ye ‘oY 7 The Partitions of Memory KausHatya AND BravanesH Kau 4 ———TA™R..+.W8.§8§|— and for THE AFTERLIFE OF THE DIVISION Primta Loomea t OF INDIA i we Edited by | SUVIR KAUL { 6 j | | x oF* Qutb and Modern Memory SUNIL KUMAR HE QUTB MINAR and mosque, Delhi's first masjid ami’, cons- ccucced in the last decade of the ovelfth century, has drawn the attention of tourists, antiquarians and scholars over the years. The tall ‘minaret with its elaborate balconies and intricate inscriptions has an clemencof what Gel called ‘magic’. How did peoplein the late twelfth and early chirteenth centuriés construct something so enormous, so perfectly symmetrical, and yet so delicate? Our cultural sensibilities, attuned to appreciate uniqueness, siz, proportion and the investment of money and labour, savour the immensity and beauty of thestructure and marvel atthe accomplishment of mortals nearly a millenniumago. ‘The reactions of visitors to the adjoining mosque, constructed out of “This isan abbreviated version of «paper preseneed at the Indo-French Seminar (sponsored by he Univetsgy Grants Commision, Indian Council of Historical Re- search andthe Maison des Sciencesde/ Homme) held arthe School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru Universey, 14-16 February 1994 Lam curently reisinghe paper for publication as « monograph enced ‘Delining and Contesong Fersitory: The Delhi Majic min che thirteenth century”. The paper has profited from the com- sents of Anjali Kumar, David Gilmartin, Dilip Menon, Ebba Koch, Gail Minaul, SSuvie Kaul and Tanika Sazkar, none of whom necessarily share the opinions of the author expressed here. Qutb and Modern Memory 141 the rubble of ewenty-seven demolished temples, are, however, more ambivalent. The statkness of the mosque is relieved only by the rede~ ployederaplespoils. Temple columns, Hinduand Jain iconic motifs, somecompleteand many defaced idols, are beautifilin themselves but clearly our of context wichin the environs of the mosque. They appear to be spoils of war, che evidence of pillage and vicrory in a conflict fought in the distant past. Most visitors in the mosque today ate un- aware of theidentity of thecontestants nor are theeventsof theconflice any clearer, Butsince the presence of plundered material frown ‘Hindu’ temples within a‘Muslim’ mosque is unmistakeable, the masjid con- firmsimages of Islamic iconoclasm and fanaticism. Itresurrects mem- ories of communal distinctions and strife which almost every India, regards asa part of his country’s social history. Unlike the minaret, the mosque impresses visitors with its images of destruction, power and might, but not ‘magic’. ‘The manner in which visitors to the Quib complex understandand interpret the structures at the site is not simply shaped by heir cognit- ive understanding of what constieutes an object of ‘beauty’. Ie is as much a productof thei socialized, historicized, understanding of the intentions of the constructors, and the meanings they presume are en- coded into che structure. This paper seeks to study the manner in which the Quebcomplexis understood today, and cheepistemological assumptions which have supported such an understanding. As I dis- ccuss in my paper, both the builders and detractors of the mosque at- «ached a host of meanings to the mosque in the Middle Ages, many of ‘which were reworked in the popular imagination in the early modern period. Yer, today, only one interpretation has survived through the ages. Historians have played a major role in che construction of this modern memory of the Queb. They have written excensively on the ‘Qutb itself, and on the political and religious conditions of the time ‘when it was built. Their research on the Qutb has not remained rele- gnted to the pages of arcane tomess it has received wide circulation in text books and the popular press. Daily, thousands of visitors are guid- ‘ed through the Qutb monuments by thedescriptionsand interpretations142. The Partitions of Memory provided by the Archacological Survey of India atthe site of the mos- ‘que itself These narratives were culled from the works of scholars on medieval archivecture, Islam, and Indian history. Together they con- stitute a text through which the experience of visitors to one of the ‘major tourist spots in north Indiais refracted into authoritative know- ledge about the character of Islamic piety and the nature of ‘Muslim rule’ in medieval India, This paper enlarges on the complex relation- ship between scholastic interprecations and popular perceptions in the constitution of the Queb complex as a statement of the “Might of Islam’ in India, an interpretation which unforcunately consolidates the fractured communal realities of a post-Particion subcontinent. 1. The Delhi Masjid-i Jami‘, Its Builders, and Its Main Features? ‘The Delhi masjid-ijémi' underwent construction on three different ‘occasions. The first mosque, 214 by 149 feet, was a relatively small rectangular structure, with a central courtyard surrounded by colon- naded arcades. The construction of the mosque was begun in 587/ 1191-2 by Qutb al-Din Ai-Beg, and relied upon material derived from plundered temples. The temple spoils were used randomly, but very ingeniously. Column shafts, bases, and capitals, of different sizes and forms, with Hindu or Jain sculptures and iconic motifs, were placed one upon the other to attain a uniform height for the roof. The lack of concern for iconic symmeuy, with Shaivite, Vaishnavite and Jain motifs placed cheeke-by-jowl wich each other, conveys the impres- sion of destruction, a temper which is very much a part of the cons- truction of the first mosque. The Archaeological Survey of India helps in the consolidation of this impression. Through its tourist literature ic eminds visitors thatthe berter portion of the mosque resides on the plinth of a demolished temple. Together with other evidence of re- deploymentof plundered material, itis leftto be assumed thatthe ‘iron pillar’ of the Gupta period was another trophy of conquest placed ‘within the centre of the mosque by Muslim invaders? Sometime later, pehaps in 595/119, che huge arched screen was Queb and Modern Memory 143 built in front of the west wall of the mosque. The east face of the screen ‘was decorated with Arabic calligraphy, verses from the Qur'éyr and the traditions of the Prophet, interspersed with floral and geometric pat- terns. ethaps even more dramatically than che reused temple spoils, the screen carries evidence of the handiwork of native artisans, who used familiar traditions of corbelled architecture to satisfy unusual stylistic requirements. It was around this time that work on the ground floor of ehe minaret was also completed. Although derived ftom the archi- rectural precedents established in the Ghtirid minaret of Khwaja Siyah Pushin Sistan, the mindr, in Qurbal-Din's reign, was notvery tall, and. its girth lent it a rather squat appearance. Built out of red sandstone and inscribed with Qur‘énic inscriptions and eulogies of conquest, it served as 2 memorial of victory and a vantage point to call the faithful to prayer. ‘Thesecond phase of construction within the masjid-ijimi' occured. during the reign of Shams al-Din Iltutmish (607-33/1210-36) and. swas completed sometime around 627/1229-30. Although Itucmish's additions nearly doubled the width, if noc the depth, of the mosque, verylitele survives today ofthis construction, New courtyards were ad- ded to the north, south and che east, in a form which maintained the overall stylistic symmetry of the mosque. Hence the arches and the additions o the minaret harmonized with the preexistingarchitecture. Since theseadditionsarclargely in ruins today, the final impacto their sizeand grandeur, their dwarfing ofthe original masjid, is completely Jost upon the modern audience. Only the extended minaret, cowering cover the environs with theee additional storeys, provides asense ofthe huge tansformation that Iewtmish introduced in the architectural landscape of the masid-i jimi’. Many historians tend to obscure this intervention by suggesting that rather than altering the mosque, Iut- mish merely ‘completed’ it “The changes in the mosque introduced dusing the third phase of construction, in the reign of ‘Alt’ al-Din Khalajt (695-715/1296— 1316), are also nearly lost today. But for one entrance hall, and an unfinished minarer, there is no visible trace of any Khalaji building144 The Partitions of Memory activity within th yy within the mosque. Archaeological evid We chs chat‘Ala’ al-Din excended the cleus usa i fe cael size of Ilrutmish’s, that the arches on its west wall Sane ober eonseuctons, and ifthe gi of ‘hc ual air any indication, would alsohavebeen twice thesze of theold. Oder han 7 rie of theald.. er theca dc coos lon esol cosy alee Alta ‘waza, stands as a testimony to the quality of construction du period. Bul out of ed sandstone, che square slhouere of he za’ is pierced with evenly spaced rectangular windows and doors. These are outline se are outlined with marble trimmings and epigraphs carrying! ur aie verses and st (Quranic verses and statements commemorating the achievements of| the Sultan. The modern visitor sitor needs toir it of passge fom the busing world of medi cy of De, through the ornate‘ Ala darvazaino the relative ponte ane ous Khalai mosque with huge arches decorzed with Quréne were ondiewseinvall dane mins underosucon wobalnce and dwarf the old one. In sheer size and grandeur it would ha att one of the most awe-inspiring mosques of its time in the va in themida deinen cena eee Lge seman aegis cp diane clayanince.Theirmingshaeovertcyesasune wabort seinen, ne no soc wn i ura opinions ofthestructure. The mn attemp todisagrep this scholasshiproundersandhow changinghistrcl assumption and research sumption andre methodologies are reflected in the study of Il, Reading the Masjid-i Jami as the ‘Might of Islam Mosque ‘The munsif of Delhi, Sa Th i, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was the fit ie sudy fas epigraphs and architec feomotihe in che 1840's. Many ofhisconclusions we and developed in the reports of the Archaeological Survey ofa Qusb and Modern Memary 145 written in the 1860's and some years lates in the Epiraphies Indo- “Moslemica, a journal devored ro the scudy of Persia criptigns. Much ofthis information was recompiled in the 1920's in the reporeof the excavations and consesation efor: ofthe Archaeo- logical Survey ofIndianasraredby}.A. Page Thiscorpusofinformation in and Arabic ins- provided the empirical daa on the basis of which 9 early consensual opinion on the nacure of the Qutb complex developed.’ The guides prepared at the turn of che century for English rourists to Delhi also od upon tesescholaly ex fr theirinformasionand nerp/ctioh ‘The major subject ‘of interest in the works ‘of all these authors was the redeployment of Hindu and Jain ‘emple material within the mas- jid structure. Their narrative and Tine drawings focused upon the de- se a his aspect ofthe congregational mosque: whar was the extent of the original plinth of the temple: ‘upon which the mosque was built: aaarree temple pilrs were in factused in the making ofthe dois, ‘ers? Alcernatively their attention was ‘drawn to the fact that “Hindo’ ce neti apes condnued to predominate within ¢ Musi mosque, They noted the absence ofthe tru archi che peat sere of the mosqueand the use ofa corbelled technique by indigenous crafts sree gether with he vows o convey theimpresson of be ‘sara eee nasiilar fashion these scholar so noted the inaiicy ‘of the “Hindu’ craftsmen to construct domes; instead *domes’ which nee again followed the corbelled techniquewere used from despoiled cemples "Tei discussion ofthe minaret was gsi BE restricted t0 ites origins wasicofa Hindu’ provenance, or didi haveeatlier Ghiicid and Ghaznavid aneecedents? han, Cunningham and Page'sanalyses suggested that im chews of plundered temple material, which was defaced, jnverted, or plastered see chemlicary commander, Quiba-Din Ai-Beg, madeastaremsne Sreonquestand hegemony over an infidel populasos in north India, seen eed arial cleansing ofprfaneteritory, Thesuthors 0 recognized the presence of temple maseral in the masque as evidence a ere anepoiion oFMusim rae ia ‘Tadia' where she Turkce cavalry’ had ‘outdistanced the ‘Muslim artisans’. Architecture in the146 The Partitions of Memory formal ‘Saracenic’ tradition, constructed under the supervision of im- migrant ‘Muslim architects’ and craftsmen had to, therefore, await the Tater years of Ltutmish’s reign (607-33/1210-36). Meanwhile the symbolic redeployment of plundered temple rubble in the masjid-i jimi‘, did not mesely proclaim Qutb al-Din's conquest of Delhi (588/ 1192), it also served as a statement of Islam's victory over idolators. This point was driven homewhen Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Horowitzand Page recorded in their respective scholarly publications that the name by which the congregational mosque wasknown in the pascwas ‘Quw- wat al-Islam’, or the ‘Might of Islam’, Their self-confident assertion was surprising forthe masji.i ami was notidentified as Quvwatal- Islim by any extant inscription in the mosque or referred to by this ‘namein any Sultanate chronicle.‘ As we will see lateritwas the corrup- tion of a name sometimes used for Delhi in the thirteenth cencury. Suffice i to note for now, that for these scholars, it was almost logical that the congregational mosque which celebrated the conquest of Delhi should be called the ‘Might of Islam’. After al, the conquest of Delhi, thecapital of the Sultanate, was the final, victorious culmination ofa preceding series of plunder raids led by’ Muslims’ into Sind, Pun- jab, and ‘Hindustan’. In cheearly narrativeofIadian history, where the medieval period was synonymous with the Muslim, it was entirely apposite chat Delhi’s first masjid-ijmi' should be named the Quwwat al-lslim mosque, and symbolize the beginning of a new historical epoch. Tn the 1960's when a more ‘secular’ narration of the South Asian medieval past was attempted, historians like Meister, Mujeeb and later “Husain, glossed over the ‘Might of Islam’ interpretation of the mas- jid.” Their writings focused instead upon thearchitectural characteristics of the monument where Islamic inspitation was dependent upon indigenous craftsmanship for its ultimate realization. In an effort to ‘muce the episode of plunder and milicary conquest involved in the capture of Delhi, the Hindu adapration of the ‘saracenic arch’, or dhe corbelled dome, were highlighted as examples of intet-community cooperation and amity. Although chese scholars continued to accept the interpretation of the masjid as the Quwwat al-Islam, their writings Qutb and Modern Memory’ 147 suggested that chis might have been merely a formal statement not ro betaken very seriously. To their mind, the presenceofthe Hindu hand in designing and constructing the masque needed to be given greater recognition Anthony Welch and Robert Hillenbrand could not disagree more with such ‘secular’ interpretations of the mosque.* Writing in the 1990's, these scholars are strongly influenced by the cultural anthro- pological emphasis upon semiotics and ideology. Unlike scholars in shepast, who were presumably guided by theiranachronisticcommunal or secular assumptions, these scholars sought the ‘native’s poinc of view’, apotentially more dangerousinterprerive movein tsassumption thar ic could capeure an indigenous, native perspective. Welch found ic significance that the Muslim patrons of the Hindu craftsmen never compromised with the indigenes: the Delhi Sultans forced the Hindu crafismen in their service to always conform to a “Muslim aesthetic’. In an important passage he noted that thearchitecrute ofthis catly Turkish-dominared periods novecleetc:ins- tead itis obsessed with imposing an aestheric thar cartied comforting, ‘meaning for the conquerors. The arempt co replicate the familiar fom back homeis overriding: itignores north India’ sesablished building eypes and owists indigenous architectural techniques to accommodate it. The sesultingtorqueis obvious, but nocsurprising- withoursuch mimetic efer- ences the [Delhi] Sultanate would have appeared adrift in an all oo new and unfemiliar lend? In his study of the epigraphical remains in the congregational mosque the mindr, and Ikuumish’s tomb, Welch concluded that che ins were carefully located within the masji-i jai’ precincts bearing in mind the architeceural and functional qualities ofthe speci- ficstruceures, Thus, since the minar performed the ‘symbolic function of marking the Darat-lilam (the land of Islam)’ newly conquered from the infidels, and the towering structure was ‘most visible to believers and non-believers outside checity wall, itcarried Qur‘dnie statements of conquest and warning to the heathen population.!° The Quranic and hadieh inseriptionson theaiblah screen, the directionll Muslims148 The Partitions of Memory faced during prayer, stressed ‘instead cheimporranceof worship, ofad- herence'o the principlesof slam, and of ecognitionof the obligations incumbent on believers.’ While the mtnar was directed primarily to the ‘Hindus’ and ies epigraphs proclaimed vietory over heathens, the inscriptions within the sanctuary of the masjid-ijémi’ were addressed only to the Muslims and expounded ‘general religious statements’ concerning their conduct"? ‘Welch's analysis of the congregational mosque and its epigraphs was not far removed from that of Khan, Cunningham or Page. While the lacer had emphasized ehe theme of Muslim conquest and vietory symbolized by the Qutb monument, Welch developed theidea further and argued that the congregational mosque also reflected the political ‘context in which it was created. The monument was an uncompro- rising Muslim celebration of conquest, and the building material, architectural forms and epigraphic cexts of he congregational mosque asserted the unity and cultural uniqueness of the ‘Muslims’. Ie dis- tanced the conquerors from their ‘Hindu’ subjects while for Muslims resident ina ‘foreiga’ land it created familiar, reassuring landmarks of Islam’s superiority."? From a different methodological track, Welch confiemed that the Qutb complex needed to be understood as the ‘Might of Islam’ IIL. Providing the Political Context Welch could push his reading of thenative's poincofview’ witha great deal of confidence because his arguments coincided with, and were supported by, a larger historiographical interpreration of the nature of early Sultanate society and polityin north India. In the early thirteenth century, according to the author, the Turkic ruling class of the Sulta- nate was both ‘compact and cohesive’, and severely threatened by ‘Hindu’ opposition. The historiographical understanding of the bonds which tled the Delhi Sulran with his military coumrauders were worked out in che writings of a number of authors which included scholats of the statuse of Habibullah, Nizami, and Nigam.!? In the incerprecacions of these scholars, despite the occasions when the Qutb and Modem Memory 149 ‘crown and the nobility’ were in conflict, an underlying maccrial self interest, ashared Turkish ethnicity, and the zeligion of slam, provided coherence andan exclusive nature to the Turkic ruling oligarchy in the thirteenth century. In chs logic, the common background of the rul- ing elie and their Sultan made chem a category apart, and in the ab- sence of any shared affinities with the ruler, the ‘Hindus’ were a distinct group who were then treated indifferently as subjects. The equation, Muslim rule—Muslim state, was worked out to its fall ex- tent in the writings of Habibullah, who completed the juxtaposition by defining resistance to the Sultanate as ‘Hindu aggression’. In ‘Welch'sanalysis this was summed up in his declaration that with their victory in 1192... [che Muslimarmaies]... initiated an Islamic state thar by the beginning of che fourteenth century encompassed nearly all of the Indian subcontinent." In this vision of medieval history itwas also argued thacby the four- teenth century, the composition of the Muslim ruling elite began to alter until itstarted to include ‘low class indigenous Muslim converts, a process which one scholar described asthe plebianization ofthe nob- ily." The presence oF these neo-convert indigenes provided the Sultanate with cultural ‘roots in the subcontinent."7 This was most apparentin art, architecture, literatate, and ritual; butitdid notaffect the great chasm which separated the politically cohesive, rapacious Muslim state from the exploited peasantcy. The juxtaposition of the monolithic entities—the rulers and the ruled—was perceived by scholars an axiomatic realty throughour the middle ages. With re- gard to the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, Iefan Habib, pechaps the most influential scholar writing on medieval India, noted: ‘The Ghorian conquests of Northern India, leading ro che establishment of the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) may be said to mark the ene begin- ning ofthe medieval period in India... To begin with, the new vonquec- ‘ors and rulets, who were of a different faith (slam) from that of their predecessors, established a regime thar was in some profound respects dif: ferent from the old. The Sultans achieved power that was, in terms ofboth territorial extent and centralisation, unprecedented (except, perhaps, for the Mauryas 1,500 yearsearlie)... {Centralisaton] ... ensured chat the150. The Partitions of Memory land revenue (éhargj?mab demanded on cheir behalf should comprehend the bllifaotthe whole, of te peasant’ surplus produce; and he King’s bureaucracy chereby became the principal exploiting cass in sociery. Habib shifted che argumenc of his peers to suggest chat the contra- diction within the medieval policical systems constructed by Muslims in south Asia derived from class and not confessional incerests it was the fundamental divide between the rulers and the ruled which deter- ‘mined thefateofthestate. In Habib’sargument, the binary relationship between the extractive state and oppressed peasantry was initiated by the Delhi Sultans, but given finesse under che Mughal emperor Akbar (963-1014/1556-1605). The peculiar feature of the State in Mughal India—indeed, in Medieval India,” according to Habib, ‘was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the exploiting classes, but ‘was itself the principal instrument of exploitation.” ‘Habib’s description of the Mughal state as an instrument of class oppression als led hima to define the Mughal mansabdiat corp as the primary exploitative class. This class was cerainly largely Muslim in composition and almost wholly Persianate in its urbanity, and, as Habib argued, for the Hindu population in general cheimperial servi- ces were not something they could aspire to." In his analysis, the homogeneity within the Mughal ruling class of exploiters was quite exceptional, but this interpretation left the large class ofrural zamindars quitelicerally as intermediacies, agroup oscillatingsomewhere berween the peasantry and the Mughal elite. “For the indigenous population’ argues Habib, in many parts ofthe sub-continent, the Mughal empire was a machine to extract resources to be consumed or hoarded by a small number of aliens, with a shate of the spoils going to the native rulingclass.”