Delhi has laid claim to be the capital of India since the earliest days of Aryan civilisation in the great North Indian plain. Rajput kings and Muslim invaders alike have built large planned cities and strong fortifications. Delhi has attracted many because of its strategic location: defended to the west and south by quartzite ridges that are the last spurs of the Aravalli ranges and to the east by the great Yamuna river, which has also ensured it plentiful water. To the east lies the fertile Gangetic plain and to the west the rich lands of Punjab with its five rivers. From Delhi pressure can also be exerted to the south on Ajmer, the gateway to the Rajput kingdoms. No fewer than 15 cities had been built on this spot beforethe British rulers of India decided to move capital here. By doing so they wanted to lay claim not only to the vanished Mughal empire, which had its brilliant court in the Red Fort in the heart of the city of Shahjehanabad on a site northward of Delhi, but also impress upon the people that they were the legitimate heirs to the great empires which had ruled from this spot.
Imperial Delhi, then, was to, from thebeginning, be a city that would awe the beholder. It was to be the expression of British might in India, of its stable policies and enlightened views, and of its respect for law, order, reason and tolerence. It was also to be a city that would in its architecture display a synthesis of Classical and Indian design elements, thereby symbolising the progress and harmony that was to be had out of co-operation with the rulers.
This book is one of the finest chronicles of the process of planning New Delhi and its principal monuments. It covers the original vision for the city, several alternate sites and plans, and the eventual outcome of the co-operation between Lutyens and Baker.
New Delhi's systematic lay-out is the highest evolution of rational principles. The Vicregal Palace together with the Secretariat blocks occupies the highest point- Raisina hill. In defence of !this site Lutyens quoted from the Bible ' the city on the hill cannot be hid'. A great east-west axis- the Kingsway- proceeds from Raisina to the Yamuna and the oldest city of all Indraprastha. Wide green lawns, straight avenues of trees and long reflecting pools border this principal axis. The Kingsway is cut at right angles by the other axis of the city- the Queensway. At the heart of the city stood a statue of the King-Emperor, while arrayed around the hexagon around it that delineated Prince's Park, were the palaces of the Maharaja's friendly to the British. The whole thus expressed a rational, well-planned city, where the Viceregal Palace symbolised the paramountcy of the British empire over the native rulers, who affirmed their loyalty to the King. With its wide, straight, tree lined boulevards the city has often been compared to Haussman's Paris. The resemblance is strengthened by the enormous All-India War Memorial Arch that stands in Prince's Park, astride the Kingsway. Its proportions and outline recall the Arc de Triomphe and the whole is remniscent of the Champs Elysee. Meanwhile Lutyens evolved a style that could truly lay claim to the brilliance of Indian decorative elements while espousing for its overall form the simplicity and strength of Classical Greek architecture. His sandstone buildings are simple and massive, shunning excessive decoration for a nobler expression. Restrained and fused to these solid buildings are decorative elements from the three principle Indian cultures, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist.
Lutyens deliberately avoided an ' Indian style' because he felt that there was none such- each ruler had merely imposed his conventions and indeed Indian buildings are modest in their structure and ground-plans. Most cover this up with a profusion of decorative elements, but again Lutyens shunned this over-richness for a more austere and formal style. This was also necessitated by the raging controversy over whether Delhi should have a Muslim or Hindu architecture, which threatened to ! incite communal riots. Insofar as Lutyens borrows form Indian structures it is from Buddhist stupas such as the one at Sanchi, for their bold simple lines struck a chord. For the rest, the wealth of floral and geometric patterns, not to speak of animal carvings that India has produced are subtly woven into the whole. This book covers the entire history of the evolution of New Delhi. I recommend it for the wealth of plans and lay-outs it has, as well as some of Lutyen's original designs for the Viceroy's palace. It should appeal to all those with an interest in city planning or in the architecture that Lutyen's promoted which sadly did not outlive him. It is unique in that it neither gets bogged down in academic discussions of what city-planning ought to be, of the needs of developing nations or of indigenous design requirements, nor is it a glossy picture book of Delhi's 'sights'. It is a well-paced, thorough book that evokes the image that the planner's of Delhi had in their minds- of a grand city, that a nation that considered itself to be the heir to the Roman Empire would be proud to build.
Perhaps the only shortcomings of this book are that it does not display all the plans that are discussed nor does it indicate which ones the text is referring to. This means that one has to often read very carefully and try to make a plan fit a description. This difficulty could very easily have been obviated. Secondly, while much of Delhi eventually remained on paper, it would have been worthwile to display and discuss those structures that never got built. The rapid decline of the British Empire meant that Delhi remained an unfinished city, and I was particularly looking for insights into the Delhi that might have been, the institutions, hospitals, libraries, museums, offices that were doubtless intended to fill in the capital and continue and irrevocably establish Lutyen's claim to an imperial architecture for India. While Delhi remained unfinished, this book need not have and from a historical chronicle could! have continued into the imaginary realm of the Delhi that was envisioned, the Delhi that was to be the second city of the Empire after London, the Delhi that might have been.
(Review by: bagchee@bigfoot.com (Delhi, India) )
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