Anangpal Tanwar

Anangpal Tanwar was the first ruler to make ancient Delhi his capital.


Little is known of Anangpal Tanwar, who was from the Gurjar Tanwar clan and whose ancestors had settled in the Aravalli Hills around the end of the first millennium AD. Some archaeological evidence survives of earlier settlements survive in the area and may be related to a ruler called Surajpal. Of Anangpal, the primary source for information comes from the Prithviraj Raso, a history of Prithviraj Chauhan which was written much later. Physical evidence at Lal Kot (literally Red Fort), which he is thought to have built and which is the oldest identifiable city in the area, suggests that he lived in the eleventh century.[1][2]


The Tanwar rule at Delhi passed to his son, Ausan Singh (Tejpal) and then his grandson Kosal Dev Singh (Mahipal) before the dynasty collapsed when challenged by Prithviraj Chauhan (1149-1192).