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SUBMITTED BY

LIZA GILANI

RAHEMA SHAH

1. MUGHAL

GARDENS

History of gardens

Landscape

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MUGHAL GARDENS

:

In India, the practice of building ornate tombs in walled enclosures became highly

developed. The Mughal innovation was to treat the enclosed outdoor space as a garden.

The words over the entrance to Akbar's tomb at Sikandra explain the reasoning: 'These

are the gardens of Eden: enter them to dwell therein eternally'. The tomb garden became

a microcosm of the world.

The three types of garden made by the Mughals were:

1.Tomb gardens (e.g. Humayuns tomb and the Taj mahal)

2.Palace gardens (e.g. at Delhi and Agra)

3.Encampment gardens (e.g. the Shalimar Bagh gardens at Srinagar, Lahore and Delhi)

Each type was conceived, in an Islamic context, as the making of an earthly paradise.

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In the sixteenth century the Mughals began

designing tomb enclosures as gardens. It was

an original idea. A central mausoleum replaced

the garden pavilion and the chahar bagh

layout was formalised into a perfectly

symmetrical square plan.

Percy Brown categorises Mughal construction

as secular or religious, adding that those of a

religious nature consist of two kinds only the

mosque and the tomb. But tomb gardens span

his categories. They were places to pray but

they were also places of resort for the nobility

to sip rose-water sherbet and chilled lemon

juice, sitting on rich carpets in the cool of the

night. The design of tomb gardens was also

part-religious and part-secular. The Koran states

that surely those who guard (against evil) shallbe in gardens and rivers . Shah Jahans tomb in

the Taj Mahal therefore has the inscription: This

is the illumined grave and sacred resting place

of the Emperor... may it be sanctified and may

Paradise become his abode.

TOMB GARDEN :

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PARADISE

GARDEN:

Paradise gardens were a calm retreat from the noisy and dusty outside

world. They were used more as ornaments to be viewed from upper

windows, or garden pavilions, than as rooms for outdoor living. Water

channels, pools, fountains and cascades cooled the air. Flowers

provided scent and colour. Fruit trees provided shade.

Form: The classic Paradise Garden is divided into four parts by canals. Itis known as a Char Bagh or quadripartite garden and has four square

parts separated by water channels. The Koran (xxv.15) describes

paradise as a garden of eternity (Arabic jannat al-khuld) with four rivers:

of water, milk, wine and honey. Strict rectilinear gardens with squares

and rectangles demarcated by water channels were made by the

Persians (from the sixth century BC) by the Arabs (from the eighth

century AD) and by the Mughals (from the sixteenth century). Theunderlying geometry had an amazing consistency for some 2,500 years.

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He was inspired by (and perhaps

homesick for) the gorgeous gardens ofSamarkand and Herat that he had left

behind. Among the earliest things he

planted in India were melons.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum,

there is a watercolour painting of Babur

supervising the laying out of Bagh-e-

Wafa at Kabul. It is in the Char Bagh

style, and water flows merrily in the

middle. The Emperor wears golden

robes. There are orange-laden trees in

the foreground, and birds in the sky.

The brick walls enclose a little slice of

paradise....

http://delhimagic.blogspot.com/2011/09/english-are-gone-

but.html

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A closer look reveals that

pomegranates were also

among the favorites

being planted

http://delhimagic.blogspot.com/2011/09/englis

h-are-gone-but.html

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EXPLANATIONliza

Char bagh,cypress

trees,water chanels,flowers

n fruit trees! etc

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The CHAR BAGH Garden, or Four Gardens, are four square

shaped gardens with pathways and two bisecting water channels.

The gardens create an ambiance of peace and tranquility.

It meant to replicate the Garden of Paradise. According to the

Islamic view Paradise garden have four rivers that parted the

garden into four parts North, South, East and West. The first river is

of water and other three rivers are respectively of milk, wine and

honey. The Mughal charbaghs generally have the symmetrical

pattern where the main tomb is situated at the middle of garden.

But there is a little difference in case of Taj Mahal Garden.

CHAR BAGH:

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PALACE

GARDENS:

EXPLANATIONliza

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EXPLANATIONliza

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Mughal encampment gardens were formed on Timurid lines. The court needed the protection of

an army when travelling from place to place and it was pleasant to have good camp sites on the

route, gardens serving this purpose well. The pavilion was a place for the emperor to sleep.

