Twilight of the Sultanate c16.s1: Architecture
Twilight of the Sultanate c16.s1
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Architecture
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In its heyday the Lodī empire extended from the Indus in the west to the bend of the Ganga in Bihar in the east. In the north it went up to the sub-montane belt of the Himalayās and in the south its boundary ran along a zigzag west-to-east line including Nagor, Mandrael, Narwar, Chanderi, Chunār and Khalgaon. Even when the empire was not so extensive, or conditions so favourable, the Saiyyad and Lodī Sultans, following the traditions of old, gave attention to art and letters, and constructional work went on throughout the one and a quarter century of their rule.
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The Khaljīs and the Tughlaqs were mighty builders. They had built enthusiastically, repaired and conserved old buildings, and developed a robust style of their own. But the continuity of architectural exuberance of the Tughlaq times received a setback at the hands of Tīmūr. Tīmūr's invasion swept everything before it. Besides the treasure of the State and the wealth of the capital, he carried away with him many good craftsmen, architects and stone-workers to Samarqand to build for him there, while many others, following the confusion of his attack, migrated to various provincial capitals. Without money and without artisans it was not possible for the rulers of Delhi to accomplish much. During the first decade after Tīmūr's departure, perhaps only one building was constructed, an Īdgāh by Mallū Iqbāl Khan, in an inscription on which he heartily cursed the “Kāfir” conqueror. The first two Saiyyads restored some political stability. Khizr Khan and Mubārak Shāh even founded two cities, but they (Khizrābād and Mubārakābād) have practically disappeared because of their poor construction owing to limited financial resources.
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The buildings constructed during the Saiyyad and the Lodī regime fall into two groups, (*a*) tombs and (*b*) mosques. The tomb-construction began to take a definite shape. It was based on two different conventions, one octagonal in plan and the other square. The prototypes of the first pattern are the three royal tombs of Mubārak Shāh Saiyyad (died 1434), Muhammad Saiyyad (d. 1445) and Sikandar Lodī (d. 1517). They deserve a detailed study for they reveal the stages in the evolution of the octagonal process which had begun in the tomb of Khan-i-Jahān Telangānī, the Prime Minister of Fīrōz Shāh, constructed in 1368-69¹, and found its culmination in the magnificent mausoleum of Sher Shāh Sūr. This type remained popular for well-nigh two centuries, and even provided the inspiration for some of Akbar's monuments.
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¹ Percy Brown, *Indian Architecture* (Islamic Period), Additional Plates, P.C. III, fig. 1.
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The tomb of Mubārak Shāh Saiyyad² is 30 feet each octagonal side, 74 feet wide, and the height of the dome, excluding the finial, is 50 feet. Here, the central dome is raised higher than in the original prototype, the Telangānī tomb. The height of the verandah, too, is increased; pinnacles (*guldastās*) are provided at the angles of the polygonal drum; kiosks (*Chhatrīs*) replace subsidiary domes, and an arched lantern crowns the summit in place of the usual finial.³ But there is one defect also. In the upper part the structure rises above the spectator's eyes and from the average line of sight these parts are foreshortened. The result is a slightly stunted elevation.
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² Arch. Sur. Ind. Rep., IV, 65.
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³ Sir John Marshall, C.H.I., III, 594.
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This defect is removed in the tomb of Saiyyad Muhammad, erected some ten years later by his son and successor 'Alāuddīn 'Ālam Shāh.⁴ This tomb, which lies in Khairpur to the north-east of the tomb of Safdar Jung, has the same dimensions as those of Mubārak Shāh, but the height of the central dome as well as the kiosks is elegantly elevated. Besides, there is also symmetry and cohesion in its several parts. Many of its features—use of local grey-stone and pierced stone-screens—were inherited from preceding centuries, but some new ones, chiefly decorative in character, were added to them. These include the use of blue enamelled tiling, refined treatment of surface ornament incised on plaster and embellished with colours, and the lotus finials on the domes, etc. The inner walls are decorated with quotations from the Quran in incised plaster. Besides Muhammed Saiyyad's, there are seven more graves, obviously of other relatives.
