MUGHALGARDENS

What are Mughal Gardens?

Mughal Gardens are a group of garden designs which originate from the Islamic Mughal Empire. The style was influenced by Persian Gardens and Timurid gardens. Significant use is made of recrtilinear layouts within walled enclosures. Typical features include pools, fountains and canals.

Origin• The origins of the Mughal garden, as of other

geometrical gardens in the Islamic tradition, may be traced back to forms evolved for the careful husbanding of water resources and the productive use of land, embodied in the cultural landscape of ancient Persia.

• Enclosed baghs or orchards and other horticultural plots were irrigated by narrow runnels flowing from one to the other, with water brought with great difficulty and extraordinary engineering skill, from the mountains to the dry plain, by underground and surface canals.

• Though these formal or paradise gardens are commonly associated with Islamic symbolism - they are also referred to as "Islamic" gardens - the origin of this distinctive form is acknowledged by scholars to lie in a time even more remote.

Features of Mughal Gardens

• The arrangement of the Mughal garden is deceptively simple and suggests an abstract representation of these forms and processes.

• An orthogonal grid of paths divide the space, four-fold or otherwise; the plots in between are lush with the foliage of freely growing orchard trees, the whole interlaced with a network of water-channels punctuated by pools and cascades.

• The garden is territorially defined and contained in a walled enclosure, accessible only through symmetrically arranged gates.

• Often, one side of the enclosure, usually opposite the main entry gate, opens to a view of the landscape outside.

• There are, of course, significant departures, depending on function and usage: the spatial concept in the Tomb gardens of the plains is distinct from that of the pleasure gardens.

• The Tomb garden is almost always perfectly square; more often than not, the pleasure gardens have a linear axiality.

Themes & Connections• The essential theme common to all these

gardens is the balancing and combination of certain dualities within the same space - for instance, utility and ornamentation, productive and aesthetic values, a rigid framework overlaid with unrestrained organic growth, enclosure and prospect, movement and stillness.

• Current research lays emphasis on the close link between Mughal gardens and agriculture, that the gardens though usually interpreted in aesthetic terms as symbolic of paradise, had as their basis a vitally significant productive dimension.

• The thematic connections within the broad range of gardens categorised as "Islamic" are three-fold:

• the presence of flowing water as an absolute necessity,

• the strategic sitting of the garden at a place with convenient access to a water source and thus already geographically identifiable and

• the use of a grid - plotted internal spaces for many functions - for ceremony, recreation and sensory stimulation as well as horticultural production.

• At the heart of the design is the idea that the bagh should be alive with the continuous flow of water, whose primary purpose is to irrigate the garden and maintain its health.

• The means through which this is accomplished is the supreme achievement of the Mughal garden. the garden contains a wide array of water-related elements and structures to provide a considerable aesthetic dimension to this ordinary task, by enhancing and modulating in many subtle ways the movement, appearance and sound of water.

• Familiar examples include, for instance, falls negotiating large differences in level, from one terrace to the next in thick sheets, their sound recalling the soothing rumble of waterfalls in nature.

• Or, in another interesting technique, inclined stone cascades engraved with patterns to create a white sheet of foaming water (the chadar), especially effective when viewed by moonlight.

• Gravity-fed fountain jets, integrated into the carefully engineered system of channels and ponds complete the picture.

• In the best examples, the entire ensemble is imbued with a delicacy of concept and elegantly precise execution, whose overall effect when everything was "functioning" can only be imagined as poetic.

Tomb Gardens

HumayunTomb

Garden Description• Humayun's Tomb garden sits near the bank of

the Yamuna river in Delhi. • His father, Babur, is credited with having

introduced the Persian Chahar Bagh to India. • Humayun's garden is a geometrically perfect

example of the genre but differs from Babur's gardens in having a building at its centre.

• This makes the garden into a setting for a building, rather than a place to be enjoyed from a pavilion.

• The garden symbolises the emperor's place in paradise.

• It was not the first example of the type, but it is the oldest to in good condition.

• The garden is divided into 36 squares by a grid of water channels and paths.

• Humayun's mausoleum, in red sandstone and white marble, stands a the centrepoint of the grid.

• The Aga Khan Trust funded a restoration project and in 2003 water was again flowing in the fountains and water channels.

• Humayun's tomb is surrounded by gardens intersected by watercourses

• Humayun's tomb with a very well chosen rich red gravel used for the paths.

• A delightful fountain, water flowing in the stone-edged channels and planting rising from below the walkway to above the walkway, as it should.

• A chadar (water sheet) cascading into a pool.

Fountains & Water Channels

Tomb complex of Ali Isa Khan Niazi beside Humayun's Tomb

Taj Mahal

Garden Description• Sir Banister Fletcher put it well in his History of

Architecture: 'The Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra stands in a formally laid-out walled garden entered through a pavilion on the main axis.