! Despite thezamindats’rolein therevenueadministrtion of che sate, Habib was at pains to point ouc that zamindari interests did notalways oincidewith that of the Mughal rulingelite. Asaresule, while chese intermediaries wereimportant for the collection of revenue from huge ateas of the Mughal empire, zamtndari conflicts with the scate originated over theit share of the collected land tax. The abil- ity of the zamindits to raise large armies and sometimes withstand ‘Mughal pressure ‘alwvays [made chem} a thorn in its side, Thus the Qutb and Modern Memory 151 statements of [Mughal] official chroniclers frequently reflect an acti- tude of hostility towards the zamindars as a clas.” Originating from acompletely different secof epistemes, theimpli- cations of Habib’ analysis actually left him very close to Habibullah’s (and Welch’s) conclusions. Despite differing methodological pers- pectives, both Habibullah and Habib agreed that thecohesive unity of the state was never challenged by its participants. Habibullah argued fora hostile relationship between the Muslim Turkic ruling clive and the Hindu subject population, and for Habib, avariery of lass contra dictions novwithstanding, the significant divide remained the one berween theexploicersand the exploited. Although the ‘hostile relation- ships' and ‘class contradictions’ derived from different reasons, their implications for the state and the ruling elite were very similar, Just as Habibullah had suggested thar ‘dynastic troubles and rebellions’ ‘might have temporarily weakened the state duting the inter-tegnal years of the early Sultanate, but ‘Hindu aggression’ threatened and challenged its structure, Habib argued thar che Mughal ‘Empire never really faced a serious revolt from within the ranks of its own bureau- racy... fand]... the major upheavals... caused by the wars of succession . .. did norby themselves endanger the Mughal throne." Hence, when the tyranny of the exploitative state resulted in agrarian distress, peasant forces, sometimes led by saminda, were ranged against the state mechanism. Ie was the politically ‘disenfranchised’, the outsiders, that endangered the state. In che analysis of the two authors, at least this aspect of the medieval state system did not alter dramatically through the Sultanate into the Mughal period. IV. Positivistic Readings of the Text In ahistoriography where the material interests ofthe monolithicstate ‘were threatened only by the exploited, conquered indigenous popula- tion, the discursive assertions of the authority of the state were read as ‘eaffirmations of ch existing clas] solidarity ofthe ruling elite. What wwaslostin reading text from this perspectivewas the recognition that discursive texts, like Delhi's thirteenth century masjid-i fami’, carried152 The Partitions of Memory she authorial voice oftheir patrons, the Delhi Sultans, and they would havehardly acknowledged the presence of competing centres of power orresiscance in amonument thatwas a public statement oftheir autho- rig. In a similar fashion it was hardly likely that the coure chroniclers of the Delhi Sultans would organize ther nazatves co suggest that Delhi was nor the lepimare centre of power and authority in no Todi Inthe Persian chronicles of Minhaj-iSij Jizan, Ziya' al-Din Barant or Abd'l-Fazl, the power of the monarch might be challenged by his subordinates —as it certainly was when rulers were morally in- competeat—buc the occasional hiatus notwithstanding, there was never any alcernativeto che authority of Delhi or the Mughal Padisha ‘Since the 1960s historians of the medieval period have shown in- ‘teasing care in the usage of their primary sources, and have sopped taking literally he encomiums paid to their mastersby coure a ters. Sucha lceralnesswaslargely a result of positivsticemphases oft hhiseorian’s craft, where greater ateention was paid to ascertaining ‘facts’ from ‘unimpeachable sources’. In his ‘defence’ of Barant’s Tévikh-i Finda Shabi, Wabib explained his argument: “frst, that Barant’s factual account is correct in al substantive mateers; and sec- ondly, chat, chough he ‘analysis is his (Barant’s) own, itismevereheless Sound. ...24In the sane historiographical tradition, Shireen Moo worked out the reasons to believe in Ab@’)-Fazl’s veracity: AbO-Fa in his conclusion tothe As lls ut ofthe way e collected the material for his work. Hie says that his information was based on 1 tecimeny of contemporait and eyewitnesses, after cial wsesment ofoshaevertheyhad si. foche Ani Atart hesled racially n- tiely upon state papers, and his statistical data were, naturally, supplied by government departments, He tells us he revised the vet ive vies. Most contemporary scholars forget, however, chat the medieval documentation used by them, either chronicles rach, watcber ro. for the state. For them, once we sift ic cncomia from eee remove che obvious elements of bias, and are Lf with a largely unaltered narrative in which che king and his subordinates, remain the principal actors in the history of the period. In a sense, a8 inthe case of Ranke himself, che search for‘auchoritative information Qutb and Modern Memory 153 in chronicles and archives privileged che knowledge conveyed by the writen word which, forthe medieval period, concerned the state and governance. Information from other auchors was understood to be biased unless it corroborated the product of the scate. In his study of the Sikh sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib, Habib argued thac ‘my purpose has been to suggest chat reseatch for material of historical valuein this popular religious literature of medieval times may notal- together bean un fruitful pursuit. Butitshould beborne in mind ac the same time thatsuch research should go hand in hand with a close study ofthe Persian evidence as well, for only a familiarity with the lacter can help us to pick out information that is really of significance (may emn- phasis) in che source-material in local languages.” Iftesearch is going to privilege information produced by the state and then look for its corroboration from other sources, Athar Ali'sconclusion is hardly sur- prising: fresh explorations of documentary evidence have only tended toconfirmand underline the standard proposition about theelerents of centralisation and systemisation in the Mughal polity .. and ‘the picture of the Mughal Empire in its classic phase, as centralised polity, ‘geared tosystematisation and creation ofanallimperial bureaucracy, .. still remain{s) unshaleen,”” ‘Thepositivise methodology which exalted documentsasthe pristine source for the study of the past directed scholars of medieval India to seek in their Persian documentation the secrets of the Middle Ages. Buta Rankean epistemology, which elevated the state as the epitome of historical developmentand the proper subject of historical investi- gation, also led them ro accept the discourse ofa unitary dominion, a cohesive ruling elite, and 2 porentially recalcitrant peasantry, without any critical reflection. Ics this epistemology which enables the reading of the Qutb monuments roday as the "Might of Islam’. ‘There can be no gainsaying the fact that Persian chronicles are the ‘major extant sources available to che historian of the Middle Ages, expecially for the Delhi Sultanate, There are, however, other sources ofinformationas wéll:epigraphs, coins, monuments, anda voluminous liceracure produced in the ‘courts’ ofthe sft saincs. With very few ex- ceptions, these sources lack the coherence and chronology present in the chronicles, and they ae, therefore, used 2s repository of facts useful154 The Partitions of Memory to substantiate or expand the material provided by the ‘histories’. aaa hich cetradits the ‘evidence’ of the court chronicles has frequently remained unexplored. The discourse of the monolithic state has therefore remained unquestioned. ae Tis, however, possible to pluck che seams in this discourse. The texts of the Persian court chronicles themselves ate riddled with dis- cccepancies, wich niggling inconsistencies which are significant only if the readerapproaches the text with theawareness that tcarsiesinform- avon deliberately ognized oimpres spsiicconcusions upon nthe ler. discrepancies in che textarcimportancindicators offrac- a Tribe cincooen dissonance which aed vobe enlarged with the sidofother source material. Butgiving spaceto theintemnal dissonances ‘within acextis novalwaysan easy task and it certainly does noc concti- bute to che writing of monolithic, linear histories of state systems. V. Political Competition and the Discourse of the Unitary State ise of the unitary Muslim state, and a composite ruling elite oz alegance toe Sultan of Deli, would be difficult question if we followed the obvious conclusions of the Persian chroniclers. Fakhr-iMudabbie's Ta riklr-é Fakhral-Din Mubarak Shih,atexcdedi- cared to Qurb al-Din Ai-Beg, suggests, for example, chat the favourite, ‘competent military slave of Mu‘izz al-Din, was appointed as the sole authority, the ‘viceroy’ of his master’s diminion in north India. jshero and world conqueror of Hind (Quyb al-Din) was addressed as Mulitondwar mad heir appara, wal hc Hindustan, andthe Jands rom the gues ofPeshawar (Parshor} ro thelimics of Hind weregiven tobim, and che [auchoriy] cappointand remove, (lierlly,‘unfastenand bind, hall wa aga’) the remaining commanders was encrusted with him, Seed maf gardntd. (Mux al-Din} lef (Qu Die) as hls deputy and heir inthe capital of Hindustan, gam meagan wa walt 4 Bhd badér ab-mulk-s Hindustan bargucashs, ass sot him back t9 pa Jer Minhaj-i Sirdj 1e narrative of the near contemporary chronicler Minhj-i Sirdj yunat also supported Qusbal-Din'sclaims to be the Amical-Umari’, Qutb and Modern Memory 155 the chief of the Mu‘izzi military commanders in north India. Writ- ing in the 660’s/1260's for the Delhi Sultan, Nasit al-Din (644-64/ 1246-66), Jazjani arranged his text to suggest that Delhi and its ruler had always been the paramount power in Hindustan. ‘Jazjani’s narrative, however, was organised in themoredisaggregated sabiqae form, where each unit ofthe text studied ' people belonging co cone layer or lass in the chronological succession of generations.” Asa result, the history moved beyond the sharp focus on the ruler and in- cluded accounts of social peers or dependents. Thus, the cwentieth section, fabéga, narrated the history of other important Mu'izzi sub- ordinates in