Oh my! Delhi really is doing much much better than I had thought
Working on my assumptions given earlier: 1) Liberalism in 10 turns, 2) Nationalism 10 later, 3) Hermitage 5 turns after that. I'll add another few assumptions: 4) Stupa built in 3 turns, 5) Cathedral built 7 turns after that, 7) Cultural slider maintained at 80% from when we hit Liberalism, 8) Base Commerce in Delhi once we hit Liberalism = 50, 9) Base commerce 20 turns after Lib (Villages maturing) = 70.
T161-163: 97*1.5*3 = 436.
T165-170: 97*2*7 = 1358. (Stupa built)
T171-185: (97+50*0.8)*3.5*15 = 7192. (Lib + Free Speech. Cathedral built)
T186-191: (97+50*0.8)*4.5*5 = 3080 (Hermitage built)
T192-242: (97+60*0.8)*4.5*48 = 33040 (towns matured)
Predict Delhi goes legendary no later than T242, which is 1660 AD.
That is actually a very good date for a cultural game. The question then is can Bombay and city #3 match that with bombs?
Culture Potential:
Bombay is currently producing 55
from buildings/religion. Expect that to go up a bit as 1000 year doubling comes in and perhaps some monasteries/etc get built. Let's say it gets to 70 from buildings. Rearrange it's current population from mines to farms/artists and it can support 4 artists. Base commerce looks about 23, multiplied by 0.8. Total raw
= 70+23*0.8+6*4 = 112.
Vijay currently producing 20 from buildings/religion. Could go up to 40. It's already working max artists (5) and producing commerce of 17. raw
= 40+17*0.8+5*6 = 83.6.
Patal could have similar buildings to Vijay, so call it 40. Grow one more pop and it can support 2 artists. Base commerce about 32. raw
= 40 + 32*0.8 + 2*6 = 77.6.
Kyoto also similar buildings to Vijay, so call it 40. Grow to size 11. Ignore cottages and just work farms + artists, giving 6 artists (for most of the game, boost it while starving near end). Base commerce of about 15. raw
= 40 + 15*0.8 + 6*6 = 88.
It looks to me like Kyoto > Vijay > Patal.
Kyoto also has the advantage of great production to get some cathedrals built. Obvious disadvantage is that we have to try really hard to defend the city if we're attacked!