Right now, I do not have material, but I remeber about a a paper presented by a History professor on the origin of "Delhi" since olden times in a Indian History Cogress Conference. I shall post the details later, after locating and going through.
Definitely, Delhi as a capital, as Mohammedans, that too "Capital of Hindusthan" was perhaps the brain-child of Persians or early Mohammedans.
However, "Indraprastha" has been the well known name and it is used for Delhi officially. As Dharmaraja, the elder of Pandavas after Mahabharat War ruled, the whole Bharat was thinking about his "Dharma Rajya" (The Rule of Dharma), which is synonymously used with "Ramarajya".
Definitely, later the British, particularly, tried to exploit such sentiments. Thus, they shifted their apital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. Of course, the 1857 was one of the reasons.
Exploiting the "Indraprastha" sentiments, both the rulers Mohammedans and the British issued "Rama" coins! Not only thee former wanted to be called as Rajas of Hindusthan, the later also wanted to be known as "Empeor of Hindusthan". The British King was crowned accordingly, to show off their Soverignity over Indians.
Edited by M. Nachiappan - 07-Aug-2007 at 06:44