• The tomb, raised on a terrace and first seen reflected in the central canal, is entirely sheathed in marble, but the mosque and counter-mosque on the transverse axis are built in red sandstone.

• The four minarets, set symmetrically about the tomb, are scaled down to heighten the effect of the dominant, slightly bulbous dome.

• The mosques, built only to balance the composition are set sufficiently far away to do no more than frame the mausoleum.

• In essence, the whole riverside platform is a mosque courtyard with a tomb at its centre.

• The great entrance gate with its domed central chamber, set at the end of the long watercourse, would in any other setting be monumental in its own right.'

• It is the most perfect chahar bagh plan in existence. Edward Lear wrote: This perfect and most lovely building infinitely surpassed all I had expected, principally on account of its size, and its colour.

• It is quite impossible to imagine a more beautiful or wonderful sight.

• The great centre of the picture being ever the vast glittering ivory-white Taj Mahal, and the accompaniment and contrast of the dark green of the cypresses, with the rich yellow green trees of all sorts.

As they are seen today, the gardens at the Taj Mahal are only a tenth as large and glorious as they were in the days of Shah Jahan. Designed primarily as gardens of Paradise, fruit trees were planted to provide a prolific harvest from within the walls, which contributed towards the upkeep of the Taj Mahal.

• The first Mughal Emperor and connoisseur of gardens, Babar, once described the mango tree, symbol of life and fertility, as the best fruit to grow in Hindustan and it is likely that they once grew here.

• Growing parallel to the edges of the central water channel is a line of cypress trees. These trees are an ancient symbol of immortality and eternity often seen in Persian art and literature. They grew in Mughal gardens and it may have been that they grew more abundantly in the original garden at the Taj Mahal.

• During the British Raj, Lord Curzon initiated the restoration of the Taj Mahal after it had fallen into disrepair and made renovations to the lawns and surroundings.

Palace Gardens

Red Fort in Delhi

Garden Description• The area north of the Moti Masjid is occupied by

a garden, called the Hayat-Bakhsh-bagh (‘life-bestowing garden’), divided into squares on the pattern of Mughal gardens with causeways and channels between them.

• It finds mention in the contemporary accounts, although its present layout is new.

• At the north-eastern corner of the garden is a tower, called Shah-Burj, now dome less, which suffered much during the Mutiny.

• A similar tower known as Asad-Burj stands on the south-eastern corner of the fort.

• The water for feeding the Nahr-i-Bihisht was apparently lifted up to the Shah-Burj from the river and then carried by channels to the various palaces.

• The present pavilion adjoining the tower on the south was perhaps built during Aurangzeb’s reign.

• In the centre of the north wall is a marble cascade sloping into a ‘scalloped’ basin.

• The Red Fort, which protects a palace, is the largest survival of Shahjahanabad.

• Most of the rest has been re-built and is now called Old Delhi.

• The area was planned under the supervision of Shah Jahan as an integrated fortress and palace, much as the palaces of Sargon and Sennasherib, and the Alhambra, had been.

• The fortified outer wall, from which the modern name derives, was made of red standstone and many of the palace buildings within the wall are of white marble.

• The chief designer, Amad Lahwri, also designed the Taj Mahal building and garden.

• Shahjahanabad can be viewed as a Paradise Garden converted into a city plan.

• It has a series of great courts with colonnades, arcades, gateways and numerous buildings.

• The pavilions for the emperor and the zanana are on terraces along a canal by the former river bank. Kanbo wrote that 'it is a garden of perfect freshness and pleasantness, so that the whole paradisical ground from one end to the other because of its lush vegetation has outshone the green sky, and its sight is presented to the eyes of the beholder as the highest paradise'.

• Though connected by a canal the riverfront gardens had individual names: the Bagh-e Hayar Bakhsh, the Imtiyaz, the Bagh-e Angur and the Jahanara.

• The Bagh-e Hayar Bakhsh (Life Bestowing Garden) was the largest of these gardens and much of it survives.

• It had a waterfront terrace and a very large char bagh with water channels.

• The palace buildings had cypress-like columns and were themselves conceived as symbolic gardens.

• They had water channels and floral decoration. • The Red Fort was a symbol of Shah Jahan lush,

floral and fruitful reign: he lived in a paradise garden and created a paradise on earth. 'If there is a paradise on earth, this is it'. Few of the water features are operational and the planting has been badly neglected.

Rambagh

Garden Description• The Rambagh Gardens in Agra, a beautiful

Mughal pleasure Garden, are located 3 Km from the Tomb of Itimad ud Daulah and 500 m from the Chini Ka Rauza.

• The Mughal Emperors of India, were very influenced by their Persian background.

• In Persia, the pleasure garden is an important part of the landscape of every city.

• The Mughal emperors introduced the same concept in India.

• In Islam, the garden is considered a representation of Paradise, a word derived from pairidesa, which means land of fairies.

• Devout Muslims should not only aspire to reach paradise but should strive to create its likeness on earth.

