List of capitals of India

This is a list of former capitals of India.

Early Period

• Pataliputra : Capital of the following below:

Nanda Dynasty

Maurya Empire

Gupta Empire

Pala Empire

• Begram and Mathura : Summer and winter capitals respectively of the Kushan Empire
• Amaravati and Pratishthānapura: Capitals of Satavahana Empire
• Kannauj : Capital of Harshavardhana's short lived kingdom; also of Pratiharas.
• Manyakheta, Avanti : Capitals of Rashtrakuta Dynasty and Pratihara Empire respectively.
• Gadhipur: centre of administration of the Gupta dynasty. Capital under Jamwal kings Gaadhi and Vishwamitra.
• Puhar : Capital of Early Cholas.
• Madurai : Capital of Pandyas
• Gauḍa : Capital of Pala dynasty along with Pataliputra
• Sigal: First capital of the Sakas 70bce-400
• Taxila : Second capital of the Sakas 70bce-400
• Mathura : Third capital of the Sakas 70bce-400
• Sagala : Capital of the Indo-Greeks

Bhinmal : Capital of Gurjara Emoire

• Jaunpur : Capital of Sharqī dynasty (1394–1479).

Medieval period

• Delhi : The current capital of India is the seat of Delhi Sultanate.
• Daulatabad : In 1327, Tughlaq dynasty, under Muhammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325-1351), forcibly moved the entire population of Delhi here, for two years, before it was abandoned due to lack of water.
• Ghor : Capital of Ghurid Sultanate
• Badaun : Capital of Iltutmish empire.
• Vijayanagara : Capital of Vijayanagara Empire under Akbar's reign, from 1571 until 1585, when it was abandoned, ostensibly due to lack of water.
• Kanchipuram Capital of Pallavas
• Thanjavur : Capital of Cholas
• Allahabad : The city was a provincial capital in the Mughal Empire and was the headquarters of Jahangir from 1599 to 1604.^[1]
• Murshidabad : In 1704, nawab Murshid Quli Khan changed the seat of government from Dhaka to Murshidabad, renaming it after himself.
• Pune : In 1730, Pune became the seat of the Peshwa of Maratha Empire.
• Munger : Mir Qasim Ali, the Nawab of Bengal (from 1760 to 1764). In 1763, Quasim shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger.
• Patna : Sher Shah Suri's capital for brief period of 5 years

Modern period

• In 1858, Allahabad became the capital of India for a day when it also served as the capital of North-Western Provinces.^[2]
• During the British Raj, until 1911, Calcutta (now Kolkata) was the capital of India.^[3]
• By the latter half of the 19th century Shimla had become the summer capital.^[4]
• King George V proclaimed the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi at the climax of the 1911 Imperial Durbar on December 12, 1911. The buildings housing the Viceroy, government and parliament were inaugurated in early 1931.

References

1. Pletcher, Kenneth (August 15, 2010). The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 128. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
2. Ashutosh Joshi (1 Jan 2008). Town Planning Regeneration of Cities. New India Publishing. p. 237. ISBN 8189422820.
3. Hall, Peter (2002). Cities of tomorrow. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 198–206. ISBN 0-631-23252-4.
4. Charles Allen, Kipling Sahib, London, Little Brown, 2007

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Sharqi-dynasty