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Mehrauli village in Delhi needs no introduction. It is an ancient Jat village, famous for its UNESCO world heritage site, Qutub Minar, which, contrary to current theory, was built by Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Mehrauli has rich history which can be found in various textbooks. Mehrauli is known in history for the iron pillar inscription. This iron pillar bearing the inscription of Chandra was originally erected on a hill called Visnupada near the Beas, but was brought to Meharauli (Delhi) and was installed near the well-known Kutub Minar. We also know of the transfer of the Ashokan pillars from Topra and Meerut to Delhi.
Mehrauli, lying on the south-west of Delhi is one of the most important group of villages which developed around the shrine of the Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, popularly known as Qutb Sahib. He was born in Central Asia but came to India during the reign of Iltutmish as a disciple of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer. The settlement of Mehrauli has evolved over several centuries, each layer leaving an imprint of its own in the development of the village. Probably the oldest area of Delhi to have been continuously inhabited, the Mehrauli village is adjacent to the site of the fortified city of Tomar Rajputs, Lal Kot, founded in ad 1060. In the subsequent centuries the population of Mehrauli expanded to spread across the area outside the walls of the fortification. Lal Kot functioned as the capital city for more than two centuries; but even after the centre of political power moved elsewhere Mehrauli continued to flourish. It is today one of the hundred odd traditional settlements or ‘urban villages’ within the city of Delhi. The outer limits of the village were defined by an imaginary line called the ‘Lal Dora’ to protect the existing resources like cultivation lands, orchards, wood, and settlement as determined in 1980–89. Today, the settlement is a culturally rich area consisting of several historic structures dating from the Rajput, Sultanate, Mughal, and colonial periods.
Opposite Qutub Minar Metro Station, Anuvrat Marg, Mehrauli, New Delhi, Delhi 110030