ARCHITECTURE OF DELHI SULTANATE
INTRODUCTION
Art and architecture are true manifestations of the culture of a period as they reflect the mind and approach of that society. It is here that the ideas and techniques of a Society find visual expression. The advent of the Turkish rule in India is significant in more than one respect.While it gave rise to a new socio-political system , it also marked the beginning of a new expression in art. The style of architecture that evolved during this time is called Indo-Islamic.
Unlike architecture, the art of painting as practiced in the Delhi Sultanate is not properly documented. We know that calligraphy and book-illumination in the Islamic world had achieved supreme heights by the close of the 12th century; there also existed a developed tradition of figural murals in the Ghaznavi kingdom. Possibly the same tradition was carried to Delhi by the early Turkish Sultans where it flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries.
ARCHITECTURE
The most important source for the study of architecture is the surviving remains of buildings themselves. Though these enable us to grasp architectural techniques and styles peculiar to our period, it offers little help in understanding other related aspects of architecture such as the role of the architects and the drawings and estimates and accounts of the buildings.
New Structural Forms
i) Arch and Dome
On a careful reading of the reports prepared by General Alexander Cunningham of archaeological sites and remains in Northern India, we observe that the incidence of masonry building-including civilian housing in towns-increases significantly after the 13th century. This was primarily possible due to the use of lime-mortar as the basic cementing material .The building of true arch required stones or bricks to be laid as voussoirs in the shape of a curve and bound together firmly by a good binding material. This binding material was lime-mortar.
The result of the introduction of the new technique was that the pre-Turkish forms, lintel and beam and corbelling, were replaced by true arches and vaults and the spired roofs (shikhar) by domes. Arches are made in a variety of shapes, but in India the pointed form of the Islamic world was directly inherited. And sometime in second quarter of the 14th century, another variant of the pointed form, the four-centred arch, was introduced by the Tughluqs in their buildings.lt remained in vogue till the end of the Sultanate.
ii) Building Material
It is a curious fact that there are very few instances of early Turkish buildings in India where newly quarried material has been employed by the architects. The fashion was to use richly carved capitals, columns, shafts and lintels from pre-Turkish buildings. In India, towards the beginning of the 14th century when the supply of such material had exhausted, buildings were raised by using originally quarried or manufactured material
In the masonry work, stone has been used abundantly. The foundations are-mostly of rough and small rubble or, wherever it is available, of river boulders, while the superstructure is of dressed stone or roughly shaped coarsed stonework. However in either case, the buildings were plastered all over. Percy Brown (Indian Architecture : Islamic Period,Bombay, 1968) has noted that in the buildings of the Khalji period a new method of stone masonry was used. This consisted of laying stones in two different courses, that is headers and stretchers. This system was retained in subsequent buildings and became a characteristic of the building technique of the Mughals.
The material commonly used for plastering buildings was gypsum. Apparently lime-plaster was reserved for places that needed to be secured against the leakage of water, such as roofs, indigo-vats, canals,drains, etc. In the later period, i.e. around 15th century, when highly finished stucco work became common, gypsum mortar was preferred for plaster work on the walls and the ceiling .
Decoration
Decorative art in Islamic buildings served the purpose of concealing the structure behind motifs rather than revealing it. Since the depiction of living beings was generally frowned upon, the elements of decoration were, in most cases, limited to:
a) calligraphy, b) Geometry, and c) foliation.
Calligraphy is an important element of the decorative art in the buildings of this period. The Quranic sayings are inscribed on buildings in an angular, sober and monumental script, known as kufi.They may be found in any part gf the building-frames of the doors, ceilings, wall panels, niches etc, and in variety of materials-tone, stucco and painting.
Geometric shapes in abstract form are used in these buildings in a bewildering variety of combinations. The motifs indicate incorporation of visual principles: repetition, symmetry, and generation of continuous patterns. It has been suggested by Dalu Jones (Architecture of the Islamic World,ed. George Michell, London, 1978) that the generating source of these geometric designs is the circle, which could be developed into a square, a triangle or a polygon. These forms are then elaborated by multiplication and subdivision, by rotation and by symmetrical arrangements.
Of the foliations, the dominant form of decoration employed in Sultanate buildings, is the arabesque. It is characterized by a continuous stem which splits regularly, producing a series of leafy secondary stems which can in turn split again or reintegrate into the main stem. The repetition of this pattern produces a beautifully balanced design with a three dimensional effect.
