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    My favorite artworks from European Museums

    My favorite artworks from European Museums

    Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

    Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

    Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

    Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

    Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

    Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

    Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

    Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

    The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

    The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

    Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

    Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

    Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

    Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

    St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

    St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

    Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

    Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

    Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

    Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

    The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

    The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

    The Dohany Street synagogue in Budapest

    St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

    St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

    The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

    The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

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      My favorite artworks from European Museums

      My favorite artworks from European Museums

      Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

      Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

      Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

      Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

      Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

      Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

      Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

      Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

      The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

      The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

      Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

      Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

      Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

      Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

      St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

      St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

      Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

      Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

      Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

      Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

      The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

      The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

      The Dohany Street synagogue in Budapest

      St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

      St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

      The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

      The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

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      Rameen Khan of City Tales reviews Shahjahanabad the Living City of Old Delhi

      inBook and Publication
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      For those of us who are obsessed with Shahjahanabad or Purani Dilli, the place represents a different universe of its own with its own culture, cuisine, language, art , architecture and way of life. The place sucks you in and once you get a taste of its elements, no place feels better.

      The walled city , in its heyday, boasted of glorious mosques, stunning temples, tombs , dargahs, churches and the omnipresent Red Fort. Even after its decline , in 1919, the city had over 400 monuments. That is equal to heritage of a lot of historic cities of the world put together . So documenting the built heritage of the place is no easy task

      There have been some fabulous efforts to that end. Muraqqa i Dehli, Asar us Sanadid and Sair ul Manazil did it beautifully in post 1857 Delhi documenting a lot of precious heritage which was lost post the mutiny. The coverage here was rich with stories of the monuments but also the coverage of people and traditions associated with them. Asar shines the brightest amongst them and takes one straight to heart of Delhi of that era

      Then came the British with Fanshawe, Stephen Carr and Gordon Risley Hearn doing their best to record the same. However the scope of these 3 works was limited and the narration dry because of the colonial disconnect with the natives.

      In early 20th Century, Maulvi Zafar Hasan covered Shahjahanabad in the most thorough way possible covering 400 plus monuments with all necessary features and back stories. However since the cultural element was missing, the work felt a little lacking. Then Basheeruddin Ahmed Dehlavi probably matched Sir Syed’s efforts via his Waqiaat-e- Darul Hukoomat Dehli . But the work is in Urdu and out of reach of mainstream

      Finally in the modern age – Maheshwar Dayal, Shama Mitra Chenoy and Blake have done the most famous works on Shahjahanabad and it’s monuments. But while Dayal’s work is out of print for long, Chenoy and Blake ‘s work is more about the story of development of Shahjanabad with monument coverage pushed into background

      Lucy Peck has done another thorough listing of the walled city but with little on their backstories

      Which brings me to the latest work by Rana Safvi. The book, a part of her trilogy on monuments of Delhi, takes me back to the glory of Asar us Sanadid by Sir Syed. The author here covers 200 plus monuments which is more than any other modern book. The coverage here is much more personalized and rich since she personally visited, documented and experienced each monument.

      To add to that she adds the stories of present Shahjahanabadis and how they remember the Old Delhi of before . She also documents festivals and famous cuisine of the walled city including select recepies.

      Finally she peppers the book with images of both present and past ( from ASI archives) to complete the loop.

      Rana Safvi delivered the first ever complete English translation of Asar Us Sanadid and now she delivers the modern counterpart to Asar

      As the great William Dalrymple rightly said – A Magnificent Achievement

      https://www.facebook.com/citytales.india/photos/a.2370553953010288/2644896275576053?type=3&sfns=mo

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      Rana Safvi

      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

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      © 2018 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.