No More Learning



## p. 518 (#558) ############################################

518
BURMA (1531-1782)
When he heard that the Chinese had been allowed to depart, the
king was angry; he thought they should all have been killed. So
the armies, afraid to return home, went off to Manipur in January,
1770.
Under a good raja, Manipur was recovering from the last
devastation, and the commanders scented a fresh harvest of slavus
and cattle with which to appease the king. The men of Manipur
fought gallantly, but were overwhelmed in a three days' battle near
Langthabal. The raja fled to Assam. The Burmese raised their own -
nominee to the throne and returned taking with them such of the
population as were not hiding in the woods. The king's anger had
subsided, and as after all they had won victories and preserved his
throne, he was merciful; he sent Mahathihathura a woman's dress
to wear, and exiled him and the commanders to the Shan States;
he would not allow them to see him, and he also exiled the ministers
who dared to speak on their behalf. Their wives, including the sister
of his queen, were exposed in the sun at the western gate of the
palace, with the Chinese presents of silk on their heads, a public
mock for three days.
By granting honourable terms the Burmese gave the Chinese
emperor a loophole to withdraw from a costly adventure in a country
the trade of which was, as he minuted on the file, negligible, and what
little there was went round by sea. Although pride prevented him
from acknowledging the treaty, his silence gave consent, and soon
the caravans of 400 oxen or 2000 ponies started coming down from
Yünnan as of old, and the Burmese once more found a market for
their raw cotton, of which China always bought appreciable quanti-
ties. Burma remained in possession of Koshanpye, the nine Shan
towns above Bhamo. The Chinese prisoners taken in the war,
numbering 2500, were settled in the capital as gardeners, and were
given Burmese wives. But the material was as nothing to the moral
gain. Their other victories were won over states on their own level,
such as Siam; this was won over an empire. Alaungpaya's crusade
against the Talaings was stained with treachery; the great siege of
Ayuthia (1766–67) was a magnificent dacoity; but in the Chinese war
the Burmese were waging a righteous war of defence against the
invader.
The victory, coming as it did on top of a generation of continuous
warfare which might well have exhausted the race, shows that the
exploits of Alaungpaya were no mere flash in the pan but were
broad-based on the energy of the race as a whole. His tradition
was not only maintained, it was eclipsed. The chronicles for the
period are verbose and pompous, but it is impossible to read them
without being struck with their fierce pride. The Burman of those
days knew that to the north lay a big country called China; to the
east, Shans of various sorts some of whom had a kingdom called
Siam; to the west a place called India and, further west still, a


## p. 519 (#559) ############################################

THE AGE OF TRIUMPH
619
country of white people, which some people said was an island.
All these countries, except China, were uncivilised and not worth
studying. The white people called themselves various names, such
as Portuguese, Dutch, French and English, but they were all much
the same just as the various Shans were much the same; and in any
case they were not a numerous race and were usually crushed with
ease. The Indians were more important, but even they could not
count for much judging by the way the Manipuris had been exter-
minated. The Siamese and Chinese on the other hand were really
great powers, but they had been defeated. Thus the whole world
was accounted for, and the Burmese felt equal to anything. They
had reason for their pride. They had no commissariat, and on the
march they perished of underfeeding and disease. They were the
ordinary people you can see in any village to-day, led by their
myothugyis (major village headman), who ranked as lords. Yet their
spirit carried their bare feet from Bhamo to Bangkok, they fought
and died by hundreds and thousands, leaving their bones to bleach
from Junkceylon to the banks of the Brahmaputra. They had bought
those lands with their blood. Doubtless it was a small world, but it
was the only world they knew, and a Burmese minister could say'
with truth to his English suitor : “You do not realise. We have never
yet met the race that can withstand us. "
In 1773 Talaing levies, mustered for an expedition to Siam,
mutinied. The Burmese commanders and guards fled, first to Marta-
ban, and then to Rangoon. The mutineers failed to take the Rangoon
stockade but fired the town and burst several foreign ships which
were building on the stocks. A week later the Burmese brought up
reinforcements, seized a Dutch ship, and retook the town with the
aid of her gunfire; they then robbed her of all guns and munitions
and sent her to sea, where she foundered. The mutineers made off, ,
collected their families and migrated to Siam, numbering three
thousand. The general population could not flee, and on them
though not implicated, the Burmese wreaked vengeance, massacring
both sexes.
In 1774 the king made a royal progress down the river to Rangoon
in splendid barges with the queens, court, and captive Talaing princes,
holding high festival at every halt, and worshipping at the pagodas
on the way, especially the Shwezigon at Pagan and the Shwehsandaw
at Prome 2 He came to Rangoon to impress the Talaings in two ways
because they continued rebelling and migrating to Siam. Firstly, he
raised the Shwedagon to its present height, 327 feet, regilded it with
his own weight in gold, and erected a golden spire, studded with
gems, to replace the one thrown down in the 1769 earthquake.
1 Gouger, Two Years Imprisonment in Burmah,
2 Taw Sein Ko, “The Po-u-daung Inscription", in Indian Antiquary, 1893.
p. 104.


## p. 520 (#560) ############################################

620
BURMA (1531-1782)
1
The king's prayers were for victory to his arms.
Those prayers
were needed, as the situation in Siam was serious. His supremacy
there had begun to collapse almost before the ruins of Ayuthia
ceased to smoulder, When the Burmese armies were sweeping down
upon Ayuthia in 1765, there was a governor of a northern province
who would not drink the water of allegiance. He was the son of a
Chinese father and a Siamese mother, and his name was Paya Tak.
He collected a few hundred determined men like himself and with-
drew to the hills. The Burmese repeatedly tried to dislodge him but
he flung them back. He went east and gained Cambodia, vastly
increasing his resources. The men of Siam, sick of oppression, rose
and called on him to lead them, for their lawful princes were in
captivity. In 1768 he destroyed several Burmese garrisons, reoccupied
Ayuthia, and founded the present capital, Bangkok. He was now
king, but his palace never saw him, as he lived in the field. The
Burmese sent expeditions. He harried them in ambushes, cut them
off, starved them out. He and his people were united in a just cause.
Whether the Burmese could in any case have held Siam for long is
doubtful, but whatever chances they had were ruined by the dis-
union which now became the curse of their armies in the field. For
the spoilers fell out over their prey, and though captains like Mahathi-
hathura, the hero of the Chinese war, and Thihapate, the conqueror
of Ayuthia, continued to win occasional victories, they could achieve
nothing permanent in the face of rampant insubordination. If a
commander disapproved the plan of campaign, he showed his dis-
approval by simply withdrawing his levies and marching off else-
where. Some of them were executed, but the harm had been donc;
the Burmese were driven across the frontier, and even at Chiengmai
they were ill at ease, when the king died. He was succecded by his son.
Singu (1776–82) at once finished the Siamese escapade by with-
drawing the armies. His only wars were in Manipur. The rightful
raja who fled from the Burmese in 1770 made four attempts to oust
their nominee between 1775 and 1782; his base was in Cachar and
they drove him back each time, but after 1782 they left him in pos-
session, perhaps because the country was now so thoroughly deva-
stated that nothing more could be wrung out of it. In the first two
years, for which Singu was not responsible, the army was absent con-
tinuously, losing 20,000 men, partly by fever, and gaining barren
victories in Cachar and Jaintia. These states had to present daughters
and pay tribute of a tree with the earth still clinging to its roots
in token that the king had seisin of the land; and henceforth he
claimed these countries, although his suzerainty was, as usual,
nominal.
The people liked Singu because he was peaceful. Except com-
manders who wanted titles and village ruffians who wanted loot,
1 Pallegoix, Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam, 11, 94-8.


