and illuminated with lamps at night)and intersecting pathways heightened the pleasuresthat the garden had to offer to each of the five senses.Adjacent to this garden was yet another one, calledMehtab Bagh (‘moonlight garden’), at the centre ofwhich was a red sandstone building called Lal Mahal.There is also reference to gardens such as Bagh-i-Angoor (‘grape garden’) and a garden between theMumtaz Mahal and Asad Burj. Small gardens are also

said to have existed within the courtyards in theresidential quarters. The city of Shahjahanabad, too,was dotted with large, spacious gardens.

The Red Fort combines influences of diverse origins,such as indigenous Indian archi tectura l anddecorative forms and European techniques andstyles: for instance the Bangla roof, the chaukhandis,the relief work, the foliated arches and numerousother influences of subcontinental origin; andbaluster column (as argued by Ebba Koch) andItalian inlay techniques and motifs of Europeanorigin (the figure of Orpheus in the Diwan- i-Amjharokha). From Jahangir’s reign, growing inlandforays by European traders brought with themspecimens of European art and skills. It was theEuropeans who introduced glass mirrors to theMughals, who had till then relied on highly polishedtin from Aleppo (Syria). Such glass mirrors werewidely used for decoration in some chambers of theRed Fort. The influence of the Mughals’ CentralAsian nomadic ancestry was reflected perhaps in theopen nature of the building constructed by them –partitions between the buildings and within the

Clockwise from bottom right:

Plate 3.12: East face of the Red Fort,1840s; Mazhar ‘Ali Khan; Oriental andIndia Office Collection

Plate 3.13: Screen with Scales ofJustice in the Khas Mahal(1845-1907);Beglar-Joseph David ArchaeologicalSurvey of India Collections

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buildings were created using curtains and tenting.Paintings and literary evidence suggest that large clothcanopies were extended beyond the pavilions tocreate large, sheltered areas. The continued usage oftents and fabrics in these built structures appears tohave been a survival from their erstwhile nomadicdays. This custom, may also have survived due tothe high temperatures in the Indian subcontinentwhich were not conducive to closed housing. Islamic/West Asian principles, too, were represented in theemphasis on symmetry, the stress on flowing waterchannels and lush paradisiacal gardens.

The Fort thus encapsulates and expresses visuallythe history of the Mughals: their descent fromChaghtai and Timurid stock, the influences imbibedin West Asia, the foundation of an empire in Indiathat was based on heterodox principles and a tolerantreligious policy, the absorption of local practices andinfluences, and the assimilation of influences fromthe growing presence of the ‘ firangi’ (European).

The conception and construction of the Red Fort atDelhi occurred at a point in Mughal imperial historywhen the emperor was at the apex of a well-organised, powerful, revenue-military administration.The reign of Shah Jahan, appears to have been thezenith of Mughal rule and power in the Indiansubcontinent. This command over resources andpower was crucial for the emperor to execute withoutinterruptions and as planned.

The Red Fort at Delhi, in its grand scale, lavishornamentation and rigorously implemented planningis testimony to this. Behind the robust appearanceof Shah Jahan’s reign, however, there were signs ofimminent decline. Historians have cited dilutions inthe military-administrative structure during ShahJahan’s reign. High mansab ranks were given out,but the actual number of troops and horses to bemaintained by the holder of such ranks was oftenreduced. This was due to the growing inability ofthe revenue machinery to extract from each jagir asmuch revenue as the state had assessed it to be worth.

By Aurangzeb’s reign, this decline had become quietdeeply entrenched. He tried to counter it by cutting

state expenditure and issuing strict injunctions tohis subjects to practice frugality. In his personal lifetoo Aurangzeb followed strict asceticism. Due tofinancial stress on the state, life within the palacewas also affected. For example, the naqqarah-bandwhich had earlier been played throughout the dayon the emperor’s birthday was now to be played onlyat fixed intervals. Court patronage of music wasdiscontinued as were musical performances. Inaddition, perhaps in order to please the conservativesections of his nobility, Aurangzeb decreed that thepractice of darshan (i.e. the appearance of the Mughalemperor from the balcony of the Musamman Burjfacing the bank of the Yamuna river bank, wherecrowds gathered to see him) was idolatrous andhence, it was discontinued.

In Aurangzeb’s reign came the first alterations tothe palace: the construction of barbicans in front ofthe two main gates (Lahori Gate and Delhi Gate) ofthe palace wall and the construction of the MotiMasjid (c. 1658-63) in the private quarters of theemperor. The construction of barbicans in front ofthe two gates changed the entrance route into thepalace, making it circuitous and indirect. Shekhar-Mukherji argues that this mitigated the effect of thetwo central axes that ran through the palace and thecity of Shahjahanabad. The physical presence of thebarbicans can perhaps be interpreted as the beginningof a growing distance between the palace and its city,between the emperor and his subjects, at the heartof which was the growing sense of insecurity aboutthe emperor’s reign.

