Author: R Nath
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Year: 1994
Language: English
Pages: 652
ISBN/UPC (if available): N/A
Description
This volume of 5-vol series of History of Mughal Architecture studies such aspects of the architecture of Jehangir's age as Roads and Sarais, Gardens and Garden Pavilions, Palatial Mansions and Shikrgahs, Picture Wall of Lahore Fort and Tombs each in a separate chapter.
This volume covers 43 monuments, extending from Kabul to Allahabad, and Kashmir to Burhanpur, and the scope of this volume is much wider than the earlier ones.
That public works as roads, kos-minars, bridges, sarais, wells, baolis and porters' walls were built and maintained at Government expense testifies that the Mughal state was fully alive to the welfare of its subjects. Four Masonry bridges have been specifically studied.
Jehangir was greatly interested in gardens and garden-craft received a distinct form under his patronage. Palances were built amidst gardens, mostly on the river bank, with characteristic idioms of the age. A unique building complex which developed under him was Shikargah (Hunting Lodge) and four representative examples have been studied.
The glazed-tiled Picture Wall of the Lahore Fort is unique in respect of its scale, scheme and subjects. Originally, it covered an immense mural area 500 yards in length and 16 yards in height, by an ingenious system of paneling which, besides stylized floral, arabesques and geometricals, depicted beautiful figurative compositions. Architect, potter, painter and glazed-tiler collaborated on this grand project which has no parallel in the world.
Domeless tomb with a baradari and chaukhandi roof or a plain chabutarah was also a unique growth of this age and most notable tombs of this class, as those of Akbar, I'timad-ud-Daulah and Jehangir, have been studied in detail. Development of such distinctive architectural features as 'dado', 'gateway' and 'minar' also belongs to this period, during which unprecedented emphasis was given on ornamentation, which is why this art-epoch is noted for 'Color and Design'.
This study has been made in the context of, and with reference to, the cultural milieu which produced it and this is not only a history of Jehangir's architecture but also a history of Jehangir's age and a history of Jehangir's India. It is a history of those tender feelings, sublime thoughts and subtle ideas which to make a Civilization not of those political intrigues and feuds, and military conflicts which destroy it.