ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

The Slave Dynasty

The Indian slave dynasty lasted from
1206 to 1290. The slave dynasty was the
first Muslim dynasty to rule India.

Thus after the death of Ghori, one of the

most able slaves by the name of Qutub-
ud-din Aibak descended the throne.
The history of the slave dynasty begins
with the rule of Qutub-ud-din Aibak.
He was succeeded by two more able
rulers after which the slave dynasty
vanished in no time due to lack of able
rulers.
He established his capital at two places,
first at Lahore and then shifted it to Delhi.
It was during his reign that the
construction of the famous Qutub Minar
was started. The Alai Darwaza was also
built by him.
Qutub Minar
 Khilji Dynasty

After the decline of the Slave

dynasty, the Sultanate
became even more fragile
and instable due to the
numerous revolts and
internal aggression.
The Khilji dynasty started
with the crowning of
Jalaluddin Khilji by the
nobles. This was around the
year 1290 A.D.
But within a few years, he
was killed by his nephew
Alauddin Khilji under a
conspiracy hatched by the
latter.
Minaret of Jam Afghanistan
Alai Darwaza
Tughlaq Dynasty

The Tughlaqs were basically of Turkish

origin and the family was essentially
Muslim.
Around the year 1321, Ghazi Tughlaq
ascended the throne .
The Tughlaq dynasty was able to
withhold its rule due to their strong
allies like the Turks, Afghans and the
Muslim warriors of south Asia.

TUGHLAQ DYNASTY •
•Tughlaqabad
• Tomb of Giyas-ud-din Tughlaq
• Feroz Shah Kotla
• Khirki Masjid
• Hauz Khas
• Tomb of Telangan
TOMB OF GIAS UD DIN
TUGLAQ
FIROZ SHAH TUGLAQ
HAUZ KHAS

WATER SYSTEMS
 TIMUR LANE

•By 1388, when Fīrūz Tughluq died, the decline of the sultanate was
imminent

•Timur invaded India in 1398, when he was in possession of a vast

empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, and dealt the final blow to
the effective power and prestige of the Delhi sultanate.

• In a well-executed campaign of four months—during which many of the

disunited Muslim and Hindu forces of northern India either were
bypassed or submitted peacefully while Rajputs and Muslims fighting
together were slaughtered at Bhatnagar—Timur reached Delhi and, in
mid-December, defeated the army of Sultan Maḥmūd Tughluq and
sacked the city.

•Timur’s invasion further drained the wealth of the Delhi Sultanate

•Timurlane brings from Samarkand Big Portals and Evans and takes home
artisans from Iindia.
Samarkand,
Uzbekistan
Various arts were combined
from the geometric shapes
developed in Islam like
bookmaking ,carpets,
paintings etc.
 WATER SYSTEMS

The sultanates brought the Persian wheel to India and set up large
scale water systems like step wells kunds , Haus Khas etc.

Kankari
a Lake
Gujarat
Haus e
Kutbi
QANATS

A qanāt) is a gently sloping underground channel to transport water

from an aquifer or water well to surface for irrigation and drinking.
This is an old system of water supply from a deep well with a series
of vertical access shafts.
They could tap into higher water table.
Cities could now be built for strategic reasons loke Bidar,
Ahmednagar, Ahmedabad were all possible.
The system was embraced by the Peshwas and is still working in
Pune.
The rise of regional states

•During the 15th and early 16th centuries, no paramount

power enjoyed effective control over most of north India and
Bengal.
• Delhi became merely one of the regional principalities of
north India, competing with the emerging Rajput and Muslim
states.
•The Lodhi Dynasty and the Sayyed Dynasty followed along
with effective regional rule in areas was either restored or
developed—as in Rajasthan, Orissa, Bengal, Gujarat, Malwa,
Jaunpur, and various smaller states in the north, as well as in
the large and small states of the Deccan—
•the quality of life may well have been comparable or superior
to that of earlier centuries for cultivators, townspeople,
landholders, and nobles.
 Regional Sultanats
•Bengal Sultanat
•Gujarat Sultanat
•Bahamanis
•Provencial style of architecture happened across the different places in
the country..