Further, the circuitous entry altered the layout of

Plate 3.14: Barbican of the Lahori Gate, 1857-58; Robert andHarriet Tytler; Oriental and India Office Collection

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the gardens in front of the palace walls and ate upinto most of the garden area, points out Shekhar-Mukherj i . The introduction of the barbicans,however, was a response to military exigencies andthe weakening hold of the Mughal empire upon itsconstituent parts. The construction of the MotiMasjid, however, did not greatly affect the plan ofthe fort, asserts Shekhar-Mukherji, since it stood inits own private and walled court, but it may havedisrupted the boundary and entry into the HayatBakhsh garden.

During the re ign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707) ,Salimgarh was used as a state prison. It was here thatthe princes Murad Bakhshj and Sulaiman Shikoh werekept prisoners before they were shifted to Gwalior.

Meanwhile, the weakening administrative structureallowed local elements to assert themselves and innearly all the provinces of the empire, there aroseunrest and often, rebellion (as in the case of the Sikhs,the Jats, the Satnamis and the Marathas). By his deathin 1707, the treasury was empty and the ‘emperor’had become a figurehead.

Aurangzeb’s successors failed to arrest or reverse thedec l ine and d i s in t eg ra t ion o f the Mugha ladministrative structure. Thus the eighteenth centurywas for Shahjahanabad and its palace and populace acentury of degeneration. The palace had beenuninhabited by the emperor for thirty years untilJahandar Shah (who succeeded Aurangzeb’s sonBahadur Shah) entered the Red Fort in 1712. He ruledfor scarcely a year before he was murdered andreplaced by Farukhsiyar. The disarray of the Mughalstate and finances was reflected in the palace as well,the silver ceiling of the Rang Mahal is said to havebeen replaced with a copper one in order to raisefunds. Shekhar-Mukherji concludes that in such astate of affairs, other parts of the palace too wouldnot have received the kind of maintenance, repairand lavish decorations that they would have in theyears of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.

After a few more puppet rulers propped up bycompeting factions of nobles, Muhammad Shahacceded to the Mughal throne in 1719. He had a deepinterest in the arts. He acquired the moniker ‘Rangila’

(the Colourful) due to his skill as a writer andcomposer and his passion for the arts. However, hedid not take an equal interest in reforming theadministration and reviving the empire. In 1737Shahjahanbad was attacked by the Marathas led byBaji Rao Peshwa but the Mughals managed to thwartthe offensive. The attack burdened the already weakimperial finances and led to a further loosening ofthe nominal hold that the Mughal emperor had onhis territories, allies and nobles.

The internal weaknesses of the empire left itvulnerable to external attack too, and in 1739 thiscame in the form of Nadir Shah, the Persian emperor.He easily defeated the Mughal army and plunderedthe Red Fort of its riches, including the famedPeacock Throne. He moved into the imperial privatequarters relegating the emperor, Muhammad Shah,to the Shah Burj. As Shekhar-Mukherji contends,this was a turning point in the history of the RedFort, apart from being a turning point in the historyof the Mughals. For the palace, it was the first timethat the private quarters of the palace were no longerthe Mughal emperor’s private quarters, but insteadwere open to a plunderer who needed a place to stay.

Nadir Shah’s sack of Delhi and the large-scale killingsaltered the spirit of Shahjahanabad. At the end of th ree months , Nad i r Shah l e f t .Muhammad Shah the emperor of a destroyed cityand a disintegrating empire. The century thatfollowed witnessed frequent attacks and plunderingraids by armies from neighbouring regions, such asthe Marathas, Jats, Afghans, Gujars and Sikhs. TheRed Fort was not the focus of these attacks butShekhar-Mukherji asserts that a few stray cannonballs are known to have struck the palace at this time.

Muhammad Shah’s successor, Ahmad Shah (r. 1748-1754) built a wooden mosque called Chobi Masjid,between the Diwan-i-Am forecourt and the imperialgardens. His successor, Alamgir II witnessed thecrippling invasion of Shahjahanabad by Ahmed ShahDurrani and then by the Marathas. He was keptvirtually a prisoner in his palace by his prime ministerand was finally murdered there in 1759. His son, AliGahar, had already escaped from the fort bydescending down the Fort walls using a rope andescaping onto the sandy riverbank. By this period,

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the area around the Shah Burj had become a crampedliving quarter for adult princes who did not have themeans to support themselves.

The Marathas and the Jats seized the opportunityoffered by the vacuum on the Mughal throne andattacked the palace. Heavy gunfire damaged thebuildings on the eastern wall of the fort. Theplundering armies stole precious decorative materialsfrom the palace. Till 1771, rival factions continuedto place puppet rulers on the throne in Delhi. In themeantime, Ali Gahar proclaimed himself emperorShah Alam. He tried to assert control over hiserstwhile territories and win allies but was defeatedin 1761 (Bihar), 1764 (Buxar) and 1765 (Kora) by theBritish. Shah Alam’s defeat led him to sign the treatywhich gave the British the diwani of Bengal, Biharand Orissa, and left him under British protection.In 1771, Shah Alam succeeded in recapturingShahjahanabad and the palace by joining hands withthe Marathas, giving away the bulk of his territoriesin return for their support. This in itself is afascinating development: Shah Alam preferred to giveaway his lands in Allahabad and Kora in order togain the imperial capital and palace. This perhapsdemonstrates that to a man who had yearned to berecognized as the Mughal emperor, being in controlof Shajahanabad and the Red Fort was essential tolegitimising his claim.

