Cartography Book On The Deccan

With the mission and vision to emphasise Dakhni culture and its geographical area with documentation, H K Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies has recently launched a map book titled ‘A Cartographic Profile of the Deccan’ at DDE Auditorium of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU)

MANNU’s Centre for Deccan Studies published ‘A Cartographic Profile of the Deccan’ as a part of the project that involved the painstaking process of putting together 130 maps and charts some over five centuries old. The maps are made by map-makers in different languages of different countries – presently housed in Portugal, The Netherlands, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, USA, Australia, India that include topographic maps, nautical and hydrographic charts and physical and political maps. The maps are truly inter-disciplinary in nature – history, geography, geology, hydrography, oceanography, cartography and biography.

Prof V Ramakrishna, former Head, Dept of History, University of Hyderabad talked about the significance of Deccan studies mentioning the specialty of Dakhni culture that portrays the value of the different culture and religious beliefs, including the history and commercial and political development of the geographic area. Talking about the literature of the region he highlighted how the amalgamation of different cultural influences starting from Persian, Turkistan, Arabian and north Indian helped to develop the culture and literature of the Deccan.

As mapping area in yesteryears had been done with various purposes, it gave the researchers different aspects of the region and it was informative in terms of documentation. “These maps not only serve the navigational purpose of geographic area but cultural purpose too! These maps also talked about Indian native lifestyle of regional areas including their food habits, cloths or weaponry used by the natives. One can get all these small details by analysing these maps in detail,” said Dr Salma Ahmed Farooqui, director of the H K Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies. “So this unique book will provide an in-depth knowledge of Deccani region with well-researched cartography that not only talks about various geographic areas, but also the aspects of cultural and historical evolution.”

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Janab Najeeb Jung unveiled the book in Urdu and English. Janab Najeeb talked about the importance of research institute in our country and the challenges that social science is facing in research. “Due to the parental encouragement our present generation is interested in engineering, medical, science and technology that can give them quick jobs; classical subjects like Philosophy, English, Economics have been neglected in higher studies.”.