Canals provided water. Planting provided succulent fruits and refreshing scents. In addition tobeing places of resort and residence, the Shalimar Bagh gardens on the Grand Trunk Road,

outside Delhi and Lahore, could be used to assemble a caravan before its departure. Babur left

the following account of how he selected the site of what is believed to be the Ram Bagh in

Agra:

I always thought one of the chief faults of Hindustan was that there was no running water.

Everywhere that was habitable it should be possible to construct waterwheels, create running

water, and make planned, geometric spaces I crossed the Jumna with this plan in mind andscouted around for places to build gardens, but everywhere I looked was so unpleasant and

desolate that I crossed back in great disgust. Because the place was so ugly and disagreeable I

abandoned my dream of making a charbagh. Although there was no really suitable place near

Agra, there was nothing to do but work with the space we had. The foundation was the large

well from which the water for the bathhouse came.

Babur thus explains a key feature of Mughal gardens. Their predecessors, in the lands which are

now Uzbekistan and Afganistan, were fed by rushing water from the mountains. This beingimpossible on the flat plains of North India, the gardens had to be supplied with water drawn by

oxen from deep wells. Water had to be conserved. Channels could only have shallow falls. They

were formed on raised walkways with the space on either side used for fruit and vegetables

watered by flood irrigation. Raised walks protected visitors from snakes and vermin. They could

be spread with carpets and protected from the sun by canopies.

ENCAMPMENT

GARDENS:

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Painting!

Shalimar bagh pavilion

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Alteration with respect to geographicall conditions eg: nishat bagh, Shalimar bagh, shrinagar

Based on the basic

conceptual model of the

Persian gardens, it had to be

remodelled to fit thetopographic and water

source conditions at the site

chosen in the Kashmir valley.

The plan, instead of being

central with four radiating

arms in a square pattern as in

the case of Chahar (suited fora flat country side), was

changed to an axial stream

flow design to fit the hill

condition with water source

originating at the top of the

hill end. This resulted in

planning a rectangular

layout rather than a square

layout.

The Shalimar Bagh is well known for chini khanas, or arched niches, behind garden waterfalls. They

are a unique feature in the Bagh. These niches were lighted at night with oil lamps, which gave a

fairy tale appearance to the water falls. However, now the niches hold pots of flower pots that

reflect their colours behind the cascading water.

Broad cascade of terraces lined with avenues of Chinar and Cypress trees,

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The key to the gardens of the Islamic world was the idea of an oasis. All around

stretch bare hills in the burning sun. Within the garden wall, the essentials are cool

shade and the sight and sound of water. Common features of Persian gardens

A high surrounding wall

Straight tile-lined channels of water

Bubbling fountains

Trees for shade and fruit

A Pavilion or gazebo Strong emphasis on flowers in beds and pots

There are no statues as Islamic law forbids idols in human form. The Gazebo or

baradari may rise to several storeys depending on the size of the garden and were

completely surrounded by water. Persias native rose includes the brilliant yellow

and the red Rosa Foetida. Lacking flowers in summer, the paving tiles on every

surface and their pattern provided colour in the garden. Low hedges line

flowerbeds near the gazebo. Ornamental fowl and peacocks introduced from India

and Ceylon brought colour to the gardens.

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Some of the typical features

include pools, fountains and canals

inside the gardens.

The Mughals were obsessed with

symbol and incorporated it intotheir gardens in many ways.

The garden might include a

raised hillock at the center,

reminiscent of the mountain at the

center of the universe in

cosmological descriptions, andoften surmounted by a pavilion or

palace

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Trees of various sorts, some to provide shade merely, and others to produce fruits; flowers, colorful

and sweet-smelling; grass, usually growing wild under the trees; birds to fill the garden with song;

the whole cooled by a pleasant breeze.

Cypress trees represents female beauty and are an ancient symbol of immortality and eternity andoften seen in Persian art and literature.

Trees :

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Earlier: Home owned by Doris Duke, an American

heiress

Now: Owned by the Doris Duke Foundation

for Islamic Art (DDFIA)

www.unstitchedblog.com/2011/11/shangri-la-in-honolulu/

ShangriLa,

Hon

olulu,H

awaii