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Islamic Architecture in India: SLAVE DYNASTY 1191-1260

The document summarizes key Islamic architectural monuments from the Delhi Sultanate period in India, including the Qutub Complex in Delhi built in the late 12th century, featuring the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque and the Qutub Minar. It also discusses the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque in Ajmer from 1199 CE, and tomb structures like the Tomb of Iltutmish from 1235 CE and Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad's tomb, both part of the Qutub Complex. The monuments reflect the amalgamation of Persian, Central Asian and Indian architectural styles during this period.

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100 views29 pages

Islamic Architecture in India: SLAVE DYNASTY 1191-1260

The document summarizes key Islamic architectural monuments from the Delhi Sultanate period in India, including the Qutub Complex in Delhi built in the late 12th century, featuring the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque and the Qutub Minar. It also discusses the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque in Ajmer from 1199 CE, and tomb structures like the Tomb of Iltutmish from 1235 CE and Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad's tomb, both part of the Qutub Complex. The monuments reflect the amalgamation of Persian, Central Asian and Indian architectural styles during this period.

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MNIT Architecture
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ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA

SLAVE DYNASTY 1191-1260


Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque

The Qutb complex is a collection of monuments and buildings from the Delhi
Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi in India, which were built on the ruins of Lal Kot,
which consisted of 27 Hindu and Jain temples and Qila-Rai-Pithora.
QUTUB COMPLEX

PLAN
● Built by Qutb-ud-Din Aibak in Qila
Rai
Pithora, the ancient Hindu citadel.
● Built on the plinth of a Hindu
temple
which was dismantled.
● The plinth was expanded to cover
a rectangle of 150' X 212'.
● This stylobate was then enclosed
by a wall with cloisters on all sides.
Cloisters

● Composed of pillars from Hindu


temples, placed one above the other
to achieve the desired height

● Cloisters were three aisles deep.


Courtyard

● The courtyard is 105' X 141',


surrounded by cloisters.

● In the front of the centre of the


sanctuary stands the iron pillar
with the Garuda motif removed
from its pinnacle.
Sanctuary

● The western part of the cloister was


the sanctuary.

● The arrangement of the pillars was


made more spacious and resolved
into a series of bays with shallow
domed roofs.
Screen (Maqsura)

● In 1199, a screen of an arched


facade was added across the front
of the sanctuary.
● The screen is a wall of masonry 50'
high at the centre, 108' wide and
81/2' thick.
● The screen is pierced by 5 arches,
the central arch 45' high and 22' in
span and two smaller ones on each
side, each 25' high.
● The arches are not true arches but built by corbelling, hence
we know they were built by local workmen acting on verbal
instructions from a Muslim clerk of works.
● The ogee shape of the arch may be derived from the Buddhist
caves of the Barahar hills of Bihar and the Stupas of Sarnath.
● Each smaller arch had a clerestory above it, mainly for
decorative purposes as it did not serve in any way the
sanctuary behind it.
● The facade is embroidered with carvings of floral devices and
Quranic verses.
Qutub Minar
The Qutub Minar is a minaret that forms a part of
the Qutab complex,a UNESCO World Heritage
Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India.

● Construction initiated by Qutb-Ud-Din Aibak


in 1192 CE.
● Qutub Minar is a 73m tall tapering tower.
● It has five storeys.
● With a 14.3 metres base diameter.
● Reducing to 2.7 metres at the peak.
● The whole tower contains a spiral staircase
of 379 steps.
● Its design is thought to have been based on
the Minaret of Jam, in western Afghanistan.
The Minar has the following elements in it :

BALCONIES

● Each storey has a balcony around it.


● The balustrade around the balcony
originally showed merlons called
kanjuras.
● The balconies are supported by
stalactite vaulting, represented by
clusters of miniature arches with
brackets in between, influenced by
the tracery of temple ceilings.
STOREYS:

Each storey has a different pattern in plan.

● First storey- Alternate wedge shaped and


round projections
● Second storey- Circular projections
● Third storey- Star shaped
● Fourth storey- Round
● Fift storey - Round
● The lowest three comprise fluted
cylindrical shafts or columns of pale
red sandstone, separated by flanges.
● The fourth column is of marble, and
is relatively plain.
● The fifth is of marble and sandstone.
The flanges are a darker red
sandstone throughout, and are
engraved with Quranic texts and
decorative elements.
● Firoz Shah Tughlaq added marble to
the top storey.
● The minar is decorated throughout
with the floral motifs and arabesque.
● It also bears the inscriptions from the
Quran and meassages from sultans.
ADHAI DIN KA JHONPRA

Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra (literally "shed of 2½ days") is a mosque in the Ajmer city of
Rajasthan, India. It was commissioned by Qutb-ud-Din-Aibak, on orders of
Muhammad Ghori, in 1192 CE. It was completed in 1199 CE, and further beautified
by Iltutmish of Delhi in 1213 CE. The mosque was constructed on the remains of a
Sanskrit college, with materials from destroyed Hindu and Jain temples. It is one of
the oldest mosques in India.
● The mosque is among the earliest examples of the Indo-Islamic architecture.
● Built on a levelled terrace probably used previously as a fair ground for a fair
which lasted 21/2 days, hence the name of the structure.
● Built on the same lines as the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, using materials from
surrounding temples, but twice the size of the Delhi mosque.
● It was designed by Abu Bakr of Herat, an architect who accompanied
Muhammad Ghori.
● The mosque was built almost entirely by Hindu masons, under the supervision
of Afghan managers.
● The exterior of the building is square-shaped,
with each side measuring 259 feet.
● There are two entrances, one at the south, and
another at the east.
● The actual mosque building on the western side
has 10 domes and 124 pillars.
● There are 92 pillars on the eastern side.
and 64 pillars on each of the remaining sides.
● There are 344 pillars in the entire building.
● Out of these, only 70 pillars remain standing
now.

Plan

Dome Interior
The front facade of the structure features a huge screen with yellow limestone
arches, built during the reign of Iltutmish.
● The main arch is nearly 60 feet high,
and is flanked by six smaller arches.
● The smaller arches are of the multi-foil
pointed style, inspired by Arabi style.
● The arches have small rectangular
panels for passage of daylight, similar to
the ones found in early Arabian
mosques.
● The archway features Kufic and Tughra
inscriptions and quotations from Quran

Ornate carvings and Kufic Floral motif Inscriptions from


inscriptions Quran
● Three pillars from Hindu temples are placed one above the
other to achieve the height of the cloisters.
● The pillars feature varying designs, and heavily decorated.
● They have large bases, and taper as they rise in height.
● The Hindu patterns are similar to the ones seen in the 10th
century structures at Nagda and the 11th century
Sas-Bahu Temple at Gwalior.

Inscriptions on the Hindu-style


Decorative screen wall
screen wall pillar
NASIR-UD-DIN MUHAMMAD'S
TOMB (SULTAN GHARI)
● The plan of the tomb structure is unusual.
It is in the form of a fortress with a
courtyard like layout, not common among
tombs.

● It is built over a raised plinth of certain


height in rubble masonry work.

● The octagonal shape of the tomb is also


unique as it has been built within the
fortress like outer structure with four corner
towers, over a Ghari (cave) in front of the
western Qibla wall of the mosque

● The roof of the chamber is built in thick


lime–concrete.
● It is a combination of an over
ground tomb with towers (which
is common in most of the tombs)
and an underground chamber for
the crypt.

● The octagonal grave–chamber


with the crypt (tomb) in an
underground opening is
supported on four columns raised
with two pillars each that support
beams, and depict ancient Indian
temple relics both on the
columns and on the floor.
Mihrab:

● The western qibla (prayer wall) which


has the mihrab, is made of marble in
exquisite Turkish and Afghan design.

● The marble mihrab also has inscriptions


from the Quran.

● The front elevation of this west wall has


a marble facade, dated to Feroze
Shah's rule (1351–88).
TOMB OF SHAMS-UD-DIN ILTUTMISH

● The tomb of the Delhi Sultanate ruler, Iltutmish, a second Sultan of Delhi built in
1235 CE.
● It is also part of the Qutb Minar Complex in Mehrauli, New Delhi.
● A compact square structure of 42' side
with entrances at three sides and western
wall enclosed to accommodate 3 mihrabs.
● Exterior is relatively plain, but interior is
richly decorated.
● Quranic verses in Kufic, Tugra and
Nashtalik characters with geometrical
patterns interspersed.

Quranic
inscriptions
on mihrab
and entrance
arch.
Squinch:
● The most interesting feature is the first
appearance in India of the 'Squinch'.
● This consists of projecting a small arch
across the upper side of the corners of the
square room, turning it into an octagon,
then repeating the process to turn it into a
16 sided base in which a dome can rest.
● In this case, the squinch is a half-dome,
though built on the corbelling principle.
Thus, this is an Indianized version of the
squinch.
● Most of the roof has collapsed, but remains show it to have been a
shallow dome composed of concentric rings of masonry which
collapsed due to excessive span.
References:
● http://islamicarchitectureinindia.weebly.com
● Wikipedia
● Indian Architecture(Islamic) by Percy Brown
● Global History of Architecture by Frank Ching

Submitted by: Mahendra Raj Bharti


2016uar1607
Salman Haider
2015uar1181

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