Mughal architecture
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Mughal architecture is the distinctive style of Islamic, Persian and Indian architecture, developed by the Mughal Empire in India in the 16th century.
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[edit] Early Mughal architecture
The Mughal dynasty began with the emperor Babur in 1526. Babur erected a mosque at Panipat to celebrate hs victory over Ibrahim Lodi. A second mosque, known as the Babri masjid, was build in Ayodhya, and demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992.
Some the first and most characteristic examples that remain of early Mughal architecture is were built in the short reign (1540–1545) of emperor Sher Shah Suri, who was not a Mughal; they include a mosque known as the Qila i Kuhna (1541) near Delhi, and the military architecture of the Old Fort in Delhi and Rohtas Fort, near Jhelum in present-day Pakistan. His mausoleum, octagonal in plan and set upon a plinth in the middle of an artificial lake, is in Sasaram, and was completed by his son and successor Islam Shah Suri (1545-1553).
[edit] Akbar
The emperor Akbar (1556-1605) built largely, and the style developed vigorously during his reign. As in the Gujarat and other styles, there is a combination of Muslim and Hindu features in his works. Akbar constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri, located 26 miles west of Agra, in the late 1500s. The numerous structures at Fatehpur Sikri best illustrate the style of his works, and the great mosque there is scarcely matched in elegance and architectural effect; the south gateway is well known, and from its size and structure excels any similar entrance in India. The Mughals built impressive tombs, which include the fine tomb of Akbar's father Humayun, and Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, near Agra, which is a unique structure of the kind and of great merit.
[edit] Jahangir
Under Jahangir (1605–1627) the Hindu features vanished from the style; his great mosque at Lahore is in the Persian style, covered with enamelled tiles; his tomb nearby (1630-1640) was made a quarry of by the Sikhs from which to build the Golden Temple at Amritsar. At Agra, the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula completed in 1628, built entirely of white marble and covered wholly by pietra dura mosaic, is one of the most splendid examples of that class of ornamentation anywhere to be found. Jahangir also built the Shalimar Gardens and its accompanying pavilions on the shore of Dal Lake in Kashmir.
[edit] Shah Jahan
The force and originality of the style gave way under Shah Jahan (1627-1658) to a delicate elegance and refinement of detail, illustrated in the magnificent palaces erected in his reign at Agra and Delhi, the latter one the most exquisitely beautiful in India. The most splendid of the Mogul tombs, and the most renowned building in India, is the Taj Mahal at Agra, the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Shah Jahan. It is surrounded by a garden, as were almost all Moslem tombs. So also of the surpassingly pure and elegant Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) in the Agra Fort, all of white marble: these are among the gems of the style. The Jama Masjid at Delhi is an imposing building, and its position and architecture have been carefully considered so as to produce a pleasing effect and feeling of spacious elegance and well-balanced proportion of parts. In his works Shah Jahan presents himself as the most magnificent builder of Indian sovereigns.
[edit] The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal, the "teardrop on eternity", was completed in 1648 by the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died while giving birth to their 14th child. The extensive use of precious and semiprecious stones as inlay and the vast quantity of white marble required nearly bankrupted the empire. The Taj Mahal is completely symmetric other than the sarcophagus of Shah Jahan, which is placed off center in the crypt room below the main floor. This symmetry extended to the building of an entire mirror mosque in red sandstone, to complement the Mecca-facing mosque place to the west of the main structure.
The Taj Mahal (1630-1653) in Agra, India and the Shalimar Garden (1641-1642) in Lahore, Pakistan, are two sites which are on the world heritage list of UNESCO. One can see the architectural similarities and the love for water that the Mughals expressed in many of their buildings. Some high resolution pictures of the Shalimar Gardens, Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort can be found here.
The Taj is considered to be one of the most beautiful monuments of love and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, when it comes to tourism.
[edit] The "Black Taj"
A longstanding popular tradition holds that an identical mausoleum complex was originally supposed to be built on the other side of the river, in black marble instead of white. The story suggests that Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb before the black version could be built. Ruins of dark marble found across the river are, the story suggests, the unfinished base of this "Black Taj."
Recent scholarship disputes this theory, and throws some interesting light on the design of the Taj Mahal. All other major Mughal tombs were sited in gardens that form a cross, with the tomb at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal pieces. The Taj Mahal gardens, by contrast, form a great 'T', with the tomb at the centre of the crosspiece. But the outline of the ruins on the other river bank would extend the design of the Taj Mahal gardens to form a cross of proportions typical of other Mughal tombs. Further, the marble in the ruins opposite the Taj Mahal, while dark from staining, were originally white. In addition, an octagonal pool in these ruins would have reflected the Taj Mahal. Scholars have called these ruins the Mahtab Bagh or "Moonlight Garden".
[edit] Aurangzeb and later Mughal architecture
In Aurangzeb's reign (1658–1707) squared stone and marble gave way to brick or rubble with stucco ornament. Srirangapatna and Lucknow have examples of later Indo-Muslim architecture.
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[edit] Characteristic elements of Mughal architecture
[edit] See also
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[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Keay, John (2000). India: a History. Grove Press, New York.
