18th Century Route Map

I'm not sure how I missed Ursula Sims-Williams' post last March on the route from Delhi to Qandahar. The road book she describes is so much more elaborate (and beautiful) than the 4 versions of the Chahar Gulshan with which I've been working these past few years.* There must be some way to use all that rectilinearity in the representation of the route between Patiala and Ludhiana in my studies of imperial gardens...
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*Side note: I'm grateful to Ursula Sims-Williams for her help in procuring additional documentation about the Chahar Gulshan when I was at the British Library in 2008!

Chahar Gulshan

Chahar Gulshan (Four Gardens) is an short history of Mughal India written by Rai Chatar Man Kayath, c. 1759 A.D. The last section of the Chahar Gulshan consists of a road book, describing all the major routes originating in Delhi. Schematically, it is very similar to the Mughal map described by Phillimore (see my earlier post).

Sir Jadunath Sarkar analysed a copy of the Chahar Gulshan now kept in Aligarh as part of his book The India of Aurangzib. In the British Library, I found four other versions of the CG. One was badly damaged by worms and age, but the other three were fairly legible. Here is a page of the most legible, with some translation.

Large view of page:





















Right hand column of page:



Translation of cities, top to bottom (south to north, Delhi to Serai Lashkar Khan): Badli ki Serai (now in North Delhi), Narelah, Sonepat, Ganaur, Sahenalkah (Samalkha), Panipat, Ghaurandah, Karnal, Taori-Azambad, Thanesar, Shahabad, Ambalah, Serai Nun, Serai Hajam, Todar Mal, Aluah, Sirhind, Khana, Serai Lashkar Khan. The Persian running down the right-hand side represent the mileage between two cities/caravanserais.