Module I

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE – IMPERIAL

Evolution of Islamic religious architecture in India
Influences on Islamic Architecture , Salient features of a
mosque
Example – Qutb Minar, ,Delhi.in Qu-at ul islam mosque
complex
Varieties of squinch
Architectural Development under the kings of the Khalji -
Example - Alai Darwaza
Tughlaq dynasty - Tomb of Ghiasuddin Tughlaq
Khirki Masjid – Shish gumbad & Purana Quila, Delhi
JAMI MASJID – Salient Features of a Mosque(Friday Mosque)
 JAMI MASJID

FRIDAY (JUMAH) PRAYER MOSQUE.

IT MAY HAVE THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS:

❑ A LARGE OPEN COURT(SAHN)

❑ ARCADES OR COLONNADES (LIWAN) SURROUNDING THE COURT

❑ AN ABLUTION TANK

❑ ELEGANT NICHE ON THE QIBLA WALL (WEST SIDE) CALLED MIHRAB

❑ MIMBAR OR PULPIT FOR THE PRIEST (IMAM)

❑ MINARETS FROM WHICH AZAAN IS GIVEN BY MUEZZIN OR MAULA TO CALL

THE FAITHFUL TO PRAYERS AT FIXED TIMES

MADRASSAH

RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES

RAUZA

LARGE MAUSOLEUM WHICH ALSO INCLUDES A MOSQUE AS A SEPARATE

BUILDING

DARGAH

IMPORTANT TOMBS OF NOBLES

ARCH
TYPES OF ARCHES USED ARE: TWO - CENTERED POINTED, FOUR -
CENTERED POINTED, OGEE ARCH AND MULTICENTERED POINTED
SQUINCH

A piece of construction used for filling in the

upper angles of a square room so as to

form a proper base to receive

an octagonal or spherical dome.

Minarets

Tall spires with onion-shaped or conical

crowns ( free standing or taller than any

associated support structure )

Basic form includes a base, shaft, and

gallery

Provide a vantage point from which the call

to prayer is made.

As the sun heats the dome, air is drawn in

through open windows then up and out of

the minaret, thereby providing natural

ventilation
DOME
A structural element of architecture that

resembles the hollow upper half of

a sphere.
ARABESQUE
An artistic motif that is characterized by the application of repeating geometric forms

and fancifully combined patterns; these forms often echo those of plants and animals
MUQARNA
A type of corbel used as a decorative device in traditional Islamic and Persian
architecture .
They takes the form of small pointed niches, stacked in tiers projecting beyond those
below and can be constructed in brick, stone, stucco or wood.
They are often applied to domes, pendentives, cornices, squinches and the undersides
of arches and vaults
ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA

EVOLUTION OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

Map showing the
extent of rule under
various dynasties of
Delhi and Deccan
 INTRODUCTION
MUSLIM RULERS INVADED INDIAN PRINCELY STATES AND ESTABLISHED THEIR
BASE.

MOHAMMED QASIM WAS THE FIRST TO INVADE THE SUB CONTINENT IN 8TH
CENTURY BC.

LATER AFGHANS AND TURKS INVADED AND LOOTED THE LAND.

GHASNAVIDS AND GHORIDS CAME NEXT. MOHAMMED GHAZNI STARTED

INDIAN CAMPAIGN IN 1173 AD.

MOHAMMED GHORI APPOINTED HIS TURKISH SLAVE AS THE VICEROY OF THE

TERRITORIES HE INVADED IN INDIAN SUB CONTINENT.
 The Delhi Sultanate

A Muslim sultanate based mostly in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the

Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

Five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially:

❑Mamluk (Slave) dynasty (1206–1290)

❑Khalji dynasty (1290–1320)

❑Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414)

❑Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451)

❑Lodi dynasty (1451–1526)

