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Char Minar Golconda Fort
THE MUGHAL PERIOD construction. Most structures were decorated with
Mughal architecture is the distinctive Indo-Islamic geometrical designs. Quranic verses were also
architectural style that developed in northern and engraved on some. In a few buildings, jalis or
central India under the patronage of Mughal trellis work was done.
emperors from the 16th to the 18th century. It is Akbar
a remarkably symmetrical and decorative amal- Early Mughal architecture first developed during
gam of Persian, Turkish and Indian architecture. the reign of Akbar the Great (1556–1605) who
The Mughals were also renowned for creating commissioned palaces, mosques, gardens and
exquisite gardens in the Persian charbagh layout, mausoleums. The architecture was a synthesis of
in which the quadrilateral gardens were divided Persian, Turkic, Timurid Iranian, Central Asian
by walkways or flowing water into four smaller and Indian Hindu and Muslim styles. Akbari
parts. architecture is also remarkable for its large scale
Features : The arch and the dome continued to use of sandstone, evident both in the construc-
be used. Full domes became very common. tion of Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar’s royal city and
Tombs began to be placed on stone platforms, Akbar’s own tomb at Sikandra. The mosque at
enclosed in geometrical gardens with running Fatehpur Sikri boasts the Buland Darwaza, the
water. This was the ‘chahr bagh’ pattern. Some largest gateway of its kind in India. Early Mughal
tombs and mosques had minarets. Red sand- mosques had massive enclosed courtyards and
stone and white marble were used for domed shallow prayer halls.
Madrasah of Mahmud Gawan Agra Fort
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