Ramlila began to be celebrated in the Walled City some 350 years ago when Shahjahanabad came into being (though Mehrauli and the Purana Qila area may have been the earliest venues). While moving his court to Delhi from Agra, Shah Jahan took care to see that merchants, intellectuals and artisans, including craftsmen of various kinds, also followed his court into the new Capital. Among them were Sheikhs, Mirzas, Chaudhuris, Jain, Kahistha, Khatri and Baniya businessmen, but not Punjabi merchants, who came only in the reign of Shah Alam in the 18th century. 

Some of these bazars found their incarnation in Delhi and the names are still there as a reminder. For that matter, even Chandni Chowk was originally in the Agra Fort, until Jahanara Begum built a more magnificent and spacious version of it in Delhi. 

However, to maintain communal harmony, the Ramlila processions, which passed through these areas, were later taken out from near the northern wall of Delhi. In Agra, the main celebration of Dussehra, in which the effigies were burnt, took place at the Ramlila Grounds facing the Agra Fort (as they do even now). But in Delhi the celebration was behind the fort until it was moved to Shahji-ka-Talab, the site now occupied by Ramlila Ground, opposite Asaf Ali Road. The change came about dering the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar but after 1857 there was a break as the talab or lake had begun to stink with rotting corpses of those who were killed by the vengeful British. 

It is recorded that there were communal clashes in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the worst ones in 1947 during or befire the Ramlila. In 1886 the festival coincided with the Tazia processions, leading to great strife. Katra Neel was attacked and the maximum damage was suffered by the havelis of the rich Lalas. 

Side by side with Hindu-Muslim rivalry, which led to the discontinuance of the Id mela in the garden of Maldhar Khan for some years, Hindu-Jain rivalry also came to the surface. In 1877, siding with Lala Ramni Mal, Lt-Governor Egberton allowed the Jain Rathyatra to pass through the thoroughfares. This was objected to by the Hindus, who were sour that similar permission had not been given to the Ramlila procession. It was only much later, well into the 20th century that the Ramlila as we see it now began to be celebrated at the sites associated with it. 

Before that there was no Ramlila ground as such, save for Shahji-ka-Talab. Parade Ground, where once stood the mahals of the Mughal nobles, had become desolate after these were demolished post-1857. It was only in 1920, according to Dr Narayani Gupta, that the place was grassed over and much later that it became a Ramlila venue. 

 One thing worth noting is that Gali Batashan acquired great prominence during yesteryear Ramlilas because sugar toys were made there and supplied to the various markets. Crackers were made by Muslim "atishbaaz" behind the Jama Masjid since Mughal times and you can still find some shops there. The effigies were also made mainly by Muslim artisans, who came from as far as Bareilly, Rampur, Saharanpur and Meerut. The effigies of Ravana and his kinsmen began to be made in Titarpur much later. Incidentally, Titarpur, Todapur, Naraina and Nangal Raya were among the 12 prominent village mandis during the time of the Pandavas. with Naraina having the largest grain market (hence, probably the expression "Barah Mandi ka Mamu"). 

The Dussehra bonhomie, even in the medieval era, continued up to Diwali, celebrated also by the Mughals, who had a special department for atishbaaz (cracker makers). That was as early as Akbar’s times. Shah Jahan introduced the practice in Delhi but it was only a century later that Mohammad Shah’s court celebrated Dussehra and Diwali in a grand way. 

Now Ramlila processions do not excite the same communal passions as they did in former times and so are quite peaceful, despite the lurking threat of terrorist attacks. Durga Puja, which coincides with Dussehra, came to Delhi only in the second decade of the 20th century, with Kashmiri Gate and Timarpur as the main centres. Some think that even in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it was a small- scale celebration by the Bengalis then residing in Delhi, who immersed small idols of Durga in the Yamuna without much fanfare. It was Akbar’s general, Raja Mansingh, who is said to have given an impetus to Durga Puja in Agra and Jaipur after his return with a famous idol of the Devi from the 16th century Bengal campaign. That idol is still installed in Amber fort. But in Delhi his descendant Sawai Jai Singh II, the builder of Jantar Mantar, could be said to be among the pioneer patrons of Delhi’s Durga Puja. However, the history of Ramlila processions that start from Dauji- ka-Mandi in Esplanade Road, stretches to the beginning of  the 20th century after the arrival of the seths of Mathura, for whom Dauji (Lord Krishna’s elder brother) is a much venerated deity. But the mandir in Delhi came up much earlier, some say at the end of the 18th century, though early 19th century may be a surer date. Here it seems it’s always Ramlila time.  

Pass by it in the heat of May and June, when Ramlila is still far away and you will see an array of idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshman awaiting a fresh coat of paint. Some devotees even come to offer puja in front of them, especially the women of Chandni Chowk, accompanied by a host of children back from school. Inside the temple the costumes of the deities, besides those of Ravana and his kinsmen, are stored in almirahs. They need proper care, particularly during the monsoon months, when rodents, cockroaches and mosquitoes are aplenty.  

One may find some temple caretaker buying insecticides and naphthalene balls from nearby general merchant shops to preserve the heritage garment of the mandir that also attracts beggars and mendicants the year long. Would you believe it that among the suppliers of gold and silver cloth are Muslims, who are also engaged as tailors to sew new garment or mend old ones bitten by rats that are among the biggest nuisance? Come Dussehra and the idols freshly painted are brought out and placed in raths parked outside Dauji-ka-Mandir for veneration and the subsequent Ramlila procession. Thus does an old tradition get a new lease of life year after year.