Bengal Sultanat (8TH TO 12TH CENTURY

Adina masjid
Lottan mosque
Qutubuddins mosque
Dakhil Darwaza
Adina Masjid
 Temples of
Bishnupur

•The foundations are built in stone and the top portion in brick.
•Stone is not easily available in Bengal.
•Stone used for important elements of the mosque like the
Mihrab.
•We see an extensive and prolific use of brick
• The brick is designed with exquisite designs none of which are
 Lottan mosque

Brick Mosque covered by

glazed tiles.
Qutubuddins mosque & Baradari Mosque

Mosque is unusual as it is made in stone.

 Dakhil Darwaza

•Dakhil Darwaza literally an entrance gate,) is the largest structure of

its kind in the architectural history of Sultanate Bengal.
• It was the main entrance to the citadel of Gawr.
•The gateway was the most solid and most elegant entrance portal
ever erected in Bengal.
Gujarat Sultanate Ahmed Shahs
Mosque
•It was constructed in the
year 1414 A.D. by Sultan
Ahmed Shah, the founder of
Ahmedabad city.

The prayer halls (Mehrabs)

of the Ahmad Shah mosque
have been intricately
designed using black and
white marbles.
•There is a separate
chamber for women in the
mosque.
•The Ahmad Shah's Mosque
in Ahmedabad, Gujarat was
initially a holy place meant
only for the royal class.
 Siddi Sayyeds Mosque

•Siddi Sayyed was a noble man at the court

of the Sultan.
•The mosque shows exquisite
craftsmenship.
• The jalis are prolific over the mosque .
•The jali behind the mihrab is a adaptation
of the kalpavriksh tree.
 •The Jali screen work that includes
Rani Sabrai flowing plants and trees is the prime
attraction of this monument.
• Similar intricate Jali work can be seen
in other Islamic architectural
monuments in the city like Siddi Sayyed
Jaliand Sarkhej Roza.
•The mosque has a lot of decorative
motifs borrowed from the Hindu
craftsmen.
•The minarets are very slender.
• the sides have balconies with brackets.
 Teen
Darwaza

•The Teen Darwaza was a royal gateway

demarcating the royal quarters from the
comoners.
•The gateway has three arches which led
into a large enclosure, forming the outer
courtyard of the palace.
•It has highly decorated buttresses on the
faces of piers between the arches
Jami Masjid Champaner

•The Champaner Mosque was

innovative and experimental
borrowed from Hindu temples
heavily.
•Delicate carving visible as
seen in the Solanki temples.
•The carving on the dome is
delicate.
Bahamani Sultanate.

•Typology different from other parts of

India.
•Borrowed from West Asian Land.
•Madrassa of mahamud Gawan
•Bidar Fort
•Mosque atGulbarga
•Daulatabad Fortress
• Chand Minar
Madrassa of Mahamud Gawan

•The Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan is an ancient madrasa or Islamic

college in Bidar, Karnataka, India.
• It was built in the 1460s and is an example of the regional style of
Indo-Islamic architecture under the Bahmani Sultanate
•Big Portal flanked with openings
•Blue tiles from Iran were used in the Deccan Area.
 •Bidar Fort

•Bidar Fort is situated in Bidar city of the northern plateau of Karnataka,

India.
•The fort, the city and the district are all affixed with the name Bidar.
•Sultan Alla-Ud Din Bahman of the Bahmanid Dynasty shifted his capital
from Gulbarga to Bidar in 1427 and built his fort along with a number of
Islamic monuments.
•Dressed Stone was used like Brick,
•Blue glazed Tiles as an Iranian Influence
•Rangin mahal of Barid Shah
• Other innovative techniques also used such as MOP inlay in Black stone.
•Bidar Fort
Mosque at Gulbarga

• Bahamanis moved
their capital to
Gulbarga .
•Mosque has no
courtyard.
Daulatabad Fortress

