Antiquarian Knowledge and Preservation of Indian Monuments at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

The successive stages of what has been called the “Oriental renaissance” are well documented. The Orientalists not only translated the major texts of Sanskrit literature but also turned to the material remains of Indian civilization to study the subcontinent’s history, mythology, and religion. If monuments had been arousing curiosity since the sixteenth century, the growth of British rule entailed a more systematic investigation of archaeological remains. Documentation developed significantly from the last decades of the eighteenth century onward, and the first measures of preservation of selected edifices and the creation of museums devoted to Indian objects of art emerged at the dawn of the nineteenth century. The aim of this chapter is to show how the twofold issue of documentation and preservation of material remains provides an interesting example of the potential discrepancy between the production of knowledge and the modalities of its implementation within an institutional context. I will argue that despite developing within the same circles, the focus of antiquarian knowledge and the nature of the restoration works actually carried out proved radically different, thus calling into question the relationship between the production of knowledge and its uses.