The world of India's first archaeologist : letters from Alexander Cunningham to J. D. M. Beglar / edited by Upinder Singh

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Singh, Upinder, editor.

Series:

Oxford Academic

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--India.

Archaeology.

Cunningham, Alexander, Sir, 1814-1893.

Cunningham, Alexander.

India.

Genre:

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (388 pages) illustrations (colour)

Place of Publication:

Oxford Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

Alexander Cunningham, India's first professional archaeologist, became the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1871. This book contains a collection of 193 letters he wrote between 1871 and 1888 to his Archaeological Assistant, J. D. M. Beglar. The letters offer exciting, new insights into Cunningham's life and career, telling the story of the birth of Indian archaeology and some of its greatest discoveries in real time, in Cunningham's own words. The letters provide a unique perspective on the construction of Indian history in the nineteenth century. They reveal the evolution of Cunningham's ideas and methods, his interventions in debates on conservation and restoration, and his interactions with textual scholars in India and Europe. They throw light on the place of archaeology in the politics of colonial India, the role of the princely states, and the growing rivalry between Indians and Europeans over the right to interpret India's past. They also show the friendship between Cunningham and Beglar, based on a shared passion for archaeology. In doing all this, these letters bring alive the history of Indian archaeology in its crucial, formative phase.

Contents:

List of Letters

List of Images

List of Facsimiles of Letters

Preface and Acknowledgements

Note on the Transcriptions

Introduction

The Letters

Index

About the Author

Images

Facsimiles of Letters

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on July 21, 2022)

ISBN:

81-948316-5-2

Publisher Number:

10.1093/oso/9780190131753.001.0001 DOI