INDIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Two Hundred Year of India’s Artistic And Architectural Heritage
TAJ MAHAL, AGRA
Completed in 1643 to entomb his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj was to serve as the final resting place of Emperor Shah Jahan himself. The opposite bank of the Yamuna River onto which the Taj backs is a popular vantage point for viewing the mausoleum. The tower to the extreme right marks the corner of the Mehtab bagh, a dilapidated and buried garden laid out at the same time as the Taj as an observation point for courtiers.
PURANA QILA, DELHI
The Purana Qila is believed to occupy the site of the ancient city of Indraprastha, near the bank of Yamuna in the eastern part of modern Delhi. However, the surviving ramparts and gates are ascribed to Sher Shah, the Suri rule who seized Delhi from Humayun in 1540, and subsequently expelled the Mughals from Northern India. The western gate to the citadel is constructed of red and yellow sandstone and white marble, anticipating the use of the materials in later Mughal architecture. Other than the loss of the line of battlements surmounting the walls, and the disappearance of the arched structure in the foreground, little has changed since the artist recorded this view.
GANGADHARESHVARA TEMPLE, BANGALORE
This temple consists of a natural crevice in the boulders accommodating a Shiva Linga, approached through a simple columned hall. Four remarkable granite pillars stand feely in the courtyard in front. The two pillars carrying great discs almost 1.5 meters in diameter representing the sun and moon are of obvious astronomical significance. Another pillar is crowned with the trident emblem of Shiva. The scene was changed little, other than the addition of brass-clad flag pole and a small Nindi pavilion.
LUCKNOW VIEW
In 1775 Asaf-ud-Daula shifted the capital of Oudh from faizabad to Lucknow on the Gumti River. The Nawabs built up Lucknow into a city of considerable splendour, an idea of which is conveyed by the distant aspect of Asaf-ud-Daula’s palace. The adjacent mosque with lofty minarets was an earlier project built b Aurangzeb. The aquatint illustrates the changes which have over-whelmed the city, Such as the loss of the Nawab’s palace and the addition of a bridge and a clock tower, the latter built in 1881.
JAMI MOSQUE, DELHI
The Jami Mosque in Delhi was intended as the principal religious monuments of the new capital of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, founded on the west bank of Yamuna in 1638. the mosque itself, completed some 20 years later, is the largest in India. The red sandstone portal is topped with a line of marble domed chhatris; similar elements crown the slender finials on the angled corners. In spite of ugly concrete constructions, the structure is almost perfectly preserved. The prayer hall is distinguished by the use of red sandstone and white marble to create strongly patterned effects in contrasting tones. These are particularly noticeable on the minaret shafts and three bulbous domes.
PANCHA RATHAS, MAHABALLIPURAM
The group of shrines, known collectively as the Panchas Rathas, is one of the most unusual features of Mahaballipuram, a site associated with the 7th-century Pallava rulers. Hewn out of granite boulders standing in the dunes only a short distance from the bay of Bengal, these monoliths are linked with the region of Mamalla, after whom the site takes its name. The artist have carefully selected their viewpoint in order to show all five Rathas with their different hut-shaped roofs of multi-storeyed pyramidal towers. The monolithic lion and elephant also appear have been slightly shifted to achieve architectural clarity.
INDRA SABHA, ELLORA
The largest of the jain series, the Indra Sabha temple dates from the 9th century Rashtrakuta period, the last phase of activity at Elora. A monolithic shrine sheltering a quartet of Jain icons, topped with a decorated pyramidal tower stands in the middle of the inner court of this cave-temple. Removal of debris has revealed the steps leading to a small entrance porch. To one side is a pillar with Jain figures seated on top of the double capital; to the other side is a large elephant, also monolithic.
PALACE OF MAN SINGH, ROHTASGARH
Raja Man Singh of Amber, a Rajput noble in the service of Akbar in the last decades of the 16th century, chose Rothasgarh as his principal headquarters when governing bihar and Bengal. This unusual example of Rajput architecture in Eastern India makes use of columns with corbelled brackets, overhanging angled eaves, miniature balconies roofed by half vaults and roof-top domed pavilions, all hallmarks of the Western India courtly style.
