Ixxvi 



Report of the Archaeological Survey, 



solutely determined by the mention that the second stone pillar from 

 Mirat was erected within the precincts of the palace, as the stone 

 pillar is now lying in five pieces on the- top of the hill close to Hindu 

 Kao's house. Shams-i-Sirdj adds that the whole distance from Indrpat 

 to the Kushak Shikar was occupied by stone-houses, mosques, and 

 bazars, but as the limits noted above include the whole of the modern 

 Shahjahanabad, it is very improbable that the entire space was actu- 

 ally occupied. It is certain, however, that some considerable portion 

 of the site of Shahjahanabad was well populated, as the Kdla Masjid, 

 which was built in Firuz's reign, is situated at some distance within 

 the Turkoman Gate of the present city. But even if thinly inhabited, 

 the population of Firuzabad could not have been less than that of 

 Shahjahanabad, as it was more than double its size. The number of 

 inhabitants would therefore have been about 150,000 ; and if we add 

 100,000 more for the population of old Delhi, the total number of 

 inhabitants in the Indian Metropolis during the reign of Firuz Shah 

 must have amounted to one quarter of a million. 



140. The palace of Firuzabad, which formed also the citadel of the 

 new city, was strongly fortified with massive stone walls and towers 

 of more than Egyptian slope. One of the gateways, which still exists, 

 between the well known Ldl Darwdza and Firuz Shah's pillar, is a 

 fine specimen of this bold, but rude, architecture. I believe, however 

 that we now see these old buildings under very favourable circum- 

 stances, as time has most effectually stripped off all the flaring and 

 gaudily coloured plaster which the taste of those days so much delight- 

 ed in. I found it impossible to trace the exact size or shape of Firuz 

 Shah's Citadel, as many of the parts in the best preservation appear 

 to me to be of decidedly later date. Thus the Kabuli Gate or Lai 

 Durwdza, as it is now called from its red colour, is of quite a different 

 style of architecture, and belongs, as I believe, to the time of Shir 

 Shah, of whose city it formed the northern or Kabul Gate. From 

 what I was able to trace, my opinion is, that Firuz Shah's palace was 

 much smaller than the palace of Shahjahan in the modern city. 



14 L A characteristic and favourable specimen of the architecture 

 of this age is the Kdla Masjid, or "Black Mosque," which is situated 

 inside the present city, at a short distance from the Turkoman Gate. 

 A detailed account of this building has been published by Messrs. 

 Lewis and Cope in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal for 1847, 