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⁴ *Arch. Sur. Rep.*, XX, 158; Carr Stephen, *Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi*, 161-2; *Chronicles*, 336; *Āsār*, Chapter, III, 42; J.A.S.B., XXXIX, 82; *List.*, III, 32-33.
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The tombs of Saiyyad Mubārak and Saiyyad Muhammad are now more or less isolated structures, any supplementary features that may have surrounded them having disappeared. On the other hand the tomb of Sikandar Lodī,⁵ constructed by his son and successor Ibrāhīm in 1518, is better preserved and is more finished in form. It is similar in design and dimensions to that of Muhammad Shāh, but in this mausoleum the use of enamelled tiles has been much extended; tiles of several colours—green, yellow, azure and dark blue—are disposed in a variety of patterns. There is a marked tendency towards more lavish ornamentation. A significant structural deviation is also noticeable. In the tombs of the two preceding monarchs the dome is solely of uniform thickness of stonework, but in the present instance the dome is composed of an inner and outer shell of masonry, with a distinct space between the two. Such a device was quite well known in Iraq, Persia, and other parts of western Asia, but in India, Sikandar’s tomb provides the first “successful” example in the application of the “double dome”.⁶ It imparted a loftier and more imposing exterior, and provided the interior with larger space. Since later on, the larger domes of India were constructed on this same principle, the emergence of the device in the Lodī period is of special significance.⁷ Another noteworthy feature of Sikandar Lodī’s mausoleum was its walled enclosure “which occupies a place midway between the fortified enclaves of the Tughlaq tombs and the decorative garden of the Mughals”.⁸
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⁵ In Arch. Sur. Rep., IV, 184-85, A. L. Carlleyle located Sikandar's tomb at Agra near Sikandara. But Sir Saiyyad Ahmad Khan identifies it with the fine building in a walled enclosure at Khairpur, old Delhi. Āsār, I, 89. Ni'āmatulla's positive statement about Sikandar Lodī being buried in a garden by the side of his father's tomb sets at rest the doubts about the location of the tomb. *Makhzan*, 65 (a).
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⁶ Percy Brown, 27-28; Marshall, *op. cit*, 595.
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⁷ Arch. Sur. Ind. Report, IV, 69; Carr Stephen, 170-71; Āsār., Chapter, III, 46; Hearn, *Seven Cities of Delhi*, 130; Rodgers, 89-90; J.A.S.B., XXIX, 1870, 84; Cole, *Reports of the Curator of Ancient Monuments in India*, 3 Reports, Second Report, 1882-83, Government Press, Calcutta, C XI; List., III, 38-41.
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⁸ Marshall, 595 n.
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The octagonal method of tomb-construction seems to have been confined to the royal family. The square-plan type of tomb was, perhaps, reserved for nobles and others of high rank, although some of them are even larger and more imposing than the royal tombs. The square type curiously enough found favour during the Saiyyad and Lodī time only, and all its examples fall within the fifteenth century. In Delhi and its neighbourhood there are at least seven such mausoleums. They are now known by their local names only, and it is difficult to say whose memory they commemorate. They are Barē Khan Ka Gumbad (or Dome), Chhotē Khan Ka Gumbad, Bara Gumbad, Shīsh Gumbad, Tomb of Shihābuddīn Tāj Khan, Dādī Ka Gumbad and Polī Ka Gumbad:⁹ They are square solid buildings with domes carried on squinch arches and an octagonal pillared kiosk (light open *chhatrī*) on each corner of the roof.
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⁹ Percy Brown, 28.
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Bara Gumbad, so called because of its lofty dome 80 feet to the top, lies some 300 yards north-east of the tomb of Muhammad Shāh Saiyyad. An inscription over the southern Mihrāb, incised in plaster, points to its construction in 1494 (900 H). It is a beautiful structure as its domes rest on corbelled pendentives most elaborately carved and finished. At the north and south ends of the apartment are oriel or projecting windows, whose prototype may be found in the back wall of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque at the Qutb. The Bara Gumbad has a mosque attached to it which is profusely decorated throughout with conventional foliage and verses from the Quran in incised plaster relieved by coloured tile-work.
