History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c30: Chapter IX. Bijâpûr.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c30
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Contents
- v2.c30.s1 Sindh. — 9 parts
Chapter IX. Bijâpûr.
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CONTENTS.
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The Jâmi’ Masjid—Tombs of Ibrâhîm and Mahmûd—The Audience Hall—Mihtari Mahall — Golkonda Tombs — Tomb of Nawâb Amîr Khân, near Tatta.
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CHRONOLOGY.
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| Yûsuf ’Âdil Shâh . . . | A.D. 1490 | ’Alî ’Âdil Shâh I. . . . | A.D. 1557 |
| Ismâ‘îl ’Âdil Shâh . . | . „ 1510 | Ibrâhîm ’Âdil Shâh II. . | . „ 1580 |
| Mallû ’Âdil Shâh . . . | . „ 1534 | Muhammad ’Âdil Shâh | . „ 1626 |
| Ibrâhîm ’Âdil Shâh I. . | . „ 1535 | ’Alî ’Âdil Shâh II. . . . | . „ 1656 |
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As mentioned above, the Bahmanî dynasty of Kulbarga maintained the struggle against the Hindû principalities of the south for nearly a century and a half, with very little assistance from either the central power at Delhi or their cognate states in the Dekhan. Before the end of the 15th century, however, they began to feel that decay inherent in all Eastern dynasties; and the Hindûs might have recovered their original possessions, up to the Vindhya at least, but for the appearance of a new and more vigorous competitor in the field in the person of Yûsuf ’Âdil Khân, supposed to have been the son of Sultân Murâd II. of Anatolia. He was thus a Turk of pure blood, and born in Constantinople, though his mother was forced to send him thence while he was still an infant. After a varied career he was purchased for, and found service in the body-guard of Amîr Barîd at Bîdar, and soon raised himself to such pre-eminence that on the defeat of Dastûr Dînâr, in 1501, he was enabled to proclaim his independence and establish himself as the founder of the ’Âdil Shâhî dynasty of Bijâpûr.
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For the first fifty or sixty years after their accession, the struggle for existence was too severe to admit of the ’Âdil Shâhîs devoting much attention to architecture. The real building epoch of the city commences with ’Alî, A.D. 1557, and all the important buildings are crowded into the 100 years which elapsed between his accession and the wars with Aurangzîb, which ended in the final destruction of the dynasty.
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During that period, however, their capital was adorned with a series of buildings as remarkable as those of any of the Muhammadan capitals of India, hardly excepting even Agra and Delhi, and showing a wonderful originality of design not surpassed by those of such capitals as Jaunpur or Ahmadâbâd, though differing from them in a most marked degree.
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It is not easy now to determine how far this originality arose from the European descent of the ’Âdil Shâhîs and their avowed hatred of everything that belonged to the Hindûs, or whether it arose from any local circumstances, the value of which we can now hardly appreciate. The foreign origin of the ’Âdil Shâhî dynasty and their partiality for the Shîah form of Islâm prevailing in Persia, rather than the Sunnî, together with their ready employment of Persian officers, may probably have influenced their architecture, and led to that largeness and grandeur which characterised the Bijâpûr style.
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Earlier Muhammadan invaders, before the ’Âdil Shâhîs—under Karîmu-d-Dîn, about 1316—had built a mosque in the fort at Bijâpûr, constructed out of Hindû remains. How far the pillars used there by them are torn from other buildings, we are not informed. It would appear, however, that it consists partly of the portico of a Hindû temple; but this is not incompatible with the idea that other portions were removed from their original positions and re-adapted to their present purposes. Another mosque, known as Khwâja Jahân’s, dating from about the end of the 15th century, resembles a Hindû temple, and was evidently erected also from materials taken from earlier fanes. But as soon as the new dynasty had leisure to think really about the matter, they abandoned entirely all tendency to copy Hindû forms or Hindû details, but set to work to carry out a pointed-arched, or domical style of their own, and did it with singular success.¹
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¹ Bijâpûr has been singularly fortunate, not only in the extent, but in the mode in which it has been illustrated. A set of drawings—plans, elevations, and details—were made by Mr A. Cumming, C.E., under the superintendence of Capt. Hart, Bombay Engineers, which, for beauty of drawing and accuracy of detail, are unsurpassed. These were reduced and published by me at the expense of the Government in 1859, in a folio volume with seventy-four plates, and afterwards in 1866 at the expense of the Committee for the Publication of the Antiquities of Western India, illustrated further by photographic views taken on the spot by Col. Biggs, R.A.