With the relinquishing of territories to the Marathaswhat remained with Shah Alam was a small area inthe vicinity of Delhi. The Rohillas, Jats and Marathascontinued to mount attacks on Shahjahanabad. Afterestablishing itself in the eastern provinces, theEnglish East India Company (EEIC) realized thatpolitical power could maximize trading profits. In1803, Shah Alam asked the British for help incountering the Marathas and, in the Battle of Delhithat followed, the British defeated the Marathas.Earlier, Shah Alam’s authority and image had beendealt a severe blow by Ghulam Qadir, a RohillaAfghan, who had dug up the floors and gardens ofthe imperial quarters in the belief that immensetreasure lay buried there, and had subsequentlybl inded Shah Alam in the Diwan-i-Khas andimprisoned him in the Salimgarh fort. . While theMughal emperor’s inability to protect his privatequa r t e r s f rom in t rus ion had a l r e ady beendemonstrated, this incident showed that the emperor

was now incapable of protecting even his own personfrom assault.

Akbar Shah, who acceded to the throne in 1806,introduced several changes in the outer boundariesof the Red Fort. He built masonry bridges, in theBritish style, over the moat that surrounded theLahori Gate and Delhi Gate barbicans. A balconywith a curved Bangla roof was added to theMusamman Burj. The Asad Burj, which had fallendue to bombardment, was rebuilt. A two-storeyedpavilion with a well-laid-out garden was built byAkbar Shah in Salimgarh. That the king turned toSalimgarh to create a pleasure garden perhapsindicates that the imperial gardens of the Red Fortno longer offered the pleasures that they originallyhad and that there was little space available to theking to create a pleasing garden within the palace.The simultaneous decay and overcrowding wasmanifested in the smaller gardens and courts in theimperial private quarters and harem area falling intoneglect. Unsuitable structures were built on thegardens and fountains in front of the Rang Mahal.

With the Battle of Delhi began a new phase in thehistory of the Red Fort and northern India. Thesuccessful British commander Lord Lake was

Plate 3.15: Diwan-i-Khas, c.1887; untitled

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accorded ceremonial honours and invested with titlesin the Diwan-i-Khas after the Battle of Delhi. Whereonce crucial decisions used to be taken by ane l abora t e appa ra tus o f Mugha l gove rnancetransformed into a site where the indispensabilityof the British to the survival of the dodderingMughal rule was recognized. The emperor’s civil andcriminal jurisdiction now became confined to the RedFort – what had earlier been just his personal domain.The British took over the administration of theMughal territories and installed a Resident at theMughal court. The Mughal ruler was now retitled“King of Delhi” rather than “Emperor”, and becamedependent on pension from the British.

The strict division between public and private spacesand the expression of hierarchy through thearrangement of and interaction between spaces wasgradually violated during this period. As theirsovereignty and resources received blow after severeblow, the Mughal rulers were unable to invest in themaintenance, repair or decoration of the spaces,buildings and gardens within the palace or adapt itto changing needs without diluting its beauty. Thepalace became overpopulated and minor buildingswere built within it to accommodate the swellingnumbers of princes and other dependants who hadno resources to live independently.

The imperial private spaces soon lost their sanctityand opulence. European travellers who came to thecourt in the early nineteenth century were allowedaccess all the way till the Diwan-i-Am. Travellers andtourists could enter the innermost chambers of theMughal imperial domain even while it was inhabitedby the Mughal ruler. That the private domain wasnow thrown open to “tourists” while the Mughalruler still lived in it, marked the beginning of thetransformation of the palace into a relic of the past.

British control over the Mughals created a period ofpeace and stability in the Shahjahanbad area. Therewas an efflorescence of culture in the half-centurythat followed and interaction with the Europeanswho had begun to settle in the city. This period wasmarked by uninhibited interaction between Britishofficers and missionaries and the people ofShahjahanabad. According to Narayani Gupta,European facades and upper storeys were added tobuildings along arterial roads, while the Mughal-period ground floors were retained, creating a curiousmix. Urdu flourished and evolved as a literarylanguage and a medium of communication. Courtpatronage of the arts continued, though on a smallerscale. In 1837 Akbar Shah was succeeded by his sonBahadur Shah II who is known for his love of poetryand who wrote under the pen name ‘Zafar’. The

Plate 3.16: Diwan-i-Khas, c.1858;untitled; Source: Lombardmaps

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court poet, Zauq, and Mirza Asadullah Khan ‘Ghalib’wrote composed their renowned Urdu verses inDelhi at this time. The growth of printing presseshad made books cheaper and easily available,promoting this l i terary eff lorescence and thecirculation of newspapers in Urdu. The Delhi Collegewas set up to impart Western scientific education inUrdu, throwing up several bright scholars who roseto fame the world over. With the building of Englishgardens and churches, along with a bank, a hospitaland a tank, the appearance of Shahjahanabadgradually changed in a way that detracted from theoriginal principles of symmetry and hierarchy thathad positioned the Red Fort at the height of thevisual and spatial landscape.

