HISTORY(VII)-LESSON-5 RULERS AND BUILDINGS (LESSON NOTES)

 

HISTORY(VII)-LESSON-5

RULERS AND BUILDINGS

(LESSON NOTES)

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v INTRODUCTION

Ø In medieval period rulers-built buildings for two purposes as

§  Personal use- forts, palaces, garden residences and tombs etc.

§  Public buildings temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravanserais and bazaars etc.

Ø They used different architecture techniques in the construction of these buildings. These building showed their engineering skill and technology and grand prestige. This lesson focus on some building constructed in the medieval period.

v QUTB MINAR

Ø Qutab Minar is the highest minar of India with 72.5 meters, height at Mehaurli in Delhi.

Ø It has five stories. The first floor was constructed by Qutbuddin Aybak in 1199 and the rest by Iltutmish around 1229.

 

Ø It has small arches and geometrical designs under first Balcony which have two bands of inscriptions in Arabic.

Ø The surface of the minar is curved and angular.

Ø Over the years it was damaged by lightning and earthquakes and repaired by Alauddin Khalji, Muhammad Tughluq, Firuz Shah Tughluq and Ibrahim Lodi.

v ENGINEERING SKILLS AND CONSTRUCTION

Ø Monuments provide an insight into the technologies used for construction.

Ø Between the seventh and tenth centuries, architects started to build superstructure which need a sophisticated skill.

Ø They used different architecture style

§  TRABEATE OR CORBELLED-When a horizontal beam is placed across two vertical columns for door and window, that a style of architecture called trabeate’ or ‘corbelled’.

§  ARCUATE- When the weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was sometimes carried by arches. This architectural form was called “arcuate”.

 

Ø They started to use the limestone mixed with stone chips that led to faster construction.

Ø Assimilation of Indian style with Persian style of architecture was prominent during medieval time.

v TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION IN THE EARLY 11^th CENTURY

Ø The Kandariya Mahadeva temple

§  It was dedicated to Shiva was constructed in 999 by the king Dhangadeva of the Chandela dynasty in Khajuraho, MP.

§  It has tall sikhara, main hall (mahamandapa) where dances were performed.

§  The image of the chief deity was kept in the main shrine (garbhagriha).

 

Ø The Rajarajeshvara temple

§  It is in Thanjavur constructed by Chola king Rajraja-I.

§  It had the tallest shikhara amongst temples of its time. It had 90 tonne stone on the top of the shikhara.

§  It was done by built an inclined path nearly 4 km away to the top of the temple, and it rolled all the way to top.

v CONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS-

v TEMPLES AND MOSQUES OR MASJID

Ø Temples and mosques were beautifully constructed by kings, sultans and their subordinates because they were places of worship and meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.

Ø Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God.

 

Ø The rulers wanted to appear like a god. For example, Rajarejswara Temple in Thanjavur was built by King Rajarajadeva for worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram.

Ø Though, Muslim Sultans and Padshahs did not claim to be incarnations of God but Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the ‘Shadow of God’.

v WATER TANKS

Ø Rulers often constructed tanks and reservoirs – big and small – for use by ordinary people. Sometimes these tanks and reservoirs were part of a religious place.

Ø Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir

just outside Dehli-i-Kuhna.It was called the Hauz-i-Sultan or the “King’s Reservoir”

Ø Raniji ki baori or the ‘Queen’s Stepwell’ located in Bundi in Rajasthan was constructed in 1699 C.E. by Rani Nathavat Ji, the queen of Raja Anirudh Singh of Bundi. It was the largest among the fifty step wells that were built to meet the need for water. Known for its architectural beauty.

 

v WHY WERE TEMPLES DESTROYED?

Ø Since kings-built temples to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth.

Ø So, they attacked and targeted these buildings when they attacked one another’s kingdoms to get wealth.

Ø In this time most rulers displayed their political might and military success by attacking and looting the places of worship of defeated rulers. There are many examples of these-

§  Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and defeated Sinhalese king, Sena I (831-851), and brought Gold statue of Buddha.

§  Next Sinhalese ruler Sena II invade Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas recapture the image of Buddha.

