CITY’S 19TH CENTURY HISTORY IN PRINT
Yagnesh Mehta

Times of India
Nov 23 2009

SURAT: For the first time, city’s 19th century history has been
documented in a book by well-known historian Mohan Meghani. The
book titled Surat in the Nineteenth Century’ will be released in a
week’s time.

So far, Meghani has documented citi’s history for the earlier three
centuries. During his academic career at MTB Arts College, Meghani
started working on the book Surat in the Sixteenth Century’ followed
by a book on Surat in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century’.

"The new book on 19th century has 150 pages, which is comparatively
smaller than the earlier books, as I have not touched all the details
known to majority of the people. I attempted to cover only those
details which are lesser known and important for academic purpose,"
says Meghani, former head of history department at MTB Arts College.

The book has been published by Chinilal Gandhi Vidhyabhavan, managed
by Sarvajanik Education Society (SES), and is being sponsored by
history department of MTB Arts College.

The book describes details of the British rule in the city, along
with the contribution of Armenians to its economy and culture. The
book also has information on the municipal corporation in the city
and how the European culture influenced that of Surat is also a part
of the narrative.

A comparison of Surat of the 18th century and 19th century has been
done, which reflects the changing culture and infrastructure of
the city.