The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.103

v4.c23.s4.103

Meanwhile in the somewhat distant and hitherto Hindu environment of Gwālior the tomb of Muhammad Ghaus was being constructed, the unusual character of its design lending this building a certain interest. Erected over the remains of a Muslim saint who flourished under the early Mughuls, it combines characteristics of the “Lodī” style, together with others associated more with the kind of building that found favour in western India. This admixture was no doubt due to the actual workmanship being entrusted to the local masons more accustomed to the requirements of Mālwā patrons than to the demands of their new Muslim overlords. The building shows a lack of co-ordination, the two phases, the Mughul and Mālwā, having not yet coalesced, a condition to be attained later under the tolerant policy of the emperor Akbar. None the less it contains some choice details, especially in its perforated screens, but the attachment of the hexagonal corner-turrets by their angles causes the general effect of the elevation as a whole to appear disconnected (Fig. 15).