%0 Journal Article
%T Asar-ul-Sanadid: a nineteenth-century history of Delhi¡¯
%A Fatima Quraishi
%J Journal of Art Historiography
%D 2012
%I 
%X In 1847 the Muslim educationist Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-98) published an Urdu text entitled Asar-ul-Sanadid, listing and describing the buildings of Delhi. On the basis of this publication, Sayyid Ahmad Khan was invited to join the Royal Asiatic Society and to write a second, improved edition (published in 1854) intended for translation into English. Unfortunately the translation was never produced. The Asar was nonetheless a landmark text in the field of Indo-Islamic architectural history, representing one of the first comprehensive surveys written on Delhi¡¯s architecture, and a foundation for further academic inquiry into the ancient city¡¯s architectural history. This article presents a new English translation of excerpts from the original Urdu text of the second edition, describing major monuments of Delhi architecture as examined by Sayyid Ahmad Khan in the mid-nineteenth century.
%K Sayyid Ahmad Khan
%K Asar ul-Sanadid
%K architecture of Delhi
%K historiography of Indian architecture
%K Urdu
%U http://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/quraishi.pdf