Researchers
Delhi
Delhi is the capital of the Delhi Sultanate then the Mughal Empire in India: the Qutb Minar and Quwwat al-Islam mosque made it the emblem of Indian Islam from the thirteenth century. Five sultanate dynasties ruled it from 1206 to 1526, then Shah Jahan built it as Shahjahanabad, the Mughal capital: the Jama Masjid, the Red Fort and Chandni Chowk. It fell to the Persians in 1739 then the British in 1857, and it remains the heart of India''s Islamic life: a school, a shrine, a city of the wise and the Friday mosque. Those layers are read with the eyes in its remains — Hindu pillars inside an Islamic mosque, Persian on Mughal walls, Hindi ringing in a minaret. And in Delhi today the Qutb Minar stands witness to eight centuries: from the first sultans to Shah Jahan, from Shah Jahan to empire, from empire to India's independence and Delhi's staying her heart.