PROBASHI- A Cultural News Magazine Volume 2 Issue 2 | Page 35

Probashi- City

Making of New Delhi

Making A Capital Investment: How British created New Delhi
The new tagline for Delhi is Dildaar Delhi (magnanimous Delhi); it has embraced the pauper and the king, poets and the worldly men,
saints and the capitalists. No city has been the gateway to India and to Indians as Delhi has been. It has seen the best and the worst,
there have been builders like Sahjehan and Lord Hardinge, there have been destroyers like Nadir Shah, but Dildaar Delhi has been
always ready to forget and forgive. Delhi has seen eight cities, the most contemporary being the one built by the British. The Imperial
Delhi later rechristened New Delhi left the footprint of British architecture amongst the large number of architectural styles the city has
witnessed. Poet Mir Taqi Mir, probably said the best lines about Delhi, while he pined about the city after migrating to Lucknow
following the sack of Delhi by Ahmad Shah Abdali
The city of Delhi which was first in fame in the world,
There
I
used
to
reside
and
earn
my
living.
Which was looted and ruined by the greedy and the tyrant,
I belong to that wonderful city which was laid desolate.
____________________
Translation by Prof Deb Kumar Mallik

Studded with 6,170 diamonds, the

Crown had sapphires, emeralds and
rubies sewn onto a velvet miniver
cap. Designed by the Crown
jewellers Garrad & Co in London, it
weighed around 34 oz or 2 lb, and
the king said it gave him a
headache. The king was George V
and the Imperial Crown of India had
been designed for the occasion of
the Delhi Durbar in 1911 to
commemorate the coronation in
Britain of King George V and Queen
Mary and allow their proclamation
as Emperor and Empress of India.
Lord Hardinge the Governor
General of India had a headache of
a different kind that is of finding a
‘Grand Gesture’ or a ‘boon’ which
was expected of the King Emperor
at the Durbar by his people on this
occasion. That gesture had to be
significant enough to behove the
emperor of the British Empire,
something which would be
remembered by generations to
come.
Political circumstances during the
time provided the opportunity for
the”grand gesture”. Bengal was in
turmoil due to its partition in 1905,
Britain was hard pressed to contain
the agitation. Hardinge summarized
the ground situation thus “the
political power of the Bengalis has

Coronation Durbar, Delhi 1911, Begum of Bhopal before the King Emperor and
Queen Empress

not been broken… they will never
cease to agitate until they have
obtained a modification of the
partition”.
Hardinge has found the ‘Grand
gesture’ for the Monarch. In the
Delhi Durbar, King George V would
revoke the partition of Bengal and
thus be seen as a benevolent
monarch,
and
concurrently
announce shifting of the capital,
from
Calcutta
to
Delhi,
demonstrating that absolute power
of India’s destiny remained with His
Majesty.
On Tuesday, December 12, 1911
the Delhi Durbar assembled at
Cor