Indo – Islamic Architecture in Gujarat (1300-1572 AD)

Patan

•Gujarat, a region

corresponding to

what is now the

northern division

of old Bombay

Presidency, with

capital

Ahmedabad

towards the

centre.

•This Islamic style of architecture flourished for a period of 250 years from the

early 14th century when the Governors appointed by the Khalji Sultans of Delhi

established themselves in the western seaboard in Anhilawada (Patan), until the

rule of Ahmed Shahi dynasty declined in the last half of the 16th century.

•2 factors are responsible for the

prodigious output of architecture :

-The powerful Ahmed Shahi

dynasty, wanted to surround

themselves with architectural

evidences of their might.

-The supply of skilled indigenous

workmen.

•The tradition of the local craftsmen of

Guj, though ancient, was so vibrantly

alive that the Muslim rulers had no

choice but to opt themselves this style

for preparation of mosques & tombs.

•Many structures are adaptations or

extracts of local Hindu and Jain

temples.

•The Gujarat style is the

most indigenous Indian style of all the

provincial styles.

Talents of the Gujarati Builder…

•Decoration & other architectonic techniques known to the builders to create a

style that could be labelled as the ‘Mohammadan architecture of Guj’.

•Were well-equipped by the construction techniques, building the lavish

mandapas of temples which were roofed by pyramidal corbelled dome. The plan

of such mandapa could easily constitute a multipliable unit.

•A number of such conjoined units assembled together with minor design

variations would easily produce large rectangular spaces or halls necessary for

the Liwans of the mosque.

•Were capable of inducing spatial qualities into mandapas, roofed with domes,

cupolas & carved horizontal ceiling panels situated at varying heights.

•In fact, the only terminology the Guj architect needed to introduce was ‘pointed

arch’, & the only to delete was figurative sculpture……..these 2 criteria fulfilled

the Muslim rulers.

•The style can be divided into three main periods :

First Period(First half of the 14th

Century A.D.)

Second Period(First half of the 15th

Century A.D.)

Third Period(Second half of 15th Century

A.D.)

•Consisted of the

customary phase of

demolition of temples

followed by reconversion

of the building materials.

•The buildings of this

period have the

appearance of being

formative and

experimental, so has not

attained a definite

character.

•In this period, we see the

art approaching, with

slightly tentative qualities.

•There is more directional

authority in the buildings

and increased assurance

in the design.

•This can also be called

the Ahmed Shahi period,

after the Sultan Ahmed

Shah.

•This is the most

magnificent aspect of the

style.

•Most of the development

in this phase happened

under Sultan Mahmud I

Begarha, so also known

as Begarha Period.

(1300 - 1458) (1459- 1550)

First Period(First half of the 14th

Century A.D.)

Second Period(First half of the 15th

Century A.D.)

Third Period(Second half of 15th Century

A.D.)

•Jami Masjid at Patan

•Jami Masjid at Bharuch

•Jami Masjid at Cambay•Mosque at Dholka

•Jami Masjid at

Ahmedabad•Teen Darwaza

•Ahmed Shah’s mosque

•Sarkhej Rouza (started)

•Bai Hari Wav

•Sarkhej Rouza(completed)

•Sidi Sayyid Masjid

•Jami Masjid at

Champaner

(1300 - 1458) (1459- 1550)

•Many buildings were built

using materials from Hindu

temples.

•Most often, the pillars would

be used as they were, while the

walls would be built of original

masonry, sometimes using

stones taken from the temples

and re-cut to suit the

requirements.

•3 cities founded by

Mahmud Begarha are

Bitwa, Mahmudabad,

Champaner

Gujarat sultanate..

• The founder of the ruling Muzaffarid dynasty, Zafar Khan (later Muzaffar Shah I) was appointed as governor of Gujarat by Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad bin Tughluq IV in 1391, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, at that time.