SLAVE DYNASTY (1192-1246 A.D.)
IN 1192, MOHAMMED GHORI LEFT AS HIS VICEROY IN DELHI
QUTB-UD-DIN AIBAK, WHO WAS TO BECOME THE FIRST SULTAN IN
THE SLAVE DYNASTY.
AFTER THE DEATH OF GHORI, QUTB-UD-DIN DECLARED HIMSELF THE
RULER.
RECOGNIZING THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF THE CITY, QUTB-UD-DIN
REALIZED THAT 'HE WHO HOLDS DELHI RULES INDIA'.
1192 A.D. THAT DELHI GOT ITS FIRST MUSLIM RULER - QUTB-UD-DIN
AIBAK - THE FOUNDER OF THE SO-CALLED SLAVE OR MAMLUK
DYNASTY.
 THE MUSLIM DOMINANCE IN INDIA STARTS WITH THE SLAVE
DYNASTY.
SEVEN CITIES OF DELHI

1. Qila Rai Pithora

2. Mehrauli

3. Siri

4. Tughlakabad

5. Ferozabad

6. Dinpanah / Shergarh

7. Shahjahanabad
HISTORY
LALKOT IS THE FIRST OF THE SEVEN CITIES OF DELHI, ESTAB-
LISHED BY THE TOMAR RAJPUT RULER, ANANG PAL, IN 1060.
THE QUTB COMPLEX LIES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EASTERN PART OF
LALKOT.
BUILDING OF THE QUWWATU'L-ISLAM (MIGHT OF ISLAM) CONGREGA-
TIONAL MOSQUE WAS BEGUN IN 1192 BY QUTBU'D-DIN AIBAK AND
COMPLETED IN 1198, USING THE DEMOLISHED REMAINS OF HINDU
TEMPLES.
IT WAS ENLARGED BY ILTUTMISH (1211-36) AND AGAIN BY ALAULD-DIN
KHALJI (1296-1316).
THE QUTB MINAR WAS ALSO BEGUN BY QUTBU'D-DIN AIBAK, IN
AROUND 1202 AND COMPLETED BY HIS SUCCESSOR,
MUHAMMAD-BIN-SAM.
IT WAS DAMAGED BY LIGHTNING IN 1326 AND AGAIN IN 1368, AND
WAS REPAIRED BY MUHAMMAD-BIN-TUGHLUQ (1325-51) AND FIRUZ SHAH
TUGHLUQ (1351-88). IN 1503 SIKANDAR LODI CARRIED OUT SOME
RESTORATION AND ENLARGEMENT OF THE UPPER STOREYS.
THE IRON PILLAR IN THE MOSQUE COMPOUND WAS BROUGHT FROM
ELSEWHERE IN INDIA. IT BEARS A 4TH CENTURY AD SANSKRIT INSCRIP-
TION DESCRIBING THE EXPLOITS OF A RULER NAMED CHANDRA,
BELIEVED TO BE THE GUPTA KING CHANDRAGUPTA II (375-413).
THE TOMB OF ILTUTMISH WAS BUILT IN 1235 BY THE RULER HIMSELF AND
ALAI DARWAJA WAS BUILT IN 1311 BY ALAUULD-DIN KHALJI, WHO ALSO
BEGAN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ALAI MINAR.
QUWAT – UL – ISLAM MOSQUE (THE MIGHT OF ISLAM)

• QUTB-UD-DIN SET ABOUT TO ESTABLISH HIMSELF THE FIRST MOSQUE IN

INDIA, THE QUWWATU'L ISLAM (THE MIGHT OF ISLAM).

• IT WAS CONSTRUCTED BY DESTROYING 27 HINDU AND JAIN TEMPLES IN

THE REGION.
THE MOSQUE ORIGINALLY CONSISTED OF A RECTANGULAR COURT 43.2 M BY
33 M, ENCLOSED BY COLONNADED CLOISTERS.
THIS ENCLOSURE FORMED THE HEART OF THE MOSQUE, DELINEATING A SPACE
WHERE THE FAITHFUL COULD KNEEL TO PRAY.
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE COMPLEX
VIEW OF THE ENCLOSURE AROUND THE COURTYARD.

