The city was the center of the Delhi Sultanate for over four hundred years, until it was conquered in 1526 by Babur, who was the founder of the Mughal (or Mogul) Empire. Remember that we saw Babur in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols". The Delhi Sultanate had earlier evaded conquest by the Mongols. The Mughals began with central Asian armies extending the domain of Islam, and are known for the magnificent architecture and gardens that they left behind.
The fifth Mughal Emperor was the widely-known Shah Jahan. He is remembered as the builder of the Taj Mahal, as a tomb for his favorite wife, but is also the builder of what is now called the Old City of Delhi. From the Eighteenth to Twentieth Centuries, control of this city that was the natural capital of a wide stretch of south Asia passed between Mughals, Persians, Marathas and, Sikhs.
New Delhi was named as the capital of India in 1912. It is the location of the government district of the country. The center of New Delhi is the Rashtrapati Bhavan, or Presidential Compound. It includes a palace and extensive Mughal gardens. It was the largest residence of a head of state in the world, until President Erdogan of Turkey recently outdid it with an extravagant new palace. India is actually a parliamentary democracy, run by a prime minister, but has a presidential role as well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtrapati_Bhavan#/media/File:Forecourt,_Rashtrapati_Bhavan_-_1.jpg
One of the most familiar sights in Delhi is the India Gate. There is a broad avenue. leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan from India Gate, known as Rajpath. This is reminiscent of the Champs Elysees in Paris, leading to the Arc de Triomphe, or the National Mall in Washington, leading from Congress past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. The Canopy, east of India Gate and along the axis formed by Rajpath, is where six roads come together in a way similar to the Arc de Triomphe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Gate#/media/File:India_Gate_from_Rajpath.jpg
Here are some scenes of India Gate, with the Canopy along the same axis of Rajpath, and some of the nearby government buildings. There are actually two central axes of New Delhi, Rajpath and Janpath, which begins at Connaught Place to the north and crosses Rajpath at a perpendicular angle:
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6128563,77.2305308,3a,75y,273h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-IZJP55Hfi4U%2FV7-bv98PLRI%2FAAAAAAAABaE%2FP7EwpCBzkAQtUeQJM9p1ZkoFOxTYeFDIwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-IZJP55Hfi4U%2FV7-bv98PLRI%2FAAAAAAAABaE%2FP7EwpCBzkAQtUeQJM9p1ZkoFOxTYeFDIwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4608!8i2304
The following scenes are of India's government buildings. Notice that, along Rajpath, you can see the dome of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential compound, in the distance in one direction, and India Gate in the distance in the opposite direction:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.61386,77.2102428,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-RgaX8RyyqYs%2FUqGINU8TomI%2FAAAAAAACNew%2FTUbU4OHeMJk7NYGbZB_LbRDjOiaZpAU_Q!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-RgaX8RyyqYs%2FUqGINU8TomI%2FAAAAAAACNew%2FTUbU4OHeMJk7NYGbZB_LbRDjOiaZpAU_Q%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4000!8i2000
South of the government buildings is the diplomatic district if Chanakyapuri, along a road called Shanti Path. The following images begin with a scene that would make any American diplomat feel at home, a baseball diamond. But India's national sport of cricket, which is actually the second-most popular sport in the world, is really not that different from baseball:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.5991757,77.1848015,3a,75y,124h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-pTRcQEC0oKM%2FV4CxoQiD-8I%2FAAAAAAAACK0%2FedoPizq7_WIfunoiosJik0W8N7bKQVCwACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-pTRcQEC0oKM%2FV4CxoQiD-8I%2FAAAAAAAACK0%2FedoPizq7_WIfunoiosJik0W8N7bKQVCwACLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i8704!8i4352
From the diplomatic district let's move east, to Humayun's Tomb. Upon seeing Humayun's Tomb, one of the best-known sights of Delhi, you may think that the Taj Mahal had been colored red. There is a close resemblance between the two buildings. Both are on the bank of the same Yamuna River. The grounds around both are divided into quadrants. Each mausoleum has a faux tomb one level above the real tomb. Humayun's Tomb is built of white marble and red sandstone, while the Taj Mahal is built of white marble and the adjacent mosque and guesthouse if built of red sandstone.
