Something about Sufi culture in Shah Jahan period (Delhi).
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The Reign of Shah Jahan, 1628-1658
Prince Khurram was 35 years old when he ascended the throne as Shah Jahan (King of the World). Succeeding Jahangir in 1627, Shah Jahan enjoyed the support of experienced administrators and advisors -- like his father-in-law Asaf Khan -- who were holdovers from the previous reign.
Shah Jahan, notes Hambly, revived Akbar's policy of pressing southward against the independent Muslim Sultanate of the Deccan. But almost all of his expansion expeditions were unsuccessful. The expenditures resulting from Shah Jahan's failed attempts at frontier expansion, as well as his insatiable appetite for new and grand architecture, were appreciable factors in the empire's eventual financial crisis.
During the early years of his reign, Shah Jahan preferred Agra to Delhi as a place of residence. This preference is reflected in his selection of Agra as the site for a number of building ventures including the world's most famous and beautiful mausoleum, Taj Mahal. Many historians have -- perhaps unfairly -- accused Shah Jahan of building the glorious tomb as a tribute to himself and his rule rather than as a tribute to his wife.
Shah Jahan was an exceedingly able man -- although less able than his father Akbar and less conscientious than his son Aurangzeb. Still, Shah Jahan is in the first rank of Indian rulers. Endowed with all the qualities required of a medieval Muslim ruler, he was a brave and competent commander; a generous master who treated his servants with respect, dignity and affability; and a far-sighted leader with a strict sense of justice.
Shah Jahan was an active patron of palaces and mosques. Blair and Bloom write that upon Shah Jahan's accession, the fort at Agra was renovated to include three major courts: Halls of Public and Private Audience (Diwan-i Khass wa 'Am); an area for treasures and private audience (Machhi Bhavan); and a residential court known as the Garden of Grapes (Anguri Bagh). The first court, note Bloom and Blair, is close to the entrance, while the other two courts, which were used by the emperor and his entourage, overlook the river.
Inside the fort, write Blair and Bloom, is a congregational mosque known today as the Moti (Pearl) Mosque because of the translucent white marble used on the interior. The mosque, continue Blair and Bloom, comprises a rectangular prayer hall, about 53 by 21 yards, divided by cruciform piers into three aisles of seven bays supported on cusped arches and surmounted by three bulbous domes. The additive system of vaulted bays used in the Moti Mosque at Agra is the type of plan favored for smaller mosques constructed under imperial patronage.
According to Blair and Bloom, the single-aisled plan that had been used for Shir Shah's mosque in Delhi was preferred for large, urban congregational mosques which have immense courtyards with narrow prayer halls fronted by pishtaq and surmounted by three or five domes. The mosque of Vazir Khan at Lahore, constructed by the court physician Hakim Ali of Chiniot in 1635, is but one example of this group. The congregational mosque at Agra, continue Blair and Bloom, was completed in 1648 under the patronage of the emperor's daughter Jahanara. Constructed of red sandstone, the mosque used white marble sparingly for calligraphic bands.
Prince Khurram was 35 years old when he ascended the throne as Shah Jahan (King of the World). Succeeding Jahangir in 1627, Shah Jahan enjoyed the support of experienced administrators and advisors -- like his father-in-law Asaf Khan -- who were holdovers from the previous reign.
Shah Jahan, notes Hambly, revived Akbar's policy of pressing southward against the independent Muslim Sultanate of the Deccan. But almost all of his expansion expeditions were unsuccessful. The expenditures resulting from Shah Jahan's failed attempts at frontier expansion, as well as his insatiable appetite for new and grand architecture, were appreciable factors in the empire's eventual financial crisis.
During the early years of his reign, Shah Jahan preferred Agra to Delhi as a place of residence. This preference is reflected in his selection of Agra as the site for a number of building ventures including the world's most famous and beautiful mausoleum, Taj Mahal. Many historians have -- perhaps unfairly -- accused Shah Jahan of building the glorious tomb as a tribute to himself and his rule rather than as a tribute to his wife.
Shah Jahan was an exceedingly able man -- although less able than his father Akbar and less conscientious than his son Aurangzeb. Still, Shah Jahan is in the first rank of Indian rulers. Endowed with all the qualities required of a medieval Muslim ruler, he was a brave and competent commander; a generous master who treated his servants with respect, dignity and affability; and a far-sighted leader with a strict sense of justice.
Shah Jahan was an active patron of palaces and mosques. Blair and Bloom write that upon Shah Jahan's accession, the fort at Agra was renovated to include three major courts: Halls of Public and Private Audience (Diwan-i Khass wa 'Am); an area for treasures and private audience (Machhi Bhavan); and a residential court known as the Garden of Grapes (Anguri Bagh). The first court, note Bloom and Blair, is close to the entrance, while the other two courts, which were used by the emperor and his entourage, overlook the river.
Inside the fort, write Blair and Bloom, is a congregational mosque known today as the Moti (Pearl) Mosque because of the translucent white marble used on the interior. The mosque, continue Blair and Bloom, comprises a rectangular prayer hall, about 53 by 21 yards, divided by cruciform piers into three aisles of seven bays supported on cusped arches and surmounted by three bulbous domes. The additive system of vaulted bays used in the Moti Mosque at Agra is the type of plan favored for smaller mosques constructed under imperial patronage.
According to Blair and Bloom, the single-aisled plan that had been used for Shir Shah's mosque in Delhi was preferred for large, urban congregational mosques which have immense courtyards with narrow prayer halls fronted by pishtaq and surmounted by three or five domes. The mosque of Vazir Khan at Lahore, constructed by the court physician Hakim Ali of Chiniot in 1635, is but one example of this group. The congregational mosque at Agra, continue Blair and Bloom, was completed in 1648 under the patronage of the emperor's daughter Jahanara. Constructed of red sandstone, the mosque used white marble sparingly for calligraphic bands.
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