Hindustan without losing sight of his need to emphasize Queb al-Din’s overall superiority.» In this section Jazjni provided a somewhat. circumspect account of the independent ability of the Mutizai commanders to raise a military retinue, wage war, and some- times compete with each other over the distribution of spoils. One such milicary commander was Baha‘ al-Din Tughril, the governor of ‘Thangir, in the province of Bayana. According to Jfzjnt, Baha‘ al-Din sought to improve the economy of his appanage by attracting merchants, siar, and well-known men, ma‘ arafi ry, from different parts of Hindustan and Khurasan t0- wards his domain, In an effort to encourage trade within the Bayana region, all merchants were granted accommodation and material sup- port, jumleh-ra khanab wa asbab bakbshid, by the Mu'izzi subordinate. Asa result, Jtajant noted, Baha al-Din Tugheil made his province prosperous, an indication of which was the construction of Sultinkét, 4 new capital to go with changed circumstances. From Suleinkée, Baha al-Din commenced periodic raids towards Gwalior and was promised its territory by Mu‘izz al-Din upon its capitulation, The seizure of Gwalior would have opened up the frontier into northern Rajasthan and Bundelkhand and brought considerable plunder and inta the Amir's reach. Baha al-Din's efforts to and consolidate his appanage were resisted by Quyb al-Din Ai-Beg, who reacted to Baha al-Din's increasing influence in the area by seiz- 5 ing Gwalior himselfin 597/1200. Jtzjant, who narrated thisincident, concluded rather diplomatically chat asa resulcof the Gwalior episode156 The Partitions of Memory there was (not?) a little dislike berween Tughril and Qurb al-Din, rmiyiin Malik... wa Sulein andak ghabart biud?™ ‘Although Qutb al-Din Ai-Beg may have believed and proclaimed thar he was the supreme Muza commander in north India, his peers certainly did not share this opinion. Despite the predisposition of the Persian documentation towards Qurb al-Din and the authority of Delhi, the presence of competing autonomous dominions could not be wholly obscured. Even the eulogy ofthe likes of Fakchr-i Mudabbir wore thin on occasion, and he confessed: ‘And although all the victories which God caused him (Queb al-Din Ai- Beg) owin are clearer than thesun, and well known roall heworld:never- ‘theless it must notbe forgorten how much was due tothe care and assist- ance ofthe Sipabsdlér Husam al-Din Ahmad Ali Shih, who was the slave and officer of the King of Islam (Muze al-Din), and was never absent from his stirrup, and was present at these victories and battle. Indeed all she generals of chs court were gifted, brave and noble, and each was dis- tinguished for his courage, and ceccived an ample share ofthe fortune and prosperity of che King of Islam, who by his patronage and favour made cach andall famous. To some he gave high coramands, body guards, pavil- ions, drums, standards and districts, and each performed fine acts of sec- vice, and was duly praised... na political world where all the generals of Mu'izzal-Din’s couse wwere’gifted, braveand noble, and each .... received an ample share of the fortune and prosperity of the King of Islam, who... made each and all fumous’, there was also considerable rivalry and conflict. leis in the context of a factionalized political environment of che ‘north Indian Sultanates’ (certainly in the plural), rather than a unitary domi~ nion of the Delhi Sultanate, that we need to situate Qutb al-Din Ai- Beg's urgency to appear as the unique Amir al-Umara’, the protector of the fortunes of the Muslim community. ‘The construction of the Delhi masjid-i jimi was a part of Queb al- Din’s effort to impress che Muslim congregation of his military and pious virtues. The inscriptions on che main entrance to the mosque remarked on his unique prowess and piety as milicary commander destroying infidel temples. Bucagain, given che nature ofthe political Qutb and Modern Memory 157 competition of the age, Quib al-Din was hardly unique in making statements of this nature. His rival in Bayana, Baha’ al-Din Tughril, also constructed congregational mosques which were architectural- ly similar in form and conception wo the Delhi masjid-i jimi’. The Bayana mosques also eulogized Bah4' al-Din as the conqueror of in- fidelsand the creator ofhavens for Muslim congregations. Butif Qutb al-Din Ai-Beg’s insctiptionsin the Delhi masjid-i jimi‘ drew the atten- tion of the visitor to his military and moral accomplishments as the ‘viceroy’ of Mu‘izz al-Din Ghiti, the visitor to the mosques in Bayana saw evidence of the same vireues in Bah4'al-Din's constructions. The only difference was thatthe inscriptions inthe Bayana mosque went beyond Quebal-Din's claims and introduced Baha’ al-Din as Padishih and Sule Divorced from their assumed political contextofa unitary dominion and a composite ruling elite, the discursive statements carried in texts, like Delhi's masjd-i mi need wo beoriented toaudiences beyond just the infidels. Indeed, the probity of the military commander as the paradigmatic Muslim leader; God's choice ofa shepherd for his lock, ‘was an important theme in the epigraphs in the mosque, but these ‘statements seem to have been directed to the Muslims who visited the congregational mosques, and were aimed at displacing rival claims made by Mu‘izzi peers. VI. The Congregational Mosque and the ‘Hindus’ ‘The Delhi masji-i jam’ like ocher congregational mosques, differed fromordinary mosquesin is sizeand function, Where the latter served purpose of performing prayer for a limited number of people, che Delhi masjid mi’ was a huge public monument created for the pur- posesafa congregational gathering of Muslims. Through the perform- ance of prayer in congregation, Muslims acknowledged the fact that they were one united community who had submitted to the will of Allah. In the normal course of events, unbelievers, especially profane idolaters, would not have been allowed within the precincts of the158. The Partitions of Memory Delhi masjid-i jémi’ and, as a result chey may have only possessed a general sense of the manner in which temple spoils were redeployed ‘within che mosque. The architeccural composition. of the mosque, however, would have impressed the congregation of believers, who would have seen in it che evidence of their Amit's ability wo defeat infidels and provide a sanctuary for Islam. Despite their ignorance of che precise archiectural forms in the interior of the Delhi masji-i jami’, it would be naive to assume that the ‘idolators’ were unmoved by the destruction of their places of worship. But certainly within Delhi itself, there is no epigraphic re- cord ofrancouror sorrow at the destruction of temples, noteven in the ‘devoagiri graffiti inscribed by Hindu artisans in the nooks and cran- ‘nies of Qutb al-Din’s mosque.®* Instead, one early inscription in a local dialect identifies the minaret as ‘the pillar of Malikdin. May it bring good foruunc.’ Another anonymous artisan in ‘Ali’ al-Din's reign (695-715/1296-1316) had no hesitation in recognizing the minaret as Shet Sultan Alivadt Vijayasthamb, the Sultan's pillar of victory.In Muhammad Shah Tughhuq's reign (725-52/1325-51) the architects Nand and Satha recorded their contribution co the repairs of the minaret in an inscription which also celebrated the completion of their work ‘by the grace of Sri Visvakarma’. Sultanate court chronicles and the inscriptions on the masjid-i jim sek to create the impression thatthe righteous Muslim Sultans of Delhi obliterated al evidence of temples and Hindu habitation in the vicinity of Delhi. Historians who have conscientiously followed these narratives have ignored evidence co the contrary just eight hund- ted mecresaway from the Queb. Astone’s throw from the siteoficono- clastic destruction was a large garden, known as the bagh-i Jasrath. Jasrath’s garden was described by Nizam al-Din Awliya! asalandmark, and che memory ofitsownet was fresh even artherurn ofthe chieweenth, cceneury. Adjoining the garden was a reservoir which was buile by 2 “Hlindw’ queen prior to the capture of Delhi. Not merely was the reservoir the sie of several court ceremonies inthe thirteenth century, bur the memory of the original infidel constructor was preserved in its name: the Queen's reservoir, haue-i Réni an ineeresting admixture of Quib and Modern Memory 159 languages (Arabic>Persian: hauz; Sanskritovernacular: Rént) which passed quite unsemarked in the literature of che period. In other words, in the immediate vicinity of iconoclastic destruction, there -were other important areas built and patronized by ‘Hindus’, some largeenough to be major landmarks in thecity, others which were sites, of public congregation.>” Unlike the destruction and reconstruction ‘within che Queb complex, ‘Muslim’ conquest of Delhi let these areas undisturbed. In fact, their original ‘profane’ identities were preserved in public memory in their names. The extencof the rupture caused by ‘Muslim’ conquest in ‘Hindu sociery certainly deserves to be recon- textualised more carefully. Although the destruction, desecration, and approptiation oftemple artifacts was an unexceptional event during conflict becween rival ‘Hiindu’ kingdoms in the Middle Ages (and itis perfectly possible that Qutb al-Din's conduct drew a reaction from the local population quite dissimilar from our’s today), we need to nevertheless remember that the actions of the Mu‘izzt commanders differed from those of the precedents set by the Hindu’ rulers. When ‘Hindu’ rajas pillaged each, ‘other's temples, he authority ofthe vanquished lord was either appro- priated or reconstituted within the temple shrine of the conqueror. ‘The statements of conquest embodied in the process of destruction and reconstruction of imperial temples, was carried out within ritually homologous forms of Hindu kingship.