The present book 'Muslim Monuments of Rajasthan' is an attempt to add a new chapter in the history of Rajasthan. Rajasthan has a long and glorious past which is evidenced in the form of monuments spread throughout the length and width of the whole state. The author has made efforts to gather the information about all the Muslim monuments and produced in the shape of a book.

The book is an outcome of an extensive field survey and the study of archival documents carried out for several years by the author. The book is a comprehensive and composite study of the Muslim monuments of Rajasthan. It is divided into six chapters but the detail about the monuments is given in the chapter IV which is further divided into two parts.

Dr. Yaqub Ali Khan born in July, 1956 in the district of Baran, Rajasthan, was awarded his Master's degree in Medieval Indian History from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 1978.He was awarded M.Phil and Ph.D. by the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in 1982 and 1984 respectively.

Dr. Khan has participated in many international and national conferences/seminars and has also published many articles on medieval Indian History, Culture and Archeology in various reputed journals. Apart from the present work Dr. Khan has credited two books-

Presently Dr. Khan is working as Associate Professor in the Dept. of History at V. M. Open University, Kota. He also holds the position of Director, STRIDE.

The present book entitled as, 'Muslim monuments of Rajasthan' is an original work based on historical facts, extensive survey sand the field work on the study of archieval documents of the medieval period spread out all over the Rajasthan. Initially this work was undertaken with the financial assistance provided by the University Grants Commission under the scheme of Major Research Projects.

With the arrival of Islam in Indian sub-continent new era of art and architecture begins. Indian architecture took a new shape with the advent of Islamic rule in India. New elements were introduced into the Indian architecture which include the use of shapes, instructional art using decorative lettering or calligraphy, inlay decoration and use of coloured marble, painted plaster and brilliantly glazed tiles. The Islamic architecture was arcuate. They adopted the certain scientific and mechanical formulae which were derived by experience of other civilizations, in their construction in india. Islamic elements of architecture had already passed through different experimental phases in other countries as Egypt, Iran, Syria and Iraq before these were introduced in India. The Indo-Islamic monuments were typical mortar-masonary works formed of dressed stones.

Rajasthan is a land where life in all its aspects comes emblazoned in the brightest of colors. Rajasthan is a name of collective and classical denomination of that portion of India, which was the abode of the Rajputs.' In the familiar dialect of this region it is termed as Rajwara, but by the move refined Raithana, corrupted to Rajputana.2 Due to paramountcy of the Rajputs in this region, Britishers called it Rajputana, in the terms of Mughal language, Persian, the plural of Rajputs is Rajputs. It is most probable that Rajputana word was derived from Rajputan. George Thomas was the first person who termed this region as Rajputana in 1800 A.D. even the famous historian of Rajasthan, Col. James Tod used the term Rajasthan for this part of land lying to the west of Yamuna and he paid high tributes to warriors of this land.

**Contents and Sample Pages**