Read Online A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time: The Story of the Taj Mahal by Michael Preston Diana Preston - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Preston Diana Preston
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was, Shah Jahan and his architects decided, to be the heart of a much larger complex. The mausoleum itself, at the centre of which she would be buried following Islamic tradition – lying north–south, with her face turned westwards to Mecca – would sit on a terrace or platform by the riverside within a walled garden. A water channel, also running north–south on exactly the same line on which Mumtaz’s body lay, would form a central axis, on both sides of which matching subsidiary buildings and other features would be laid out symmetrically.
Directly to the west of the mausoleum, on the platform, they placed a three-domed mosque, where pilgrims could worship. The Koran does not stipulate that a Muslim must visit a mosque to pray; he or she may pray anywhere, but to do so must face Mecca. An alcove, known as the mihrab , in the back wall marks the direction of prayer in a mosque. To balance the mosque opposite, or, as the Moghuls themselves put it, to serve as its jabab , or ‘echo’, the designers added a building identical to the mosque, directly to the mausoleum’s east. Since its rear wall faced away from Mecca, this building could not be used as a mosque – and probably served as a guesthouse for pilgrims – but its main purpose was aesthetic.
For the other end of the walled garden, facing the mausoleum, the designers planned an ornate gatehouse. Outside this gateway, to the south, would be an assembly area or forecourt known as a jilau khana , with accommodation for attendants and bazaars around its sides. Finally, beyond that would be caravanserais, or inns for visitors, and further bazaars, again all laid out symmetrically on either side of a central thoroughfare continuing the north–south axis provided by the main water channel. The whole area beyond the gateway would form a secular counterpart to the mausoleum compound, meeting the physical needs of the workers and visitors for food and accommodation, while the mausoleum complex nourished their spirits. The walled enclosure embracing the mausoleum and the garden would alone measure some 1,000 by 1,800 feet and was intended, in the words of Lahori, to ‘evoke a vision of the heavenly gardens … and epitomize the holy abodes of paradise’ .
In turning the concept into a detailed design, the Moghul architects had no design manuals or architectural textbooks to help them. Like other architects in the Islamic world they were guided by example rather than precept, drawing on the Moghul tradition of tomb building with its strong central Asian and Persian influences. In addition they assimilated much from the strain of Muslim architecture introduced into India by the Sultans of Delhi during their 300-year rule and by other Muslim rulers such as those of Gujarat and Mandu. They also drew on the Hindu architectural tradition, from which many of those doing the building work came, for features such as the domed kiosk, or chattri , finials and the use of intricate stone carving.
By contrast, Hindu builders had available to them treatises on buildings covering such matters as soil type and its identification by colour, scent and smell, techniques of brick masonry, the configuration of buildings and the most auspicious times to undertake various stages of the building work. These textbooks were not among the very many Hindu works of all kinds translated, on the orders of Akbar and his successors, into Persian and there is no evidence that they were ever used by Moghul architects. However, the Hindus among the builders would almost certainly have consulted them to interpret and implement the plans passed to them by the architects.
In seeking examples that might influence their design, the Moghul architects would have known that their predecessors in Persia and central Asia and in the Delhi Sultanate had used an octagonal ground plan in many buildings, including both palaces and tombs such as that at Sultaniya. An Italian merchant who visited Tabriz in Persia in
Directly to the west of the mausoleum, on the platform, they placed a three-domed mosque, where pilgrims could worship. The Koran does not stipulate that a Muslim must visit a mosque to pray; he or she may pray anywhere, but to do so must face Mecca. An alcove, known as the mihrab , in the back wall marks the direction of prayer in a mosque. To balance the mosque opposite, or, as the Moghuls themselves put it, to serve as its jabab , or ‘echo’, the designers added a building identical to the mosque, directly to the mausoleum’s east. Since its rear wall faced away from Mecca, this building could not be used as a mosque – and probably served as a guesthouse for pilgrims – but its main purpose was aesthetic.
For the other end of the walled garden, facing the mausoleum, the designers planned an ornate gatehouse. Outside this gateway, to the south, would be an assembly area or forecourt known as a jilau khana , with accommodation for attendants and bazaars around its sides. Finally, beyond that would be caravanserais, or inns for visitors, and further bazaars, again all laid out symmetrically on either side of a central thoroughfare continuing the north–south axis provided by the main water channel. The whole area beyond the gateway would form a secular counterpart to the mausoleum compound, meeting the physical needs of the workers and visitors for food and accommodation, while the mausoleum complex nourished their spirits. The walled enclosure embracing the mausoleum and the garden would alone measure some 1,000 by 1,800 feet and was intended, in the words of Lahori, to ‘evoke a vision of the heavenly gardens … and epitomize the holy abodes of paradise’ .
In turning the concept into a detailed design, the Moghul architects had no design manuals or architectural textbooks to help them. Like other architects in the Islamic world they were guided by example rather than precept, drawing on the Moghul tradition of tomb building with its strong central Asian and Persian influences. In addition they assimilated much from the strain of Muslim architecture introduced into India by the Sultans of Delhi during their 300-year rule and by other Muslim rulers such as those of Gujarat and Mandu. They also drew on the Hindu architectural tradition, from which many of those doing the building work came, for features such as the domed kiosk, or chattri , finials and the use of intricate stone carving.
By contrast, Hindu builders had available to them treatises on buildings covering such matters as soil type and its identification by colour, scent and smell, techniques of brick masonry, the configuration of buildings and the most auspicious times to undertake various stages of the building work. These textbooks were not among the very many Hindu works of all kinds translated, on the orders of Akbar and his successors, into Persian and there is no evidence that they were ever used by Moghul architects. However, the Hindus among the builders would almost certainly have consulted them to interpret and implement the plans passed to them by the architects.
In seeking examples that might influence their design, the Moghul architects would have known that their predecessors in Persia and central Asia and in the Delhi Sultanate had used an octagonal ground plan in many buildings, including both palaces and tombs such as that at Sultaniya. An Italian merchant who visited Tabriz in Persia in
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