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{{redirect|Indraprastham|the film|Indraprastham (film)}}
{{short description|City of the Kuru Kingdom. It was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2013}}
{{use British English|date=May 2013}}
'''Indraprastha''' (lit. "Plain of [[Indra]]"<ref name="Singh2017">{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=Political Violence in Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYM4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA401|date=25 September 2017|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-98128-7|page=401}}</ref> or "City of Indra") is mentioned in ancient Indian literature as a city of the [[Kuru Kingdom]]. It was the capital of the kingdom led by the [[Pandavas]] mentioned in ''[[Mahabharata]]'' . Under the [[Pali]] form of its name, '''Indapatta''', it is also mentioned in [[Pali canon|Buddhist texts]] as the capital of the Kuru [[mahajanapada]]. Modern historical research pin its location in the region of present-day [[New Delhi]], particularly the Old Fort ([[Purana Qila]]).<ref>{{cite book|author=Imperial Gazetteer of India|title=Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V11_242.gif|year=1911|publisher=Oxford Press|page=236}}</ref> The city is sometimes also known as ''[[Khandavaprastha]]'' or ''[[Khandava Forest]]'', the name of a forest region on the banks of [[Yamuna]] river which (according to the ''Mahabharata'') had been cleared by [[Krishna]] and [[Arjuna|Arjun]] to build the city.

==History==
Indraprastha is referenced in the ''Mahabharata'', a [[Sanskrit]] Indian text compiled over a period approximately between 400 BCE and 400 CE. It was one of the five places demanded for the sake of peace and to avert a disastrous war, Krishna proposed that if Hastinapur agreed to give the Pandavas only five villages, namely, Indraprastha, Swarnprastha ([[Sonipat]]), Panprastha ([[Panipat]]), Vyaghrprastha ([[Baghpat]]) and Tilprastha ([[Tilpat]])<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-05|title=Geeta Jayanti 2019: पांडवों ने कौरवों से मांगे थे ये पांच गांव जानिए इनके बारे में|url=https://www.naidunia.com/spiritual/vrat-tyohar-geeta-jayanti-2019-had-asked-these-five-villages-from-kauravas-know-about-these-4030796|access-date=2020-09-02|website=Nai Dunia|language=hi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=इन पांच गांवों के कारण हुआ था पांडव और कौरवों में महाभारत का युद्ध {{!}} mahabharata war|url=https://hindi.webdunia.com/mahabharat/mahabharata-war-118070900009_1.html|access-date=2020-09-02|website=hindi.webdunia.com}}</ref> then they would be satisfied and would make no more demands. Duryodhana vehemently refused, commenting that he would not part with land even as much as the point of a needle. Thus, the stage was set for the great war for which the epic of Mahabharata is known most of all. The Mahabharata records Indraprastha as being home to the Pandavas, whose wars with the [[Kauravas]] it describes.
[[File: Ashoka Maurya Empire.png|thumb|Indraprastha within the Maurya Empire]]

During the Mauryan period, Indraprastha was known as Indapatta in Buddhist literature. The location of Indraprastha is uncertain but [[Purana Qila]] in present day New Delhi is frequently cited.{{efn|For instance, Indologist [[J. A. B. van Buitenen]], who translated the Mahabharata, wrote in 1973 that "there can be no reasonable doubt about the locations of [[Hastinapura]], of Indraprastha (Delhi's Purana Qila [...]), and of [[Mathura]]}}<ref name="BuitenenBuitenen1973">{{cite book|author1=J. A. B. van Buitenen|author2=Johannes Adrianus Bernardus Buitenen|author3=James L. Fitzgerald|title=The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8oe5fY5_3UC&pg=PA10|year=1973|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-84663-7|page=12}}</ref> and has been noted as such in texts as old as the 14th-century CE.<ref name="Singh2006intro">{{cite book |title=Delhi: Ancient History |editor-first=Upinder |editor-last=Singh |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2006 |isbn=9788187358299 |pages=xvii-xxi, 53–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkpdLnZpm78C}}</ref> The modern form of the name, Inderpat, continued to be applied to the Purana Qila area into the early 20th century;<ref name="Ghosh1990">{{cite book|author=Amalananda Ghosh|title=An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, Volume 2|year=1990|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|isbn=978-81-215-0089-0|pages=353–354}}</ref> in a study of ancient Indian place-names, [[Michael Witzel]] considers this to be one of many places from the Sanskrit Epics whose names have been retained into modern times, such as [[Kosambi|Kaushambi]]/Kosam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Witzel |first=Michael |editor1-last=Bronhorst |editor1-first=Johannes |editor2-last=Deshpande |editor2-first=Madhav |title=Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=1999 |pages=337–404 (p.25 of PDF) |chapter=Aryan and non-Aryan Names in Vedic India. Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900-500 B.C. |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Lingsit.pdf |isbn=978-1-888789-04-1}}</ref>

