The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.135

Language: English

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Augustus’s boast that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble has its counterpart in the building productions of Shāh Jahān, who found the Mughul cities of sandstone and left them of marble. In the forts of Āgra and Lahore, and at other places besides, this emperor swept away many of the sandstone structures of his predecessors and in their places erected marble palaces. The quarries of Makrāna in Rājputāna provided unlimited supplies of this finely textured building material, so that pavilions, courts and columned halls were all constructed in pure white marble; when for various reasons this was not made use of, the stone which took its place was faced with stucco, the plastered surfaces being polished to an egg-shell whiteness in keeping with the marble masonry. Such a definite change of material naturally implied a corresponding change in architectural treatment. The building art acquired a new sensibility. Instead of the rectangular character of the previous period there arose the curved line and flowing rhythm of the style of Shāh Jahān, while the chisel of the stone carver was replaced by the finer instruments of the marble cutter and polisher. No longer was effect dependent on bold string-courses and intricate carving; the chaste texture of the marble itself was sufficient to give quality to any building, and any relief decoration required to be of the most refined order and sparingly applied.

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Variety of surface was obtained by panels in correct proportions outlined by mouldings fine and rare in their contours. Most of the ornamentation was, however, of a much more subtle nature, colour and gilding being introduced, while patterns inlaid in semi-precious stones—the *pietra dura* already mentioned—were a special feature. But perhaps the most striking innovation was the change in the shape of the arch, which in almost all buildings of Shāh Jahān’s reign is foliated or cusped in its outlines, so that white marble arcades of engrailed arches became the distinguishing characteristic of the period. During the governance of this emperor, Mughul architecture undoubtedly found its golden age. Of a highly artistic nature he satisfied his desires by the building of sumptuous edifices of all kinds, not waiting to complete one piece of self-expression before committing himself to another. All other forms of culture not dependent on the mason’s art, such as literature, the school of miniature painting encouraged by Akbar and Jahāngīr, and similar intellectual pursuits, were disregarded, his entire patronage being concentrated on building. And it was building of the most sensuous, even voluptuous order. The productions of his predecessors were looked upon as almost barbaric, the court chronicler comparing certain of their “abominations” with the masterpieces of “this august reign, when ...

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lovely things reached the zenith of perfection”.¹ At Āgra and Lahore the palaces within the forts were largely reconstructed, and all the cities of the Mughuls display examples of Shāh Jahān’s building predilections. In the fort at Āgra the greatest changes are recorded, the whole of the structures north of the Jahāngīrī Mahall being dismantled and their places taken by marble edifices such as the Dīwān-i-‘Ām, Dīwān-i-Khāss, the Khāss Mahall, the Shīsh Mahall, the Musamman Burj, the Angūrī Bāgh, the Machhī Bhawan and the Motī Masjid. Details of all these alterations and additions are to be found in contemporary accounts written in the flowery language of the time. But even the most ardent flatterer, trained in poetical analogies, could barely do justice to the surpassing beauty of some of these structures, which in spite of vicissitudes still hold their own as the most elegant of their kind. What could be more graceful than the hall of the Dīwān-i-Khāss with its series of double columns, or the Musamman Burj hanging like a fairy bower over the grim ramparts? Even these, however, are excelled by the peerless refinement of the Motī Masjid or “Pearl Mosque”, one of Shāh Jahān’s latest additions, as it was erected in 1654 when the art had attained its ripest state.

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Few religious edifices convey to the beholder a finer sense of purity than this chapel royal, which, both on account of the flawless quality of its material, and the skilfully modulated disposition of its elements, represents the Mughul style at its zenith. The subordination and contrast of the entrance archways to the arcading of the sanctuary, the proportions and arrangement of the kiosks surmounting the cornices, and, notably, the subtle raising of the drum of the central dome in relation to those on each side, are a few only of the aspects of this structure which show in the most emphatic manner that the principles of balance and rhythm were by this time thoroughly appreciated by the Mughul builders.