A Visit to a Historical Place: Red Fort
There are a large number of historical places in India and these are very much worthy of a visit. It is important that every student should visit some of them because these are of much educational and historical value. History becomes living and lively when you visit a historical place.
The places of greatest historical value in Delhi and of wide interest to the students and non-students are the Qutab Minar and the Red Fort. One who has not seen the Qutab Minar and the Red Fort in Delhi cannot be said to have seen Delhi at all.
Last Sunday; the Principal of our school arranged a special trip for the senior students to visit the Red Fort. Many of them had already seen the Red Fort but the principal desired that they should see it again for better knowledge under proper guidance.
A special bus was hired for the purpose and all students of the class 10th were invited to join the trip. We all reached the school punctually where a special bus was ready to take us to the Red Fort. We reached the Red Fort at ten in the morning and the teacher-in-charge of the trip, who was a teacher of history, bought tickets for all of us. After buying tickets we stepped into the Red Fort. Along the entrance there were two rows of shops selling objects of art. They were also selling handicrafts. In the Mughal time this was known as the Meena Bazar and here the princesses and the queens of the Harem made their purchases.
Then we crossed a lawn and made our way into another gate. Here our tickets were checked. This building is known as ‘Naubat Rhana.” It was a Royal Drum House. Royal musicians used to play music here in the Mughal times five times a day.
Thereafter we entered “Diwan-e-Aam” or the Hall of Public Audience. It has a marble dial and a marble canopy. Here sat the Mughal Emperor, received the ministers, courtiers and other people who came to meet him on official or public functions. The Emperor sat under the canopy on his throne. His Prime Minister sat on the dias. In olden and golden days the walls of Diwan-e-Am were covered with paintings and it was decorated with precious stones. But now these valuable treasures are missing. In those days even the humblest citizen could came to Diwan-e-Am and present his petition to the king if he had any complaint against anybody.
Beyond the Diwan-e-Aam we passed on to the Rang Mahal. It was a palace of pleasures and richly inlaid with precious stones in the Mughal Times. In the centre of the hall ran a canal of refreshing water and it was known as the Nahar-i-Bihisht. A fountain shaped like a flower played in the middle of the hall.
Beside Rang Mahal there is Khas Mahal. It has a beautiful marble screen. A scale is carved on the screen, indicating rigid justice which ruled supreme during the Mughal times. Then there is Diwan-e-Khas, the Hall of Private Audience where only selected people could meet the king, such as minister, princes, princesses and queens. Here was written the Persian couplet which means :
“If there be paradise on earth,
It is here, it is here, it is here.”
The Red Fort also has War Memorial Museum, which exhibit, weapons of war used in the First World War. Here in Red Fort was the famous peacock Throne and the Kohinoor diamond which Nadir Shah removed to Iran. The throne was dismantled and broken ino pieces. The kohinoor diamond to-day is found in the British crown.
