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Delhi Sultanate Notion Press Old No. 38, New No. 6 McNichols Road, Chetpet Chennai - 600 031 First Published by Notion Press 2018 Copyright © A.S. Bhalla 2018 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-1-64429-198-6 This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii List of Illustrations xv Ancient, Pre-Mughal and Mughal India 1. Ancient Empires 3 2. Delhi and Deccan Sultanates 7 3. Splendour of Mughal Forts and Palaces 18 4. Mughal Mausoleums and Mosques 34 Princely India 5. Maharajas and Palaces 47 British India 6. The Raj and Segregation 69 7. Symbols of British Pomp and Power 75 8. Palaces of the Raj 84 9. Indian Railways 104 vii viii | Contents 10. Esplanades, Malls and Markets 113 11. People, Customs and Costumes 120 12. English Theatre and Actors 133 13. Metropolitan Centre and the Periphery 141 Appendix: History of Vintage Postcards 149 Illustration Credits 153 Bibliography 155 About the Author 161 Ancient, Pre-Mughal and Mughal India 1 Ancient Empires he history of imperial India dates back more than 2000 years when emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty ruled India in the 3rd century BC. The Mauryanand Gupta empires are the only two empires Tof ancient times. They are so ancient that it is almost impossible to write a pictorial history about them. Most structures are in ruins or have completely disappeared. That is not surprising because most buildings and palaces were made of wood rather than stone. However, it is believed that Ashoka was the first emperor in the Mauryan dynasty to have used stone for construction work. Pataliputra (near Patna) was the capital of Ashoka’s Mauryan Empire where he had built a large palace of wood and stone. Megasthenes, the Graeco-Seleucid ambassador to the Mauryan court who lived in Pataliputra described it as one of the largest and most prosperous cities at that time with a population of from 150,000 to 300,000. It is alleged that the palace had a pillared hall that resembled the Hall of a Hundred Columns in Persepolis in Achaemenid Persia. The design of the pillar capitals also showed Persian and Greek influences. Some observers believe that the pillars may have belonged to a large hall built for a Buddist Council. The third Buddhist council was held in Pataliputra during Ashoka’s reign. David Spinner of the Archaeological Department of India excavated the Hall in 1913 which he found to be ‘in an almost incredible state of preservation, the logs which formed it being as smooth and perfect as the day they were laid more than two thousand yeasrs ago’ (cited in Nehru,1946:103). Later in the 1950s, K.P. Jayaswal of the Architectural Research Institute of Patna discovered the remains of eight additional pillars at the excavation site. Persian and Greek influences on the palace pillars and other Ashoka pillars, such as the one in Sarnath, are not surprising. Ashoka had kept close contacts with these regions. It is also quite possible that the pillars were actually sculpted by Persian artisans and sculptors who were imported from Persia. At that time Indian artisans were not known for such sophisticated sculpture. Fa Hsien, a Chinese visitor to India in the 5th century claims to have seen the palace. He describes it as being made of stone, located in the centre of the city, with fine carvings and in-laid stone sculpture, ‘all in a way which no human hand of this world could accomplish’ (cited in Eraly, 2005:342). Hsuan Tsang, another Chinese pilgrim who visited Pataliputra in the 7th century, found the city, including the palace, in ruins. 3 4 | Imperial India The only structures that have survived from Ashoka’s reign are the stone pillars and rock edicts. He also built Hindu temples and later Buddhist temples after he became converted to Buddhism. To cite a few examples: • The cave temple of Karna Kauphar. • The Vishnu temple of Sudama in the Barabar caves near Gaya in Bihar. • Buddhist stupas, such as those in Sarnath and Sanchi, to house Buddhist relics. • The Sarnath pillar with its capital of four lions which forms the official emblem of the Republic of India. According to Marshall (1931) the pillar sculptures ‘are masterpieces in point of both style and technique, the finest carving, indeed, that India has yet produced, and unsurpassed by… anything of their kind in the ancient world.’ • The Ashoka pillar in Firoz Shah Kotla (see Chapter 2, Figure 6). • Other Ashoka pillars were discovered in Lumbini in Nepal and in Vaishali, Sarnath and Sanchi in India. The Ashoka pillars and rock edicts found all over India are unlikely to be symbols of an emperor’s power. Instead, they were intended to propagate the emperor’s concept of dharma and to send out royal proclamations to the public. Ashoka was known to be a great builder who may have imported skilled crasftsmen from abroad to build royal monuments. This conjecture is reinforced by the fact that the quality of Indian craftsmanship in stone sculptures declined a great deal soon after the fall of his Mauryan empire. There is little evidence to suggest that Ashoka indulged in lavish spending on magnificent palaces and temples. Neither does one find any examples of his vanity and vainglory as an emperor. However, Eraly (2005:328) observes that ‘Asoka too sought fame and glory, but in a field outside the normal concerns of kings. Most of Ashoka’s edicts speak of his major concern for his people’s welfare. For example, in one edict he notes: ‘His Sacred Majesty does not regard that fame and glory bring much profit, unless my people immediately hearken to dharma and conform to its precepts now and in the future.’ The Sungas (185–72 BC) took over after the fall of the Mauryan empire. They continued with the Maurya tradition of building stupas. It is believed that the Sanchi stupa was first built by Ashoka as a simple earthen structure in the third century BC. This structure may have been destroyed sometime in the second century BC presumably for acquiring building materials. The Great Sanchi stupa (Figure1) was rebuilt on the same site by a Sunga king (Sungas had also built the Bharhut stupa which is completely destroyed). The Sunga king may have added balustrades, staircases and harmika on the top (see Bhalla, 2014). The Great Stupa is one of the oldest stone structures to be found in India. Its four gateways with intricate carvings (one is shown on the right in Figure 1) were added later during the reign of the Andhras (72–25 BC). A monastery (no. 18) and a temple (no.17) are associated with the Guptas. Thus, Buddhist art in Sanchi spans four dynasties, namely, Mauryas, Sungas, Andhras and Guptas. Ancient Empires | 5 The Gupta Hindu Empire, which lasted from the fourth to the sixth century, made equally important contributions to Indian art, architecture and sculpture. Besides building wooden and sandstone temples (for example, Temple 17 in Sanchi) and iron pillars (see Chapter 2, Figure 5) the Guptas built stone sculptures of Buddha which were discovered in Mathura and Sarnath. The Gupta empire is often heralded as the Golden or Classical Age of ancient India. But this was true mainly of north India. A high-level civilization reached the south only in the post – Gupta period, with the rise of the Pallava (7th to 9th century), Chalukya (7th to 12th century) and Chola (10th to 12th century) kingdoms. These dynasties ushered in a golden age of art and architecture in the south. They built magnificent complexes of Hindu temples and temple towns. Pallava kings of the first great Tamil dynasty built temples such as those at Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram, and Madurai (Marathé, 1998; Stierlin, 2002). Chalukyas were responsible for such temples as Durga Temple and the Ladh Khan Temple in Aihole in the 7th century. They also built several mounuments in Badami and Pattadakal. The Chola kingdom had Thanjavur (formerly Tanjore) as its capital where a great temple was built by its king, Rajraja 1, who ruled from 985 to 1014. Fig.1. Great Stupa, Sanchi (author’s private collection of photographs) The Andhra and Vakataka rulers of the South were responsible for the unique cave temples (Hindu and Buddhist) of Ajanta and Ellora (near Aurangabad in Maharashtra), most of which were built in the 5th to 8th century (see Figure 2 and Bhalla, 2014). The two earliest of these (caves 9 and 10) date back to the first and second centuries BC. The cave temples and monasteries of Ajanta (all are Buddhist) were excavated primarily for the accommodation of monks during the rainy season when the valley was often flooded. Apart from Buddhist sculptures, the temple walls and ceilings have beautiful paintings which are the only ones to have survived from those times. The paintings dating back to the 1st to 8th century BC, depict the wor-ship of the Bodhi tree and jataka stories of love, compassion and non-violence preached by Buddhists. Some paintings of the ceilings show flowers, birds and animals.
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