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Cunningham compares the eastern gateway of the Bara Gumbad with the famous 'Alāī Darwāzā constructed by 'Alāuddīn Khaljī, and his opinion is shared by Fergusson.¹⁰ In contrast to the rich internal treatment of the 'Alāī Darwāzā¹¹ the walls of the Bara Gumbad are left uncarved. But in its grandeur it is perhaps unequalled in the ruins of Delhi save by its prototype,¹² although it is far removed "from that ideal structure".¹³ Shīsh Gumbad, or the Glazed Dome, is situated some 50 yards to the north of the Bara Gumbad. The tomb of an unidentified dignitary, its ceiling is decorated with floral carvings in incised plaster and quotations from the Quran. The exterior is ornamented with the blue glazed tiles in two shades which must have lent it a very striking appearance and which give the tomb its name.¹⁴
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¹⁰ Arch. Sur. Ind. Rep., IV, 67 ff; XX, 155-57; Fergusson, II, 210.
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¹¹ K. S. Lal, *History of the Khaljīs*, 377-79.
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¹² Carr Stephen, 196-97; Asar., III, 52; J.A.S.B., XXIX, 1870, 70-88.
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¹³ Percy Brown, 29.
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¹⁴ Arch. Sur. Rep., XX, 158; List., III, 36-37.
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It would be needless to make a detailed study of all the "Gumbads" mentioned above and many more like the Hijrē Ka Gumbad (Dome of Hermaphrodite) and Nīlī Gumtī, so called because of its blue tiles. The treatment in all cases is almost the same. A single chamber comprises the interior which is square in plan and the dome is supported by a squinch arch at each corner. There are sunken archways, those on the west contain the *mihrāb*. This gives a feeling of monotony and these structures seen one after the other look rather stereotyped.
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In the sphere of mosque construction the Saiyyads could not boast of any large ones of the public or congregational order;¹⁵ but with the accession of Sikandar Lodī, a new leaf is turned in this field. A devout Musalman, he is said to have built mosques throughout his kingdom.¹⁶ But most of them were of a private nature, mostly attached to the tombs. However, there are some notable structures like the mosque attached to the Bara Gumbad and Moth Ki Masjid, which in their specialised form of design provide a motif for Jamala Masjid (constructed in 1536) and Qila Kuhna Masjid of Sher Shāh (built in C 1550) in the last of which they ultimately reach perfection.
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¹⁵ There is one of Mubārak Shāh at Badaon, of no great architectural significance. Arch. Sur. Rep. ~~XVI~~, 26; J.A.S.B., 1872, 111-12, Epi. Indo-Moslemica, III, 1909-10.
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¹⁶ T.A., I, 336; *Makhzan*, 76 (a).
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The mosque attached to the Bara Gumbad is a kind of domestic chapel, and represents the Lodī technique in embryo.¹⁷ This technique is definitely improved in the Moth Ki Masjid, built ten years later (1505) by Miān Bhuā, the Prime Minister of Sikandar Lodī.¹⁸ Moth Ki Masjid stands on a raised platform. The gateway is faced with red sandstone ornamented with marble. The eastern angles of the enclosure are marked by domed *chhatrīs* supported on eight red stone pillars and contain traces of blue tile decoration.
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¹⁷ Percy Brown, 29.
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¹⁸ There is a story behind the construction of this mosque. Once the Emperor gave a grain of *moth* to his Prime Minister Miān Bhuā. The latter, thinking the grain to be auspicious, it having touched the royal palm, sowed it into the ground and obtained a few more grains. The process was repeated and a crop obtained. The crop was sowed as seed and a huge harvest was collected. In course of time, from the income of that one *moth*, the mosque was built up. This is how it came to be known as Moth Ki Masjid. *Khulāsat-ut-Tawārīkh*, 278.
