Chapter Notes: Some Aspects of Indo-Islamic Architecture

Introduction

• Islam spread to India through merchants, traders, holy men and conquerors over 600 years
• Building activity began under the Delhi Sultanate in the early 13th century CE
• Muslims absorbed local cultures and combined them with their own architectural practices, resulting in Indo-Saracenic or Indo-Islamic architecture
• Hindus adorned all surfaces with sculptures and paintings, while Muslims developed their religious art and architecture with arabesque, geometrical patterns, and calligraphy

Typologies of Structures

• Mosques for daily prayers, tombs, dargahs, minars, hammams, gardens, madrasas, and sarais were constructed to meet religious and secular needs
• Architectural edifices were constructed by rulers and nobles, merchants, merchant guilds, rural elites, and devotees of a cult
• Indo-Islamic structures were influenced by Indian architectural and decorative forms, and depended on the availability of materials, resources, and skills of patrons

Categories of Styles

• Indo-Islamic architecture is categorised into the Imperial Style, the Provincial Style, the Mughal Style, and the Deccani Style
• The Bengal and Jaunpur styles are regarded as distinct, while Gujarat's style is characterised by regional temple traditions and motifs
• The white marble dargah of Shaikh Ahmad Khattu of Sarkhej influenced the Mughal tombs' form and decoration

Decorative Forms

• Designs were made on plaster through incision or stucco, with motifs painted or carved in stone
• Motifs included flowers, trees, and vases, and complex designs of flower motifs decorated ceilings, textiles, and carpets
• Tiles were used to surface walls and domes in the 14th to 16th centuries, with popular colours being blue, turquoise, green, and yellow
• Tessellation and pietra dura techniques were used for surface decoration, particularly in dado panels of walls
• Decorations also included arabesque, calligraphy, high and low relief carving, and a profuse use of jalis
• Arches were constructed with voussoirs and keystones, and designed with trefoil or multiple foliations from the 16th century onwards
• Spandrels of arches were decorated with medallions or bosses

Structures for Common People

• Medieval India had a mix of styles, techniques, and decorations in public and private spaces for non-royal sections of society.
• Examples included domestic buildings, temples, mosques, khanqahs, dargahs, commemorative gateways, pavilions in buildings and gardens, and bazaars.

Mandu

• Located sixty miles from Indore, Mandu overlooks the Malwa Plateau to the north and the Narmada valley to the south.
• Mandu's natural defence encouraged consistent habitations by Parmara Rajputs, Afghans, and Mughals.
• As the capital city of Ghauri Dynasty founded by Hoshang Shah, Mandu acquired a lot of fame.
• Mandu was associated with the romance of Sultan Baz Bahadur and Rani Rupmati, and the Mughals resorted to it for pleasure during the monsoon season.
• Mandu is a fine example of architectural adaptation to the environment, using local stone and marble to great advantage.
• The Royal Enclave in the city comprised a cluster of palaces and attendant structures, official and residential, built around two artificial lakes.
• The Hindola Mahal was the audience hall of the Sultan, while the Jahaaz Mahal was an elegant two-storey 'ship- palace' possibly used as the Sultan's harem and as the ultimate pleasure and recreational resort.
• Rani Rupmati's double pavilion perched on the southern embattlements afforded a beautiful view of the Narmada valley, and Baz Bahadur's palace had a wide courtyard ringed with halls and terraces.
• The Jama Masjid of Mandu was built on a large scale to accommodate many worshippers for Friday prayers, and is faced with red sandstone.
• Provincial style architecture of Mandu is regarded as too close to the structures of Imperial Delhi to make a bold statement of local traditions, but its surface embellishments of jalis, carved brackets, etc., and the lightness of the structures was an important intervention in the narrative of the Indo-Islamic architectural experience.

Taj Mahal

• Built in Agra by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal was the apogee of the evolutionary architectural process in medieval India.
• The sublimity of the building comes from its orderly, simple plan and elevation, amazingly perfect proportions or symmetry, the ethereal quality marble has lent to it, the perfect setting of bagh and river, and the pure outline of the tomb silhouetted against the sky.
• The Taj complex is entered through a monumental red sandstone gateway the opening arch of which beautifully frames the mausoleum.
• The tomb is laid out in a Chahar Bagh, criss-crossed with paths and water courses, interspersed with pools and fountains, and placed on the northern extremity of the bagh to take advantage of the river bank.
• At the corners of the terrace stand four tall, tapering minarets, one hundred and thirty-two feet high.
• The main body of the building is topped with a drum and dome and four cupolas forming a beautiful skyline.
• Towards the west of the white marble-faced tomb lies a red sandstone mosque and a similar construction in the east to maintain balance.

Conclusion