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Purana Quila


Coordinates: 28°36′36″N 77°14′42″E / 28.610°N 77.245°E / 28.610; 77.245

Purana Qila (Old Fort) is one of the oldest forts in Delhi. Its current form was built by Sher Shah Suri, the founder of the Sur Empire. Sher Shah raised the citadel of Purana Qila with an extensive city-area sprawling around it. It is believed that the Purana Qila was still incomplete at Sher Shah's death in 1545, and was perhaps completed by his son Islam Shah , although it is not certain which parts were built by whom.

Excavations carried out by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Purana Quila in 1954-55 (trial trenches) and again 1969-1973 by its Director, B B Lal, have unearthed Painted Grey Ware dating to 1000 B.C., and with a continuous cultural sequence from Mauryan to Mughal through Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput and Sultanate periods, confirming the antiquity of the site. The site of the Purana Qila was perhaps that of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas.

The fort was the inner citadel of the city of Din Panah during Humayun's rule who renovated it in 1533 and completed five years later. The founder of the Suri Dynasty, Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun in 1540, naming the fort Shergarh; he added several more structures in the complex during his five-year reign. Purana Qila and its environs flourished as the "sixth city of Delhi".


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