Mughal architecture is the distinctive style developed by the Mughals. It is a combination of Islamic, Persian and Indian architecture. Babur (1526-1530 CE), the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, made a beginning of the architectural style which was later developed on a massive scale by his grandson Akbar (1556-1605 CE) and Akbar’s grandson Shah Jehan (1628-1658 CE).
What marvellous line of Emperors these Mughals were, six of the greatest directly desecended sovereigns in the history of the world. Two at least, were men of genius of the very first rank. Babar, soldier and artist, conqueror of Afghanistan and India, prince of autobiographies and gardeners and his grandson Akbar, dreamer and statesman, are the noblest and most fascinating characters in all eastern history.
For the rest of them, Humayun certainly lost ground, but he passed on the kingdom to his son the Great Akbar. Jahangir, Akbar’s son, the great emperors greatest disappointment, still lives in his country’s song and legend in the strength of his romantic life-long love for Nur Mahal, his queen. Shah Jahan, the Great administrator, ranks high, as must any king who inspires and builds a nation masterpiece and no less for that even greater scheme, the dream of the second Taj, whose realisation fate and the emperor’s bigot son frustrated. But in spite of his fanaticism he extended the empire and held it together for fifty years. Then as his iron nerve and hand relaxed in death the great empires of the Mughal fell and with its downfall passed the greatest of the arts and crafts it fostered.
With constructional and instrumental techniques, norms and concepts, Mughal architecture grown from historical-culture, geo-physical background and a transparent evolutionary process that none was prior to it in medieval India. It had a duration for about 132 years practically from 1526 to 1658 in which Fatehpur Sikri in Agra, Lahore, Kashmir, Kabul, Delhi, Allahabad, Ajmer, Ahmedabad, Mandu and Burhanpur are its major centres. About 400 monuments of this style have survived including city-walls and gates, forts, palaces, tombs, masjids, hammams, gardens, minarets, tanks, bridges and the Taj Mahal.
Mughal’s architecture reflect a love for perfection, magnificent, ornamentation, dignity and luxury. At the time of Babur, the Indo-Saracens architecture had developed a distinct style of its own which could be called as primarily Indian. Babur brought Persian influence to India which continued under Humayun and Akbar.
The Emperor Akbar
The emperor Akbar (1556-1605 CE) built largely in which there is a combination of Muslim and Hindu features in his work. He constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri at the west of Agra in the late 1500s. He built impressive tombs, which includes the tomb of Akbar’s father Humayun and Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra which has a unique structure.
Akbar’s architectural activity began with the palace fort at Agra, where more than five hundreds buildings of red stone were constructed. He collected artisans from all over parts of his dominions to fulfil his own self-expression. But, unfortunately, Shah Jahan did not think the red sandstone structures good enough for the imperial palace and he replaced most of them with buildings of his own choice.
Akbar, who having handed down political unity and stability to the country from his father, Humayun, could provide to devote both time and energy to the magnitude of the art of building. His love for universal tolerance was equally reflected in his buildings, where he allowed the Persian and the Indian to freely operate. The group of buildings at Fatehpur Sikri is the best examples of his regime’s architecture. The buildings equally reflect a harmonious blending of Persian and Indian styles. Its best examples are the Jama Masjid and the Buland Darwaza which is described as the most perfect architectural achievements of India. Akbar’s architecture used extensively red sandstone, construction of better doms, arches and portals, greater ornamentation and massive forts.
Jahangir
Under Jahangir (1605-1627 CE) the Hindu features vanished from the style. His great masjid at Lahore is in the Persian style. At Agra, accross the river Jumna, the tomb of Itmadu ad-Daula (the Lord High Treasurer) built entirely of white marble. It is the first example of marble work in a style which directly evolved from pietra-dura mosaic (the Persian tile-mosaics). It was raised by Nur Jahan to the memory of her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, and as testimony of her love for precision ornamentation. He also built the Shalimar gardens accompanied by pavilions on the shore of Dal lake in Kashmir. And due to his great love to his wife, after his death his wife went on to build his mausoleum in Lahore.
