Art Forms

Islamic and Mughal architecture: 12th-16th centuries

India became a target for the Muslim powers around the 10th and 11th centuries.

Muslim rulers in India were great builders, but until the 16th century they restricted themselves to transforming Hindu and Jain temples into mosques. As a result, Indo-Islamic architectural idioms emerged, particularly in the regions of Sindh and Gujarat (e.g. Sidi Sayid mosque in Ahmedabad). An official style emerged, exemplified in the famous Qutb-minar in Delhi (1226.)

Mughal architecture, 16th-18th centuries

The Mughal style in India is a blend of Islamic, Persian and Indian idioms that took shape during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

The Mughals established their rule in India after Babur’s victory in 1526. Babur built quite a few monuments during his five-year reign but few of them have survived. His grandson Akbar very actively developed the Mughal style. Among his most famous buildings are the Hamayun mausoleum in Delhi, Agra Fort and the Fatehpur Sikri complex. Akbar’s son Jahangir had the Shalimar garden in Kashmir built.

Mughal architecture reached its peak during the reign of Shah Jahan, whose most important legacies are the Jama Masjid mosque and Red Fort in Delhi, the Shalimar garden in Lahore, and India’s most famous monument, the Taj Mahal.

Rajput architecture:During the Mughal period, many Rajput princes (rulers of the warrior clans of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) formed close relations with the Mughal emperors and served them in various capacities. By the late 16th century they were adopting the Mughals’ decorative style. Most Rajput palaces were built on hilltops or cliff tops, surrounded by fortified walls like austere citadels but with interiors of unequalled refinement.The oldest such palaces that have come down to us date from the mid-15th century: they are in Chittorgarh Fort and in Gwalior Fort. The palaces of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Kota exemplify the mature Rajput style; all were built mainly in the 17th and early 18th centuries.