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The Delhi Durbar meaning "Court of Delhi" was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. The Imperial Durbar was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911, at the height of the British Empire. The 1911 Imperial Durbar was the only one that a sovereign, George V, attended. The term "Durbar" was derived from the Mughal.
The "Proclamation Durbar", the Durbar of 1877, Lord Lytton was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, late in 1875. Queen Victoria was proclaimed with the title of Empress of India on 1st January 1877 by the British. Lord Lytton organised the Imperial Assemblage as a means of 'publicly announcing Your Majesty's present title to the Chiefs and princes of India with the utmost pomp and magnificence'. The 1877 Imperial Durbar was largely an official event and not a popular occasion with mass participation like later Imperial Durbars in 1903 and 1911. This ceremony was the culmination of transfer of control of British India from the East India Company to the Crown.
Lord Lytton organised the Imperial Assemblage as a means of 'publicly announcing Your Majesty's present title to the Chiefs and princes of India with the utmost pomp and magnificence'. A red and gold hexagonal Throne Pavilion was constructed for the Viceroy on a site four miles to the North-West of Delhi. Facing it, for the Princes, representatives of foreign governments and chief British officials was a semi-circular Amphitheatre in blue, white and gold of 800 feet long. The 63 Princes all in gorgeous costumes of satin, velvet, or cloth of gold attended the glorious ceremony. Just before the ceremony started they were each presented with a silken banner bearing their own arms and the date of the event. About 100,000 people were camped in the area for the occasion, in addition to hundreds of horses, elephants and camels.
This gigantic oil on canvas painting (by Cavalry & Sons, 1912) shows Viceroy & Vicereine Harding leading the procession on elephants on Coronation Day. They are followed by King George V and Queen Mary and the rulers of Indian princely states.
The Proclamation was read out in English and in Urdu at the Assemblage and this was followed by a salute of 101 salvos of artillery. The Viceroy then addressed the gathering and conferred each chief with a Gold Medal and a Banner in the name of the Queen.
The Gold Medal had a graven image of Her Majesty on one side and on the other side was an inscription in English, Urdu and Hindi that read, “Victoria Empress of India, 1st January 1877”. The Banner on one side had the armorial bearings of the chiefs and on the other an inscription that said it was a gift from the Empress of India.
Two significant decisions taken at this Durbar were the creation of the Privy Council and The number of guns salutes the Viceroy and other chiefs were entitled to.
In British India, the Salute for Her Majesty the Queen and Empress was hundred and one guns, for the Viceroy of India was thirty-one guns. Other important chiefs of India were given 21, 19, 17, 15, 11 and 9 gun salutes depending on their relationship with the British.
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