Nayanjot Lahiri
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190130480
- eISBN:
- 9780190993870
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190130480.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Social History
This book interleaves the history of post-Independence archaeology in India with the life and times of Madhukar Narhar Deshpande (1920–2008), a leading Indian archaeologist who went on to become the ...
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This book interleaves the history of post-Independence archaeology in India with the life and times of Madhukar Narhar Deshpande (1920–2008), a leading Indian archaeologist who went on to become the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. Spanning nearly a century, this is a tale about the circumstances which brought men like Deshpande to this career path; what it was like to grow up in a family devoted to India’s freedom; the watershed moment that created a large cohort that was trained by Mortimer Wheeler, the doyen of British archaeology who headed the Archaeological Survey in the twilight years of the British Raj; the unknown conservation stories around the Gol Gumbad in Bijapur and the Qutb Minar in Delhi; the forgotten story of how the fabric of a historic Hindu shrine, the Badrinath temple, was saved; the chemistry shared by the prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the archaeologist, Deshpande at historic cave shrines like Ajanta and Ellora, and; the political and administrative challenges faced by director generals of archaeology. The story is told through a main character—Deshpande himself—some of whose writings have been included here. Equally, there are others who figure in the narrative as it reconstructs and recounts the story of Indian archaeology after 1947 through those lives as also through the institutional history of the Archaeological Survey and the processes that were central to the discoveries it made and the challenges it faced.Less
This book interleaves the history of post-Independence archaeology in India with the life and times of Madhukar Narhar Deshpande (1920–2008), a leading Indian archaeologist who went on to become the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. Spanning nearly a century, this is a tale about the circumstances which brought men like Deshpande to this career path; what it was like to grow up in a family devoted to India’s freedom; the watershed moment that created a large cohort that was trained by Mortimer Wheeler, the doyen of British archaeology who headed the Archaeological Survey in the twilight years of the British Raj; the unknown conservation stories around the Gol Gumbad in Bijapur and the Qutb Minar in Delhi; the forgotten story of how the fabric of a historic Hindu shrine, the Badrinath temple, was saved; the chemistry shared by the prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the archaeologist, Deshpande at historic cave shrines like Ajanta and Ellora, and; the political and administrative challenges faced by director generals of archaeology. The story is told through a main character—Deshpande himself—some of whose writings have been included here. Equally, there are others who figure in the narrative as it reconstructs and recounts the story of Indian archaeology after 1947 through those lives as also through the institutional history of the Archaeological Survey and the processes that were central to the discoveries it made and the challenges it faced.
Nayanjot Lahiri
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190130480
- eISBN:
- 9780190993870
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190130480.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Social History
This chapter explores the various dimensions of the professional life of an Archaeological Survey of India’s Superintendent of Archaeology ranging from conserving monuments to undertaking field work, ...
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This chapter explores the various dimensions of the professional life of an Archaeological Survey of India’s Superintendent of Archaeology ranging from conserving monuments to undertaking field work, from dealing with antiquities in the field to engaging with village and city folk, bureaucrats and politicians. Unlike university men and women, such government people were public archaeologists in the sense that they dealt with all kinds of grass roots challenges that monument administration and research involved. Deshpande’s early years in different parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka was centrally of this type, with the conservation of Gol Gumbad being a professional landmark. About a decade after this, his conservation work at another renowned medieval complex, Delhi’s Qutb Minar would earn the Archaeological Survey laurels. It was also during these years that Deshpande’s abiding obsession with shrines and monasteries in the Western rock-cut caves began and included work at Bhaja, Pitalkohora, Ajanta and Ellora where apart from making new discoveries, he also undertook extensive conservation work.Less
This chapter explores the various dimensions of the professional life of an Archaeological Survey of India’s Superintendent of Archaeology ranging from conserving monuments to undertaking field work, from dealing with antiquities in the field to engaging with village and city folk, bureaucrats and politicians. Unlike university men and women, such government people were public archaeologists in the sense that they dealt with all kinds of grass roots challenges that monument administration and research involved. Deshpande’s early years in different parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka was centrally of this type, with the conservation of Gol Gumbad being a professional landmark. About a decade after this, his conservation work at another renowned medieval complex, Delhi’s Qutb Minar would earn the Archaeological Survey laurels. It was also during these years that Deshpande’s abiding obsession with shrines and monasteries in the Western rock-cut caves began and included work at Bhaja, Pitalkohora, Ajanta and Ellora where apart from making new discoveries, he also undertook extensive conservation work.
Mehrdad Shokoohy and Natalie H. Shokoohy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474460729
- eISBN:
- 9781474495608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474460729.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Bayana, were it not for its shortage of water, might have been the capital of India. Strategically located in south-east Rajasthan on the route from Delhi to Gwalior and the Deccan, it attracted the ...
