Purana Qila, or Dinpanah, the sixth city of Delhi, was built by Humayun on the site of Indraprastha, the first city of Delhi. However, the credit for the expansion and extension of Dinpanah all the way to Firoz Shah Kotla goes to the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri. The name Dinpanah, which translates to ‘world-refuge’, was later changed to Shergarh by Sher Shah when he took over the throne of Delhi. The walls of the fort have three major gateways, all surrounded by moats fed by the Yamuna River. The Bara Darwaza is at the middle of the western wall and forms the main entrance in the west; Humayun Darwaza is named so because Humayun’s tomb is visible from here, and the third is Talaqi Darwaza, also known as the Forbidden Gateway. All three of them are doubled-storeyed structures made of sandstone, brazed with two gigantic towers on both sides. These gates are fine examples of aesthetic military architecture. The inner buildings of the citadel undoubtedly are of the same character. Sadly, out of all these buildings, only a mosque, the Qila-i-Kuhna, lived, as it was sacrosanct. All the courts and pavilions were uprooted by Humayun when he ascended the throne of Delhi the second time. The Qila-i-Kuhna was once Sher Shah’s royal chapel when he resided within the citadel. Interestingly, Percy Brown says, “the arrival of the Afghan ruler Sher Shah, especially in terms of architecture, was seen as a rare instance of the right man appearing at the right moment. This was a period when only an intelligent and aesthetic outlook could save the Islamic style of architecture in upper India, if not from oblivion, at least from a dangerous period of inertia.”PURANA QILA, NEW DELHIThought by ILF Expert Mantasha Kalam