Description
Book SynopsisBetween the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, Banaras, the iconic Hindu center in northern India that is often described as the oldest living city in the world, was reconstructed materially as well as imaginatively, and embellished with temples, monasteries, mansions, and ghats (riverfront fortress-palaces). Banaras's refurbished sacred landscape became the subject of pilgrimage maps and its spectacular riverfront was depicted in panoramas and described in travelogues.
In Banaras Reconstructed, Madhuri Desai examines the confluences, as well as the tensions, that have shaped this complex and remarkable city. In so doing, she raises issues central to historical as well as contemporary Indian identity and delves into larger questions about religious urban environments in South Asia.
Trade Review"Desai shows clearly that the city, especially its waterfront, has been a canvas for the inscription of power—of Mughal courtiers, Bengali merchants, British imperial functionaries, Hindu rajas, Maratha nobles, and an array of others trying to create their own narratives of heritage and lineage, whether for political or personal gain."
* Journal of Asian Studies *
"An important book that brings new life to one of India’s oldest, holiest, and best-known cities. Nowhere has the longer history of Banaras’s many (re)constructions been more cohesively or persuasively told."
* Art Bulletin *
"Madhuri Desai has dexterously attempted to describe and exemplify how varied aspects have contributed in the consecration of Banaras as sacred amidst other buildings which hold a high degree of historical significance. The arguments by the author are meticulously supplemented with original layouts and documentations dating from the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar."
* Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities *
"Banaras Reconstructed is a valuable intervention in the field of early modern and colonial architectural history, one that productively opens up new passages into the complex history and historiography of the “Hindu city.”"
* Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) *
"A painstakingly pieced together work of longue durée urban history."
* Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction | The Paradox of Banaras
1. Authenticity and Pilgrimage
2. Palimpsests and Authority
3. Expansion and Invention
4. Spectacle and Ritual
5. Order and Antiquity
6. Visions and Embellishments
Conclusion | Banaras Revisited