After several decades of the “English Peace”, tensionsthat had been simmering erupted. The Mughal ruler,though a mere figurehead, had continued to residewithin the Red Fort at Delhi . Contemporarydescriptions and British official documents indicatethat the living quarters inside the Fort were burstingat the seams with several generations of male andfemale royal descendants living there. There was muchconstruction activity and vast areas of the Fort,notably the southern half, took on the appearanceof an overcrowded, poor locality. With the British

controlling the revenues of the Mughal territories,the royal descendants had to survive on the stipendsthat the British paid them. Their impoverishmentand the humiliation of being dependent on theBritish created a high-tension situation within theRed Fort. Other groups whose welfare dependedupon the Mughal state (military and administrativeelite, poets, courtesans, artists, artisans, certainmerchants) were also frustrated by the “EnglishPeace”.

To meet military requirements, the British built agarrison at Daryaganj and a magazine and powderroom near the Kela Ghat Gate of the city. Theyreplaced the river front area chosen by the Mughalsfor residences and gardens of nobles and princesw i th European- s t y l e u t i l i t a r i an bu i ld ings .Shahjahanabad, approached by boat in this period,now offered a transformed first sight to the visitor:an anarchic mix of structures and styles wherebeautiful mansions and gardens in a coherent Mughalstyle had once existed. A part of the British armyalso began to live in the palace.

When Akbar Shah’s son tried to murder the BritishResident, the British at once found an excuse to build

Plate 3.17: Mussaman burjand Diwan-i- Khas, 1857-58;John Murray; Oriental andIndia Office Collection

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permanent accommodat ion fo r the Br i t i shCommandant of the Pa lace Guard . Now, assuggested by Shekhar-Mukherji, two separate socialand cultural systems began to function inside thepalace – the British and the Mughal. The upper roomsin the gateway of Lahori Gate were modified toprovide accommodation for British guards and theircommanders, and the veranda and arcades there wereinfilled. This facilitated surveillance over the Mughaloccupants, since the top of Lahori Gate offered abird’s-eye view of the entire palace. British manningof the main and ceremonial entrance into the Mughalruler’s palace was another stark demonstration ofwhere real political power now lay.

However, Bahadur Shah did manage to undertakesome new construction and repairs in this period.The red sandstone arcades, called ‘gulal bari’, liningthe Diwan-i-Am forecourt were repaired. A smallmosque was constructed south of Chhatta Bazaar.In the Hayat Bakhsh gardens, two pavilions werebuilt: Zafar Mahal and Hira Mahal. The architectureand the planning of Hira Mahal was testimony tothe highly diminished power of the Mughal emperor:It lay at the head of the subsidiary channels at theHayat Bakhsh and thus drew attention away fromthe central axes of the garden. It also interfered with

the original number of pavilions planned by ShahJahan, thereby disturbing the sense of symmetry andspaciousness of the Hayat Bakhsh. The Zafar Mahalwas built in the centre of the Hayat Bakhsh within atank that had existed since Shah Jahan’s rule. Thistank was deepened and the unique building made init. Bahadur Shah tried to revive the water channels inthe Hayat Bakhsh, and for this a well was sunk withinthe garden in 1840; however, the garden, it is said,continued to be uninteresting. Further, the ZafarMahal obstructed the unbroken view of the centralaxes, planned by the Shahjahani architects. BahadurShah also built a fountain of red sandstone inMehtab Bagh.

Several alterations in the palace’s usage and buildingsdiluted its beauty and the principles that hadgoverned its layout. A large building was built in thesouth-western corner of the Naqqar Khana forecourtwhich jutted out asymmetrically. The Diwan- i-Amforecourt lay bare and unadorned and its arcades wereused as stables and storage spaces. Structures in aIndo-European style came up within the palace toaccommodate the princes. The house of the heir-apparent was built right behind the Diwan-i-Am.Another prince made alterations to the Choti Baithakof the Rang Mahal which greatly diminished its

Plate 3.18: Lahori Gate, 1857-58; Robert and HarrietTytler; Oriental and IndiaOffice Collection

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beauty. The placing of the Darya Mahal too markeda departure from the carefully planned sequence ofroyal pavilions on the riverfront. The entrance axisfrom the Delhi Gate was occupied by the princes forresidential purposes.

