New Delhi was the grandest planned capital city of the British empire. In its meticulous urban plan it owed as much to earlier imperial traditions of Delhi as it did to Western movements such as the Garden City and City Beautiful. It is interesting to examine the process by which this plan came into being, and the interactions between the people responsible for it. This new city also became the centre of a culture at the cusp of Indian and British Indian society - centering on the shopping precinct of Connaught Place, restaurants, clubs, cinema theatres and other institutions. In the years immediately following independence and partition, came a sudden expansion of the metropolis beyond the limits of New Delhi. This left the original New Delhi as a predominantly administrative centre, with a low density of population, and an oasis of green. Far from being a sterile space however, its many cultural institutions, public spaces and thriving shopping precincts have given it a persisting vibrancy.

Designated by King George V to replace Calcutta as capital of British India,New Delhi was constructed between 1912 and 1929 under the steady eye of architect Sir Edward Lutyens who sought to bring to this British Colony a sense of classicism, order, and institutional beauty. Brimming with more than 300 color and black and white illustrations, plans and photographs, this book presents the most comprehensive examination to date of how this city was envisioned, planned and constructed From the massive war memorial arch to the spacious gardens and the gloriously imposing Viceroy's House, the evidence of Lutyens ̕architectural genius is everywhere throughout New Delhi. Architectural historian Andreas Volwahsen discusses the importance of Lutyens ̕work and provides a fascinating account of the making of a city: the contentious debates and cultural considerations, the inspiration and the painstaking construction, and finally the ways in which New Delhi has evolved into a modern city. With the growing interest in the preservation of historic sites worldwide, this magnificently detailed yet highly accessible history is certain to become a classic in the fields of architecture and urban design.

‘A book that is . . . as eccentric and anarchic as its subject’—William Dalrymple In this extraordinary portrait of one of the world’s largest cities, Sam Miller sets out to discover the real Delhi, a city he describes as being ‘India’s dreamtown— and its purgatory’. He treads the city’s streets, including its less celebrated destinations—Nehru Place, Pitampura and Gurgaon—places most writers ignore. His encounters with Delhi’s people, from ragpickers to members of the Police Brass Band, create a richly entertaining portrait of what the city is and what it is becoming. Miller is, like so many of the people he meets, a migrant in one of the world’s fastest growing megapolises and the Delhi he depicts is one whose future concerns us all. Miller possesses an intense curiosity; he has an infallible eye for life’s diversities, for all the marvellous and sublime moments that illuminate people’s lives. This is a generous, original, humorous portrait of a great city; one which unerringly locates the humanity beneath the mundane, the unsung and the unfamiliar.

Delhi: capital of India and a walker's paradise. This book shows you how, in 14 easy steps.

This book details the movement against India's Emergency based on newly uncovered archival evidence and oral histories.

Presents a collection of crime and noir stories set in Delhi, India.

This book explores the various ways imperial rule constituted and shaped the cities of Eastern Europe until the First World War in the Tsarist, Habsburg, and Ottoman empires. In these three empires, the cities served as hubs of imperial rule: their institutions and infrastructures enabled the diffusion of power within the empires while they also served as the stages where the empire was displayed in monumental architecture and public rituals. To this day, many cities possess a distinctively imperial legacy in the form of material remnants, groups of inhabitants, or memories that shape the perceptions of in- and outsiders. The contributions to this volume address in detail the imperial entanglements of a dozen cities from a long-term perspective reaching back to the eighteenth century. They analyze the imperial capitals as well as smaller cities in the periphery. All of them are "imperial cities" in the sense that they possess traces of imperial rule. By comparing the three empires of Eastern Europe this volume seeks to establish commonalities in this particular geography and highlight trans-imperial exchanges and entanglements. This volume is essential reading to students and scholars alike interested in imperial and colonial history, urban history and European history.

The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Anthropology is the first instalment of The SAGE Handbook of the Social Sciences series and encompasses major specialities as well as key interdisciplinary themes relevant to the field. Globally, societies are facing major upheaval and change, and the social sciences are fundamental to the analysis of these issues, as well as the development of strategies for addressing them. This handbook provides a rich overview of the discipline and has a future focus whilst using international theories and examples throughout. The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Anthropology is an essential resource for social scientists globally and contains a rich body of chapters on all major topics relevant to the field, whilst also presenting a possible road map for the future of the field. Part 1: Foundations Part 2: Focal Areas Part 3: Urgent Issues Part 4: Short Essays: Contemporary Critical Dynamics

Why is the heart of Delhi named after an obscure British scion? How is South Delhi's Saket related to Lord Rama's birthplace Ayodhya? Shaheen Bagh is the seat of Muslim resistance. But what does Shaheen mean to the Indian Muslim? To tell us the story of Delhi, journalist Adrija Roychowdhury takes a deep dive into the legends behind the names of its many streets. Delhi, in Thy Name is a compelling account of the many emotions, aspirations, desires, identities, histories and memories that went behind the naming of places in the national capital of India. From the crevices of Chandni Chowk to the arcades of Connaught Place and the quarters of CR Park, the book delves into the little secrets that went behind naming Delhi, as recounted by the people of the city. Exhaustively researched and passionately told, the book is an attempt to decode what the act of naming and renaming means both to those in power and to those being governed. The book provides a key to Delhi, opening its doors to the readers in the very way that the city likes to think of itself-as alluring, energetic, infuriating, lyrical, nostalgic, frustrating, unforgettable, magical.

What we know today as Chandni Chowk was once a part of one of the greatest cities of the world--the imperial city established by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan in the seventeenth century, and named after him--Shahjahanabad. This is the story of how the city came to be established, its grandeur as the capital of an empire at its peak, and its important role in shaping the language and culture of North India. It is also the story of the many tribulations the city has seen--the invasion of Nadir Shah, the Revolt of 1857, Partition. Today, Shahjahanabad has been subsumed under the gigantic sprawl of metropolitan Delhi. Yet it has an identity that is distinct. Popularly known as Chandni Chowk, its name conjures up romantic narrow streets, a variety of street food and exotic markets. For Shahjahanabad is still very much a living city, though the lives of the people inhabiting it have changed over the centuries. Dariba Kalan still has rows of flourishing jewellers' shops; Begum Samru's haveli is now Bhagirath Palace, a sprawling electronics market, and no visit to Chandni Chowk is complete without a meal at Karim's, whose chefs use recipes handed down to them through the ages for their mouth-watering biriyani and kebabs. Swapna Liddle draws upon a wide variety of sources, such as the accounts of Mughal court chroniclers, travellers' memoirs, poetry, newspapers and government documents, to paint a vivid and dynamic panorama of the city from its inception to recent times.