List of capitals of India

List of capitals of India

This is a list of locations which have served as the capital city of India. The current capital city is New Delhi, which replaced Calcutta in 1911.

Table of contents

Early period

Medieval period

Modern period

Early period

Rajgir : Initial capital of the Magadha Empire from 6th century BCE to 460 BCE, called Girivraj at the time.

Pataliputra: Capital of the following:

Nanda Empire

Maurya Empire

Gupta Empire

Pala Empire

Begram and Mathura: Summer and winter capitals respectively of the Kushan Empire

Dharanikota near Amaravati and Pratishthanapura: Capitals of Satavahana Empire

Srikakulam, Krishna district: Capital of Satavahana dynasty

Kandapura: Capital of Ananda Gotrika

Rajahmundry: Capital of Eastern Chalukya Kingdom, Reddi Kingdom

Vangipuram or Peddavegi: Capital of Salankayana dynasty and Eastern Chalukya Kingdom

Vijayapuri South or Nagarjunakonda: Capital of Andhra Ikshvakus

Kalinganagara (modern Mukhalingam): Capital of Eastern Ganga dynasty

Kannauj: Capital of Harshavardhana's short-lived empire; also of Pratiharas.

Manyakheta, Avanti: Capitals of Rashtrakuta dynasty and Pratihara Empire respectively.

Gadhipur: center of administration of the Gupta dynasty. Capital under Jamwal kings Gaadhi and Vishvamitra.

Karur: Capital of Cheras

Dharapuram: Capital of Kongu Nadu

Puhar: Capital of Early Cholas.

Madurai: Capital of Pandyas

Gauda: 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 Empire

Jaunpur: Capital of Sharqi dynasty (1394-1479).

Medieval period

Daulatabad: In 1327, Indian, under Muhammad ibn 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

Budaun: Capital of Iltutmish empire.

Agra: Capital of Sikandar Lodi at the time of the Lodhi dynasty. Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1488-1517) was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in 1506.

Vijayanagara: Capital of Vijayanagara Empire 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.

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 capital of the Marathas of the Maratha Empire.At this time Maratha Empire was at its peak, and became the only non-mughal capital.

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 a brief period of 5 years

Hanamkonda and Warangal: Capital of Kakatiya Dynasty

Addanki: Capital of Reddy Kingdom

Cochin (1505-1510)

Old Goa (1510-1843)

Nova Goa (1843-1961)

Pulicat: capital of Dutch Coromandel until 1690 (1610-1690; 1781-1795)

Nagapatnam: capital of Tanjore district from 1799 to 1845 under Madras Presidency of the British.

Pondicherry: capital of Puducherry union territory during French India.

Modern period

In 1858, Allahabad (now Prayagraj) became the capital of India for a day when it also served as the capital of North-Western Provinces.

During the British Raj, until 1911, Calcutta was the capital of India.

By the latter half of the 19th century, Shimla had become the summer capital.

King George V proclaimed the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi at the climax of the 1911 Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911. The buildings housing the Viceroy, government, and parliament were inaugurated in early 1931.

Search Wikipedia

Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.
These pages best viewed with Netscape Navigator 1.1 or later.
Privacy policy and personal data management.