But Humayun's Tomb is in Delhi, while the Taj Mahal is in Agra. Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor while Shah Jahan, who had the Taj Mahal built, was the fifth. Shah Jahan was the great-grandson of Humayun. Humayun died in 1556, and the tomb was completed in 1571.
But Humayun's Tomb was certainly an inspiration for the Taj Mahal. Some differences are that Humayun's Tomb does not have the opulent gates, or the minarets, that the Taj Mahal does and Humayun's Tomb is in the center of it's grounds, while the Taj Mahal is at one end.
Here are some scenes of Humayun's Tomb. The octagonal tomb with the dome is that of an Afghan noble, and was there before Humayun's tomb.:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.5933051,77.2505152,3a,75y,107.32h,88.63t,0.77r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssO8N0kuMP4c1b7QGM1rN3w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DsO8N0kuMP4c1b7QGM1rN3w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D354.53784%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
North of the government district and India Gate is Connaught Place. This is a business district, built in the form of a circle. The inner and outer street are named for the mother and son prime ministers of India. The inner for Rajiv Gandhi, and the outer for his mother Indira Gandhi. They were not related to Mahatma Gandhi, Indira got the name by marriage which I am sure did not hurt her political career. They were members of India's long-dominant Congress Party. I can remember when both were assassinated, Indira in 1984 after the raid on the Sikh Golden Temple, and Rajiv in 1991, when a Sri Lankan woman bowed to him but detonated a bomb hidden in her clothing.
Near the circular business district of Connaught place is what is known as the Qutb Complex. This is the remains of structures that go far back in time, further than anything we have seen so far in Delhi. It is the kind of complex that is added to over time, similar to Karnak in Egypt. The Qutb Complex is believed to be on the site of a very old fort, and much of it built from the rubble of destroyed temples.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_Minar_complex#/media/File:Qutb_minar_ruins.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Qutub_Minar,_Qutb_complex,_Delhi_-_August_2015_(5).JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Tomb_of_Imam_Zamin,_next_of_Alai_Darwaza,_Qutb_minar_complex.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Qutab_Minar_mausoleum.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Quwwat-al-Islam_Mosque,_Delhi.jpg
Perhaps the most interesting thing at the Qutb Complex is the Iron Pillar. This is from the time of Chandragupta II, more than 1600 years ago, and contains inscription in Sanskrit. The thing that is amazing about it is how it does not corrode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:QtubIronPillar.JPG
Also not far from Connaught Place is what is known as the Jantar Mantar. It is not as old as the Qutb Complex, being built in 1724. Jantar Mantar is a calendar and astronomical observatory. There are over a dozen separate instruments, and there are others like it elsewhere in India.
The large triangle in the Jantar Mantar is a sundial with it's hypotenuse pointing to the north star so that it is parallel to the earth's axis. Such a sundial can measure not only time of day, but also the time of year. Any point in the sky can be easily located by declination from the north celestial pole, along with it's alignment at a given time of night:
This triangle, with it's hypotenuse parallel to the earth's axis, is in the foreground of the following photo of the Jantar Mantar:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar_Delhi_27-05-2005.jpg
The Jayaprakash Yantra, another instrument in the Jantar Mantar, is literally a map of the sky. The gaps are to look at the stars from inside. There are cross-wires above the map for positioning anything in the sky, and so the sun casts a shadow on the celestial map during the daytime, showing where it is against the background stars, which cannot be seen because of the daylight:
The Misra Yantra determines the shortest and longest days, and can also determine when noon is in any city of the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Misra_Yantra).jpg
The Rama Yantra is the large cylindrical structures with open top. It measures the altitudes of stars based on latitude and longitude:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Rama_Yantra_2).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Rama_Yantra_2_inside).jpg
Across the street from the Jantar Mantar is the Imperial Hotel. This is where the discussions took place to partition Pakistan and Bangladesh from India, so that Moslems would have their own country. Pakistan and Bangladesh existed as one country for 24 years, known as East and West Pakistan, and this can thus be considered as the birthplace of those countries. But India and Pakistan can never be completely separate. So much Mughal arctiitecture, from the Taj Mahal to Humayun's Tomb, is within India and the river that India was named for, the Indus, is within Pakistan. Hindu, the majority religion, Hindi, the language and India, all come from the name of Indus.
