Delhi : The Palimpsest City
Beloved of poets, emperors and merchants
I am the palimpsest city
ascending from my ashes as the phoenix
Indraprashtha and New Delhi
on the same bank of the Yamuna
just three millennia apart
umpteen monuments, mosques and tombs
remnants of the ancient cities,
some still breathing, some crumbling into dust
the Pandavas founded me, legend says
then long centuries of obsolescence
Tomars brought me into prominence, founding Lal Kot,
Prithviraj rebuilt me into Qila Rai Pithora
Illtutmish turned me into Qutub
my first empress Razia ruled me
with her feminine charm
but how could a woman rule in a man's world?
she couldn't carry on for long––
the Slave dynasty ended and Khiljis took over
Allauddin founded the Siri, my third avatar
Tughlaqus raised their own Tughlaqabad
Muhammad Bin Tughlaq stripped me of the last man,
Ferozeshah returned me to my past grandeur,
I reincarnated as 'Kotla Ferozeshah'
Timur invaded and plundered me,
herding my best to Samarkand
Then the Mughals arrived
Humayun built Purana Qila
exactly where Indraprashtha stood once
but was soon chased away to Persia
Shershah Suri built
the magnificent Shermandal
but could not live long to rule
Humayun returned once again
but the muezzin's call brought the emperor
tumbling down the stairs on a cold January winter
Akbar, under the regent Bairam Khan
abandoned me for Agra,
and my glory gradually faded
but Shahjahan could not resist my seduction;
I reincarnated as Shahjahanabad
the emperor’s new capital
his successor Dara Shikoh
was assassinated by his own treacherous brother
Aurangzeb sowed seeds of successive wars
invaders and marauders started hovering over me
as fleas over a rotten fruit
Nadir Shah, Abdali, Marathas plundered me
Rangeela revelled in wine and women
while blood flowed through my streets and alleys;
this was not the end of my woes
after the battle of Patparganj,
I fell into the hands of the British
who plundered me brutally.
One day, the mutinous sepoys came galloping
from Meerut, exhorting Zafar to take me back,
begging him to be their glorious emperor
but indecisive as ever he didn't know what to do
The last Mughal was exiled (to Burma)
and my glory ebbed once again
The British left me for Calcutta
but couldn't resist my charm for long––
they returned to my arms in 1911
His Majesty George V
decreed at the Coronation Durbar––
'Delhi will be the new capital'
One fine morning, Hardinge and Hailey found a habitable hill
not far away from the banks of the Yamuna
where once centuries ago Indraprashtha stood
Then came independence and partition
as two wheels of life ––joy and sorrow
the Kingsway became the largest refugee camp
and when the world slept
at that momentous mid-night hour
I awoke to freedom wrapped in the tri-colour.
From The Seduction of Delhi by Abhay K. (Bloomsbury India, 2014)