ARCHITECTURAL VOCABULARY

USE OF POINTED ARCHES FOR

SPANNING OPENINGS IN WALLS.
THE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
RESEMBLED THOSE OF TEMPLES BUT
THE ICONOGRAPHY WAS DIFFERENT.
Followed post and lintel
system which was prevailing
in the region.
SEVERAL LAYERS OF COLUMNS
WERE SUPERIMPOSED OVER ONE
ANOTHER TO GET EXTRA HEIGHT.
USED HEMISPHERICAL DOMES FOR
THE ROOF OVER THE CORNERS.
ON A LATER STAGE A SCREEN OF
ARCHES WAS ADDED TO THE
FRONT FAÇADE TO GIVE AN
ISLAMIC EMPHASIS TO THE
MOSQUE.
ARCHES WERE BUILT BY
CORBELLING STONES, BUT THE
EDGES WERE CHISELED OFF TO GET
A SMOOTH PROFILE.
QUTB MINAR
QUTB-UD-DIN LAID THE
FOUNDATION OF THE
WORLD-FAMOUS QUTB
MINAR.
INTENDED TO SERVE A
DOUBLE FUNCTION - BOTH
AS A MINARET FOR THE
MOSQUE AS WELL AS THE
MOST VISIBLE SYMBOL OF
HIS GROWING POWER.
HEIGHT OF 72.5 M, TAPERING
FROM 2.75 M DIAMETER AT THE
TOP TO 14.32 M AT THE BASE. IN
ADDITION TO ITS TRADITIONAL USE
FOR CALLING THE FAITHFUL TO
PRAYER, IT ALSO HAS A
MONUMENTAL PURPOSE,
SINCE A LATER NAGARI
INSCRIPTION CALLS IT
ALAULD-DIN'S "VICTORY
MONUMENT" (VIIAVA-STAMBHA). IN
ITS PRESENT FORM IT CONSISTS
OF FIVE STOREYS, THE TOPMOST
OF THE ORIGINAL FOUR STOREYS
HAVING BEEN REPLACED BY TWO
STOREYS DURING THE REIGN OF
FIRUZ SHAH TUGHLUQ.
EACH STOREY IS SEPARATED FROM THE NEXT BY
HIGHLY DECORATED BALCONIES, WITH PENDENTIVES
AND INSCRIBED BANDS.
THE THREE EARLIER STOREYS ARE EACH DECORATED
DIFFERENTLY, THE LOWEST BEING OF ALTERNATING
ANGULAR AND ROUNDED FLUTINGS, THE SECOND
WITH ROUNDED FLUTINGS ALONE, AND THE THIRD
WITH ANGULAR FLUTINGS ALONE; THE SAME
VERTICAL ALIGNMENT CONTINUES, HOWEVER,
THROUGH ALL THREE STOREYS.
EACH STOREY IS ARTICULATED BY
A BALCONY, PROJECTING ON A
SYSTEM OF STALACTITE
PENDENTIVES - THIS FEATURE
APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
INDIA AND WAS IMPORTED FROM
CLASSICAL ISLAMIC
CONSTRUCTION. 
EACH STOREY IS APPROACHED BY
CENTRAL SPIRAL STAIRCASE WITH
360 STEPS.
 KHILJI DYNASTY
AFTER SHAMS – UD - DIN ILTUTMISH, THE DELHI SULTANATE SUFFERED DUE TO
THE ABSENCE OF A PROPER GOVERNMENT.
THIS ANARCHY LASTED FOR ALMOST FIFTY YEARS BEFORE ANY STABLE
GOVERNMENT COULD BE RE-ESTABLISHED.
BUILDING ACTIVITIES GOT RETARDED EXCEPT FOR A FEW SCATTERED TOMBS
AT MULTAN.
FIFTY YEARS AFTER ILTUTMISH, THE KHILJIS, A DYNASTY OF AFGHANI ZED TURKS
FROM GHAZNI, SEIZED POWER IN DELHI.
ALA-UD-DIN KHILJI (AD 1296-1316) SUCCEEDED JALAL - UD- DIN KHILJI AND
SET A STABLE GOVERNMENT IN DELHI.
ALAI DARWAZA

