Shahjahanabad, a city that the Mughal emperor Shahjahan (1627–1658) named after himself, was a walled city and had seven gates. The Red Fort (Lal Qila) was home to upper-caste Muslims and Hindus, while areas near the walls were inhabited by various craftsmen and workers. The transformation of these caste-and craft-based spaces into communal areas during colonial and postcolonial India has been a long and complex process (Parveen 2021).

Historians describe Shahjahanabad as a place of ‘composite culture’, where both Muslim nobility and upper-caste Hindus shared cultural practices, learned Persian and etiquettes (Gupta 1981). The city was known for its diverse population living in mixed urban spaces, fostering close relationships between Hindus and Muslims across social classes (Chenoy 1998).

Referring to significant changes in the sociocultural and political landscape of Delhi over time, Narayani Gupta (1981) points out: ‘Delhi has died so many deaths.’ Poet Altaf Hussain Hali echoes Gupta's feelings in this couplet:

Three major shifts in social relations are clearly visible over time. First, the Britons, after the 1857 revolt, treated communities differently based on their loyalty towards them. They labelled Muslims as ‘traitorous’ and Hindus as ‘loyalists’. This marked the symbols of Muslim presence as ‘contested sites’ for the first time (Parveen 2014). Many older inhabitants, including the tyre biradri (caste brotherhood) and the Punjabis, discussed later in this chapter, shifted to areas outside the city walls and were permitted inside only with passes issued to them.