The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c25: Appendix D
The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c25
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Appendix D
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ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS OF THE MEMELUKES.
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By the 12th century Muslim architecture had acquired a definite style and convention and the Turks came to India with clear ideas about form and also method of construction of buildings. But they had of necessity to rely on native masons and craftsmen to execute their designs. These craftsmen were the inheritors of a beautiful and mature style and so, almost unconsciously, they introduced into Muslim buildings many decorative and architectural details of Indian origin, for they had to rely mostly on their own interpretation of the design and ornamentation.
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The Muslims, in turn, introduced many new features also. The native craftsmen, familiar with only the column and flat architrave for roofing, soon got used to the essentially Muslim structural element of the arch and the vault. The slender Hindu spire gave way to the minaret and the dome; in arch construction, the corbelled type was replaced by the more scientific voussoir system. Finally, the more extensive use of concrete and mortar made it possible to roof large spaces, a characteristic feature of Muslim buildings. The Hindu decorative style, made up of floral designs or plastic reliefs, was supplemented with flowing arabesque or geometric patterns, sometimes interwoven by graceful lettering of historical inscriptions or Quranic texts. The introduction of calligraphy in the scheme of architectural ornamentation, was, undeniably, a major contribution.
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The Memeluke buildings illustrate the gradual blending of all these elements. The first building erected by the conquerors on Indian soil was, significantly enough, a mosque, whose lighted and wide spaces sharply contrast the dark, narow and mysterious temple. The *Quuatul Islam* mosque was commenced in Delhi by Aibak in 592/1195, and finished in 1199. It was admittedly built out of Hindu materials; most of the columns, shafts and capitals were hurriedly adapted to the requirements of a Muslim prayer hall, the sculptural carvings of animate figures being either defaced or concealed by turning them upside down. In this improvisation was symbolised the whole Memeluke history. The mosque actually was raised on the plinth of a temple and, as Marshall has remarked, save for the mihrabs, the building has little to indicate its Islamic character; not even the constructional methods show any trace of Muslim influence. Probably to modify this Hindu appearance, Aibak added a screen in front, in which a deliberate introduction of characteristically Muslim designs and ornaments is clearly noticeable. The facade of the arched entrance is enlivened by graceful calligraphic reproduction of Quranic texts, which, however, can hardly conceal the native craftsmen's floral designs. The mosque at Ajmer, erected at about the same time and known as the *Arhai-din-ka-jhonpra*, was also built out of Hindu materials and so betray Hindu features, though its planning and construction was more deliberate than that of its counterpart at Delhi. A more deliberately Muslim structure is the *Qutb Minar*, planned by Aibak sometime before 1199 but completed by Iltutmish. It represents a further stage in the evolution of the Indo-Muslim building art. The plan—it was evidently meant to serve as a *maazina* and also a tower of victory,—and the form are essentially Islamic, and the native tradition has less freedom in its constructional details. Its floral designs are clearly dominated by the calligraphy; the vertical flutings on the outer wall and the elaborate corbelling on the balconies are excluslveiy Muslim decorations.
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The tendency betrayed by the *Qutb Minar* is more pronounced n the buildings erected by Iltutmish. It would however seem that the conscious fostering of this tendency to Islamise architecture must date from the end of his reign, for the tomb, known as Sultan Ghari, built over the remains of his eldest son who died in 1229, is still found to embody a great deal of native elements and patterns. As the earliest specimen of tomb-building in India, it has a marked difference in its plan from that of any of the subsequent structures. Most of the architectural details, including pillars, capitals and architraves, as well as the decorative motifs, are decidedly native in inspiration. Even the arches are built on the Indian corbelled principle. The outward shape of the building is graceless but it has a better harmony of proportion than the tomb of the monarch himself.
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His other buildings show a marked increase in Islamic elements. At Delhi, he extended the *Quuatul Islam* mosque, added two wings on either side, and put up a corresponding screen in front. On its facade, Muslim decorative motifs dominate Hindu patterns more successfully than they do in that of Aibak. To the *Arhai-din-ka-jhonpra* also, Iltutmish made some additions, notably by raising a similar screen but of different proportions. But the decorations, though dominatingly Islamic in effect, do not compare in composite richness with those on his screen at Delhi. Nor is the Ajmer structure impressive in the harmony of form and line. This probably represents Iltutmish’s first attempt at artificially stimulating this natural tendency of increased application of Muslim designs and details. The result, judging not only from the Ajmer specimen but also from his own tomb, near the Quuatul Islam mosque, was not happy. This building, a four-walled enclosure topped by a dome, is unpretentious in form and dimensions but the interior decorations on the walls, extending from floor to ceiling, are extremely elaborate and unrestrained. They have an effect of almost heavy, vulgar gorgeousness; evidently, the Hindu craftsmen, directed to use exclusively the rich and elaborate patterns of Naskh, Kufi, and Tughra letterings and geometric forms, were bewildered by the variety, and, being unaccustomed to their exclusive application, sacrificed balance to executing their alloted task; only here and there native designs are in evidence but they do little to relieve the monotony of curves, loops and angles. This sudden assertion of the non Indian motifs thus resulted in considerable loss of dignity and strength of the Muslim and the picturesque effect of the Hindu styles. Representing the continued application of this policy is the tomb, containing the sepulchre of Balban and his son, Muhammud, built in 1286, in the area known in those days as the Darul Aman. It is also purely Muslim in execution but shows a more balanced use of the principles and motifs, and thus seems to prove the acclimatization of Muslim designs. It is also marked by the first appearance of the true arch in place of Indian types used in earlier buildings.
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Other buildings of the period, erected in the provincial cities follow more or less the same lines of development. Most of them, however, have been repaired and restored so many times subsequently, that their original details have almost entirely disappeared. This is the case with Iltutmish’s mosque at Budaun, built in 1223, Balban’s mosque at Jalali, built in 1266, and the tomb of Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan (died 1262) believed to have been built by the saint himself. The *Ukha Mandir* at Bayana was originally a Hindu temple converted into a mosque but has since been reconverted into a temple, At Multan is the tomb of another saint named Shamsuddin, locally known as Shams-i-Tabrez, which was built by his grandson, but which has received, from devotees, extensive renovations. Only the comparatively insignificant tomb of another saint at Multan, called Shadna Shahid, (killed in 1288) has preserved its original fabric, though in a very denuded form. The lofty gateway at Nagaur, known as the *Atarkin-ka-Darwaza*, has retained its original surface decorations; they are similar to those on Iltutmish’s screen at Ajmer and so should be ascribed to that period. Muhammud b. Tughluq however, is known to have extensively renovated the original structure. The minar of Balban at Kol (Aligarh) erected during Mahmud’s reign, but wantonly destroyed by the British district officer in 1860, was, in point of time and also of style, the second of its kind in India, meant to serve as a pillar of victory.