EARLY ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

EARLY-ISLAMIC TRADITION
AD727-AD1287

THE FIRST ISLAMIC BUILDING ON INDIAN SOIL PRODUCED AFTER CONQUEST OF

SINDH IN THE 8TH CENTURY BY MUHAMMED QASIM.THE EARLIEST MOSQUE REMAINS
OF PERIOD AD 727 FOUNDED IN BHAMBORE, FIRST MOSQUE IN INDIAN SUBCONTINENT.

QUTUB-UD-DIN AND SLAVE DYNASTY

QUTUB-UD-DIN-AIBAK A SLAVE OF MUHAMMED GHORI INVADE NORTHERN AND

EASTERN INDIA. SOON HE BECAME INDEPENDENT OF GHORI SUPERMACY AND CHOSE
THE QILA RAI PITHORA BUILT BY PRITHVIRAJ OF DELHI AS HIS IMPERIAL CAPITAL. HIS
FIRST CONCERN WAS TO ESTABLISH THE POWER OF ISLAM OVER ITS NEWLY
SUBJUGATED PEOPLE AND PROCLAMING THAT ISLAM HAD TO STAY AND RULE.
HE DECIDED TO BUILT A MOSQUE QUWAAT-UL-ISLAM WITHIN THE FORTIFIED CITY OF
QILA RAI PITHORA .THE CONSTRUCTION WERE CARRIED OUT BY PILLAGED MATERIALS
FROM THE TEMPLES TO PROVIDE COLUMN WALL AND ROOFING MATERIAL. AFTER 8
YEARS, LARGE SCREEN WERE ERRECTED BETWEEN COURTYARD AND THE ARCH
APPEARS TO BE FIRST TIME,ARCHES WERE COBBLED OUT, LOOKS LIKE WORKS DONE
BY THE HINDU ARTISIANS WORKING UNDER ISLAMIC DIRECTION AND YET NO
MASTERY OVER ARCHITECTONIC FORMS.
THE QUWWAT-UL-ISLAM ,DELHI
MOSQUE MEASURING 217FTX 150FT (66MX 46M) BUILT AROUND A PAVED
COURTYARD. THE EXTRA HEIGHT ACHIEVED BY SUPERIMPOSING ONE COLUMN
OVER THE OTHER. SOME YEARS LATER IT WAS FELT THAT AT LEAST THE WESTERN
WALL OF COURTYARD OF QUWAAT-UL-ISLAM NEEDED GRATER ISLAMIC
EMPHASIS, TO ACHIEVE THIS HINDU BUILDER AGAIN RESORTED THE METHOD OF
CORBELLING . THIS 108 FT(33M) LONG STONE MASONRY SCREEN PROJECTED TO
RISE TO HEIGHT OF 50FT (15.2M) ALMOST 8FT (2.43M) THICK.
THE ROUGH RUBBLE MASONRY WAS COVERED WITH VENEER OF RED SANDSTONE
AND DECORATED WITH CARVINGS, EMPHATICALLY ISLAM.
SCREEN OF ARCHES, QUWAAT –UL-ISLAM MOSQUE
QUTUB MINAR
• IN THE YEAR AD 1199, QUTUB-UD-DIN-AIBAK,
PROBABLY TO CELEBRATE HIS APPOINTMENT AS
GOVERNOR LAID THE FOUNDATION OF TOWER
THAT WAS DESTINED TO RISE TO STAGGERING
HEIGHT OF 238FT (73M).
• STARTING FROM ITS BASE OF 47FT(14.3M)
DIAMETER , IT TAPERS TO A WIDTH OF 9 FT (2.7M)
• THE TOP STOREY BEING APPROACHED BY
CENTRAL SPIRAL STAIRCASE WITH 360 STEPS.
• EACH STOREY HAS DIFFERENT PATTERN IN PLAN.
• FIRST STOREY- ALTERNATE WEDGES SHAPE AND
ROUND PROJECTIONS
SECOND STOREY – CIRCULAR PROJECTIONS
THIRD STOREY- STAR SHAPED
FOURTH STOREY- ROUND
AT THE TIME OF GROWING MUSLIM POPULATION IN CAPITAL ,
ILLTUTMISH WANT TO START FRESH BUILDING VENTURE ON NEW SITE .
HE THEN TAKE THE DECISION TO ENLARGE THE EXISTING MOSQUE
INCLUDED QUTUB MINAR WITHIN ITS EXPANSION . THE SCREEN OF
ARCHES WAS ALSO EXTENDED ALONG NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ENDS.