** By contrast, Quyb al-Din's statements of conquest in the masjid-i jami’ redeployed temple spoils, but there was no sense of appropriation of authority: It signified instead the arrival of alternate traditions of governance in Delhi. This carried larger social and moral implications for the constitution of authority in Delhi since the royal temples were also the sites of re- distributive and transactional relationships berween the king, hissub- ordinate chieftains and the larger subject population. Qutb al-Din's conquest, che destruction of amples and theconstruction of amosque in cheir stead, fractured the relationship becween the king and his ‘subordinate chieftains. This development need not necessarily imply, however, aconcomitancdistancing of the subordinate echelon of ural ‘chiefins from newly emerging structures of Sultanate authority. Iris160 The Partitions of Memory certainly worth querying whether the Mu‘izet governors constructed ‘new, but different, relationships with these local political regimes in the countryside. “The discourse of the Persian chronicles and the nature of the mas- jid-i jam would suggest chat this was not the case; political authority remained the exclusive preserve of the new Muslim Turkish elite and ‘Hindus’ were hunted, not recruited, in the new political order. Stray references within the same chronicles, however, would suggest that this was hardly universally erue. The author of an early Muslim epic of conquest, Fakhr-i Mudabbir, mentioned chat rézkan wa sikranl rautagan wa thakurin, pewy (‘Hindw’] chieftains and their military subordinates, were present within the ranks ofthe pillaging armies of Qutb al-Din Ai-Beg, Welacka sense of numbers and roles occupied by these subordinates within the new dispensation, but theit sheer presence forces us to reevaluate the relationships between the different ruling elites in ways more complicated than those suggested by asim- ple confessional divide. The efforts of Quyb al-Din, and other Mu‘izzi commanders, to- wards consolidating relationships with Hindu’ chieftainsonly becomes clearer when we turn to other source material. In thei ability to reach 1a far larger audience, the coinage of the Mu ‘izzi governors, even more than the masjid-ijimiin Delhi (or Bayana), served aseffectivediscurs- ivestatements of conquest. Unlike the congregational mosque, however, the coinage carried statements ofboth conquest and reassuranceto the conquered people, To begin with, the coins were unequivocal in cheir announcement of a new political order, and they introduced the new masters, he Mu‘izat Amir, as Shit Hammirah; che Persian titles ofthe new lords stamped in the locally comprehensible devnagiri script. The presence of the new political order, however, did not seem to suggest any evidence of material change. The conquerors made no ef- {fntr ta alrer the weightand purity of the precious metals in theit coins which harmonized perfecdy with existing circulating mediums. Deliberate attempts seem to have been made to emphasize continuity with the older pattems of fiscal and commercial exchange. Pethaps even more impressive was the confessional ambiguity inthe sgila of Qutb and Modern Memory 161 the Mu‘izzt coins of this period. Emblems of a previous political re- gime, the image of God Shiva's vehicle, the nandi bulland the"Chau- han horseman’ were stamped on the coins together with the title of Shei Hammirah, Even more significant were the gold coins which carried both the outline of Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of wealth, and the Sultan's tide in che devnagiri sctipt. As discursive statements, these coins made deliberate attempts to incorporate the conquered people within the nevily established political and economic systems, riot through pillage and mayhem, but chrough reassuring measures and symbols chatsuggested continuity with apreceding regime. These starements would suggest that ‘Muslim conquest’ did nox seek to twaumatize the subject population and iecertainly did not wish to cre- ateany major disjunccions in their materia life. As the hoard evidence from north India confirms, Mu'iza coins were valued as muchas che carlier Rajpurcurrencicsandwerefullyassimilated within an economic world unimpressed with transitions in the political realm.** Withourdevaluing thestatementofpplunderandconquestconveyed bythe Delhi masjid-ijami’,itshould nocbe forgotten thatitisthePers- jan chronicles and che epigraphs in the mosque chat make rmuch of the episodeoftempledestruction, Itisthese texts which sawin the mosque proofof the incumbent ruler’ piety, a statement directed to the Mus- Jimcongregation in the mosque. Fromadifferentaspect, thedestruction of the temple of the Hindu’ Raja was also necessary to break the social and political networks which sustained the old regimes. The ideology of iconocasm, even within a Hindu’ context, carried the familar sense ofconquestand valour, buctheconstruction ofthe masjc denied a reconstitution of auchority along old ‘familia’ lines. Wichin the new Sultanate regimes, ‘Hindu’ subordinates might have been ritually distanced, but che sigilla on the coinage points to the presence of discourses—different ‘non-monumental’ structures—which eased the political ransition and sought to construct new. stable, producti relationships with the reutagén wa thakurdn. The trauuna of the poli- tical change was assuaged somewhat by the remarkably restrained and, confessionally ambiguous ways in which thenew regimeintruded into shelife ofa second rung of ‘Hindu’ political commanders. Within the162 The Partitions of Memory context of their own discursive statements, this was a fact that the Persian chronicles and the Delhi masjid-i jimi’ would not wish to recognize. VIL. Pictistic Muslim Responses to the Mosque ‘The main audience of the Delhi masjid-ijami was the Muslim resi- dents of the town. This community of Muslims increased in both size and heterogenous complexity during the 620s/1220s. Because of the destruction and havoc caused by the Mongol invasions, people from different regions in Afghanistan, eastern Iran, Transoxania and the central Asian steppes, immigrants of varied ethnic backgrounds, speaking distinct regional dialects, and with separate customary'usa- ges, had made their way into the sanctuary ofnorth India. Itis doubefial if chey automatically fel any sense of solidarity with each other purely because they were denominationally Muslim. Manyof them possessed arcisanal skills which made a material difference to the regional eco- omy of the fledgling Sulcanate. Whether the presence of 2 greater number of ‘Muslims’ contributed to any sense of an integrated com- munity isa differentquestion altogether. Jizjant shistory wassensitive to the appearance of such large numbers of immigrants bus, to his mind, integration was not a problem since the confessional solidaricy of Islam overcame all distinctions between Muslims. J@zjént claimed that Ileutmish (607-33/1210-36) collected people from all parts of the world in Delhi, (whichis) the capital ofHindustan, déral-mulk the centreoflsiam, daira lam, the cradle of the commands and prohibitions of the Sher‘, mahbiri ausdmir wa nuuthi-yi Shara, the keeper of the Muslim faith, auzi dinei Mubammadi, the dais of the Muslim community, manasa? milli Abadi che sanctuary of Islam inthe eastern world, Qué idem mashirig-i gist... Theauthor's description of Delhiasthe gubba/slémthesanctuary, chedome oflslam, conveyed to the reader the new identity of the capi- cal in its axial role of representing the forcunes ofthe larger collectivity Qutb and Modern Memory 163 ‘of Muslims. This was accurate enough in the context of Delhi's emerging military influence in north India; by 625/128 Lcuemish hhad managed 0 defeat and annex the vertitories of the remnant ‘Mu‘izzi and Quibt commanders. Jzjant’s representation ofthis poli- tical transformation, however, went much further. The chronicler's narrative suggested that just as Heutmish’s sultanate was a monolith, Islam was also a unitary, homogenous entity without any internal dissonances or complexities, at peace with itself, especially since the Delhi Sultan was its great protector. Doubtsaboutthe degree of confessional coherencewithin che Mus- Jim populationof the Delhi Sultanate, however, emergerather ironically. from Jazjani’s history itself. Towards the end of Thrutmish’s reign, sometime around, or after 634/1236, JOzjant mentioned that a ‘sort’ oflearned man, shakthst-yi danishmand gina, by the name of Néx Turk collected 2 large following near Delhi, According to the chronicler, this was a congregation of common people, kbalyei ‘awdmm, who col- lected from distantareas like Gujarat, Sindh, the environs of Delhi and the banks of the Ganga and Jumna. They were strongly moved by Nar ‘Turk’s exhortations, caskir, where the preacher referred ro the ‘lama’ of the majority community, wlemd’abl-isunnae wa jamél‘at, as those who had wronged che cause of ‘Ali. According to Jazjant, Nar Turk specifically condemned the ‘ulama’ of the Shafif and Hanaff legal schools of interpretation, and instigated his followers to conspire against Islam, gasd [slim kardand. This group of people attacked the Delhi masjid-i mi’, an action which ed Jazjant wo describe the group as Shi'i Qarmatians and heretics, mulahida wa qarémita.® Jazjant sought to obscure the significance of the ‘Muslim’ attack on the Qutb mosque by suggesting thac iewas the conspiracy of ‘heretics’, 1a people who were outside the pale of the Sunni community. As a result, cheattackon the masjd-ijami' would have remained one of the many curious details ofa challenge which the 'Muslimn’ Sultanate had withstand eiceessfilly. A thorough vindication of themain protagonist in cis story, however, by no less a person than the widely revered and respected s0f? saint Nizdm al-Din Awliya’, makes it impossible to ac- cept JOzjdat’s gloss of the incident.164 The Partitions of Memory On the 13th of Sh‘aban, 718/October 10, 1318, during one of his daily meetings with the congregation who visited his hospice in Delhi, the sft was queried about Nar Turk and Jazjant’s description of the derwish’s beliefs and actions. Contrary to Jizjani's evaluation, Nizém al-Din Awliyd? made it poine to clarify chat Nar Turk’s faith was free fromanyheresyand absolved him ofall Shi Qaramatilinks. According toNizim al-Din Awliya’, Nar Turkhad publicly criticized the ‘ulama’ because he had seen how polluted they had become by the material world of the capital, ishan-rd dluda’i duniyé didi. Iewas for this reason thar the ‘ulama” had fabricated all kinds of offensive charges (of the kind reported by Jiizjani, no doubt) against the pious derwish, w-rd badin chizha mansith kardand. In Nizamal-Din Awliya’s i of the tale, Jézjani’s appraisal of Nor Turk: opinions of the ‘ulamé’ in Delhi. The wheel had come fall Nizim al-Din Aliya’ the shast'a minded ‘ulama were certainly not paragons of virtue or comportment. The renewed discussion of Nor Tuck's beliefs, his animosity to- wards the Delhi ‘ulam4’, and Jizjant's account of the incident may ‘well have cropped up accidentally during the course of Nizam al-Din. Awliya’s discourse. In the manner of his discussion of the Nar Turk episode however, the ift saint’ sarguments did not merely rework Juz- jani’s report, ic also sought to foreclose all options for independent analysis on this subject. If Nar Turk’s piety was unimpeachable, the conduct of the ‘ulama’ offensive, and Jzjint’s history biased, then, without so much as actually articulating the chought, Nizam al- Din Awliya’s narrative suggested that Nair Turk’s righteous moral indignation exonetated the derwish’s atrack on the masjid jimi and itscorrupt ‘ulam’’. Hidden as asub-texcin chs discussion was acom- ‘ment on the sacred character of the Delhi masjid jimi‘ fics ‘ulam#? sisepresenced Islam, “These contrasting evaluations of Nor Turk are important because they were made by cwo noc entirely dissimilar people. Both Nizém al Din Awliya’ and Jazjéni were members ofthesunai-jama'acommunity, and both were popular preachers, respected for their piety. Yet, even. within che sunni-jama'a community there were obviously wide Quib and Modern Memory 165 differences in theit ideal of the virruous, especially amongst mystics and shar‘a-minded scholars. Some ofthese differences wereexplained by Nizam al-Din Awliya’. ‘The‘ulamd’ are che people ofinelleccaht-iagh the derwishesare the people of love abl: ishg, the incellec of the ‘ulama’ overpowers, hai, (their sentiment) of love, [whereas] the [emotion] of [divine] love of these ‘mystics tumphs over [thie] intelleer® Intellect in the thirteenth century, carried with it the associated meaning of a