Landscape Design

History of Landscape Architecture – Mughal Gardens

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens
• Built by : The Mughals

• Style : Persian – charbagh structure

• Walled enclosures

• Rectilinear layouts

• Typical features – pools, fountains and canals

• The tradition of paradise garden originated among the Mughals which is found at
Babur's tomb, and is a tradition which gave birth to the Mughal gardens design.

• The charbaghs in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan differ from the Central Asian
predecessors with respect to "the highly disciplined geometry".

• Akbar gardens differed slightly from his predecessors’ as they were riverfront
projects and not enclosed walled ones.
Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M
Mughal Gardens
Charbagh garden layout

• Persian origin
• The quadrilateral garden is divided by walkways or flowing water into 4 smaller parts
• In Persian, "Chār" means 'four' and "bāgh" means 'garden'.
• The axial paths of this four-part garden intersected at the garden’s center.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens
Design and Symbolism

•Derived from medieval Islamic garden

•Enclosed garden with a rigidly formal design containing features that man finds most
pleasing in nature

•Essential features – running water, a pool for reflection, trees.

•The garden might include a raised hillock at the center, reminiscent of the mountain
at the center of the universe in cosmological descriptions, and often surmounted by a
pavilion or palace.

•The standard Quranic references to paradise were in the architecture, layout, and in
the choice of plant life

•The numbers eight and nine were considered auspicious by the Mughals and can be
found in the number of terraces or in garden architecture such as octagonal pools.
Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M
Mughal Gardens
Classification of Mughal gardens

 The Mughal gardens were basically of two kind – the Pleasure Garden derived
from Iranian precedents and the Tomb Garden which is believed to have evolved
from Mongol tradition or Hindu myth.

 The “Char Bagh” concept was followed in the Mausoleum / Tomb gardens where
channels and pools radiated from various facades, and associated water devices
formed an integral and defined part of the tomb setting.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens
Focus

 The Mughals focused on

Pavilions, sometimes located on
the lowest level to afford a view
of the garden ahead, with the
mountains as a backdrop.
 But often the Pavilions were
placed on top most terrace, to
provide a view of not only the
garden but also the surrounding
countryside.
 The center was sometimes raised
in them. On these occasions the
Pavilions or Mausoleum was at the
center of the traditional “Char
Bagh”.
Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M
Mughal Gardens
Water in Mughal gardens

 The Mughals gave very much importance to water. Water occupied a central
position in the Islamic gardens. It formed the symbolic center, portraying purity and
paradise while offering the qualities of tranquility and coolness.
 The “Char Bagh” with water represented four rivers of heaven.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens
Vegetation in Mughal gardens

 Many varieties of trees were planted in Mughal gardens.

 The criterion for the use of vegetation was shade, colour and fragrance as well as
for the production of fruits.
 Columnar trees were also used alternately along the paths, leading to a focal point.
 Grass and Moss were the chief forms of ground cover while small shrubs were used
as an edging for the paths, to emphasize the geometrical character of the garden.

 Nighttime viewing was also concentrated. For this the Mughals adopted the old
Indian tradition of plating night flowering plants with white, fragrant flowers, for
their moon drenched gardens.
 The gardens had fruits like apples, oranges, figs, mangoes, coconuts, bananas and
mulberries, as well as flowers like roses, marigold and carnations, all of which were
watered by hand at summers.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Pleasure Gardens – Shalimar
Garden
• Shalimar Bagh, (Hindi: शालीमार बाग़, Urdu: ,)‫شالیمار باغ‬is a Mughal garden linked
through a channel to the northeast of Dal Lake, on its right bank located
near Srinagar city in the Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Bagh was built by Mughal Emperor Jahangir for his wife Nur Jahan, in 1619.
• It is spread across an area of 12.4 hectares (31 acres)
• This garden is considered the high point of Mughal horticulture. It is now a public
park.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
Plan


Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens –
Shalimar Garden
Layout

• Built on a flat land on a square plan with

four radiating arms from a central location as
the water source.

• It needed to be modified to suit the hilly

terrain. It runs through three terraces.

• Modifications involved the main channel

running through the garden axially from top
to the lowest point.
• This central channel, known as the Shah
Nahar, is the main axis of the garden.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
•Length 587 meters by width of 251 meters.

•The garden has three terraces fitted with fountains and with chinar (sycamore)
tree-lined vistas.

•The Shahnahar is the main feeder channel to all the terraces. Each one of the
three terraces has a specific role.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
 The first terrace is a public garden or the outer garden ending in the Diwan-
e-Aam (public audience hall). In this hall, a small black marble throne was
installed over the waterfall.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
•The second terrace is emperors garden along the axial canal, slightly broader,
has two shallow terraces.
•The Diwan-i-Khas (the Hall of Private Audience), which was accessible only to
the noblemen or guests of the court, now ruined, is in its center.
• It has 410 fountains

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
• In the third terrace, the axial water channel flows through the zenana / ladies
garden, which is flanked by Diwan –i-Khas and chinar trees.
• At the entrance of this terrace, there are 2 small pavilions that allows the
restricted and controlled entry of the royal harem.
• A double cascade falls against a low wall carved with small niches (cheeni
khana), behind the pavilion.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Gardens – Shalimar Garden
• The Shalimar Bagh is well known for chini khanas(A landscape element
designed within three walls with an arcade on the fourth side forming an
enclosure with carved recesses or niches in the walls to hold candles or
flowers in small porcelain vases; the waterfall cascades in front of the
niches) behind garden waterfalls.

• These niches were lighted at night with oil lamps, which gave a fairy tale
appearance to the water falls. However, now the niches hold pots of flower
pots that reflect their colours behind the cascading water.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb
Gardens
Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
 The Taj Mahal "crown of palaces“, is a white marble mausoleum located
in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperorShah Jahan in
memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal
 Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture,
a style that combines elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman
Turkish and Indian architectural styles

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
 The complex is set around a large 300-metre (980 ft) square charbagh or Mughal
garden.

 The garden uses raised pathways that divide each of the four quarters of the garden
into 16 sunken parterres or flowerbeds.
 A raised marble water tank at the center of the garden, halfway between the tomb
and gateway with a reflecting pool on a north-south axis, reflects the image of the
mausoleum.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
 The gardens start from the main gateway and extend upto the Taj mausoleum.

 A central canal with a line of fountains passes in between the main walkway from
the main gate to the base of the mausoleum. The Taj Mahal, reflects in the waters
of the canal thus creating a grand effect.
 The garden is laid out with avenues of trees and fountains.
 Most Mughal charbaghs are rectangular with a tomb or pavilion in the center. The
Taj Mahal garden is unusual in that the main element, the tomb, is located at the end
of the garden.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
 The two main walkways(main north-south and east-west) meet in the center where
a raised marble lotus platform is built, it includes a pool with fountains and two
marble benches.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
• On the ends of the main canal, running east-west from the central
raised marble platform are the water palaces jaal mahal). They are built
on a raised platform which is four feet higher then the central level.

• Both the eastern and the western water palaces are identical and built
of red sandstone.
• The western water palace building, houses the Taj museum.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal
 The use of symmetry and pattern can be seen in the relationship between sunlight
and shade, plants and water, and also between light and dark tones.
 The effect is that of a Persian carpet leading to the entrance of the mausoleum.

 Early accounts of the garden describe its profusion of vegetation, including abundant
roses, daffodils and fruit trees.

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M

Mughal Tomb Gardens – Taj Mahal

Landscape Design HCT - Ar. Deepa M