ILLUTMISH BUILDING ACTIVITIES WAS THAT OF ERECTING THE EARLIEST

MUSLIM TOMBS ON INDIAN SOIL. THE FIRST, IN AD 1231 KNOWN AS ‘
CAVE OF SULTAN ‘.

THE ENTRANCE AND POTICO OF SULTAN GHARI TOMB

ILTUTMISH TOMB
• BUILT AT NORTH –WESTERN CORNER OF QUTUB MOSQUE COMPLEX AFTER FOUR YEAR
OF CONSTRUCTION OF SULTAN GHARI’S TOMB.
• INSTALLED DOME, CIRCULAR IN PLAN OVER A CUBIC COMPARTMENT THAT IS MOSTLY
OCTAGON AND PROGESSIVELY TO 16-32 SIDED POLYGONS EQUALS TO INFINITE SIDE OF
CIRCLE.THIS IS THE EFFECTIVE STRUCTURAL SOLUTION OF PLACING THE DOME.
• TOMB WAS MORE IN DECORATIVE FEATURE RATHER THAN THE STRUCTURAL ASPECTS.
• BUILD INTIAL ARCHES ACROSS 90 DEGREE CORNERS OF THE WALL . COVERED WITH
HIGHLY BEAUTIFUL ISLAMIC CALIGRAPHY ON SANDSTONE AND MARBLE PANELS.
• HOWEVER THEY ARE UNABLE TO PUT TOGETHER A DOME THAT COULD STAND THE
TEST OF TIME . TODAY, WE ONLY LEFT WITH SQUARE BASE THE 9M DIA DOMB
COLLAPSED LING AGO.
QUTUB COMPLEX
 THE KHALIJIS OF DELHI
AD1290-AD1413
A TURKISH GENERL BALBAN, IN THE ARMY OF SLAVE DYNASTY KINGS , DIED IN
AD 1287. THE KHALJI, ORIGINALLY OF TURKISH ORIGIN HAD A DEEP OVERLAY OG
AFGHAN CHARACTERSTICS DUE TO LONG TENURE IN KHALJI REIGN NEAR
GHAZINI IN AFGHANISTAN WHO WERE STRUGGLING TO ESTABLISH THEIR
SUPERMCY AT DELHI SINCE THE DEATH OF BALBAN.

AD1290, FIROZ JALLAL-UDIDIN KHALJI RULED DELHI FOR A PERIOD OF SIX YEARS
THEN THRONE TAKEN BY THE ALA-UD-DIN-KHALJI. HE WAS APOWERFUL RULER
AND HIS ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS SEEM TO REFLECT HIS CHARACTER. THE
ISLAMIC BUILDERS TOOK A STEP AHEAD IN THEIR ART AND ARCHITECTURE. THE
ALAI DARWAZA AT QUTUB COMPLEX , HAUZ KHAS AND NEW CITY SIRI WERE
TESTIMONY TO HIS DYNAMIC ABILITY.
FURTHER EXTENSION OF THE QUTUB COMPLEX

THE ALAI DARWAZA AND THE REMAINS OF SO – CALLED ALAI MINAR. ALA-UD-
DIN-KHALJI ENALRGED QUWAAT-UL-ISLAM MOSQUE BY 6 TIMES.
ON THE NORTH SIDE, FOUNDATIONS OF ALAI MINAR WERE LAID OUT . HE
PROPOSED TO INSTALL SIX GATEWAYS , ONE OF THESE WAS ALAI DARWAZA
WHICH WAS COMPLETED AND ONLY SURVIVING TILL DATE.
FOR THE FIRST TIME CONSTRUCTION WAS CARRIED OUT WITH MASONRY WITH
ALTERNATE COURSES OF HEADER AND STRECHERS.
 THE ALAI DARWAZA