• Zafar Khan defeated Farhat-ul-Mulk near Patan and made the city his capital, declaring himself independent in 1407.

• The next sultan, his grandson Ahmad Shah I founded the new capital Ahmedabad in 1411 on the banks of Sabarmati River, which he styled as Shahr-i-Mu'azzam (the great city).

• In 1509, the Portuguese wrested Diu from Gujarat sultanate following the Battle of Diu. Mughal emperor Humayun attacked Gujarat in 1535. The end of the sultanate came in 1573, when Akbar annexed Gujarat in his empire. Gujarat became a Mughal Subah.

• The last ruler Muzaffar Shah III was taken prisoner to Agra. In 1583, he escaped from the prison and with the help of the nobles succeeded to regain the throne for a short period before being defeated by Akbar's general Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.

Rulers of Gujarat ..

1. Muzaffar Shah I

2. Ahmed Shah

3. Muhammad Shah

4. Mahmud Begarha

5. Muzaffar Shah II

•Largely composed of temple materials, it was planned and constructed as per

mosque principles.

•Consists of a courtyard with gateways on 3 sides and sanctuary in the west.

•The sanctuary is of the open pillared variety i.e. without a screen of arches put

across the front. It is merely an elaborated verandah or loggia.

•All 48 pillars of the sanctuary are of bracket pattern.

•They are arranged so as to divide the interior into 3 compartments, each

corresponding to the three temple mandapas from where the pillars were taken.

(octaganally aligned supports for erecting 3 corbelled domes)

Jami Masjid, Bharoach (Bharuch) - 1300

Elevation

9m

Plan

N

Jami Masjid, Bharoach

Courtyard

Sanctuary

Pillars are of the

Hindu temples, the

walls are

Mohammedan.

•The long western walls & 2 short

sides were built up of solid

masonry, with tiny arched &

trellised aperture for cross

ventilation.

•The eastern wall, sheltered by a

typical Hindu chajja below its

parapet was left open.

•To the liwan so formed was

added a courtyard defined by

walls rather than verandahs.

Jami Masjid, Bharoach

Mihrab

•There are 3 mihrabs (with the Islamic

pointed arch introduced under the

lintel) on the interior of the western wall

and a series of arched windows filled

with stone tracery designs.

•The sanctuary roof consists of beams

supporting 3 large domes and 10

smaller ones.

•Square sunk coffered ceilings are

decorated with cusped and other

geometrical patterns as found in temple

roofs.

•Except for a certain amount of direction

and supervision from Muslim overseers,

the actual production is the handiwork

of local artisans who had probably

never seen a mosque before.

(The interior of the Liwan with its rather

bracketed columns may not have been

ideally suited a mosque )

Jami Masjid, Bharoach

Jami Masjid, Cambay (Khambhat)

•On the south side of the mosque is a

square tomb, built of marble, where

'Umar Ahmad Gazruni (1333) is buried.

•sanctuary has an open courtyard in

front, surrounded by corridors.

The jambs of the central part of the

facade are nearly forty feet high, and

crowned with pointed finials.

•25 years later the Muslim rule

administered from the ancient

seaport town of Cambay, & a Jami

Masjid was constructed.

•Judging from the appearance, it is

probable that local artisans were

reinforced by a group of artisans

from Delhi to build this structure.

•The sanctuary of the mosque is

having an enclosed facade with a

screen of arches.

•The shape and position of the

arches, the masonry consisting of

alternate broad and narrow courses

and the overall architectural

treatment is reminiscent of the

architectural style of Delhi under the

Khalji dynasty.

Jami Masjid, Cambay

•The façade of the Liwan is

composed of a blank screen wall

consisting of large central arch, & 2

symmetrically subsidiary ones.

•There were 14 domes that

constitute interior of the liwan

behind.

•The cloisters that define the

courtyard on the 3 sides are formed

by a flat-roofed aisle & a series of

21 domes over octagonal ccolumn

bays .

