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Medieval And Colonial Capital Cities Of <strong>Delhi</strong>JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTIONIndian symbolic Forms: In the architecture of the buildings in the colonial capital of New <strong>Delhi</strong>, Europeansymbolic forms appear in equal measure alongside Indian elements and motifs that drew inspiration fromBuddhist religious complexes and Mughal buildings. At one level the architecture of the buildings in colonial New<strong>Delhi</strong> are completely indebted to Palladio and the architectural elements of the Renaissance. On the other handSir Edward Lutyens used forms and symbols of the Indian subcontinent that are both Hindu and Islamic in origin.oooElephants: Edwin Lutyens placed elephants in various locations throughout Viceroy’s House. For the mostpart they serve to guard the entrances. Their significance extends far beyond their present‐day use as aworking animal, and Lutyens understood their significance in Indian mythology. As early as in Mohenjo‐Daro, elephants had been found on seals, appearing time and time again as working animals, as well asmythical creatures in Indian mythology. They are termed ‘the king’s clouds’ and they guarantee rain forhis people in the period of monsoon.” Thus, the stone elephants that Lutyens provided for the entrancesto Viceroy’s House presumably also held a double meaning for him. First, as relatives of the clouds, theyensured the fertility of the land, and secondly as caryatids of the universe they supported the rulingBritish Empire. In Imperial <strong>Delhi</strong>, elephants not only guard the palace, as symbols of strength but they arealso fixtures in all great processions in India whether religious or political. Even the military parade onRepublic Day, held annually on January 26, does not dispense with these important symbolic beasts.Naga (snake): Another mythical creature from Hindu mythology was given a particularly prominent placein the architecture of imperial British rule in India: In the South Court of Viceroy’s House, two Naga snakesset on high octagonal pillars spout water from a large basin. They are: “serpent kings personifying anddirecting terrestrial waters of the lakes and ponds, rivers and oceans. Vishnu’s shoulders and head aresurrounded by nine serpent heads with expanded hoods, he crouches on the mighty coils. Nagas inhabitsubaquatic paradises, dwelling at the bottoms of rivers, lakes and seas, in resplendent palaces studdedwith gems and pearls.” Unlike its place in western mythology, the snake as Naga is not the least bitthreatening, nor is it any adversary of goodness. As a divine guardian over the life‐giving element of water,it is more a symbol of incomparable and unquestioned power. Therefore, it is not depicted as slitheringalong the ground, as in western representations. Rather, standing upright, it dispenses precious water forthe fountains and waterways of the palace and its Mughal Garden.Lotus flower The symbol of the lotus flower also appears in Viceroy’s House. Once at the top of the Jaipurcolumn, where a star grows out of the flower, and again in the Mughal Garden where four symmetricallyarranged fountains each display a hexagonally shaped lotus flower. Lakshmi‐Shri or Padma is the Lotusgoddess and the consort of Vishnu. She represents Vishnu’s creative energy. Alongside the originalconnection of the goddess Lakshmi with Vishnu, the lotus flower also appeared later in Hinduism inassociation with Brahma as “the anthropomorphic symbol of Brahman, the essence of the universe, thecosmic, anonymous Self.” (Ibid, P. 180). The Buddha also is almost always depicted sitting on a lotusflower since the third century, and the lotus position has increasingly become a symbol of divine origin aswell as enlightenment.Indian architectural featureso Dome of the Durbar Hall, Viceroy’s House Stupa: Lutyens ascribed a especially prominent role to theBuddhist stupa at Sanchi, dating from the third century B.C.as an architectural form together with thestone railing that usually surrounds it. He chose the form of the fenced‐in burial mound (also a Buddhistreliquary and symbol of the axis mundi) for the fashioning of the dome above the Durbar Hall. It waspresumably the rare, well‐preserved stupa that was model for the hall. The shape of its stone surround(vedika) was not only adopted as the tambour for the dome, but also appeared again as the monumentalboundary for Prince Edward Place (now Great Place) at the foot of Raisina Hill.o Pillars of the portico of Viceroy’s House, Lutyens did not refer back to the three Neo‐Classical orders(Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian)but designed instead, an individual “<strong>Delhi</strong> Order”, as Latrobe had alreadydone for Washington, D.C. in the United States. Lutyens chose the Hindu motif of the temple bell for thecapital of the pillars of the portico of the Viceroy’s house. It is again a kind of synthesis – and one of theusual acanthus leaf type, but strained and restrained to a much greater abstraction while it is, at the sametime, touched with an Indian note in its angle bells.31‐07‐2012 INTACH, <strong>Delhi</strong> Chapter 5