§  In the early 11th century, Chola king Rajendra I built a Shiva temple in his capital and filled it with prized statues seized from defeated rulers.

§  Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols, included Somnath Temple in 1025 AD.

v MUGHAL ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

v GARDENS

Ø Mughal were personally interested in literature, art and architecture.

Ø Babur described his interest in the layout of gardens in his autobiography Tujk -I -Babari.

Ø These gardens were called as Chahar Bagh (four gardens) because

§  They were symmetrical divided into four quarters.

§  These were placed within rectangular walled enclosures and divided into four quarters by artificial channels.

§  First it was built in Kabul after that these were constructed in Kashmir, Agra and Delhi by Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jahan.

 

v TOMB

Ø During Akbar’s reign tomb and tall gateway (pishtaq) became important features of architecture according to central Asian ancestors, Timur.

Ø It was first visible in Humayun’s tomb which was placed in the centre of a huge formal chahar bagh and built in the tradition known as “eight paradises” or hasht bihisht – a central hall surrounded by eight rooms.

Ø The building was constructed with red sandstone, edged with white marble

v ARCHITECTURE FEATURE DURING SHAHJAHAN

Ø During Shah Jahan’s reign, huge construction activity was carried on in Agra and Delhi.

Ø He adapted the river-front garden in the layout of the Taj Mahal.

Ø In the new city of Shahjahanabad that he constructed in Delhi, the imperial palace commanded the river-front. Only especially favoured nobles were given access to the river.

Ø The ceremonial halls of the public and private audience (Diwan-i-Khas; diwan-i-am) were carefully planned.

 

Ø Large courtyard was described as chihil sutun or forty-pillared halls.

v ADAPTING REGIONAL ARCHITECTURAL STYLES

Ø The Mughal rulers also adapting regional architectural styles in the construction of their own buildings.

§  In Bengal, the local rulers had developed a roof that was designed to resemble a thatched hut. The Mughals liked this ‘Bangla dome’.

§  In Akbar’s capital at Fatehpur Sikri, many of the buildings show the influence of the architectural styles of Gujarat and Malwa.

v ROYAL JUSTICE AND THE IMPERIAL COURT

Ø Royal justice and the imperial court were emphasised by Shah Jahan in his newly constructed court in the Red Fort at Delhi.

Ø There were series of pietra dura behind the emperor throne that depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing the lute.

Ø The construction of Shah Jahan’s audience hall also communicate that the king’s justice would treat the high and the low as equals

v REGION AND EMPIRE

Ø As construction activity increased between the eighth and eighteenth centuries, there was also a considerable sharing of ideas across regions.

Ø In Vijayanagar, for example, the elephant stables of the rulers were strongly influenced by the style of architecture found in the adjoining Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda.

Ø In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural styles that were very similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri.

Ø The creation of large empires that brought different regions under their rule helped in this cross fertilisation of artistic forms and architectural styles.

Ø The Mughals adopted the ‘Bangla dome’ in their architecture.

 

v IMPORTANT POINTS

Ø Do you know that the Agra Fort built by Akbar which required 2,000 stone-cutters, 2,000 cement and lime-makers and 8,000 labourers.

Ø Quwwa-al-Islam mosque, Delhi was first mosque built in India.

Ø The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s chronicler declared that the ruler was the “architect of the workshop of empire and religion”.

Ø Jama Masjid built by Shah Jahan in his new capital at Shahjahanabad, in 1650-1656.

Ø The Persian terms abad, populated, prosperous, and abadi, flourishing, are both derived from the word ab, meaning water.

Ø Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) with the holy sarovar (tank) in Amritsar.

Ø The Taj Mahal at Agra, completed in 1643.

Ø Jodh Bai palace in Fatehpur Sikri which have the architectural traditions of the Gujarat region.

Ø Superstructure: It refers to the part of a building above the ground floor.

Ø Shikhara: The top-most point of the temple.

Ø Pietra dura: Coloured, hard stones placed in depressions carved into marble or sandstone creating beautiful ornate patterns.

Ø Diwan-i Khas or am: The ceremonial halls of public and private audience.

Ø Hasht bihisht or Eight paradises: A central hall surrounded by eight rooms.