Competing Visions of Empire in the Colonial Built Environment

Abstract

Most observers in India and Britain assumed that the new imperial capital would be built in or near Delhi’s civil lines since it was the closest thing to a European community in the Delhi District. Using a golden trowel made especially for the occasion, the king and queen even laid commemorative foundation stones near the durbar site, which was located in the civil lines’ northern sector.¹ To many people’s shock and bewilderment, the Government of India and its official town planning committee selected a building site to the south of the existing Indian city of Shajahanabad, effectively separating the present European community from the future capital. Rural villages, farmland, and the ruins of the Tughluk, Lodi, and Mughal empires dominated the selected area. These characteristics and the site’s dislocation from any British historical presence invited further criticism of the transfer.