A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c18.72

c18.72

Space fails to enumerate even in the most summary fashion the architectural marvels of Akbar's palace-city of Fathpur-Sīkrī, begun in 1569, finished fifteen years later, and practically abandoned after its founder's death in 1605.¹ That wondrous city bears in every part the impress of Akbar's tact and genius, and justifies the courtly phrase of his biographer, who declares that 'His Majesty plans splendid edifices, and dresses the work of his mind and heart in the garments of stone and clay'. The fullest possible details will be found in the four well-illustrated quarto volumesdevoted to the subject by the late Mr. E. W. Smith, a work not easily to be matched. But a few words must be devoted to the southern gateway of the great mosque, known as the 'Buland Darwāza', or Lofty Portal, a name justified by the fact that it is the highest of Indian gateways, and among the largest in the world. The height to the summit of the finials from the pavement at the top of the stairs is 134 feet, and reckoned from the road at the foot of the stairs is 176 feet. The structure is a magnificent example of the Persian form of gateway, deriving its dignity from the great semi-dome in which the actual doors are inset—an arrangement extolled by Fergusson. The mosque, purporting to be copied from one at Mecca, was built in 1571. The Buland Darwāza was added in 1601–2 as a triumphal arch to commemorate Akbar's conquest of Khāndēsh, and probably replaced a more ordinary edifice consonant with the other entrances. It may be taken as typical of the innumerable similar gateways on a smaller scale which characterize the Mughal style (Plate XCVI). It is the most beautiful specimen of the second type of Indo-Persian architecture, that in which marble is freely intermixed with sandstone, which was used alone in the earlier style exemplified by the Jahāngīr Mahall. The highest authorities regard the Buland Darwāza as 'one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India'.²