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This mosque¹⁹ is much larger than the one attached to the Bara Gumbad, and measures nearly one hundred and twenty-five feet across. Consequently it provided much more scope for the skill of the craftsmen and "it epitomises in itself all that is best in the architecture of the Lodīs".²⁰ In the central portion the system of squinch arches found in earlier buildings continues, but in the side aisles a form of stalactite pendentive is introduced in the angles.²¹ Free intermixture of white marble, red sandstone and enamelled tiles lends a colourful effect to the decoration, which contrasts effectively with the bold quality of the masonry. The spandrels above the arches are full of carvings in plaster with exquisite arabesque designs of typically Islamic character. Percy Brown suggests: "There was evidently a very talented group of craftsmen, engaged in this art during the fifteenth century, reminiscent of that much greater school of artists who, at about the same time were perpetuating such wonders in a similar technique on the walls of the Alhambra in Spain."²²
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¹⁹ Arch. Sur. Rep., IV, 67, 90. *Archaeology*, 1902-3, 77; Carr Stephen, 166-67; Āsār., Chapter, III, 44; Rodgers, 89.
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²⁰ Sir John Marshall in C.H.I., III, 596.
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²¹ Percy Brown, 29-30.
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²² Percy Brown, 30. *Cf.* Also Sir John Marshall, *op. cit.*, 596-97.
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Sikandar Lodī was by far the greatest builder of the fifteenth century. Inscriptions on various buildings in northern India indicate his love for architectural activity. He is credited with constructing a canal in A.D. 1492-93²³ a Baolī in Rajputana²⁴ and mosques in almost all important cities including Lahore, Karnal, Hansi and Makanpur (district Kanpur), besides many in Delhi and Agra.²⁵ There are also so many nameless mosques and tombs belonging to the Lodī period which, from their design and material of construction, can safely be attributed to Sikandar's time.²⁶ Like Fīrōz Tughlaq, Sikandar Lodī was not only a great builder but also a great repairer. In his time in A.D. 1492 (897 H) was built the mausoleum of Amīr Khusru. An inscribed frieze at the entrance doorway of the Qutb Mīnār credits him with repairing this world famous edifice in A.D. 1503 (909 H),²⁷ although the nature of the repairs is not known. A few more buildings of his son and successor Ibrāhīm Lodī are also extant, like the tomb of Khwājā Khizr (completed in 1522) and Rajōn Ki Baolī, with a mosque attached to it. But Ibrāhīm's political difficulties left him little time for much constructional activity.
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²³ P.A.S.B., 1872, 48.
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²⁴ Arch. Sur. Rep., XX, 131.
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²⁵ Arch. Sur. Rep., XVII, 105. *Ibid.*, XXIII, 115; P.A.S.B., 1873, 141. Epi. Indica, II, 1894, 137. Rodgers, *Revised List of Objects of Archaeological Interest in the Punjab*, 50, 151.
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²⁶ List, II, Delhi Province, Monuments Nos. 101, 104, 107 and many others.
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²⁷ Epi. Ind., 1919-20, 4; Carr Stephen, 59-60. Āsār, III, 18. Asiatic Researches, XIV, 487. J. A. Page, *A Guide to the Qutb*, Delhi, 21.
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Besides the Imperial style of architecture, two other local styles, those of Jaunpur and Gwalior, deserve special attention.
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Otherwise an obscure place, Jaunpur was brought into prominence in 1360 by Fīrōz Shāh Tughlaq, who built it into a city. It assumed independence a little before Tīmūr's invasion and thereafter continued its own course undisturbed. Even when it was engaged in wars against Delhi and other neighbouring kingdoms, its rulers continued to lend patronage to art and learning. The buildings that the Sharqīs of Jaunpur have left speak of their aesthetic architectural taste. Unfortunately many of Jaunpur's finest monuments were destroyed by Sikandar Lodī after defeating Husain Shāh in 1495. The few that have survived include several large mosques, three of which still remain tolerably entire, and a considerable number of tombs and palaces. The Atālā mosque, the Khālis Mukhlis, the Lāl Darwāzā Masjid, the Jhanjhri mosque and the Jama' Masjid are some of the best specimens of Indo-Muslim architecture in India.