Contemporary official correspondence of the Britishreflected their suspicion and anxiety about theconspiracies brewing among the “classes of sullateens[salatins or princes]” who lived in the Red Fort. TheBritish felt that the Red Fort was a hotbed of intrigueand a threat to the stability of the British enterprisein the region. With its high fortification walls andcommanding location, the Red Fort had the potentialto become a stronghold if the rebels seized controlof i t . They thus dec ided to move the roya ldescendants out of the fort premises. Some officialseven favoured the removal of the king and his retinuefrom the Red Fort to the Qutb area. As evident fromofficial correspondence, Prince Mirza Fakruddin hadbeen recognised by the EEIC Governor-General asthe heir to the throne as early as 1852 through anagreement one of whose clauses was that the kingand all the residents of the palace would vacate it.6

The British attitude towards the Mughal king andhis palace became increasingly impatient, oftenverging on insolence. Through means subtle andovert, the British made it apparent that they werenot inclined to ensure the health of Mughal rule.They often turned down the Mughal ruler’s demandsand breached court etiquette. In one such instance,the Acting British Resident, Francis Hawkins, wentinto the Diwan-i-Am forecourt and even the Diwan-i-Khas forecourt on horseback while the emperorwas away. Several Europeans also reported to haveentered the Jami Masjid and the Diwan-i-Khas with

Clockwise from bottom left:

Plate 3.19: Lahori Gate, 1857-58; John Murray;Oriental and India Office Collection

Plate 3.20: The Red Fort from the Jama Masjid,(1846-1912); Saché, John Edward; Oriental andIndia Office Collection

Plate 3.21: Lahori Gate, 1880’s; untitled

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their shoes on and seated themselves on the crystalseat therein – all highly offensive to the Mughalemperor and the populace of Shahjahanabad. WhenThomas Metcalfe recommended in 1835 that Rs 5,000be set aside monthly for the maintenance and repairof the Red Fort, the Council of the EEIC draggedits feet over the actual sanction of this grant.

British fears proved to be justified, for when theuprising of 1857 broke out, the incensed residentsof Shahjahanabad were quickly drawn in. TheMughal emperor emerged as the symbolic leader ofthe resistance against the British and the Red Fort,as his residence, and the erstwhile palace of the long-reigning Mughal dynasty, emerged at the heart ofthe revolt.

Starting from Meerut, the uprising against the Britishgovernment spread rapidly to other towns of northIndia. Not just soldiers but people from all walksof life came to Shahjahanabad, declared BahadurShah Zafar their leader and congregated on the banksof the Yamuna, seeking entry into the city. TheBritish Resident, Captain Douglas, from the balconyof the Red Fort, asked them to leave. The soldiers,however, managed to gain entry into Shahjahanbadand also into the Fort to meet the king. Theyconvinced him to join the revolt as its leader. This

done, the rebels embarked on an attack on allrepresentations of British authority. They killedCaptain Douglas and the Commissioner, SimonFraser, drove out other British officials gathered onthe r idge in the north and seized control ofShahjahanabad and its defence. The Red Fortremained the nerve centre of the uprising for severaltense months. The artillery was placed in the Diwan-i-Am and the cavalry in the Mehtab Bagh7.

In these months, the etiquette and patterns ofmovement that the palace had hitherto been witnessto were overturned. The protection of the river-facingside being essential, the newly arrived British trainedsoldiers were stationed there at all times to defendthe palace and the city. Not accustomed to Mughalcustoms or etiquette these soldiers often committedappalling violations of time-honoured traditions ofdeference towards the king. These developmentsdamaged the buildings and gardens of the palaceand also, overstepped the boundaries betweenprivate/imperial and public spaces, as conceived inthe palace’s original plan and function. Interestingly,as pointed out by Mukherji, the Revolt also restoredto several buildings of the palace their originalfunction because decisions of importance once againwere centred on the palace. So, the Diwan-i-Am, theDiwan-i-Khas and Salimgarh once again became sitesof political decision-making and defense.

Plate 3.22: Red Fort Map,Archaeological Area-protectedin 1914; ASI

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In September 1857 the British attacked Delhi withthe intention of reconquering it. They broke throughKashmire gate and into the city, capturing large partsof it. This left the Fort as the last defense against theBritish onslaught. There was firing from both sides.The British bombarded the southern part of the RedFort and the imperial apartments with cannon-balls,while the rebels responded with gunfire from thebastions of the Fort. The Military Secretary wrote tothe Chief Commissioner of Punjab: “The king isreported to be in the Palace still – if so, his residencemust be a very warm one, for our shells are pouringinto the whole length of it from North to South”8.Eventually, on 20th September British made their wayinto the Fort through the Lahori Gate. There theyfound significant arms and ammunition and soonconquered the Fort. With the capture of the Red Fortand thus of Shahjahanabad, the British won apowerful strategic and symbolic victory. As suspectedby the British, the emperor had already escaped fromthe Red Fort – the abode of the Mughal emperorsfor more than two centuries with his family.