KHILJI PLANNED TO ENLARGE QUTB COMPLEX AND TO BUILD THE ALAI MINAR,
A TOWER TALLER THAN THE QUTB MINAR AND LAID THE FOUNDATION.
HE PROPOSED 6 GATEWAYS AT SYMMETRICAL INTERVALS ON THE OUTER
WALL, BUT COULD ONLY COMPLETE THE ALAI DARWAZA.
THOUGH MODEST IN SIZE ,THIS MARKED THE REFINEMENT OF THE “BASIC
MODULE” OF THE ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, THE CUBE AND THE HEMISPHERE.
THE FORM THE ALAI DARWAZA IS A
CUBICAL BUILDING OF 55’ SIDE ON
HIGH PLINTH INTO WHICH STEPS
HAVE BEEN CUT TO ACCESS THE
INTERIOR.
THE THREE OUTER FACES ARE VERY
SIMILAR WITH A TALL ARCH OVER
THE STEPS.
THE PLINTH IS CARVED IN BANDS,
AND THE WALL SURFACE ABOVE IS
DIVIDED INTO TWO STORIES, EACH
FURTHER SUBDIVIDED INTO
RECTANGULAR PANELS.
THE LOWER OF THESE PANELS HAVE
A RECESSED ARCH WHILE THE UPPER
ONES INTO SMALLER RECTANGLES.
AT EACH POINT, THE ARTICULATION IS MARKED BY A MIXTURE OF SANDSTONE AND
MARBLE ARABESQUE AND DECORATIVE CARVING. 
THE CONSTRUCTION WAS CARRIED OUT IN ALTERNATE COURSE OF HEADERS AND
STRETCHERS IN THE MASONRY.
THE MOST IMPOSING FEATURE OF FACADES IS THE CENTRAL ARCH, RISING TO
NEARLY THE WHOLE HEIGHT OF THE STRUCTURE.
IN SHAPE IT IS RARE - A HORSE-SHOE OR KEEL ARCH.
AROUND ITS OUTER RIM IS A BAND OF INSCRIBED WHITE MARBLE.
THE INTRADOS OR THE INNER RIM OF THE ARCH SHOWS ITS MOST DISTINCTIVE
FEATURE - A FRINGE OF LOTUS-BUD (OR SPEAR HEAD) CARVING. 
THE INNER FAÇADE, FACING THE MOSQUE IS A TRUE SEMI-CIRCULAR ONE.
ALL THE ARCHES ARE CONSTRUCTED AS TRUE ARCHES
SQUINCH ARCHES ARE USED AT THE CORNERS TO SUPPORT THE DOME ABOVE.
ARABESQUE DESIGNS ARE CARVED IN LOW RELIEF.
PERFORATED STONE WINDOWS ARE USED AT THE SIDES CORRESPONDING TO THE
ARCHED REESSES OF THE EXTERIOR.
TOTAL HEIGHT TO THE TOP OF ITS DOMICAL FINIAL IS 60’ .
TUGHLAQ DYNASTY

