Delhi
For a thousand years Delhi has stood as the capital city, jewel in the crown of incomprehensibly rich and vast empires.
Birthplace of the Vedas
Traditional mythology refers to earlier avatars of the city as the birthplace of the 5,000-year old Vedas, the ancient sacred texts of the Hindu religion, and also one of the sites of the Mahabharata, the greatest of Indian epics. For the more scientifically-oriented, archaeological discoveries demonstrate evidence of human settlements that date back at least 3,000 years. If ever a city could be called immortal, this is it.
Yet, behind the glory and grandeur of this ancient city lies a murky past, one that is soaked with the blood of generations slain in battle and littered with broken shells of mighty monuments that once stood testimony to the greatness of their makers. There is, after all, a price to be paid for immortality and Delhi has paid it in full, with interest.
Complex Layers of History
This long history, ever changing, always larger than life, has given to the city a complexity than one can only catch a glimpse of. With the ebb and flow of time, every part of the city has seen the heights of sophistication and the depths of decadence. With the passage of time, this foremost of history’s theatres has seen the birth and decline of great cultures, the creation and dissipation of untold wealth and the clash and intermingling of faiths on the grandest scale in human history.
Today the Delhi of old lives on, albeit in in a new avatar. From the heart of empire, it has transformed itself into the capital of the world’s largest democracy governing the lives of over a billion citizens. Power still resides in Delhi, like it has for centuries.