Akbar’s mausoleum was built in Jehangir’s time, though Jehangir’s main interests were painting and garden architecture. Verinag and Chasma’i Shahi are gardens built around the spring. The Jehangiri Mahal is a large complex of living appartments and represents the adaptation of a Hindu style of architecture to the Muslim style of living. The Delhi Gate, which the public entrace, gives an impression of strength and solidity from the outside and of opennes and cultured dignity from within.
Shah Jahan
The most splendid of the Moghul tombs and the most renowned building in India is the Taj Mahal at Agra, the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Shah Jahan (1627-1658 CE). The Taj Mahal was completed in 1648 by the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. While the Taj Mahal was under construction he began an eshtablishment of a new city, mosque and palace fort at Delhi to be called after him Shahjanabad. He also built the jami Masjid at Agra in honour of his daughter Jahan Ara.
The Moti Masjid (Pearl Masjid) in the Agra fort and the Jama Masjid at Delhi are also an impressing building which their position and architecture have been considered so. Moti masjid stands out for its purity and simplicity apart from Diwani Khas which reflects emperor’s love for ornamentation.
In his work, Shah jahan considered himself as the most brilliant builder of Indian kings. He also built Shahjahan masjid in Thatta and Wazir khan masjid in Lahore. He built a mausoleum and the huge Lahore fort including the impressive Moti Masjid, Sheesh Mahal and Naulakha pavilion. Shah Jahan for the first time brought grace delicacy and rhytm that brought him in a unique position of his own.
The reign of Shah Jahan began a phase of architectural activity using marble as the new structural material. The Diwani Am (Hall Public Audiences) was rebuilt which then Diwani Khas (the Hall of the Private Aundiences) built some ten years later. But his most praiseworthy contribution to the buildings of the Agra fort was the Moti Masjid.
Aurangzeb and later Mughal Architecture
Although Shajahan’s death gave a setback to architecture for Aurangzeb but during Aurangzeb’s reign (1658-1707 CE) four-sided figure stone and marble gave way to brick. He built one of the thiteen gates named Alamgir. The most impressive building of Aurangzeb’s reign is the Badshahi masjid which was constructed under supervision of Fida’i Koka. The elegant Zinatul Masjid in Daryaganj was directed by Aurangzeb’s second daughter Zinatun Nisa. Mausoleum in the Roshanara Bagh in Sabzimandi was for Aurangzeb’s sister Roshanara who died in 1671. Bibi ka Maqbara, mausoleum was built by Price Azam Shah, son of Aurangzeb, as aloving tribute to his mother, Dilras Bano Begum. The Alamgiri gate is the main entrance to the Lahore fort in Lahore.
The Red Fort at Delhi is surrounded by a high wall of red sandstone in which there are two gateways, one for private use on the south side and another the public extrance, called Lahori Gate, on the west side. With simple design, the gateway is a perfect combination of military requirements and architectural beauty.
The Jami’ Masjid of Delhi represents the excellent of mosque architecture and the Tah Mahal represents the perfection of the mausoleum. The surface of the marble is one of the physical qualities of the Taj Mahal, because it is so sensitive to light conditions expressing a different mood in every season and at every hour of the day and night. It is the combination of the material and the design that express the full values of both.
With the completion of the Taj Mahal, the creative desire of Indian Muslim architecture was weakened. Wazir Khan’s masjid at Lahore was an experiment in the use of brick and tiles, the Badshahi masjid with its extraordinary number of tall and short minarets was an effort in a new style. The Pearl masjid in the Red Fort at Delhi, built by Aurangzeb, has an atmosphere of intimacy but without outstanding architectural merit. Safdarjung’s tomb, built in the middle of the eighteenth century, though following the traditional pattern, lacks that harmony among the different elements of merit.
References
Mujeeb, M., The Indian Muslims, Montreal, 1967
Rizvi, S.A.A., The Wonder that was India vol. II, New Delhi, 1993
Singh, Meera., Medieval History of India, New Delhi, 1978.
Stuart, Villiers, C.M., Gardens of the Great Mughals, Chennai, 1913
