Dhaula Kuan ( hi, धौला कुआँ) is a major intersection of roads in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The name also now refers to the neighbourhood surrounding the intersection.

Intersection

Five major thoroughfares in Delhi meet at Dhaula Kuan. Passing Through the intersection are the

Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

and

National Highway 8 The following highways are numbered 8. For roads numbered A8, see list of A8 roads. For roads numbered N8, see list of N8 roads. Route 8, or Highway 8, may refer to: International * Asian Highway 8 * European route E08 * European route E008 ...

, which feed traffic around Delhi and from

Central Delhi Central Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. It is bounded by the Yamuna River on the east and by the districts of North Delhi to the north, West Delhi and South West Delhi to the west, New De ...

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

, and points south and southwest, respectively. National Highway 8 is also the primary route of traffic from Delhi to

Delhi Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New Del ...

. A major infrastructure project during the 1990s and early 2000s led to the construction of a figure-eight interchange that eliminated stop lights and improved

traffic flow In mathematics and transportation engineering, traffic flow is the study of interactions between travellers (including pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and their vehicles) and infrastructure (including highways, signage, and traffic control devi ...

. In addition to being a major road hub, Dhaula Kuan is also a primary stop on the

Delhi Ring Railway The Delhi Ring railway, a part of Delhi's suburban railway services, is a circular railway network in Delhi that runs parallel to the Ring Road. It was laid in 1975 primarily to service freight trains that could bypass the crowded and passenge ...

and is the location of a

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colour-cod ...

stop on the Connaught Place - Airport line. Currently, Dhaula Kuan serves as a primary exchange point for multimodal travellers, and its importance is expected to grow as the Delhi Metro and Terminal 3 at Delhi Airport is constructed.

History

The name ''Dhaula Kuan'', means ''white well'' when translated to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, (just as ''

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I () is ...

'' means ''white mountain''), and refers to an ancient

water well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. Th ...

in the area that has white-colored sand. It has been speculated that the well was constructed by

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...

, the nominal Mughal emperor of India in the 1761-1806 CE period, whose actual area of control spanned a small territory in the environs of Delhi. Shah Alam II is said to have been fond of excursions across his limited domain, from the

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...

to the

Palam Palam (phonetically Pālam) is a major residential colony located in South West Delhi. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, formerly known as ''Palam Airport'', the main airport of National Capital Region is situated here. It is one of 70 Vidh ...

area, leading to the sarcastic verse, ''Sultanat-e-Shah-e-Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam'' (''The dominion of Emperor Shah Alam, begins from Delhi and ends at Palam''). Dhaula Kuan (the well) is located along this route in the Jheel Park complex (near Metro Station), and its masonry has been dated to the Shah Alam period.

Neighbourhood

'Dhaula Kuan' has now also come to refer to the neighbourhood that surrounds and serves the interchange. The latter includes both small scale industry and restaurants. Dhaula Kuan sits between

Chanakyapuri Chanakyapuri (Sanskrit: चाणक्यपुरी; IAST: Cāṅakyapurī ) is a neighbourhood and diplomatic enclave established in the 1950s in New Delhi. It is also a sub-division of the New Delhi district and plays host to the majority ...

and the Delhi Cantonment; the former is an affluent neighbourhood that is home to a number of

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

and the latter houses a number of

military personnel Military personnel are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, air force, space force, and coast guard), rank (officer, non-commissioned officer, or e ...

and their families. Major institutions and points of interest in the neighbourhood include: *The South Campus of the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

, including the

Sri Venkateswara College Sri Venkateswara College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi established in 1961 in New Delhi, India. It is managed by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams & UGC and awards degrees under the purview of the University of Delhi. The co ...

and the

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College , mottoeng = May our learning be endowed with radiance , established = , type = Government , chairperson = Pawan Jaggi , principal = Gyantosh Kumar Jha , students ...

. *The Air Force School. *The

Army Public School Army Public School may refer to: * Indian Army Public Schools * Army Public Schools & Colleges System Army Public Schools & Colleges System or APSACS is one of the largest educational institutions of Pakistan which provides education till inte ...

. *The

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

Auditorium. *The

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Golf Course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. *

Springdales School The Springdales Schools are a group of English-language, co-educational schools run by the Springdales Education Society in New Delhi, India. There are five branches of the school: Pusa Road, Dhaula Kuan, Jaipur, Kirti Nagar, and Dubai. They ha ...

*DSOI Dhaula Kuan (Defence Services Officers Institute) *28 The mall

Delhi Metro

Dhaula Kuan Metro Station The Dhaula Kuan Metro Station is located on the Delhi Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro. This station is the only elevated one along the Airport Express Line and features check-in facilities. It did not commence operations along with the ...

is located on the Delhi Airport Express Line (Orange Line) of the Delhi Metro. This station is the only elevated one along the Airport Express Line and features check-in facilities. This station was opened to the public on 15 August 2011. This station also connects the Airport Express Line with the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus metro station of Pink Line of Delhi Metro.

References

{{Neighborhoods of Delhi Neighbourhoods in Delhi South West Delhi district