Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-03
AGE.OLD SEAT OF empire
Delhi, India One Of the Worlds
Most Interesting Cities.
new BRITISH GOVERNMENT HOUSE
City Has Known Great Glory in the
Past-Has. Always Been a Capital
persiars Called 1t Paradise.

What the relatively young United
States did in founding Washington rs
its capital, and what the still younger
Australia has undertaken in creating
its new capital city, Canber'a, Great
Britain is doing for age-old: India by
building new seat of government near
Dcili, says a bulletin issued by the Ma
,ional Geographic society,".
In Australia the new. city is being
carved from a practically untouched
Wilderness and in America Washing
ton was laid down where few freshly
cleared farms were hemmed in by
wooded hills. In India New Delhi is
being built on ground where cities have
risen and passed away through the
centuries, and about which are situated
beautiful and striking monuments OF
one of the worlds most powerful en-
pires.
Amid Ruins Of Old Capitals.
Legend says that from the dimmest
past soTnc sort of capital city, now OF
a local kingdom, now of "a far flung
empire, has existed at Delhi For. a
distance of more than twelve miles
south of the present citysand over an
area several miles wide are the remains
of old walls and streets, forth and tenn
pies that dinly trace thei sites OF these
once ,populous centersaSSg::Among - the
ruins are the more enduring sacrifices
set up by emperors and princes to COM
memorate victories. to advance religion
or to serve as magnificent ;places OF in
terment. - .S5
Though legend makes Delhi place
of importance from earliest times, his
tory takes no account Of it until
about 1850 A. D.. when It was the seat
of a Hindu ruler. 1t was captured oy
Mohammedan invaders from Afghanls-
tan in 1893, and from that time on
ward was the capital of a Mohamme-
dan Indian empire. Delhi, in the days
of the Mohammedan conquest, lay to
the south Of the present city, and there
where the new power was set up, the
first Mohammedan ruler: Kutb- -ud din'
built in celebration of his conquest
tower of victory, the Kutb. Mlnar'
which stands today and has been called
1.-The most powerful tower in the
world"
Timur The Lame (Tamerlame), the
Tatar seourge of Asia toward. the end
of the fourteenth century, swooped
down from Sarmarkand ,ip, 1898. and
sacked Delhi; and in 1926 his lineal de-
scendant Ba aber-ioos;;the Tssaf.hordes
again into India, captured the city. and
founded the Mogul Empire, through the
fame Of which Delhi is best known TO
Western ears. In 1888 Shah Jahan the
Augustus of the Mogul emperors, built
the present Delhi 10 the north OF the
old CITY and embellished it with mos
cues and palaces Of great beauty.
"This Is Paradise"
For the next hundred years Dclh! was
what Babylon was under Nebuchadnez-
zar, what Rome was under its greatest
Caesars. and what BaGdad Was under
its most powerful Caliphs. AS Inc
Great Mogui emperor sat on his world
famous Peacock throne, studded wltn
precious stones worth hundreds OF mil
lions Of dollars. and spoke words. thai
meant law throughout tcemlnG indla'
it was difficult for those who bcheld
him to conceive of greater magnih-
cence or power existing anywhere else
in the world. On the walls OF MS eA-
ouisitely decorated marble audience
chamber and throne room this thought
found expression in the following in
scription:
.If there is a Paradise on the face OF
the earth,
It is this, o it is this. 0 it is this.
In 1889 the Persians under Nadlf
Shah sacked Delhi, nlassacred it's in
habitants and carried off the priceless
Peacock throne and the koh-i-nor per-
hans the most famous of the great dla-
,nonds of the world. The -Mogul en-
pire lived only in name after this until
in 1857, during the Indian Mutlny' the
last Of it's rulers was removed ana the
british took full possession Of Delhi.
Because of it's rich history as the
fountain head of power in India, DEM
mot Calcutta, which was then the
capital--was chosen in 1877 as the site
of the Durbar, or gathering of native
kings and princes, at which Queen VIC
toria was proclaimed Empress Of India
Again In 1908 Delhi was chosen wnen
4 Durbar was held to crown King Ed
ward VII emperor, and once more IN
1911 when George v assumed that title
On the latter occasion the new empe-
ror announced that this ancient city OF
emperors would be restored as the cap
ital of India and its 25o'oOo'ooo SUB
jects.
Like World Exposition.
The following year the viceroy and
his administrative council moved INTO
temporary quarters few miles north
of the city walls of Delhi. 1t is to Inc
south Of the present city, near the slte
of the more ancient Delhi, however
conital MAN