Description

The Provincial Style of Indo-Islamic architecture in Malwa, a region towards the west centre of the country, is the story of two cities, Dhar and Mandu. The former was the ancient capital of these parts, as for several centuries during the early mediaeval period Dhar was the stronghold of the Paramaras,a Hindu dynasty so powerful and who ruled over so large a kingdom that they originated the saying “the world is the Paramaras.” There are records that these rulers were great patrons of literature,but they do not appear to have given any noteworthy encouragement to the visual arts of their subjects, as no specific development of architecture or its allied handicrafts seems to have existed within their territory, nor did its people possess any of those aesthetic qualities, which, as already indicated were such an outstanding feature of the adjacent country of Gujarat.Not that the cult of fine building was neglected, the temples of this part were sufficiently numerous to supply ample materials for conversion into the early structures of the Moslem invaders, but it is fairly clear that there was not quite that pronounced artistic impulse during the supremacy of the Paramaras that almost universally prevailed elsewhere.The result of this was that when the Moslems found themselves finally established at the capital of Malwa, they had to look further afield than their own possessions for skilled and experienced artizans to carry out any building projects that were in contemplation.One of the most characteristic of these royal tombs is that of Abdullah Qutb Shah, who died in 1672, an immense two storied monument, its upper portion sur- rounded bv a hanging balcony,elaborated with perforated panels, merlons, and numerous finials.A more compact and restrained design, probabIy so on account of its earlier date is that of Mohammed Ouli Qutb Shah (dec. I6I2). Besides the large number of tombs there are also several mosques in the same neighbourhood, Including those in the city of Hyderabad itself, most of them of the seventeenth century, such as the Jami masjid, the Mecca mosque, the Mushirabad mosque, and a small but very finished example known as the Toli masjid (1671).Unquestionably the building of the Qutb Shahi period at the exi’tmg capital of the Nizam’s dominions, which presents the most real architectural value is neither a mosque nor a tomb, but a monumental structure erected in 1591, as a form of triumphal archway, and now called the Char Minar, or Four Minars.(Plate XLVIII, Fig. I.) In position and appearance it seems to have served the same purpose as the Tin Darwaza, or “Triple Gateway” built at a much earlier date in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.