The present urban fabric of many cities and towns in India have their roots in the late 19th c and early 20th c, especially the “old town”/”old city” parts of town. Individual structures in these places may be older, but as functional urban entities, this is usually how old the urban landscape is. I’ve become really interested in these parts of town, and while visiting Ajmer recently sought it’s “downtown” out. Pushkar as a whole seems to be from that era. Continue reading
Khatu is the location of one of the four mosques I had discussed in my Four Ghurid Mosques post. The mosque is of significant historical importance, but the rest of the town is pretty intriguing as well. For me, Khatu is an example of the hundreds of small towns across India that have enough going in terms of architectural and urban history to warrant interest by conservators (and even tourists). Unfortunately the town lies in the middle of nowhere both literally and figuratively. Continue reading
The four mosques discussed in this post are among the earliest royally-sanctioned mosques in north India, dating from the last decade of the 12th c and first decade of the 13th c (1190-1210 AD). All four were built in the wake of the conquest of north India by the armies of Mohammad Ghouri, and are said to be built at the sites of remains of earlier Hindu temples. Continue reading
Sarson ke Khet 