Here is an excerpt from Ibn Battuta’s account of Delhi, often spelt as Dehli in texts of the period:

Fig. : An arch in Tughlakabad, Delhi

The city of Delhi covers a wide area and has a large population. The rampart round the city is without parallel. The breadth of its wall is eleven cubits; and inside it are houses for the night senty and gate keepers. Inside the ramparts, there are store-houses for storing edibles, magazines, ammunition, ballistas and siege machines. The grains that are stored (in these ramparts) can last for a long time, without rotting...In the interior of the rampart, horsemen as well as infantrymen move from one end of the city to another. The rampart is pierced through by windows which open on the side of the city, and it is through these windows that light enters inside. The lower part of the rampart is built of stone; the upper part of bricks. It has many towers close to one another. There are twenty eight gates of this city which are called darwaza and of these, the Budaun Darwaza is the greatest; inside the Mandwi darwaza there is a grain market; adjacent to the Gul Darwaza there is an orchard.... It (the city of Delhi) has a fine cemetery in which graves have domes over them, and those that do not have a dome, have an arch, for sure. In the cemetery they sow flowers such as tuberose, jasmine, wild rose, etc,; and flowers blossom there in all seasons. Questions :

Fig.: Part of the fortification wall of the settlement

(i) How had Ibn Battuta described the cities in the sub-continent?

(ii) What was his description of Delhi?

(i) How had Ibn Battuta described the cities in the sub-continent?

(ii) What was his description of Delhi?

(iii) Mention any four changes in Delhi of today.

(iii) Mention any four changes in Delhi of today.