Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/102

 king saw in this impertinence of a small insect a hint that the glory had departed, and at once abandoned the city, to perish in the Himalayas. The natives of Delhi have for years believed, and still believe, that the "Purana Kila" occupies the site of Indraprastha ; but on what facts this tradition may be founded cannot be stated. Most writers on the subject of Delhi appear, if somewhat doubtfully, to have accepted this tradition, although rejecting the idea that the walls of "Purana Kila" belong to Hindu times, which they certainly do not. At least one writer goes further, and accepts the modern tradition that the Nigambodh Ghat of the "Mahabharata" was situated outside the Nigambodh Gate of Shahjahanabad. But there is every reason to believe that this site, not so many centuries ago, was covered by the waters of the Jumna. That the city of Indraprastha stood on the traditional site is not altogether impossible, as will be seen ; but there is no sign to-day of such a city. The probable date of its foundation, wherever it may have stood, was 1450 B.C.

Hindu history is practically non-existent, for we are now in the epoch known as the Iron Age, the deeds performed in which are not considered worthy of record ; all we have are certain inscriptions on pillars or copper-plates, and these usually