This essay uncovers the largely invisible history of Hindu and Jain temples within the Mughal imperial capital. Drawing on Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Asar-us-Sanadid and Zafar Hasan’s Monuments of Delhi, the authors trace Delhi’s temples from Shah Jahan’s reign through the twilight of Mughal sovereignty, when merchant patrons like Raja Harsukh Rai produced some of the city’s most refined sacred interiors.
Dalrymple et al. (2026) studied this question.