## p. 521 (#561) ############################################

MAUNG MAUNG, KING FOR SEVEN DAYS 621
everyone was made miserable by these everlasting wars, which indeed
led to migrations. Thus, the Yaw folk fled from their original home
to the remote Mu valley in Katha district in order to get out of the
king's reach and escape conscription. If a town was depopulated by
rebellion or by the slaughter of its levy on foreign service, a few
hundred households would be transferred to it from another charge,
sometimes a week's journey away, whether they wanted to go or not.
The people did not know that Singu was seldom sober; ali they
knew was that he left them alone, and they were deeply grateful.
He built many pagodas, for he spent much of his time in prayer;
he was an angler too, and had an eye for scenery, to judge from some
of his favourite haunts, where the gleam of a golden spire is reflected
in the green depths of the stream below. His chief queen had a
talent for verse, and the tutor of his youth was the poet Nga Hpyaw,
who now received the title Minyeyaza. Sleep, prayer, fishing, drink,
the laughter of the palace ladies in some sequestered woodland-it
was all very pleasant, far pleasanter than the hard life of the soldier
in foreign fields.
He exiled Mahathihathura as soon as he arrived from Siam, and he
executed great personages at court, including his queens, especially
when he was angry as well as drunk. Had he been a man of ordinary
character, such acts might have been accepted. But his habits
deprived him and the ministers and swordbearers, most of whom
followed his example, of respect. His fondness for making pilgrimages
with only a small court, leaving the palace vacant for weeks at a
time, and returning in slipshod fashion at any hour of night, gave
conspirators their opportunity. While he was absent at Thihadaw
pagoda on the Irrawaddy Island in Shwebo district, a party came to
the palace at midnight. With them was a puppet of eighteen, Maung
Maung, lord of Paungga in Sagaing district, dressed up so as to
resemble the king his cousin. The guard passed them in, thinking
it was the king; Mahathihathura returned from retirement and took
command of the guard in Maung Maung's behalf.
When the news reached king Singu, his followers fled and he
thought of taking refuge in Manipur; but his mother, the queen
dowager, indignantly insisted on his playing the man. He went alone
at dawn to the palace gate, and when challenged by the guard
answered : "It is I, Singu, lawful lord of the palace. " They fell back
respectfully, and he entered the courtyard. There he saw a minister,
father to one of the queens he had murdered. He made for him
exclaiming : "Traitor, I am come to take possession of my right. ":
The minister seized a sword and cut him down. At least he died
royally.
Maung Maung was placed on the throne. Having spent most of
has life in a monastery, he was terrified at his elevation and offered
each of his seniors the crown, recalling them from the villages to


## p. 522 (#562) ############################################

522
BURMA (1531_1782)
which they had been exiled in the interests of his predecessor's safety.
They all refused, suspecting some deep device. Soon, however, his
impotence became apparent, and after seven days on his unhappy
throne he was executed by one who had many faults but was no
puppet. This was Bodawpaya (1782-1819), the eldest of Alaungpaya's
surviving sons. The palace plots which were the bane of Burma
proceeded in part from the lack of a clearly observed law of suc-
cession. Alaungpaya had expressed the wish that he should be
succeeded by his sons in order of seniority, and this appears to have
been in accordance with a recognised theory of succession by the
eldest agnate, but Hsinbyushin had disregarded it by nominating
Singu.
1 Temple, "Order of succession in the Alompra dynasty", in Indian Antiquary,
1892.


## p. 523 (#563) ############################################

CHAPTER XVIII
MONUMENTS OF THE
OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
To
O Babur, fresh from the flourishing cities of his fatherland em-
bellished with the magnificent buildings of the Timurids, the state
of the cities and towns of Hindustan must have afforded a striking
contrast. Conditions in northern India for a long period had bee:?
such as to give little encouragement to the building art, few edifices
of any importance had been constructed, and those monuments which
told of the splendour of an earlier age had been suffered to fall into
decay. Compared with the living culture that he had left, he found
himself traversing a wilderness of neglect. Most of the towns through
which he passed seem to have consisted of nothing more than mud
forts. And the capital cities were but little better. Lahore, once
adorned by the palatial residences of the Ghazni and Ghori sultans,
was almost in ruins. Agra, to which the Lodis had moved their court,
contained only a brick citadal in a state of disrepair. At Delhi it is
true, there remained substantial records of ancient architectural
grandeur, “but now worn out and disfigured to the last degree".
Babur, from his camp near the river, made a tour of this historical
site, much as a visitor would do the round of its various relics at the
present day. He was compelled to pitch his tents here because the
most recent city built by Firuz Tughluq had been abandoned some
time before, and, except for its mosque, lay derelict. Everywhere in
northern India it was much the same, and to complete the scene of
desolation the severe earthquake of a few years previously had taken
its toll. “Large and substantial buildings were utterly destroyed.
The living thought the day of judgment had arrived; the dead the
day of resurrection. ”i One place only seems to have moved Babur
to any degree of enthusiasm, and that was at Gwalior, where he "went
over all the palaces of Man Singh and Vikramajit”, and remarked
that "they were singularly beautiful, though built in different patches
and without regular plan”. These buildings, however, illustrated
the prevailing type of secular architecture as practised by the Hindus
early in the sixteenth century, and it was to such structures
that the Mughuls turned when they began to build palaces of their
own.
Babur was a shrewd, but perhaps prejudiced, critic of the art of
building in Hindustan, as his Memoirs repeatedly indicate. Although
he praises the remarkable dexterity of the Indian workman, especially
the stonemasons, he complains of the slipshod manner in which they
1 Tarikh-i-Khan-Jahan Lodi (Elliot, v, 99).


