The old Delhi was the citadel of the great Mughals. Mughals were great patrons of art and culture, they themselves were very good writers. Urdu language blossomed in their courts, poets such as Mirza Ghalib were court poets of the Mughals. Apart from poetry the mughal kings were also patrons of dance such as kathak, performances of the same were a regular affair at the Mughal darbar, best jewelers chose Delhi as their residence. The kings patronised the jewelers, the apparel designers and makers , huge markets (Bazaars) came into existence in the old city of Delhi. The descendants of all these artisans still live in Delhi making Delhi a culture capital. With the making of New Delhi so much cultural intake came from different parts of India specially Calcutta the erstwhile capital of British India. With the Partition of India in 1947 the city of Delhi was flooded with people seeking refuge. They came all the way from Khyber Pakhtunwa, the west Punjab, Sindh. New residential colonies were allocated to these refuges. Delhi which was primarily an Urdu/Hindu speaking area was suddenly flooded with so many Punjabi speaking population. Now Punjabi became the second language of Delhi.

New markets came into existence where most of the business were owned by the Punjabi/Sindhi refugees. New food habits came to this area. Choley Bhaturey coming all the way from west Punjab suddenly became the most favourite snack of Delhi. With independence and new federal government many employees came from southern parts of India, colonies such as Ramakrishna Puram became a favorite haunt of south Indians. Delhi learnt to eat the Dosa and Idli/Vada. South Indian dances were now performed in Delhi and the residents of Delhi became very well aware of these dance forms. Today Delhi is the cultural capital of India, Artisans from all over India participate in exhibitions. Delhi Haat is one such platform for the deft handed artisans. So many art exhibitions displaying work of art by artisans from pan India take place in Delhi. The exhibition of various dance forms is a regular feature in Delhi.