History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c26.s5: Chronology.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c26.s5
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Chronology.
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| Khwâja-i-Jahân assumes independence at Jaunpur . | A.D. 1394 | Mahmûd Shâh Sharqî . | A.D. 1440 |
| Mubârak, his adopted son | 1399 | Husain Shâh | 1452 |
| Shamsu-d-Dîn—Ibrâhîm Shâh Sharqî . | 1401 | ——deposed and seeks refuge at Gaur . | 1479 |
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IT was just two centuries after the conquest of India by the Moslims that Khwâja-i-Jahân, the Sûbahdâr or governor of the province in which Jaunpur¹ is situated, assumed independence, and established a dynasty which maintained itself for nearly a century, from A.D. 1394 to about 1479, and though then reconquered by the sovereign of Delhi, still retained a sort of semi-independence till finally incorporated in the Mughal empire by the great Akbar. During this period Jaunpur was adorned by several large mosques, three of which still remain tolerably entire, and a considerable number of tombs, palaces and other buildings, besides a fort and bridge, all of which are as remarkable specimens of their class of architecture as are to be found anywhere in India.
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¹ Jaunpur is about 40 miles north-west from Benares. Its architecture is treated in detail in 'The Sharqî Architecture of Jaunpur' (1889) illustrated by 74 plates from the drawings of the late Edmund W. Smith, of the Archæological Survey.
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Although so long after the time when, under 'Alâu-d-Dîn and Tughlaq Shâh, the architecture of the capital had assumed something like completeness, it is curious to observe how imperfect the amalgamation was in the provinces at the time when the principal buildings at Jaunpur were erected. The principal parts of the mosque, such as the gateways, the great halls, and the western parts generally, are in a complete arcuate style. Wherever, indeed, wide openings and large internal spaces were wanted, arches and domes and radiating vaults were employed, and there is little in those parts to distinguish this architecture from that of the capitals. But in the cloisters that surround the courts, and in the galleries in the interior, short square pillars are as generally employed, with bracket capitals, horizontal architraves, and roofs formed of flat slabs, as was invariably the case in Hindû and Jaina temples. Instead of being fused together, as they afterwards became, the arcuate style of the Moslims stands here, though in juxtaposition, in such marked contrast to the trabeate style of the Hindûs, that some authors have been led to suppose that the pillared parts belonged to ancient Jaina or Buddhist monuments, which had been appropriated by the Muhammadans and converted to their purposes.¹ The truth of the matter appears to be, that the greater part of the Muhammadans in the province at the time the mosques were built were Hindûs converted to that religion, and who still clung to their native forms when these did not clash with their new faith; and the masons were almost certainly those whose traditions and whose taste inclined them much more to the old trabeate forms than to the newly-introduced arched style.
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¹ The first to suggest this was the Baron Hügel, and the idea was taken up by the late Mr Horne and Rev. M. A. Skerring. There may have been some Jaina or Hindû buildings at Jaunpur of the 13th or 14th centuries that were utilised by the Muhammadans, but nine-tenths at least of the pillars in these mosques were made at the time they were required for the places they now occupy.
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As we shall presently see at Gaur, on the one hand, the arched style prevailed from the first, because the builders had no other material than brick, and large openings were then impossible without arches. At Ahmadâbâd, on the other hand, in an essentially Jaina country, and where stone was abundant, the pillared forms were not only as commonly employed as at Jaunpur, but were used for so long a time, that before the country was absorbed in the Mughal empire, the amalgamation between the trabeate and arcuate forms was complete.
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The oldest mosque at Jaunpur is that of Ibrâhîm Nâib Bârbak the general of Fîrûz Shâh Tughlaq, in the fort, which we learn from an inscription on it, was completed in A.D. 1377.² It is not large—externally 130 ft. north and south—and consists of a central block of masonry, with a large archway, of the usual style of the Muhammadan architecture of the period, and five openings between pillars on either hand. The front row of these pillars is double, they are of various designs, the outer pillars being square and the inner round, and richly sculptured,
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² Mr Blochmann read the date 778 A.H. (‘Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ 1875, p. 14), Khairu-d-dîn in his ‘History of Jaunpur,’ translated by F. Pogson (p. 41) read this date as 798 A.H. or 1396 A.D.