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The Jâmi’ Masjid, which is one of the earlier regular buildings of the city, was commenced by ’Alî ’Âdil Shâh (A.D. 1557-1579), and though continued by his successors on the same plan, was never completely finished, the fourth side of the courtyard with its great gateway not having been even commenced when the dynasty was overthrown. Even as it is, it is one of the finest mosques in India.
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As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 411), it would have been, if completed, a rectangle of 331 ft. by 257 ft. The
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411. Plan of the Jâmi' Masjid, Bijâpûr. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
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mosque itself is perfect, and measures 257 ft. by 145 ft., and consequently covers about 37,000 sq. ft. It consequently is in itself just about equal to the mosque at Kulbarga; but this is irrespective of the wings, which extend 186 ft. beyond, so that, if completed, it would have covered about 85,000 sq. ft.
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—more than the usual size of a mediæval cathedral. It is more remarkable, however, for the beauty of its details than either the arrangement or extent of its plan. Each of the squares into which it is divided is roofed by a dome of very beautiful form, but so flat (Woodcut No. 412) as to be concealed externally in the thickness of the roof. Twelve of these squares are occupied in the centre by the great dome, 57 ft. in diameter in the circular part, but standing on a square measuring 70 ft. each way. The dimensions of this dome were immensely exceeded afterwards by that which covers the tomb of Muhammad constructed on the same plan and 124 ft. in diameter; but the smaller dimensions here employed enabled the architect to use taller and more graceful outlines, and if he had had the courage to pierce the niches at the base of his dome, and make them into windows, he would probably have had the credit of designing the most graceful building of its class in existence.
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412. Plan and section of smaller domes of Jâmi' Masjid. Scale 50 ft to 1 in.
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413. Section on the line A B through the Great Dome of the Jâmi' Masjid. (From a Drawing by Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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At the east corners of the court two minârs were to have been erected, but only that on the north was properly begun; and, at a later date, the court was extended 95 ft. eastwards, and a large gateway constructed in the centre of the front, together with part of an arcade on the south of it.
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If the plan of this mosque is compared with that of Kulbarga (Woodcut No. 408), it will be seen what immense strides the Indian architects had made in constructive skill and elegance of detail during the century and a half that elapsed between the erection of these two buildings. If they were drawn to the same scale this would be more apparent than it is at first sight; but on half the present scale the details of the Kulbarga mosque could hardly be expressed, while the largeness of the parts, and regularity of arrangement can, in the scale adopted, be made perfectly clear in the Bîjâpûr example. The latter is, undoubtedly, the more perfect of the two, but there is a picturesqueness about the earlier building, and a poetry about its arrangements, that go far to make up for the want of the skill and the elegance exhibited in its more modern rival.
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The tomb which 'Alî 'Âdil Shâh II. (1656-1672) commenced for himself was placed on a high square basement, measuring 215 ft. each way, and had it been completed as designed would have rivalled any tomb in India. The central apartment is 79 ft. square, and is surrounded by a double arcade, the arches of which resemble the Gothic form being struck from two centres, and the curves reaching the crown.
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It is one of the disadvantages of the Turanian system of each king building his own tomb, that if he dies early his work remains unfinished. This defect is more than compensated in practice by the fact that unless a man builds his own sepulchre, the chances are very much against anything worthy of admiration being dedicated to his memory by his surviving relatives.
