Home >> Architecture of India >> The Mughal Style Of Architecture
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Mughal rulers were visionaries and their own personalities reflected
in the all-round development of various arts, crafts, music, building
and architecture. The
Mughal dynasty was established with the crushing victory of Babar at
Panipat in 1526 AD. During his short five-year reign, Babar took
considerable interest in erecting buildings, though few have survived.
Architecture
flourished during the reign of Akbar (1555-1605). The chief feature of
the architecture of Akbar's time was the use of red sandstone. In
principle the construction was of the trabeate order, although the
"Tudor" arch was also used. The domes were of the "Lodi" type, while the pillar
shafts were many-sided with the capitals being in the form of Akbar's
successor Jahangir (1605-1627) concentrated more on painting and other
forms of art than on building and architecture.
However, some note-worthy monuments of his time include Akbar's
Tomb at Sikandra near Agra, which was completed in 1613. This monument
represents a major turning point in Mughal history, as the sandstone
compositions of Akbar were adapted by his successors into opulent
marble masterpieces. Jahangir is the central figure in the development
of the Mughal gardens. The most famous of his gardens is the Shalimar
Bagh on the banks of Lake Dal in Kashmir. The adjoining Nishat Bagh
built by Asaf Khan also belongs to this period. The Jahangir's Tomb at
Shadera near Lahore, built by his wife Nur Mahal, is another
outstanding architectural production of this time. The
style of Mughal architecture found expression of exceptional splendour
during Emperor Shah Jahan's reign (1628-1658). The single most
important architectural change was the substitution of marble for the
red sandstone. He demolished the austere sandstone structures of Akbar
in the Red Fort and replaced them with marble buildings such as the
Diwan-i-Am and the Diwan-i-Khas. In 1638 he began to lay the city of
Shahjahanabad Jahan
Ara, daughter of Shah Jahan, was also a generous patron of
architecture and showed an eclectic taste in building spacious
gardens, mosques, madrasas and
serais. She built the famous
Begum Ka Bagh and Begum Serai at Delhi.
She also built her own tomb near the shrine of the dargah
of Hazrat Nizauddin. The
architectural projects of Aurangazeb's reign (1658-1707) are
represented by the Bibi-ki-Maqbara, the tomb of Aurangzeb's wife Begum
Rabia Durani, which is a poor replica of the famous Taj Mahal and is a
fine example of Mughal architecture in the Deccan region. The death of Aurangazeb in 1707 led to the decadence of
Mughal architecture. Aurangazeb's
daughters Zeb-un-nissa and Zinat-unnisa Begum also contributed in a
small way in carrying forward the Mughal trend of architecture.
Zinat-unnisa Begum built the Zinat-ul-Masjid at Daryaganj in Old Delhi
built in 1711, while Zeb-un-nissa built her own garden and tomb at
Nawankot near Lahore. Qudsiya Begum, the wife of a later Mughal ruler,
Ahmad Shah, built the Sunheri Masjid in 1751 opposite the west gate of
the Red Fort. The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's favourite
wife Zinat Mahal built the Zinat
Mahal in the Lal Kuan bazaar in Delhi. However, the only
significant monument built in the post-Aurangazeb time in Delhi was
the Safdar Jung's Tomb built
in 1753 by Mirza Mansoor Khan. ||Introduction||Temple Architecture|| Cave Architecture||Rajput Architecture|| Jain Architecture || Indo-Islamic Architecture||Colonial Architecture||Modern Architecture||Sculpture in India||World Heritage Sites|| |
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The mosque at Kabuli Bagh at Panipat in Punjab and the Jami Masjid at
Sambhal near Delhi, both constructed in 1526, are the surviving
monuments of Babar. His son Humayun laid the foundation of a city
called Dinpanah ("refuge of the faithful") at the Purana
Qila in Delhi but the city could not be completed. The Mughal Empire
briefly fell to the Suris in 1540 but was re-established by Humayun in
1555. The Persian influence into the Mughal architecture was largely a
result of Humayun's observance of this style at the court of Shah
Tahmasp during the period of his exile. However, the Persian elements
could manifest and mature only several years after his death, as is
evident in the Humayun's Tomb at Delhi, which was designed in 1564 by
his widow Haji Begum as a mark of devotion, eight years after his
death. Humayun's Tomb represents an outstanding landmark in the
development and refinement of the Mughal style. In fact the design of
the Taj Mahal was modelled on this tomb
bracket
supports. One of the first major building projects was the
construction of a huge fort at Agra. The massive sandstone ramparts of
the Red Fort are another impressive examples. The most ambitious
architectural exercise of Akbar, and one of the most glorious examples
of Indo-Islamic architecture, was the creation of an entirely new
capital city at 
beside the river Jamuna. The Red Fort at Delhi
represents the pinnacle of centuries of experience in the construction
of palace-forts. Outside the fort, he built the Jama Masjid,
the
largest mosque in India. Shah Jahan built the Jami Masjid at Agra in
1648 in honour of his daughter Jahanara Begum. The Wazir Khan's mosque
in Lahore built in 1634 is another fine example of the Mughal art
during Shah Jahan's time. However, it is for the