60 free Delhi trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Delhi has been razed and rebuilt so many times that locals count seven cities on the site, and the current one is the fourth-largest metropolis on Earth. This quiz covers the capital from the Mahabharata's Indraprastha to the odd-even traffic scheme. The easy questions ask which river the city straddles, which fort the prime minister speaks from on Independence Day, what stands at the end of Kartavya Path, and which three monuments are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. From there it moves into the layers of history: the Tomars' Lal Kot, Qutb-ud-din Aibak's victory tower, Timur's sack, Babur at Panipat, Shah Jahan's walled Shahjahanabad, Nadir Shah walking off with the Peacock Throne, the Siege of 1857 and the Durbar of 1911 that moved the capital from Calcutta. The harder end is for people who know the city: the rust-proof iron pillar of Chandragupta II, Bega Begum's tomb for Humayun, Jahanara's moonlit canals, the Lahori Gate flag, Lutyens and Baker on Raisina Hill, the 340 rooms of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the 27 marble petals, Hemu crowned in Purana Qila, the Ashokan pillar Firoz Shah floated to Delhi, the world's largest CNG bus fleet, the Red Line's first run in 2002 and the WHO's pollution rankings. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on Delhi and its monuments, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our India, Mumbai and world capitals quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which river does Delhi straddle, though the city spreads mainly west of it?
Yamuna
It is the only major river flowing through the city and is sacred in Hinduism.
Q 02What is Delhi's official designation, adopted in 1995?
National Capital Territory
It became a union territory on 1 November 1956 and covers 1,484 square kilometres.
Q 03Delhi's urban agglomeration ranks where among the world's largest metropolitan areas?
4th
With Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad it tops 28 million people, India's largest.
Q 04Which three Delhi monuments are UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
Qutb Minar, Humayun's Tomb and Red Fort
All three date from the Sultanate and Mughal centuries when Delhi was an imperial capital.
Q 05Which legendary city of the Mahabharata is traditionally placed on the site of Delhi?
Indraprastha
Its description matches the site of Purana Qila, though digs have found no ancient fortifications.
Q 06How many cities are traditionally said to have stood on the site of Delhi?
7
Shahjahanabad, today's Old Delhi, is counted as the seventh.
Q 07Which Tomara Rajput king built Lal Kot in 1052, the first of Delhi's cities?
Anang Pal
The Chauhans later took it and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora.
Q 08Who founded the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 and began its great victory tower?
Qutb-ud-din Aibak
He was Ghori's deputy and took over his Indian possessions when Ghori died without an heir.
Q 09How tall is the Qutb Minar?
72.5 m
It is the world's tallest brick minaret and has 399 steps.
Q 10What struck the Qutb Minar in 1369, prompting Firuz Shah Tughlaq to rebuild its top?
Lightning
He shrank the fourth storey and split it into two.
Q 11Which Gupta emperor made the famously rust-resistant iron pillar now in the Qutb complex?
Chandragupta II
It stands 7.21 m tall and weighs over six tonnes; it may have been moved from Udayagiri.
Q 12Who was the first woman to rule Delhi, succeeding her father Iltutmish?
Razia
Iltutmish had consolidated the conquest of northern India and finished the Qutb Minar.
Q 13Which sultan moved his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, then had to move it back?
Muhammad bin Tughluq
The sultanate reached its greatest extent under him before the south broke away.
Q 21Which mosque, built by Shah Jahan by 1656, is described as India's largest?
Jama Masjid
It served as the imperial mosque until the empire's end in 1857.
Q 22What does the name of the Old Delhi market Chandni Chowk mean?
Moonlight Square
Canals down its middle were engineered to reflect the moon; the British filled them in.
Q 23Which daughter of Shah Jahan designed Chandni Chowk in 1650?
Jahanara
The bazaar originally had 1,560 shops along a 1,520-yard street.
Q 24Which Persian invader looted Delhi in 1739 and carried off the Peacock Throne?
Q 14Which conqueror sacked Delhi in 1398 and massacred 100,000 captives?
Timur
The sultanate never fully recovered under the Sayyids who followed.
Q 15Who founded the Mughal Empire after beating the last Lodi sultan at Panipat in 1526?
Babur
He was a descendant of both Genghis Khan and Timur from the Fergana Valley.
Q 16Which Hindu king was crowned in Purana Qila in 1556 after beating Akbar's forces?
Hem Chandra Vikramaditya
A month later the Mughals crushed Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat.
Q 17Who commissioned Humayun's Tomb, the first garden-tomb on the subcontinent?
Bega Begum, his widow
She chose the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas and paid the 1.5 million rupees herself.
Q 18In which year did Shahjahanabad, now Old Delhi, become the Mughal capital?
1638
Shah Jahan built it as the seventh city of Delhi.
Q 19Which architect, also credited with the Taj Mahal, designed the Red Fort?
Ustad Ahmad Lahori
Shah Jahan commissioned the fort on 12 May 1639 after moving his capital from Agra.
Q 20Above which entrance of the Red Fort did Nehru raise the flag on 15 August 1947?
Lahori Gate
Every prime minister since has hoisted the tricolour there on Independence Day.
Nadir Shah
He also took the Koh-i-Noor and Daria-i-Noor after winning the Battle of Karnal in under three hours.
Q 25Which Maratha leader sacked Delhi in 1737 after the First Battle of Delhi?
Baji Rao I
A 1752 treaty later made the Marathas protectors of the Mughal throne.
Q 26In which year did the British East India Company take Delhi from the Marathas?
1803
It fell to Lord Lake's forces during the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
Q 27From which city was the capital of British India transferred to Delhi in 1911?
Calcutta
The move was announced at the Delhi Durbar of 12 December 1911.
Q 28Which king-emperor was proclaimed in person at the 1911 Durbar?
George V
He wore the Imperial Crown of India, set with 6,100 diamonds and weighing 34 ounces.
Q 29Which two British architects designed Rashtrapati Bhavan and much of New Delhi?
Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker
Built from 1912 to 1929, it has 340 rooms and 2.5 kilometres of corridors.
Q 30Where does the President of India's residence stand, at the head of the central vista?
Raisina Hill
It housed the Viceroy from 1931 and the Governor-General until 1950.