•The entrance gateway in the middle

of the eastern cloisters is re-erected

temple portico with a dome added on

for Islamic effect.

•The pillars have been enriched by an

engrailed arch similar to one found in

temples, a motif which later figures

prominently as the flying arch within

the central openings of mosque

facades in Gujarat.

Jami Masjid, Cambay

Plan

The main sanctuary contains one hundred pillars supporting the roof that were evidently taken from Hindu and Jain temples

N

64.6m

76.8m

tomb

courtyard

• measuring 116m x 79m, considered to be the high water mark of mosque

design (nadir of mosque design) on western India.

• Most of the architectural effect is concentrated in the sanctuary.

Jami Masjid, A’bad – (1423)

•The architect has combined the two types of sanctuary facades, the screen of arches

and the pillared portico, with the screen in the centre and the portico on the wings.

•The juxtaposition of the two elements creates contrast between the volume and

strength of the wall surface and the depth and airy lightness of the colonnade.

•The large central archway has large moulded buttresses of minarets on either sides,

whose upper parts have now disappeared. 2 smaller archways are placed on either

side of the central one.

The ‘solids’ & ‘ voids’

composition of the façade.

Jami Masjid, A’bad•Liwan consists of around 300 slender pillars, closely set at 1.6m distance

•Directly visible through the archway in the shadows is the colonnade of the interior

with its engrailed arch springing lightly from its slender columns.

•The dynamic volume (liwan) is roofed by a large corbelled dome resting over an

octagonal ring of columns, each of the 8 facades being filled in with panels of jaalis,

The doomed roof added on Islamic quality to the interior as well as the façade; & the

open grills the dome made the central bay an open shaft generating cool currents in

the air, so essential in the hot & humid climate of A’bad..

•The balconies provided a sufficiently private Zenana apartment for the ladies.

•The central compartment of the nave rises up to 3 storeys, the side aisles are 2 storeys and the rest of the hall is single storeyed

Plan

A - Prayer room

B – Liwan (300

pillars)

C - Zenana

Jami Masjid, A’bad

81m

70

m

64m2

90

m

columns are symmetrically arranged to form

15 bays across the long axis of the hall

Jami Masjid, A’bad

Section

•The nave is composed of two pillared galleries one above the other. The enclosed

triple height space which is overlooked from the galleries is square in plan on the

first floor and octagonal on the second and is covered by a dome.

•Each overlooking balcony is provided with an asana or a sloping backed seat as

seen in temples.

•Around the exterior of the balconies are pillared verandahs and in the arcade

between the pillars are stone jalis through which the galleries are illuminated.

Jami Masjid, A’bad

Axonometric view

•A rouza is a mausoleum consisting of the usual combination of a tomb & its

accompanying mosque.

•An arrangement which tomb & its mosque confront one another, & being

complementary in design, together produce an attractive composition.

•The strategy for combining the 2 also ensured the glory of the ruler would be duly

preserved.

•Depending on various circumstances, sometimes the mosque & sometimes the

tomb would dominate the architectural appeal of the rouza.

What is Rouza ?

•located in the village of Makaraba, Sarkhej, 7 km from A’bad, Gujarat….the most

revered rouza.

•The complex is known as "Ahmedabad's Acropolis", due to 20th century

architect Le Corbusier's comparison of this mosque's design to the Acropolis of

Athens.

Palace + gardens + pavilions + gateways + a large artificial

lake + mosque + tombs

•on the death of Ahmed Shah, his son Mohammed Shah was prompted to build a

tomb in his father’s homage, Sheikh Ahmed Khatri, who died in 1441 at Sarkhej.

•Sarkhej was once a prominent centre of Sufi culture in the country, where

influential Sufi saint Ganj Baksh (advisor to Ahmed Shah) lived. Upon his death in

1445, the reigning monarch, Mohammed Shah ordered a mausoleum built in his

honour, along with a mosque.

