Jama Masjid, Gumbad, Gol Gumbad, Taj Mahal PDF

## JAMA MASJID Large mosques, spanning huge spaces, also dotted the landscape of the Indian sub-continent in medieval times. Congregational prayers were held here every Friday afternoon which required the presence of a minimum of forty Muslim male adults. At the time of prayers (on Fridays) a Khutba...

## JAMA MASJID Large mosques, spanning huge spaces, also dotted the landscape of the Indian sub-continent in medieval times. Congregational prayers were held here every Friday afternoon which required the presence of a minimum of forty Muslim male adults. At the time of prayers (on Fridays) a Khutba was read out in the name of the ruler and his laws for the realm were also read out. In medieval times, a city had one Jama Masjid, which along with its immediate surroundings became the focus of the lives of the people, both Muslim and non-Muslim. This happened because a lot of commercial and cultural exchanges were concentrated here besides religious and indirect political activity. Generally, such a mosque was large with an open courtyard, surrounded on three sides by cloisters and the Qibla Liwan in the west. It was here that the mihrab and the mimbar for the Imam were located. People faced the mihrab while offering prayers as it indicated the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. ## Description of the Image The image is a diagram depicting the layout of a mosque. The diagram shows the mosque has an open courtyard surrounded by cloisters on three sides. On the West side is the Qibla Liwan, which contains the mihrab and the mimbar. The main entrance of the mosque is situated on the East side. The mosque also has a tank inside and a minaret on one side. ## GUMBAD Gumbad is situated in Bijapur in the Bijapur District of Karnataka. It is the mausoleum of Muhammad Adil Shah (1626-1656), the seventh Sultan of the Adil Shahi Dynasty of Bijapur (1489-1686). Built by the ruler himself, it is a striking edifice in spite of being unfinished. The tomb is a complex of buildings such as a gateway, a Naqqar Khana, a mosque and a sarai located within a large-walled garden. The Gumbad is a monumental square building topped with a circular drum over which rests a majestic dome, giving the building its nomenclature. It is built of dark gray basalt and decorated plasterwork. Each wall of the tomb is one hundred and thirty-five feet long and one hundred and ten feet high and ten feet thick. With the drum and the dome, the building rises to a height of over two hundred feet. The tomb has only one square chamber and the dome, with a diameter of one hundred and twenty-five feet, it covers an uninterrupted floor space of 18,337 square feet, the second largest in the world. The tomb chamber contains the burial place of the Sultan, his wives and other relatives, while their real graves lie perpendicularly below in a vault, accessed by stairs. The hemispherical masonry dome over a square base was constructed with the help of pendentives. These pendentives not only lent shape to the dome but also transferred its weight to the walls below. New vaulting systems consisting of arch-nets or stellate forms in squinches were created to cover angles formed by intersecting arches. The building has an amazing acoustical system. Along the drum of the dome there is a whispering gallery where sounds get magnified and echoed many times over. At the four corners of the building are seven-storeyed octagonal spires or minaret like towers. These towers house staircases leading to the top dome. The drum of the dome is decorated with foliation. A heavily bracketed cornice resting on corbels is a distinctive feature of the facade. ## Gol Gumbad Gol Gumbad is a fine convergence of many styles located in medieval India. Monumentality, majesty and grandeur, integral aspects of the architectural experience in India, are associated with buildings of Bijapur. While its structural particularities of dome, arches, geometric proportions and load bearing techniques suggest Timurid and Persian styles, it is made of local material and is decorated with surface embellishments popular in the Deccan. Four towers at the corners are reminiscent of turrets attached. ## Taj Mahal Taj Mahal was built in Agra by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal. Taj Mahal was the apogee of the evolutionary architectural process in medieval India. The sublimity of the building comes from its orderly, simple plan and elevation, amazingly perfect proportions or symmetry, the ethereal quality marble has lent to it, the perfect setting of bagh and river and the pure outline of the tomb silhouetted against the sky. The patina the Taj has lends it a different hue at various times of day and night. The Taj complex is entered through a monumental red sandstone gateway, the opening arch of which beautifully frames the mausoleum. The tomb is laid out in a Chahar Bagh, criss-crossed with paths and