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



This exhausts all the evidence at present available on the subject, 

 and a calm consideration of it forces us to the conclusion that the 

 Kutb citadel is the fort of Siri ; — that Shahpoor is a modern place of 

 no importance ; that Lalkote has long since been swept off the face 

 of the earth ; and that the Lall Mahal marks the site of Ala-u-din's 

 entrenchment in A. D. 1303. 



The various cities of Delhi. 



I shall conclude with a few brief notes on the rise and duration of 

 each of the ancient cities, shewing which of them were contempora- 

 neous ; and we shall thus get a clear idea of what that very indefinite 

 word Delhi meant at various epochs in its history. 



The Delhi of the Hindus and early Pathan Kings (A. D. 1060 to 

 1250) comprised only the walled city, now known as Rai Pithora's, 

 and its citadel : which latter, when rebuilt by Ala-u-din, received the 

 name of Siri. 



A. D. 1250 to 1321.— By the end of the 13th century a large 

 suburb had grown up outside the walls, stretching along the road to 

 Ghaiaspoor and Kilukheree, near which the great main road to the 

 east and south-east crossed the river Jumna. At these two places, 

 country palaces had been erected by Ghaias-u-din Balban, Kaikobad, 

 and Jalal-u-din ; around which a new city was gradually springing 

 up. 



A. D. 1321 to 1354. — During the reigns of the two first kings 

 of the house of Togluck, the city of Togluckabad and the fort of 

 Mahommadabad (or Adilabad) were erected ; and the suburbs above 

 referred to were enclosed with a wall, receiving the name of Jahan- 

 panah. Togluckabad was never a populous place, and seems to have 

 been quickly abandoned. The insane removal of its inhabitants to 

 Daulatabad would have much to do with this ; but the finishing blow 

 was probably given in A. D. 1354, when Firuz Shah removed the 

 seat of government to his new city of Firuzabad, which he had just 

 completed. 



A. D. 1354 to 1398. — Delhi was now at the zenith of its great- 

 ness and contained larger population and more wealth than at any 

 other period of its history ; but the invasion of Timur was a death- 

 blow to its prosperity and it sank rapidly from this time. 



