Akbar Architecture 611d4v

Architecture during the reign of Akbar 1556-1605

• AKHBAR

also known as SHENSHAH AKHBAR-EAZAN or AKHBAR the great emperor. • He was born on OCTOBER 15 IN 1542. • Under the rule of Akbar, India enjoyed a much CULTURAL and ECONOMICAL PROGRESS as well as religious harmony. • MUGHALS also forged a STRATEGIC ALLIANCE with several HINDU RAJPUT KINGDOMS. • At the end of this reign in 1605, the MUGHAL EMPIRE covered most of the central and northern India. • He was illiterate but had a great DESIRE FOR KNOWLEDGE and maintain a EXTENSIVE LIBRARY to learn. • As an emperor, Akbar solidified his rule by PURSUING DIPLOMACY with the powerful Hindu rajput cast and by MARRYING RAJPUT princess HARKHA BAI, also called JODHA BAI. • AKHBAR successively captured many forts like CHITTORGARH, RANTHANBOR and DUNGARPUR.

SHEHENSHAH AKHBAR-E-AZAN

An Indian Ghost Town–Fatehpur Sikri

•

•

•

•

•

•

City Gate

Construction of a new Moghul capital at Fatehpur Sikri (City of Victory) began in 1571 after one of Akbar’s queens gave birth to a son, as predicted by a Sufi saint who lived near the village of Sikri–Salim Chisht. Fatehpur Sikri is today just 23 miles or about a 45-minute drive southwest of Agra. Unlike the fort at Agra which was built along a river, this walled city was built next to a lake, which it turned out tended to dry up in times of drought. Just 14 years after moving his capital to Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar moved his court first to Lahore and eventually back to Agra. It was a period of severe drought, but political factors probably played a larger role in the decision to move the capital. Once abandoned by Akbar, the Moghul capital never returned. That means it was never remodelled to meet another emperor’s tastes.

PLAN LAYOUT • Like the royal complex at Agra, open pavilions of different designs were arranged around a sequence of courtyards. And, just like at Agra, there was a Diwan-i Am or Hall of Public Audience, a Diwan-i Khas or Hall of Private Audience, palaces for the emperor and his many wives, ornamental pools and gardens, and a small mosque. Most of the service buildings (kitchens, storehouses, laundries, workshops, stables, etc.) were located outside the palace walls.

Diwan-i Am The Diwan-i Am in this palace was a large courtyard (366 x 181 feet) with colonnades on three sides. The emperor’s throne was located in the following pavilion on the east side of the courtyard.

Diwan-i Khas The emperor’s Hall of Private Audience or Diwan-i Khas looks like a twostory building, but inside there is just one tall room.

Akbar sat in the middle of the hall on an intricately carved, elevated platform connected to the four corners of the room by walkways.

Panch Mahal It is positioned to act as a "transition" building between the semi-public spaces that surround the Daulat Khana courtyard and the more private spaces of the Royal Harem.

DETAILS OF THE STONE CARVERS’ WORK.

Chevron-patterned Stone Carving

Stylized Flowers and Vines carved in base of column

Hiran Minar From the courtyard behind the Diwan-i Khas, one can see the 70-foot-tall Hiran Minar or Deer Tower. The spiney, stone protrusions represent elephant tusks.

Makaras carved in stone Near the Diwan-i Khas is a canopied platform where Akbar’s astrologer supposedly sat. The stone diagonal beams ing the chhatri roof represent makaras–Hindu mythological sea monsters.

Anup Talao and Akbar's Private Chambers In the center of the second courtyard (Daulat Khana) is the Anup Talao or Peerless Pool with a central platform connected by four bridges. The structure on the far side of the pool housed Akbar’s private chambers and the library. The women’s quarters were to the right.

Turkish Sultana's Pavilion To my left stands what is called the Turkish Sultana’s Pavilion. The signboard states: “This elegant pavilion consists of a small chamber surrounded by a verandah ed on richly carved columns. Its exterior as well as interior has ornamental relief of geometric and floral designs in red sandstone which give the impression of Timser decoration. The ornamented shelves of the chamber are also remarkable for their attractive design and finish. … It was completed before 1575 when an important religious discussion is recorded to have taken place in this pavilion.”

Some examples of the beautiful stone carving–

These niches looked as if the backs of them were covered with mirrors or perhaps some sort of reflective pigment.