## p. 524 (#564) ############################################

624
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
designed their structures, without "regularity or symmetry", faults
which would readily offend the inherent taste of the Mughuls for
strict formality and balance. In spite of this he embarked on several
building projects of a fairly ambitious order, for he states that "680
men worked daily on my buildings in Agra,. . . while 1491 stone-cutters
worked daily on my buildings in Agra, Sikri, Biana, Dholpur,
Gwalior and Kiul". Most of these craftsmen, however, appear to
have been engaged on the construction of pleasaunces, pavilions,
baths, wells, tanks and fountains, for as an out-of-doors man, such
extemporary amenities appealed to him more than palaces or public
buildings, and, having no religious or sentimental character, they
were allowed to fall into decay and have entirely disappeared. Three
mosques attributed to Babur have survived. One of these in the
Kabuli Bagh at Panipat, and another, the Jami Masjid at Sambhal,
were both built in 1526. Although fairly large structures, neither
of them possesses any special architectural significance, while of
another mosque which he built about the same time within the old
Lodi fort at Agra, he himself complains that it “is not well done,
it is in the Hindustani fashion". 1 Some of Babur's dissatisfaction at
the state of the building art may be traced to his having acquired
in the course of his varied career a certain knowledge of the manner
in which such things were done in Europe, as on one occasion he
fortified his camp "in the Rumi way”, meaning no doubt in the
western, or Byzantine, fashion. According therefore to one authority,
in view of his frequently expressed dislike of the indigenous methods
of building, he is said to have sent to Constantinople, for the pupils
of the celebrated Albanian architect, Sinan, to advise him on his
building schemes. It is, however, very unlikely that this proposal
ever came to anything, because had any member of this famous
school taken service under the Mughuls, traces of the influence of
the Byzantine style would be observable. But there is none; in no
building of the dynasty is there any sign of the low segmental dome
flanked by the slender pointed minaret which characterised the
compositions of Sinan and his followers.
Had circumstances permitted, Babur's son and successor, Humayun,
would have left more than one monument as a record of his inter-
mittent rule. But the political situation was unfavourable. As it was,
one of his earliest undertakings was to build at Delhi a new city
to “be the asylum of wise and intelligent persons, and be called
Dinpanah (World-refuge)". It was to contain "a magnificent palace
of seven storeys, surrounded by delightful gardens and orchards, nf
such elegance and beauty that its fame might draw people from the
remotest corners of the world". The laying of the foundation stone
1 Memoirs, 11, 533. The third surviving mosque is at Ajodhya.
2 Saladin, Manuel d'art Musulman, pp. 509, 561, quoting from Montani,
Architecture Ottomane.
|


## p. 525 (#565) ############################################

THE FIRST MUGHUL CAPITAL
525
of this, the first Mughul capital, is thus described by one who was
present.
At an hour which was prescribed by the most clever astrologers and the
greatest astronomers, all the great mushaikhs (religious men), the respectable
sayyids, the learned persons, and all the elders, accompanied the King to the
sacred spot, and prayed the Almighty God to finish the happy foundation of
that city. First, His Majesty with his holy hand put a brick on the earth, and
then each person from that concourse of great men placed a stone on the ground,
and they all made such a crowd there that the army, people, and the artists,
masons, and labourers found no room or time to carry stones and mud to the
spot. 1
As it is also related that "the walls, bastions, ramparts, and the gates
of the city” were all nearly finished within the same year, it seems
not unlikely that the work was pushed on with undue haste, without
much consideration of its quality. In any case Humayun's capital
is hardly traceable among the ruins of old Delhi, although its final
demoſition seems to have been one of the first acts of the Afghan
usurper, Sher Shah. Two mosques remain of those built during
Humayun's reign, one in a ruinous condition at Agra, and the other
at Fathabad, Hissar, which indicate the methods of building in vogue
at this period. They show no original features, being constructed of
ashlar masonry covered with a coating of stucco, the only attempt at
ornamentation consisting of geometrical patterns sunk in the surface
of the plaster. It is probable that the city of Dinpanah was of the
same simple unassuming character, rapidly "run up" to supply an
immediate need.
The material records which have survived of both Babur's and
Humayun's contributions to the building art of the country are there-
fore almost negligible. On the other hand the indirect influence of
their personalities and experiences on the subsequent art of the
dynasty cannot be overlooked. Babur's marked aesthetic sense, com-
municated to his successors, inspired them under more favourable
conditions to the production of their finest achievements, while
Humayun's forced contact with the culture of the Safavids is reflected
in that Persian influence noticeable in many of the Mughul buildings
which followed.
Although owing to the unsettled conditions of the country but
little encouragement to architecture was possible during the early
years of the Mughul dynasty, a few buildings of a private character
which were erected in the neighbourhood of Delhi show that the
style of the Sayyids and Afghans as produced in the previous century
still continued. A tomb, with its adjoining mosque, known as the
Janiali, built about 1530, illustrates the demand that was then
arising for a richer and more decorative treatment of these rather
sombre structures. The Jamali mosque will be referred to later, as its
connection with a phase of building which succeeded it is important.
But the Sayyid-Afghan style was more suitable for tombs than for
1 Humayun-nama of Khondamir, Elliot, v, 124-6.


## p. 526 (#566) ############################################

526
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
any other purpose, as several mausoleums built near Delhi about this
time testify. That of 'Isa Khan, erected in 1547, is a well-balanced
composition, standing within its own walled enclosure, and including
a mosque on its western side. Enclosure, terrace, platform and
mausoleum are all designed on an octagonal plan, with eight kiosks
of the same shape rising above its crenellated parapet. Each angle
of its pillared verandah is strengthened by a sloping buttress, the
final instance of the use of this "batter", which, introduced by Firuz
Tughluq, had now persisted for two centuries. In another large
tomb in much the same style, that of Adham Khan, constructed some
twenty years later, there is no sign of this characteristic slope, which
evidently ceased with the tomb of 'Isa Khan. Adham Khan's tomb
is the last building of this type, and although it can hardly be descri-
bed as decadent, its trite and uninspiring elevation conveys the im-
pression that the potential growth of the style was at an end.
During the period, however, that the Sayyid-Afghan mode was
approaching its logical conclusion at Delhi, it is significant of the
unexpected course that events not infrequently take in Indian history,
that in another and distant part of the country a group of buildings
in this same style was being produced which are undeniably the
finest of their kind. At Sasaram in Bihar, and in its neighbourhood,
a series of tombs was erected, all probably within the decade before
1550, commemorative of the house of Sher Shah Sur and its associa-
tion with the government of the lower Provinces. They are all
buildings of noble proportions, the largest of them, that of Sher Shah
himself, being one of the most admirable monuments in the whole
of India, and thoroughly expressive of the Indian genius. Much of
this excellence is undoubtedly a tribute to the cultural intuition of
Sher Shah, which not only shows itself here, but, at a slightly later
date, at Delhi also. From the imperial capital this Afghan governor
obtained his ideas of what a royal mausoleum should be like, and
from somewhat the same source he secured the services of the master-
builder who was to put his plans into effect. The designer of these
edifices was one Aliwal Khan (whose tomb is one of the group),
from his name apparently a native of the Punjab, a skilled mason and
evidently well acquainted with the art of tomb building as ordained
by the court at Delhi. His first commission at Sasaram was the
erection of a mausoleum for Hasan Khan Sur, the father of Sher Shah,
a solid structure in much the same style as several of the royal or
official tombs of the Sayyid or Lodi period. Viewed, however, as
a whole this initial effort is not a complete success (Fig. 4). The
uninteresting octagonal wall forming its middle story, unbroken by
any opening, is a definite fault, and it seems not improbable that this
tomb was of an experimental nature in view of what was to follow'.
Aliwal Khan's next work, destined to be his magnum opus, was the
mausoleum of his patron, a conception which, apart from its sur-


