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RULERS AND

BUILDINGS

BY :

S . Hari Ashwin

The Mughal dynasty was established with the crushing victory of Babur at Panipat in 1526. During his short five-year reign, Babur took considerable interest in erecting buildings, though few have survived. Babur's son Humayun was dissolute and wayward in his early years and the Mughal empire fell to the Suris in 1540. The tomb of Sher Shah Suri is an architectural masterpiece that was to have a profound impact on the evolution of Indo-Islamic funerary architecture. Humayun reestablished the Mughal empire in 1555. His tomb at Delhi represents an outstanding landmark in the development and refinement of the Mughal style. It was designed in 1564, eight years after his death, as a mark of devotion by his widow, Haji Begum.

Architecture flourished during the reign of Humayun'sson Akbar. One of the first major building projects wasthe construction of a huge fort at Agra. The massivesandstone ramparts of the Red Fort are anotherimpressive achievement. The most ambitiousarchitectural exercise of Akbar, and one of the mostglorious examples of Indo-Islamic architecture, was thecreation of an entirely new capital city at Fatehpur Sikri.After the death of Akbar in 1605, his son, Prince Salim,ascended the throne and assumed the title of Jahangir,"Seizer of the World". He was assisted in his artisticattempts by his able wife, Nur Jahan.

The Mausoleum of Akbar at Sikandra, outside Agra, 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 garden. The most famous of his gardens is the Shalimar Bagh on the banks of Lake Dal in Kashmir.

The remarkable flowering of art andarchitecture under the Mughals is dueto several factors. The empire itselfprovided a secure framework withinwhich artistic genius could flourish,and it commanded wealth andresources unparalleled in Indianhistory. The Mughal rulers themselveswere extraordinary patrons of art,whose intellectual calibre and culturaloutlook was expressed in the mostrefined taste.

Qutb-Minar in red and buff standstone is the highesttower in India. It has a diameter of 14.32 m at thebase and about 2.75 m on the top with a height of 72.5m.Qutbu'd-Din Aibak laid the foundation of Minar inAD 1199 for the use of the mu'azzin (crier) to give callsfor prayer and raised the first storey, to which wereadded three more storeys by his successor and son-in-law, Shamsu'd-Din Iltutmish (AD 1211-36). All thestoreys are surrounded by a projected balconyencircling the minar and supported by stone brackets,which are decorated with honey-comb design, moreconspicuously in the first storey.

QUTUB MINAR

IMAGE OF QUTUB MINAR

TEMPLE CONSTUCTION IN THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY

The Kandariya Mahadeva temple dedicated to Shiva was constructed in 999 by the king Dhangadeva of the chandela dynasty. An ornamented gateway led to an entrance , and the main hall ( mahamandapa ) where dances were performed . This was the place for ritual worship where only the king , his immediate family and priests gathered .

CHAHAR BAGH

Gardens placed within rectangular walled enclosures and divided into four quarters by artificial channels . These gardens were called char bagh ,because of their symmetrical division into quarters , some of the most beautiful char baghs were constructed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan in Kashmir , Agra and Delhi

HUMAYUN ` S TOMB

The tomb was placed in the centre of a huge formal char bagh and built in the tradition

known as “ eight paradises “ or hasht bihist - a central hall surrounded by eight rooms .the

building was constructed with red sandstone , edged with white marble.

PIETRA DURA

Coloured , hard stones placed in depressions carved into marble or sandstone creating beautiful , ornate patterns.

CHURCHES THAT

TOUCHES THE SKY

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From the time of Nero (64 A.D.) until the conversion of Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan (313 A.D.), whereby Christianity was made legal, the Christian faith was officially regarded as a religion prava,an evil or depraved religion. Christianity's Jewish Roots Christianity began as a movement within Judaism. Much of the earliest proclamation of the Gospel took place in the synagogues.The Christians did not side with the Jews in their revolt against Rome beginning in 66 A.D., and by the end of the first century the church had largely separated from the synagogue.When a "church" wasn't a buildingThese early believers did not have church buildings to meet in. They met mostly in homes. The first church buildings did not start to appear until the early 200s.