Dynamics of Mofussil Delhi 1858-1911-31

Abstract

From the early thirteenth century to the present Delhi has been the capital city of empires and independent India. There were three short and long periods of interregnum when the capital was shifted elsewhere and yet Delhi continued to be a place of cultural expressions and tangible developments. Post- 1857, Delhi was regarded as a ‘mofussil town’, yet many typologies of structures made here indicate the gradual changing cultures of the people and the increasing dynamics of the city. These structures enabled the introduction of new pedagogical methods, financial institutions, rapid transportation, new forms of entertainment, use of old sites for new ones and newer ways of treating the sick, as can be gleaned from the voluminous work in Urdu titled Waqiat-i Dar-ul Hukumat-i Delhi.