212 Notes on the Topography &c. of Delhi. [No. 4, 



the site of the new city, it is evident that it would be a much more 

 convenient quarry, and we can understand why Shir Shah pulled it 

 down for the sake of the materials in it. In point of fact, Shir Shall 

 was a reckless destroyer, and scrupled not to remove any building which 

 .could afford him material for his works ; thus in the Araish-i-mahfil 

 we read that he demolished the Koshuk Sabz, or Green Palace, which 

 was situated in the old city, and Nur-ul-Haq also records other 

 demolitions. 



There remains one argument which, in appearance at least, tells 

 against the identification of Siri with the Kutb citadel. Sharif-u- 

 din, the historian of Timur, relates how that conqueror sacked equally 

 the three cities of Delhi ; viz., Siri, Jahanpanah and old Delhi ; the first 

 of which lay to the north-east ; the last to the south-west and 

 the second between the two. Now we know, both from history and 

 from the evidence of the ruins themselves, that there were then 

 three groups of cities in existence ; the first comprising the Kutb citadel, 

 old Delhi and Jahanpanah ; the second, Ghaiaspoor, Kilukheree, and 

 the new city around them ; and the third, Firuzabad and its three palaces. 

 The two first were apparently connected by walled gardens, country 

 houses and enclosures ; the two latter were separated by an open 

 plain, that of Firuzabad, which was the scene of Timur's battle with 

 Mali mud Togluck. That the Delhi plundered by the Moguls com." 

 prised the two first of these groups is evident from the fact recorded 

 that, on quitting the hapless city, Timur marched three miles to Firuza-* 

 bad : which is the exact distance between it and Ghaiaspoor ; and we 

 are therefore forced to the conclusion that the Siri here spoken of is 

 the new city around the latter place. 



Now what authority had Sharif -u-din for giving it this name? He 

 was, as every one knows, a Persian born at Yezd and residing in Shiraz, 

 where in A. D. 1424 (*'. e. twenty-six years after Timur's invasion) he 

 wrote his history. This he compiled from the elaborated reports, or 

 annals, prepared by Timur's secretaries under his own eye ; and from 

 them of course he derived his knowledge of the topography of Delhi, 

 which it does not appear that he ever visited, and at the siege of 

 which he was not present. We have therefore simply to enquire 

 what special opportunities Timur and his secretaries had, during their 

 stay of one month in the place, for prosecuting enquiries as to the 



