Our Third Trip-To American Institute of Indian Studies
On the 25th of February,2014 HeART(Heritage Action Research Team) went to AIIS to study on the two topics chosen by us-Sultan Garhi and Gadia Lohar.My topic of interest was the development of Sultan Garhi as a sufi shrine.
We reached AIIS and were welcomed by Ms.Vandana Sinha who further introduced to us the institute,it's library and visual archives.It was extremely fascinating to see coins from the Gupta and Greek period.The institute had 15 photos of Sultan Garhi and it's surroundings from 1989.Our project would now be a lot more insightful as we will be able to make a visual comparison of Sultan Garhi over a time period of 25 years.Each photo in the archives had an information slip attached to it with it's location and a detailed description.
We later had around 45 minutes to explore their colossal library which contained 75000 books.Their system of finding the books was very interesting,they had a index drawer almirah through which one could look for a key word of their book/topic and give a number to the librarian who would help you find the book.They have also digitalised this process.I looked through multitudinous keywords and after searching many books found a chapter of the book 'Delhi and it's monuments'which gave knowledge about this monument.
I found out that this is the oldest tomb in India,was built for Slave emperor Iltutmish though his son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was buried there and the literal meaning of Sultan Garhi is Sultan of the cave.
Extensive research also showed that the grandsons of Iltutmish were buried to the south of the tomb.The tomb's architectural has been heavily influenced by Rajasthani temples as well as mosques of the north-west.An interesting fact I found was that this tomb had been restored by Firoz Shah Tughlaq by using Rajasthani marble.The author of this book mentioned a document named Futuhat by General Cunningham which is said to give a deep insight into Sultan Garhi.I hope that this document can solve the mystery of Sulatn Garhi becoming a Sufi shrine.We also spoke to the chief architect who has been making plans of numerous monuments and temples of India.
AIIS has also published over 2000 books and photographed museums and excavated historical sites.I would really thank Mr.Jha,Proffesor.Khana ,Mrs.Sinha and everybody behind the trip for such a wonderful learning.Iwish we could go back there again and pick up the information they have for us so we can achieve our goal.
On the 25th of February,2014 HeART(Heritage Action Research Team) went to AIIS to study on the two topics chosen by us-Sultan Garhi and Gadia Lohar.My topic of interest was the development of Sultan Garhi as a sufi shrine.
We reached AIIS and were welcomed by Ms.Vandana Sinha who further introduced to us the institute,it's library and visual archives.It was extremely fascinating to see coins from the Gupta and Greek period.The institute had 15 photos of Sultan Garhi and it's surroundings from 1989.Our project would now be a lot more insightful as we will be able to make a visual comparison of Sultan Garhi over a time period of 25 years.Each photo in the archives had an information slip attached to it with it's location and a detailed description.
We later had around 45 minutes to explore their colossal library which contained 75000 books.Their system of finding the books was very interesting,they had a index drawer almirah through which one could look for a key word of their book/topic and give a number to the librarian who would help you find the book.They have also digitalised this process.I looked through multitudinous keywords and after searching many books found a chapter of the book 'Delhi and it's monuments'which gave knowledge about this monument.
I found out that this is the oldest tomb in India,was built for Slave emperor Iltutmish though his son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was buried there and the literal meaning of Sultan Garhi is Sultan of the cave.
Extensive research also showed that the grandsons of Iltutmish were buried to the south of the tomb.The tomb's architectural has been heavily influenced by Rajasthani temples as well as mosques of the north-west.An interesting fact I found was that this tomb had been restored by Firoz Shah Tughlaq by using Rajasthani marble.The author of this book mentioned a document named Futuhat by General Cunningham which is said to give a deep insight into Sultan Garhi.I hope that this document can solve the mystery of Sulatn Garhi becoming a Sufi shrine.We also spoke to the chief architect who has been making plans of numerous monuments and temples of India.
AIIS has also published over 2000 books and photographed museums and excavated historical sites.I would really thank Mr.Jha,Proffesor.Khana ,Mrs.Sinha and everybody behind the trip for such a wonderful learning.Iwish we could go back there again and pick up the information they have for us so we can achieve our goal.
