Purana Qila (Old Fort), Delhi — Din-panah

The Purana Qila (Old Fort) is an irregularly oblong citadel on the bank of the Yamuna at Delhi, between Humayun's tomb and the Kotla Firuz Shah; its long axis follows the river, which seems to have flowed by its eastern wall, while a moat, parts of which survive, guarded the other three sides. ^{2 3 4} The fort, its three gateways and the Qila-i-Kuhna mosque and Sher Mandal inside it are usually ascribed to Sher Shah; R. Nath identifies it instead with Din-panah, the city of Humayun. ²

Khwandamir relates that Humayun, at Gwalior in Sha'ban 939, announced his intention to build at Delhi a city that would be an asylum for the wise, to be called Din-panah, and Shihab al-Din Ahmad Mu'immai composed its chronogram "Shahr-i Badshah Din-panah" (AH 940). ¹ Humayun chose high ground on the river, the foundation was laid in mid-Muharram 940 (August 1533), and by the end of Shawwal 940 (mid-May 1534) the walls, bastions, ramparts and gates were nearly finished. ^{1 5} Nath relies on Abu al-Fadl's statement that Humayun restored the citadel of Indrapat and named it Din-panah, and on Bada'uni's that Sher Shah destroyed the Delhi of Ala al-Din (Siri) and built his own city between Din-panah and Firuzabad. ^{2 6 7}

The high wall of undressed stone has round bastions at regular intervals, sometimes with double rows of embrasures, a slight batter recalling the Tughluq style, and, inside, rows of vaulted cells for the garrison. ⁴ The three gates — the Talaqi Darwaza on the north, the Bara Darwaza on the west and the Humayun Darwaza on the south — are built of dressed red and grey stone with white marble, black slate and green, turquoise and yellow glazed tiles, with oriel windows and chhatris. ^{4 8} The Talaqi gate bears two white-marble panels of a composite lion-like beast overpowering a man, the Bara Darwaza two six-pointed stars each centred on a lotus, and the Humayun Darwaza two marble elephants. ^{8 9 10 11}

Maulvi Muhammad Ashraf Husain recorded on the Talaqi gate a faint Persian inscription praying God to preserve "this House of Humayun" from harm, and on the Humayun Darwaza an inscription in ink dating its erection to AH 950 by order of Ghazi Khan Lohani in Sher Shah's reign. ^{8 11 12} Nath holds that the three gates belong to one style, that the latter inscription points to a renovation of the rear pavilions under Sher Shah, and that the symbols on the gates suit not Sher Shah's taste but that of Humayun, devoted to astronomy and omens. ¹² This is his argument against the common ascription to Sher Shah. ^{2 13}