•The construction of these monuments were completed in 1451 A.D.

Sarkhej Rouza

•its architectural style is a true amalgamation of Hindu, Jain and Islamic styles.

•The huge tomb consisting of a square hall of 32m side is an unusually large

hypostyle hall forested with columns.

The central domed portion of the hall has been enclosed within an unusual brass

framed screen to form the sepulcher.

Sarkhej Rouza

Pavilion

•the next sultan, Mahmud Begada, who

gave the complex its present grandeur.

•He expanded it by building the pleasure

palaces, gave finishing touches to the

tank and added his own tomb & his

family just across the courtyard from the

saint's.

•small open pavilion is in front of his

tomb is 16m tall & graceful shafts,

devoid of any ornamentation, is roofed

with 9 small domes.

•The mosque, measuring 68m x 48m, with its courtyard, creates a religious

milieu; the royal connection is made through the tombs and palaces; the great

tank, platforms and pavilions were used by the common man.

•The complex was originally spread over 72 acres, surrounded by elaborate

gardens on all sides. Over time, human settlements came around it, eating into

gardens and reducing the area to 34 acres.

Sarkhej Rouza

•the ringed domes, the profusion of pillars and brackets follow the Islamic

genre, much of the ornamentation and motifs have Hindu designs. Most of the

buildings don't have arches and depend on pierced stone trellises for stability.

Pavilion dome Mosque dome

Sarkhej Rouza

1

2

54 3

Built by Muhammad Shah Built by Muhammad Begara

6

5

5. Pavilion6. Sultan’s private mosque

Sarkhej Rouza

1. Saint’s tomb2. Mosque

3. Queen’s tomb4. King’s tomb

5. Water tank

Sarkhej RouzaMosque

Tomb of Saint

Jaalis(internal view)

Galleries facing the lake(back side of the family tomb)

•Built with the Jami Masjid at Ahmedabad

as model except on a smaller scale and a

few differences.

•aspects which differentiate the masjids of

Champaner & A’bad are :

i) façade of the liwan discards the open

colonnade wings.

ii) other 3 sides are ornamented with

balconies, bracketed openings, turrets,

buttressess & corner minars with Hindu

ornamentation.

•Composed of hypostyle hall of a forest of

columns piled up one over the other.

Jami Masjid, Champaner

Jami Masjid, Champaner

Plan

•The entire structure is a rectangle of

86.4m X 57.6m.

•The courtyard is surrounded by a

range of arched cloisters, one aisle

deep.

•An imposing entrance pavilion projects

from the centre of each of the north,

south and east cloisters. The eastern

pavilion is a fine example of

architecture in itself.

•A series of moulded buttresses along

the exterior of the qibla wall along with

traceries openings at close intervals

along the entire periphery makes the

exterior of the mosque attractive as

well.

Jami Masjid, Champaner

•Sanctuary facade is of enclosed type containing 5 pointed archways with two

slender minarets flanking the central opening.

•The ornamentation of the minarets is restricted to their buttress like bases, with

the five stages above left mostly unadorned.

•On the whole, the frontal screen is more or less economically treated, relieved

only by 3 oriel windows, one above the central arch and two on the minarets.

•Sanctuary is a pillared hall measuring 270' X 130', containing 176 pillars.

•The nave rises to 65' in height through 3 storeys and covered by a dome.

•From the second storey, it takes the form of a Latin cross with very short arms.

•Each storey is accessed by a staircase in the minarets.

•The level of the first floor is continuous with the roof of the rest of the

building, forming a wide terrace for circumambulation among the cupolas with

a square well above the nave.

•The second floor is restricted to the Latin cross and is a large pillared gallery

with an octagonal well. This floor communicates with the oriel window above

the central arch in the sanctuary facade.

•The zenana chamber is placed at the northern end of the transept.

•Around the galleries are provided stone seats with sloping backs.