water courses, interspersed with pools and fountains. The structure is placed on the northern extremity of the bagh instead of the middle to take advantage of the river bank. ## Jama Masjid, Mandu The Jama Masjid of Mandu was built on a large scale to accommodate many worshippers for Friday prayers. It is entered through a monumental gateway, topped with a squat dome, beyond which lies an open courtyard flanked with columned cloisters on three sides, also topped with smaller domes. The building is faced with red sandstone. The mimbar in the Qibla Liwan is supported on carved brackets and the mihrab has a lotus bud fringe. Provincial style architecture of Mandu is regarded as too close to the structures of Imperial Delhi to make a bold statement of local traditions. Nevertheless, the so-called robust, austere Pathan architecture of Mandu with its surface embellishments of jalis, carved brackets, etc., and the lightness of the structures was an important intervention in the narrative of the Indo-Islamic architectural experience. ## The City of Mandu The city of Mandu is located sixty miles from Indore, at an elevation of over 2000 feet and overlooks the Malwa Plateau to the north and the Narmada valley to the south. Mandu's natural defence encouraged consistent habitations by Parmara Rajputs, Afghans and Mughals. As the capital city of Ghauri Dynasty (1401-1561) founded by Hoshang Shah it acquired a lot of fame. Subsequently, Mandu was associated with the romance of Sultan Baz Bahadur and Rani Rupmati. The Mughals resorted to it for pleasure during the monsoon season. Mandu is a typical respresentation of the medieval provincial style of art and architecture. It was a complex mix of official and residential-cum-pleasure palace, pavilions, mosques, artificial reservoirs, baolis, embattlements, etc. In spite of the size or monumentality, the structures were very close to nature, designed in the style of arched pavilions, light and airy, so that these buildings did not retain heat. Local stone and marble were used to great advantage. Mandu is a fine example of architectural adaptation to the environment. The Royal Enclave located in the city comprised the most complete and romantic set of buildings, a cluster of palaces and attendant structures, official and residential, built around two artificial lakes. The Hindola Mahal looks like a railway viaduct bridge with its disproportionately large buttresses supporting the walls. This was the audience hall of the Sultan and also the place where he showed himself to his subjects. Batter was used very effectively to give an impression of swinging (Hindola) walls. Jahaaz Mahal is an elegant two-storey 'ship' palace between two reservoirs, with open pavilions, balconies overhanging the water and a terrace. Built by Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khilji it was possibly used as his harem and as the ultimate pleasure and recreational resort. It had a complex. ## Structures for Common People One of the architectural features of medieval India was also a coming together of styles, techniques and decorations in public and private spaces of non-royal sections of the society. These included buildings for domestic usage, temples, mosques, khanaqahs (hermitage of Sufi saints) and dargahs, commemorative gateways, pavilions in buildings and gardens, bazaars, etc. ## Sarais A hugely interesting feature of medieval India was the sarais which ringed cities and dotted the vast space of the Indian sub-Continent. Sarais were largely built on a simple square or rectangular plan and were meant to provide temporary accommodation to Indian and foreign travellers, pilgrims, merchants, traders, etc. In effect, sarais were public domains which thronged with people of varied cultural backgrounds. This led to cross-cultural interaction, influences and syncretic tendencies in the cultural mores of the times and at the level of the people. ## Chand Mini The everyday use of the minar was for the azaan or call to prayer. Its phenomenal height, however, symbolised the might and power of the ruler. The Qutub Minar also came to be associated with the much revered saint of Delhi, Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. ## Qutub Minar The Qutub Minar, built in the thirteenth century, is a 234-feet-high tapering tower divided into five storeys. The minar is a mix of polygonal and circular shapes. It is largely built of red and buff sandstone with some use of marble in the upper storeys. It is characterised by highly decorated balconies and bands of inscriptions intertwined with foliated designs. ## Chand Minar Chand Minar, built in the fifteenth century, is a 210-feet-high tapering tower divided into four storeys. Painted peach now, its facade once boasted of chevron patterning on the encaustic tile work and bold bands of Quranic verses. Although it looked like an Iranian monument, it was the combined handiwork of local architects with those from Delhi