The Ghurid Architecture of South Asia and Historiography at the Ends of the Islamic World

FAIN: FT-53519-05

Alka Arvind Patel
Regents of the University of California, Irvine (Chicago, IL 60637-1539)

This project treats the Ghurid foundations in northern India and Pakistan, bringing them together for the first time in monograph form. The Ghurids, originally the Shansabani clan from Ghur, north-central Afghanistan, established the first Islamic government with enduring ambitions east of the Indus (modern India), thus beginning a succession of Islamic states based at Delhi through the mid-18th century. The architectural significance of Ghurid buildings is unquestionable, as these complexes set the course for South Asian Islamic buildings during the subsequent centuries. Moreover, investigation of Ghurid architecture provides a unique opportunity for discerning the development of the scholarly discourse not only on medieval Islamic architecture in South Asia, but also the discourse on South Asian Islam.