HISTORY Class 7 Chapter 5

Introduction

 Qutubuddin Aybak started the construction of the Qutub Minar in 1199.

 Balconies were built on the outside and under them arches and geometric designs
were carved.
 Under each balcony were two bands of inscriptions in Arabic. And because the
surface of the minar was curved and angular, the work of inscribing became more
difficult and needed expert skills.
 Two kinds of structures were built during the ancient and medieval times:
 structures such as forts, palaces, garden residences, and tombs that were were safe,
well-protected and grand; temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravansaries, and
bazaars, structures that were built for public activity

Engineering Skills And Construction

 Monuments showcase the technological skills of the time they were built in for
example a superstructure needs a lot of skill and resources to build.
 Although architects built more windows, rooms, and doors, the basic method of
building them, where a horizontal beam was placed across two vertical columns
(trabeate structure), remained the same.
 These trebeate structures were used to build many temples, mosques, and stepped
wells between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries.
 Two new technological developments were seen in the twelfth century:
 in arcuate (curved) structures where the weight of the superstructure was carried by
arches;high-quality limestone cement when mixed with stone chips formed hard
concrete and was used highly during this age.

Temples, Mosques, and Tanks

 Temples and mosques were beautifully built as they were places of worship and also
demonstrated the wealth, power, and devotion of the patron. For example the
Rajarajeshwara temple was built by king Rajarajadeva to show his devotion to lord
Rajarajeshvaram.
 Kings took god's name as it was auspicious and showed that his status was equal to
that of god's and also through rituals it shows that one god (the king) worships the
other god (heavenly god).
 Large temples were built by kings and the smaller ones were built by nobles or
subordinate kings.
 The Muslim kings or Badhshas did not claim to be incarnations of God but the
Persians called the Sultan as 'The Shadow of God'. For example inscriptions in the
Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi explain that God chose Allauddin as a king
because he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon.
  It also says that the greatest law-giver and architect is God himself who created the
world out of chaos and introduced order and balance.
 As each new dynasty came into power, kings emphasised on their relation to God
and so rulers offered patronage to learned and pious men and transformed their
capitals into religious and cultural centres.
 The rule of a king in ancient times was considered an age of plenty where all
resources were available in plenty, especially water, and so kings built tanks and
reservoirs to provide clean water to their subjects.
 For example, Iltutmish built the Hauz-i-Sultani (King's Reservoir) a large water
reservoir outside Delhi.
 Many a time these water sources were built as a part of a mosque or a temple.

Destruction of Temples

 When kings attacked each other, they targeted temples was they were a symbol of
the king's wealth and devotion.
 In the ninth century, Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and
defeated king Sena I and took with him jewels, gold, and precious wealth of temples,
especially a huge golden statue of Buddha.
 But later, the next Sinhalese ruler Sena II attacked the Pandyan capital, Madurai and
took the Buddha statue back home.
 In the eleventh century the Chola king, Rajendra I built a Shiva temple and filled it
with things he seized from defeated rulers. The list included, a Sun-pedestal from the
Chalukyas, a statue of Ganesha and Durga, a Nandi statue from the Eastern
Chalukyas, an image of Bhairava from the Kalingas of Orissa, and a statue of Kali
from the Palas of Bengal.
 Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni raided India during the eleventh century and looted many
temples, out of which the most famous loot is of the temple of Somnath in Gujarat.

Gardens, Tombs and Forts

 In Babur's autobiography, he describes his interest in planned and laid out gardens,
within rectangular walls and divided into four quarters by artificial water channels.
These gardens were called 'chahar bagh', and were built by the successive Mughal
kings also in Kashmir, Delhi, and Agra.
 Akbar's architects used Timur's tomb as their inspiration and built central towering
domes and tall gateways (pishtaq) in their structures.
 Humayun's tomb was placed in the centre of a chahar bagh, and inside the tomb was
a central room surrounded by eight other rooms. This arrangement was called hasht
bihisht (eight paradises). The building was constructed in red sandstone, with white
marble.
  Under Shah Jahan the architecture in Agra and Delhi flourished, as the diwan-i-khaas
o am (public and private halls) were built carefully within a large courtyard with forty
pillars (chihil sutun) as support.
 His halls were built in the form of mosques and the throne was often called the qibla
(the direction faced by Muslims at prayer), since all courtiers faced him during court
sessions.
 Behind Shah Jahan's throne at the Red Fort in Delhi, were pietra dura inlays that
depicted the Greek God Orpheus playing the lute, as legend says that his lute can
silence the fiercest of beasts and make them peacefully co-exist with humans.
 During the early reign of Shah Jahan in Agra, nobility built their homes near the river
Yamuna and the chahar baghs constructed here were also known as river front
chahar baghs as the homes were built on the edge of the garden, near the river,
instead of the centre of the garden.
 Shah Jahan adopted this technique when he built the Taj Mahal, where a mausoleum
was placed on a terrace by the edge of the river and the garden to its south.
 In his new city Shahjahanabad, he built his palace on the banks of the river and
allowed only special nobles to access the river. All others had to build their homes in
the city, far from the river.

Region And Empire

 As architecture prospered between the eighth and eighteenth century, many ideas
were exchanged between different kingdoms. For example the Vijayanagara
elephant stables were highly influenced by the architecture of the neighbouring
Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda.
 In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were highly influenced by the Mughal palaces
in Fatehpur Sikri.
 As large empires were created, cultures and artistic styles, cross-fertilised to create a
fusion of art and architecture.
 For example, the local rulers in Bengal built a thatched roof that was used later in
Mughal architecture as the 'Bangla dome'.
 Although by the eighteenth century the Mughal Empire declined, their architecture
still inspires many buildings and constructions even today.