Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/171

THE CAPITAL MOVED TO DAULATABAD 137 and though it is not easy to define their eastward boun- dary, it probably reached to the Godavari, despite the fact that Telingana was rather a tributary state than a part of the empire. Had Mohammad Taghlak contented himself with merely shifting the official court, the change would have been reasonable and practical. But he must needs transport the whole population of Delhi summarily and en masse to the new capital. What this meant may be realized when it is remembered that the Delhi which Ibn Batuta described was a vast city, ten miles across, composed of successive suburbs built round the forts and palaces of different kings. There was Old Delhi, the city of the Ghazni rulers; near by stood Siri, after- wards named the Dar-al-Khilafa, " Abode of the Caliph- ate," founded by Ala-ad-din; Taghlakabad was the sub- urb built by the Sultan's father, whose palace was roofed with glittering gilt tiles; and Jahanpanah, " the Refuge of the World," was the name given to the new city which the Sultan dominated from his stately palace. The great wall of Old Delhi, which astonished the Moor- ish visitor by its thickness and its ingenious arrange- ment of guardrooms and magazines, had twenty-eight gates; and the great mosque, the Kutb Minar, and the splendid palaces, excited the admiration of the traveller who had seen all the cities of the East and their won- ders. He never tires of expatiating on the grandeur of the royal receptions and stately pageants in the " thousand-columned " hall of " the Refuge of the World." Yet the Delhi he saw was a city slowly recov-