Book: Shahjahanabad: Mapping A Mughal City
Author: Swapna Liddle
Published by: Roli
Price: Rs 2,495
Planned cities are all the rage these days. But planned cities are hardly a new phenomenon. Shahjahanabad is the only planned Mughal city extant largely in its original form. A splendidly detailed, hand-drawn map of this city from the collection of the British Library (dated 1846-47) is the basis of Swapna Liddle’s book, SHAHJAHANABAD: MAPPING A MUGHAL CITY (Roli, Rs 2,495).
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Liddle has broken down the map into 13 zones to include such precincts as the Red Fort, which was known then as Qila-e-Moalla, Faiz Bazaar, known to us today as Dariyaganj, and important historical locations like the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk.
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Painstaking research has gone into overlaying the Mughal city with Delhi as we know it today and Liddle’s in-depth knowledge, both of history and the city, is apparent. The book is embellished with miniatures, paintings and a rare photograph curated by Pramod Kapoor and Sneha Pamneja. The large, pull-out replica of the original map which comes with the book is a stunning collector’s item.