of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Examples include: Abhī Dillī dūr hai (अभी दिल्ली दूर है / ابھی دلی دور ہے) or its Persian version, Hanuz Dehli dur ast (), literally meaning "Delhi is still far away", which is generically said about a task or journey still far from completion. (आस-पास बरसे, दिल्ली पानी तरसे \ آس پاس برسے، دلی پانی ترسے), literally meaning "It pours all around, while Delhi lies parched". An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it idiomatically refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The form Delhi, used in Latin script and strangely with an h following an l, originated under colonial rule and is a corrupt spelling based on the Urdu name of the city (, Dehli). History Ancient and Early Medieval Periods Traditionally seven cities have been associated with the region of Delhi. The earliest, Indraprastha, is part of a literary description in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (composed c. 400 BCE to 200 CE but describing an earlier time) which situates a city on a knoll on the banks of the river Yamuna. According to art historian Catherine B. Asher, the topographical description of the Mahabharata matches the area of Purana Qila, a 14th-century CE fort of the Delhi sultanate, but the analogy does not go much further. Whereas the Mahabharata speaks of a beautifully decorated city with surrounding fortification, the excavations have yielded "uneven findings of painted grey pottery characteristic of the eleventh century BCE; no signs of a built environment, much fewer fortifications, have been revealed." The earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period (c. 300 BCE); in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (273–235 BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of several major cities can be found in Delhi. The first of these was in the southern part of present-day Delhi. King Anang Pal of the Tomara dynasty built Lal Kot and several temples in 1052 CE. Vigraharaj Chauhan conquered Lal Kot in the mid-12th century and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora. Late Medieval Period Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated in 1192 by Muhammad Ghori in the second battle of Tarain. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India after Ghori returned to his capital, Ghor. When Ghori died without an heir in 1206 CE, Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions, and laid the foundation of the