The following scenes are of Jantar Mantar, and the surrounding area,with the first scene being inside the Imperial Hotel. The red geometric structures are the astronomical instruments of Jantar Mantar:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6255551,77.2180986,3a,75y,72.84h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-NlPSOHIcBQE%2FVy3N9VAkpCI%2FAAAAAAAAPPU%2FPJTWOjCFHu0PXQy8MENuRQ6u4A_t9osKwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-NlPSOHIcBQE%2FVy3N9VAkpCI%2FAAAAAAAAPPU%2FPJTWOjCFHu0PXQy8MENuRQ6u4A_t9osKwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i5376!8i2688
Next, we come to what is known as Old Delhi, which is north of Connaught Place, which is north of Rajpath. Old Delhi was built by Shah Jahan in 1649, and is actually called Shahjahanabad, the City of Shah Jahan. It was a walled city that was the Mughal capital. It included Jama Masjid, the mosque, and the Red Fort, which we will get to shortly. This is believed to be where the Urdu language originated.
Ironically it was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in Agra, who decided to move the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi, and this is what he built. He did not start Delhi, it had already been a city for a very long time. This "Old Delhi" of Shahjahanabad is actually the Seventh City of Delhi. New Delhi, which we have seen where the government buildings are, is the Eighth City of Delhi. The Qutb Complex goes all the way back to the First City of Delhi. But these are only the cities of Delhi that archeologists can establish with certainty, there is likely much more before that, which did not survive the destruction and later building of thousands of years.
The walls of Old Delhi, or Shahjahanabad, and the six other certain cities of Delhi that came before it, are mostly gone, but many of the gates remain. in times past, when walls become irrelevant and there is other building going on nearby, the walls are likely to be dismantled so that the material can be used in building new structures. There are many gates in Delhi, remnants of it's long history. Some gates are gone and others are in ruins, but here are some of the remaining gates of Delhi. The India Gate that we have seen, of course, fits New Delhi, the Eighth City of Delhi, in with the past:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Entry_gate_to_Tugalaqabad_fort_and_palace.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Lal_Darwaza.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:View_of_Ajmeri_gate.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Turkman_gate_view.JPG
When Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan decided to move the capital from Agra to Delhi, in 1638, he built the Red Fort as a palace and his residence. It was the Mughal Emperor's residence for nearly two centuries. Today, the Prime Minister of India makes his Independence Day, August 15, speech from the Red Fort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort#/media/File:Red_Fort_Delhi_1785.jpg
Here are some scenes from the Red Fort, located in the Old City of Delhi:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6558899,77.2400995,3a,75y,95.94h,79.36t,-4.44r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sffDABh0jkjfvOb0hfweV2g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DffDABh0jkjfvOb0hfweV2g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D1.7190212%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
The reign of Shah Jahan was the Golden Age of the Mughals. But their empire began to decline after the death of his son. Persians, led by the great conqueror Nadir Shah, raided the Red Fort in 1739, and the magnificent Mughal throne, the Peacock Throne, was taken. The Peacock Throne had been made during the reign of Shah Jahan, and reportedly cost twice as much as the Taj Mahal to construct.
Have you ever wondered what became of the Peacock Throne? After Nadir Shah was assassinated by some of his own officers, it was never heard from again. Does the throne of the Persian shahs contain some of it's elements or jewels? I once looked at a collection of photos of the lavish celebration when the last shah of Iran had himself crowned shahanshah, "king of kings", in 1967. There was the jeweled throne, and many photos of diamonds. I got the feeling that some of them had been taken from the Red Fort in 1739. Why did the last Shah of Iran also call his throne the Peacock Throne?
