Famous Monuments of Central India restores to view one of the great photographic books of nineteenth-century India. First published in 1886 under the name of Sir Lepel Griffin, the volume brought together an extraordinary visual record of the temples, stupas, forts, palaces and sacred landscapes of Central India.
At its heart, however, are the eighty-nine photographs of Raja Deen Dayal – India’s first great master of the camera. His images of Sanchi, Khajuraho, Gwalior, Orchha and other historic sites are not merely illustrations, but acts of visual preservation: precise, dignified and deeply atmospheric records of monuments before modern restoration and urban transformation.
This new edition restores due recognition to Deen Dayal’s central role in the making of the book. With a new introduction, curatorial essays and contextual notes, it presents Famous Monuments of Central India not simply as a colonial-era survey, but as a landmark in the history of Indian photography, archaeology and architectural memory.
A tribute to India’s monumental heritage and to the genius of Raja Deen Dayal, this volume invites readers to see Central India as it was seen through one of the most remarkable lenses of the nineteenth century.