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The construction of the Atālā mosque was started in about 1373 during the reign of Fīrōz Shāh Tughlaq and was completed in about 1408 in the reign of Ibrahīm Sharqī (1401-1440). It was erected on the site and from the material of an earlier Hindu temple said to have been built by Raja Vijāya Chandra Dēva of Varanasi.²⁸ Built on the orthodox plan, it consists of a square courtyard, measuring 177 feet on each side, with the prayer chamber on the west and colonnaded cloisters on the other sides. The domes over the prayer chamber and its back wall, the tapering minarets, the *kangūra* cornices and the arches and trellis windows are of the Tughlaq style. On the other hand the imposing propylon (75 feet high), propylon screens and surface decoration give it, and the Jaunpur style, its distinctive character. The Atālā mosque is so like a Hindu arrangement "that one might almost at first sight be tempted … to fancy it was originally a Hindu monastery",²⁹ but it also exhibits the saracenic arcuate style in as great a degree of perfection as is exhibited at any period, prior or subsequent. The one defect pointed out in this edifice is that the propylon was made so lofty that the domes are hidden from view, but the architects seem to have so designed the building that while the massive propylon looks grand and imposing from the front, the domes seen from the sides and the rear are equally beautiful.
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²⁸ Fuhrer and Smith, *Sharqi Architecture of Jaunpur*, Arch. Sur. of India, 1889, plates, 29-40.
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²⁹ Fergusson, II, 227.
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Another mosque belonging to the reign of Ibrāhīm Sharqī was built by two governors of Jaunpur, Maliks Khālis and Mukhlis, who have given their names to it. The Jhanjhı̄i Masjid was also built by Ibrāhīm in honour of Hazrat Sa‘id Sadr Jahān Ajmali.³⁰ The former is a plain structure, but the latter, though badly mutilated, was very similar in design to the Atālā mosque as is indicated by its propylon screens. The Lāl Darwāzā Masjid, so called because of its vermilion-painted gate, was built by Mahmūd Shāh (1440-52) and the Jama‘ Masjid by Husain Shāh (1452-78). Both these are more or less based on the design of the Atālā Masjid, although the latter edifice is more imposing than the former. The architect of the Lāl Darwāzā mosque is said to have been a Hindu, named Kamaū, the son of Visadru, and it is likely that the architect of the Atālā Masjid was also a Hindu.³¹ Thus the architecture of Jaunpur had all the beauty and grace of the Hindu art employed to the best advantage in the construction of their mosques.³² The massive propylon gives the facade almost the look of a south Indian temple, and constitutes the most distinctive element of the style. The peculiarities of this style—the best blending of the Hindu and the Muslim—extended into other important cities of Jaunpur kingdom like Kalpi, Varanasi, Ghāzipur and Āzamgarh.
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³⁰ Marshall, *op. cit.*, 627.
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³¹ *Ibid.*, 628.
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³² Cunningham, Arch. Sur. Rep., I, 287; Fergusson, II, 227-8.
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The architecture of Gwalior, annexed to the Sultanate in 1518, can be best described in one word—grandiose. Perched on a high hill, the fort and palace of Raja Mān Singh (1486-1518) and the palace added by his successor Vikramāditya, are the most remarkable examples of the Hindu architecture of northern India during the period under review. Bābur was struck by their beauty and wrote: "They are singularly beautiful palaces (of Mān Singh and his successor Vikramāditya), wholly of hewn stone. The palace of Mān Singh is more lofty and splendid than that of any other Rajas.... The five large domes are covered with plates of copper gilt. The outside of the walls they have inlaid with green painted tiles.”³³ The copper is gone, but the tiles still look exquisite. A visitor to Gwalior is even today struck by its grandeur, and Fergusson rightly remarks that these palaces furnished points of imitation to Mughal emperors as well as Hindu princes.³⁴
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³³ B.N. (B), II, 608-9. Bābur visited it on 27 September, 1528.
