Ramji Das’ Zikr-e Umurat-e Am Zila-e Dehli, an account of Delhi and its surroundings, is as unique as the city in which it was written, just before the momentous events of 1857 which completely changed this space. Delhi and Its Environs Before 1857: The Account of Ramji Das, Sarishtadar provides a rare description of the city—the alam mein intikhab—where even Lord Indra chose to alight, and this work commands a distinctive place amongst the Persian and Urdu works recorded between the mid-eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Can history be written through structures? Yes! thought Ramji Das, the newly retired deputy sarishtadar, a great admirer of Saiyid Ahmad Khan and his work, who engaged in a dialogue with the past through the material edifices of Delhi and its neighbourhood.