Pariksha SaathiLesson 2 of 10 · Indian Art and Culture
Indo-Islamic and Later Architecture: Sultanate, Mughal, Rajput and Colonial Buildings
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What the new rulers brought
Earlier Indian builders spanned openings with beams laid across pillars, the trabeate system. From the end of the 12th century the Turkish rulers brought the arcuate system: the true arch, locked by a keystone, and the dome, raised over a square room on corner squinches, both bonded with lime mortar. Because Islam discourages images of living beings, decoration came from calligraphy, geometric patterns, arabesques and pierced stone screens (jali). Minarets came with them too, and in time the charbagh (a garden in four parts divided by water channels), the double dome and, under the Mughals, pietra dura, the inlay of coloured stones in marble.
Delhi Sultanate
Qutbuddin Aibak built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi, using pillars from demolished temples, and the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra at Ajmer. He began the Qutub Minar around 1199; Iltutmish added three storeys, and after lightning damage Firoz Shah Tughlaq rebuilt the top and added a fifth, bringing it to 72.5 metres of red and buff sandstone banded with inscriptions. The iron pillar in the same complex is a rust-resistant Gupta work. The first true arch is credited to Balban's tomb (about 1287) and the first true dome to the Alai Darwaza (1311), the gateway Alauddin Khalji added to the Qutub complex in red sandstone with white marble and horseshoe arches; Alauddin also built Siri and the Hauz-i-Alai tank. The Tughlaqs built massive, plain forts with sloping walls, such as Tughlaqabad of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, and Firoz Shah moved two Ashokan pillars to Delhi. The Sayyids and Lodis built octagonal tombs, and the double dome appears in the Lodi period, as in Sikandar Lodi's tomb.
Provincial styles
As the Sultanate weakened, regional kingdoms built in their own ways. The Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur built the Atala Masjid with a huge gateway-like screen in place of minarets. Bengal built in brick and terracotta, as in the vast Adina mosque at Pandua, and borrowed the curved roof of village huts. Gujarat's sultans blended Hindu and Jain carving into mosques such as the Jama Masjid of Ahmedabad and the Sidi Saiyyed mosque with its tree-of-life jali. Mandu in Malwa has the Jahaz Mahal, the Hindola Mahal and the marble tomb of Hoshang Shah. In the Deccan the Bahmanis built at Gulbarga and Bidar, the Adil Shahis built the Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah with one of the world's largest domes and a whispering gallery, and the Qutb Shahi ruler Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah built the Charminar at Hyderabad in 1591.
Mughal architecture
Babur laid out gardens such as the Aram Bagh at Agra, and Sher Shah Suri built his octagonal tomb in the middle of a tank at Sasaram (Bihar). The Mughal style proper begins with Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, built by his widow Bega Begum and completed in 1570 to the design of the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas: the first garden tomb of the subcontinent, set in a charbagh, in red sandstone with white marble under a Persian double dome. Akbar mixed Persian and Indian forms in red sandstone at Agra Fort and at Fatehpur Sikri, whose Buland Darwaza celebrates his conquest of Gujarat and whose Panch Mahal and Diwan-i-Khas use Indian brackets, beams and chhatris. Nur Jahan built the tomb of her father Itimad-ud-Daulah at Agra, the first Mughal building wholly in white marble with pietra dura. Shah Jahan, whose reign is the age of marble, built the Taj Mahal at Agra on the Yamuna for Mumtaz Mahal, with Ustad Ahmad Lahori as chief architect, and at his new city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi the Red Fort (begun in 1639) and the Jama Masjid. Under Aurangzeb building declined; the Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad, built in memory of his wife Dilras Banu Begum, is called the Taj of the Deccan.
Rajput forts and palaces
Rajput rulers built hill forts and palaces that borrowed Mughal chhatris (domed kiosks), jharokhas (projecting balconies) and gardens. Chittorgarh has the nine-storey Vijay Stambha raised by Rana Kumbha of Mewar after his victory over the Sultan of Malwa, beside the older Jain Kirti Stambha; Rana Kumbha also built Kumbhalgarh, whose walls run for about 36 kilometres. Other landmarks are Mehrangarh at Jodhpur (Rao Jodha), the yellow sandstone fort of Jaisalmer, Amber near Jaipur, the Man Mandir palace in Gwalior fort (Raja Man Singh Tomar), the Hawa Mahal of Jaipur (Sawai Pratap Singh, 1799) and the Jantar Mantar observatories of Sawai Jai Singh II at Jaipur, Delhi, Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura.
Colonial buildings
The Portuguese built Baroque churches in Goa, such as the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which holds the remains of St Francis Xavier. The British used Gothic Revival and Indo-Saracenic styles: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) in Mumbai by F. W. Stevens, the Gateway of India by George Wittet, and the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, in white Makrana marble, by William Emerson. New Delhi was planned by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, with Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate by Lutyens and the circular Parliament House, opened in 1927.
Key facts
- Trabeate (beam and pillar) was the older Indian system; the Turks brought the arcuate system of true arch and dome, held with lime mortar.
- Qutub Minar: begun by Aibak around 1199, three storeys added by Iltutmish, top rebuilt and a fifth storey added by Firoz Shah Tughlaq; Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque stands beside it.
- First true arch: Balban's tomb (about 1287); first true dome: Alai Darwaza (1311) of Alauddin Khalji; double dome in Lodi-period tombs such as Sikandar Lodi's.
- Deccan landmarks: Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur (tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah, whispering gallery); Charminar, Hyderabad (Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, 1591).
- Humayun's Tomb: built by Bega Begum, designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, completed 1570; first garden tomb in a charbagh, the model for the Taj.
- Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb, Agra: built by Nur Jahan for her father; first Mughal building wholly of white marble with pietra dura.
- Shah Jahan: Taj Mahal (Ustad Ahmad Lahori, for Mumtaz Mahal), Red Fort begun 1639 and Jama Masjid at Shahjahanabad; Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad is the Taj of the Deccan.
- Vijay Stambha, Chittorgarh: nine storeys, built by Rana Kumbha after defeating the Sultan of Malwa; Kumbhalgarh's walls run about 36 km.
- Colonial pairs: CST Mumbai - F. W. Stevens; Gateway of India - George Wittet; Victoria Memorial - William Emerson; Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate - Edwin Lutyens.
Quick revision
Arcuate (arch, dome, mortar) replaced trabeate; Qutub Minar: Aibak c.1199, Iltutmish, Firoz Tughlaq; Balban's tomb first true arch; Alai Darwaza 1311 first true dome; Atala Masjid (Jaunpur); Gol Gumbaz (Bijapur); Charminar 1591; Humayun's Tomb 1570 (Bega Begum, Mirak Mirza Ghiyas); Buland Darwaza (Gujarat victory); Itimad-ud-Daulah first all-marble; Taj (Ustad Ahmad Lahori); Red Fort 1639; Vijay Stambha (Rana Kumbha); CST (Stevens); Victoria Memorial (Emerson).