The Red Fort was commissioned in 1639 by Mughal emperor Shahjahan (one of the great builders, the one who commissioned the Taj Mahal) who had moved the capital back to Delhi from Agra where his father Akbar had set up capital. This new capital, old Delhi as it is known now, was called Shahjahanabad and was the place from where Shahjahan ruled over most of India and after him, his son Aurangzeb.
The Red Fort was designed by the same architect who designed Taj Mahal, Ustad Ahmad Lahori (the main gate is named after him as Lahori gate). Some accounts say that its an extension of the Salimgarh fort built by Salim Shah Sur son of Sher Shah Sur - a contemporary of Humayun who deposed Humayun from Delhi for a decade and a half from 1540-55 . The Red Fort is an asymmetrical, white and red fort, built on the banks of the Yamuna. It has both Mughal and Indian styles.
Some history. After Shahjahan passed away in prison in the Agra Fort in 1666 (imprisoned by Aurangzeb), and thereafter Aurangzeb who passed away in 1707, the Mughal empire weakened. Jalandhar Shah who succeeded him in 1712 was murdered in a year and Farrukhsiyar was made the emperor.
Sensing opportunity, Nadir Shah of Persia attacked the Red Fort in 1739, which was under Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah Rangila. Nadir Shah defeated the mighty Mughal army, massacred commoners, set the city ablaze in three weeks of mayhem, took away the peacock throne and the Koh i Noor and many valuable diamonds and jewels on elephants and camels and horses. He stripped jewels and art work from the buildings in the fort.
In 1752 the Maratha Confederacy promised protection to the Mughal throne. In 1758 they successfully fended off the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Durrani (Ahmad Khan Abdali who served with Nadir Shah of Persia and later became the founder of modern day Afghanistan) in 1758 at Panipat. To fund their war against Durrani who came at Delhi again and again, they stripped the silver off the ceiling of the Diwan e Khas. In 1761 the Marathas lost the third battle of Panipat to Durrani, considered to be the biggest battle of the 18th century.
However in 1771, under Mahadaji Shinde, the Marathas recaptured the Red Fort from the Rohilla Afghans at the behest of the exiled Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, and placed him on the throne. Shah Alam II would have an interesting career after that as in in 1764 the Jats conquered Red Fort and took away the Mughal throne while retreating after taking their pound of flesh (it's now sitting in the palace at Deeg, Rajasthan). in 1783 the Sikh misls or Confederacy captured Red Fort, and after negotiating a tribute withdrew in favour of emperor, Shah Alam II, on the condition that 7 gurudwaras would be built including Sis Ganj Sahib (Shrine of the Severed Head) at Chandni Chowk. The Sis Ganj Sahib is a gurudwara built on the site where the ninth Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded on the orders of Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam and for protesting against the persecution of Kashmiri Pandits. It is a magnificent structure in Chandni Chowk which has the relics of that time. A tree and a well.
Shah Alam II rode his luck again when Ghulam Kadir, a Rohilla Afghan (grandson of Najib Ul Dawlah, who was instrumental in the victory of the Afghans against Marathas in the third battle of Panipat) captured Red Fort in 1788 and imprisoned Shah Alam. Mahadaji Shinde of the Maratha Confederacy came to the rescue again, killed Kadir and reinstated Shah Alam, once again This time the Maratha flag flew over the Red Fort for a little over a decade.
From 1803-1805 the Anglo- Maratha wars were waged, which the British ultimately won. The British put a puppet Mughal regime and kept a resident to control it. Things went well for the British until 1857, when the uprising against the British began as the Sepoy Mutiny. The Mutiny took the British by surprise and in retribution they tried and exiled Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal emperor under whose banner the revolt was organised. The British took control over the Red Fort, demolished 80 percent of the structures and used it as an army base. This continued until India got independence on August 15, 1947. It was from here that Jawaharlal Nehru gave his first speech.
The main gate as with all forts is not straight and turns at a 90 degree turn. Massive gates and arches lead to what now is a marketplace in a beautifully decorated corridor. On the other side of it we came into a large open space within the fort and instantly to the left one can recognise British architecture - after the 1857 Sepoy mutiny the British apparently built their own for their army.
The lawns and gardens are green and beautiful though. More British buildings which were earlier hosting the garrison have now been converted into museums etc.
Next comes the Naubat Khana where drums would be played ceremonially. We did a bit of Bijapur like whispering in the Naubat Ghar walls and it worked. Onwards to the Diwan e Aam where the peacock throne once sat before Nadir Shah took it away to Persia. Behind it was the Rang Mahal which was used for entertainment (over for men and another for women) and then the Diwan e Khaas, where the emperor met important people, a structure built in marble. To the left of Diwan e Khas lay the emperors quarters and the famous Moti masjid built by Aurangzeb.
Further to the left were the harems, two structures called Sawan and Badhon, with water flowing between them and so on. By now we were tired and stopped at a canteen and drank some lassi, ate some cake.
We then saw the gate connecting Red Fort to the Salimgarh fort which is now used as a jail apparently. Then a stepwell under which our guide said were cells where they imprisoned INA authorities (who were tried here).
It boggles my mind to think of the changes the Red Fort has seen - Mughals, British, Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Rohillas and more.That it has seen amazing days is quite evident despite the destruction. One can only imagine the abundance, the riches of those times. And one just wonders how it would be if those walls could talk.
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