The bustling metropolis was built by the British Empire to show off
its pomp and power to the rest of the world. New Delhi — The Making of
a Capital by Malvika Singh and Rudrangshu Mukherjee documents
the birth of this mammoth city. Excerpts:

A half-built Connaught Place

A familiar, fading, sepia tone picture — the silhouette of three men perched on a howdah atop an elephant, all wearing sola topis, wandering through the wilderness around and beyond the village of Malcha on the outskirts of Shahjehanabad, scanning the countryside around — remains etched in the memory of those Dilliwallahs who, every so often, take vicarious pleasure in delving into the history of their city, traversing earlier centuries through images in old etchings, drawings, watercolours, photographs, laced with the many personal stories and anecdotes handed down by word of mouth, as they savour and relish this layered city’s extraordinary, unmatched past. At the turn of the last century, India was the jewel in the British Crown and therefore it was appropriate for the Crown to select a truly imposing site for the new imperial capital, one that would be — for Dilliwallahs — the eighth avatar of Dilli.

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On the 15th of December 1911, King-Emperor George V and Queen Mary laid the foundation stone for the new capital at the durbar grounds, thinking that it may well be the final site because it stood in close proximity to Civil Lines and other British properties and bungalows. It was also where the three important British durbars had been held.

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The British christened their new imperial capital ‘Delhi’ and this was established in a letter to Lord Hardinge in March 1913 where Commissioner Malcolm Hailey wrote: "We have misliterated a great number of names in India, just as we have misliterated most of the names of continental cities. But there comes a stage when the misliteration becomes sanctified by usage. I think that Delhi has now reached that stage."

Plan and layout

The plan for New Delhi, as it gradually evolved, adjusting to the ground realities and needs, did not emphasise the creation of a ‘city’ but rather, the superimposition on a stark, uninhabited and sprawling landscape of an imperial borough, designed to house the ruling, alien power and accommodate its administration. Workplaces, government offices, commercial establishments and recreation spaces were segregated from the residential areas that were further separated by position, status and office. The demarcated land was mandated to accommodate the offices and residences of only those who served the Crown, shielding, by that single decision, the area from the ordinary, professional citizens of Dilli, compelling it to be cold, sterile and secluded from the exuberant and spirited soul of India, far removed from the real pulse of the people. True blue Dilli-wallahs quietly watched the skyline change as the centre of power began to prepare for the shift from Civil Lines to Raisina Hill.

Architecture

The British were very clear that the building of this city was an imperial stamp, meant to strengthen the Empire’s claim over India, and more than merely an administrative manoeuvre. They wanted to make a strong statement, rising above their ‘subjects’ with the creation of their monumental pinnacle of power, representing the best of Western civilisation that stemmed from the Roman Empire, and thus the question of architecture was of the gravest importance.

Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, the lead architects, both believed that early British architecture in India had left much to be desired. They did not like the combination of neo-gothic and Mughal styles in Simla, Calcutta and Bombay. Baker was firm in his opinion that an ‘imperial’ scheme of architecture was the only suitable one. Meanwhile, Lutyens observed Indian architecture and penned his opinions to his wife regularly. Lutyens incorporated various elements and motifs he became familiar with while travelling through the country, viewing the many historic sites.

The stupa at Sanchi; Mandu in central India; the char-bagh, formal gardens laid out on a grid that came with the Mughals from Iran; the Asokan Pillar; chhatris and chhajjas; the use of courtyards, open to the sky and the stars, the sun and the moon, with rooms going off them; and motifs that defined India and her eternal symbols, became the punctuation marks of the larger script. He absorbed what he believed fitted into the grand imperial scheme.

As Lutyens’s Delhi evolved, it became and remains a garden city with broad avenues lined with indigenous trees like the neem and jamun, laburnum, gulmohar, and jacaranda, with rotaries and hexagons much like mini-gardens with frangipani, Asoka trees, bushes of bougainvillea in myriad hues, and more. This aspect of the city design was carefully conceived, defined and crafted. There was nothing haphazard about the planting. The dense hedges that bounded private homes were of a specific height and density to fight not merely the dust and serve as wind-breakers but also mellow the noise from the streets beyond. Flowerbeds bordered the lawns and seasonal flowering trees and bushes, shrubs and creepers, fragrant and ornamental, were elements that were a critical part of the greater scheme and pattern.

Old vs new

Delhi is a layered, ancient city that has the distinction of being an extraordinary historic ‘capital’ that has lived on, with remarkable energy and overwhelming cultural traditions. The last addition affixed to its landscape ironically heralded freedom and liberation from the British who had ordered its building as their seat of power in this subcontinent.

Today, an impatient, urbanising India is confused and trying to discard what is familiar, as it reaches out to the unnatural and the alien, that which it deems to be ‘modern’. The landscape is losing all semblance of a special identity set within a contemporary need as it supports the unwieldy, cold and impersonal clones of edifices, styles imported from cold countries that long for light and sun and therefore ensure glass frontages to capture whatever warmth comes their way: the complete opposite of what we need for cool and comfort in our warm land.

One example of the careless attitude of the new rulers was that when Independence came and the maharajas agreed to join the federation of states, abdicating their rights as rulers and swearing allegiance to the democratic Union of India, their residences became much too grandiose for erstwhile royals to occupy and maintain. The buildings were taken over by the Indian government. The government allowed these heritage buildings to be degraded and thoughtlessly abused with an absolute lack of historical foresight and zero maintenance.

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