• IT IS THE OLDEST GATE IN DELHI AND LOCATED TO THE SOUTHERN ENTANCE OF THE
COMPLEX.
• IT IS A SINGLE STORYED STRUCTURE. IT WAS THE PART OF EXTENSION OF QUWAAT-UL-ISLAM
MOSQUE ON THE NORTHERN,EASTERN AND WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE COMPLEX.
• IT WAS THE FIRST MONUMENT BUILT WITH ISLAMIC METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION.
• IT WAS A SINGLE HALL MEASURES 34.5 FT (10.5M)INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY MEASURES
56.5 FT (17.2M). IT IS 60FT TALL (18M) AND WALLS ARE 11FT (3.4M) THICK.
• BUILT WITH RED SAND STONE AND WHITE MARBLE.
• THE HORSE-SHOE SHAPED ARCH IS DEFINED BY HANDS OF INSCRIPTIONS IN MARBLE.
• THE STAR AND HEXAGON JALI AT THE LOWER STOREY CREATE COMPLEX PATTERNS .
• THE JALLI WAS A SENSIBLE ARCHITECTURE DEVICE TO PROVIDE CONTROLLED ILLUMINATION
AND VENTILATION FOR LARGE VOLUMINOUS SPACES.
 THE TUGHLAQS OF DELHI
THE END OF ALA-UD-DIN KHALJI BRUTAL RULE MARKED THE BEGINNING OF TURKISH BLOOD
BATH AND HINDU CONVERSION.THE LAST KHALJI KHUSRAU SHAH ARMIES WERE DEFEATED BY
GHAZI MALIK, GOVERNOR OF MULTAN IN NORTH WESTERN INDIA. HE ASCENDED THE THRONE
OF DELHI AS SULTAN GHIAS-UD-DIN AND ESTABLISHED THE TUGHLAQ DYNASTY.
HE DECIDED TO BUILT A NEW FORTIFIED CITY TUGHLAQABAD .
HE DECIDED TO BUILT THE CITY IN STONE MASONRY . THE WALLS OF THE CITY BECAME MASSIVE
RETAINING WALLS OF MASONRY THAT VIRTUALLY HUG THE HILL SLOPES ON WIHICH THEY WERE
BUILT AS THE LAND WAS NOT PLAIN BUT CONTOUR.THE WALL MADE AN ANGLE OF 75 DEGREE
WITH THE GROUND.
 TOMB OF GHIAS-UD-DIN

THE TOMB OF THE FOUNDER OF THE TUGHLAQS WAS BUILT IN AD1325 WITHIN AN UNUSUAL
IRREGULAR PENTAGONAL FORTIFIED ENCLOSURE. THE TOMB IS CONNECTED TO THE FORTESS
BY 230 M LONG PASSAGEWAY, BUT TODAY IS DRY SCRUBLAND.
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

• THE OUTER WALLS ARE 75 DEGREE WITH THE GROUND.

• THE TOMB WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1325 WITH RED SANDSTONE AND WHITE MARBLE.THE
• DOME IS OF WHITE MARBLE.
• THE SQUARE TOMB IS IN THE CENTER OF PENTAGONAL ENCLOSURE WITH HIGH WALLS.
• THE WALL DESIGN WAS INTENDED TO BUTTRESS THE HEAVY STONE ARCHES THAT SUPPORT
THE CEILING.THE INSIDE WALLS ARE VERTICAL AND PLAIN.
• THE ARCHED FORM USING THE LINTEL AND BEAM METHOD, INSTALL LINTEL JUST BELOW THE
ARCH FOR STABILITY AND PUTTING RECTANGULAR TIMBER DDOR IN THE ARCHED OPENING.
• THE TOMB CAPPED BY A MARBLE ENCASED KALASA RISING TO HEIGHT OF 80FT (24M) OVER.
• IT WAS MORE DISTINCTIVE FORM OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA .
• THE TOMB EXHIBITS PECULIAR HINDU INFLUENCES IN FORM OF KALASSA ON THE TOP OF
THE WHITE MARBLE TOMB AND STONE LINTEL JUST BELOW THE ARCH.
TOMB OF FIROZ SHAH TUGHLAQ