Razvi

Interested in South Asian history & heritage... and human behaviour, past & present.

[Ira Mukhoty @mukhoty]

This is the view that emperor Shah Jahan and the imperial family would have of the Taj Mahal as they approached the monument only from the river.

At this time the entire Yamuna riverfront at Agra was a series of beautiful gardens

Randolph Holmes, DAG, early 20th c

[Narayani Basu @narayani_basu]

Delhi's monuments are monumenting in this spell of sunshine.

Mehrauli Archaeological Park.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Arguably the most beautiful jali screen in the world:
Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, 1573-3
Ahmedabad

[Rana Safvi رعنا राना @iamrana]

A posh residential colony in Hauz Khas called Mayfair Gardens – though it looks like any other residential area – hides a treasure.
Just ahead of the entrance gate is a beautiful Lodi era dargah complex.

The remarkable feature of the gateway of this dargah is the lovely fluted dome on it. The curious might want to venture in and would be greeted by a single aisle mosque with a big quadrangle. This mosque is locally known as Makhdumki. It is named after a saint, Makhdum Saheb, about whom not much is known except that he was a native of the town of Sabz in Kish.

The notable features, on the west facade of the prayer chamber, are a projected central mehrab, sloping buttresses and a balcony with arched cells. It belongs to the Lodi period (1451-1526 AD). The prayer chamber is internally divided into seven bays, the central one and those on the extreme ends being domed. Quranic ayats are inscribed inside the mosque and the medallions on the facade with Allah inscribed on them.

A painting made by Mazhar Khan in the 1840s for Metcalfe’s Imperial Delhi shows the presence of beautiful red sandstone lattice screens between these columns. None of them remain today. The inner side of the dome was also beautifully decorated with colourful floral designs. There were inscriptions on the ceiling but these have since been destroyed. They had Quranic ayats and some Persian verses. There is a sense of peace here, which remains undisturbed by visitors and maybe an occasional scampering squirrel.

#Delhitrilogy #forgottencitiesofdelhi

[Ira Mukhoty @mukhoty]

My books enjoying a fleeting moment in exalted company at the Dara Shukoh seminar on syncretic cultures at the IIC 😏 with thank to @midlandbook

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Babur was born in Ferghana, in what is now Uzbekistan. He ascended the throne in 1494 at the age of twelve, and by 14 had captured Samarkand; but by 16 he had lost the entire kingdom he inherited to the Uzbeks of the fierce Shaybani Khan. By his late teens he had become a wandering refugee...

[Ira Mukhoty @mukhoty]

Whatever happens, keep your turban on

Unusual image, of Maharaja Sajjan Singh of Mewar swimming with his sardars.

From a Six Senses Series Mewar 1880
Marg

[Ira Mukhoty @mukhoty]

The Khan Khanan’s Ramayan

‘This book.. is among the esteemed books of india. By order of Akbar.. naqib khan of qazwin translated the book into Persian from Sanskrit. This slave.. was allowed to have a copy made’

Abd Al Rahim’s Ramayan, freer collection. From Seyller in #Marg

[Ira Mukhoty @mukhoty]

18th c Neeraj Chopra?

A teenage Sawai Pratap Singh of Jaipur practicing the javelin

Ramji Das, 1770, MSMS II

[Tocharus @Tocharus]

The oldest known Indo-European document, it is from the 17th century BC, a Hittite record we call the Proclamation of King Anitta.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Mughal elephant armour... Imagine facing this in battle

[Razvi @razvinama]

Those who do not preserve their legacy seldom have the ability to leave behind a good one of their own…

[Rangan Datta @rangan_datta]

Gone!! The Chhatri of Zahara Bagh, Agra

Visited Agra late March this year and clicked the photo of the magnificent chhatri of Zahara Bagh from Chini ki Rauza,

Sadly it has collapsed today (29/10/24)

[Rangan Datta @rangan_datta]

2/2

8/8 Travelogues from #Hyderabad @TT_My_Kolkata

5. British Residency: https://t.co/Gtc6NtSm8p
6. Qutub Shahi Tombs: https://t.co/57kjIGZo2V
7. Paigah Tombs: https://t.co/buwwkzQyAM
8. Golconda Fort: https://t.co/ZxbpTPsSOF

[Chinmayi Srikanth @chinmayi95]

The Humayun’s Tomb in all its glory

[Razvi @razvinama]

@AbhijitBal @RajeshwariRW These figures mean little. Wages / wealth do not solely determine value to society (think oligarchs).
Official figures also do not factor the lower wages of the estimated 700,000 illegal Indian immigrants in the USA.
When factored, average Indian immigrant earnings plummet.

[London Review of Books @LRB]

‘Indian influence was spread by merchants and sea captains, but also by monks. Religious conversion and economic expansion went hand in hand.’

Ferdinand Mount reviews ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple: https://t.co/A40NXVCA4l

[Razvi @razvinama]

The Timurnama, Mughal Empire of India.
Commissioned by Emperor Akbar about 440 years ago.
And housed at Khudabaksh library, Patna. @DalrympleWill @MinOfCultureGoI

[Ministry of Culture @MinOfCultureGoI]

Do you know? The #KhudaBakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna, Bihar houses the original manuscript of #Timurnama, commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar around 1584. (1/2)

#CultureUnitesAll #CultureConnect

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

It was India, not China, that was the greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. During this era, sea travel was the fastest, most economical and safest way to move people and goods in the pre-modern world, costing about a fifth of the price of equivalent land transport.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

The Emperor Akbar's war helmet, now in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

[Razvi @razvinama]

And long may it continue…

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

And so it begins...