The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.33

Language: English

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To describe only those monuments of the Muslims that are situated at the main centres of their political power—at Delhi, for example, or Gaur or Ahmadābād or Māndū—is to give but an incomplete picture of their architectural achievements; for besides the capital groups whose history we have been sketching and others to be dealt with anon, there are scores of edifices in less important places that are well worthy of attention both from the historian and from the architect. Thus, at Bayāna, in the Bharatpur State, there is the *Ukha Mandir*—one of the earliest mosques erected (largely out of the spoils of Hindu shrines) by the Muslim conquerors, and afterwards converted into a temple; while hard by it is the *Ukha Masjid* built in the reign of Qutb-ud-dīn Mubārak Shāh (1316-20) and a worthy example of Khaljī architecture. In Mewār, again, there is the fine arched bridge over the Gamberi River at Chitor built by ‘Alā-ud-dīn Khaljī, when he besieged and took that city in A.D. 1303; and further west, in the Jodhpur State, are several buildings of no little merit. One of these is the *Atarkin-ka-Darwāza* in the old town of Nāgaur—a lofty gateway embellished, in the manner of the Arhāī-din-ka-Jhomprā screen at Ajmer, with a medley of geometric and flowing arabesques. The original structure appears to date from the first half of the thirteenth century, but to have been restored during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325-51) and again added to in the sixteenth century¹.

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Another is the *Shams Masjid*, also at Nāgaur, which according to local tradition was founded by the Governor Shams Khān, but which, to judge by its sharply tapering minarets, lofty narrow archways and clerestory gallery under the central dome (a feature manifestly borrowed from Gujarātī architecture), must in its present form be assigned to the fifteenth rather than the thirteenth century. A third is the Fort Mosque at Jalor erected by Muzaffar Shāh II in the graceful Gujarātī manner of the early sixteenth century; and a fourth the *Top Khāna Masjid* in the same spot, with its magnificent but unfinished screen—also a work of the Gujarātī kings. Nor must mention be omitted of the highly interesting group of buildings at Chanderī in the Gwalior State. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries Chanderī was in possession of the Ghūrī and Khaljī kings of Māndū, and such few monuments as have survived the ravages of time bear witness alike in their construction and their decoration to the close connexion between the two places. Most important among these few is the *Kūshk Mahall* at Fathābād, about two miles south-west of Chanderī. In 1445, so Firishta tells us, Mahmūd Shāh I of Mālwa passed through Fathābād on his way back from Jaunpur and gave orders for a seven-storeyed palace to be erected there.

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It is with this building that the *Kūshk Mahall* is popularly identified, and, though there is no inscription to prove the truth of the identification, colour is lent to it by the style of the structure, which is not unworthy to be ranked with those of Mahmūd in Māndū itself. Moreover, although only the remains of four storeys now exist, the vast mass of débris, with which the *Kūshk Mahall* was until recently choked, warrants the supposition that there were once additional storeys above. The plan of the structure is simple: a square of 115 ft. 8 in. divided internally into four equal quadrants by two arched passages crossing each other at right angles. Tier upon tier of triple arches open on to these passages from the four quadrants, and air and light are also admitted from the outside through windows and balconies alternating one above the other in the successive storeys. Like the college and tomb of Mahmūd and the *Jāmi‘ Masjid* at Māndū, the *Kūshk Mahall* depends for its charm upon its virile proportions, well co-ordinated parts and unaffected simplicity. Almost every detail of its design and construction—its clean-cut intersecting vaults, its arches with their delicate reflex curves, its cornices, brackets, balconies and pierced screen-work—all suggest that the architect, and probably many of the craftsmen as well, came from Māndū.

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This influence of Māndū is observable also in some of the later buildings at Chanderī though in their case the presence of other elements from the schools of Gwalior and Ahmadābād has had the effect of sapping the Māndū style of much of its strength. The *Jāmi‘ Masjid*, for example, which in other respects is characteristic of Mālwa, is cramped in its proportions and enfeebled by the rows of weak serpentine brackets supporting the eaves. The same meaningless brackets, which subsequently found their way into Mughal architecture at Fatehpur Sīkrī and Bayāna, also contribute to mar the appearance of the two tombs known as the Madrasa and Shāh-zādīkā. In the *Badal Mahall Gateway*, which may be presumed to have served as a commemorative arch, the process of degeneration has gone still further, and, though care has been lavished upon its details, its design as a whole is weak and ungainly.