The uprising gave the British an excuse to implementmuch that they had planned in order to make theircontrol of Delhi more secure but had been unableto do earlier due to the civil unrest it might havecaused. They captured Mughal king, in flight, andbrought him to the Red Fort. There they put him ontrial before the European Military Commission.Ironically, the site of the trial was the Diwan-i-Khas.The king was declared guilty of treason, rebellionand murder and banished to Rangoon in Burmaalong with his retinue. The palace was looted, theloot ing be ing g iven off ic ia l sanct ion by theappointment of “prize agents” who assessed andsystematically removed valuables from the palace andthe city.

The events of 1857 marked a major watershed forthe Indian subcontinent as well. The British werenow the unchallenged rulers of vast territories anddeclared Calcutta as the capital of their empire. TheIndian empire was now to be governed directly bythe British Crown (1 November, 1857 onwards) andthe EEIC was divested of much of its erstwhilepower. Official correspondence of the period indicatesthat the British realised that the location of the RedFort on an elevation, along with its sturdy high walls,

gave it a commanding position over the city whichmade it especially suited to being a garrison. TheRed Fort was considered by the British army astrategically valuable possession.9

The British in 1863 demolished vast tracts ofbuildings outside and inside the Fort. Inside theFort, only a handful of buildings were retained,mainly those along the central axis and the imperialprivate chambers. These were the Shah Burj, Diwani Khas, Moti Masj id, Hammam, Rang Mahal ,Mumtaz Mahal, Asad Burj, Diwan-i-Am, ZafarMahal, Sawan and Bhadon pavilions, Hira Mahal,the Naqqar Khana, Lahori Gate, Delhi Gate and thefortifications. The courts, arcades and water featuresthat connected and characterised these buildings weredone away with. It was not just the overcrowdedliving quarters that were demolished but even thestables, the royal kitchen, the harem (with itscourtyards and gardens), the colonnades, the canaland other structures of the Fort. The Mehtab Baghand Hayat Bakhsh gardens were filled up. The

Plate 3.23: Delhi Gate, 1911 (as on the photo‘The king emperor leaving the fort at thefamous Delhi gate on his way to the durbarcamp’); untitled

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buildings that did survive were looted and strippedof every last valuable item. The gilded copper domesof the Moti Masjid and Musamman Burj and of thechhatris atop the Diwan-i-Khas were pulled downand sold. What had been conceived of, laid out andused for two centuries as a palace was now reducedto a military fortification. The Fort probably tookon the appearance of a vast stretch of empty land,dotted with a few structures. Numerous barrack likestructures were subsequently built within the fortprecinct.

In addition, perhaps the long association of thebuilding with a dynasty that had ruled the Indiansubcontinent for nearly three centuries may have ledthe British to occupy it and appropriate it as a symbolof their own success and power.

From being the capital city, Shahjahanabad wasreduced to a provincial town. Symbols of Mughalpower (mosques, serais, gardens) were demolishedand supporters of the uprising were persecuted.Conversely, those who had remained loyal to theBritish were generously rewarded. Shahjahanabadwas given a new appearance with the construction ofnew structures, a clock tower at the centre of ChandniChowk, a Town Hall on the main street of ChandniChowk – all typical of a Victorian town of the period.Within the Fort, in the area north of Chhatta Bazaarbuildings were constructed to house officers’families. Barracks and wash houses were put up inan unimaginative style. The Fort walls now hadworkshops and godowns of the executive engineerand the barrack master.10 Chhatta Bazaaar became amarket for soldiers’ supplies. The Naqqar Khana wasturned into the staff sergeants’ quarter while theDiwan-i-Am served as a lounge for officers. The RangMahal briefly became a mess for soldiers, whileMumtaz Mahal was first a prison and then a messfor sergeants. The Musamman Burj and Shah Burj,too, appear from photographs, according toMukherji, to have been used as barracks. The ZafarMahal was turned into a swimming pool forofficers. 11 Wash houses and urinals were built infront of the Sawan and Bhadon pavilions.12

The introduction of the railway in Delhi in 1864-5led to further demolition within the Fort and thecity. The railway line entered the Fort throughSalimgarh fort, crossed a newly constructed bridge

and cut across the northern area of the Fort and itswalls to enter Shahjahanabad. The railway did,however, boosted trade and fill the coffers ofmercantile groups.

With the gradual restoration of peace and stability,the opinion that efforts should be made to remedythe wanton destruction of the Red Fort began togain ground. Between 1901 and 1913, much workwas done to arrest the decay of the Fort buildingsand restore whatever possible of its past glory.

By virtue of it having been the palace of the Mughalemperors and central to the events of 1857, the RedFort never faded into oblivion as yet another barrack.Mukherji argues that the Red Fort was a reminder tothe British of their success in 1857 in defeating theMugha l ru l e r . I t was perhaps due to theseassociations that the Red Fort remained integral toBritish coronation durbars. In 1877, a Durbar washeld in Delhi to welcome the Prince of Wales to Indiaand as part of the celebrations, a ball was held at theDiwan-i-Khas. In 1901, John Marshall preparedrecommendations for the conservation of the Fort.He suggested that the eastern row of buildings betaken from the military and protected, and thatgardens be laid out in the open spaces. In 1902, theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI) was established.So, when preparations for the Durbar of 1903 werebeing made, these recommendations were kept inmind. Once more, in this Durbar the buildings ofthe Red Fort saw numerous ceremonies andfunctions that celebrated the British Empire.