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383. Plan of Western Half of Courtyard of Jâmi' Masjid, Jaunpur. (From a Plan by the Author.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
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384. View of south lateral Gateway of Jâmi' Masjid, Jaunpur. (From a Drawing by the Author.)
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and were evidently taken from some temple that existed there, or in the neighbourhood, before the Moslim occupation, but they seem to have exhausted the stock, as scarcely any other such are found in the mosques built subsequently.¹
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¹ A view of this mosque will be found in Kittoe's ‘Indian Architecture,’ plate 2, and a plan in Cunningham’s ‘Archæological Survey Reports,’ vol. xi. plate 31.
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There are three great mosques still standing in the city ; of these the grandest is the Jâmi' Masjid (Woodcuts Nos. 383, 384), which was commenced by Shâh Ibrâhîm, A.D. 1438, but not completed till the reign of Husain Shâh A.D. 1452-1478. It stands on a platform raised from 16 to 20 ft. above the ground level and consists of a courtyard 217 ft. 4 in. by 211 ft. 6 in., on the western side of which is situated the range of buildings forming the mosque, the central area covered by a dome 39 ft. 8 in. in diameter, in front of which stands a gate pyramid or *propylon*,² of almost Egyptian mass and outline, rising to the height of 86 ft. This gate pyramid by its elevation supplied the place of a minaret, which is a feature as little known at Jaunpur, as it was, at the same age, in the capital city of Delhi. On each side of the dome is a compartment, 44 ft. 7 in. by 25 ft. 4 in., divided into two storeys by a stone floor supported on pillars ; and beyond this, on each side, is an apartment 39 ft. 7 in. by 49 ft. 3 in., covered by a bold pointed vault with ribs, so constructed that its upper surface forms the external roof of the building, which in Gothic vaults is scarcely ever the case. Each compartment has three mihrâbs in the back wall, that is fifteen on the ground floor, with two in each of the upper rooms. The three sides of the courtyard were surrounded by double colonnades, two storeys in height internally, but with three on the exterior, the floor of the courtyard being raised to the height of the lower storey. On each face was a handsome gateway ; the southern one is represented in Woodcut No. 384, which gives a fair idea of the style. The greater part of the eastern side of the court with the entrance on that side and the upper storeys of the other cloisters, are said to have been destroyed by Sultân Sikandar Lodî in his displeasure at the ingratitude of Husain, 1499-1510; though there is also a story of their being taken down at a very much later date.
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² It is partially seen in Woodcut No. 384 ; but for plans, elevations, sections, and details, see ‘Sharqî Architecture of Jaunpur,’ pages 52-63, and plates 43-73.
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The smallest of the mosques in the city is the Lâl Darwâza or Red Gate, which stands to the north-west of the city.³ It is in the same style as the others ; and its propylon—represented in Woodcut No. 385—displays not only the bold massiveness with which these mosques were erected, but shows also that strange admixture of Hindû and Muhammadan architecture which pervaded the style during the whole period of its continuance. The Masjid measures 168 ft. 6 in. in length inside by 35 ft. 4 in. from front to back, whilst the court is about 132½ ft. from east to west, by 130½ ft. from north to south, surrounded by corridors about 17½ ft. wide on the sides, and
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³ *Ibid.* pp. 43-51, and plates 26-40.
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385. Lâl Darwâza Mosque, Jaunpur. (From a Drawing by the Author.)
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16 ft. at the east end. The propylon is 45 ft. wide over all at the base and 49 ft. high.