AHALYA BAI GHAT, VARANASI
This bathing place is one of the most popular place in Varanasi, with flights of step descending to the Ganga overlooked by terraces, colonnades and rest-house, In-spite of the antiquity of the city and it river-front, most of the features recorded by the artist were completed only a short time before their arrival, having been ordered by the celebrated Holkar Queen after whom the ghat is named. Varanasi has continued to be extensively redeveloped and a plethora of minor platforms and shrines impede access to the water.
PALACE, MADURAI
Traditionally associated with Tirumala Nayaka, the most famous of the Madurai rulers in the middle of the 17th century, the palace in the southern part of the city is the grandest royal structure still standing in the Tamil country. The best preserved portion of Tirumala’s palace is the so-called dance hall. This is lined with massive circulam columns and broad side arches which support a long pointed vault carried on transverse lobed arches. This hall was renovated at the order of Robert Fellowes Chisholm, architect to the Madras Government in the last decades of the 19th century, at which time the exuberant plaster decoration was added. The arcades receding from the rear wall of the hall, are no longer extant.
GATE OF AKBAR’S TOMB, SIKANDRA
This splendid structure is unsurpassed in Mughal architecture for its bold inlay relief patterns and the quartet of elegant, white marble minarets, completed to their full height only after the time of the artist. The gate dates from 1613, during the reign of Jahangir, who was responsible for completing the mausoleum to his father, the emperor Akbar. The photograph is actually taken from inside the walled garden and then reversed to match the aquatint as the exterior is now masked by trees.
JAHANGIRA ROCK, SULTANGANJ
This sacred rock jutting dramatically out of the Ganga river, known today as Ghevi Nat, is covered with reliefs of Vishnu dating mostly from the 8th century. Reliefs on the surface of a boulder next to Jahangira Rock depict diverse standing divinities, those showing Vishnu being the largest and most numerous. Though some of the romantic wilderness of the scene recorded by the artist is now lost, the rock and its shrine still function as an active pilgrimage spot. Devotees wade through the water during the dry season to reach the boulder, or cross a steel foot-bridge when the river is high to worship at the small shrine perched precariously on top.
PALACE, RAMNAGAR
The great fortress on the Ganga opposite the sacred city of Varanasi was the residence of a local line of rulers Massive buttresses dating from the 17th century protect the inner quarters from the eroding effects of the river. In the extreme left of the aquatint is a boat with Europeans seated on deck.
BRIHADISHVARA TEMPLE, TANJAVUR
Tanjapur city was capital of the Cholas in the 10th-11th centuries, succeeded indirectly by a line of Nayakas in the 16th-17th centuries. theBrihadishvara temple, erected in 1010 AD by Rajaraja I, is the masterpiece of Southern Indian religious architecture. It is roofed by a pyramidal stone tower rising by means of 13 diminishing storeys to an overall height of 66 meters. The hall in front, entered through a portico at the extreme right was only completed during the Nayaka era.
GATE OF KHUSRAO BAGH, ALLAHABAD
When Prince Khusrao repelled against his father Jahangir, the Mughal emperor had him imprisoned in a walled garden on the southern fringe of Allahabad, Khusrao was eventually murdered in 1622 at the orders of his step-brother, the future Shah Jahan, and a tomb was built here, converting what had been a pleasure garden into a funerary complex bearing his name. the entrance is dominated by an arched portal flanked by projecting balconies and part-octagonal buttresses, totally devoid of decoration. Recently-built houses prevent the photograph from capturing the angle used in the aquatint.
GATE OF SHAH QUSIM SULAIMAN’S TOMB, CHUNAR
An important landmarks on the Ganga, Chunar was fortified by Akbar in order to serve as a garrison city at the gateway to his Eastern Indian provinces. In 1606 Shah Qasim Sulaiman, a well known pious figure, died here and his followers erected a funerary complex in his honour, now known as the Dargah Sharif. The entrance is a magnificent composition with a deeply set pointed arch flanked by projecting balconies. Delicate relief patterns of different designs cover almost the surface of the building.