•
Bahamani
fortress
later taken
by Nizam
Shah.
• Chand Minar

•Central Asian Design

•Victory tower.
• Chand Minar bears resemblance to the Qutb
Minarof Delhi and was inspired from it.
•The Chand Minar is considered to be among
the finest specimens of Persian architecture in
Southern India. A small mosque or praying
hall sits at the base of the tower which is
covered with Persian blue tiles.
•The Tower also displays some indigenous
Indian architectural features such as the
brackets supporting it's balconies
Chand Minar
Mughal Architecture 1550 - 1707
•Mughal architecture spans around 150 years over South Asia.
•The 5 great Mughal Emperors who promoted building were
•Humayun
•Akbar
•Jehangir
•Shahajahan
•Aurangzeb.
Development of architecture under different Mughal
rulers:
Babur and architecture:
•Baburthe founder of the Dynasty.
•He was from the Fergana valley in Afghanistan.
•He was a direct descendent of Timurlane and Gengis Khan.
•He was not impressed by Indian architecture.
•At the same time he was busy in waging wars.
•As Babur recorded in his ‘Memories’, he employed 680 workmen and
1491 stone cutters daily on his various buildings in India.
• He constructed several buildings but only two mosques.
•He built the Bagh e Bahar
Bagh e Bahar
•The Garden of Babur ( Bagh-e
Babur), is a historic park
in Kabul, Afghanistan, and also the last
resting-place of the
first Mughal emperor Babur.
•The garden are thought to have been
developed around 1528 AD (935 AH)
when Babur gave orders for the
construction of an ‘avenue garden’ in
Kabul, described in some detail in his
memoirs, the Baburnama.
•Built in Quadrapartite arrangement
•Various sectors developed in the garden.
•Pavillion built at the top where the entire
garden spreds out as a carpet.
•Central water channel uses gravity to
bring water down
•Has a simple grave of Babur
•Babur himself would give directions
about the trees to be planted.
Humayun and Architecture:
•Humayun’s troubled reign did not
allow him enough opportunity to
give full play to his artistic
temperament.
•Loses his Empire to Sher Shah Suri
and then wins it back.
• Even then he constructed the
palace of ‘Din-i-Panah’ in Delhi
which was probably destroyed by
Sher Shah.
•Humayun constructed some
mosques at Agra and Hissar.
•Built some small mosques outside
Agra.
•Some Tombs in Delhi also built
which go by local Monikers such as
Neela Gumbaz
Akbar and Architecture

•history of Mughal architecture really starts with Akbar. Just as

Akbar built up an extensive empire on the goodwill of the
Hindus, in the same way he utilised local talent and took
inspiration from Indian architecture.
• One of the earliest buildings built is the Tomb of Humayun, in
Delhi.
• It was built after Humayun’s death by his wife and completed
by Akbar.
• This splendid tomb, designed by a Persian Architect Malik Mirza
Ghiyas and executed by Indian craftsmen and masons, is a fine
example of the synthesis of Indian-Persian traditions.
•Important buildings built during Akbar’s time include the
following:
•(1) Red Fort at Agra.
•(2) City of Fatehpur Sikri
•(3) Lahore fort,
•(4) Tomb at Sikandra
Humayun's Tomb
•The Humayun’s tomb is the starting point of the Mughal architecture
in India.
•This style is a delightful amalgamation of the Persian, Turkish and
Indian architectural influences.
•This genre was introduced during the reign of Akbar the Great and
reached its peak during the reign of Shah Jahan,
•The grand structure is situated in the centre of a garden complex on a
raised 7 m high stone platform.
•The garden is a typical Persian Char Bagh layout, with four causeways
radiating from the central building dividing the garden into four smaller
segments.
•The plan is Hasht Bihasht Which means 4 evans on 4 sides with 4
corner rooms and a dome on top .
 Agra Fort

