.3fuhammad of Ghor found Dehli occupied by the Tomara clan, Ajmir by the Chauhans, and Kanauj by the Rahtors. These Rajput states formed the natural breakwaters against invaders from the north-west. But their feuds are said to have left to the king of Deltli and Ajmir, then united under one Chauhan overlord, only 64 of his 108 warrior chiefs ; and when, in 1193, the Afghans again swept down on the Panjab, Prithi-raj, Dehli and Ajmir, was defeated and slain. Ilis heroic princess burned herself on his funeral pile. 3fuhammad of Ghor having occupied Dchli, pressed on to Ajmir, and in 1194 overthrew the rival Hindu monarch of Kanauj, whose body wail identified on the field of battle by his false teeth. The brave Rahtor Rajputs of Kananj, with other of the Rajput clans in Northern India, quitted their homes in large bodies rather than aubmit to the stranger. They migrated to the regions bordering on the eastern desert of the Indus, and there founded tho military kingdoms which bear their name, Rajputana, to this day. Since then Deldi was burned by Timur, 1398 ; occupied by Baber, 1526 ; sacked by Nadir, 1739; taken by Mahrattas, 1758 ; taken by British, 12th Sep tember 1803 ; and again recovered by British, 20th September 1857.
Dehli town in 1868 had a population of 154,417. Dehli district poptilation, in an area of 1277 square miles, comprised Hindus, 438,886 ; 3fahotnedans, 130,645 ; Sikhs, 580 ; and others, 38,739, the total population being 608,850. Jata number 107,856, of remarkably industrious habits, agri cultural skill, and promptitude in the payment of revenue. North of Dehli the greater part of the land is in their possession, though they often share their villages with Brahman coparceners. Gujars (22,164) are pastoral and serni-nomade, in the hilly plateau of the south. They are addicted to cattle-lifting and thieving. The other tribes comprise 14,109 Ahirs, 10,677 Rajputs, 15,776 Pathans, and 8392 Sayyids.
Akbar and Jahangir mustily resided at Agra, Lahore, or Ajmir ; and Dehli ag,ain lang,uished in disfavour, till the reign of Shah Jahan. This emperor rebuilt the city in its present form, surrounding it with the existing fortifications, and adding the title of Shah-jahanabrui, from his own name. He also built the Jamma Masjid, and reopened the Western Jumna Canal. Dehli is still enclosed on three sides by the lofty wall of solid stone, constructed by the emperor Shah Jahan, and subsequently strengthened by tho British, at the beginning of tho 19th century, with a ditch and glacis. The eastern side, where tho city extends to the river bank, has no wall, but the high bank is faced with masonry. There a.re many architectural renutius. In Purana Killa is the Keelar Kona mosque, which was commenced by Humaynn, and finished by Sher Shah. It has five horseshoe arches, decorated with blue tiles and tnarble, and some of them have been noticed under architecture.
The Palace of Shah Jahan-110AV the fort— measures 1600 feet east and west by 3200 north and south, exclusive of the gateways.
Diwan-i-Khas, or Private Audience Hall (the most ornamented of all Shah Jahan's building,$), overhangs the river ; nothing can exceed the deli cacy of its inlaid work or the poetry of its design.
A little to the south of tho Chandni Chauk is the Jamma Ma.,:jid, standing out boldly from a small rocky rising ground. It was built by Shah Jahan between the fourth and tenth years of his reign, and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in India.
The Kala Masjid, supposed to have been built by one of the early Afghan sovereigns, and the mosque of Roshan-ud-Daula, merit notice.
To the west, beyond the walls, is a little chapel in honour of a Musalman saint, Nizam-ud-Din, near whose shrine members of the late imperial family, up to the thne of the mutiny, were buried, each in his own little enclosure, surrounded by very elegant lattice-work of white marble.
Iron Pillar.—The earliest authentic information regarding the city is derived from the iron pillar of Raja Dhava, set up in the 3d or 4th century B.C. (319). It consists of a solid shaft of metal, 16 inches in diameter, and about 50. feet in length, but less thaa half its height appears above the ground. A Sanskrit inscription, deeply cut on its ',western face, records the story of its origin. Mr. James Ptinsep, the first decipherer of the legend, found that it commemorated the prowess of Raja Dhava, who obtained with his own arm an undivided sovereignty on the earth for a, long period ; while the letters appear to bo the typical cuts inflicted on his enemies by his sword, writing his immortal fame.' It is the arm of fame (Kirti Bhuja) of Raja Dhava. There-is another inscrip tion on it, which ha.s given.riso to a tradition that attributes the erection of the pillar to Anang Pal, founder of the Tuar dynasty in the 8th century A.D. Awing Pal made Debit the Tuar metro polis, surrounding it with a massive line of forti fications, whose ruins are still believed to exist in the great circle of masonry lying around the Kutub Minar. The date of this restoration has been preserved by a second inscription cut into the more ancient pillar of Raja Dhava In Sambat 1109 ' (1052 A.D.), Anang Pal peopled Dilli.' Just a century later, under the reign of a third Anang Pal, last of the Tuar line, Dehli fell before Visaldeva or Iiisaldeo, Chauhan ruler of Ajmir. The conqueror permitted the vanquished raja to retain possession as a vassal ; and from a marriage between the two houses sprang the celebrated Prithi - raj, the last champion of Hindu independence in Upper India, who thus succeeded to the joint realms of the Tuars and the Chauhans. Prithi-raj further strengthened the defences of the city by an exterior wall, whicji ran round the fortifications of Anang Pal, and of which remains may still be traced for a consider able distance. In 1191, Shahab - ud Din made his first invasion of Upper India. As above mentioned, the Rajput ruler Prithi-raj success fully defended his kingdom for the time ; but two years later the Mahomedan invader returned, utterly overthrew the Hindus in a great battle, and put their prince to de,ath in cold blood. Kutub-ud-Din, the Sultan's viceroy, attacked and took Dehli, which became thenceforth the Mahomedan capital. On the death of Shahab-ud Din in 1206, the viceroy beeame an independent sovereign, and founder of the Slave dynasty, to whom old Dehli owes most of its grandest ruins.