page_title: Delhi Durbar
section_title: Durbar of 1877
hierarchical_section_title: Delhi Durbar / Durbar of 1877
caption_attribution_description: English: This illustration depicts some of the shān-o-shaukat (pomp and show) of the imperial assemblage in Delhi in January 1877. From Piyare Lal’s “Tārīk̲h̲-i jalsah-yi Qaiṣarī” (1883), an Urdu translation of James Talboys Wheeler’s “The History of the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi (1877). (South Asian Collection, Asian Division).
context_page_description: The Delhi Durbar was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911, at the height of the British Empire. The 1911 Durbar was the only one that a sovereign, George V, attended. The term was derived from the common Mughal term durbar.
context_section_description: Called the "Proclamation Durbar", the Durbar of 1877, for which the organisation was undertaken by Thomas Henry Thornton, was held beginning on 1 January 1877 to proclaim  Queen Victoria as Empress of India by the British. The 1877 Durbar was largely an official event and not a popular occasion with mass participation like later durbars in 1903 and 1911. It was attended by the 1st Earl of Lytton—Viceroy of India, maharajas, nawabs and intellectuals. This was the culmination of transfer of control of British India from the East India Company to the Crown.
  Inside the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta is an inscription taken from the Message of Queen Victoria presented at the 1877 Durbar to the people of India:
  We trust that the present occasion
   may tend to unite in bonds of close
   affection ourselves and our subjects;
   that from the highest to the humblest,
   all may feel that under our rule the
   great principles of liberty, equity,
   and justice are secured to them; and
   to promote their happiness, to add to
   their prosperity, and advance their
   welfare, are the ever present aims and
   objects of our Empire.
  The Empress of India Medal to commemorate the Proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India was struck and distributed to the honoured guests, and the elderly Ramanath Tagore was raised to the status of an honorary Raja by Lord Lytton, viceroy of India.
  It was at this glittering durbar that Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi, wearing "homespun spotless white khadi" rose to read a citation on behalf of the grass roots native political organization, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, which organization presaged the later rise of the Indian National Congress. Joshi's speech put forth a demand couched in very polite language:
  Her Majesty to grant to India the same political and social status as is enjoyed by her British subjects.
  With this demand, it can be said that the campaign for a free India was formally launched, which was the beginning of a great transformation for India.
  The durbar would later be seen as controversial because it directed funds away from the Great Famine of 1876–78.
caption: This illustration depicts some of the shān-o-shaukat (pomp and show) of the imperial assemblage in Delhi in January 1877
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