History of India (1550-1750) Page 1 of 22

History of India (1550-1750) Page 1 of 22

History of India- 3.6.2.1

Cultural Development (1550-1750): Architecture

Mughal architecture – Part 1

GLOSSARY

Sultanate – The era from 1206 to 1526 when many Muslim dynasties ruled Delhi and Northern India, it was founded with the victory of Mohammad of Ghor over Prithviraj and declined with the victory of Babur and the establishment of the Mughal Empire.

Babur (1483 – 1530) – Founder of the Mughal Empire after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526.

Sher Shah Suri (1486 – 1545) – Founder of the Sur Dynasty in North India, he drove out Humayun and the Mughal Dynasty from India for a short span of time to establish the Sur Dynasty.

Khanka – Sufi hospice

Haman – Public baths

Akbar (1524 – 1605) – Son of Humayun and grandson of Babur, he was the Mughal Emperor from 1556 to 1605.

Humayun (1508 – 1556) – Son of Babur, he was the second Mughal Emperor.

Parwana – Order of the provincial governor

Sanat – Order of the financial minister or the diwan of the province

Abul Fazl (1551 – 1602) – Vizier in Emperor Akbar’s court and the author of Akbarnamah and Ain-e-Akbari.

OBJECTIVES

The students will

Acquaint themselves with the various Mughal architectural specimens

Learn about the history of each of the architectural specimens

Appreciate the unique features of the architectural specimens

SUMMARY

Although the Mughal architecture was influenced by the Sultanate architecture to some extent, it went to develop its own distinctiveness within a few centuries especially from the reign of Akbar. There was a shift from the use of red sandstone to white marbles and the colossal structures were replaced by well proportionate structures.

Akbar was a patron of architecture and constructed innumerable forts. The Agra Fort and the Fatehpur Sikri stand out among them. The other forts were constructed at Lahore, Allahabad and Ajmer.

Fatehpure Sikri was a fort-palace constructed near Agra. The main buildings in Fatehpur Sikri complex are the Daulat Khana, the Jenana Mahal, the Jama MAsjid, the Diwam-i-Aam and the Diwan-i-Khas, the Hawa Mahal, the Panch Mahal. There are rooms for the ladies too. Although the Fatehpur Sikri is built on a hillock there was ample supply of water because of the elaborate water supply and drainage system.

FAQs

1. Differentiate between the basic architectural style of the Sultanate and the Mughal Period?

There had been two clear cut changes from the Sultanate to the Mughal period as far as architecture is concerned: 1) There was a shift from the use of red sandstone to the use of white marble and 2) Instead of classical, colossal, strong buildings of the Sultanate Period, in the Mughal Period the emphasis was on making balanced and proportionate buildings.

2.Describe the mausoleum constructed by Sher Shah in Bihar.

The mausoleum at Sasaram in Bihar was a building of several stages. It had a unique feature that is there was no plinth. It started straight from the ground; the middle floor is completely empty, there are eight cornered surrounding walls, in front of which there is a lake and it through the lake on a pathway, that one reaches the mausoleum.

3. What were the two unique features of Atka Khan’s mausoleum?

There are two features of Atka Khan’s mausoleum are: 1) Use of colored marble which was used for the first time in a mausoleum and 2) The surrounding wall had a kind of sculpture on it, which is also quite unique.

4. Why did Akbar choose Sikri to build the fort-palace?

According to history Akbar came to Sikri in 1568 to visit Sheik Salim Chisti, who was living here in a Khanka. Akbar came here to ask for a son and built a small stone palace for himself where he stayed and it is in this palace that Prince Salim was born in 1569.

From 1570-71 onwards, Akbar began to live regularly at Fatehpur Sikri, and began to construct the palaces.

5. Describe the Ajmer Fort built by Akbar.

The fort of Ajmer is much smaller than other forts but far more beautiful. The main feature is that there is a middle room or hall with pillars and rooms on all sides. This middle hall with pillars is a feature in Akbar’s architecture. But here the pillars and the surrounding wall are very well ornamented with groups of themes like elephant fights, going hunting etc. It has been postulated rightly that Akbar used to come here for rest and relaxation.

QUIZ

1. The biographer of Humayun was A) Din Panah B) Khwandamir C) Abul Fazl

2. Purana Quila was constructed by A) Humayun B) Akbar C) Sher Shah

3. The tomb of Humayun was built by A) Mirza Ghiasuddin B) Abul Fazl C) Atka Khan

4. The Buland Darwaza was build in the A) Purana Quila B) Lahore Fort C) Fatehpur Sikri

5.The women in Fatehpur Sikri would go to the A) Nagina Masjid B) Jama Masjid C) Bara Masjid