• Therefore the Mughal Emperors laid out many beautiful gardens to create a paradise within their kingdoms.

• The Rambagh Gardens in Agra or the Bagh-i-Gul Afshan as they are also known, were created by the founder of the Mughal Empire, Babur.

• Nur Jahan, the Mughal Empress and wife of Jahangir made further additions to the Rambagh Gardens.

• The garden is laid out in the charbagh pattern, with four main divisions made by paths and waterways.

• Water is an important part of the Mughal gardens, since water is considered the source of life.

• Water from the Yamuna River, flows over 3 terraces in a series of cascades.

• Stairs on either side of the water channels, fountains, an island platform and two pavilions on either side of the main water channel, are added attractions of the Rambagh Gardens Agra,

• It is believed that Babur was buried briefly in the Rambagh Gardens before being entombed in his grand mausoleum at Kabul.

Encampment Gardens

Shalamar Bagh in Kashmir

Garden Description • The Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar, Jammu

and Kashmir, India during the summer• The Shalimar Gardens are the largest of the

three Mughal gardens built by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, in the lake city of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Jahangir built the gardens for his beloved and talented wife, Mehrunissa, titled Nur Jahan. The other two gardens are Nishat Bagh and Chashma Shahi.

• Shalamar is on the shore of Lake Dal in Kashmir.

The entrance pavilion at Shalimar

Garden

• The gardens comprise four terraces, containing a canal supplied with water from the Harwan reservoir nearby.The top garden, unseen from below, was reserved for the ladies of the court.The garden is considered to be very beautiful during the Autumn and Spring seasons due to the colour change in leaves and the blooming of flowers.

• The garden was started by the Emperor Jahangir and his wife, Nur Jahan.

• Its name means 'Abode of Love'. Additions were made by Shah Jahan and, in later ownership parts of the garden were changed and parts have decayed.

• Originally, the garden was approached from the lake by a long canal which has been cut by a road.

• There was a private garden for the emperor and another for the ladies of the court.

• Shah Jahan built a black marble pavilion in the ladies garden. It has a throne and a waterfall.

• The garden plan is a traditional charhar bagh with the central pavilion in a rectangular pool at the crossing point of the canals.

• The structure planting was of poplars and plane trees.

Shalamar Bagh in Lahore

Garden Description• The city of Lahore is often referred to as the City

of Gardens for the reason that many a beautiful garden of ancient and modern times and architecture are found all over the city.

• Successive Moghul emperors constructed a number of gardens to add to the beauty of Lahore - a city they loved the most.

• But the most unique and beautifully laid out garden remains to be the Shalamar gardens built by none other than Emperor Shah Jehan in 1642 AD, who also built the immortal Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

• The Shalimar Gardens are located along the Grand Trunk Road some 5 kilometres northeast of the Lahore city centre.

• The site of Shalimar Gardens originally belonged to one of the noble family of Lahore, who were given the title of "Mian" by the Mughal Emperor, for their services to the Empire.

• The land for the gardens was donated by Mian Muhammad Yusuf, the head of Mian family, to Emperor Shah Jahan, who in return, granted the Mian family governance of the Shalimar Gardens.

• The Shalimar Gardens remained under the custodianship of this family for more than 350 years.

• The project was assigned to Khalilullah Khan, a noble of Shah Jahan's court.

• The Gardens are surrounded by high walls with watch-towers at its four corners. Originally, the gardens were spread over seven ascending terraces, but only three  now remain. spread over an area of about 42 acres.

• These terraces are elevated by 4-5 metres above one another.

• The upper terrace is known as "Farah Baksh", meaning Bestower of Pleasure, the middle terrace is named "Faiz Baksh" meaning Bestower of Goodness and the lower terrace is called "Hayat Baksh" meaning Bestower of life.

• The most novel thing about the gardens is its irrigation system, which remained a mystery for a long time.

• The designers and planners dug a 161 kilometres long canal, named "Shah Nahar" meaning Royal (Shah) canal (Naher), brought from Rajpot (present day Madhpur in India).

• The canal intersected the Gardens and discharged into a large marble basin in the middle terrace.

• The garden was planned by Shah Jahan to mark the completion of a canal bringing water from the River Ravi to Lahore.

• It was designed in a opulent manner with terracing, pavilions, a wide canal, fountains and a great tank with a marble platform in its midst.

• The buildings were removed in the eighteenth century, to make the Golden Temple at Amritsar, but reconstructions were made at a later date.

• The plan comprises two charhar bagh grids of canals.

• The garden stood virtually alone upon the riverbank.

• Its three broad terraces stepped majestically down to the floodplain.

• A broad canal led from the river to the garden, feeding hundreds of fountains, pools, and lushly irrigated plantings.

• The surrounding landscape seemed flat, dry, and scrubby in comparison.

MADE BY:ASHOK KUMAR SINGH (7004)

RAJAN GROVER (7015)

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