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³⁴ Fergusson, II, 176.
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The Imperial or Delhi, Jaunpur and Gwalior styles are the chief styles of the Sultanate. The buildings in the Punjab have undergone such large-scale renovations in successive ages that the forms in which they now exist cannot be called pre-Mughal. In Sindh nothing of note was constructed during this period. But the rise of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Bahmanī and Vijāyanagar as independent kingdoms gave fresh impetus to architectural activity. The capitals and other cities of these independent States were decorated by their monarchs according to the best of their ability and resources. Thus the break up of the Sultanate at the close of the fourteenth century did not prove to be an unmitigated curse, for throughout the fifteenth century different schools of architecture flourished in these various States; and although their study does not fall within the frame-work of this work, a brief survey of their accomplishments would be good for a comparative study, and for having a glimpse into the overall picture of the architectural achievements of the country as a whole.
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In Bengal, the early Muslim buildings bear traces of the Hindu temple architecture since they are mostly superstructures on the original Hindu, but the climate of Bengal is so singularly inimical to the preservation of architectural remains, that the extant ones belong only to the period of over two centuries (A. D. 1338-1576). Besides, Bengal is practically without stone. Therefore, the Muslim rulers constructed their edifices with heavy short pillars of stone supporting pointed arches and vaults of brick, and the style so developed may rightly be called the “brick style” of Bengal. The Purbiya dynasty of Bengal (A. D. 1352-1487) did not do anything much to entitle them to a place in political history, but since they possessed one of the richest regions of India, they spent their wealth lavishly in adorning their capital with beautiful buildings. Jalāluddīn Muhammad Shāh (1414-1443) was a great builder. His Eklakhi mosque is a bold architectural enterprize and though smaller than 'the Ādīna mosque (built by Sikandar Shāh, 1358-89), it is a great improvement upon it. A very interesting antiquity of Bengal is the Mīnār standing just outside the fort of Gaur. For two-thirds of the height it is a polygon of twelve sides; above that it is circular till it attains the height of 84 feet. There is said to have been an inscription ascribing its erection to Saifuddīn Fīrōz Shāh II (A. D. 1488-90). There are also several gateways, the finest one being the Dākhil or Salāmī gateway, the northern entrance to Gaur fort, said to have been built by Ruknuddīn Bārbak Shāh (1460-74). It is made of brick, but in strength and grace it is second to none in its class found anywhere.
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To the west of the shrunken Sultanate of Delhi had risen two powerful kingdoms, Malwa and Gujarat. The Ghorīs of Malwa declared independence about the same time as the Sharqīs of Jaunpur. The Ghorī dynasty of Malwa made Māndū their capital. It occupies one of the noblest sites occupied by any capital in India.³⁵ It is an extensive plateau four or five miles east and west and three miles north and south, abounding in water and fertile in the highest degree. This Māndū, the Ghorī and Khaljī dynasties adorned with all kinds of beautiful buildings.
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³⁵ Fergusson, II, 247.
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The finest building in Māndū is the Jama' Masjid, commenced by Hoshang Shāh and completed by Mahmūd Khaljī I in 1454. "Though not very large, it is so simple and grand ... that it ranks high among the monuments of its class."³⁶ The tomb of its founder stands behind the mosque. Its stern style is relieved by three perforated marble screens of exquisite beauty. More beautiful than all these—mosques and tombs—are the palaces of Māndū. The massive and picturesque "Jahāz Mahal" is situated between two great tanks, almost literally in the water, like a ship. The other palaces of note are the palace of Bāz Bahādur (built apparently by Nāsiruddīn Khaljī in 1509),³⁷ the pavilion of Rūpmatī and the Hindōlā Mahal built much later.
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³⁶ *Ibid.*, 248.
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³⁷ Fergusson, II, 250.
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The Māndū architecture in a word is massive, elegant and saracenic. Red sandstone and marble, both white and coloured and locally available, have been freely used, the first for constructive and the other for decorative purposes. The builders clung steadily to the pointed-arch style and unlike Jaunpur and Gujarat, the Hindu principles do not seem to have influenced the style of Mändū.³⁸
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³⁸ J.B.B.R.A.S., 1903, 339-40 gives a detailed study of the buildings of Dhar and Mandu.