ASSIGNMENT

1. Discuss the architectural features of the tomb of Humayun.

2. Highlight the prominent features of the Agra Fort.

3. Describe the various sections of the Harem Sarai in the Fatehpur Sikri

4. Briefly describe the Daulat Khana of the Fatehpur Sikri.

5. Describe the elaborate water supply system in Fatehpur Sikri.

History of India- 3.6.2.1

Cultural Development (1550-1750): Architecture

Mughal architecture – Part 1

Aspects of the development of Mughal Architecture

With the emergence of the Sultanate in India, certain architectural styles had developed in Indian architecture. But when we come to the Mughals we see that they had developed to a considerable extent those forces and influences. There had been two clear cut changes from the Sultanate to the Mughal period as far as architecture is concerned: 1) Gradually there was a change in emphasis in the Mughal architecture from the use of red sandstone to white marble. More and more buildings were built particularly after the coming of Shah Jahan in marble and 2) In the Mughal period, instead of classical, colossal, strong buildings, in the Mughal Period the emphasis was on making balanced and proportionate buildings. We can see these two features in some of the Mughal architectures which will be discussed very briefly.

Early Mughal Architectural works

Babur started the Mughal Empire in 1556. He wrote in his own autobiography that he had made only four gardens, out of which only one garden in Agra has been found so far. He made two mosques which were very usual. There was nothing exceptional about these mosques.

Humayun was supposed to have built a city called Din Panah, but it has never been found and we do not know what this city is about, excepting from the writings of his biographer Khwandamir, who wrote Humayun Nama.

Therefore when Sher Shah came he found the field quite open, and had some architectural skill or interest. Two of his architectural works which had influence of Mughal architecture are, 1) the mausoleum at Sasaram in Bihar. The mausoleum, a building of several stages, had a unique feature that there was no plinth. It started straight from the ground; the middle floor is completely empty, there are eight cornered surrounding walls, in front of which there is a lake and it through the lake on a pathway, that one reaches the mausoleum. The one of Sher Shah, which is important, so far as Mughal architecture is concerned is the 2) Purana Quila. Unfortunately there is only one mosque and two gateways at the moment. In these two gateways we see the use of the red sandstone with marbles. This is the pattern that Akbar had followed in his architectural works.

Mughal Architecture before Akbar

Before we come to Akbar’s works, we would discuss very briefly, the tomb of Humayun at Delhi built in1564, by the widow of Humayun, Haji Begum. She employed an architect of Persia, Mirza Ghiasuddin and therefore in the tomb of Humayun, the Persian influence could be seen. This building is a square one, built on red sandstone floor in the midst of a garden with four gates and with a dome, which was rather unique in India at that particular time. It is unique because it is not fully a Mughal dome. It has two covers; one of red sandstone (inside is empty) and then on top of it was the marble cover. This is the model that was followed later to a certain extent by Akbar but it was finally discarded from the time of Jahangir. The mausoleum of Humayun or the tomb of Humayun, there are other tombs of Humayun’s family inside is a typical one with archways; there are many rooms from where one can go straight to the middle room, where the tomb lies.

Now along with that there is another mausoleum of a noble of Akbar called Atka Khan, built in 1564. There are two features of Atka Khan’s mausoleum: 1) Use of colored marble which was used for the first time in a mausoleum and 2) The surrounding wall had a kind of sculpture on it, which is also quite unique.

Mughal Architecture during Akbar

Akbar has many achievements out of which we are mainly going to discuss Agra fort and the construction of Fatehpur Sikri.

Agra fort took a long time to construct. It started in 1562. It is an irregular circle, its length was 2700 ft. The middle room of the fort runs parallel to the Jamuna River and Abul Fazal said that in the fort there were 500 buildings in the fort. Most of the buildings have been destroyed perhaps by the order of Shah Jahan who converted some of the red sandstone buildings into marbles. There are two unique features. 1) Some of the buildings have Gujarati styles and 2) some of the buildings contain Hindu influence of a bird flying etc. These Hindu influences could be seen fully later in the constructions of the buildings of Fatehpur Sikri.

Akbar’s Agra Fort is not the only one. Akbar had constructed the fort of Lahore, which was a smaller one but far more regular. In Agra fort, the rooms are irregular rooms. There is no uniformity in the rooms; not of equal size. The rooms have sometimes connections and sometimes covered by other buildings. In Lahore the rooms are very regular. The fort is rectangular, slightly half moon type and this rectangular plane have been divided equally and therefore the rooms are also fairly equal. There was also a surrounding wall like that of Agra.

Akbar also built the fort of Allahabad, which was much bigger, on the confluence of Ganges and Jamuna. The fort of Allahabad was roughly 3000 feet in length, and was one of the biggest forts of Akbar if we leave Fatehpur Sikri. This fort has now only one building left; this building has created a bit of a controversy. The general opinion is that it is the harem or called Jenana Mahal, but one cannot be sure about this.

The fourth fort was the fort of Ajmer, that Akbar had got constructed. It was much smaller but far more beautiful. The main feature is that there is a middle room or hall with pillars and rooms on all sides. This middle hall with pillars is a feature in Akbar’s architecture. We find the same thing in the other forts as well. But here the pillars and the surrounding wall are very well ornamented with groups of themes like elephant fights, going hunting etc. It has been postulated rightly that Akbar used to come here for rest and relaxation.