prescriptive, scholastic method of knowing’ a mortal's subordinate relationship with God. Conduct and belief for che indi- vidual Muslim was carefully worked out in its details in authoricative texts by the ‘ulam’’, with the intention of securing social conformity and the ideal of a unity within che Mustim community. This sharply reduced the opportunities forindependentspeculation, andcontcasted with the emotion of divine love, In the gif understanding of Islam far greater imporcance was given to an inner, intuitive understanding of ritual: The faith ofthe believer could lead him ro experience aspects of God's bounty and love, foreign to the cognition of the ‘ulama’. Asa result che sift could believe char ‘apreacher ... was so transported by his own eloquence chat he flew away fiom the pulpic (minbar) toa neighbouring wal... [that] mectings .. {took place... in deserted places with Khwaja Khiat who has everlasting life... (that there were] various ‘fairy people'—. .. abdals wha physi= cally ifew] above the eritories which they protec fom harm... [cha] atholy man {cieled] around the [mubrabof the Delhi masjid] through the night ll the dawn, .. [that] che mardan-i ghaif, men ofthe unseen, appeared] and disappeared), and sometimes callfed] away 2 mortal ro join cher. *® ‘Whereas reason and intellect would regard these gs patently fraud- ulencexperiences, for many peoplein the early thirteenth century these ‘were real events, evidence of God’ intervention in an insecure marral world. The mystic’s interpretation of the individual's relationship with God resisted the authoricarian intervention of the intellect; the nitr-i basin of the sAfi, his internal, hidden emotions, provided himBee 166 The Partitions of Memory ‘wich the space to contravene the ‘ulama’s understanding of the social dictates ofthe sharia This independence, the freedom to negotiate one’s piety through a variety of prescriptive norms, was abhorrent to the ‘ulama’ who re- garded the sift ability to mobilize huge congregations to their way of thinking as positively dangerous to the unity of Islam. The Delhi Sultans, nervous about che popular charismatic appeal of the saints, could not have agreed more with the conclusions of the ‘ulam2’. Although the Sulcans lacked the ability to interfere and discipline the conduct of thea, they could encouragea homogenityofconductby ‘constructing and pastonizing institutions which supported che shat’, Both Itutmish and ‘Ala’ al-Din Khalajf, two Sultans who added toand reconstructed the Queb mosque, cook their roles as che ‘preservers of the shart'a’ very seriously. ‘Ala’ al-Din's inscription in the mosque ex- plained the Delhi Sultan’s contribution: ‘When God Almighty, whose greatness issublime and whose names are ex alted, for the revival of the laws of the (Muslim) community, iyayt rmardsim-i millats” and the elevation ofthe banners of the shastst, chose thelord ofthe Caliphs of he world, Reudaygén-i Kulaft ijahanr, sozoat cvery moment the foundations of the Muslim religion, aide din-i ‘Mubammadi, and the roots, bind, ofthe Muslim shar'a are stengthen- ing, istibkam mipaziradiqawi migerdad, nd for preserving the sae and ‘consolidating che Sultanate, dawim-i mamlitar we nizémi Sultana (the lord ofthe Caliphs} built mosques in accordance with the commands of Him beside whom there is no God, (Qur‘énIX: 18),‘Buthe only shall isc the mosque who believes in God." (Other than acknowledging the divine dispensation of authority to “Ala! al-Din, che Khalajt inscriptions linked ‘reviving’, ‘protecting’ and ‘strengthening? the sharia to che construction of mosques. ‘Ala’ al-Din’s constructions created the material conditions in which Muslims could cleanse themselves of sin, and it is for this reason that another inscription implored: ‘may God perpetuate his kingdom (0 that he ‘maycontinue) tobuild mosques,and preserveril ereieyhissovereignty (60 as co protecd the lustre of the places of worship.’® Qutb and Modern Memory 167 Ieutmish’s inscription quoted the Que’an, sar 62:9-10, co clarify the importance of performing the obligatory rituals of prayer in the midse of one's daily activey: ‘©’ believers, when proclamation is made for prayer on Friday, hasten to God's remembrance and leave walfickng aside; thac is beer for you, did you bur know. Then when the prayers finished, scatter in the land and ‘see God's bounty, and remember God frequently, haply you will pros- a) ‘Another inscription cited the tradicions of che Prophet Muhammad to emphasize the connections between individual and congregational worship: ‘The Propher, .. std, ‘whoever offered his morning prayer in congrega- tion gorhis (worldly) troubles removed by Allah; and whoever offered his afternoon prayer (in congregation) got his living made plentiful by Allah; andwhoever offered hislate afternoon prayer (in congregation} became (as, pre) 25 on the day he was born: and whoever offered his evening prayer in congregation is considered asif he has given away his wealth and (even) his fe (n the way of Allah), and whoever offered his bed-time prayer in congregation received Alla’s blessing.” (The Prophe:) said ‘whoever observed these five prayers in congregation would have his way (to Heaven) widened by Allah. ‘As a part of their ‘administrative’ repertory aimed at controlling their Muslim subjects, che Delhi Sultans needed the ‘ulama’ in their supervisory roleofenforcing obedience w thesharl'a. The construction of mosque and schools proclaimed the Sultan's pietistc intentions while providing the ‘ula’ with the monumental sites where the Muslims could be socialized into following the prescriptive cades of the shar'a. Ie-was the fractionalized social world of the Muslims that the Delhi Sultans sought to cohere within one community, governed by one law, under the authority of a morally upright monarch. The Delhi masjid- jar was extremely important in disseminating this sentiment, and ‘Ala’ al-Din Khalajt was very direct in developing its sacred significance. His inscription on the left pier ofthe south door to the mosque argued:168 The Partitions of Memory he (Ala? al-Din) built this mosque, which is the mosque of paradise, for saintsand .. . men of piety and a place of assembly of the eminent angels, and an edifice inhabited by the souls of the chief prophets. “Al? al-Din did not question the spiritual authority of thesaints of God, auliyd’,instead heargued that together with angelsand prophets, their presence in his masjid-i ji’ was on account of the sacredness ‘of che mosque. Itwas the Delhi Sultan's special relationship with God and His blessings which had transformed the mosque into a hallowed precinct, Rather than the congregation lending significance to the mosque, the pious congregated in the masjid because of its holy char- acter and willingly accepted the dictates of the shart'a which it re- resented. Pips we havealeeady sen, NOx Tork was far fom impressed bysiim- lar claims made by Tleutmish. Although he had chosen a more direct military recourse in challenging the shari‘at order constructed by the Delhi Sultan, Nizam al-Din relied upon his teachings to counter the coercion of the ‘ulama’. In establishing an alternative disciplinary formation, the teachings of the sift were as threatening to Sultanate ‘order’ asan armed attack. There was no mincing of words in his inver- sion of ‘Ala’ al-Din’s claims regarding the sacredness of the Delhi masjid-i fami‘ (Nizam al-Din) asserted: ‘Whatever place there might be, itis scented by the blessed feet [of the sifi saints). Take, for example, the Delhi masjid- iim Th feeofso many ints and pout have tod there, ‘which is why that place has so much tranquil In other words, ‘Ala’ al-Din's masjid jam‘ would have remained a spiritless place, a pile of stones and mortar, had the gd saints not transformed it. was important to make this point in case visitors 0 the mosque attributed the pious environment of the mosque ro irs constructors, the Delhi Sultans. Nigém al-Din wanted co make sure that his audience realised that the ‘tranquility’ of the place originated from the blessings of che saints of God and not from the efforts of the Delhi Sultans. Qutb and Modern Memory 169 VIII. Conclusion: ‘Objective’ History and the Memory of the Qutb At the time of its construction, the Delhi masjid-i jimi let a vatiery of different impressions upon visitors. For many itwas a symbol of a flourishing Muslim community abiding by che tenets of the shart’, triumphant over its idolatorous opponents, secured by the energetic, armed interventionsofits Sultans. For others, was haven for'schol- ass, who were concerned ess with the spiritual fteof their congregations and more with a coercive regimen of rituals, pecuniary gain and their own authority. Theseclaims and counter-claims werevery mucha part of che hiscory of Delhi's first masji-i jimi" in the thirteenth and four- teenth cencuries. Events after the thirteenth century consolidated tival intesprerationsof the congregational mosqueand the modern memory ‘of the Qutb was strongly impressed with these conflicting images. For over three centuries after ‘Ali’ al-Din Khalaji’s death (715! 1316), the old masjid-i mi’ was sporadically associated with the authority ofthe rulers of Delhi. Buc chis was not at the expense of the sifis whose influence remained undiminished during this period. In the fourteenth cencuty itself, the tomb of Nigam al-Din Avliyé’ em- exged as the most venerated shrine in the region of Delhi, completely eclipsing the Delhi masjid-i jimi’. The.area around his shrine was blessed by the grace of the saint and his disciples chose to be buried in the proximately of cher pir, their intercessor with God at the day of judgement. Amongst many others buried in chis necropolis was the Mughal emperor Humayun (died 963/1556). pilgrimage co the dar- gah, or the ‘court’ of Nizim al-Din Awliya’, was a parc of the Mughal icinerary whenever the rulers of the dynasty visited Delhi. Mughal patronageto theshrine, paradoxically, ‘controlled’ che saint sdiscousse against the inadequacies of temporal government. The Mughals did not hesitate to appear as disciples of mystic saints and incorporated strains of mysticism within the ideological baggage explaining their rites of kingship. ‘Theexample of Nigim al-Din Awliy@’ norwichstanding, norall gif170 The Partitions of Memory shrines were equally hegemonized by the Mughals. To the south of Delhi, near che old masjd-ijémi’, the dargah of Qutbal-Din Bakhiyar Kakt (died 634/1236) was also an important ghftshrine. Although he was not an unusually influendal saint in his own life cime, Bakbiyar Kae was the pir of Baba Farid, Nizim al-Din Awliyé’s spiritual mast- cer, and che renown of the studenthad certainly acctued to his teachers as well>> The record of royal visitations to the dargah suggests that Bakhtiyar Kaki’s shrine emerged asa pilgrimage site as early s the lave fourteenthand early fifteenth centurics.* In 932/1526itwasincluded in Babar’s tour of significant areas worthy of avisit in Delhi and in the mid 1150s/carly 1740s Dargah Quit Khin commenced his account of Delhi's gf shrines with a narration of Bakhtiyar Kald's dargih.” Bakhtiyar Kald may have lacked the popularity of Nizam al-Din “Avvliyi’, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, his mystical powers were considered so commanding that the Mughal emperors Shah ‘Alam Bahadur Shah (1119~24/1707~12), Jalal al-Din Shah “Alam (1173~1221/1760-1806) and Mu'in al-Din Akbar (1221-53! 