The article deals with the image of Delhi (Dillí) and India in the works of two Czech authors who visited this city at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century: Josef Kořenský, a scientist, teacher and traveller and Otakar Pergole, an indologist, religious historian and ethnologist. The article describes the stereotype image of Delhi as the „Rome of Asia“ that was spread among the Western visitors - and Kořenský was no exception in this respect. The problem of India’s reception is also discussed : India, perceived by the romantics as „ the Cradle of Humankind“ in which all languages and poetry originated, was adored by Czech national revivalists. Some of them even believed that Czech was the closest language to Sanskrit. In Kořenský’s and Pertold’s writings, we can observe a split in this image of India: for Kořenský, it is a country full of barbarism and idolatry, for Pertold it is a land of people oppressed by British colonizers (just like the Czechs by the Austrians), whose distinguished traditions are being gradually forgotten under the British influence. Both Czech authors regard the Hindu goddess Kali as the symbol of India – for Kořenský a negative, for Pertold a positive one.