Zulfiqar Sword of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Painting by Suleman Rehman Ali's double edged sword called Zulfiqar had mystical...

Kushk e Mehndiya’n painting by Daniells 11th Rabi us Sani, the Islamic month, marks the gyarvin sharif or the urs...

Painting: Solomon Receives a Message from the Hoopoe, Mughal 2nd half 17th c, calligraphy - Abd al-Rahim Anbarin Qalam depicts...

The first time I heard of Mysore silk as a special kind of silk was when the serial Mahabharata was...

A 2nd century Buddha in Chandigarh museum. At the time of partition it wasn't only land that was divided, museums...

Ranakpur Jain temple is one of the four major pilgrimage points for Shvetamber Jains. Made of marble it was built...

Kumbhalgarh Fort has many temples. The Neelkanth Mahadev Temple was built by Rana Kumbha in AD 1458. Facing west, it...

It has long been a dream of mine to visit Chittor Fort in Rajasthan. In the new year I was...

On a recent trip to Vrindavan I was struck by the tell tale signs of a receding Yamuna. I could...

The Baba whose followers included a maharaja, and in whose urs the first chador is from the Bhonsle family. I...

The City Palace, Jaipur comprises of many mahals. The portion in which the royal family stays is Chandra Niwas and...

The most famous resident of Mathura museum is “the great King, the King of Kings, the Son of God, Kanishka.”...

We have all grown up hearing about Awadh's famed Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb: for some of us it has been a...

Mastan Shah Baba is one of the most revered saints of Udaipur. He was born as Abdur Rauf in Haryana...

The Gopinath temple was built by Raysal Darbari, an officer in Akbar’s court from 1580-1585. The deity of this temple...

An abandoned house, which must have been built with a lot of dreams and been filled with love and longings...

Today Pir Ghaib is the name of a small, damaged, double-storeyed monument, standing on Delhi's ridge. . This was once...

Nizami’s Khamsa’s Five Poems, Tabriz, Iran, 1539–43 depicting the Prophet’s ascent into heaven (Image: British Library Online Gallery) The eve...

image: courtesy Pergamon museum - Princess Zebunnisa celebrating Shab e Barat "Verily, My Mercy prevails over My Wrath.”~ Hadith e...

Feeding of the crocodiles. 1720. Anon We visited Udaipur in the new year. Since it is the city of lakes...

Mir Abdul Jalil Wasiti Bilgrami wrote an eye witness account of Emperor Farrukhsiyar's wedding in 1715 with Indira Kunwar daughter...

The present temple of Govindadeva was built by Raja Man Singh with the Goswamis of Vrindavan, during the reign of...

The Gandhara and Mathura school of art developed under the Kushana rulers (1st to 3rd CE) while both started more...

There are many types of wrist adornments for women. These are bhujband, muthiya’n, pahunchiyan, kangan, moti-pak hubbab, chuhe datti, tipdiyan,...

Though Juliet had asked Romeo why he was Romeo ( Wherefore art thou Romeo? (I. ii.)) its been often mosquoted...

The shrine The inscription Dargah of Hazrat Shah Turkman Shamsul Arifeen Bayabani, famous as Shah Turkman When one comes to...

The Mughal school of paintings estd by Humayun reached its zenith under Jahangir. Akbar's taswir khana employed Persian and Hindustani...

If you study #MughalPainting carefully you will find three elements in it 1. Khatt or Calligraphy 2. Tasweer ( painting...

The staircase in Ali Qapu Palace, Isfahan. i was bedazzled by the Naqsh e Jahan Square which houses 4 of...

One of the earliest buildings erected in Naini Tal was the church of “St. John-in-the-wilderness” in 1846. The site was...