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414. Tomb or Rauza of Ibrâhîm. (From a Plan by Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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His grandfather, Ibrâhîm II. (1579-1626), had commenced his mausoleum on so small a plan—116 ft. square—that, as he enjoyed a long and prosperous reign, it was only by ornament that he could render it worthy of himself, his favourite wife, and other members of his family.¹ This, however, he accomplished by covering every part with the most exquisite and elaborate carvings. The ornamental inscriptions are so numerous that it is said the whole Qorân is engraved on its walls. The cornices are supported by the most elaborate bracketing, the windows filled with tracery, and every part so richly ornamented that had his artists not been Indians it might have become vulgar. Plate XXX. shows the eastern façade of this fine mausoleum.
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¹ Zohra Sultâna, his favourite daughter, and his mother occupy the graves on each side of Ibrâhîm's; his wife Tâj Sultâna's is next her mother-in-law's, of whom an inscription states that the Rauza is a memorial; and the graves of two sons complete the series.
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The principal apartment in the tomb is a square of 39 ft. 10 in. each way, covered by a stone roof, perfectly flat in the centre, formed of stone slabs set edge to edge, and supported only by a cove projecting 7 ft. 7 in. from the walls on every side. How the roof is supported is a mystery which can only be understood by those who are familiar with the use the Indians make of masses of concrete, and with exceedingly good mortar, which seem capable of infinite applications. Above this apartment is another in the dome as ornamental as the one below it, though its only object is to obtain externally the height required for architectural effect, and access to its interior can only be obtained by a dark narrow stair in the thickness of the wall.
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Beside the tomb there is an equally fine mosque to correspond; and the royal garden, in which these are situated, was adorned, as usual, internally with fountains and kiosks, and externally with colonnades and caravansarais for strangers and pilgrims, the whole making up a group as rich and as picturesque as any in India, and far excelling anything of the sort on this side of the Hellespont.
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415. Plan of Tomb of Muhammad at Bijâpûr. Scale 100 ft to 1 in.
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The tomb of his successor, Muhammad (1636-1660) was in design as complete a contrast to that just described as can well be conceived, and is as remarkable for simple grandeur and constructive boldness as that of Ibrâhîm was for excessive richness and contempt of constructive proprieties. It is constructed on the same principle as that employed in the design of the dome of the great mosque (Woodcut No. 413), but on so much larger a scale as to convert into a wonder of constructive skill, what, in that instance, was only an elegant architectural design.
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As will be seen from the plan, it is internally a square apartment, 135 ft. 5 in. each way; its area consequently is 18,337 sq. ft., while that of the Pantheon at Rome is, within the walls, only 15,833 sq. ft.; and even taking into account all the recesses in the walls of both buildings, this is still the larger of the two.
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At the height of 57 ft. from the floor-line the hall begins to contract, by a series of pendentives as ingenious as they are beautiful, to a circular opening 97 ft. in diameter. On the platform of these pendentives at a height of 109 ft. 6 in., the dome is erected, 124 ft. 5 in. in diameter, thus leaving a gallery more than 12 ft. wide all round the interior. Internally, the dome is 178 ft. above the floor, and externally 198 ft. from the outside platform; its thickness at the springing is about 10 ft., and at the crown 9 ft.
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The most ingenious and novel part of the construction of
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416. Pendentives of the Tomb of Muhammad, looking upwards. (From a Drawing by Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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this dome is the mode in which its lateral or outward thrust is counteracted. This was accomplished by forming the pendentives so that they not only cut off the angles, but that, as shown in the plan, their arches intersect one another, and form a very considerable mass of masonry perfectly stable in itself; and, by its weight acting inwards, counteracting any thrust that can possibly be brought to bear upon it by the pressure of the dome. If the whole edifice thus balanced has any tendency to move, it is to fall inwards, which from its circular form is impossible; while the action of the weight of the pendentives being in the opposite direction to that of the dome, it acts like a tie, and keeps the whole in equilibrium, without interfering at all with the outline of the dome.
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In the Pantheon and most European domes a great mass of masonry is thrown on the haunches, which entirely hides the external form, and is a singularly clumsy expedient in every respect compared with the elegant mode of hanging the weight inside.
