Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Djenné; Fathy, Hassan
Mughals
The Mughals were an Indian Islamic dynasty which ruled
most of northern India (including the area of present-day
Pakistan) from the beginning of the sixteenth to the mid-
eighteenth century. As patrons of architecture the
Mughals commissioned some of the finest buildings known
to the world including the Red Fort at Delhi and the Taj
Mahal.
History
The earliest Muslim presence in India dates from 712
with the Arab conquest of Sind which was a part of
the original eastward expansion of Islam. However,
it was not until the eleventh century that Muslim
warriors first penetrated to the Indian heartland
under the leadership of Mahmud of Ghazni. For the
next 150 years the Punjab and Lahore were part of
the Ghaznavid Empire although the Rajput princes
of Rajasthan prevented further penetration into the
subcontinent. In 1192 an Afghan sultan, Mahmud of
Ghur, defeated an alliance of Rajput princes and
captured Delhi, one of their principal cities. Although
Mahmud soon left India he made his Mamluk (slave)
general Qutb al-Din Aibak governor of Delhi. For
the next 300 years this part of India was ruled by
various competing Islamic dynasties including the
Timurids.
The first Mughal ruler was Babur who traced
his descent on his mother’s side from Chengiz Khan
and on his father’s side from Timur (Tamu-ralne).
Babur was a Central Asian prince who ruled the
area of Fargahna but had some claim to Samarkand
which he repeatedly tried to capture. In addition to
his dream of taking Samarkand Babur also believed
he had some claim to the Delhi sultanate through
his Timurid ancestors. At the battle of Paniput in
1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the Muslim
sultan of Delhi, with a small force which had,
however, the additional advantage of artillery and
gunpowder. A year later this victory was
consolidated by Babur’s defeat of the combined
forces of the Rajput princes at Khanuna. Three years
later, in 1530, Babur died at Agra leaving the
sultanate to his son Humayun. Despite the
enormous advantages bequeathed by his father
Humayun did not have his father’s ruthlessness and
in 1540 lost the throne to the Bengali ruler Sher
Khan. For the next fifteen years Delhi was ruled by
Sher Khan and after his death by his son Islam Sher
Sur. Humayun had lost the throne mostly through
the treachery of his brothers and it was only after
he had defeated them by recapturing Kabul and
Kandahar in 1545 that he was in a position to retake
Delhi which he did in 1555 defeating Sher Sur.
Unfortunately Humayun was only able to enjoy his
position for a year as he died in 1556 falling down
a stairway in his library in Delhi.
Humayun left the empire to his 13-year-old son
Akbar and his Turcoman guardian Bairam Khan.
For the next four years the prince and his guardian
had to fight off rival claims to the throne whilst
securing the boundaries of the kingdom. Akbar’s
first concern on assuming full power was the
pacification of the Rajput princes who constantly
threatened the Delhi sultanate. In 1562 Akbar
married the daughter of the Raja of Amber (the

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Mughals
nearest Rajput state to Delhi later known as Jaipur)
who became the mother of the Sultan’s heir
Jahangir. This was the beginning of a policy that he
continued with other Rajput princes so that by the
end of his reign all were under his overlordship
although with varying degrees of independence. In
addition to marital alliances and diplomacy Akbar
also gained territory by force conquering Gujarat
in 1573, Bengal in 1576, Kashmir in the 1586, Sind
and Baluchistan between 1591 and 1595. The
southern part of India was added in the latter part
of his reign and included Berar and part of
Ahmadnagar.
Akbar’s territorial victories were consolidated
by an efficient system of government with a paid
non-hereditary civil service. In addition Akbar
abolished the ‘jizya’, poll tax payable by Hindus
and other non-Muslims, in order to integrate and
unify the differing peoples of his expanding
empire in the same way that the Rajput dominions
had been incorporated. Religious toleration
became a central principle of Akbar’s government
to the extent that in 1570 he convened a conference
between the different religions at his newly
established city of Fatehpur Sikri. The conference
included scholars from Hindu and Muslim sects
as well as Jains, Zoroastrians and Catholic Jesuits
from Goa. The result was a new religion conceived
by Akbar himself and known as Din Ilahi (Divine
Faith) which drew elements from all the sects.
Although the religion was not successful it shows
Akbar’s concern to create an empire free from
religious divisions. Akbar died in 1605 leaving the
empire to his son Jahangir who had recently been
in open revolt of his father. On his accession to
the throne Jahangir left his son Shah Jahan in
charge of the military campaigns, a pattern which
was later repeated when as emperor Shah Jahan
delegated control of the south to his son
Aurangzeb. Both Jahangir and later Shah Jahan
continued the policies of Akbar so that the empire
remained relatively stable despite more or less
constant warfare in the south of the country. Shah
Jahan failed in his attempt to create a united Sunni
state incorporating India with Central Asia, but
managed to keep the empire more or less intact
for his son Aurangzeb.
The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb,
departed from the pattern of government set by
Akbar and precipitated the decline of the empire.
Aurangzeb devoted a great deal of energy and
manpower to continuing the conquest of the south
of India at the expense of all other policies. The
empire reached its greatest extent during this period
and included the whole subcontinent with the
exception of the southern tip. However, this brought
increased problems of communication and military
control which the empire was not able to manage.
These problems were exacerbated by Aurangzeb’s
fanatical Muslim zeal which meant that he reversed
the policy of religious tolerance exercised by his
great-grandfather by introducing the poll tax (jizya)
for non-Muslims. Similarly he encouraged the
destruction of Hindu temples and other religious
shrines and his southern conquests became one of
the greatest iconoclastic excursions in India’s history.
Although Aurangzeb may have been a pious
Muslim, this policy was not successful in an empire
which depended on the co-operation and toleration
of different ethnic and religious groups. Perhaps the
best example of Aurangzeb’s policy was the Great
Mosque built to tower over the Hindu holy city of
Banares.
With Aurangzeb’s death at the age of 90 in 1707
the empire passed to his son Bahadur Shah who
only lived another five years. During the next half-
century the rapidly disintegrating empire was ruled
by eight sultans. The weakness of the empire was
shown in 1739 when Delhi was sacked by the
Persian emperor Nadir Shah who carried off the
peacock throne along with countless other
treasures. The latter part of the century witnessed
the conflict between a variety of forces including
the Mughals, the Hindu Marathas and the British
East India Company. In 1803 the East India com-
pany occupied Delhi and Agra thus ending Mughal
power in India. For the next half-century the power-
less Mughals were retained by the British as ‘Kings
of Delhi’. Finally in 1857 the last Mughal Bahadur
Shah II was stripped of even this title and was
removed from Delhi for his part in the sepoy
mutiny.
Architecture
Mughal architecture was derived from three main
sources: native Indian Islamic, Persian Central Asian
and local Hindu architecture. It is difficult to
determine the extent to which any feature or building
type used by the Mughals derives from any of these