History of a confluence

GLOBALISATION is so all-pervasive today that it turns up where it is least expected. Here is a formidably scholarly study of Indo- Islamic architecture by a distinguished Italian academic, published in London, printed in China, and distributed in South Asia by Mapin of Ahmedabad, a truly cross-cultural production.

It was A. H. Wheeler, the founder of Indian archaeology, who first remarked on the stark opposition between the Islamic and Hindu architectural modes. While the one was spare, airy, elegant, born of a desert culture, the other was mysterious, fecund, as luxuriant as India's "vast and trackless forests". The two appeared irreconcilable and yet, after the initial confrontation, they synthesised harmoniously to produce some of the world's finest buildings, Islamic in their purity of line and proportion and the use of space, Hindu in the lavish and intricate decorative elements. The combination can be breath- taking as we see in the exquisite corbels at the Red Fort, Agra, shown on the book jacket.

The scope of the study is phenomenal, from the 13th Century through to the 19th Century and including Pakistan and Bangladesh. Due to the sheer volume of the material the Mughal and the Pre-Mughal periods are usually done separately or collaboratively, with various scholars contributing a chapter each. It is to Ms. Alfieri's credit that she has done it single- handed and with competence.

The opening section on the Pre-Mughal period traces developments from the time of the Aibaks and Mamalukes to the Lodis, in and around Delhi. The buildings were planned on Iranian lines and, with some exceptions, are heavy structures of brick and rubble, impressive for their strength rather than their beauty. There is little promise here of the marble and sandstone masterpieces of the future.

The earliest extant mosque in the area, the Quwwat al-Islam, dates back to 1195 and is a part of the complex that includes the Qutb Minar. Even at this early stage the Hindu influence is evident in the pillars taken from demolished temples and the technique of using projecting stones to create corbels. The decoration mixes the Arabic with the indigenous. The exterior is richly adorned with calligraphy and arabesques, but there are also temple motifs such as lotus buds along the inside edge of arches forming "spear-head fringes", and window gratings of pierced stone or marble, a traditional skill of Gujarati artisans.

Eight regional styles ranging from Bengal to Sind and Kashmir to the Deccan are covered in Part Two. They vary considerably according to the strength of local tradition, the particular skills of the craftsmen, and geographical factors such as climate, the kind of construction material available, and the distance from Delhi of a particular province. The buildings in the Karachi area, for instance, are heavily Persianised, with strong lines, squat domes, tapered turrets and distinctive blue tile decoration.

There is as little Hindu influence here as in the Deccan where the rulers were of Persian descent. Several early Deccani monuments look like straightforward transfers from Iran, while the oldest intact mosque, the Jami Masjid at Gulbarga dated 1367, appears to be partly modelled on a Christian basilica. This strange building, without a courtyard or minarets, has a rooftop covered by more than 70 domes of different sizes. Squat, pointed arches on low supports span the arcades, creating an unusual effect. These arches, measuring less in height than in width at the base, later became a distinctive element of the native style.

In places where wood was plentiful the mosques have a homely informality missing in their stone or brick counterparts. The Shah Hamadan Mosque at Srinagar is built of squared logs from which rise slender pillars supporting gently sloping roofs with deep eaves. In season they are covered by grassy sod and tiny flowers. At the apex is the muezzin's pavilion topped by a quaint structure resembling a church spire. Another Srinagar mosque has a charming log cabin interior, with each pillar carved out of a single tree trunk. And talking of wooden structures, there is nothing in the book, not even a passing mention, of the beautiful old mosques of Kerala, quite unlike any other, with tiled roofs rising in steep pyramids and intricately carved gables. This is a surprising omission in a study otherwise so comprehensive.

The finest and most prolific regional style is that of Gujarat. A 16th Century Mughal historian called Ahmedabad "the most beautiful city in Hindustan and perhaps the world". This is hardly an exaggeration when one thinks of the Jain and Hindu temples and then the mosques on which generations of craftsmen lavished their superlative skills, and the mysterious step-wells leading deep into the earth to water, the source of life. There are three of these fabulous structures, rich in symbolism, commissioned by both Hindu and Muslim patrons, in and around the city. Up north, at Bhadreshvar in Kutch, stand the remains of the oldest Islamic buildings in the subcontinent pre-dating the Quwwat-al Islam by 35 years, planned on Arab and Tunisian lines.

So much has been written about the splendour of Mughal architecture that Ms. Alfieri is left with little new to say in part three. She marshals the data in her usual systematic way, and at last her somewhat flat-footed style comes to life. Perhaps this is because these rulers, like Julius Caesar, or Cleopatra, or Elizabeth Tudor of England, have a powerful magnetism that transcends time and touches us even today. The description of the Taj Mahal is the best thing in the book. Selecting her facts carefully and compressing them into just six pages, Alfieri remarks on its perfect proportions, its harmony with its surroundings, the garden pool which mirrors its beauty, the inlay work and the breath-taking tracery screen enclosing the royal tombs. Its chief beauty, she says, lies in the translucent clarity of the Makrana marble of which it is built, "shrouded at dawn, dazzling at midday, rosy at sunset". On moonlit nights the dome gleams like a pearl.

Despite these rhapsodies this is a balanced appraisal. There is a lengthy reference to W. E. Begley who argued, from certain architectural features and the Koranic inscriptions in the funeral chamber, that the Taj was not a monument to love but to Shah Jahan's overweening vanity, an emblem of the Emperor as the agent of God on earth and successor to the Prophet himself.

Similarly the author quotes famous opinions even-handedly, from Tagore to whom the Taj was "a tear-drop on the cheek of time", and W. H. Russell - "a dream in marble ... a sigh of eternal devotion and love" - to Keyserling who dismissed it as a useless work of art and Aldous Huxley who declared crossly that he found the Taj a very ordinary building and could never see what all the fuss was about.

Apart from this the book is rather pedestrian and, in general, so are the illustrations. One recalls an old book on the Mughals and the Medici by a group of scholars, largely Italian, with superb photographs and fascinating theories on architectural symbolism. Were hanging gardens, suspended between heaven and earth, emblematic of Paradise? Was the labyrinthine palace at Fatehpur- Sikri built as a theatre to glorify Akbar, the star performer? Was the Diwan-I Khass an allegory of the Emperor's spiritual pilgrimage; and could its strange central pillar, the Ekastambha, represent the sun at the centre of the universe with Akbar the Cosmocrat seated above it dispensing divine justice?

Without this imaginative approach the book is rather dry for the general reader. However the diligence and commitment of the author and the photographer are admirable. The latter has taken more than 200 pictures from every corner of the subcontinent. Sadly, it is difficult to find one's way through them since they are not indexed, nor has a table of illustrations been provided.

Otherwise there is every aid to scholarship, including an exhaustive bibliography divided subject-wise, and a detailed table of ruling dynasties. According to the blurb this is the first attempt to cover so vast a subject in a single volume, and the book is indeed a storehouse of information, indispensable as a reference work for scholars and institutions.

ZERIN ANKLESARIA

Islamic Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, Bianca Maria Alfieri, Calmann and King, Rs. 3,000, distributed by Mapin Publishing.

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