CAVE-TEMPLE, ELEPHANTA ISLAND
The rock-cut Hindu sanctuary on Elephanta island in the middle of Bombay harbour is generally attributed to the 6th-century shilahara rulers. The ritual focus of the cave-temple is a square sanctuary enshrining a Shiva linga. The doorways on four sides are flanked by pairs of gigantic guardian figures, their faces mostly desecrated. Monolithic columns with partly fluted shafts and cushion-like capitals support the flat ceiling; the damage to the shafts recorded by the artist has now been repaired with cement. The clearing of the collapsed rock which appears on the left of the aquatint has revealed a naturally lit side entrance.
RIVERSIDE SHRINE, KARA
Kara, now a small town on the western bank of the Ganga upstream from Allahabad, was of importance under the sultans of Delhi in the 14th and 15th centuries. The domed Hindu shrine shown here has steps leading down to the Ganga for bathing. The buttressed platform and arcaded pavilion overlooking the water which appear in the aquatint have not survived the periodic flooding.
GATE TO LAL BAGH, FAIZABAD
Situated on the southern bank of the Gogra river opposite the scared city of Ayodhya, Faizabad achieved renown under the nawabs of the kingdom of Oudh who resided here in the 18th century. The Lal Bagh was a pleasure garden established by Suja-ud-daula. The entrance gate is typical of the late Mughal style adopted by the nawabs. The lobed arches and projecting balconies are all created out finally finished plasterwork. Lal Bagh has long ago vanished and the photo graph is of the gate to the Ghulab Bari complex containing Shuja-ud-Daula’s tomb on the edge of Faizabad.
ROCK FORT, TIRUCHIRAPALLI
The greatrock that rises abruptly from the bank of the Kaveri River. This naturalfeature represents the most important position of power the central Tamil country, commanding the upper delta of this densely populated part of Tamil Nadu. Occupied successively by the pandyas, Cholas and Vijaynagara governors, Tiruchirapalli was occupied by the Nawab of Arcot, under the watchful eye of the British, at the time of the artist visit.
DAKHIL GATE, GAUR
This monumental gate served as the principal entry to the capital at Gaur, Capital of the Bengali rulers in the 15th-16th centuries. Built entirely of brick, the arched entrance is flanked by tapering minarets punctuated by recessed panels of terracotta decoration. With the absorption of Bengal into the Mughal empire in 1576, Gaur was abandoned and its palaces and gateways disintegrated into overgrown ruins. Recent clearing of the gate has revealed further deterioration of the structure.
TOMB OF MAKHDAM SHAH DAULAT, MANER
This tomb was erected in 1616 over the remains of a pious saint at a village near the junction of the Ganga and son rivers. It is one of the finest examples of funerary architecture during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir which emphasized indigenous features: columns with projecting lotus brackets and small domed pavilions, known as chhatris, at the corners of the roof. The five somewhat flattish domes are topped with petalled motifs. The entrance gate to one side is now obscured by trees.
FORT AND BRIDGE, SRINAGAR
FLOODS IN 1903 washed away the fortified rock jutting abruptly out of the Alakananda river, as well as destroying the original town of Srinagar. The suspension rope-bridge shown by the artist was a temporary means of linking the base of the rock to the village of Ranihat on the opposite bank, the temples of which are still standing.
KAILASANATHA TEMPLE, ELLORA
This monument, which represents the climax of the rock-cut phase of Western Indian architecture, was initiated in the middle of the 8th century by Krishna I the most powerful of the Rashtrakuta kings. Work continued here under his successors. A deep trenched forms a courtyard surrounding three side view of the two storeyed Nandi pavilion and columned hall, the latter with access staircases and projecting porches. Wall niches have sculptures depicting aspects of Shiva, the god to whom the temple is dedicated. The decorated free standing pillar serves no purpose, being a ceremonial feature. A broken monolithic elephant stands in the foreground.
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