Planning Shahjahanabad, 1910s–1930s

In 1911, after five decades of relative political obscurity on the map of political influence in British India following the Revolt of 1857, Delhi, the old seat of the Mughal emperor, was rechristened as the capital of the British Indian empire. From the moment of transfer of the capital of the British Indian empire from Calcutta to Delhi, the new capital at Delhi was envisioned as a symbol of British power, an expression of ‘an unfaltering determination to maintain British rule in India.’ A move undertaken in large measure to escape the uncomfortable political atmosphere of Calcutta, the decision to transfer the capital to Delhi was also driven by the British masters’ desire to present a new vision of Indian empire and British sovereignty.