Keywords
Dinpanah
Mehrauli
Sacred Spaces
Shahjahanabad
Temple
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper explores the transformation of Delhi under Islamic rule, focusing on how the city’s sacred and social landscape, initially shaped by Hindu Rajput rulers, was reshaped between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries. Using a narrative historical approach, the study traces Delhi’s evolution from its pre-Islamic foundations at Lal Kot, established under Hindu Rajput rule, to its transformation under successive Sultanate and Mughal dynasties. Through a focused examination of Mehrauli, Dinpanah, and Shahjahanabad, this study discusses how Hindu temples and sacred sites were reinterpreted, altered, and at times incorporated into Delhi’s evolving urban landscape. While many such sites were destroyed or repurposed under Islamic rule, local communities preserved the essence of the sacred through everyday practices and lived traditions rather than grand monumental structures. Delhi’s transformation was not only a story of destruction; but also, one of survival, where the sacred continues to live in memory, practice, and in those temples that endured, even as many others were lost or reshaped under successive rulers.
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