•Akbar built the Agra Fort on the bank of the Yamuna in Eight years(1565-73).
•It forms an irregular semicircle plan.
•The fort is fortified by a 2.4km long and 21 m high wall made of red
sandstone.
The stone decorations are indigenous and the patterns geometric which use
fractals.
•The marble, floral decorations and double domes in the fort building
exemplify later mughal architecture
•It has some important monuments which were added later by emperor
Shah Jahan.
MOTI MASJID
Fatehpur Sikri
•City built with
dense urban
plan
•Abandoned
because of
shortage of
water.
•Interactive and
interconnected
courtyards,
public areas
and royal
courts.
Buland Darwaza
•Buland Darwaza
•"Gate of victory", was built in 1601
A.D. by Mughal emperor Akbar to
commemorate his victory over Gujarat.
•It is the main entrance to the palace
at Fatehpur Sikri.
•The Buland Darwaza is made of red
sandstone, decorated by white and black
marble and is higher than the courtyard of
the mosque.
• The Buland Darwaza is symmetrical and
is topped by large free standing kiosks,
which are the chhatris.
•It also has at the top center, terrace edge
gallery-kiosks on the roof, stylized
buckler-battlements, small minar-spires,
and inlay work with white and black
marble.
Mosque at Fatehpur Sikri
•The mosque has the Timurid element
of the big gateway .
• The gateway conceals the dome
within.
•A lot of chatris are seen in red
sandstone with a little marble added
for accents.
•A building which stands out is Salim
Christi's tomb in white marble.
The mughal fusion of hindu and muslim architectural styles was
embodied in spacious courtyards, wide palaces and open pavilions,
quarried from the local sandstone and cooled by numerous water
channels, ponds.

Diwani- I- khas
• It is also known as ceremonial platform.
• It is two-storey square building with a
balcony supported on heavy corbels
above which is a chajja also supported on
heavy corbels.
Akbar's Tomb At Sikandara.

•The tomb's construction was completed by his son prince Salim also
called Jahangir.
•Akbar planned the tomb and selected a suitable site for it.
•After his death, Akbar's son Jahangir completed the construction in
1605–1613.
•It has 4 minarets and a great doorway. The top storey is marble.
•The building has a number of indigenous elements like chatris and
pavilions. Decorative jalis and patterns are though Islamic.
•It ha s beautiful tiles and Iranian designs inside.
•Vaults are of Timurid origin.
Jahangir and Architecture
•The paintings show the Mughal emperors in side
view.
•Railings demarcate the hierarchy of nobles.
•The buildings seen now are all naked as they are
bereft of carpets ,canopies and all forms of
decoration.
•Jahangir, who resided at Lahore, built less than his
predecessors but effected the significant change
from sandstone to marble.
•He built a mausoleum for his father in law Imtiad e
Daula.
•Expanded the Red Fort at Agra.
•Uilt a number of gardens in Kashmir.
•Tombs at Khusro Baug are now recognised as
precursors to the Taj.
•Various kanch Mahals were built which used a lot
of glass and ceramic, these were later copied by
the Rajputs and the marathas.
•Orcha emulates the Mughal style of building in its
Place.
Tomb of Imtiad i Daula.

Tomb of Nissar Begam .

Khusro Baug
Orchha Palace
Shahjahan and Architecture
•On account of the intense interest taken and vigorous efforts made in
raising magnificent and spacious buildings by Shah Jahan the Mughal
period in general and his period in specific came to be known as the
golden period of Indian architecture.
•During his period architecture reached its highest water mark in India.

Important features of Shah Jahan’s buildings are:

1. Shah Jahan’s buildings are unmatched in exquisite beauty of form.
2. Shah Jahan’s buildings have no parallel in symmetry of design.
3. Shah Jahan’s buildings are unsurpassed in grandeur
4. Shah Jahan’s buildings have great strength.
5. Shah Jahan’s buildings have beautiful balance among different parts.
6. Shah Jahan’s buildings have a great variety—cities, forts, gardens,
mosques and palaces etc.
7. Shah Jahan’s buildings are located at different places like Agra,
Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Delhi, Lahore, Kabul and Kashmir etc
8. Shah Jahan’s buildings display a synthesis of Indian and foreign
architectural style.
9. Shah Jahan’s buildings are mostly built with white marble in place of
red stone..
 •Red Fort or Lal
Quila is one of the
most-famous
monuments in Delhi.
•It is situated in the
Old Delhi which was
called as
Shahjahanabad
during the reign of
Mughal Empire.
•Red Fort is one of
the architectures
built by Shah Jahan.
• It served as a royal
residence of Mughal
Emperors for many
years.

