Rulers and buildings Qutub minar

Rulers and buildings In this chapter we will discuss about a few buildings and temples along with their architecture and engineering skills. The buildings are Kutub Minaret, Jama masjid, temples like Kandariya Mahadeva, Rajarajeshwara temple, and Golden temple.

It is a five storeys high minaret This is the first balcony-which was constructed by Qutbuddin Aybak. The remaining flours was completed by Iltutmish around 1229 Over the years it was damaged by earthquakes and lightning and repaired by Alauddin Khalji, Muhammad Tughlak, Firoz Shah Tughlak and Ibrahim Lodhi

Engineering skills and construction Superstructure is the part of the building above the ground floor. Roofs, doors and windows were made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called trebeate or corbelled Between the 8th and 13th century the trebeate style was used to construct temples and mosques along with stepped wells called baolis.

KandariyaMahadeva temple This is the largest and most beautiful Hindu temple in the medieval period. This type of temple group are found at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, India. It was built by Vidyadhara. It is considered one of the best examples of temples preserved from the medieval period in India. Kajuraho was once the religious capital of the Chandela Rajputs and today is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India.

Rajarajeshwara temple It had one of the tallest Shikhara of that time. All this done without the use of cranes as there were no cranes in those days.

Rajarajeshwara Temple Rajarajeshwara Temple. ... at Thanjavur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is a Hindu temple of Lord Shiva. This temple is one of India's most prized architectural sites. The Shikhara of the Rajarajeshwara temple is twice as high as that of the Kandariya Mahadeva temple.

Rajarajeshwara temple The temple is regarded as one of the existing 108 ancient Shiva Temples of Kerala. It also has a prominent place amongst the numerous Shiva temples in South India. It had the tallest shikhara amongst the temples of its time. The Rajarajeshwara temple has a top of about 90 tonnes. If any problem is encountered in the other temples of South India, devotees seek a solution in this temple through a prasna, a traditional method of astrological decision making. The prasna is conducted on a peedha (a raised platform) outside the temple.

Jama Masjid Built by Shah Jahan

Jama Masjid Jama Masjid (Hindi: जामा मस्जिद, Urdu: جامع مسجد) of Delhi, is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan,he built this mosque in the year 1650 AD and completed in the year 1656 AD, it is the largest and best-known mosque in India. It lies at the beginning of the Chawri Bazar Road, a very busy central street of Old Delhi.

JAMA MASJID The later name, Jama Masjid, refers to the weekly Friday noon congregation prayers of Muslims, Jummah, which are usually done in a mosque, the "congregational mosque" or "Jama masjid". The courtyard of the mosque can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque also houses several relics in a closet in the north gate, including an antique copy of the Qur'an written on deer skin

Picture of Jama Masjid

The golden temple in Amritsar

Pictures of Golden temple

Golden temple The Harmandir Sahib also Darbar Sahib and informally referred to as the Golden Temple is a prominent Sikh Gurdwara located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. It was built by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan, in the 16th Century.

GOLDEN TEMPLE The main structure rises from the centre of the sacred pool, 150 metres square, approached by a causeway about 60 metres long. An archway on the western side of the pool opens on to the causeway, bordered with marble, and, at close intervals, there are standard lamps, their great lanterns set upon marble columns. The 52-metre square-based Hari Mandir, to which the causeway leads, stands on a 20-metre square platform. Its lower parts are of white marble, but the upper parts are covered with plates of gilded copper. In the interior, on the ground floor, is the Guru Granth Sahib, placed under a gorgeous canopy, studded with jewels. On the second storey is a pavilion known as Shish Mahal or Mirror Room, so designed as to have a square opening in the centre to view from there the ground floor, with the further provision of a narrow courtyard around the square opening.

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Why temples were destroyed ? Temples were built to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth, it is not surprising that when they attacked one another's kingdoms they often targeted these buildings. In the ninth century when the Pandyan king Shrimara invaded Sri Lanka he defeated the King, Sena I, the Buddhist monk and it was noted that he had removed all the valuables and statue of Buddha was seized.

Why temples were destroyed? The next Sinhalese ruler , Sena II ordered his general to invade Madurai, the capital of Pandyas. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was not a very important ruler but by destroying temples- especially the one at Somnath-he tried to win credit as a great hero of Islam.

Gardens, Tombs and Forts. Under the Mughals, architecture became more complex. Babur, Humayuns, Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan were personally interested in literature, art, and architecture. Babur described his interest in planning and laying out formal gardens, placed within rectangular walled enclosure and divided into four quarters by artificial channels. These gardens were called as Chahar Bagh

PICTURES OF CHAHAR BAGH

Humayuns tomb Constructed between 1562-1571 It has a central towering dome and the tall gateway. The tomb was placed in the centre of a huge formal Chahar Bagh. It has a central hall surrounded by eight rooms known as eight paradises.

Taj Mahal Built by Shah Jahan, in Agra on the bank of river Yamuna. The dwelling was located at the edge of Chahar Bagh, close to the river. Taj Mahal is also called as Mumtaz Mahal as it was constructed in the memory of his wife Mumtaz. Tax Mahal was constructed over a period of twenty-two years, employing twenty thousand workers. It was completed in 1648 C.E. at a cost of 32 Million Rupees. It is widely accepted as the Jewel of Muslim art in India. It is universally admired masterpieces of the world heritage. Today it ranks 3rd amount the eight wonders of the world.

PICTURES OF TAJ MAHAL

Region and Empire In Vijaynagar elephant stables of the rulers were strongly influenced by the style of architecture. In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural styles that were very similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri. The "Bangla dome" was used by the Mughals.

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