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Of all the mosques remaining at Jaunpur, the Atala Masjid, completed in 1408, is the most ornate and the most beautiful. The colonnades surrounding its court are five aisles in depth, the outer pillars, as well as those next the court, being double square pillars. The four intermediate rows are single square pillars, supporting a flat roof of slabs, arranged as in Hindû temples. It is also two storeys in height, the lower storey being occupied by three inner aisles belonging to the court, the fourth forming a series of cells opening outwardly, with a verandah supported by the outer row of pillars. All this is so like a Hindû arrangement that one might almost at first sight be tempted, like Baron Hügel, to fancy it was originally a Buddhist monastery. He failed to remark, however, that both here and in the Jâmi' Masjid the cells open outwardly, and in the latter are below the level of the courtyard of the mosque—an arrangement common enough in Muhammadan, but never found in Buddhist, buildings. Its gateways, however, which are the principal ornaments of the outer court, are purely Saracenic, and the western face is adorned by three propylons—the central one 73 ft. 6 in. high by 64 ft. 6 in. wide at the base, and two smaller, each 31 ft. 3 in. high and 23 ft. 6 in. wide,—similar to that represented in the last woodcut, but richer and more beautiful, while its interior domes and roofs are superior to any other specimen of Muhammadan art I am acquainted with of so early an age. They are, too, perhaps, more striking here, because, though in juxtaposition with the quasi-Hinduism of the court, they exhibit the arched style of the Saracenic architects in as great a degree of completeness as it exhibited at any subsequent period.¹
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¹ 'Sharqî Architecture of Jaunpur,' pp. 3 *et seqq.* and plates 29 to 40. A few of the pillars are from Hindû temples.
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The other buildings hardly require particular mention, though, as transition specimens between the two styles, these Jaunpur examples possess a simplicity and grandeur not often met with in this style. An appearance of strength, moreover, is imparted to them by their sloping walls, which is foreign to our general conception of Saracenic art, though at Tughlaqâbâd and elsewhere it is carried even further than at Jaunpur. Among the Afghâns of India the expression of strength is as characteristic of the style as massiveness is of that of the Normans in England. In India it is found conjoined with a degree of refinement seldom met with elsewhere, and totally free from the coarseness which in other countries usually besets vigour and boldness of design.
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The peculiarities of this style are by no means confined to the capital; they prevail at Ghâzipur, and as far north as Kanauj, while at Benares the examples are frequent. In the suburbs of that city, at a place called the Bakarîyâ Kund,² there is a group of tombs, as mentioned above, and other buildings belonging to the Moslims, which are singularly pleasing specimens of the Jaunpur style, and certainly belong to the same age as those just described.
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² If the buildings of the Bakarîyâ Kund had been found within 20 miles of Ahmadâbâd where there are dozens exactly like them they would hardly have deserved a passing remark. Any one familiar with the style would have assigned them a date—A.D. 1450, or thereabouts—and would hardly have troubled himself to enquire who built them, they are so like all others of the same age.
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The kingdom of Jaunpur is also rich in little tombs and shrines in which the Moslims have used up Hindû and Jaina pillars, merely rearranging them after their own fashion. These, of course, will not bear criticism as architectural designs, but there is always something so indescribably picturesque about them as fairly to extort admiration. The principal example of this compound style is a mosque at Kanauj known popularly as “Sîtâ-ki Rasoî,” “Sîtâ’s Kitchen.” It seems to be a Jaina temple, rearranged as a mosque, in the manner described at pp. 68, 69. It measures externally 133 ft. by 120 ft. The mosque itself has four rows of fifteen columns each, and three domes. The cloisters surrounding the courts are only two rows in depth, and had originally sixty-eight pillars, smaller than those of the mosque. Externally it has no great beauty, but its pillared court is very picturesque and pleasing. According to an inscription over its principal gateway, its conversion was effected by Ibrâhîm Shâh of Jaunpur, a.d. 1406.¹
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¹ General Cunningham’s ‘Reports,’ vol. i. p. 287. From this I learn that shortly before 1857 the pillars surrounding the court on three sides had been removed since I saw them in 1836.
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At a later age, and even after it had lost its independence, several important buildings were erected in the capital and in other towns of the kingdom in the style of the day; but these are perhaps scarcely of sufficient importance to require notice in such a work as the present.
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GUJARÂT.
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Jâmi' Masjid and other Mosques at Ahmadâbâd—Tombs and Mosques at Sarkhej and Batwâ—Buildings in the Provinces.