However, Marshall’s suggestion that interventionsbe limited to preservation as far as possible was notadhered to. Instead, a policy of restoration wasadopted. Decorations and architectural features weresought to be restored and parts of the Fort that hadbeen removed to other locations were reinstated. In1904, the Shah Burj was damaged in an earthquakeand the ASI had to rebuild it. Excavations werecarried out in the Hayat Bakhsh gardens from 1904-05 onwards. Gordon Sanderson’s suggestion ofp lant ing shrubs to mark the boundar i e s ofcourtyards was implemented. Mukherji questions theviability of this policy on two counts.13 First, thelayout, organisation, visual effect and ambience ofthe original Shahjahani courts could not be achieved

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by the planting of shrubs. Second, to recreate theoriginal dimensions of the courts, as symmetricallyand carefully laid out in the Shahjahani period,shrubs would have to be planted directly on theextant foundations of the boundary walls, and thiswou ld damage these foundat ions . The f i r s tnotification of the site was made under the thenAncient Monuments Preservation Act Number VIIof 1904 and the site was classified as ‘Mughal Groupof Monuments’. The buildings protected under thisnotification were Naubat Khana, Diwan-i-Aam,Mumtaz Mahal, Rang Mahal, Baithak, MussamanBurj, Diwan-i-Khas, Moti Masjid, Sawan and Bhadonpavilions, Shah burj and Hammam.

The Coronation Durbar of 1911 to mark thecoronation of King George V and to lay thefoundations of a new capital city in Delhi is a majorevent in the history of the Red Fort. Since the Fortwas to be the setting of many of the ceremonies andcelebrations associated with the Durbar, efforts toconserve and preserve it took on a new vigour andreceived generous grants. A grand garden party wasplanned at the Fort and in order to suitably host theevent. Military structures were removed from theHayat Bakhsh, the Nahr- i - Bahisht rev ived ,excavations were speeded up and a revitalisation ofthe garden undertaken. The courts in front of theRang Mahal and the Diwan-i-Khas were excavated.The Rang Mahal saw much conservation work while,the Mumtaz Mahal was turned into a museum.

When the King and Queen of England arrived inShahjahanabad, it was by the rai lway l ine viaSalimgarh. They disembarked in the Fort and gave‘darshan’ from the Musamman Burj balcony just asthe Mughals used to do. Crowds had gathered onthe river bank to catch a glimpse of the visitingmonarchs, just as they had in Mughal times. Thisunderlines the significance of the Red Fort to theBritish due to its imperial past as the palace of theemperor of India.

In the decades tha t fo l lowed , the pace o fconservation once again slowed down. The Red Fortwitnessed the last colonial ceremony when the Dukeof Connaught visited in 1921 and inaugurated aPermanent Chamber of Princes in the Red Fort. The

ongoing construct ion of New Delhi and theconcentration of the wealthy and powerful there,south of Shahjahanabad, greatly eroded in the vitalityof the walled city. Space constraints had by now ledto a westward extension of the city and large stretchesof the city walls had been demolished to facilitateexpansion and easy movement.

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Figure 3.24: Plan marking the buffer areas of 100metresand 200 metres, CRCI

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The world wars and the freedom movement in Indiastalled conservation efforts. From the 1930s to 1947,some buildings in the Red Fort were used as high-security cells for alleged war criminals and illegallyfor housing political prisoners, such as Sheel ChandraYajee, Vice-President, All India Forward Bloc in1945.14 On 15 th August 1947 Jawaharlal Nehrustood on the bastions of the Red Fort to deliver ahistoric speech announcing India’s first steps as anindependent nation.

Post independence the Fort transformed from beingthe preserve of a single imperial entity into a precinctwith single ownership but multiple managements andoccupants. While the area notified in 1912 continuedto be under the jurisdiction of the ASI, the ChattaBazaar area came under the Municipal Corporationof Delhi, and the Red Fort was occupied andmanaged by the Indian Army. There was muchbuilding activity in the Army-occupied area throughthe second half of the 20th century.