## p. 527 (#567) ############################################

SHER SHAH'S TOMB AT SASARAM
527
passing architectural merit, reveals an imagination of more than
ordinary power. Standing in the midst of a spacious artificial lake,
it forms an ideal funerary monument to such a remarkable soldier
adventurer as Sher Shah, a magnificent grey pile emblematic of
masculine strength, and at the same time the embodiment of eternal
repose.
The plan of isolating one's burial place from the outer world by
means of a sheet of water had already occurred to Ghiyas-ud-din
Tughluq some two centuries earlier, when he designed his tomb like
a barbican thrown out from the fortress at Tughluqabad and sur-
rounded it with a lake. Inspired no doubt by the originality and
significance of this, by now, historical monument, Sher Shah's
mausoleum was designed on somewhat similar lines, except that
instead of the irregular lake, it rises from a large rectangular tank,
the cemented sides of which measure each approximately fourteen
hundred feet in length. The tomb building itself occupies the centre
of this body of water, forming a grand pyramidal mass of diminishing
tiers, mounting up from a stepped plinth of over three hundred feet
wide, and crowned by a semi-spherical dome. The plinth and the
high terrace above it, which comprise the foundations of the com-
position, are square in plan, while the tomb building above is an
octagonal structure in three storeys, a slightly elaborated form of the
Lodi tombs at Delhi, but made vastly more imposing by its size,
situation, and particularly by the massive and spacious character
of its stepped and terraced basement. Much skill has been expended
on the design and disposition of the architectural details, which
break up the mass of the building with admirable effect. Flights of
steps with entrance archways relieve the middle of each side of the
terrace, and domed octagonal pavilions ornament each corner, with
projecting oriel-balconies carried on heavy brackets in between. The
upper surface of this immense sub-structure forms a courtyard, within
which stands the mausoleum proper. This building is enclosed within
an aisle of pointed arches, three to each of its octagonal sides, and
shaded all round by a wide eave surmounted by a crenellated parapet.
This constitutes the lower storey. Above, the two upper storeys are
decorated by means of pillared kiosks, one at each angle and alter-
nating with oriel windows, while the dome crowning the whole is
crested by a solid lotus finial. The interior of the tomb consists of one
large vaulted hall, octagonal in shape and surrounded by an arcade
of arches; it is somewhat bare and plain, and may be unfinished.
Seen across the rippling waters of the tank, the entire composition
now appears grey and sombre, but this was by no means the original
intention. It is the greyness of age, as, when first built, its walls
displayed patterns of glowing colour, and the dome was set brilliantly
white against the blue sky. Traces of this glazed decoration still
remain, fine bold borders of blues, reds and yellows, in keeping with


## p. 528 (#568) ############################################

528
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
--
the grand scale of the building itself. Access to the mausoleum iş
obtained by means of a causeway built across the water, the entrance
to which is through a square domed guardroom on the northern
side of the tank. The causeway has become much ruined, but its
original character may be judged from a somewhat similar approach
to the remains of Salim Shah's tomb, another monument of the group,
also located in a large artificial lake. Although resembling a bridge
it contains no arches, but consists of a succession of piers with the
intervening spaces spanned by lintels and corbels, the piers being
ornamented by kiosks and projecting balconies. In the course of
building the mausoleum of Sher Shah a curious error in orientation
seems to have occurred, there being a difference of eight degrees
between the alignment of the stepped plinth and that of the terrace
above. The latter faces the true north, but the mistake in the direction
of the foundations was evidently discovered and the required cor-
rection made while the building was in progress, a fact which must
have added considerably to the difficulties of its construction;
although noticeable, it does not materially detract from the general
appearance (Fig. 5). The other tombs of the Suri group, five in
number, all in the Shahabad district, are of the same general type,
but each one has some distinguishing feature, such as the specially
designed gateway of Aliwal Khan's, the architect, or the entrance
to the enclosure of Hasan Khan's, while the others show variations
in the composition of their façades.
Excellent though they all are,
none of them approaches the solemn grandeur of Sher Shah's last
resting-place, which takes first rank in magnificence of conception.
Its pyramidal mass, the silhouette of which seen at sunset is some-
thing to be remembered, the sense of finely adjusted bulk, the pro-
portions of its diminishing stages, the harmonious transitions from
square to octagon and octagon to circle, the simplicity, breadth and
scale of its parts, all combine to produce an effect of great beauty.
India boasts of several mausoleums of more than ordinary splendour;
the Taj at Agra in some of its aspects is unrivalled; over Muhammad
‘Adil Shah's remains at Bijapur spreads a dome of stupendous pro-
portions, but Sher Shah's island tomb at Sasaram, grey and brooding,
is perhaps the most impressive of them all.
The architectural activities of the house of Sur were not, however,
confined to Bihar. " With Sher Shah elevated to the throne vacated
by Humayun, the building art was again revived at the imperial
capital, where it was undergoing an interesting state of transition.
Delhi had for some time established a tradition somewhat parallel
to that of classical Rome, in that it maintained an imperial style of
its own as distinct from that of the provinces. Towards the middle
of the sixteenth century there were signs of a renaissance. The art
was beginning to throw off that puritanical influence which had
fettered it since the time of Firuz Tughluq, and apparently was


