Architecture By Location

"The ascents throughout the palace are not by stairs, but by inclined planes of very easy slope, and certainly less fatiguing than the European style. The passages are all narrow and mean, and the object in the whole building seems more to surprise by the number, the intricacy, and detail of the rooms and courts, than by any apartments of large size and magnificent proportions. A great part of the windows are glazed with small panes of stained or plain glass in latticed frames of white marble. The stained glass was said to be from Venice. These upper rooms, which are in fact a part of the Zennanah, have their floors chiefly covered with stuffed white cotton quilts, over which, in certain places, sitringees are placed, and, in the more costly rooms, small Persian carpets. There are very strong wooden doors in different parts of the building whose hinges and locks are as rude as those of a prison, but the suites of apartments themselves are only divided by large striped curtains hung over the arched doorways. The ceilings are generally low, and the rooms dark and close; both the walls and ceilings are, however, splendidly carved and painted, and some of the former are entirely composed of small looking-glasses in fantastic frames of chunam mixed with talc, which have the appearance of silver till closely examined. The subjects of the paintings are almost entirely mythological, and their style of colouring, their attitudes, and the general gloomy silence and intricacy of the place reminded me frequently to Belzoni’s model of the Egyptian tomb."

"we reached the town, which almost entirely consisted of temples, and had few inhabitants but grim and ghastly Yogis, with their hair in elf-knots and their faces covered with chalk, sitting naked and hideous, like so many ghouls, amid the tombs and ruined houses. A narrow winding street led us though these abodes of superstition, under a dark shade of peepul trees, till we found ourselves on another steep ascent paved with granite and leading to the palace. We wound along the face of the hill, through, I think, three gothic gateways, alighted in a large moss-grown quadrangle surrounded by what seemed to be barracks and stables, and followed our guides up a broad and long flight of steps through another richly-ornamented gateway, into the interior courts of the building, which contain one very noble hall of audience, a pretty little garden with fountains, and a long succession of passages, cloisters, alcoves and small and intricate apartments, many of them extremely beautiful, and enjoying from their windows, balconies, and terraces, one of the most striking prospects which can be conceived. The carving in stone and marble, and the inlaid flowers and ornaments in some of these apartments, are equal to those at Delhi and Agra, and only surpassed by the beauties of the Tage-mahal. My companions, none of whom had visited Umeer before, all declared that, as a whole, it was superior to the castle of Delhi. For myself, I have seen may royal palaces containing larger and more stately rooms, – many, the architecture of which in a purer taste, and some which have covered a greater extent of ground, (though in this, if the fortress on the hill be included, Umeer will rank, I think, above Windsor,) but for varied and picturesque effect, for richness of carving, for wild beauty of situation, for the number and romantic singularity of the apartments, and the strangeness of finding such a building in such a place and country, I am able to compare nothing with Umeer; and this, too, was the work of Jye Singh! The ornaments are in the same style, though in a better state, than those of his palace at Jyepoor, and the size and number of the apartments are also similar. A greater use has been made of stained glass here, or else, from the inaccessible height of the window, the glass has remained in better preservation. The building is in good repair, but has a solitary and deserted aspect; and as our guide, with his bunch of keys, unlocked one iron clenched door after another, and led us over terraces and up towers, down steep, dark, sloping passages, and through a long succession of silent courts, and dim vaulted chambers, seen only through coloured glass, and made more gorgeously gloomy by their carving, gilding, and mirrors, the idea of an enchanted castle occurred, I believe, to us all; and I could not help thinking what magnificent use Ariosto or Sir Walter Scott would have made of such a building. After all we saw only part of it."

"The Hindu architects produced buildings incomparably more rich and interesting as works of art. I have not visited Southern India, where, it is said, the finest specimen of Hindu architecture are to be found. But I have seen enough of the art in Rajputana to convince me of its enormous superiority to any work of the Mohammedans. The temples at Chitor, for example, are specimens of true classicism."

"The fort of Chitor is larger than that of Jodhpur and therefore less spectacular. The Jodhpur fort is perched on the summit of what is almost a crag. The hill on which Chitor is built is probably as high, but it seems much lower, owing to its great length; it is a ridge, not a pinnacle of rock. And the buildings, which, at Jodhpur, are crowded into a single imposing pile, are scattered at wide intervals over the space enclosed within the circuit of the walls of Chitor. Jodhpur is wildly picturesque, like something out of a Dore picture-book. Examined at close quarters, however, it is not particularly interesting. From a distance, Chitor is less imposing; but climb up to it, and you will find it full of magnificent buildings — temples among the finest in Upper India, great ruined palaces, towers fantastically carved from base to summit. None of these buildings is much more than five hundred years old ; but time has dealt hardly with them. The soft stone of which they are built has crumbled away under the rain and sun and wind. The sharp edges have become blunt, the innumerable sculptures are blurred and defaced. The splendours of Hindu art are only dimly seen, as though through an intervening mist, or with myopic and unspectacled eyes."

"...it is one of the most famous cities of India... highly popular among both domestic and foreign tourists who are attracted to its living craft traditions, its palaces and regularly planned walled city at its core."