Indian Army Units in the Red Fort till

2003

1. 14 DOGRA 1949-50

2. 04 GUARDS 1949-51

3. 01 GUARDS 1950-56

4. 02 GUARDS 1951-54

5. 15 KUMAON 1951-52

6. 07 J&K RIFLES 1954-57

7. 03 GUARDS 1956-59

8. 04 GUARDS 1957-59

9. 13 PUNJAB 1958-60

10. 5 SIKH 1959-61

11 4 GRENADIERS 1960-62

12. 1 GUARDS 1961-63

13. 1/1 GARHWAL RIFLES 1962-64

14. 14 PUNJAB 1964-66

15. 03 GRENADIERS 1966-68

16. 02 RAJPUT 1968-71



19. 08 MARATHALI 1975-76

20. 03 KUMAON 1976-79


22. 10 MAHAR 1981-84

23. 05 GARHWAL RIFLES 1984-87

24. 06 DOGRA 1987-90

25. 27 MADRAS 1990-93

26. 14 JAT 1993-96

27. 04 BIHAR 1996-99

28. 07 RAJPUTANA RIFLES 1999-2003

29. 04 SIKH MAY DEC, 2003

The Red Fort was an important tourist site throughthe 20 th century though access was restricted todesignated areas. The outer areas of the fort too cameto be actively used as a seam between the Fort andthe r e s iden t i a l and commerc i a l a r ea s o fShahjahanabad. While the forecourt became the sitefor such uses as vehicle parking for visitors to theRed Fort, bus parking for pilgrims visiting sacredsites in Shahjahanbad ( Sikh Gurdwara, temples,mosques), sports activities (foot ball , cricket,wrestling). One the other hand there were livelihoodactivities like rehearsals by bands, dyers dying clothesand drying them in the area, animal fights (cockfights, goat fights). Events such as circus shows,Ramlila and Dusshera celebrations drew hugegathering. The eastern edge held a weekly bazaar(popularly known as the Chor bazaar) for second-hand goods.

The cultural activities which were held within theFort precinct include an annual Mushaira (a publicfunction for Urdu poetry recitation) and sound andlight shows in the forecourt of the Diwan-i- Khas.On the occasion of the 50 th anniversary of the QuitIndia movement in 1992, five barracks of historicalimportance in Salimgarh fort were protected by anotification under the ASI Act. Also, the Fort and

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Plate 3.24: Red Fort Map-between Delhi Gate andLahori Gate, whenoccupied by the Indianarmy; ASI

the barracks were repaired and an informal gardenwas developed as a memorial to the freedom fighters.The northern gate built by Bahadur Shah II in 1852which had been lying blocked was reopened afterextensive clearance and repairs. The two barracks thathad been used to imprison Shah Nawaz Khan, PremKumar Sahgal , Gurbaksh S ingh Dhi l lon andhundreds of other soldiers of the Indian NationalArmy (Azad Hind Fauj) were also repaired. Effortswere made by the National Archives of India toinstall a permanent exhibition depicting the role ofwomen in the freedom movement. A museum tothe Independence movement was set up in one ofthe barracks in the Red Fort to mark 50 years ofIndependence.

In December 2003 the Indian army handed over theareas in its possession to the Ministry of Tourismand Culture to facilitate the restoration of themonument. In 2002 other parts of the fort were

protected. These buildings were the Asad Burj, watergate, Delhi Gate, Lahori Gate, Jahangir Gate, ChattaBazaar and the entire stretch of fortification walls,bastions and the moat. Thus it was after nearly a 100years of the first notification that the entire site gotprotected.

It was in 1992 that another notification was issuedregulating development within 300 metres ofprotected monuments under which in 2003, activitiesconsidered detrimental to the Fort were removed.In place of what was a vibrant though disorderlyspace out of context parks were laid in the samearea. With the army having left the fort, the fort hastill date large empty barracks and vacant open spaces.Some conservation related institutions have beenmoved into few of the barracks such as the office ofthe Delhi circle of the ASI, Institute of Archaeology.Some of the barracks and later buildings (built bythe Indian army) in Salimgarh are being used as

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END NOTES

1 The Padshahnama of Muhammad Waris, tr. Dr. Yunus Jaffery2 Shahjahan Nama of Inayat Khan, c. 1656, tr. Begley and Desai, p. 4063 Ibid.4 The Shahjahan Nama of Inayat Khan, c. 1656, tr. Begley and Desai, p. 4065 Ibid.6 National Archives of India, F.C., 29 August, 1856, No. 1897 Mukherji, Anisha Shekhar, The Red Fort of Shajahanbad, p. 1928 N.A.I., S.C., 30th October, 1857, No. 819 N.A.I., S.C., 18 Dec., 1857, No.439, p. 21-3110 Ibid. P. 20911 Gupta, Narayani, Delhi Between Two Empires12 Ibid13 Mukherji, Anisha Shekhar, The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad, p. 227.14 National Archives of India, Home, Political, 44/28/45, 1945

accommodation by the security staff (CISF and SIS).

The forecourt of the Red Fort continues to be usedon the two most significant national events namelythe Independence Day celebrations on 15 th Augustand on 26 th January, when the Republic Day Paradeculminates here.

The Red Fort is an indisputable national icon. It isthis position of the fort that makes it hugelyvulnerable to security threats. The immense value ofthe site lies in both its tangible and intangibleheritage. A great challenge lies ahead in conservationof the site and further revitalizing it so that whilethe visitor can experience the rich layers of historyon one hand, on the other the revitalization is inharmony with the tangible and intangible values ofthe site.

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3 history - archaeological survey of india

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