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Bayana, were it not for its shortage of water, might have been the capital of India. Strategically located in south-east Rajasthan on the route from Delhi to Gwalior and the Deccan, it attracted the attention of the Muslim conquerors, who made it their centre of power, with buildings praised by no less than Ibn Baṭṭūta. Until the founding of Agra it was the centre for control of the region, with the rulers, often autonomous, defying the Delhi sultans. Agriculture and the stone industry dominated, with sophisticated craftsmanship, but after a catastrophic earthquake in 1505 and the population’s migration to the newly founded capital, Agra, Bayana declined to the point that by the 19th century the Archaeological Survey of India reports show it as a forlorn remnant of past splendour. The previous archaeological studies along with the scope and field-work of the present study are outlined, as well as the present condition of the area and the regions’ influence and importance in the development of Mughal architecture.Less
Bayana, were it not for its shortage of water, might have been the capital of India. Strategically located in south-east Rajasthan on the route from Delhi to Gwalior and the Deccan, it attracted the attention of the Muslim conquerors, who made it their centre of power, with buildings praised by no less than Ibn Baṭṭūta. Until the founding of Agra it was the centre for control of the region, with the rulers, often autonomous, defying the Delhi sultans. Agriculture and the stone industry dominated, with sophisticated craftsmanship, but after a catastrophic earthquake in 1505 and the population’s migration to the newly founded capital, Agra, Bayana declined to the point that by the 19th century the Archaeological Survey of India reports show it as a forlorn remnant of past splendour. The previous archaeological studies along with the scope and field-work of the present study are outlined, as well as the present condition of the area and the regions’ influence and importance in the development of Mughal architecture.
Nayanjot Lahiri
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190130480
- eISBN:
- 9780190993870
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190130480.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Social History
The Tabo and Ki monasteries are described here, which are very important for understanding the art of the Gu-ge style that flourished in Western Tibet from the tenth century onwards. This style is ...
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The Tabo and Ki monasteries are described here, which are very important for understanding the art of the Gu-ge style that flourished in Western Tibet from the tenth century onwards. This style is best represented at Tabo and is indispensable in the history of art in India because, when Deshpande wrote this piece, it was the only surviving representation of this art here.Less
The Tabo and Ki monasteries are described here, which are very important for understanding the art of the Gu-ge style that flourished in Western Tibet from the tenth century onwards. This style is best represented at Tabo and is indispensable in the history of art in India because, when Deshpande wrote this piece, it was the only surviving representation of this art here.
Mrinalini Rajagopalan
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226283470
- eISBN:
- 9780226331898
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226331898.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Building Histories traces the lives of five monuments in Delhi—Red Fort; Rasul Numa Dargah; Jama Masjid; Purana Qila; and the Qutb Complex—from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century. ...
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Building Histories traces the lives of five monuments in Delhi—Red Fort; Rasul Numa Dargah; Jama Masjid; Purana Qila; and the Qutb Complex—from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Each monument is explored in an individual chapter, which considers the various appropriations of its history, function, and symbolism by state (colonial and postcolonial) and non-state actors. The starting point for this discussion is the mid-nineteenth century when institutionalized preservation cemented the histories, uses, symbolism, and stewardship of monuments within a rigid archive policed by colonial and later national bureaucracies. Yet this archive was and continues to be constantly interrupted and challenged by affect—the emotive economy generated around the monument at various points in time. It is at this intersection of archival “truths” and affective “passions” that the book charts the changing lives of these five monuments. In doing so it reveals the profoundly mutable histories of these monuments—histories that transformed non-linearly over time; histories generated by unexpected co-optations and urgent inhabitations; and histories authored by various actors often with competing agendas. Building Histories is a book about the histories of buildings; it is also a meditation on the building of histories through these monuments.Less
Building Histories traces the lives of five monuments in Delhi—Red Fort; Rasul Numa Dargah; Jama Masjid; Purana Qila; and the Qutb Complex—from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Each monument is explored in an individual chapter, which considers the various appropriations of its history, function, and symbolism by state (colonial and postcolonial) and non-state actors. The starting point for this discussion is the mid-nineteenth century when institutionalized preservation cemented the histories, uses, symbolism, and stewardship of monuments within a rigid archive policed by colonial and later national bureaucracies. Yet this archive was and continues to be constantly interrupted and challenged by affect—the emotive economy generated around the monument at various points in time. It is at this intersection of archival “truths” and affective “passions” that the book charts the changing lives of these five monuments. In doing so it reveals the profoundly mutable histories of these monuments—histories that transformed non-linearly over time; histories generated by unexpected co-optations and urgent inhabitations; and histories authored by various actors often with competing agendas. Building Histories is a book about the histories of buildings; it is also a meditation on the building of histories through these monuments.
