Daulatabad: Road to Islamic archaeology in India

Daulatabad (District Aurangabad, Maharashtra State) was anciently known as Devgiri. The hill‐fort was built under Hindu rulers in the 12th century. Since the beginning of the 14th century it has served as the capital — central or provincial — of various Islamic dynasties. Each of them has altered, added to and expanded the fort and the township till they came to acquire their present size — an area of roughly six square miles. Explorations were undertaken in 1979 and were followed by very limited excavations. The object of the project was to expose the town plan of medieval Daulatabad. This will be attained in due course. However, the work there and allied problems have raised some issues of fundamental importance for specifically Islamic, archaeology in India. The need for new methods, means and perhaps men has become all too evident. The paper outlines this problem against the background of Daulatabad.