## p. 529 (#569) ############################################

THE PURANA QIL'A
529
attempting to return to the more ornate style of the Khaljis. For
two hundred years this austere method of building had prevailed,
preventing the Indian artisan from exercising his natural aptitude
for fine ashlar masonry, and from decorating the edifices thus con-
structed with rich carving, both of which were his birthright. Already
indications of such a movement are observable in buildings dating
from the beginning of the sixteenth century, as for instance in the
Moth-ki-Masjid, where, among other innovations, in place of the
“beam and bracket" opening in the centre of the façade, ordained
by Firuz and continued by his successors, there emerges again the
recessed archway of the early Tughluqs and Khaljis. Some twenty
years later a further step is seen in the treatment of the Jamali
Masjid, with its ashlar masonry laced with white marble, and, more
important still, its double recessed arch enriched with "spear heads",
signifying a definite attempt to pick up the threads of the older style.
What was required at this stage was intelligent patronage to stimulate
the movement, now well begun, into further effort. This was
supplied by the building predilections of Sher Shah, who, had he
lived longer, would undoubtedly have influenced very profoundly
the character and course of the art. As it was, during the short time
that he ruled at Delhi a form of architecture was initiated which was
not only of a high character in itself, but was destined to affect con-
siderably the styles which followed.
The Afghan ruler's first act was, however, destructive, as he razed
to the ground Humayun's city of Dinpanah, founded so auspiciously
a few years previously, and in its place, on the site of Indarpat,
began to build a new walled capital containing within it a strong
citadel for his own accommodation. Owing to his untimely death
the city itself was never finished-only two gateways remain-but the
citadel known as the Purana Qil'a, although now little more than
a shell, is still intact, and its walls and gateways, together with one
building in its interior, form an important landmark in the archi-
tectural development of the period. Its bastioned ramparts, massively
constructed of rubble masonry, are marvels of strength, while the
bold battlements protect a wide parapet walk, underneath which is
a spacious double arcade carried around its entire circuit. On their
outer side these plain rugged walls are relieved by ornamental
machicolations at frequent and regular intervals, with an occasional
balcony projected on brackets. As a contrast to the severely practical
nature of these defences, and also to their rough rubble construction,
are the gateways built of fine sandstone ashlar decorated with white
marble inlay and coloured glaze. In the design and execution of
these gateways we seem to see the beginnings of a more refined and
artistically ornate type of edifice than had prevailed for some time.
That a development of this kind was taking place is proved by the
character of the only building of any note now left within the walls.
34


## p. 530 (#570) ############################################

530
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
This is a mosque, the Qil'a-i-Kuhna Masjid, a structure of such
admirable architectural qualities as to entitle it to a high place
among the buildings of northern India.
Reference has been already made to the Jamali Masjid, and it
was out of this that the Qil'a-i-Kuhna Masjid was evolved. Each
mosque has a double arch for its fronton, with two archways in each
of its wings. The interiors of both consist of one large hall divided
into five bays, there is one central dome, and the systems of penden-
tives supporting the roof have much in common, The Qil'a-i-Kuhna
was built in 1545, some fifteen years after its prototype, and depicts
in a most decisive manner the advance that took place in that short
period. Every feature, somewhat crudely fashioned in the earlier
example, was carefully refined, improved or amplified during this
time, in order to fit it for its place in the finished composition of
the Qil'a-i-Kuhna. This mosque was evidently the Chapel Royal
of Sher Shah and the perfection of its parts may be due to his personal
supervision. It has no cloisters, although there is a courtyard in
front, with an octagonal tank in its centre, and at the side is a door-
way to serve as the royal private entrance. The mosque is not large,
occupying a rectangle of 168 feet by 4412 feet, and its height is
66 feet. There is handsome stair turret at each of its rear corners,
with oriel windows on brackets at intervals. All these features have
been carefully disposed, but the chief beauty of the building lies in
the arrangement of its façade. This is divided into five arched bays,
the central one larger than the others and each having an open
archway recessed within it. With these as the basis of his scheme.
the designer has enriched each part with mouldings, bracketed
openings, marble inlay, carving and other embellishments all in such
good taste that the effect of the whole is above criticism. The interior
is equally pleasing. Archways divide it into five compartments which
correspond to the five façade openings, and recessed in the west
wall of each is an elegant mihrab. In the support of the roof three
different methods have been exploited. The central bay, roofed by
the dome, has the usual squinch-arch as a pendentive, but the others,
although they have no domes, have vaulted ceilings necessitating
some kind of support in the angles. In one instance this support is
formed of diminishing rows of brackets with small ornamental arches
in between, a most artistic solution of this constructive problem
(Fig. 10). But the method adopted in the end bays shows more
originality; a flattened arch is thrown across, leaving a space at the
back which is filled in with a semi-dome, pendentives supporting
the corners, a daring experiment and not perhaps one to be repeated,
but the whole building proclaims the artistic and inventive skill of the
architect. Where, however, this craftsman excelled was in the design
of the mihrabs, which, of their kind, can have no equal in any other
mosque in India. An arched niche is commonly the form these take,


## p. 531 (#571) ############################################

QIL'A-I-KUHNA MASJID
531
but by sinking one recess within another, and by doming them over,
he provided himself with a foundation inviting decoration. His
material was marble, and the sure manner in which he has manipu-
lated this, and the effect produced, is beyond praise.
With the Qil'a-i-Kuhna mosque, however, this mode of building
virtually begins, and also ends; it stands as an isolated example among
the different types of structure which lie around old Delhi. Sher
Shah, as both Sasaram and the Qil'a-i-Kuhna Masjid seem to
prove, had either the gift of discovering genius and making full
use of it, or he was of a nature that inspired those he employed to
their highest affords. History indicates the latter, because with his
death in 1545 the art also appears to have died. And with his last
breath he regrets that fate had not spared him longer to put into
effect other ambitious building schemes which he specifies. For the
following twenty years little building of any importance is recorded,
the few structures that were erected reflecting the unstable political
conditions that then prevailed. The only contribution of his suc-
cessor Salim Shah consisted of a fort, named after him, on the banks
of the Jumna, a group of frowning bastions of no architectural merit,
now considerably dismantled, and converted into an outwork to
Shah Jahan's more famous palace-fortress. Somewhat later, about
1560, two buildings were raised at Delhi, and it is perhaps significant
of the times that they were not founded by men, all of whom were
engaged in less peaceful pursuits, but by women, members of the
royal household. One of these is the mosque of Khair-ul-manazil
and the other a large hostel known as the Arab Sarai. Neither, in
itself, is a work of much importance, but portions of them show that
the mode initiated by Sher Shah was still remembered. The mosque
is unusual because it has an upper storey of classrooms enclosing the
courtyard within a high screen, an arrangement for strict seclusion
which suggests that the school was for girls, and the mosque for the
use of women only. Its architectural interest, however, lies in the
handsome gateway by which it is entered (Fig. 11). This consists
of a doorway recessed within a large arched alcove, similar in many
respects to those in the buildings of Sher Shah. But there is one
notable difference. The wall containing the doorway is joined above
on to the outer archway by means of a semi-dome, a stage in the
development of a prominent feature common in the façades of the
Mughuls. This, however, is only one instance of the influence that
the able craftsmen under the Sur dynasty exercised on the architec-
ture that followed. Much of the character of the works carried out
under Akbar and Jahangir may be traced to the genius of the master-
builder who produced the remarkable little mosque in the citadel of
Sher Shah.
1 Tarikh-i Khan-Jahan Lodi, Elliot v, 108-9.