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417. Section of Tomb of Muhammad at Bijâpûr. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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Notwithstanding that this expedient gives the dome a perfectly stable basis to stand upon, which no thrust can move, still, looking at the section (Woodcut No. 417), its form is such that it appears almost paradoxical that such a building should stand. If the section represented an arch or a vault, it is such as would not stand one hour; but the dome is itself so perfect as a constructive expedient, that it is almost as difficult to build a dome that will fall as it is to build a vault that will stand. As the dome is also, artistically, the most beautiful form of roof yet invented, it may be well, before passing from the most extraordinary and complex example yet attempted anywhere, to pause and examine a little more closely the theory of its construction.
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Let us suppose the diagram to represent the plan of a perfectly flat dome 100 ft. in diameter, and each rim consequently 10 ft. wide.
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Further assuming for convenience that the whole dome weighs 7,850 tons, the outer rim will weigh 2,826, or almost exactly as much as the three inner rims put together; the next will weigh 2,204, the next 1,568, the next 942, and the inner only 314; so that a considerable extra thickness might be heaped on it, or on the two inner ones, without their preponderance at all affecting the stability of the dome; but this is the most unfavourable view to take of the case. To understand the problem more clearly, let us suppose the
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418. Diagram illustrative of Domical Construction.
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semicircle A A A (Woodcut No. 418) to represent the section of a hemispherical dome. The first segment of this, though only 10 ft. in width, will be 30 ft. in height, and will weigh 9,420 tons; the next, 10 ft. high and 10 ft. wide, will weigh 3,140; the third, 10 ft. by 6 ft., will weigh only 1,884; the fourth will weigh 942; and the central portion, as before, 316.
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Now it is evident that the first portion, A B, being the most perpendicular, is the one least liable to disturbance or thrust, and, being also two-thirds of the whole weight of the dome, if steady and firmly constructed, it is a more than sufficient abutment for the remaining third, which is the whole of the rest of the dome.
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It is evident from an inspection of the figure, or from any section of the dome, how easy it must be to construct the first segment from the springing; and if this is very solidly built and placed on an immoveable basis, the architect may play with the rest; and he must be clumsy indeed if he cannot make it perfectly stable. In the East, they did play with their domes, and made them of all sorts of fantastic forms, seeking to please the eye more than to consult the engineering necessities of the case, and yet it is the rarest possible contingency to find a dome that has fallen through faults in the construction.
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In Europe architects have been timid and unskilled in dome-building; but with our present engineering knowledge it would be easy to construct far larger and more daring domes than even this of Muhammad’s tomb, without the smallest fear of accident.
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The external ordonnance of this building is as beautiful as that of the interior. At each angle stands an octagonal tower eight storeys high, simple and bold in its proportions, and crowned by a dome of great elegance. The lower part of the building is plain and solid, pierced only with such openings as are requisite to admit light and air; at the height of 83 ft. a cornice projects to the extent of 12 ft. from the wall, or nearly twice as much as the boldest European architect ever attempted. Above this an open gallery gives lightness and finish to the whole, each face being further relieved by two small minarets.
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The same daring system of construction was carried out by the architects of Bîjâpûr in their civil buildings. The great Audience Hall or Gagan Mahall (A.D. 1561), for instance (Woodcut No. 419), opens in front with a central arch 60 ft. 9 in. wide, which, had it been sufficiently abutted, might have been a grand architectural feature; as it is, it is too like an engineering work to be satisfactory. (Its cornice was in wood, and some of its supports are still in their places.) Indeed, it is one of the peculiarities of the architecture of this city that, like the English architects in their roofs, those of Bîjâpûr clung to wood as a constructive expedient long after its use had been abandoned in other parts of India. (The Âsâr-i-Mubârak or Âsâr Mahall, is entirely open on one side, the roof being supported only by two wooden pillars with immense bracket-capitals; and the internal ornaments are in the same material. The result of this practice was the same at Bîjâpûr as in England—far greater depth of framing and greater richness in architectural ornamentation, and an intolerance of constructive awkwardness which led to the happiest results in both countries.
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Among the edifices in the city is the Sât-Manzila, one of those seven-storeyed palaces which come across us so strangely in all out-of-the-way corners of the world. Add to this that the Âsâr-i-Mubârak has been converted by the Muhammadans into a relic-shrine to contain some hairs of the Prophet's beard,
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419. Audience Hall, Bîjâpûr. (From a Photograph.)
