The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.172

v4.c23.s4.172

One other style of building of a quasi-independent order manifested itself in the Deccan both before and during the Mughul ascendancy, in the state of Khāndesh. Here in the local capitals of Burhānpur and Thālner several monuments were erected in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by the Fārūqī dynasty; later, in the seventeenth century, the Mughul governors were responsible for a number of tombs of a particular kind. The geographical position of this comparatively small state, surrounded as it was by a number of powerful kingdoms each with its own form of artistic expression, rendered it specially liable to external influences. These show themselves unmistakably in the character of many of its buildings. Yet although these borrowings are discernible they do not entirely dominate the style, as the architecture of Khāndesh in some of its phases displays certain originality. One of the first buildings erected by the Fārūqī rulers was a large palace on a commanding situation above the Tāptī river at Burhānpur, followed by a group of tombs at the same place and another group at Thālner, all dating from the first half of the fifteenth century. Although the palace is now in ruins, enough remains to indicate that this edifice, and perhaps more noticeably the tombs, owed not a little of their appearance to similar buildings being then raised in the neighbouring city of Māndū, the capital of Mālwā. The tombs of the founders of the Fārūqī dynasty, such as that of Nāsir Khān (1399–1437) at Burhānpur, and Mīrān Mubārak I (deceased 1457) at Thālner, show a marked affinity to the more famous mausoleum of Hūshang at Māndū in the solidity of their effect and proportions generally. The Khāndesh masons have, however, endeavoured to lighten the mass of the structure by the introduction of projecting openings on each side of the central doorway, and have also provided more height by raising the dome on a well-proportioned drum, which, together with other features, constructive and decorative, give these Fārūqī tombs an air of no little distinction. At a later date two mosques were erected at Burhānpur, the Jāmiʻ Masjid built by ʻAlī Khān in 1588 being the larger and more important, while the Bībī-kī-Masjid is better designed. The former is a comparatively plain structure, the fifteen pointed arches comprising its façade being flanked by two lofty minarets, a simple conception, but the symmetry and disposition of its parts has been carefully considered. It is not unlikely that the construction of this building was interrupted by the subjection of the state by Akbar, its completion being undertaken by the Mughuls, so that its final appearance may not be as originally intended. As an example of a coherent composition the Bībī-kī-Masjid is much superior, but it is too obviously dictated by similar structures in Ahmadābād and Chāmpāner to be commended for its originality, although the minarets are a departure from the Gujarātī type, particularly the projecting windows and rounded cupolas. The concluding phase of the style, when it came under the influence of the Mughuls, is seen in the tomb of Shāh Nawāz Khān, one of its provincial governors in the seventeenth century. Much of this building is frankly a composite conception displaying elements acquired from a variety of sources. Its square design in two storeys is suggestive of some of the royal tombs of the Ahmad Shāh dynasty, the pinnacles are those introduced by Fīrūz Tughluq but ornamented with foliations from Bījāpur, and, finally, the whole is surmounted by a "Lodī" dome. Yet these attributions are combined with no little skill, and the general appearance of the structure is not unattractive. At the same time it is clear that the style had no further resources of its own, and could only be maintained by appropriating the ideas of others. In such circumstances it naturally follows that no more buildings of any consequence were erected in Khāndesh.