Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s2.t1.7

c5.s2.t1.7

1. *Palaces.*—Building themselves palaces was an old and popular custom of the Persian Kings. Every king wanted a dwelling of his own and had no desire to use those bequeathed to him by a predecessor. He wanted his palaces to remain as a monument of his administration.³ The Hindu Kings similarly considered it inauspicious to live in a palace where somebody had breathed his last. The Sultans of Delhi followed the same tradition as far as possible, and began abandoning the old palaces along with their contents, and building their own palaces anew.¹ In the beginning of Muslim rule, two palaces are recorded, one for private residence, the *Daulat Khana* (or House of Fortune,) and the other for official use. They were named *Qasr-i-firuzi* (the Palace of Victory) and *Qasr-i-Safid* (the White Palace) respectively. By the time of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud a third, named *Kushk-i-sabz* (the Green Palace), had come into being.² Later, successive dynasties and even individual monarchs began laying the foundations of new royal cities, with royal palaces, markets, gardens, mosques, roads, and ramparts; so that Delhi, as it stands to-day, is composed of a dozen or so old royal cities of ancient times, for example Siri, Kilokhri, Shahr-i-nau, Tughluqabad, Firuzabad, Shahjahanabad, and others, *e.g.*, the capitals of the old Rajput dynasties. At a later date therefore, Firuz Tughluq assigned no less than three palaces for giving audience alone to various grades of people—for the nobles, the companions of the monarch, and for the common people. More will be said about the palaces and royal cities in a later chapter.