Review of: THE MILLENNIUM BOOK ON NEW DELHI
Edited by B.P.Singh and Pavan K. Varma
February 9, 2001
In the area of celebration Indians can hold their own against any comers. Take the festivals of Christmas [25th December] and New Year [ the first day of the calendar of any year as reckoned by the Pope Gregory , Ist January]. These festival days of Christians are marked by great celebrations including cakes bonfires and revelry requiring increased police patrolling in a country where 98% people are not followers of the Christ.
The rulers are RSS and the Parivaar are avowedly and actively anti-Christian. One of their big sticks which they use to beat the Congress and its leader Sonia Gandhi with is her Christian origin.
Despite all this we have a book marking the 3rd Millennium of the Christian Era paid for by the Government of India under the directions of the hardliner L.K.Advani, [ an accused in the Babari Masjid case!] making its appearance in January 2001. Wonders will never cease !
The ‘official’ nature of the publication gives it strengths. B.P. Singh, Home Secretary when the idea was mooted and cleared by Advani must have helped obtain rare and spectacular illustrations such as aerial views of high security buildings on Raisina Hill. The Qutub complex and the Kotla Firoz Shah aerial views are also rare and very pleasing. Some archival material reproduced is beautiful. The illustrations merit more credit . B.P.Singh provides the Introduction. The title ‘Millennium Book ‘On’ New Delhi is not explained. Dillee as Indraprastha may hark back to the epic era of many thousand years age but Lutyen’s New Delhi is yet to be even a 100.
The facts are quite often wrong. The concept and building of Indraprastha are attributed to Vishwakarma instead of Maya or Muya Daanava and the Purana Qilaa is dated to the epic period ; Siri is ascribed to Jalaluddin Firoz Khilji; Humayun’s death occurs a year after the event, in 1557 and a ‘Sonehri’ or Golden Mosque is credited to Shah Jahan when all the three ‘Sonehri’ or Golden Mosques are of a century later vintage.
Nigambodh Ghat becomes a temple and Indraprastha the abode of Indra. Hazrat Nizamuddin is made ‘ their [ the Chishtie’s] most important figure’. This position belongs to the Shaikh-ul-Hind Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaaz, Hazrat Muinuddin Chishti Sajzi of Ajmer-Sharif. Humayun’s last act before his fatal fall from the steps of the Sher Mandal is stated to be ‘ a discussion with people who had just returned from the Haj to Mecca’. According to the chronicles Humayun , an ardent astronomer had been following the movements of Venus with the help of an astrolabe and the call to prayers made him interrupt his observation and descend the staircase. As his mind was still in the stars he missed his step. Hamida Bano Begum, Mother of Akbar is given the credit for building Humayun’s Tomb although there is no text to support this attribution.
The Dillee school of music is dated to the 19th Century. Even a Pakistan publication calls Umrao Bundu Khan of Suiwaalaan as belonging to Qawwaal Bacchcoan Kaa Gharaanaa which goes back to at least the time of Khwaja Qutub. .
Most rulers of Dillee were music lovers. Shah Jahan [1628-1658] collected a thousand Dhrupads and a copy exists in the National Museum New Delhi..
Fortunately for the reader the article on ‘Flora and Fauna’ is written and illustrated by a professional, Ranjit Lal. It shows that the patrons should stick to finding and commissioning talented persons with dedication and passion instead of trying to be versatile geniuses or practicing nepotism
Epigraphs and inscriptions ought not degenerate into graffiti.
Alas !
It is to be hoped that better sense will prevail when George Fernandes has a military history of India commissioned. All Dillee’s forts can then have their aerial views published and we can see the 85 acres of palaces pavilions and water courses in the Red Fort destroyed by the British in 1857 and do something about the hideous barracks erected in their place.