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and we have a picture of the strange difficulty of weaning a Tartar from the innate prejudices of his race.
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Besides these two there were five other palaces within the walls, some of them of great splendour, and numberless residences of the nobles and attendants of the court. But about twenty years ago the Bombay Government adapted a number of these old buildings to modern requirements: the Bukhâra Masjid has been used as a post office, and the mosque belonging to Muhammad's great tomb was turned into a travellers' rest-house, but both have again been restored; the 'Adâlat Mahall was converted into the collector's residence, and the Sûraj Mahall into outhouses; the Chini Mahall into public offices; the Ânand Mahall into a residence for the Assistant Collector; Yâqut Dabalî's Mahall into a traveller's banglâ; Kawâss Khân's tomb and mosque into house and office for the Executive Engineer; the Chhota Chînî Mahall into a house for the Police Superintendent; and the 'Arsh Mahall into the Civil Surgeon's residence.
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One of the most remarkable edifices is a little gateway, known as the Mihtari Mahall. It is in a mixed Hindû and Muhammadan style, every part and every detail covered with ornament, but always equally appropriate and elegant. It is about 24 ft. square in plan and three storeys high, surmounted in front by two slender turrets. On the first floor are remarkably fine balcony windows on each of the four sides. The floors of the first and second storeys are constructed in the same way as that in the Ibrâhîm Rauza. It formed the entrance to a mosque, and of its class it is perhaps the best example in the country, though this class may not be the highest.
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The gigantic walls of the city itself, 6¼ miles in circumference, are a work of no mean magnitude, and, combined with the tombs of those who built them, and with the ruins of the suburbs of this once great city, they make up a scene of grandeur in desolation, equal to anything else now to be found even in India.¹
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¹ Besides the two larger works mentioned above, p. 269, note, Mr Fergusson contributed to the ‘Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,’ 1st ser. vol. v. (1854-55), two papers: (1) ‘Architectural Splendour of the City of Beejapore,’ Nov. 1854; and (2) ‘The Great Dome of Sultan Muhammed,’ Dec. 1854. Mr Cousens made a survey of the Bîjâpûr buildings several years ago, but the results have not yet been published. His ‘Guide to Bijapur’ (1907) is a useful handbook.
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If the materials were available for the purpose, it would be extremely interesting, from a historical point of view, to trace the various styles that grew out of each other as the later dynasties of the Dekhan succeeded one another and strove to surpass their predecessors in architectural magnificence in their successive capitals. With the exception, however, of Bîjâpûr, none of the Dekhani cities produced edifices that, taken by themselves irrespective of their surroundings and historical importance, seem to be, so far as we yet know, of great value in an artistic sense.
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Burhânpur, which was the capital of the Fârûqî dynasty of Kândesh, from A.D. 1370 to 1596, does possess some buildings remarkable for their extent and picturesque in their decay, but of very little artistic value, and many of them—especially the later ones—in very questionable taste. Ahmadnagar, the capital of the Nizâm Shâhî dynasty, A.D. 1490 to 1607, is singularly deficient in architectural grandeur, considering how long it was the capital of an important dynasty.