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About the architecture of Gujarat, Fergusson remarks: "Of the various forms which the saracenic architecture assumed in India, that of Ahmadabad may probably be considered as the most elegant, as it certainly is the most characteristic of all. No other form is so essentially Indian."³⁹ For long Gujarat had been a bulwark of Jainism and it contained a considerable number of big and beautiful Jain and Hindu temples. Even after its conquest by 'Alāuddīn Khaljī in A. D. 1299, the Chalukyan style of architecture continued to persist. When Muzaffar Shāh, a converted Rajput of the Tank clan,⁴⁰ and the governor of Gujarat, declared his independence there was, as it were, conversion of Rajput government into Muslim, of Rajput architecture into Muslim. In A. D. 1411 his grandson Ahmad Shāh, moved his capital to Karnavati, which was then renamed Ahmadabad,⁴¹ and he and his successors decorated Ahmadabad and other towns for the next two centuries.
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³⁹ Fergusson, II, 229.
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⁴⁰ For Tank or Tak clan see Elliot, *Races of the N.W. Province*, Beames's Edition, I, 109, 114; Cunningham, Arch. Sur. Rep., II, 8; Tod, *Rajasthan*, Madras Edition, I, 103 ff.
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⁴¹ Havell, *Aryan Rule in India*, 341.
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Ahmad Shāh decorated his capital with all kinds of elegant buildings—fort, mosques, gates and tombs. From the fort to the gateway known as the Tīn Darwāzā and thence to the Jama' Masjid it was an achievement in town-planning. The Jama' Masjid of Ahmadabad was completed in A. D. 1423 and is "generally considered the high water-mark of mosque design in western India, if not in the entire country".⁴² Its spacious courtyard of 49,500 square feet and some 300 tall, slender, closely set pillars simulate "a thick grove of silver pine trunks".⁴³ It was but fitting that his son and successor Muhammad Shāh (1442-51) interred Ahmad Shāh in front of the eastern entrance to the Jama' Masjid and sustained his style in his tomb.
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⁴² *Ibid.*, 52 and plate XXXV, Fig. 1.
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⁴³ Percy Brown, 51.
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In Muhammad Shāh's reign the tomb of Shaikh Ahmad Khattri was built in 1446 at Sarkhej (6 miles S. W. of Ahmadabad). Many other mausoleums and mosques were built there by him and by his two successors Qutbuddīn (1451-58) and Mahmūd I Beghara (*A. D.* 1459-1511). During the time of the latter came Gujarat’s greatest days. He founded Mahmūdābād (17 miles S. E. of Ahmadabad) and decorated it, at the same time enhancing the beauty of Ahmadabad and other cities of Gujarat like Batwa and Champanir. The tomb of Shaikh Mubārak Saiyyad, erected about 1484 near Mahmūdābād, represents the arcuate style of Gujarat in its finished form. This tomb clearly betrays the style of Lodī tombs at Delhi and it is not improbable that some Delhi craftsmen were attracted to Gujarat. In 1492 the mosque of Muhāfiz Khan, “a gem of architectural refinement” was built. But the most famous mosque is that of Sīdi Saiyyad built sometime between 1510 and 1515. Although almost an insignificant building, it has acquired world-wide fame because of the perforated stone screens in its sanctuary. Great skill is shown in the even manner in which the pattern is spread over the whole surface.⁴⁴ What the Gujaratis had been able to accomplish on hard stone in the fifteenth century, the Mughals could do on marble only in the seventeenth and perhaps not so well.
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⁴⁴ Burgess, *Muhammedan Architecture of Ahmadabad*, 41 ff and plates 46-51; Arch. Sur. of Western India, VII, 1901. Fergusson, II, 236-7 and plate 394; P. Brown, 58, and plate XLI, Fig. 1.
