In 1959, a group of architects and policy makers gathered in Delhi to debate the direction for post-1947 architecture; they firmly chose modernist free expression over a state-driven revivalist style. Despite this prevailing modernist direction for India's architecture, revival buildings of the 1950s demonstrate India's negotiation with and construction of its past at a crucial time in the formation of a national identity. The Ashok Hotel and the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi differ from earlier revivals; they exist within the context of Nehruvian rewriting of Indian history to highlight particular moments of unity and religious harmony in the subcontinent's past. These 1955 buildings proclaim an Indianness focused on two distinct periods of the region's history: the generalized, collapsed ancient Buddhist past and the specific, targeted Akbari Mughal past. They thereby demonstrate the machinations of the formation of national identity in India as worked out in history-writing, architecture, and public debate.
Figure 1 Vigyan Bhavan Conference Center, Ramprakash L. Gehlot, 1955. Photograph by the author.
This article has benefited from the generous comments of colleagues at the American Council for Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) Symposium, the Political Studies Association conference, and Pomona College, with particular thanks to Michael Meister and Nita Kumar for their helpful comments and suggestions. My travel to ACSAA in 2007 was funded by the British Academy. I also extend a heartfelt thanks for the thoughtful and insightful feedback of Deborah Hutton, Kristy Philips, Ruth Feingold, and the anonymous reviewers.