## p. 532 (#572) ############################################

532
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
It was not until Akbar had occupied the throne for eight years
that the country became sufficiently settled to enable any large
building projects to be contemplated. Then the encouragement of
.
the arts began in real earnest. About the year 1564 at least five
building schemes of varying importance were commenced in different
parts of the empire, three of them of the first rank, and the others
illustrating in a marked manner certain developments that were then
taking place. Of the larger schemes, Humayun's tomb at Delhi is
the most noteworthy, although Akbar's fortress-palaces at Agra and
Lahore were stupendous undertakings. Compared with these im-
perial enterprises the tomb of Muhammad Ghaus at Gwalior appears
a small affair, but the peculiarities of its design are of some interest,
while the tomb of Adham Khan at Delhi, previously described, is
significant because it rings down the curtain on the "Lodi" style,
a mode which had persisted for nearly two centuries. It is a coincidence
that at practically the same time that this final example of the
puritanism originated by Firuz Tughluq was being constructed, four
miles away, in the building of Humayun's tomb, an entirely new
movement was being begun. In other words Adham Khan's tomb
marks the death of one tradition, and Humayun's tomb the birth
of another. The latter, besides being a composition of more than
ordinary breadth and power, introduces a new era into the history
of architecture in northern India. Some of its parts, notably the
shape and construction of its dome, are clearly adaptations of some-
what similar buildings in the cities of the Timurids in Persia. This
attribution is readily explained. The tomb was built by Humayun':
widow, Haji Begam, who shared his long exile at the court of the
Safavids. Moreover, as architect she employed Mirak Mirza Ghiyas,
almost certainly of Persian extraction and therefore trained in the
Timurid tradition. He, with others having somewhat similar affini-
ties, formed part of a small colony of the Begam's retainers who had
settled in Delhi. The influence of their culture shows itself in the
character of Humayun's tomb. But in the process of transforming
the style of one country to suit the conditions of another, certain
changes became necessary. Some of these changes are due to the
differences of material; the Persians built almost entirely of brick
with decorations of terra-cotta and glaze, and the Indian masons
had to translate these fictile forms into chiselled marble and stone.
But the design of Humayun's tomb did something more than intro-
duce other elements into the architecture of Hindustan; it suggested
new principles, wider possibilities, greater flexibility, and generally
infused the building art with fresh life. There were subsequeni
occasions when the Mughul artizans received inspiration from the
same source, but the main Persian incentive came to the building
art of the Mughuls through Haji Begam's conception of her royal
consort's mausoleum.


## p. 533 (#573) ############################################

HUMAYUN'S TOMB
533
One of the most attractive features of this composition as a whole
is the innovation of placing the building in the centre of a large
park-like enclosure. It had already become the custom to surround
the tomb by a walled-in space, but the idea of expanding this into
an extensive formal garden was entirely that of the Mughuls. The
garden around a Mughul tomb, with its paved pathways, flowered
parterres, avenues of cypress trees, ornamental watercourses, tanks
and fountains, was considered by them an essential complement to
the mausoleum building in its centre. ' Added to this the entrance
gateways, one in the middle of each side of the perimeter wall, were
structures of fairly generous proportions, so disposed and designed
as to serve as a prelude to the monument within, the arched shape
of the main portal being of such dimensions as to frame in a most
striking manner the distant tomb. The principal entrance to the
enclosure of Humayun's tomb is on the western side, and the doorway
is recessed, instead of being embowed as was usual in all subsequent
doorways, but this was done in order to repeat, like a refrain, a
similar recessed effect in the façade of the main building. This main
building stands on a high and wide-spread terrace, the sides of which
are arcaded, each arcade leading to a small room within for the
accommodation of visitors to the tomb. On the broad platform
formed by the upper surface of this terrace the mausoleum stands,
occupying a square of 156 feet side. This square plan is recessed in
the middle of each side, and its corners are chamfered, thus producing
in the elevation of the building a variety of contrasting planes and
shade effects. All four façades, save for a slight deviation on the
north side, are similar, their main characteristic being a large rect-
angular fronton set back in the centre, and containing a deeply
recessed archway, with smaller corresponding archways in the pro-
jecting wings on each side. Much of the attractive appearance of the
building is due to the size and excellent spacing of these recesses
in relation to the remainder of the façade, the apportionment of
solid to void being most skilfully regulated. Above the façade rises
the great dome mounted on a high drum, with a combination of
kiosks roofed by small cupolas and slender turrets breaking the sky-
line at its base. The arrangements in the interior comprise a spacious
central hall, rising to a vaulted roof, and around this main hall are
grouped several subsidiary chambers on a regular plan, and con-
nected one with another by galleries and corridors. Light is obtained
through clerestory windows of perforated screens fitted within the
recessed archways of the façade.
Apart from the simple comprehensiveness of the total conception,
proclaiming it a building of exceptional merit, the principal architec-
tural feature which distinguishes it from anything previously attemp-
ted is the design and construction of the dome. In shape the dome,
with its finial rising straight from the apex without any intervening