Stylistic Evolution
Early form
The history of Indo-Islamic architecture proper commences with the occupation of Delhi by the Turks in AD. 1192. The Tomar citadel of Lal Kot with its Chauhan extension, Qila Rai Pithora, was captured by Qutbuddin Aibak. Here he began the construction of a Jamia Masjid which was completed in 1198. According to an inscription on the mosque it was known as Quwwatul Islam. In 1199, an expansive screen with lofty arches was raised across the entire front of the sanctuary of the mosque. In both these constructions, the hand of the local architect is quite evident. The lintels, carved-columns and slabs, have been used liberally by only turning their carved sides inwards or using them upside down. The arches of the screen have been built by employing the method of corbelling. And the ornamentation of the screen, is emphatically Hindu in conception.
However, the borrowed elements of Hindu architecture were soon discarded and relatively little was retained by the maturing Indo-Islamic style. In later buildings of this phase, such as Qutab Minar (built1235), Arhai Din Ka Jhoupra (built 1200) and Iltutmish's tomb (completed 1233-34), though corbelling’ could not be replaced as the principal structural technique, decoration became almost fully Islamic in detail. In this connection, the principles employed in the construction of the domical roof of I1tutmish's tomb ( not extant now) are also of great interest. Though the tomb was raised with the help of corbelled courses it was supported on squinches built at the corners of the square chamber. The culmination of the architectural style designated by us as the Early Form was the mausoleum of Balban built around 1287-88. It is in ruins now but occupies an important place in the development of Indo-Islamic architecture, as it is here that we notice the earliest true arch.
The Khaljis
With their architecture, as revealed in Alai Darwaza (built 1305) at the Qutub complex, and the Jamat Khana Masjid (built 1325) at Nizamuddin, a marked change in style appears. In the evolution of Indo-Islamic architecture, this phase occupies a key position as it exhibits a distinct influence of the Seljuk architectural traditions (a Turkish tribe ruling over Central Asia and Asia Minor in 11-13 century) as also certain salient features of composition which were adopted in the succeeding styles.
The characteristic features of this phase may be listed below :
a) Employment of true arch, pointed horse-shoe in shape.
b) Emergence of true dome with recessed arch under the squinch.
c) Use of red sandstone and decorative marble reliefs as new building materials
d) Appearance of 'lotus-bud' fringe on the underside of the arch - a Seljuk feature.
e) Emergence of new masonry-facing, consisting of a narrow course of headers alternating with a much wider course of stretchers.
In addition, the decorative features characterized by calligraphy, geometry and arabesque now became much bolder and profuse.
The Tughluqs
A new architectural style came into vogue in the buildings of this period. Judging from the remains, only the first three rulers of this house appear to have been interested in the art of building. However, the architecture of this period can be divided into two main groups. To the first group belong the construction of Ghiyasuddin and Muhammad Tughluq, and the other to those of Feroz Taghluq.
The general features of the Tughluq style of architecture are listed below:
a) Stone rubble is the principal building material and the walls are in most cases plastered.
b) The walls and bastions are invariably battered, the effect being most marked at the comers .
c) A hesitant and possibly experimental use of a new shape of arch- the four centered arch-necessitating its reinforcement with a supporting beam. This arch-beam combination is a hall-mark of the Tughluq style. The pointed horse-shoe arch of the preceding style was abandoned because of its narrow compass and therefore the inability to span wider spaces.
d) Emergence of a pointed dome with clearly visible neck in contrast with rather stifled dome of the preceding style.
e) Introduction of epcaustic tiles as an element of decoration in the panels of the buildings.
f) Emergence, in the tombs of this period, an octagonal plan which came to be copied and perfected by the Mughals in the 16th-17th century.
The Final phase
Within a decade of the death of Feroz Shah Tughluq (1388), the Sultanate became politically unstable, and in 1398 was sacked and plundered by Timur. However, some semblance of central authority remained with the two succeeding dynasties of the Saiyyids and lodis, although they ruled over a greatly Shrunken Sultanate of Delhi between 1414 and 1526. A large number of tombs were built in and around Delhi so much so that over a period of time the area around Delhi looked like a sprawling qabristan (graveyard).
Yet some of these structures are important from architectural point of view and can be considered as heralding a distinct style. The more important of these tomb-buildings took two separate forms, the distinguishing features of which are given below :
a) Mausoleums designed on an octagonal plan incorporating the following . elements :
Main tomb-chamber surrounded by an arched verandah.
One storey high.
Verandah with projecting eaves supported on brackets
b) The other type was built on square plan. These were characterized by the following elements :
Absence of verandah around the main tomb-chamber.
Exterior comprised of two, and sometimes three storeys.
Absence of eaves and supporting brackets.
There is an original treatment of colored tile decoration in these buildings. It is set sparingly in friezes. In addition, there are intricately incised surfaces of plaster.