Here is the class notes from Class  NCERT History- Chapter 5: “Rulers and Buildings”

Engineering Skills and Construction

• Between the Seventh and Tenth centuries
  • Between the seventh and tenth centuries architects started adding more rooms, doors and windows to buildings.
  • Roofs, doors and windows were still made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called “trabeate” or “corbelled”.
  • Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries the trabeate style was used in the construction of temples, mosques, tombs and in buildings attached to large stepped-wells (baolis).
  • Example- Quwwat al- Islam
• Temple in the Early Eleventh Century
  • The Kandariya Mahadeva temple dedicated to Shiva was constructed in 999 by the king Dhangadeva of the Chandela dynasty.
  • An ornamented gateway led to an entrance, and the main hall (mahamandapa) where dances were performed.
  • The image of the chief deity was kept in the main shrine (garbhagriha). This was the place for ritual worship where only the king, his immediate family and priests gathered.
  • The Khajuraho complex contained royal temples where commoners were not allowed entry. The temples were decorated with elaborately carved sculptures.
• Twelfth century
  • The weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was sometimes carried by arches. This architectural form was called “arcuate”.
  • A “true” arch. The “keystone” at the centre of the arch transferred the weight of the superstructure to the base of the arch.

Building Temples, Mosques and Tanks

• Temples and mosques were beautifully constructed because they were places of worship.
• They were also meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.
• Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God.
• An inscription mentions that it was built by King Rajarajadeva for the worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram.
• The king took the god’s name because it was auspicious and he wanted to appear like a god.
• The largest temples were all constructed by kings. The other, lesser deities in the temple were gods and goddesses of the allies and subordinates of the ruler.
• Muslim Sultans and Padshahs did not claim to be incarnations of god but Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”.
• An inscription in the Quwwat al-Islam mosque explained that God chose Alauddin as a king because he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon, the great lawgivers of the past.
• At the same time, making precious water available by constructing tanks and reservoirs was highly praised.
• Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir just outside Dehli-i-Kuhna. It was called the Hauz-i-Sultani or the “King’s Reservoir”.
• Raniji ki baori or the ‘Queen’s Stepwell’, located in Bundi in Rajasthan is the largest among the fifty step wells that were built to meet the need for water.
  • Known for its architectural beauty, the baori was constructed in 1699 C.E. by Rani Nathavat Ji, the queen of Raja Anirudh Singh of Bundi.

Why were Temples Targeted?

• Because kings built temples to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth.
  • In the early ninth century when the Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and defeated the king, Sena I (831-851), and looted all the valuables including statue of Buddha made entirely of gold.
  • in the early eleventh century, when the Chola king Rajendra I built a Shiva temple in his capital he filled it with prized statues seized from defeated rulers. List included
    • a Sun-pedestal from the Chalukyas
    • a Ganesha statue and several statues of Durga, a Nandi statue from the eastern Chalukyas
    • an image of Bhairava (a form of Shiva) and Bhairavi from the Kalingas of Orissa
    • and a Kali statue from the Palas of Bengal.
  • Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was a contemporary of Rajendra I. During his campaigns in the subcontinent he attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols. Sultan Mahmud was not a very important ruler at that time. But by destroying temples – especially the one at Somnath – he tried to win credit as a great hero of Islam.
• In the political culture of the Middle Ages most rulers displayed their political might and military success by attacking and looting the places of worship of defeated rulers.

Gardens, Tombs and Forts

• Under the Mughals, architecture became more complex.
• Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, and especially Shah Jahan were personally interested in literature, art and architecture.
• In his autobiography, Babur described his interest in planning and laying out formal gardens, placed within rectangular walled enclosures and divided into four quarters by artificial channels.
  • These gardens were called chahar bagh, four gardens, because of their symmetrical division into quarters. Beginning with Akbar, some of the most beautiful chahar baghs were constructed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan in Kashmir, Agra and Delhi
• There were several important architectural innovations during Akbar’s reign.
  • Akbar’s architects turned to the tombs of his Central Asian ancestor, Timur.
  • The central towering dome and the tall gateway (pishtaq) became important aspects of Mughal architecture, first visible in Humayun’s tomb.
  • The tomb was placed in the centre of a huge formal chahar bagh and built in the tradition known as “eight paradises” or hasht bihisht – a central hall surrounded by eight rooms.
• It was during Shah Jahan’s reign that the different elements of Mughal architecture were fused together in a grand harmonious synthesis. His reign witnessed a huge amount of construction activity especially in Agra and Delhi.
  • The ceremonial halls of public and private audience (diwan-i khas o am) were carefully planned.
  • Placed within a large courtyard, these courts were also described as chihil sutun or forty-pillared halls
  • Shah Jahan’s audience halls were specially constructed to resemble a mosque
    • . The idea of the king as a representative of God on earth was suggested by these architectural features.
• In the early years of his reign, Shah Jahan’s capital was at Agra, a city where the nobility had constructed their homes on the banks of the river Yamuna.
  • Shah Jahan adapted the river-front garden in the layout of the Taj Mahal, the grandest architectural accomplishment of his reign.
  • The Taj Mahal at Agra, completed in 1643

Region and Empire

• As construction activity increased between the eighth and eighteenth centuries there was also a considerable sharing of ideas across regions.
  • For example, the elephant stables of the Vijayanagar were strongly influenced by the style of architecture found in the adjoining Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda
  • In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural styles that were very similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri.
• The creation of large empires that brought different regions under their rule helped in this cross-fertilisation of artistic forms and architectural styles.
• Mughal rulers were particularly skilled in adapting regional architectural styles in the construction of their own buildings.
  • The local design of Bengal resemble a thatched hut known as “Bangla Dome” is used by the Mughals.
  • In Akbar’s capital at Fatehpur Sikri many of the buildings show the influence of the architectural styles of Gujarat and Malwa.

Churches that touched the skies

• From the twelfth century onwards, attempts began in France to build churches that were taller and lighter than earlier buildings.
• This architectural style, known as Gothic, was distinguished by high pointed arches, the use of stained glass, often painted with scenes drawn from the Bible, and flying buttresses.
• Tall spires and bell towers which were visible from a distance were added to the church.
• One of the best-known examples of this architectural style is the church of Notre Dame in Paris, which was constructed through several decades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.