Construction of Fatehpur Sikri

The principle work for which Akbar has been known ever since is the construction of Fatehpur Sikri. It is at a 25 mile distance from Agra, and its radius is 10 km and is on a hillock. But the royal complex which Akbar built, generally called the Daulat khana complex, is on the sloping plain of the hillock. There is a little bit of history and controversy in case of Fatehpur Sikri.

There is a little of history as well as controversy in the case of Fatehpur Sikri. The history is that in 1568, Akbar came here to visit Sheik Salim Chisti, who was living here in a Khanka. And Akbar came here to ask for a son and built a small stone palace for himself where he stayed and it is in this palace that Prince Salim was born in 1569.

From 1570-71 onwards, Akbar began to live regularly at Fatehpur Sikri, and began to construct the palaces. Most of the palaces and buildings are in ruins but some of them were finally excavated and cleared by the archaeological survey of India, and had been written by many people with plans.

Features of Fatehpur Sikri

One particular feature of Fatehpur Sikri that attracts attention is that in one complex one would have the living room i.e. the Daulat Khana of the emperor, their office rooms, the Jenana Mahal, the stables and all other paraphernalia, which is very rare in India. And this entire complex, which is now called Fatehpur Sikri, is outside the area of the place where the nobles had begun to construct their homes. Most of these homes are in ruins now. The reason is that although these are of stone, but these are done in a very hurried way. Akbar did not live for very long here and Fatehpur Sikri was deserted soon after.

Jahangir and Shah Jahan came and stayed for some time and after that some Mughal emperors came from time to time, but there was no more glory that was there during the time of Akbar. If we come to Fatehpur Sikri from the Agra Gate we would see that it goes straight to what is known as the Diwan-i-Aam, the public audience hall, from there it goes to the Jama Masjid.

This entire area was made of stone quarried from the hillocks of Sikri. (Fatehpur was the name given by Akbar; earlier it was called merely Sikri). For the purpose of building this city, workers from all parts of the Mughal Empire were brought. There are foreign evidences, particularly the evidence of Father Montserrat, who praised these buildings very much, particularly the Daulat Khana, and he used to say that Akbar used to himself work at the cutting of the stone.

One comes from Agra gate to go to Jama Masjid. West of that were the group of buildings and now one can see that there are 3 buildings. But these three buildings were not separated during the time of Akbar. These were made of one plan connected with each other by covered corridor 1) the Daulat Khana, the living room of the Mughal emperor, then 2) the Harem/ Harem sarai/ Jenana Mahal and 3) a pillar hall which is considered to be an office, which anyways had created a controversy but now these are all separated.

In the Daulat Khana there is a double storied building. The ground floor of this building is a painted one, the ceilings and walls all are painted and this is generally called the Kwabga i.e. the bedroom of the Mughal emperor. (Khwab = Dream, Ga = Room)

The next building is the Harem shala in which one portion today is shown by the guides as building of Jodha Bai, (Jodha Bai ki Kothi), and it has been stated that Jodha Bai was the wife of Akbar. Unfortunately history does not give the name of Akbar’s wife as Jodha Bai or any other name as such.

There is another building nearby which is called the Sunehari Kothi, and is also called Mariyam ka Kothi. If we go to Fatehpur Sikri the guides will tell us that this is the building of the Portuguese wife of Akbar. Once again history belies this proposition, however romantic it is. There is no evidence of Akbar having a Portuguese wife. Actually this is the building of the first wife of Akbar, the princess or daughter of Raja Bihari Mal. Her name is not given but the title is Mariyam Zamani and we have had a large number of parwanas and sanats which have been codified by a scholar named Teremzi ‘Farmans and Documents from Mughal Harem’ in which the documents of Mariyam Zamani have been found.

Mariyam Zamani or the daughter of Raja Bihari Mal, the first Hindu wife of Akbar, did not stay here which we know from other sources. She used to stay with the Rajput ladies in the Harem sarai itself. The Harem sarai which one could go from Daulat Khana by a dark covered passage, which is no longer there, but Harem sarai has a garden inside, like many other Harems of the Mughal days. In this garden the water is brought out from the north from a tank by underground pipes then brought to a fountain in the middle of it and from this fountain this water then goes through the garden in different levels. It is interesting that while going through these different parts of the garden, the water goes through the different colored lamps, lighted after evening and it gives a certain different glow in the garden.

From this garden the women could go to the Nagina Masjid, which was nearby. Now, this kind of Harem sarai could also be seen in the Mughal period buildings in other places like Rajasthan, Gwalior and they still exist and there no problem there. Therefore one could see that on one hand there is a luxury that is there, all built of red sand stone with very little marble, but the Hindu influence is certainly there to a great extent.