1806-37) chose to be buried near the dargah. The wish of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah ‘Zafar’ (1253~74/1837-58), to be buried nearthesaintremained unfulfilled; hewas deported to Rangoon, by the British where he died. Unlike Nizim al-Din’s dargah, Bakhsiyr Kakt’s charisma did not ‘materially ater the prestige of the Mughal emperors. This was not be- ‘cause of any shortcoming in the saint's popularity. By the end of the cighteenth century, Mughal might had not survived the onslaught of the Afghan, Maratha and British incursions and its capacity to com- mand obedience was in obvious decline. The Mughal bility co access the increasing popularity of Bakhtiyar Kali's shrine for ies own ends ‘was also severely limited. In the eighteenth century many people in Delhi regarded Quebal-Din Bakhtiyat Kakias eniormostin the ‘hier- archy of saints’, the Queb al-agtib, specially chosen by God to main- tain order in the world, The actual extent of his influence is uncertain, bbutat lease within a local, popular cosmology evidenc in Delhi in che late eighteenth, early nineteenth century, Bakhtiyar Kaki was regarded as the Qutb, the axis, around whom the world revolved. This ineer- pretation was also provided an iconic representation when the mine Qutb and Modern Memory 171 of the neighbouring, thirteenth century masjid-i jémi', was described as Qutb sihib kf lath. In other words, the minaret was believed to re- present the staff of Queb al-Din Bakhtiyir Kat which pierced the sky, and like the pir himself, connected heaven with earth, providing stab- ility and shelter to mortals on earth. In this reworked popular cosmology, iewasthesaintwhowasthe qubbatal-Isém, the sanctuary oflslam’ and not checongregational mosque. Itwasinacknowledgement of the pit's charisma, thar the minarer of the mosque was christened the Qutb mind, che name which it still carries today. ‘The reason why we have any information acall aboutthe later deve- lopments in the meaning of the masjid-i jimi is because of artempts made in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to correct some ‘er- rors’. In 1263/1846-47 the judge (munsif) employed with the British East India Company, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, wrote his famous topographical monograph on Delhi, the Asaral-Sanddid. Acthatstage in his life, Sayyid Ahmad was strongly influenced by the emerging positivist historiographical methodologies gaining currency in the wwest. In is research on Delhi's monuments, thescholar was extremely careful in citing is literary and archaeological evidence, and in ascer- taining chronological, geographical and lexicographical details, Subse- quent to the Asér al-Sanadtd Sayyid Ahmad Khan published criti editions of Abt'l-Fazl's A'in-i Abbart, Ziyi’ al-Din Batant’ Tiérikh- 1 Firuz Shabt, and Jabangin's Tewh-i Jahangir, all medieval Persian chronicles on which he had started work several years before. The course of his research was charted by his belief that ‘only a correctand sober presentation of the facts can convey a true sense of dizection in history and enable the Indians to arrive at a realistic assessment of their situation,’® The documentary record of the court chronicles was an important source for the historian, and Sayyid Ahmad Khan carefully selected texts which were, in his opinion, repositories of reliable, ob- jective information. His concern to recount the ‘correct facts’ about the capital of the ‘great Sultans and the Mughals motivated Sayyid Ahmad Khan towrite the most comprehensive text on the monuments of Delhi, In his ac- count of Delhi's old congregational mosque, he did mention that one of the names for the minaret vias ‘Queb sthib ki lath’, and, amongst172. The Partitions of Memory ‘other names, the masjid was also called Quwwatal-Islim.! Presumably, because these names belonged to the realm of an oral, popular culture, and not to an ‘objective’, ‘scientific’, verifiable, documentary record, there was no discussion of why the mosque and the minar were ascribed such intriguing names. Sayyid Ahmad Khan's text led the reader avay from these names towards the more ‘relevant’ subject of the architectural and epigraphical content of the monumentand each Sultan's contribution to its construction. Initsown turn, the Aséral-Sanddid was regarded asan ‘authoricat- ive’ text because it carried all the evidence of sound historical research. “Archaeologists and historians of a later generation were dependent upon Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s collection of datachis readings of the epi- graphs, bibliography of sources, and discussion of the authorship and architectural significance of the mosque. The major development in the early twentieth century occured when the analysis of the congrega- sional mosque was further elaborated by an emerging consensus about the history of the Delhi Sultanate. Ironically, in their research in this areas well, scholars continued to be dependent upon Sayyid Ahmad. Khan’s scholarship. Itwas his editions ofthe Persian chrosiicles whiich became the staple die for most medievalists, because their ‘factual ac- count(s)’, scholars in the ewentieth century noted, were ‘correct in all substantive matters. ‘Thereis no doubt thatthe scholarship on the medieval period today bears litte resemblance to that of Sayyid Ahmad’s time, Irfan Habib’ work in itselfhas inspired research into questions concerning material culture, agriculeural production and the structures of the state. These developments notwithstanding, historians are still wary of examining medieval Persian texts as discursive constructions of evidence, or 26 images which sought co shape reality. Inthe absence of such interroga- tion, 2 circular logic which first locates ‘authoritative’ sources, and then reconstructs a ‘definitive’ history of the Middle Ages, has led to the writing ofhistories which have indifferent waysremained congruent with the fortunes ofthe stare. This methodology has left licde space for the presence of local histories, popular memories or contesting discourses in the history of Qutb and Modern Memory \73 medieval India.®For the Qutb mosque, ited tothe ‘clarification’ chat the minaret was not named after the sGfi saint Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, but the military commander Qutb al-Din Ai-Beg. The term Qubbat al-Islam, or the ‘sanctuary of Islam’, which was at first ambi- sguously used by Jzjani for Ileutmish’s Delhi and later applied co define the spiritual domain of Bakhtiyar Kiki, was transformed into Quwiwat al-Islam, ot the ‘Might of Islam’ and used for Queb al-Din’s mosque. This name coincided more closely with the military persona of the first constructor of che mosque and his proclamation of a new political order buile out of the rubble of temples. Despite all che other developmentsin research on medieval Indian history, thisinterpretation of the mosque has remained unquestioned. In that sense, the problem before us today is not a simple onevofreinterpreting the sigoificance of che Qutb monuments. We need:to be aware that its the epistemo- Jogies dominantin the study of medieval Indian history that enable the incerpretation of the Qutb menumentsas the‘ Quwwatal-Islam’ mos- que. ‘As purveyors of ‘information’, historians shape the concours of India’s past, in history text-books, school and college syllabi and the popular media, Despite the best intentions of many of these practi- tioners, their work only serves to consolidate popular misconceptions concerning the monolithic character of Hindu and Muslim social structuses in the medieval period. Historians may no longer use the term ‘Muslim period’ to refer tothe subcontinent’s Middle Ages, but their histories still consider the Delhi Sultans and the Mughal padishahs as the principal actors in the history of medieval India. The different rulers and their structures of administration, revenue and diplomatic policies are studied as the agencies which introduced social and eco- nomic change in the subcontinent. Marxist analyses of relations of exploitationanddominancein Sultanate and Mughal society, confirm the image of a monolithic ruling elite, predominandy Muslim and ubscascd with ‘a’ Persian culture, This static and undifferentiated account is disturbed only occasionally by the bhalet, sometimes the sf, perhaps even by groups suchas the Mahdawis. Buctheseare often discussed as dissenting groups, ‘non-conformist movements, related174 The Partitions of Memory 10, but outside the pale of two well contoured religions, During this entire period ‘Muslims’ remained the politically dominant group ‘within the subcontinent. The relationship of these histotiographies to the memory of the Qutb is extremely important. The events and indi- viduals—Queb al-Din Ai-Beg or Quyb al-Din Bakbtiyar Kakt, for example—are nor terribly significant in themselves, but once situated wwichin larger contextual frames of signification they recall a host of memories. The Qutb is one of those historic sites which can extend beyond its own historical moment to carry a much larger symbolic statement. Part of its importance lies in the manner in which it has been pre- served and ‘done up’ into a national and world heritage monument. Inoneofits advertisement campaigns, the Hindustan Timeanational newspaper, asked its readers thé shesorical question: ‘Can you imagine Delhi without the Qutb?” Its ruins are presented today as a part of “Indian’ antiquity, a part of each citizen’s inheritance which he or she can cherish. One mosque out of several from the twelfth century has gained this doubtful honour. Indians are asked to take pridein ‘their’ rmindr-—we ate told chat it is one of che tallest free scanding minarets built out of stone and mortar. Nationalist pride, however, is short- lived and the Queb monuments lead vo 2 host ofambivalentreactions. If the minaret is wonderful, what of the mosque? Responses vary. For many, especially children, the monument isanincredibly beautiful and grandiose palace oralarger congregational hall. Thati isa mosque ‘escapes most of them. Other, more ‘discerning’ visitors, remain dis- concerted by the statues, pillars, and elaborate carvings, so obviously ofa Hindw/Jain provenance situated within congregational mosque. Suill others may see in the mosque evidence of the might and domin- ance of ‘their community’ in the affairs of the subcontinentin the near past. Sinceitisa major rouristsite, the Archaeological Survey of India has placed shoredeseriptionsinccribedon stonenear theseveral monuments to guide’ visitors through the Qutb complex. These inscriptions pro- vide the name, the physical properties, functions and significance of the respective monuments. These are facts; there is no hint of doubt, Qutb and Modern Memory 175 speculation or debate concerning the mulkiple interpretations of these sites or the changing historical contexts in which they were buile Instead, the self-confident recounting of undisputed information isin itself reassuring to the visitors. Ic is presented as the wisdom of the professional body of historians and archaeologists, the ‘authorities’ whose knowledge should be above doubr. ‘Once armed with checrucial information thatthe Quwrwaral-Islém masjid celebrates the conquest of Hindustan by the Muslim Sultans of Delhi, he nature of the monument itself leaves litle space co visitors fordoubr. Evenasthey function ashistorians themselves, the‘evidence’ of plunder before chem is ‘proof sufficient of Muslim iconoclasmn and bigoted hatred of Hindus and their religious beliefs. Their empirical conclusionsarenot very fa fom aseamless historiography of medieval Indian history which has provided litde to contest the overriding im- pression of the hegemony of the Muslim state.