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Of sanctuaries and mosques there is no dearth in Ahmadabad, Champanir and other prominent towns of Gujarat. Structures of the secular variety are also by no means inferior to the religious buildings. Among these is the palatial scheme at Sarkhej, consisting of a large artificial lake with Mahmūd Beghara’s palaces occupying two of its sides. The *wavs* or step-wells of Gujarat are known for their artistic beauty. Two of these are the Bai Harīr’s *wav* in Ahmadabad constructed in 1499 and that at Adalaj built about the same time. Indeed in beauty and in construction the architecture of Gujarat was far superior to the contemporaneous architecture of the Sultanate of Delhi and for the matter of that to that of any other State in the country.
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Like any other Muhammadan dynasty, the Bahmanīs too were great builders. Their architecture betrays Sarcenic influence. The mosques at Gulbarga and Bidar are beautiful specimens of Deccan art, but the most remarkable architecture is that of Bījāpur. The Gol Gumbad (tomb of Muhammad 'Ādil Shāh) has traces of Ottoman influence and so have some of the other tombs and mausoleums. The kings of Bījāpur were mighty builders. Their city-walls, colleges and libraries, though ravaged by time, still speak of their artistic tastes and accomplishments.⁴⁵
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⁴⁵ Ferishta, II, 302.
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Equally impressive is the architecture of Vijāyanagar and Rajputana. The kings of Vijāyanagar built palaces, temples, public offices, aqueducts and irrigation works with great enthusiasm. And what they built, they decorated. Nuniz speaks of their "wonderful" system of irrigation, and Portuguese chroniclers and Abdur Razzāq speak highly of the beauty of Vijāyanagar painting and sculpture. Most of the buildings of this great kingdom are now in ruins, and yet they exhibit a grandeur which forces itself upon one's eyes. The famous Hazāra temple built during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya is "one of the most perfect specimens of Hindu temple architecture in existence".⁴⁶ Vitthalswāmī temple too "shows the extreme limit in florid magnificence to which the (South Indian) style advanced".⁴⁷
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⁴⁶ Longhurst, *Hampi Ruins*, Memoir of the Archaeological Survey of India, 124-32.
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⁴⁷ Fergusson, I, 401.
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In Rajasthan, the palace of Rana Kumbha (A. D. 1418-68) in Mewar is "grandiose", and shows the same "beauty of detail which characterises his buildings in general".⁴⁸ Its ruins show kiosks covered with domes resting on lintels and columns, amidst Hindu balconies.⁴⁹
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⁴⁸ Fergusson, II, 172.
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⁴⁹ Rousselet, *L'Inde des Rajahs*, 232-33, cited in Fergusson, II, 172 and Tara Chand, 246.
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Reverting to the imperial style of the Delhi Sultanate, it may be remarked that the Saiyyads and the Lodīs built little, but whatever they built they decorated well. Many of the constructional and decorative details of the fifteenth century were inherited from the preceding centuries, yet there are some innovations introduced. The use of blue enamelled tilings for decoration, surface ornamentation of incised plaster embellished with colours, lotus finials on domes, stunted turrets, *guldastās*, diminutive kiosks or *chhatrīs*, fuller domes and pinnacles are contributions of the Lodīs to Indo- Muslim architecture.⁵⁰ The double dome was adopted by the Mughals, so also the octagonal mausoleum. Sikandar Lodī's tomb enclosure anticipates the ornamental garden tombs of the Mughals. The use of enamelled tiles continued to be popular in future years. All this was no mean contribution of the fifteenth century to Indo-Islamic architecture. In the words of Sir John Marshall: "Out of the universal chaos which followed on the invasion of Tīmūr, there emerged a vigorous and catholic spirit of design—a spirit replete with creative energy and imagination—which under the Saiyyad and Lodī dynasties gave encouragement once more to the latent genius of Hindustan and at the same time derived new inspiration from the never failing source of Islamic art in Persia."⁵¹
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⁵⁰ Fergusson, II, 176. Also B.N.(B), II, 608-14.
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⁵¹ C.H.I., III, 593.