The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.13.3

v3.c30.s1.13.3

Although, however, the foundations of this Gujarātī style were thus well and truly laid in the fourteenth century, the times were altogether too unsettled, and conditions under the provincial Government of Delhi in other respects too unpropitious for architecture to make much headway; and it was not until the establishment of independence under the Ahmad Shāhī dynasty that the greatness of this school really began. Like most Indian potentates the Ahmad Shāhī rulers sought to display their wealth and power in the magnificence of their buildings, each in turn endeavouring to outdo the efforts of his predecessors. Ahmad Shāh, from whom the dynasty takes its name, commemorated his accession by founding the city of Ahmadābād, and later on in his reign he built the forts of Songarh, Dohad and Ahmadnagar. Among the monuments with which he beautified his new capital were the Ahmad Shāh and *Jāmi‘ Masjids*, and to his reign also belong the fine gateway known as the *Tīn Darwāza* and the mosques of Haibat Khān and Sayyid ‘Ālam. Each and every one of these buildings, as well as a multitude of others erected by succeeding kings, is distinguished by some particular traits of its own. Space, however, would fail to tell of them all, and we must be content, therefore, to pick out a few of the most typical examples. Of Ahmad Shāh's buildings, the two most instructive are the *Tīn Darwāza* (Triple Gateway) and the *Jāmi‘ Masjid*. The former (Pl.