MASONRY CONSTRUCTION IS UNREFINED BUT ADDITIONAL STRENGTH AND

STABILITY WAS ASSURED BY BUILDING CERTAIN PORTIONS THICKER AT THE
BASE THAN AT THE TOP CREATING THE ILLUSION OF GEAT POWER.
THE EFFECT OF SLOPE IS EMPHASIZED BY ATTACHMENT OF TAPERING
TURRETED BUTTRESSES AT THE QUOINS AND BY PROJECTING CONICAL
BASTION LIKE TOWERS CROWNED WITH LOW DOMES FROM THE FOUR
CORNERS OF THE BUILDING.
THE ARCHITECTURE IS ALMOST DEVOID OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
TOMB OF GHIYAS UD DIN TUGHLAQ
A DETACHED STRUCTURE STANDING IN AN ARTIFICIAL LAKE.
IT IS CONNECTED WITH THE CITADEL BY AN ELEVATED CAUSEWAY 250
YARDS LONG.
IT HAS THE FORM OF A SELF CONTAINED FORTRESS IN MINIATURE.
EXTERIOR PLAN OF THIS TOMB IS OF AN IRREGULAR PENTAGON WITH A
SPREADING BASTION AT EACH ANGLE (ITS GREATEST LENGTH LESS THAN
300 FEET)
THE COURTYARD WITHIN IS OF THE SAME UNSYMMETRICAL OUTLINE WITH
THE TOMB BUILDING PLACED DIAGONALLY AT ITS WIDEST PART TO HAVE
CORRECT ORIENTATION WITH MECCA.
THE TOMB IS OF RED SANDSTONE WITH CERTAIN PORTIONS INCLUDING THE
DOME OF WHITE MARBLE.
IT HAS ITS OUTER WALLS SLOPED AT AN ANGLE OF 75 DEGREES.
IT HAS SQUARE BASE OF 61 FEET SIDE AND THE ENTIRE HEIGHT OF THE
STRUCTURE INCLUDING ITS SANDSTONE FINIAL IS OVER 80 FEET.
THERE IS A RECESSED AND POINTED ARCHWAY IN THE CENTER OF EACH
OUTER WALL. THE WESTERN ARCHWAY IS CLOSED TO ACCOMMODATE THE
MIHRAB IN ITS INTERIOR. ALL THE OTHER ARCHWAYS CONTAIN DOORWAYS.
THE EXTERIOR ARCHWAYS ARE POINTED WITH SPEAR HEAD FRINGES AS IN
ALAI DARWAZA.
THE HORSE- SHOE SHAPE OF KHALJI ARCH IS MODIFIED TO A TUDOR
OUTLINE WITH A SLIGHT OGEE CURVE AT THE CROWN.
THERE IS LINTEL AT THE BASE OF SOME OF THE ARCHES.
THE INTERIOR IS 30 FEET SQUARE
THE DOMED CEILING IS SUPPORTED ON FOUR SQUINCH ARCHES.
THE DOME IS OF POINTED TARTAR SHAPE.
THE DOME IS CONSTRUCTED BY HEADERS AND STRETCHERS OF MARBLE
ATTACHED TO A BRICK AND CEMENT CORE, DOWELLED IN WITH METAL
CRAMPS.
THE DOME HAS A SPAN OF 55 FEET AND IS CROWNED BY A FINIAL
RESEMBLING THE KALASA AND AMLA
 SATELLITE VIEW

PART PLAN AND SECTION

KHIRKI MAZJID
KHIRKI MASJID(1375)
LOCATED AT JAHANPANAH
DESIGNED ON A CRUCIFORM PLAN PRODUCED BY TWO MAIN AISLES
CROSSING AT RIGHT ANGLES.
INTERIOR CONSISTS OF CLOISTERS FORMED BY A SERIES OF SQUARE
BAYS, THE CORNER OF EACH SUPPORTED ON A HEAVY PIER WITH
TUDOR ARCHES BETWEEN, AND EACH BAY ROOFED BY A CUP SHAPED
DOME.THE PIERS ARE SHORT AND THICK COMPOSED OF GROUPS OF
TWO, AND FOUR SQUARE MONOLITHIC PILLARS.
THE ENTIRE AREA IS COVERED EXCEPT FOR FOUR OPEN
QUADRANGLES, ONE IN THE CENTER OF EACH OF THE FOUR
QUARTERS.
AROUND THE COURTYARDS IS A TUDOR ARCHED ARCADE FORMING THE
CLOISTURES
THERE ARE ARCHED PYLONS AT THREE OF ITS ENTRANCES.
THERE IS A TAPERING TURRET AT EACH OF ITS QUOINS.