Sultanate-Period Architecture of South Asia
SULTANATE-PERIOD ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTH ASIA
SULTANATE-PERIOD ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTH ASIA Scholars frequently refer to the years 1192–1526 as the Delhi Sultanate period, defined by the establishment and proliferation of a series of Islamic states in South Asia. After the numerous Afghan Ghaznavid raids into the Indus Valley in the late tenth to twelfth centuries, the Afghan Ghurids and their Mamluk deputies, also from Afghanistan, founded the first enduring Islamic dynasty in northern India, spanning 1192–1290. Thereafter, several other Islamic dynasties with varying territorial holdings appeared in Delhi and in other regions of India. Finally, in 1526, the Timurid prince Babur was victorious at the first Battle of Panipat, launching the great Mughal dynasty with pan-Indic ambitions. During the Sultanate period, the Islamic dynastic patronage of the many building styles of South Asia—firmly rooted in regionally based traditions—produced a plethora of Islamic architecture.
Muslim communities had settled in Sind before the late twelfth-century rise of a lasting Islamic power. Architectural remains from Banbhore in Sind (c. 711), Gwalior in central India (8th century), and Bhadresvar in Kachh, Gujarat (c. 1160) indicate that Muslim groups settled at these sites probably for mercantile purposes. The Gwalior mihrab and Bhadresvar mosques particularly demonstrate that these communities employed local craftsmen for their religious buildings. Indeed, the high quality of those remains indicate that the craftsmen had worked on Islamic architecture before, thereby pushing the presence of Muslims in central India and Kachh to earlier than the eighth and mid-twelfth centuries, respectively.
The Ghurid annexation of northern India under-pinned innovations in the building tradition indigenous to the plains by introducing new architectural practices and forms from the Iranian ambit, the latter of which were executed according to local methods. Delhi's well-known Qutb Mosque (Quwwat al-Islam, 1192–1193) exhibits extensive recycling of materials from earlier buildings, a practice comparatively little documented in Hindu and Buddhist foundations of the first millennium a.d. These older fragments were integrated with others contemporaneous with the complex's foundation, meaning that Ghurid deputies also patronized local building traditions. Continuity in style and method is underscored by the arched facades, elements imported from eastern Iran-Afghanistan but constructed using corbelled arches, and iconography from the pan-Indic water cosmology. Ghurid foundations west of the Indus, such as the Ribat of Al-ibn Karmakh, also evince continuity and innovation: While the fortified grave is a conflation of forms imported from Islamized lands, the iconography shows a direct relationship to the region's earlier temples.
The architecture of the Delhi-based powers succeeding the Ghurids and Mamluks emphasized a military aesthetic of heavy proportions, battered walls, and overall austerity. Dynastic Khalji (1290–1320) and Tughluq (1320–1401) architectural patronage, seen in the Ala-i Darwaza (1311) and the Hauz Khass Complex (1388), show that brick was the preferred building material and arcuation the favored articulation of interiors. This architectural style originated in these dynasties' homeland of Multan, where Sufi mausoleums like the Tomb of Shah Rukn-i Din Rukn-i ʿAlam (c. 1300) were abundant. The Lodi sultans (1451–1526) of Delhi continued in a similar aesthetic vein (Tomb of Sikandar Lodi), though these buildings were more decorative, with niches puncturing their surfaces.
Throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, two sultanates neighbored Delhi, the Sharqis (1394–1483) holding sway at Jaunpur to the east, and the Ghuris (1391–1436) and eventually the Khaljis (1436–1531) at Mandu to the west. Both sultanates dedicated much of their financial and labor resources to architectural patronage, studding their urban centers with several large mosque, tomb, and madrassa complexes. The influence of the Delhi-based architectural style seemed to radiate east and west: Jaunpur's Atala Mosque (1408) raised what had originally been a military aesthetic to a monumental scale. Mandu's Congregational Mosque (1454), with its heavy proportions, evokes the earlier Delhi buildings, though their characteristic austerity was relieved here by means of blue-glazed tile decoration applied on selected surfaces.
The architecture of the Delhi-based dynasties, derived from traditions originating west of the Indus, was adopted and further developed by the nearby sultanates. However, the architectures of many other Muslim states in South Asia, which were more removed from Delhi than Jaunpur and Mandu, stylistically and technically ensued from, and even rejuvenated, their respective indigenous building practices.
Various sultanates appropriated pockets of territories in the Deccan, and some of them maintained control of their holdings for over three centuries (1347–1686) until Mughal conquest. Indeed, the flourishing of South India's Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar until 1565 reminds us that the "Sultanate period" is something of a misnomer, since the dynasties of this powerful state were not Muslims but Brahmanical Hindus. Architectural patronage throughout the Deccan can be characterized by the application of old building principles to new purposes, often resulting in unprecedented spatial solutions. The Bahmanids' Mosque at Gulbarga (latter half of the 14th century) presents a case in point: The covered prayer area and open courtyard of the archetypal mosque was covered with corbelled domes. The arched facade, known since the late twelfth century, was here transferred to the exterior to create monumental entrances. Ibrahim Adilshahi's Tomb at Bijapur (c. 1626) relied heavily on indigenous architectural and iconographic traditions, including South Indian column orders and ornament.
Architectural patronage in the Bengal (1339–1576) and Gujarat (1411–1573) sultanates emerged from and rejuvenated those regions' local building practices. Bengal had within its borders a well-entrenched tradition of brick construction, including the use of voussoir arches to span short distances. Moreover, the local craftsmen excelled at terra-cotta and molded brick surface decoration. Thus, Gaur's Qadm-i Rasul Mosque of about 1525 is decorated with terra-cotta plaques as well as tilework, and the arch here rose to the challenge of spanning considerably larger interior spaces than before.
The religious architecture of Gujarat was primarily of trabeate construction in stone, with exteriors profusely decorated with stone sculpture. Both of these practices were productively adapted to Islamic buildings, as seen at Ahmedabad's Congregational Mosque of 1424. The monumental entrance facade shows that, rather than the teeming exteriors of the region's medieval temples, local stone-carving methods were applied toward the creation of a surface well balanced in its proportions of ornament and austerity. The interior demonstrates that trabeation did not produce only low, dark interiors, but could also be successfully employed to create lofty spaces with natural light. The introduction of Islamic ritual and social demands, then, were beneficial for the local styles of building.
Alka Patel
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