Building Histories: The Archival and Affective Lives of Five Monuments in Modern Delhi

Description

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. Contents Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Introduction: The Modern Lives of Medieval Monuments between Archive and Affect 1. 1857: Red Fort Mutiny, Memory, Monument 2. 1918: Rasul Numa Dargah Interrupting the Archive: Indigenous Voices and Colonial Hegemony 3. 1932: Jama Masjid A Menacing Mosque Reveals the Limits of Colonial Power 4. 1948: Purana Qila The Many Origins of Partitioned Nations, Cities, and Monuments 5. 2000: Qutb Complex Secular Nations and Specters of Iconoclasm Epilogue: Making New Monuments Notes Bibliography Index