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The Iron Pillar Prologue- The Fort for Rajputs
Lal Kot, Mehrauli, 731 AD
The sound of children playing and dancing, women shouting for more spices for the food, men lifting heavy stones, carpenters setting frames, goats and chickens running haywire at the business, architects shouting at builders and priests chanting the old Vedic hymns could be heard throughout the village of Mehrauli.
The village was being prepared for the Tomara Raja, Anangapal. He was coming to visit his new fort being constructed in the area. As the village continued the preparations the clattering of hooves grew louder. Suddenly the fully equipped, awesome and veteran Rajput soldiers marched into the town, their king and five other horsemen following in tow.
As the king passed many children stared in awe at the Rajputs as they marched perfectly towards the construction area. The women stopped cooking to cast a quick glance at these handsome men and the men also wondered how such precision could be achieved.
On the horses the young and extremely ambitious Raja Anangapal rode next to his loyal minister, Pavdhadharman, looking at the glorious achievement of his, the construction of ‘Lal Kot’ or the Red Fort in this part of his domains.
As they reached the central courtyard they got off their horses and started walking towards the western turret, the only part of the fort which was completely built and had actually been furnished. As they walked in towards the structure to survey the work completed by the builders, artisans and architects Pavdhadharman asked a simple yet important question to Anangapal.
“My lord, why here? Of all places in your dominion why in this undeveloped, unknown, simple village?”
Anangapal turned to Pavdhadharman and looked at him surprised.
“What do you mean why here?” he stated.
“Well my lord, Mehrauli is possibly the least important place in the thousands of villages in this land.” He told his liege inquisitively.
“Well Pavdha, it’s a beautiful place to start with! Does everything need a reason my friend? Enjoy the world as it is sometimes. Remember what that writer, Vibudh Shridhar, said?
”There are countless villages in Haryana country. The villagers there work hard. They don't accept domination of others, and are experts in making the blood of their enemies flow. Indra himself praises this country.”
Why wouldn’t I want to build a capital in a place as beautiful and bloodthirsty?!” Anangapal chuckled at his own joke, thinking his companion would agree.
“My lord. I am serious. I have known you long enough to know that there is usually a hidden agenda behind all of your major tactics. What is the reason of this choice and your attachment to this village?”
“Well I had heard that legendary Raja Dhilu made this his capital while fighting the yavana invaders about 1400 years ago. It then apparently fell into disuse after his descendants neglected the city. I just wanted to restore an epic legacy and make a stronghold in case any more invaders come knocking.”
Pavdhadharman sighed and mentally agreed with his king for now, but knew something was afoot.
Over the next few hours they together discussed with the pandits about the auspiciousness of the date, asked the architects about the foundation stone and generally greeted the villagers, who were ecstatic at the royal visit.
Then at one point, a couple of soldiers took the Raja aside to talk to him.
Anangapal excused himself and left the conversation, Pavdhadharman having to do all the discussing. Soon at least two hours had passed and Anangapal hadn’t come back. Pavdhadharman started to worry about the location of his liege and if any harm had befallen him.
Pavdhadharman wandered around the fort, looking for Anangapal and didn’t find him. Just as he was prepared to mount back and head back to the village, he saw a couple of shadows in the corner.
They were speaking in barely audible whispers:
“Well how old do you think it is? Tell me in eras, I have not been to gurukul for a long time.” One voice said.
Pavdha remembered that voice. It was Anangapal. He knew is suspicions were correct. His king was doing something clandestine.
Suddenly another voice spoke:
“Sire, I could estimate that it would at least date till the times of the legendary Gupta empreror, Vikramaditya.”
“Vikramaditya! My god, this must be ancient.”
Another voice interjected:
“Vikramaditya is old. But I think this pillar belongs to the Samraat Chakravartin himself. I can read a bit of Brahmi, this bit here definitely says ‘Buddham Vaishnaiv-‘ and well, that’s where my knowledge ends my lord.”
"The lord Ashok? This truly must be old to have been put there by the great Maurya himself."
“That’s excellent. You two have been of great assistance to me so I shall grant both of you 12 hectares of land each. You also will get 14 cows and 200 gold coins as a reward. All you need to do now is make sure this pillar is wrapped in silk and taken to Kannauj. The Pratihara emperor will be extremely happy with this excellent cultural discovery”
Pavdhadharman saw the two shadows leave and say Anangapal turn around to go as well. He decided this was the time to confront him about the secret he was keeping.
“So my lord, silk eh? The traders will make a lot of profit this year. Tell me why keep it a secret?”
Anangapal was stunned by the fact he had been found. He sighed and faced his minister.
“Well I should have known it would be a matter of time before you found out. Yes I was keeping a secret from my most trustworthy minister.”
Pavdhadharman calmly replied:
”It matters less to me you were keeping a secret than what it is. The pillar. What’s its significance?”
Anangapal turned to the pillar and touched it, rubbing dust of the part with the edict.
“This is a gateway to our past and the ancient rulers of this land. I believe you heard that conversation I was having with those two men?”
“Yes my lord.”
“Well then, the truth cannot be hidden. You see the reason I picked this land was because of a myth that....that, the Kuru clan used to rule this land.”
“Well that’s obvious my lord, the Kuru mahajanapad was situated around here. We all learnt that from our gurus. What’s new?”
Anangapal sighed again and whispered the words that had been translated for him.
“Pavdha, you have read the Mahabharat haven’t you? Can you tell me what was the Pandava princes capital?”
“Indraprastha, also known as Khandavprastha because the Khandav forest used to be around there before. Why?”
“A year ago I was given news that a Haryanvi caravan had come to pay respects to me. A rural one. The senak told me that they bore a strange coin that was of the purest quality and bore a strange seal. I went to inspect it and when it was read it said: ‘The grandson of Arjuna, Pareekshit issued this coin.’ I couldn’t believe it. Then this pillar was found here. I decided to inspect the area and thought building a fort here would be good.”
“My lord, the coin was probably a joke. The Magadhans were very humorous people. I think you may have been tricked. The pillar though....”
“Maybe Pavdha, maybe. But what if I wasn’t?”
The two then stood in silence for some time, just staring at the fine work of metallurgy before them.
“Well my lords, all the mysticism aside, what will you call this new area? The fort maybe Lal Kot, but the area together needs a name. It doesn’t have one.”
Anangapal started walking towards the horse and beckoned his minister to follow him.
“The Iron Pillar was loose in its foundations. The land here is dhili. This was once the domain of Dhilu. I think I will call this complex Dhili. Yes this city will be called Dhili.
Yes here it is. The Iron Pillar is a Delhi Sultanate timeline I have started despite my abrupt halt to Khybar Ghati. I think that the Delhi Sultanate is an untapped part of history, rarely visited and has lots of potential for an Alternate History. You have five long dynasties to choose form! (nothing compared to China of course ). Anyways, this is the prologue so this is set a few hundred years before the actual start and POD. If you like please bear with me till the actual start of the TL. Enjoy
EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention that this will be multiple POD so we will have at least 4-5 more info updates. Next time we jump to the Second Battle of Tarain, 1192, on the plains near Thanesar.