## p. 534 (#574) ############################################

534
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
amalaka, was clearly derived from a type not uncommon at Bukhara
and Saniarqand in the fifteenth century, of which the tombs of Timur
and Bibi Khanum are examples. It is not, however, a copy of either
a
of these, but there is a fairly strong family likeness. The slightly
constricted neck with its decorated cavetto is from the same source,
but the Timurid domes usually finish at the base in a stalactite
moulding, which the Indian mason converted into a course of small
brackets. Further, the white marble casing, with which the whole
of the latter is covered, is in marked contrast to the brilliantly
coloured tiles which invariably supplied the finish to the Persian
type. But it is in the constructive principle adopted in the dome of
Humayun's tomb that the main concession is made to the ingenuity
of the Timurid builders and their predecessors. Here we see for the
first time in India the use of the double dome, a method of building
these structures which had been practised in western Asia over a
considerable period. One or two of the low-pitched domes of the
previous style, notably that of the tomb of Sikandar Lodi, show
attempts at this system of construction, but their flattened shape did
not encourage its use, and it apparently found no favour. In Huma-
yun's tomb the principle was correctly applied, the dome being
composed of two separate shells, on outer and an inner, with a vacant
compartment between; the outer shell supports the white marble
exterior casing, while the inner forms the vaulted ceiling of the
mortuary chamber below. In addition to the character and technical
details of the dome, other features of the building show a similar
influence. Among these is the large recessed archway with its sur-
rounding rectangular fronton, the central element on most Mughul
façades, and one which in an immature form had appeared during
the previous period. In Humayun's tomb this effective conception
was fully developed, showing, together with other motifs, its designer's
further obligations to the architectural traditions of Persia. While
adapting, however, the Timurid type of building to suit the materials
and methods of the Indian workman, one factor was overlooked.
In the Persian style almost all mouldings were purposely omitted,
in order that the surface of the buildings should be kept clear for
the application of coloured tiles, to the brilliancy of which they owed
their principal effect. The bare, almost frigid, appearance of Huma-
yun's tomb, in its decorative aspect, may be traced to its designer's
inability to replace successfully this colour scheme by a suitable one
in stone and marble. That the effort was made is shown by the
borders and panels of white marble inlay applied with such good
results, but in outlining the archways with the same material the
severity of the façade is emphasised. As to the disposal of the rooms
in the interior, this appears to be an elaboration of the plan generally
adopted in Muslim tombs in India, but the diagonal connecting
passages may have been suggested by a similar arrangement in


## p. 535 (#575) ############################################

BRIDGE AT JAUNPUR
635
Persia, as seen in the tomb of Safi-ud-Din at Ardabil. The fact that
the design of Humayun's tomb did not immediately commend itself
to the Mughuls and thus revolutionise the building art of India seems
to indicate that it was in advance of its time. A small tomb, however,
near by, enshrining the remains of Atga Khan, is of somewhat the
same type in miniature, and was produced at this time probably by
those employed on the royal mausoleum. But although the superior
style of the latter could not fail to influence the later work of Akbar's
reign, it was not until more than sixty years had elapsed before the
Mughul builders were suſficiently inspired to attempt another tomb
of the same type.
That even in the production of works to serve a utilitarian purpose
the Mughuls at this time were inclined to employ labour drawn
from sources not far removed from Persia is shown in a famous
bridge built at Jaunpur. Begun as early as 1564 to conduct the road
across the Gumti, it was devised and carried out by workmen im-
ported from Hazara in Afghanistan, noted for their engineering skill.
Into the design of this bridge the builders introduced appropriate
decorative elements which have made it a handsome structure of
good architectural appearance (Fig. 14). It consists of ten spans of
(
pointed arches with substantial piers carried up into pillared pavilions
partly projected over the water on brackets. The whole composition
provides an excellent illustration of the aesthetic spirit that then
prevailed, and of the manner in which an object primarily intended
for use, can with correctly applied taste become also a work of art.
Meanwhile in the somewhat distant and hitherto Hindu environ-
ment of Gwalior the tomb of Muhammad Ghaus was being con-
structed, the unusual character of its design lending this building
a certain interest. Erected over the remains of a Muslim saint who
flourished under the early Mughuls, it combines characteristics of
the “Lodi” style, together with others associated more with the kind
of building that found favour in western India. This admixture was
no doubt due to the actual workmanship being entrusted to the local
masons more accustomed to the requirements of Malwa patrons than
to the demands of their new Muslim overlords. The building shows
a lack of co-ordination, the two phases, the Mughul and Malwa,
having not yet coalesced, a condition to be attained later under the
tolerant policy of the emperor Akbar. None the less it contains some
choice details, especially in its perforated screens, but the attachment
of the hexagonal corner-turrets by their angles causes the general
effect of the elevation as a whole to appear disconnected (Fig.
15).
After Humayun's tomb, however, the most important building
projects of this time were the two palace-fortresses begun by Akbar
at Agra and Lahore. These were the first notable efforts made by
this emperor, and were executed "under the superintendence of


## p. 536 (#576) ############################################

536
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
Qasim Khan, the overseer of buildings and ships". 1 Of the fort at
Agra it was said that no such walls had ever been raised before,
"from top to bottom the fire-red hewn stones are joined so closely
that even a hair cannot find its way into their joints. ” They were
composed of a massive interior core of rubble and concrete faced
with carefully worked blocks of sandstone "linked together by iron
rings”. These blocks of stone were laid in alternate courses, a wide
course separated by narrow bond-stones, a method of construction
which is found in nearly all the buildings of Akbar's time. The walls
of Agra fort, just under 70 feet high, consist of a continuous stretch
cf almost unbroken masonry nearly one and a half miles in circuit,
the first conception of dressed stone on such a large scale. The some-
what irregular plan of the fort is probably due to the walls having
followed the lines of the original Lodi defences of which it took the
piace, and its position in relation to the river Jumna had also to be
considered. From a distance across the river it resembles the stranded
hull of a rusty red battleship, its sombre mass relieved by the group
of white domes and kiosks of the Moti Masjid rising like armoured
turrets above. It is entered by two gateways, the main entrance
on the western side, known as the Delhi Gate, being undeniably
one of the most impressive portals in all India (Fig. 18). It is the
ceremonial entrance to the fortress (the other and smaller gateway
of Amar Singh being for private use), and originally its main archway
was flanked by two statues of elephants; hence it was often referred
to as the Hathi Pol or "Elephant Gate”. As it was finished in 1566
it is one of the earliest of Akbar's productions, and shows that that
emperor's builders had already realised the high standard that was
required of them. It is devised on the usual plan of an archway
flanked by two bastions, but it is the masterly manner in which this
simple scheme was handled that gives it such an imposing and at
the same time artistic appearance. Taking the octagon as his theme,
the designer has made the bastions, the vaulted chamber between,
and the domed kiosks crowning the battlements all eight-sided in
plan. Height was obtained by the whole being in two storeys, with
the bastions divided transversely by a balcony on brackets, a projec-
tion which gives a most useful line of interruption to the façade.
Openings below would only weaken the appearance of a builidng
obviously required for strength, so that except for the main archway
the lower storey has no voids, but above the balcony are arched recesses
producing the necessary effect of depth and substance, Considerable
interest attaches to the manner in which the entire surface of the
arcades and panels, while coloured tiles of winged dragons, elephants
and foliated birds add vitality to a composition which in itself is
remarkable for animation and strength,
1 Akbar Nama, II, 246-7.


