Meanings
- historicalSynonym of Old Delhi.
Built by the Mogul Shah Jahan (Emperor of the World), who also built the Taj, it was called Shahjahanabad when completed in the 17th century. Today it is called the walled city or simply Old Delhi.
1983 November 20, William K. Stevens, “Eight Historic Capital Cities”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Feb 20182 more examples
Shahjahanabad is a unique mixture of beauty and squalor, of memories of past greatness and evidence of present decay.[…]The task before us is to renew the essential character of Shahjahanabad while making it a healthy and wholesome urban area for its more than four lakh inhabitants.[…]At present we cannot earmark large sums of money for Shahjahanabad.[…]I hope the Seminar on Shahjahanabad will look for practical solutions to the problems of the Walled City.
1976, Seminar on Redevelopment of Shahjahanabad, Redevelopment of Shahjahanabad, the Walled City of Delhi: Resume of the Seminar: Report and Selected Papers, Town and Country Planning Organisation, Ministry of Works and Housing, Govt. of India, New Delhi, →OCLC, page 11This fort was to be the epicentre of Shahjahanabad, the emperor’s new capital.[…]¶ For more than 30 years, Shahjahanabad thrived, not only as the capital of the Mughal empire, but as a centre of culture, where art, poetry, music, artisanship all flourished. “Shahjahanabad was a statement of a way of life achieved after many centuries”, writes Shama Mitra Chenoy, a professor of history at Delhi University in her book, Shahjahanabad: A City of Delhi 1638-1857.
2018 January 29, Zehra Kazmi, Saudamini Jain, “Shahjahanabad: How a planned city came undone”, in The Hindustan Times, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2024Synonyms: Old Delhi
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSynonym of Old Delhi.
Origin
- Classical Persianشاهجهانآباد
- EnglishShahjahanabad
Borrowed from Classical Persian شاهجهانآباد (šāhjahānābād, literally “City of the King of the World”). Named after Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I (1592–1666), who had it built.
More words from Classical Persian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Shahjahanabad. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shahjahanabad
“Shahjahanabad.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shahjahanabad. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Shahjahanabad,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shahjahanabad.
Source: Shahjahanabad on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.