About

The ramparts and other buildings which are collectively known as Purana Qila were constructed during the reign of Sher Shah Suri between 1538 and 1545 after demolishing the city founded by Humayun in 1544 - Din-e-panah. Humayun resided here upon his return from Persia in 1555, until his death shortly after. The fort is irregularly oblong in plan, with bastions in corners and along the western rampart. It is roughly 680m long, and 200m broad with a total circumference of about 1.8 km. Its walls rise up to a height of 18m. It has three principal gates - on the South, North, and West, named the Bada Darwaza (Great Gate), Talaqi Darwaza (Forbidden Gate), and Humayun Darwaza (Humayun's Gate). Originally, a moat surrounded the ramparts and was connected to the river Yamuna on the east. Today, the river is about one kilometer further east of the fort.
The fort walls on the west and north feature a number of chambers which were presumably used as shops or stores. There are few original structures still surviving in the fort, the most prominent of which are the Qila-e-Kuhna Masjid, and the Sher Mandal, besides the three gateways to the fort.

The Qila-e-Kuhna Masjid was the congregational mosque of the fort and stands near the eastern wall of the fort. Its name literally means "the mosque of the old fort". It was built by Sher Shah Suri in 1541. It features five arched entrance ways, and has a dome topped by a finial standing on the crenallated roof. There are minor turrets along the front back wall corresponding to the central prayer space, along with octagonal towers fused into the two corners of the rear wall of the mosque. The walls and facades are profusely decorated using red and yellow sandstone, white and black marble, stone carvings, and glazed tiles. There are a large number of jharokhas (windows) projecting from the rear and side of the mosque, as well as smaller ones above the arched entrances on the front. Most of these have balconies with ornate corbels.
The prayer hall measures 51m x 15m, and the centre of the facade rises to a height of 16.5m. The courtyard shows remains of a shallow tank, with a fountain. A second storey, accessed through staircases from the prayer hall, with a narrow passage running along the rectangular hall, provided space for female courtiers to pray, while the arched doorway on the left wall, framed by ornate jharokas, was reserved for members of the royal family.

The Sher Mandal is a double-storeyed octagonal pavilion of red sandstone. Its walls and facets feature inlaid white marble to relieve the monotony of the red sandstone. It is topped by a domed chhatri. Each face of the structure is marked by recessed arches in the centre on each level. The lower storey is mostly solid, with stairs leaing up to the upper floor. It has a cruciform chamber on the second storey, with recesses on its sides. Its interior is decorated with glazed tiles and stucco work with geometric patterns. The pavilion is supposed to have been used by Humayun as his library, and he is believed to have died after falling from its steps in 1556.
Sher Mandal is believed to have been built by Sher Shah Suri about 1541, and is named after him. Its diameter at the base is 16m and its height from the base of the plinth to the top of the parapet is 13.5m.

Bada Darwaza is the western entrance to the fort and was most probably built during Humayun's reign. It is a triple storeyed structure, 20m in height. It has bastions on either side as well as gun slits or oillets which run along the curtain wall on both sides of the gateway. Merlons or kanguras would have originally run along the top of the entire length of the wall, but have now disappeared except for one surviving merlon on top of one of the bastions. The surface ornamentation of the gate consists of inlay patterns in sandstone and marble, some stone carving, and tile work. Jharokhas (windows) and chhatris (pavilions) overlooking the arched entranceway also serve a decorative purpose.

The Talaqi Darwaza is the northern entrance to the fort. It is a tall and imposing structure with the central archway measuring 17m in height. It has entrances on two levels - the lower one being at the level of the water in the moat, and the upper one which must have originally had a causeway or drawbridge across the moat. Decorative features of the gate include sandstone and marble inlay, stone carving, tile work, jharokhas and chhatris. The gate is approached from the inside of the fort via a semi-circular stairwell laid out in the manner of an amphitheatre.

The southern gateway is known as the Humayun Darwaza, but it was probably built or enhanced by Sher Shah, based on a fading inscription in ink that was found in one of the rooms on the upper storey. Like the Talaqi Darwaza, there are entrances at two levels, the lower one at the level of the water, and the upper one which would presumably have been accessible by a causeway or drawbridge. The decorative features of the gate include sandstone and marble inlay, stone carving, and tile work. There are two chhatris (pavilions) which survive largely intact on top of the gate. The decorative merlons on top of this gate were originally present atop both the other gates as well.

There is a baoli or step-well inside the fort, which would have provided water to its residents. The fort is at a height above the adjacent river, which meant that the ground water would have been quite deep. The structure of the well is designed to keep the water covered, keeping it clean and minimizing evaporation. It features a narrow flight of 89 steps, with eight landings going down to a depth of 22m. The position of each landing is marked by recessed niches on the side walls. A series of gradually receding arches form the roof of the well, while the northern end features a traditional circular well, allowing water to be drawn up by a bucket at this end.

A brick structure of 3.2m square was unearthed a short distance from Sher Mandal during excavations on the site in 1913-14. The remains of terra cotta pipes and a ribbed water chute indicate that this was a hammam or bath house. Bath houses with provision for hot and cold water, as well as steam rooms, are present in several Mughal forts, including the Red Fort and Agra Fort.

The Khair-ul-Manazil stands a short distance from the fort, outside the Western Gate. The name means the "best of homes". It is also a chronogram - that is, the letters of the name when written in the Persian script, give the numerical value of the year of its construction - AH 969 or 1561-62 AD. At the western end of the central courtyard is the prayer chamber of the mosque. An inscription in the center of the facade reveals that it was commissioned by Maham Anga, Emperor Akbar's wet nurse. The other three sides of the courtyard have colonnades which once housed a madrasa.



A series of excavations have been carried out by the ASI at the Purana Qila which have unearthed traces of Painted Grey Ware culture, providing evidence of the site being inhabited as early as 1000 BC. Various objects and pottery have been found at the site, signifying continuous habitation from Mauryan to Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput, Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods.

Architecture

The fort and the buildings within mark the transition from early Islamic architecture seen in the Lodhi buildings, to the grander, more ornate Mughal architecture, with its use of marble inlay work.

Trivia

In the 1970s, the ramparts of Purana Qila were first used as a backdrop for theatre, when three productions of the National School of Drama were staged here: Tughlaq, Andha Yug and Sultan Razia, directed by Ebrahim Alkazi.