Red Fort
 •Jama Masjid, Delhi
The striking image
of tall minarets,
domes and a vast
courtyard of Jama
Masjid allures us.
•Deemed as one of
the largest
mosques in India,
the Masjid-i Jahan-
Numa (the World-
Reflecting Mosque)
is a monument
built by Shah
Jahan.
• It is said that the
Emperor had spent
1 million to build
this mosque
Jama Masjid
 •Agra Fort was
constructed much
earlier than Akbar's
time.
• However, it was it
was totally renovated
during the time of
Shah Jahan.
•It is said that Shah
Jahan demolished
many structures
inside Agra Fort and
built new ones.
• In fact, most of the
architecture which is
seen today is made
by Shah Jahan.
Though it is a World
Heritage Site, Agra
Fort is highly over-
shadowed by its
neigbhouring
Agra Fort monument of Taj
Mahal
 •.

•Jama Masjid at
Agra looks a
little similar to
Jama Masjid in
Delhi.
• It was built in
the honour of
Jahanara
Begum, beloved
daughter of
Shah Jahan.
•The Jama
Masjid or the
Friday Mosque
is one of the
best
monuments in
Jami Masjid Agra Agra.
 Moti Masjid

•Moti Masjid - Agra Fort Moti Masjid is yet another marble structure
located inside Agra Fort.
• It was built for the purpose of the members of the administration.
•Moti Masjid got the name as 'Pearl Mosque' because of its pristine glow.
• It is also one of the beautiful monuments built by Shah Jahan other
than Taj Mahal.
• Apart from these architectures, there are a few others like Jahangir
Mausoleum, Shalimar Gardens, a part of Lahore Fort and Moti Masjid
which are located in Pakistan
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal and outlying buildings as seen from across
the Yamuna River (northern view).
•The Taj Mahal, a World Heritage Site was built between 1630–49 by
the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
•It is a large, white marble structure standing on a square plinth and
consists of a symmetrical building with an iwan (an arch-shaped
doorway) topped by a large dome and finial.
•The building's longest plane of symmetry runs through the entire
complex except for the sarcophagus of Shah Jahan, which is placed off
centre in the crypt room below the main floor.
•This symmetry is extended to the building of an entire
mirror mosque in red sandstone, to complement the Mecca-facing
mosque placed to the west of the main structure.
• Parchin kari, a method of decoration on a large scale-inlaid work of
jewels and Jali work has been used to decorate the structure
Aurangzeb and later Mughal architecture

•In Aurangzeb's reign

(1658–1707) squared
stone and marble was
replaced by brick or
rubble
with stucco ornament.
Srirangapatna and Luck
now have examples of
later Indo-Mughal
architecture.
• He made additions to
the Lahore Fort and
also built one of the
thirteen gates which
was later named after
him (Alamgir).
 •Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistanwas the
largest mosque in the world for 313 years,
and is now the second largest mosque in the
Indian subcontinent.
•The Badshahi Masjid in Lahore, Pakistan
was commissioned by the
sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
•Constructed between 1671 and 1673, it was
the largest mosque in the world upon
construction.
•The mosque is adjacent to the Lahore Fort
and is the last in the series of congregational
mosques in red sandstone.
• The red sandstone of the walls contrasts
with the white marble of the domes and the
subtle intarsia decoration.
•Aurangzeb's mosque's architectural plan is
similar to that of his father, Shah Jahan, the
Badshahi Masjid Jama Masjid in Delhi; though it is much
larger.
•The courtyard which spreads over 276,000
square feet, can accommodate one hundred
thousand worshippers; ten thousand can be
accommodated inside the mosque.
Bibi ka Makbara

•The Bibi Ka Maqbara (English: is a tomb located in Aurangabad,

Maharashtra, India. It was commissioned in 1660 by the Mughal
emperor Aurangzeb.
•in the memory of his first wife Dilras Banu Begum.
• It bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of
Aurangzeb's mother, Mumtaz Mahal.
•Aurangzeb was not much interested in architecture.
• He had commissioned the small, but elegant, Pearl Mosque at Delhi.
•Bibi Ka Maqbara was the largest structure that Aurangzeb had to his credit
 •The mosque
was built by
the Mughal
emperor Aurang
zeb at the Red
Fort complex
in Delhi, India,
from 1659-1660
for his 2nd
wife Nawab Bai.
•The mosque
was also used by
the ladies of
the Zenana.

Pearl Mosque at Delhi.