ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to understand the various interconnected representations of iconoclasm in the Qutb complex through the three modalities of colonialism, nationalism, and post colonialism. It argues that in each of these historic moments, the Qutb complex has been appropriated as a signifier that oscillates between representations of a past and ideological constructs of the contemporary moment. The chapter investigates the colonial project of architectural preservation in India, which was in large part conceived as a modern strategy that differentiated British imperialists from their Muslim predecessors. It examines the epistemological legacy of colonial systems of representation, in which the 'Hindu' elements of the Qutb complex were separated from its 'Islamic' elements as individual objects of reverence and historical import. The chapter focuses on one strand of nationalist discourse in India, which is the precursor of contemporary political groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
