From His Delhi Diary

Curator Deborah Sutton

It is a forgotten relic placed in a corner of the massive Qutub Complex in Delhi. Cast in white marble, “Sanderson’s Sundial” is rather ignored. Somewhat like the man it is dedicated to — Gordon Sanderson. Superintending Archaeologist of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), he was distinct from other officers in his endeavour to involve local craftspeople in the building of modern India. “He lobbied the British government to choose an Indian style for the new Capital and argued that Indian master-builders could teach more of the true art of building than could be learnt from all the text books of Europe,” says Deborah Sutton. Professor at the Department of History, Lancaster University, she has put together archival sketches borrowed from Sanderson’s family based in Edinburgh, with material sourced from National Archives of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Her exhibition showcases Sanderson’s documents and sketches during his stint in India from 1911 to 1915. The exhibition, held in Delhi, has original sketches in pen and ink. “The shading puts emphasis on particular areas, there is an interplay of lines, this can’t happen in photographs,” says Sutton, glancing at the drawing of the Pearl Mosque at the Red Fort. Placed alongside are more familiar sites, from the Golden Temple in Amritsar to the citadel of Tughlaqabad and the Qutub Minar.

A 1913 diagram has markings of “the city of Delhi” from Shahjahanabad and Jahanpanah to Firozabad, which was under Sanderson’s jurisdiction. He was to oversee the conservation of monuments from the Old City to the Qutub complex around which the neo-Classical architecture of the new imperial capital would be built. His suggestions might have been ignored by the imperial rulers but he was vocal with his views nevertheless.

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Particularly interesting are satirical sketches published in 1913 in The Pioneer, lampooning the incompetence of the Public Works Department — there is smoke billowing from the chimney atop the Qutub Minar; an adaptation of Jodhpur Fort as the residence for a senior official; and the Great Tope of Sanchi as a venue for theatre.

vandana.kalra@expressindia.com