Delhi in Transition, 1821 and Beyond

Mirza Sangin Beg's Sair-ul Manazil

Edited by Shama Mitra Chenoy

This manuscript is a translation on the basis of comparison of the four existing copies of the text including the Berlin manuscript which is being consulted for the first time
What can also be gleaned from his work is the constant pattern of migration, especially of the Punjabis and the Deccanis. Sangin Beg uses the term Qaum most amorphously. Various institutional similarities between the cultures of the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals may be discerned in the form of caravansarais, the waqf, Chini Khanas, hospitals, places for the distribution of charity and water- mills. It sheds light on the structure contested between the Hindus and Muslims. There are eye- openers for the reader on both tangible and intangible heritage

Delhi in Transition, 1821 and Beyond

Mirza Sangin Beg's Sair-ul Manazil

Edited by Shama Mitra Chenoy

Description

This work is an annotated translation of Mirza Sangin Beg's Sair-ul Manazil which is one of the last works on Delhi written in Persian. The editor introduces the text to the readers and then proceeds with the translation on the basis of comparison of the four existing copies of the text including the Berlin manuscript which is being consulted for the first time. It depicts the early nineteenth-century Delhi as a city in transition.

The original work was commissioned by the English East India Company between 1818 and 1820 and it documents the layout of the city and the author's observations regarding the buildings, habitations, bazars, localities, residences, individuals, as well as anecdotes of city life and expressions of rich local cultures.

Delhi in Transition, 1821 and Beyond

Mirza Sangin Beg's Sair-ul Manazil

Edited by Shama Mitra Chenoy

Delhi in Transition, 1821 and Beyond

Mirza Sangin Beg's Sair-ul Manazil

Edited by Shama Mitra Chenoy

Author Information

Edited by Shama Mitra Chenoy, Associate Professor, Department of History, Shivaji College, University of Delhi.

Shama Mitra Chenoy is Associate Professor, Department of History of Shivaji College, University of Delhi. She is the author of the book Shahjahanabad: A City of Delhi 1638-1857 published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. in 2015.