• ISBN13: 9789390430703
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: History
• Publisher: Ratna Sagar
• Publisher Imprint: PrimusBook
• Publication Date: June 7, 2021
• Pages: 190
• Original Price: INR 995.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 410 grams

The essays in this volume focus on the surviving remains in India of pre-modern public buildings like sarais, bridges and water-works of different types as well as masonry structures meant to extract Indigo or sugar from plants. Much of this evidence is significant for the study of economic history as well as war technology of the post-turkish conquest Phase. The attempt here is to present this evidence in the perspective of the evolving production technology which appears to have received an impetus with the establishment of Turkish rule. The archaeological data cited in this collection of essays indicate the presence of extensive pre-modern remains along the Mughal highways, many of which have not been recorded so far. These, as well as the remains of medieval water works of different types, make for very promising objects of study for archaeologists as well as students of economic history interested in determining the factors responsible for India’s sluggish transition to modernity. Often found at ground level in the proximity of small towns, these remains are prone to be damaged or even obliterated by the ongoing process of urban expansion and, therefore, they need to be properly listed and brought under the protection of the archaeological survey of India.

Iqtidar Alam Khan, who retired as a Professor from Aligarh Muslim University in 1994, has done extensive research in different aspects of medieval Indian history, particularly the reign of Emperor Akbar and the history of the use of gunpowder and firearms, and he has published A Historical Dictionary of Medieval India, India’s Polity in the Age of Akbar, The Mughal Nobility: Two Political Biographies and Studies in Thought, Polity and Economy of Medieval India, 1000-1500.