This was the Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperors:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacock_Throne#/media/File:Nadir_Shah_on_the_Peacock_Throne_after_his_defeat_of_Muhammad_Shah._ca._1850,_San_Diego_MOA.jpg
We conclude our visit to this magnificent and ancient city with the mosque complex in Old Delhi. Jama Masjid is the large mosque in the Old City of Delhi, built by Shah Jahan in 1656. The name means "Friday Mosque". There is also a Jama Masjid in Agra. It appears as a cross between the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. Jama Masjid has a vast open court, and is built adjacent to the Red Fort:, in the same was as the Jama Masjid in Agra had been built next to the Agra Fort. Shah Jahan moved the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi and notice that the positioning of the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and, Humayun's Tomb, in Delhi, are virtually identical to that of Agra Fort, the Agra Jama Masjid and, the Taj Mahal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jama_Masjid,_Delhi#/media/File:Jama_Masjid_-_In_the_Noon.jpg
Here are some scenes around Jama Masjid, the vast mosque complex in Old Delhi:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6493168,77.2320709,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-a779Bxy7l2o%2FVpiJAXFhx1I%2FAAAAAAAABak%2FMv7VFNeTLLoFgJ9B9MSz0Pe9fBmzzIhWwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-a779Bxy7l2o%2FVpiJAXFhx1I%2FAAAAAAAABak%2FMv7VFNeTLLoFgJ9B9MSz0Pe9fBmzzIhWwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4096!8i2048
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_Minar_complex#/media/File:Qutb_minar_ruins.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Qutub_Minar,_Qutb_complex,_Delhi_-_August_2015_(5).JPG
.JPG){kind=link}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Tomb_of_Imam_Zamin,_next_of_Alai_Darwaza,_Qutb_minar_complex.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Qutab_Minar_mausoleum.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:Quwwat-al-Islam_Mosque,_Delhi.jpg
Perhaps the most interesting thing at the Qutb Complex is the Iron Pillar. This is from the time of Chandragupta II, more than 1600 years ago, and contains inscription in Sanskrit. The thing that is amazing about it is how it does not corrode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_complex#/media/File:QtubIronPillar.JPG
Also not far from Connaught Place is what is known as the Jantar Mantar. It is not as old as the Qutb Complex, being built in 1724. Jantar Mantar is a calendar and astronomical observatory. There are over a dozen separate instruments, and there are others like it elsewhere in India.
The large triangle in the Jantar Mantar is a sundial with it's hypotenuse pointing to the north star so that it is parallel to the earth's axis. Such a sundial can measure not only time of day, but also the time of year. Any point in the sky can be easily located by declination from the north celestial pole, along with it's alignment at a given time of night:
This triangle, with it's hypotenuse parallel to the earth's axis, is in the foreground of the following photo of the Jantar Mantar:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar_Delhi_27-05-2005.jpg
The Jayaprakash Yantra, another instrument in the Jantar Mantar, is literally a map of the sky. The gaps are to look at the stars from inside. There are cross-wires above the map for positioning anything in the sky, and so the sun casts a shadow on the celestial map during the daytime, showing where it is against the background stars, which cannot be seen because of the daylight:
The Misra Yantra determines the shortest and longest days, and can also determine when noon is in any city of the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Misra_Yantra).jpg
.jpg){kind=link}
The Rama Yantra is the large cylindrical structures with open top. It measures the altitudes of stars based on latitude and longitude:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Rama_Yantra_2).jpg
.jpg){kind=link}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi#/media/File:Jantar_Mantar,_New_Delhi_(Rama_Yantra_2_inside).jpg
.jpg){kind=link}
Across the street from the Jantar Mantar is the Imperial Hotel. This is where the discussions took place to partition Pakistan and Bangladesh from India, so that Moslems would have their own country. Pakistan and Bangladesh existed as one country for 24 years, known as East and West Pakistan, and this can thus be considered as the birthplace of those countries. But India and Pakistan can never be completely separate. So much Mughal arctiitecture, from the Taj Mahal to Humayun's Tomb, is within India and the river that India was named for, the Indus, is within Pakistan. Hindu, the majority religion, Hindi, the language and India, all come from the name of Indus.
The following scenes are of Jantar Mantar, and the surrounding area,with the first scene being inside the Imperial Hotel. The red geometric structures are the astronomical instruments of Jantar Mantar:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6255551,77.2180986,3a,75y,72.84h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-NlPSOHIcBQE%2FVy3N9VAkpCI%2FAAAAAAAAPPU%2FPJTWOjCFHu0PXQy8MENuRQ6u4A_t9osKwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-NlPSOHIcBQE%2FVy3N9VAkpCI%2FAAAAAAAAPPU%2FPJTWOjCFHu0PXQy8MENuRQ6u4A_t9osKwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i5376!8i2688
Next, we come to what is known as Old Delhi, which is north of Connaught Place, which is north of Rajpath. Old Delhi was built by Shah Jahan in 1649, and is actually called Shahjahanabad, the City of Shah Jahan. It was a walled city that was the Mughal capital. It included Jama Masjid, the mosque, and the Red Fort, which we will get to shortly. This is believed to be where the Urdu language originated.