® As a result, the Queb serves asa catalyst which resurrects ahost of memories about Muslims and theit governance: from casual tories concerning Muslim fanaticism and violence, to history lessons where Mustim rulers and their sub- ordinates monopolized power and exploited Hindu subjects. Within the mosque the visitor is struck by the juxtaposition of the great monolithiccommunities,adividewhich the Queb suggests commenced from the ery inteusion of Islam into India. A Partition which fromits very first encounter was remarkable for its violence. More than any latge tome or pedagogical instruction, che Qutb provides an opporcunity to educate visitors about the complex, frag- ‘mented political and religious world of India’s Middle Ages, a time when there was considerable disunity and contestation within the ‘groups defined as Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’ cis this frame of reference which should also guide us co reflect upon the manner in which dis- cursive constructions of knowledge were formed in the Middle Ages. The Quwwwat al-Islam mosque was built to represent a unity of belief and conduc: toa Muslim congregation who natonly remained quice unimpressed with Sultanate statements of piery and power but also produced their own contesting discursive texts. The spoils of the Hindu and Jain temples are only small part of the story of the Que;ji 176 The Partitions of Memary Mu'izzi Amirssuch as Baha’ al-Din Tughtil, sifi derwishes like Nai ‘Turk, shaykhs like Nizam al-Din Avdliya’,-the popular veneration of (Quyb al-Din Bakhiyr Kakt and the historiography of Sayyid Ahmad Khan and his successors are all ingredients that should be used to ex- plain che multi-levelled history of the mosque and minaret to visitors. Instead itis the extreme nationalistideologies prevalentin Indiawhich filter our understanding of che Qutb. This unforcunately also burdens ‘visitors with unequivocal evidence of wrongs inflicted in the past upon the Hindu community, wrongs that are in need of correction today. ‘Asa result, the Queb stands as an icon, encapsulating the trauma of 1947 and acting 2s a historical exoneration for the acts of December 1992. What is tragic is che manner in which historians of medieval ores ano Rerensnces 1. “Alfted Gell, “The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of ‘Technology’ in Anthropology, Artand Aeesc, eds J. Cooteand Anthony Shelton, Oxford: Oxford University Pest, 1992, pp. 40-63. 2. For deals on the spatial, architectural and epigraphic information, other than my own field surveys, Lam reliant om the research of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Alexander Cunningham, J. Horowice, J.A. Page, ABM, Husain, M.A. Husain, and Ebba Koch, The full bibliographical cations ae given below. 3. Although theres absolutely no evidence ro warrant such an assumption, all historians and archaeologists have concluded tha it was the Muslims who placed theizos pillarwithin che Queb mosque: Theirconclusioasmighthave been guided by ehe face that later rulers like Fiz Shah Tughlug and Akbar ‘tansported Asckan pills and placed them as trophies in Delhi and Allahs- bad repectvely. Ae Richard H. Davishas pointed ou, Indian Art Objects 8 Loot’, Journal of Aion Studies, 52 (1993): 22-48) however, temples were also plundered by Hinds rulers, and theridols were frequently eatedas war ‘wophies and publicly displayed as statements of conquest. A similar efor at ‘embellishing his own authority may well have guided the Tomara ruler ‘Anangpal sometime around 1052: aleast according wo populas legend, itwas this ruler who placed the fourth ceneury iron pillar at its current site. See 4, Ser, for example, theo 6, AsfarasThave been able to da Qutb and Modern Memory 177 [Alcsander Cunningham, ‘Four Reports made during the years 1862-63— (64-65, Archacological Survey of India Report, Sana: Archacological Survey of India, Government Pres, 1871, vol 1, pp. 171-5. sn oF H.C. Fanshawe, Shab Jahan’: Delhi—Past ‘and Preven, Delhi: Sumit Publications, 1979 [1902], p. 257. 5, See Sayyid Ahmad Kha, Asi al Sendai ed, Khaliq Anjum, Delhi: Urdu ‘Academy Delhi, 1990 (1847); Alexander Cunningham, “Four Reports’ J Horowie, ‘The scriptions of Muhammad ibn Sam, Quibudin Aibegand Ileutnish» Epigraph Indo-Morlemica (1911-12); 12-54; ). Yaadaniy Tns- ctiptions ofthe Khali Sukans of Delhi and cis conterporasis in Bengal Eplaraphia Inde Moemica, 917-18, pp. 23-30: JA. Pag, An Hisorical “Memoir on the Qutb, Calcutta: Memoirs of the Atchacologial Survey of India, no. 22, Government of India Cental Publication Branch, 1926. Sayyid Ahmad Khan was the istauthor to refer co the Delhi Masjid Jimi’ as the ‘Quivwat al-laldm’ mosque, S.A. Khan, Audral Sanddd, ol, p. 310, provided three names forthe mosques Masjid Adina Debit ya (or) Masjid js’ Deb yao") Quart a-lilm. ‘Cunningham (1871) cite misread Quorwaral-(slim in Khan's text as Quib aLsidim or, 28 is mote likely (see below), he relied upon 2 locally current “oure for his reading. Literature on Delhi produced for English courses at the turn ofthe century aways eeferred ro the mesque as Quorvat al-Islam. See H.C. Fanchawe, Delbi—Pare and Present, p. 258, and Gordon Risley Heatn, The Seven Ctiesof Delhi, New Delhi: SBW Publishers, 1986 (1906), pp. 51, 54,94, Some yeats later, the widely cited Hlorowit, ‘Inscriptions T9112 and JA. Page, A Historical Memoir on the Quth, 1926, informed scholars that Quorwat al-Islir was the name ofthis mosque. Iwas a faeful ‘christening for itwasto eventually become the offical’ name of the mosque For two edges of the histotiographical spectrum where this i wed For che masjid see: J. Burcon Page, ‘Dib’, Encylopedia of lars, eds, CE. Bosworth eral, Leiden: E). Brill second edition, 1956, vol. 2, pp. 225-6, as representing the ‘slamicist tradition, and Y.D. Sharma, Deli and ly ‘Neighbourhood, New Delhi: Dizecror General Archaeologica! Survey of India, 1982 epe, pp. 17-19, 52-9, emongst the beccer tourist guide liter ichael W. Meister, “The Two-and-a-half day Mosque’, Oriental Art 18 ‘n., 1972, pp.57~63: Mohammad Mujecb, “The Qutb Complex asa Social Docurmene in Llamie Influence om Indsen Sacer, Celhi: Meenakshi Prahar shan, 1972, pp. 114-27;and ABM. Husain, The Manara in Indo-Muslima “Architecture, Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Publication no. 25, 1970. 8, Robert Hillenbrand, ‘Polial Symbolism in Early Inde-fslamic Mosque, t y 178 The Partitions of Memory nL 2 1B. uw 15, 16. 16 19. Architeerure: The Case of Ajmi’, [ran 26 (1988), pps 105-17. Anchony. Welch, ‘Architecuural Pattonage and che Pase: The Tughlug Sulrans of India’, Mugarnas 10 (1993), pp. 311-2. ‘Welch, ‘Architectural Patronage...’ p. 314. Anthony Welch, “Qur‘én and Tomb the Religious Epigraphs of Two Eatly Sultanate Tombs in Delhi in Indian Epigraphy: Ie Bearing on che Picory of ‘rs eds, Frederick M, Asher and G'S, Ghai, New Delhi: Oxford and IBE Publishing Co,, American Instinue of Indian Studies, 1985, pp. 260, 257. ‘Welch summarized here arguments which he presentedinanother, apparently sill unpublished article ‘Islamic Architeenue and Epigraphs in Sultanate India in Stade in South Asian Art and Arcitecsur ed. AX. Narain, forth coming. Ibid, p- 257, ‘Weich,‘Architecural Patronage... p.311,312-14. Welch alo Suggests ‘hae ‘Building rypes—mosques, tombs, madrasas, and mindrs—as well as forms are also atthe same time assertively alien co the Hindu majoriy, and in their stridene dstincuveness from indigenous buildings, they prociaim Ielam’s universal aspirations and its distance fiom che polytheism of thesub- ject population’ pp. 312-13. ‘ABM. Habibullah, The Foundation of Mus Rule in India, Allahabad: General Book Depot, 1976 spe, Khaliq Abmad Nizaji, Some Aspect of Rel gon and Poise in the Thirteenth Century, Delhi: Marah-i AdabiyariDel 1974 pt, SBP. Nigam, Nobility Under the Setensof Delhi, 40 1206-1398, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1968 Habibullah, Foundation of Muslim Rule, ch. VI, pp. 120-34. ‘Welch, ‘Archivecural Patronage... p. 311. “The plebianiation of he noble’, clumsy formulation atbext has several proponenes bur was fist suggested by Muhametad Habib, “The Governing Chass, in The Political Theory of the Delsi Sulcanate, Allahabad: Ketab Mahal, ad. pp. 144-51, and later developed by Irfan Habib, ‘Baran's “Theory of the Delhi Sultanate’, Indian Historical Review 7 (1980-81), p. 109. For the architeccural consequences of this development see Welch, ‘Archi- ‘crural Patronage and the Past, pp. 314-15, Here the author argues that since the Tughlugs were [more] secular rules: governing pan-Indian scar, thee architeerure was also less ‘saracenic’ and more eclectic. Iifan Habib, “The Social Diseriburion of Landed Property in Pre-Briish India: A Historical Survey’, Enquiry. 2 (1965), p. 45. Irfan Habib, The Agrarian Sytem of Mughal nda, Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1963, p. 257. 20, BRE 2. 26, 27, 28. 29. 31 32, 33, 34 3s. Qutb and Modern Memury 179 Iufan Habib, ‘The Sta and che Economy’, in the Cambridge Economie ivory of India, eds. Tapan Raychandhui and Irfan Fiabib, Cambridge: University Press, 1982, vol. 1p. 184 eid. Habib, Agrarian Sprem of de Mughal Empire, p. 334, Habibullah, Foundasion of Muslim Rud, chs V-VI, pp. 96-134; Habib, Agrarian Syuem of Mughal India p. 318. Irfan Habib, ‘The Price Regulations of" Ali'uddin Khalji—A defence of Zia’ Baran’, IESHR, 21 (1984), p. 393, ‘Shireen Moosvi, The Economy of the Maghal Empire «1595: A Seatisical ‘Snudy, Delhit Oxfocd University Press, 1987, p. 4 Iefan Habib, ‘Evidence for Siwwznth-Century Agratian Conditions in the Guru Granth Sahib’, BSH (1963-64), p. 70 ‘Achar Al, “The Mughal Polisy A Critique of “Revisionst” Approaches’, Proceedings ofthe Indian History Congress 52 (1991-92), pp. 308, 310. ‘ln pabwtn 2) sea jahdndlirt Hindora Malik ita farm’ ‘Pabuit in the Persian edition of the Tak must bea mistake for ‘pablo Fabbri Mudabbis, Tabb Fakhr al-Din Mubérak Shih ed 1-D. Ross, London: Royal Asiatic Sociey, 1927, pp. 28-9. ‘On the tabagée form as ahistorical genre of writing see Franz Rosenthal istry of Musi Hioriegraphy, Leiden: B.. Brill, 1969, pp. 93-5 and Louise Malow, Hierarchy and Egeltarianism in bilamic Thought, Cambridge: ‘Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp- 9-10. For the Muze! subordinates in Hindustan, see Minhdj-i Sic ]ajint, Tabagde Nazir, ed, Abdul Hayy Habibi, Kabul: Anjuman-i Tirteh-i Afghanistan, 1963-4, vol. L, pp. 415-38. Jiajint, Tabegas.... vol 1, p. 42. Tbid., vol. 1, p. 421. Notice also the srulature and Jozjint’s acernpe to

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