Feroz Shah Kotla

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla was a fortress built by Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Ferozabad.

Variants

  • Kotla (कोटला) (AS, p.230)

Origin

History

A pristine polished sandstone Topra Ashokan pillar from the 3rd century B.C. rises from the palace's crumbling remains, one of many pillars of Ashoka left by the Mauryan emperor; it was moved from Topra Kalan in Pong Ghati of Yamunanagar district in Haryana to Delhi under orders of Firoz Shah Tughlaq of Delhi Sultanate, and re-erected in its present location in 1356. The original inscription on the obelisk is primarily in Brahmi script but language was prakrit, with some Pali and Sanskrit added later. The inscription was successfully translated in 1837 by James Prinsep.[1] This and other ancient lats (pillars, obelisk) have earned Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Delhi Sultanate some fame for its architectural patronage in spite of the wide and well-recorded destruction of Hindu and Jain temples and using their components in mosques.[2]

Other than the Ashokan Pillar, the Fort complex also houses the Jami Masjid (Mosque), a Baoli and a large garden complex.

Feroz Shah Tughlaq (r. 1351–88), the Sultan of Delhi, established the fortified city of Firuzabad[3] in 1354, as the new capital of the Delhi Sultanate, and included in it the site of the present Feroz Shah Kotla. Kotla literally means fortress or citadel. The pillar, also called obelisk or Lat is an Ashoka Column, attributed to Mauryan ruler Ashoka. The 13.1 metres high column, made of polished sandstone and dating from the 3rd Century BC, was brought from Ambala in 14th century under orders of Feroz Shah. It was installed on a three-tiered arcaded pavilion near the congregational mosque, inside the Sultanate's fort. In centuries that followed, much of the structure and buildings near it were destroyed as subsequent rulers dismantled them and reused the spolia as building materials.[4][5]

In the pre-independence era, due to lack of auditoriums in the capital, most classical music performances were staged here or at Qutub complex. Later Ebrahim Alkazi, then head of NSD, staged his landmark production of Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug here and its premiere in 1964 was attended by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.[5]

कोटला

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[6] ने लेख किया है ..कोटला (AS, p.230) दिल्ली के पास फिरोज शाह कोटला - जहां तुगलक सुल्तानों ने चौधरी सदी में अपनी नई राजधानी बसाई थी. यहां फिरोज शाह तुगलक का मकबरा वी अशोका का स्तंभ है (देखें दिल्ली)

External links

References

  1. Prinsep, J (1837). "Interpretation of the most ancient of inscriptions on the pillar called lat of Feroz Shah, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad, Radhia and Mattiah pillar, or lat inscriptions which agree therewith". Journal of the Asiatic Society. 6: 600–609.
  2. William Jeffrey McKibben, The Monumental Pillars of Fīrūz Shāh Tughluq, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 24, (1994), pp. 105-118
  3. Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
  4. West Gate of Firoz Shah Kotla". British Library.
  5. "Capital's cultural affair began in 50s". Hindustan Times. 16 November 2011
  6. Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.230