Lieutenant Colonel James Tod served as the East India Company’s political agent to the Western Rajputana states in the early 19th century, and while working there he undertook extensive research on Rajput history and polity, and amassed large collections of manuscripts and paintings. While the importance and aesthetic delight of Tod’s collections are beyond doubt, the accuracy and political objectives of his history have always been controversial matters. This book explores not only his collections but his work as an author, and the reception of his ideas by other scholars and writers as well. The chapters are all written by experts on Tod or on Rajasthani art and history; and each of them explores one aspect of his collections, or their broader context in Tod’s life and times.
 
Giles Tillotson was formerly Reader in History of Art at SOAS (University of London) and has also been Director of the Royal Asiatic Society. He edited the earlier Marg volume, Stones in the Sand: The Architecture of Rajasthan (2001) and is the author of many other studies of Rajput architecture and history, of which the most recent is Jaipur Nama: Tales from the Pink City (2006). He is now based in Delhi.