Building Histories offers innovative accounts of five medieval monuments in Delhi—the Red Fort, Rasul Numa Dargah, Jama Masjid, Purana Qila, and the Qutb complex—tracing their modern lives from the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Mrinalini Rajagopalan argues that the modern construction of the history of these monuments entailed the careful selection, manipulation, and regulation of the past by both the colonial and later postcolonial states. Although framed as objective “archival” truths, these histories were meant to erase or marginalize the powerful and persistent affective appropriations of the monuments by groups who often existed outside the center of power. By analyzing these archival and affective histories together, Rajagopalan works to redefine the historic monument—far from a symbol of a specific past, the monument is shown in Building Histories to be a culturally mutable object with multiple stories to tell.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

MONUMENTS OF DELHI (Architectural & Historical) Prof. R. Nath, Ajay Nath This is the English translation of Syed Ahmed Khan’s Urdu work ‘Athar’al-Sanadid of 1846 with original Sketches and Inscriptions. Revised and updated 2nd Edition. (Agra Sep ’2010) 14×22 cm, pages 26+254, Architectural Sketches 44, Original Inscriptions 58, Paperback, ISBN : 81-85105-33-2 Rs. 795/- US $ 40 (Sir) Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-98), the founder of Aligarh Muslim University, was also a scholar of history. He was greatly interested in the monuments of Delhi, on which subject he authored a work “Athar’al-Sanadid” in Urdu. It contained immensely useful historical and architectural material for the study of the monuments of Delhi, built over a long span of time, from c.1192 to 1846 A.D. Its Arabic and Persian inscriptions were meticulously collected by the author himself, while its sketches were made by his artist Mirza Shah Rukh Beg Musawwir. It was first published in 1846 A.D. and soon became popular in India and abroad. The British and French scholars depended upon it. Almost the whole of it was reproduced in French by M.Garcin de Tassey in the Journal Asiatique. Edward Thomas, the author of the classical work : ‘The Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi’ (London 1871) largely drew on the Athar’al-Sanadid. It was almost a base book to Alexander Cunningham, the father of Indian Archaeology, and guided him in the preparation of his Report for the year 1862-65 (A.S.I. Vol-I). His assistant J.D. Beglar who prepared his Report on Delhi separately (A.S.I. Vol-IV) also relied upon Sayyid Ahmed, whose work, in fact, laid the foundation of the study of this subject and who was the basic authority for all later works. There always was the need of a faithful and comprehensive translation of his work into English. Though several Urdu editions were published subsequently, it was not translated, for more than a century. This Urdu work : ‘Athar’al-Sanadid’ was translated into English by Prof. R. Nath and was first published under the title : Monuments of Delhi : A Historical Study in 1978. It was popularly received and the first edition was sold out by 1990, and though it is needed and is in great demand, it was out of print for more than two decades. It studies nearly 160 monuments of Delhi built between 1192 and 1846. Sayyid Ahmed’s original scheme has been simplified to be useful to the reader and the work has been updated with comprehensive notes and references. His artist Mirza Shah Rukh Beg Musawwir’s original 44 drawings (sketches, made free hand) and Sayyid Ahmed’s original inscriptions which he collected assiduously and some of which are no longer extant, have been repaired and reproduced. His chronology and architectural narrative have been reformed and, as needed in an English translation, correct technical terms have been substituted. Sayyid Ahmed’s Urdu and English prefaces and his personal narrative of his family are special features of this work. It is, in fact, a mine of information on the subject; recording the first authentic survey of the monuments of Delhi, it is almost an encyclopedic work.

Excerpt from The Architecture of Ancient Delhi: Especially the Buildings Around the Kurb Minar Thus, while the Indian Government investigates the archaeology of its country, Great Britain endeavours to get architectural casts representing the styles of the Buddhists, Hindus, J ains and Muhammadans. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.