Most of the surfaces in Akbar’s private chambers are painted rather than carved.

The View from Akbar's Private Chambers From his private quarters, Akbar could look out over the Anup Talao and see the Panch Mahal.

Harem Entrance The entrance to the Haram Sara or what is called the Jodh Bai Palace was through this eunuch-guarded gate.

PLAN OF HAREM ( JODHA BHAI PALACE )

some examples of stone carving from the palace interiors–

Balconies and Niches

Column Carvings, Haram Sara

Interior Niche with Makara use of the same stylized makara stonework over this interior niche.

Jama Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri the Jama Masjid or Imperial Mosque which was built around 1571 and designed to hold 10,000 worshipers.

Buland Darwaza It is located in Fatehpur Sikri which is located 43 km away from Agra, India. Buland Darwaza or the loft gateway was built by the great Mughal emperor, Akbar in 1601 A.D. at Fatehpur Sikri. to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. [1]

Buland Darwaza • The Buland Darwaza is made of red and buff sandstone, decorated by carving and inlaying of white and black marble and towers above the courtyard of the mosque. • The Buland Darwaza is semi octagonal in plan and is topped by pillars and chhatris with Buland Darwaiosks on the roof, stylized battlement and small turrets and inlay work of white and black marble. • On the outside a long flight of steps sweeps down the hill giving the gateway additional height. • It is 40 metres high and 50 metres from the ground. The total height of the Structure is about 54 metres from the ground level. It is a 15-storied high gateway that guards the southern entrance of the city of Fatehpur Sikri. • An inscription on the central face of the Buland Darwaza throws light on Akbar's religious broad mindedness.

Humayun tomb

Humayun tomb • The tomb design is attributed to Sayyid Muhammad and his father, Mirak Sayyid Ghiyath (Mirak Mirza Ghiyas), Persian architects and poets active in the Timurid and later the Mughal courts. • The tomb is situated south of the Purana Qila, on the eastern edge of Delhi. • It is set in the center of a garden in the classical Mughal char bagh pattern. • A high wall surrounds the garden on three sides, the fourth side being bounded by what was once the bank of the river Jamna, which has since been diverted. • The garden is divided into four parts by two bisecting water channels with paved walkways (khiyabans), which terminate at two gates: a main one in the southern wall, and a smaller one in the western wall.

Front facade The tomb sits at the center of a plinth, about 21 feet (7m) high. The top of its central dome reaches 140 feet from the ground. The dome is double-layered; the outer layer s the white marble exterior facing, while the inner one defines the cavernous interior volume. The rest of the tomb is clad in red sandstone, with white marble ornamentation.

Humayun tomb •

A large iwan, a high arch, punctuates the center of each facade, and is set back slightly. Together with the other arches and openings, this effect creates a varied and complex impression of depth at each facade. Detailed ornamentation in three colors of stone adds to the richness to the surfaces. The plan of the main tomb building is intricate. It is a square 'ninefold plan', where eight two-storyed vaulted chambers radiate from the central, double-height domed chamber. The chambers of each level are interconnected by straight and diagonal ages. In Humayun's tomb, each of the main chambers has in turn eight more, smaller chambers radiating from it. The symmetrical ground plan contains 124 vaulted chambers in all.

•

The sarcophagus of Humayun is found in the central domed chamber, the head pointing south, and facing east according to Islamic practice. The vaulted chambers also contain sarcophagi that were added later. The sex of each occupant is marked by a simple carved symbol: a box of writing instruments indicates a male, and a writing slate indicates a female. The sarcophagi are not otherwise inscribed, but among them are known to be those containing the wives of Humayun, and several later Mughal emperors and princes.

•

Although the architect of the tomb was 'imported' from Persia, it has been observed that the distinctly Indian aspects of the tomb, such as the Hindu chattris (domed pavilions) that surround the central dome, set Humayun's tomb firmly in the Indo-Islamic tradition that was already emerging at the time. Many of the tomb's basic elements, such as the octagonal plans and high iwans, are derived from earlier tombs built for Delhi sultans. The unprecedented scale and grandeur of the monument, however, are aspects that were to define much of subsequent Mughal tomb building, and are among the similarities commonly cited between Humayun's tomb and the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Front entrance

Steps up the front entrance.

Window in the main tomb chamber. Mosaic-pattern windows in the tomb chamber.

Views of the tomb gardens