Page 75 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India
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DELHI & THE NOR TH 73
DELHI
The capital of India, Delhi is also its third-largest city, with
a population of about 18 million. Its strategic location
along the north-south, east-west route has given it a focal
position in Indian history, and many great empires have
been ruled from here. The monuments and ruins of these
are scattered throughout the city, often cheek by jowl with
modern structures and highrise towers.
The vast urban sprawl of contemporary All the contradictions and contrasts of
Delhi is, in fact, a conglomeration of several India are particularly visible in the capital:
distinct enclaves, chief among which are denim-clad youngsters rubbing shoulders
Old Delhi, with its 16th- and 17th-century with robed sadhus (holy men), and bullock
Mughal-built monuments and congested carts travelling alongside the latest luxury
souk-like bazaars and New Delhi, with its cars. Adding to Delhi’s fascinating diversity
wide avenues, grand vistas and Colonial is the fact that it is largely a city of migrants.
mansions, built by the British in the 1930s After the violent Partition of India and
as their imperial capital. New Delhi has Pakistan in 1947, millions of refugees,
government buildings and also houses mainly from West Punjab, flocked here in
the Diplomatic Enclave, where all the search of a new life. Since then there has
embassies are located. The picturesque been a steady influx of people from all
12th-century ruins of citadels built by over India. Yet each regional community
the first Islamic rulers can be seen in the has retained its distinct cultural identity,
Qutb-Mehrauli area, and the affluent new making Delhi less a melting pot than
middle-class suburbs of South Delhi lie a thali (platter), whose offerings may
close by. Slums and shanty towns dot be savoured singly or in various
the outer fringes of the city. interesting combinations.
People leaving the Jama Masjid after the Friday prayers
Detailing on a wall in the Qutb complex, Delhi
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