## p. 537 (#577) ############################################

PALACES IN AGRA FORT
537
Within the Agra fort enclosure, the "Ain" states that Akbar built
"upwards of five hundred edifices of red stone in the fine styles of
Bengal and Gujarat”. Many of these structures were demolished
later to make room for Shah Jahan's white marble pavilions, but
enough remain to show the general character of these early Mughu!
palaces. They now consist of a group of buildings in the south-east
corner of the fort, but originally they extended along the greater
portion of the east wall overlooking the river. Apparently built and
added at different periods during the long course of Akbar's reign,
that known as the Akbari Mahall, with the Bangali bastion, is the
earliest, as it is contemporary with the fort-wall of which it forms
the upper part. At a later date, probably towards the end of the
sixteenth century, considerable alterations appear to have taken
place, and a section of the outer wall was dismantled in order to
accommodate another palace, that of the Jahangiri Mahall, intended
as a residence for the heir apparent and his family. Both palaces,
however, are designed on the usual plan of a central square court-
yard, with ranges of double-storeyed rooms on each of the four sides.
They are almost entirely of red sandstone, with insertions of white
marble on the exterior, and the principle of construction is the “beam
and bracket", the arch being sparingly used and then only in its
ornamental capacity. There is little difference in the character of
these two palaces, the older one being perhaps a little coarser and
bolder in its treatment compared with the finer and more ornate
handiwork on the Jahangiri Mahall. In the latter one is struck by
the elaborate character of the carved stone brackets which support
the stone beams, wide eaves and flat ceilings in all parts of the
building. In no other structure, except in a range of similar pavilions
in the fort at Lahore being built about the same time, has such
ingenuity been shown in the design of these supporting brackets, or
have they been applied in such profusion. Apart from this feature,
which, as a constructional motif, is itself of wooden origin, several of
the details in this palace suggest a derivation from a phase of wooden
architecture which may have preceded it. This is particularly
.
noticeable in the treatment of the portico of the eastern façade, and
also in the use of struts in the northern hall. In the former the two
slender pillars with their expanding caps and bases and the arrange-
ment of brackets above would be much more appropriate in wood
than in stone (Fig. 22); as regards the latter the struts supporting
the ceiling are obviously copies of wooden beams; in fact the whole
design of this hall resembles the wooden interior of some of the large
houses in the city of Lahore of a slightly earlier date (Fig. 23). That
those who worked under Akbar borrowed readily and from a variety
of sources is obvious. In the general character of the fort at Agra
there is a resemblance to the fortress at Gwalior, with its palaces of
Man Singh built early in the century, which cannot be accidental.


## p. 538 (#578) ############################################

533
MONUMENTS OF THE MUGHUL PERIOD
The elephant gateway, the cupolas of Amar Singh's gateway, the
palaces rising out of the fort-walls, the planning of these palaces, and
also some of the carved details, all indicate that the Rajput citadel,
which had moved Babur to admiration some forty years before,
was used freely as a model by his more fortunately placed grandson.
Although Lahore was regarded as only the secondary capital of
the empire, the fort that Akbar constructed there almost at the same
time as that at Agra was conceived and carried out on practically
the same grand scale. It may be remarked, however, that its lay-out
generally indicates an advance on that of the more southerly capital,
as it is rectangular in plan and the interior arrangements are more
regularly aligned. It was, however, altered even to a greater extent
by Shah Jahan, and subsequent rulers, including the Sikhs, have also
changed its appearance. What is left of the palace buildings, dated
from the time of Akbar, and possibly Jahangir, show that the style
of these was similar in most respects to the Jahangiri Mahall at Agra,
except that the carved decoration was, if anything, more vigorous
and unrestrained. Elephants and lions figure in the brackets and
peacocks on the friezes, from which it may be inferred that Hindu
craftsmen predominated, and that the supervision of the Mughul
cverseers was of a very tolerant order. One other fort of the first
rank was built by Akbar some twenty years later at Allahabad, which
still shows remains of considerable architectural merit, but its outer
walls have been partly dismantled, and its interior structures have
been very roughly treated, so that little is left of its original appear-
ance. It is of the same irregular plan as the fort at Agra, but this
again may have been partly due to its position at the junction of
the Jumna and Ganges. One noble pavilion, however, still remains
intact, the Zanana Palace, from which the character of the whole
may be surmised. The pillars enclosing the verandah of this structure
are in pairs, with two groups of four at each corner, a columniation
of an unusually rich kind. Above, the pillars branch out into
bracket-capitals forming elaborate clusters of forms which break up
the deep shadow of the eaves that they support. For its effect
depends very largely on the number and distribution of its pillars
with their superstructures, and records of other buildings in this fort
indicate that a peristylar arrangement was much favoured by its
architect.
It is characteristic of Akbar's almost insatiable passion for building,
that even before the forts of Agra and Lahore were completed, he
began to contemplate a scheme which eventually matured into the
greatest of all his architectural projects. This was the construction
of an entirely new capital city on an elevated site at Fathpur Sikri,
some twenty-six miles distant from Agra. No sooner was the idea
formed than plans were prepared, artizans summoned from all parts
of his dominions, and the work pushed on with such lightning rapidity


## p. 539 (#579) ############################################

2
FATHPUR SIKRI
539
that not only its splendour but the almost magical speed with which
it was completed was a matter of contemporary comment. Jahangir
writes that "in the course of fourteen or fifteen years that hill, full
of wild beasts, became a city containing all kinds of gardens and
buildings, and lofty elegant edifices and pleasant places attractive
to the heart";' while Father Monserrate, after giving details of the
extraordinary expedition with which certain buildings were finished,
remarks that “all the material, prepared according to specification,
was brought complete and ready to the place where it was to be used”,
reminding him of the scriptural precedent "and the house, when it
was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought
thither : so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of
iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings vi. 7).
Such, however, was the common practice of masons in the east.
India, although at certain times and in some localities the carving
was apparently done on the walls, as a rule the stones were separately
prepared, carved into pattern and then conveyed as a finished pro-
duct to the building to be placed in position. The latter was evidently
the system in vogue in Mughul times. At Akbar's new capital the
method would present no difficulties, as there was an unlimited supply
of good building material to be quarried on the site itself. In the
words of the "Ain": "Red sandstone. . . . is obtainable in the hills
of Fathpur Sikri, His Majesty's residence, and may be broken from
the rock at any length or breadth. Clever workmen chisel it so
skilfully as no turner could do with wood. ” Most of the labour was
done in a kind of open-air workshop on a level space towards the
western limits of the ridge. Here the masons erected for their own
worship a mosque called the "Stone-cutters' Masjid”, which is
probably one of the earliest buildings on the site.