Rana Safvi

Rana Safvi is a writer, historian, and chronicler, of Delhi and other stories that stones tell. She tweets @iamrana.

Paradise City

Sun, Jul 28, 2019

Home and muse to poets and artists, Shahjahanabad was the centre of the Mughal world.

The Sufi dargah passes no judgement, welcomes all

Sun, Mar 25, 2018

In Bijapur and in Ajmer, sufi shrines welcome the dispossessed as well as the disenchanted

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat: More fiction than history

Sun, Feb 04, 2018

In killing the spiritual core of the epic on which his film is based, Sanjay Leela Bhansali set up his movie, and its characters, all wrong.

Indian Muslims must re-read Syed Ahmad Khan

Sat, Nov 11, 2017

Sir Syed’s legacy is so immense because he played a critical role, at a historic juncture, in the life of the Indian Muslim community. In the aftermath of the 1857 uprising, Muslims were disfranchised, thrown out of their homes in Shahjahanabad and generally looked upon with suspicion.

For the queen’s paradise: Taj Mahal’s exquisite floral inlay work

Sun, Oct 29, 2017

Taj Mahal’s exquisite floral inlay work was the result of meticulous medieval craftsmanship.

By the Ladies of Awadh: The Ismati Dastarkhwan is your go-to for dahi ke kebab

Tue, Oct 24, 2017

Compiled by Amina Nazli, Ismati Dastarkhwan showcased recipes collected from the women of Awadh, whose husbands were highly placed officials like district collectors or in the army or royal households.

Building a library, feeling the footpath in Old Delhi

Mon, Oct 02, 2017

In the space of one tiny room of the Shah Waliullah library are original works of Ghalib, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Zauq, Momin, Sir Syed Khan, an Urdu translation of the Bhagwad Gita, a 700-year-old Arabic book on logic and medieval Sufi treatises along with other contemporary books. Since all the books don’t fit in that room, they have been kept elsewhere. As Naeem says, “We have so much, by God’s grace, now all we want is space.”