2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Historical and social study on projects of construction of the capital city Delhi of the Mughal Empire in the 17th century
| Project/Area Number |
12610375
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Asian history
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| Research Institution | AOYAMA GAKUIN UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
ONA Yasuyuki College of Literature, Aoyama Gakuin University, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (60118718)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2002
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| Keywords | Northern India / 17^<th> century / Mughal Empire / Shah Jahan / Delhi / Delhi Sultanate / Muslim / Mahallah |
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| Research Abstract |
This report attempts to put into order various thinking about the project to construct the capital city of Delhi under the Mughal Empire, in order to show the incomplete character of the research made to date. The history of the so-called cities of Delhi from the time of the Delhi Sultanate in northern India can be clarified by considering projects up to the metropolitan city constructed during the first half of the 17^<th> century.
Delhi, Agra and Lahore developed as metropolises in the Muslim kingdoms of northern India ; and the construction of New Delhi was planned by the Mughal Empire in the early modern age and was finally completed in full-scale during the reign of Shah Jahan. The capital city of the Mughal Empire presents the aspect of the great modern metropolis, which exceeds the castles where autocratic rulers resided during the medieval age.
A lot of urban research on Delhi done by European scholars lacks historical aspects regarding northern India. It considers metropolitan cities as crowds of people made up of royal members and attendants.
This report criticizes such an outdated, ideological approach and urges that urban studies be taken to a new, more scientific level. To clarify the historical substance of Delhi, the city housing situation at the time should be the main target of study.
Urban dwellers in historical Delhi did not consist only of the royal family, its servants and the aristocracy. Wealthy Hindu merchants were active in the main bazaars of the city and professionals and artisans and menial laborers lived in the mahallahs(wards).
Historical materials which show the city at that time have still to be surveyed thoroughly at the National Archives of Delhi. The city history can be further clarified from new investigation into its guilds, from which its middle class emerged.
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