New Delhi

:This article is about the urban region which is the capital of India. For the metropolis see Delhi.

Capital of the Raj

Calcutta was the historic centre of the British presence in India, and effectively the capital of the British East India Company. However, Delhi had been the historic capital of much of the subcontinent for long historic periods. In particular, it had been the most recent capital of the Mughals. There remained an association with Imperial grandeur that the British Raj tried to use by holding several durbars for the Viceroy and visiting Royalty. In 1911, at one of the Durbars, the announcement was made that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

Related Topics:
Calcutta - British - British East India Company - Mughal - Raj - Durbar - 1911

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New Delhi was laid out to the south of the older city constructed by Shah Jahan, which is now often referred to as Old Delhi. However, New Delhi overlays many of the previous cities constructed there; hence it includes many monuments of previous cities, and constructions.

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Much of New Delhi was planned by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who laid out a grandiose central administrative area as a testament to British imperial pretensions. Rajpath - then Kingsway- stretched from the War Memorial - now India Gate to the Viceregal Palace- Rashtrapati Bhavan atop Raisina Hill. In its scale, extravagance and magnificence, it was not unlike Washington, or Haussmann and his patron Napoleon III's Paris, both cities designed to awe the newcomer with the power of the central State.

Related Topics:
Lutyens - Rajpath - India Gate - Rashtrapati Bhavan - Haussmann - Napoleon III

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Tucked away are other clues to the worldview of the designers; Herbert Baker's Parliament House is barely visible from Rajpath, as deliberative democracy was not a central part of Britain's plans for India; in fact, the main entrance to the Central Secretariat North Block declares "Liberty does not descend to a people; they must raise themselves to it."

Related Topics:
Herbert Baker - Parliament House - Rajpath - North Block

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