Ironically it was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in Agra, who decided to move the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi, and this is what he built. He did not start Delhi, it had already been a city for a very long time. This "Old Delhi" of Shahjahanabad is actually the Seventh City of Delhi. New Delhi, which we have seen where the government buildings are, is the Eighth City of Delhi. The Qutb Complex goes all the way back to the First City of Delhi. But these are only the cities of Delhi that archeologists can establish with certainty, there is likely much more before that, which did not survive the destruction and later building of thousands of years.
The walls of Old Delhi, or Shahjahanabad, and the six other certain cities of Delhi that came before it, are mostly gone, but many of the gates remain. in times past, when walls become irrelevant and there is other building going on nearby, the walls are likely to be dismantled so that the material can be used in building new structures. There are many gates in Delhi, remnants of it's long history. Some gates are gone and others are in ruins, but here are some of the remaining gates of Delhi. The India Gate that we have seen, of course, fits New Delhi, the Eighth City of Delhi, in with the past:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Entry_gate_to_Tugalaqabad_fort_and_palace.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Lal_Darwaza.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:View_of_Ajmeri_gate.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Delhi#/media/File:Turkman_gate_view.JPG
When Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan decided to move the capital from Agra to Delhi, in 1638, he built the Red Fort as a palace and his residence. It was the Mughal Emperor's residence for nearly two centuries. Today, the Prime Minister of India makes his Independence Day, August 15, speech from the Red Fort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort#/media/File:Red_Fort_Delhi_1785.jpg
Here are some scenes from the Red Fort, located in the Old City of Delhi:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6558899,77.2400995,3a,75y,95.94h,79.36t,-4.44r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sffDABh0jkjfvOb0hfweV2g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DffDABh0jkjfvOb0hfweV2g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D1.7190212%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
The reign of Shah Jahan was the Golden Age of the Mughals. But their empire began to decline after the death of his son. Persians, led by the great conqueror Nadir Shah, raided the Red Fort in 1739, and the magnificent Mughal throne, the Peacock Throne, was taken. The Peacock Throne had been made during the reign of Shah Jahan, and reportedly cost twice as much as the Taj Mahal to construct.
Have you ever wondered what became of the Peacock Throne? After Nadir Shah was assassinated by some of his own officers, it was never heard from again. Does the throne of the Persian shahs contain some of it's elements or jewels? I once looked at a collection of photos of the lavish celebration when the last shah of Iran had himself crowned shahanshah, "king of kings", in 1967. There was the jeweled throne, and many photos of diamonds. I got the feeling that some of them had been taken from the Red Fort in 1739. Why did the last Shah of Iran also call his throne the Peacock Throne?
This was the Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperors:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacock_Throne#/media/File:Nadir_Shah_on_the_Peacock_Throne_after_his_defeat_of_Muhammad_Shah._ca._1850,_San_Diego_MOA.jpg
We conclude our visit to this magnificent and ancient city with the mosque complex in Old Delhi. Jama Masjid is the large mosque in the Old City of Delhi, built by Shah Jahan in 1656. The name means "Friday Mosque". There is also a Jama Masjid in Agra. It appears as a cross between the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. Jama Masjid has a vast open court, and is built adjacent to the Red Fort:, in the same was as the Jama Masjid in Agra had been built next to the Agra Fort. Shah Jahan moved the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi and notice that the positioning of the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and, Humayun's Tomb, in Delhi, are virtually identical to that of Agra Fort, the Agra Jama Masjid and, the Taj Mahal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jama_Masjid,_Delhi#/media/File:Jama_Masjid_-_In_the_Noon.jpg
Here are some scenes around Jama Masjid, the vast mosque complex in Old Delhi:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.6493168,77.2320709,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-a779Bxy7l2o%2FVpiJAXFhx1I%2FAAAAAAAABak%2FMv7VFNeTLLoFgJ9B9MSz0Pe9fBmzzIhWwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-a779Bxy7l2o%2FVpiJAXFhx1I%2FAAAAAAAABak%2FMv7VFNeTLLoFgJ9B9MSz0Pe9fBmzzIhWwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4096!8i2048
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