•The Champanir mosque is based on the Ahmedabad mosque as a template,

though the builders were not able to provide much of an improvement on the

Ahmedabad archetype. The pillars in the Champanir sanctuary are more

sophisticated than the Ahmedabad example, as may be seen in the vertical

recessed chases of the shafts and other architectural details of a similar

nature

Jami Masjid, Champaner

Sidi Saiyyed ni Jaali - (1573)

• As attested by the marble stone

tablet fixed on the wall of the

mosque, built by Sidhi Saiyyed,

General in the army of the

last Sultan Muzaffar Shah III.

• The structure though sober but is an

example of great architecture. The

minarets are provided on the

northern & southern extremities.

• In the western walls of liwan, jaalis

infill panels in the arched aperture

were inserted.

• It is a genious work responding both

Islamic (geometric decoration) &

non-Islamic (figurative decoration).

Façade (Panaromic view)

• Walls are composed entirely of

perforated stone screen which

have given the building a

worldwide reputation.

• The screen in the mosque, though

usage of figurative elements, is

animated by a sensuality that

belongs only to the female human

form.

• For expressing this sensuousness,

the artist has chosen the entwining

trunks, branches, leaves of plants

& trees as his subject.

Sidi Saiyyed ni Jaali

• On top of the arcade is laid a flat roof. In the construction of the ceiling, the

methods of bracket, diagonal beam and squinch have been used.

• 8 square piers supporting the

arches form the interior of the

mosque.

• The branches of this natural

element are then minutely

dispersed within the arched

outline in a manner suggestive of

elementary simplicity at first

glance, & extreme complexity on

deeper study.

Sidi Saiyyed ni Jaali

Section

Plan

Rani Sipri Mosque – (1515)

• Rani Sipri ni Masjid is a timeless gem

in A’bad, Gujarat.

• Queen Sipri, the Hindu wife of the

Sultan Begara, commissioned the

mosque. And thus, this mosque

throws light onto the inter-religious

marriages in those times that were

common among Indian royalty.

• known as Masjid-e-Nagina (Jewel of a

mosque) because of the intricate jali

carvings on its walls.

• The Jali screen work that includes

flowing plants and trees is the prime

attraction of this monument, like Siddi

Sayyed Jali and Sarkhej Roza.

• Despite being small with a height of 16m and length of 17m, it always

impresses with intricate cravings on its walls.

• The columns in the mosque are a reflection of the beautiful craftsmanship.

• After the queen’s death, she was buried in this mosque. Inside, there is also

a Zenana, a separate area for women to worship.

Rani Sipri Mosque

Jharokha Detail

•It includes a tomb and a row of

columns along with a pair of minarets

in the front which depict the early

Muslim architectural work.

•it attracts the attention of the tourists

towards the elegant proportions and

splendid minarets.

Rani Sipri Mosque

Front elevation

Plan

Jhulta Minaras – (1461)

•located in A’bad, Gujarat.

•mainly known for its unique architecture.

•This is a pair of pillar which is a part of

the Siddi Bashir Mosque. Known for its

superb craftsmanship, these minarets are

built in such a manner that it starts

swinging if a little pressure is applied on

any one side of the minar.

• There are many myths surrounding it but the most popular belief it was done to

avoid the earthquakes.

•It is said that a European Sanskrit scholar, Monier M Williams noticed that the

minarets are shaking. Thus this led to the name of Shaking Minarets or Jhulta

Minar.

Jhulta Minaras•Each of the minarets is 3 storied tall and are intricately carved. They have stone

balconies that are around 21.34m high.

•The striking feature of these Minarets is when one minaret is shaken the other

one also vibrates.

The phenomena is that the vibrations at the base of tower gets amplified and are

transmitted through air tunnels between the two towers resulting in shaking of

other tower. Surprisingly, no tremble is felt in the connecting passageway

between the two minarets.

Façade of the mosque Minaret