For long it was thought that there was no Indian style of map-making to depict the known world and the way to travel across it. The cosmographies had a wider vision, and Indian travelers were believed to use descriptioins and guides, not maps. Now over two hundred maps have been discovered, covering a wide range: pilgrimage maps of religious town, route maps of important highways, military plans, and topographical maps of whole provinces. These maps and plans ...
Maps of Mughal India: Drawn by Colour Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil, Agent for the Frech Government to the Court of Shuja-ud-daula at Faizabad, in 1770
Colonel Gentil was in Faizabad, the capital of Oudh, from 1765 to 1775. he became interested in Indian painting, history, geography, religions and customs, and attempted to illustrate Indian life and culture for his compatriots in Europe. He translated the geographical parts of Abu-l Fazl's A' in-I- Akbari into French, and then drew maps of the subas into which he inserted all the places named by Abu-l Fazl. He discovered other manuscripts as detailed ...