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Golkonda, the chosen seat of the Qutb Shâhî dynasty, A.D. 1512 to 1687, lies 6 miles north-west from Haidarâbâd. The first of the dynasty was Qulî Qutbu-l-Mulk, a Tûrkmân or Persian in the service of Mahmûd Shâh II. Bahmanî, who rose to be governor of the Telingâna districts, and who assumed independence in 1512. Ibrâhîm, the third king, Ferishta tells us, was a great builder, the country being then in a very flourishing condition; and his son, Muhammad Qulî, founded Bâgnagar now Haidarâbâd, the Nizâm's capital. The tombs of the kings of this dynasty, and of their nobles and families here, form as extensive and as picturesque a group as is to be found anywhere; they are just outside the walls, to the north-west of the city, and are not unworthy of a place in history if the materials were available for illustrating them properly. They stand on a slightly raised site, each in the centre of a large quadrangular terrace, and had each a small mosque or *musallâ* attached. The tomb of Muhammad Qulî Qutb, erected about 1625, one of the largest and finest, is an imposing structure, with a fine frieze over the main storey. It was once ornamented with coloured tiles and excited the admiration of Thevenot who visited and described it in 1667. Among others of pleasing proportions is that of Abdulla Qutb Shâh—the sixth king (1625-1672)—with rich parapets and cornices round the principal and upper storeys. Near by is the tomb of his mother, Haiyat Bakhsh Begam, who died in 1617: it is about 65 ft. square, and structurally is of the style of her son's. Several of these tombs were repaired by the late Sir Sâlâr Jang. There are also on the outskirts of the city other mausolea of the nobles of the court, in various architectural styles; of these Plate XXXI. illustrates two examples. But until the group has been drawn and intelligently described in some detail we can hardly estimate their merits, which we know generally to be considerable.
Sindh.
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Among the minor styles of Muhammadan art in India there is one that would be singularly interesting in a historical sense if a sufficient number of examples existed to elucidate it, and they were of sufficient antiquity to connect the style with those of the West. From its situation, almost outside India, the province of Sindh must always have had a certain affinity with Persia and the countries lying to the westward of the Indus, and if we knew its architectural history we might probably be able to trace to their source many of the forms we cannot now explain, and join the styles of the East with those of the West in a manner we cannot at present pretend to accomplish.
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The buildings in this province were nearly always in brick, stone being scarce; and though they are not exposed to the destructive agencies of vegetation like those of Bengal, the mortar is bad, and salt in the soil rises and disintegrates the bricks, which are easily picked out and utilised by the natives to build their huts or villages.
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TOMBS BEYOND THE COURTYARD AT GOLKONDA.
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Most of what we at present know belong to a series of tombs in the neighbourhood of Tatta, which were erected under the Mughal dynasty by the governors or great men of the province, during their sway. At least the oldest now known is that of Jâm Nizâmu-d-Dîn built in 1508, almost coeval with which is the Dabgir mosque of 1509, and later is the tomb of Amîr Khalîl Khân, erected in or about A.D. 1572, the year in which Akbar deposed the Jâmi dynasty and annexed Sindh to his empire. The tombs or mosques of the earlier dynasties have not yet been surveyed and described. The later series extends from A.D. 1572-1640, and all show a strongly-marked affinity to the Persian style of the same or an earlier age. One example must for the present suffice to explain their general appearance, for they are all very much alike. It is the tomb of Sharfa Khân,
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420. Tomb of Nawâb Sharfa Khân, near Tatta, A.D. 1640. (From a Photograph.)
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the Nawâb or minister to Amîr Khân, who was governor of the province in the reign of Shâh Jahân, from A.D. 1627 to 1632, and afterwards A.D. 1641 to 1650. The tomb was built apparently in A.D. 1638 (Woodcut No. 420). It is 38 ft. 4 in. square, is of glazed coloured brick, the foundation and plinth are of stone, but it was, like all the others of its class, ornamented with coloured tiles, like those of Persia generally, of great beauty of pattern and exquisite harmony of colouring.¹ It is not a very monumental way of adorning a building, but, as carried out on the dome of the Rock at Jerusalem, in the middle of the 16th or in the mosque at Tabrîz in the beginning of the 13th century,² and generally in Persian buildings, it is capable of producing the most pleasing effects.
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¹ Abundant examples of coloured tiles from the Jâmi' Masjid at Tatta, erected about 1646, and from tombs and mosques in the province have been published in a 'Portfolio of Illustrations of Sind Tiles,' by Mr. H. Cousens (fifty plates, atlas folio), 1906. But, except a section of the Jâmi' Masjid at Tatta, there are no drawings—plans and sections—to explain the positions of the specimens in the various mosques and tombs from which they are copied.
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² 'History of Ancient and Medieval Architecture,' vol. ii. p. 573.
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Like the other tombs in the province, it is so similar to Persian buildings of the same age, and so unlike any other found at the same age in India Proper, that we can have little doubt as to the nationality of those who erected them.