This Richly-Illustrated Book Is An Architectural Biography Of A Fascinating Palace And City. Using The Extant Monuments Of The Red Fort, In Conjunction With Maps. Photographs, Court Chronicles, Travelogues, And Other Historical Material, The Author Takes Us On A Journey Through Time.

Today, we associate the Red Fort with the view of the Prime Minister proudly unfurling the national flag every year on 15 August on the massive red wall curtain. To children and even most of us, the Red Fort is only this view that is broadcast on television. It is the ubiquitous image often used in marketing as well. Many of us haven’t even bothered to go inside the Fort, and many, including me, satisfied ourselves with our photos taken in front of this wall. This actually is a later addition erected by Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb. The Red Fort is much more than this red wall and the platform where the prime minister delivers his speech. In the book, the author attempts to swipe aside the wall and take a deep dive inside the Fort – not just the physical structures but how exactly the planning was done to create a truly complex and artistic palace fortress, to explore the Mughal way of life with their festivals, ceremonies, food and clothing amongst other themes. The beauty of the fort can only be understood and best appreciated from the string of apartments that once lined the river Yamuna on its opposite side. It must have been beautiful indeed to glide down the Yamuna on a boat and appreciate all the buildings that housed the emperor’s private quarters. Now the river has receded afar, but in olden times the various private apartments such as the Rang mahal, Khwabgah (‘abode of dreams’) or the emperor’s bed-chamber as well as the famous Diwan-e-Khas where the Mughal Emperor sat on the Peacock Throne were lined along the river front. There is a reason why the pioneering British historian-explorer James Fergusson termed the Red Fort ‘the most magnificent palace in the East.’ It was a creative venture well integrated to a new city and was truly unrivalled with respect to its design as well as functioning. The book also highlights that, though separated in time by more than three centuries from today, we can still visualize how the unsure footsteps which Babur took in Hindustan took shape in the reign of Shah Jahan, a connoisseur of art and culture. Descending on one side from Genghis Khan and the brutal Tamerlane on the other, Babur gained an irreversible entry to India in the plains of Panipat almost unexpectedly, by defeating a mammoth army of Ibrahim Lodi in 1526. The Mughals, which was the Persian word for ‘Mongols’, set up an incredible empire in Agra and Delhi, to which were born great emperors like Akbar and Shah Jahan. Apart from magnificent monuments they also built a truly syncretic culture of shared values, encouraged free exchange of knowledge and established rituals, customs and festivals that assimilated age-old traditions from east and west. Even the Taj Mahal, described by Rabindranath Tagore as a ‘teardrop on the face of Time’, was built as a symbol of love of a king to his departed queen, like an re-incarnation of Majnun for his Laila, so different from the obvious imagery that a barbaric king may evoke in one’s mind. Similarly, the Red Fort of Delhi was the culmination of Mughal soft power. With profusely laid flower and fruit-bearing char-bagh gardens criss-crossed with streams of water canals, it was layered in symbolism that art historians find interesting even after many centuries to discuss elements that give it a sense of freshness even with the mere empty shell of buildings left behind after 1857. As the author says, “Delhi however lived up to its reputation of slipping through the very fingers of those who attempted to raise a new city here: starting with Prithvi Raj Chauhan’s Lal Kot; Allauddin Khilji’s Siri; the Tughluq trio’s troika of Tughluqabad, Jahanpanah & Kotla Firuz Shah; Humayun’s Dinpanah and later Lutyen’s Delhi of the British; Shah Jahan’s majestic offering to the city of his choice was soon to be destroyed by fate.” The narrative follows the incidents of 1857 till the British Durbars and highlights that the Fort was not the home of the Mughals only in their prime, but also in their decline and till their very extinction. The book seeks to present the lived culture of Mughals in all its multiple facets. The book is divided in four parts. In Part 1 the focus is on the Imperial court and the court etiquette, cultivation of Persian and its enrichment with translations from Sanskrit, patronage of Hindu and Jain scholars. Part 2 contains detailed accounts of the Red Fort and the symbolism of its architecture, the philosophy of jharokha darshan, ceremonies, games and pastimes, the material culture of costumes and jewellery, food, drink and perfumery. The remaining two parts deal with the decline and fall of the Mughal rule and the British Colonial Durbars at the Red Fort. The broadly historical narrative is enlivened by various anecdotes.

The Milestones series conforms to CBSE’s CCE scheme, strictly adhering to the NCERT syllabus. The text is crisp, easy to understand, interactive, informative and activity-based. The series motivates young minds to question, analyse, discuss and think logically.

The authors in this volume analyze the rich layers of circulation and exchange of art, architecture, and literature within South Asia from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, focusing on the interaction of Muslims and Islamic traditions with other people and traditions there.

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.

Traces the development and spread of architecture under the Mughal emperors who ruled the Indian subcontinent from the early-16th to the mid-19th centuries. The book considers the entire scope of architecture built under the auspices of the imperial Mughals and their subjects.

The book is meant to be an all-inclusive text covering not just the target syllabus comprehensively but also facts for the exam. The book also provides comprehensive and depth analysis for comprehensive examination. This book effectively caters to the requirement of many competitive examinations, particularly UPSC, UPPSC, BPSC, JPSC, MPPSC and others. The book is largely divided into Indian History (Ancient India, Medieval India and Modern India), Art and Culture, World History, Geography (World Geography, Landforms, and Indian Geography), Environment and Ecology, Indian Polity and Constitution, Indian Economy, General Science (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology), Science and Technology which based on NCERT Books in different segments so that an aspirant can easily find out the desired information from it. NCERT Summary have been provided to give the aspirants a sense of direction and focus during the course of their study. In the selection of material, various competitive examinations have also been taken into consideration.

BPSC: Bihar Teacher Recruitment General Studies (Teacher Exam Cracker Series) Class 1-5 is all in one exam book which would help the aspirants to understand the basics and also help them to revise and evaluate their learning. The book contains complete coverage of syllabus and is divided into 8 topics: Elementary Mathematics, Mental Ability Test, General Awareness, General Science, Social Science, Indian National Movement, Geography and Environment.

Autumn is a visual gift given by nature to raise the morale of human beings who are worried as they enter the dark days of winter! It's time to revisit the history and know the roots from where we are born. We are delighted to feature A Passionate Historian - Rana Safvi who will tell us how every monument has a story and how her love for history germinated and bloomed to share the tales. Do check out our Editor's Choice article of the month - Let's Fall To Rise Again by Stuti Gogia. Ladies and Gentlemen, Storizen Magazine November 2019 Issue is LIVE NOW!