==Location==
Purana Qila is certainly an ancient settlement but archaeological studies performed there since the 1950s{{efn|Archaeological surveys were carried out in 1954-1955 and between 1969 and 1973.<ref>{{cite book |title=Delhi: Ancient History |editor-first=Upinder |editor-last=Singh |editor-link=Upinder Singh |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2006 |isbn=9788187358299 |page=187 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkpdLnZpm78C}}</ref>}}{{efn|The 1954-1955 sessions revealed pottery of the [[Painted Grey Ware]] (before c.600 BCE), [[Northern Black Polished Ware]] (c.600-200 BCE), [[Shunga Empire|Shunga]], and [[Kushan Empire]] periods. The 1969-1973 sessions failed to reach the PGW levels, but found continuous occupation from the NBPW period to the 19th century: the [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]]-period settlement yielded mud-brick and [[wattle-and-daub]] houses, brick drains, wells, figurines of terracotta, a stone carving, a [[stamp seal]] impression, and a copper coin.<ref name="Ghosh1990" />}} have failed to reveal structures and artefacts that would confirm the architectural grandeur and rich lives in the period that the ''Mahabharata'' describes. The historian [[Upinder Singh]] notes that despite the academic debate, "Ultimately, there is no way of conclusively proving or disproving whether the Pandavas or Kauravas ever lived ...".<ref name="Singh2006intro"/> However, it is possible that the main part of the ancient city has not been reached by excavations so far, but rather falls under the unexcavated area extending directly to the south of Purana Qila.{{efn|Historian [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]] quotes archaeologist [[B. B. Lal]]'s suggestion, "the main part of the city must probably have been to the south – through the Humayun Gate towards [[Humayun's Tomb]] [...] where the [[National Zoological Park Delhi|Zoo]] and Sundernagar are now."<ref name="Dalrymple2003">{{cite book|author=William Dalrymple|title=City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVvUJVmVr8kC&pg=PT370|date=2003|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-12701-8|page=370}}</ref>}} Overall, Delhi has been the center of the area where the ancient city has historically been estimated to be. Until 1913, a village called ''Indrapat'' existed within the fort walls.<ref name="Delhi village">{{cite book|title=''Delhi city guide''|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Delhi_City_Guide/biFuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Eicher%20Delhi%20City%20Guide|year=1998|publisher=Eicher Goodearth Limited, Delhi Tourism|isbn=81-900601-2-0|page=162}}</ref> As of 2014, the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] is continuing excavation in Purana Qila.<ref name=ASI>{{cite news|last=Tankha|first=Madhur|title=The discovery of Indraprastha|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-discovery-of-indraprastha/article5772895.ece|access-date=14 March 2014|newspaper=The HIndu|date=11 March 2014}}</ref>

==Historical Significance==
Indraprastha is not only known from the ''Mahabharata.'' It is also mentioned as "Indapatta" or "Indapattana" in [[Pali]]-language Buddhist texts, where it is described as the capital of the [[Kuru Kingdom]],<ref name="Raychaudhuri1950">{{cite book|author=H.C. Raychaudhuri|title=Political History of Ancient India: from the accession of Parikshit to the extinction of the Gupta dynasty|date=1950|publisher=University of Calcutta|pages=41, 133}}</ref> situated on the Yamuna River.<ref name="Chandra1977">{{cite book|author=Moti Chandra|title=Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDL4kA7SWkEC&pg=PA77|year=1977|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-055-6|page=77}}</ref> The Buddhist literature also mentions Hatthinipura ([[Hastinapura]]) and several smaller towns and villages of the Kuru kingdom.<ref name="Raychaudhuri1950" /> Indraprastha may have been known to the Greco-Roman world as well: it is thought to be mentioned in [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Geography (Ptolemy)|''Geography'']] dating from the 2nd century CE as the city "Indabara", possibly derived from the [[Prakrit]] form "Indabatta", and which was probably in the vicinity of Delhi.<ref name="McCrindle1885">{{cite book|author=J. W. McCrindle|title=Ancient India as Described by Ptolemy|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5077|year=1885|publisher=Thacker, Spink, & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5077/page/n143 128]}}</ref> Upinder Singh (2004) describes this equation of Indabara with Indraprastha as "plausible".<ref name="Singh2004">{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=The discovery of ancient India: early archaeologists and the beginnings of archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DRuAAAAMAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Permanent Black|isbn=978-81-7824-088-6|page=67}}</ref> Indraprastha is also named as a pratigana (district) of the Delhi region in a Sanskrit inscription dated to 1327 CE, discovered in Raisina area of New Delhi.<ref>Singh (ed., 2006), p.186</ref>

[[D. C. Sircar]], an [[epigraphy|epigraphist]], believed Indraprastha was a significant city in the [[Mauryan]] period, based on analysis of a stone carving found in the Delhi area at [[Sriniwaspuri]] which records the reign of the Mauryan emperor [[Ashoka]]. Singh has cast doubt on this interpretation because the inscription does not actually refer to Indraprastha and although "... a place of importance must certainly have been located in the vicinity of the rock edict, exactly which one it was and what it was known as, is uncertain." Similarly, remains, such as an iron pillar, that have been associated with Ashoka are not indubitably so: their composition is atypical and the inscriptions are vague.<ref name="Singh2006intro" />

== See also ==
*[[Swarnprastha]]
*[[Ashokan Edicts in Delhi]]
*[[Hastinapura]]
*[[History of Delhi]]
*[[Historicity of the Mahabharata]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}

{{Mahabharata}}

[[Category:Locations in Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:Places in the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian cities]]
[[Category:Former capital cities in India]]

Indraprastha - Revision history

2402:3A80:1F4A:B179:E91C:447:8C54:853D at 02:50, 28 December 2023