The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950
This essay offers the first survey of architectural history after the Muslim conquests in the Indian Subcontinent in Urdu, the major Muslim literary language of colonial India. Contributing to the history of art history in non-European contexts, the essay traces the emergence of a deliberately ‘Isla...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Art History, University of Birmingham
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Art Historiography |
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| Online Access: | https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/green.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827903425190297600 |
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| author | Nile Green |
| author_facet | Nile Green |
| author_sort | Nile Green |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay offers the first survey of architectural history after the Muslim conquests in the Indian Subcontinent in Urdu, the major Muslim literary language of colonial India. Contributing to the history of art history in non-European contexts, the essay traces the emergence of a deliberately ‘Islamic’ art history as the outcome of intellectual exchanges between Indian, European, and Middle Eastern authors. Reflecting this mixed provenance, the popular and scholarly texts examined here are termed ‘architectural rekhta’ by using the old name for Urdu (Rekhta: ‘mixed’). In apt architectural metonymy, ‘Rekhta’ was renamed ‘Urdu’ in homage to the Urdu-e Mu‘ala (or Red Fort of Delhi), revealing a conceptual link between the palace of the last Mughal emperors and Urdu as its language based on the centrality of buildings to Indo-Muslim cultural memory. Consequently, when colonial Muslim authors combined elements of European practice with their own concerns to produce their ‘mixed’ mode of art historical writing, architecture became their primary focus. In line with the themes of this special issue of the JAH, this approach examines the ‘post-Persianate’ cultural memory of Indian art of the Islamic period. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:12:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-82ebe616cde84a1eafa19a57efc7862f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2042-4752 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:12:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Department of Art History, University of Birmingham |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Art Historiography |
| spelling | doaj.art-82ebe616cde84a1eafa19a57efc7862f2023-07-12T09:11:32ZengDepartment of Art History, University of BirminghamJournal of Art Historiography2042-47522023-06-012828NG110.48352/uobxjah.00004261The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950Nile Green0University of CaliforniaThis essay offers the first survey of architectural history after the Muslim conquests in the Indian Subcontinent in Urdu, the major Muslim literary language of colonial India. Contributing to the history of art history in non-European contexts, the essay traces the emergence of a deliberately ‘Islamic’ art history as the outcome of intellectual exchanges between Indian, European, and Middle Eastern authors. Reflecting this mixed provenance, the popular and scholarly texts examined here are termed ‘architectural rekhta’ by using the old name for Urdu (Rekhta: ‘mixed’). In apt architectural metonymy, ‘Rekhta’ was renamed ‘Urdu’ in homage to the Urdu-e Mu‘ala (or Red Fort of Delhi), revealing a conceptual link between the palace of the last Mughal emperors and Urdu as its language based on the centrality of buildings to Indo-Muslim cultural memory. Consequently, when colonial Muslim authors combined elements of European practice with their own concerns to produce their ‘mixed’ mode of art historical writing, architecture became their primary focus. In line with the themes of this special issue of the JAH, this approach examines the ‘post-Persianate’ cultural memory of Indian art of the Islamic period.https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/green.pdfarchitectureindiacolonialmughalarabicmemory |
| spellingShingle | Nile Green The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 Journal of Art Historiography architecture india colonial mughal arabic memory |
| title | The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 |
| title_full | The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 |
| title_fullStr | The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 |
| title_short | The rekhta of architecture: the development of ‘Islamic’ art history in Urdu, c.1800-1950 |
| title_sort | rekhta of architecture the development of islamic art history in urdu c 1800 1950 |
| topic | architecture india colonial mughal arabic memory |
| url | https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/green.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nilegreen therekhtaofarchitecturethedevelopmentofislamicarthistoryinurduc18001950 AT nilegreen rekhtaofarchitecturethedevelopmentofislamicarthistoryinurduc18001950 |