Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/373

DELHI, KANAUJ, AJMIR, AND GWALIOR 329 been generally unfortunate in its rulers, endured un- speakable miseries at the hands of the tyrants Kalasa and Harsha. The latter, who was evidently insane, imitated Sankaravarman in the practice of plundering temples, and rightly came to a miserable end. A local Mohammedan dynasty obtained power in 1339, and the religion of Islam gradually spread in the valley during the fourteenth century; but the natural defences of the kingdom effectually guarded it against the ambition of the sovereigns of India, until Akbar conquered it in 1587 and incorporated it in the Mogul empire. IV DELHI, KANAUJ, AJMIR, AND GWALIOR Europeans are so accustomed to associate the name of Delhi with the sovereignty of India that they do not easily realize the fact that Delhi is among the most modern of the great Indian cities. Vague legends, it is true, irradiate the lands along the bank of the Jumna near the village of Indarpat with the traditional glories of the prehistoric Indraprastha, and these stories may or may not have some substantial basis. But, as an historical city, Delhi dates only from the middle of the eleventh century, when Anangapala, a Rajput chief of the Tomara clan, built the Red Fort, where the Kutb mosque now stands, and founded a town. The cele- brated iron pillar on which the eulogy of Chandra- gupta Vikramaditya is incised, was removed by him from its original position, probably Mathura, and set up in 1052 A. D. as an adjunct to a group of temples,