The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.155

v4.c23.s4.155

The whole scheme, including the garden, is laid out in the form of a rectangle with its long axis lying north and south, the mausoleum standing at the northern end, a departure from the traditional square plan with the main building in the centre. This rectangle is enclosed by a high wall with broad arcaded turrets at each corner, and is entered on the south side by a monumental gateway, in itself an admirable composition. Within the enclosure is the conventional garden, so designed as to comprise an intrinsic part of the architectural effect, the avenue of cypress trees being planted to harmonise with the lines of the building, and the watercourses with their ornamental pools elevated in such a manner as to reflect the most attractive points of view. At the northern end of the enclosure is a wide terrace with the mausoleum occupying the centre and balanced by subsidiary buildings on either side. The latter consist of a mosque on the west and a corresponding structure of no special religious significance on the east, but added in order to maintain strict symmetry. Although naturally intended as the predominating feature in the scheme, the mausoleum building in itself is remarkable for the vivid simplicity of both its plan and elevation. It rises almost abruptly from the high marble terrace, with no noticeable flight of steps leading up to it, for the stairway is concealed within a passage, thus unconsciously adding to that atmosphere of reserve in keeping with its chaste character. The plan is square with chamfered corners, each side being 186 feet long, so that the width of the façade is equal to the entire height of the building. Its elevation is divided approximately into two parts of equal height, the lower half consisting of the rectangular ground storey, the upper half of the great dome and its accompanying kiosks. Externally each façade of the lower rectangular portion is relieved by an arrangement of arched recesses, and to the rich shadows within these voids the whole structure owes much of its charm of effect. But its crowning glory is the great dome, which hangs in the sky like a shapely white cloud, its soaring height being mainly due to the tall drum at its base. The body of the dome is spherical, so that it rests on this drum like a ball on a cup, but its upper curve by means of a carefully calculated tangent gracefully tapers off into a foliated crest. To give a finish to the whole composition as well as to draw the eye of the spectator imperceptibly from undue concentration on the central structure, at each corner of the terrace rises a slender minaret.