The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.100

v4.c23.s4.100

One of the most attractive features of this composition as a whole is the innovation of placing the building in the centre of a large park-like enclosure. It had already become the custom to surround the tomb by a walled-in space, but the idea of expanding this into an extensive formal garden was entirely that of the Mughuls. The garden around a Mughul tomb, with its paved pathways, flowered parterres, avenues of cypress trees, ornamental watercourses, tanks and fountains, was considered by them an essential complement to the mausoleum building in its centre. Added to this the entrance gateways, one in the middle of each side of the perimeter wall, were structures of fairly generous proportions, so disposed and designed as to serve as a prelude to the monument within, the arched shape of the main portal being of such dimensions as to frame in a most striking manner the distant tomb. The principal entrance to the enclosure of Humāyūn’s tomb is on the western side, and the doorway is recessed, instead of being embowed as was usual in all subsequent doorways, but this was done in order to repeat, like a refrain, a similar recessed effect in the façade of the main building. This main building stands on a high and wide-spread terrace, the sides of which are arcaded, each arcade leading to a small room within for the accommodation of visitors to the tomb. On the broad platform formed by the upper surface of this terrace the mausoleum stands, occupying a square of 156 feet side. This square plan is recessed in the middle of each side, and its corners are chamfered, thus producing in the elevation of the building a variety of contrasting planes and shade effects. All four façades, save for a slight deviation on the north side, are similar, their main characteristic being a large rectangular fronton set back in the centre, and containing a deeply recessed archway, with smaller corresponding archways in the projecting wings on each side. Much of the attractive appearance of the building is due to the size and excellent spacing of these recesses in relation to the remainder of the façade, the apportionment of solid to void being most skilfully regulated. Above the façade rises the great dome mounted on a high drum, with a combination of kiosks roofed by small cupolas and slender turrets breaking the skyline at its base. The arrangements in the interior comprise a spacious central hall, rising to a vaulted roof, and around this main hall are grouped several subsidiary chambers on a regular plan, and connected one with another by galleries and corridors. Light is obtained through clerestory windows of perforated screens fitted within the recessed archways of the façade.