Pillars, Palimpsests, and Princely Practices: Translating the past in Sultanate Delhi

history, the conquest of northern India by the army of the Ghurid sultan Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad (r. 1163-1203) in the last quarter of the twelfth century figures a profound rupture in the cultural fabric of the region. Many of the monuments erected in the wake of the conquest appear to confirm this, for they make extensive use of architectural elements that predate the conquest and are assumed to have been purloined from temples destroyed in its wake. The idea of the trophy looms large in published discussions of these monuments, largely on the basis of a practice of reuse that has never been subjected to any serious analysis. Analysis has been obviated, in large measure, by the widespread perception that reuse offers support for the lurid and highly formulaic tales of looting, spoliation, and desecration found in the medieval texts that have