and Iran. ## Tombs Monumental structures over graves of rulers and royalty was a popular feature of medieval India. Some well-known examples of such tombs are those of Ghyasuddin Tughlaq, Humayun, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan in Delhi, Akbar and Itmaduddaula in Agra. According to Anthony Welch, the idea behind the tomb was eternal paradise as a reward for the true believer on the Day of Judgement. This led to the paradisiacal imagery for tomb. ## Forts Building monumental forts with embattlements was a regular feature in medieval times, often symbolising the seat of power of a king. When such a fort was captured by an attacking army the vanquished ruler either lost his complete power or his sovereignty. This was because he had to accept the suzerainty of the victorious king. Some examples of strong, complex edifices which still exercise the imagination of the visitor are the forts of Chittor, Gwalior, Daulatabad, earlier known as Devgiri and Golconda. Commanding heights were utilised to great advantage to construct forts. These heights gave a good perspective of the region, strategic advantage for security, unfettered and unhindered space to make residential and official complexes while simultaneously creating a sense of awe in the people. Other complexities woven into such topography were concentric circles. ## Architectural Influences Amongst provincial styles, the architecture of Bengal and Jaunpur is regarded as distinct. Gujarat was markedly regional in character for patrons borrowed elements from temple traditions such as toranas, lintels in mihrabs, carvings of bell and chain dargis. and carved panels depicting trees for mosques and dargahs. The fifteenth century building activity of Shaikh Ahmad Khattu of Sarkhej is a good example of provincial style and it heavily influenced the form and decoration of provincial tombs. ## Decorative Forms These forms included designing on plaster through incision or stucco. The designs were either left plain or covered with colours. Motifs were also painted on or carved in stone. These motifs included varieties of flowers, both from the sub-continent and places outside, particularly Iran. The lotus bud fringe was used to great advantage in the inner curves of the arches. Walls were also decorated with cypress, chinar and other trees as also with flower vases. Many complex designs of flower motifs decorating the ceilings were also to be found on textiles and carpets. In the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries tiles were also used to surface the walls and the domes. Popular colours were blue, turquoise, green and yellow. Subsequently the techniques of tessellation (mosaic designs) and pietra dura were made use of for surface decoration particularly in the dado panels of the walls. At times lapis lazuli was used in the interior walls or on canopies. Other decorations included arabesque, calligraphy and high and low relief carving and a profuse use of jalis. The high relief carving has a three-dimensional look. The arches were plain and squat and sometimes high and pointed. From the sixteenth century onwards arches were designed with trefoil or multiple foliations. Spandrels of the arches were decorated with medallions or bosses. The roof was a mix of the central dome and other smaller domes, chatris and tiny minarets. The central dome was topped with an inverted lotus flower motif and a metal or stone pinnacle. ## Typologies of Structures Keeping in mind religious and secular necessities, architectural building like mosques for daily prayers, the Jama Masjids, tombs, dargahs, minars, hammams, formally laid out gardens, madrasas, sarais or caravansarais, Kos minars, etc., were constructed over a period of time. These were thus additions in the existing types of buildings in the sub-continent. Architectural edifices in the Indian sub-continent, as elsewhere in the world, were constructed by wealthy people. They were, in descending order, rulers and nobles and their families, merchants, merchant guilds, rural elite and devotees of a cult. In spite of the obvious Saracenic, Persian and Turkish influences, Indo-Islamic structures were heavily influenced by prevailing sensibilities of Indian architectural and decorative forms. A lot depended on the availability of materials, limitations of resources and skills and the sense of aesthetics of the patrons. Although religion and religiosity were very important to people of medieval India, as elsewhere, they borrowed architectural elements liberally. ## Categories of Styles The study of Indo-Islamic architecture is conventionally categorized into the Imperial Style (Delhi Sultanate), the Provincial Style (Mandu, Gujarat, Bengal, and Jaunpur), the Mughal Style (Delhi, Agra, and Lahore) and the Deccani Style (Bijapur, Golconda). These categories help in understanding better the specificities of architectural styles rather than putting them in immutable slots.