"Founded in the early eighteenth century, it is pre-colonial in inception – designed sufficiently recently to ensure the ready availability of ample source material, yet in accordance with indigenous principles."

"An official court history of Jaipur, composed during the reign of Sawai Ram Singh II one hundred years after the foundation of the city, eulogizes its distinctive aspects, speaking of the king’s palace with its golden pinnacles and battlements, the beautiful cross roads and bazars, the numerous balconies and stone screens, and the traders and shopkeepers who sit like Kubera (the round God of wealth) in front of their stalls."

"The walled city, with its twelve gates and numerous mosques, temples and towers, was founded in 1411 by Ahmad Shah on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati River. Despite its dilapidated condition, the Indian Islamic architecture and the houses decorated with wood carvings attest to its affluent status."

"The nucleus of Jaipur was the palace and garden of Jai Niwas, the foundations for which were laid in 1725. The building of the city and its surrounding walls and gates was started with due propitiatory rites (sankalpa) on 18 November 1727"

"The Chandra Mahal or principal palace is a massive building from which a magnificent view is obtained of the surrounding hills, fort and extensive gardens. The ground and other floors of the palace comprise apartments richly decorated with floral designs, embellished with quaint and beautiful buildings, adorned with mirrors, and sumptuously furnished and fitted in the most elegant style. P.210"

"The fortifications of the city ...are so like those of the Kremlin that I could almost have fancied myself at Moscow."

"The main streets are the principal bazars; on each side, under the arcades of the palaces, temples, and houses, are the shops of the artisans, who are seen working almost in the open air at their trades, the tailors, shoemakers, goldsmiths, armourers, pastry-cooks, confectioners, copper-smiths, etc. The grain merchants occupy very spacious huts of thatch, constructed in as sort of coarse lattice work…t in the midst of the main streets. The stalls are removed whenever, the Rajah issued from his palace. Delhi has only one similar road, namely the Chandni Chowk: but at Jaipur all the roads s resemble it and bear that name."

"The ordinary houses have been built with the stone of the hillocks around. The houses of a higher rank, built of the same materials, are plastered with a lime cement of brilliant whiteness. The cement is sometime polished like stucco…Most of the temples and palaces have facings of white marble. There is no hut, no ruined building, no rubbish heap. The city has the look of what it really is, n entirely new town, which has not been subjected to the horrors of the war. In general, the architecture of Jaipur is of a very elegant style."

"...a vision of daring and dainty loveliness, of story of rosy masonry and delicate overhanging balconies and latticed windows, soaring with tier after tier of fanciful architecture in a pyramidal form, a very mountain of airy and audacious beauty, through the thousdnad pierced screens and gilded arches of which the Indian air blows cool over the flt roofs of the very highest house. Alladin’s magician could have called into existence no more marvelous abode."

"The most noticeable of the buildings here are the Diwan-i-Khas, Diwan-i-Aam, the Astronomical Observatory and the temples of Brajanandji and Anand Krishnaji."

"Jai Singh is claimed to have devised the Samrat Yantra, the Jaiprakash, and the Ram Yantra. These three instruments are indeed peculiar to his Observatorries, and must be to some extent attributed to his personal ingenuity."

"His royal highness, the Prince of Wales, laid the foundation stone of Albert Hall in Jaipur (6 February, 1876)… a modern palace was built outside the city, amidst extensive grounds and shady trees, and named Rambagh Palace, as an improved residence for Royalty."

"Just as later Mughal painting is a harmonious blend of Persian and Indian artistic tradition, so the Indo-Muslim architecture of Delhi and Ajmer is a blend. In the Quwwat al-Islam at Delhi and the Arhai din-ka-Jhopra at Ajmer, existing remains bear unmistakable evidence that they were not merely compilations, but the distinctive, planned works of professional architects…"

"Although constructed of destroyed Hindu temples, the Mosques at Old Delhi and Ajmer once and for all set the fashion to be followed by later mosques in Muslim India…"

"…To Iletmish we owe some of the finest Muslim works in India. The Arhai din ka-Jhopra began by Qutab al-Din in AD 1198-99, was also completed by him. Tod had said of it that it was ‘one of the most perfect as well as the most ancient monuments of Hindu architecture’, on the evidence of certain four-armed figures to be seen on the pillars… “The Ajmer Mosque resembles the Delhi Mosque in its use of pre-Muslim materials as well as in its courtyard plan, arched screen, columnar liwan and riwags and use of reconstructed Hindu corbelled domes. All these features, except the fragments of Hindu and Jain carvings used in the work are essentially Islamic. The Ajmer Mosque indicates a further improvement in Mosque design… As Sardar puts it, ‘These pillars have a greater height than those at the Kutub, and are more elegant in their sculpture and general appearance than the converted Mosques in Malwa and Ahmedabad.’"

"That the practice of utilizing the spoils of Hindu temples continued throughout the reign of Sultan Iletmish is proved by the Mosque of Ukha in Bayana (Uttar Pradesh), which is also on the site of a Hindu temple…"

"About 2 c. without Dely is the remainder of an auncient mole [mahal?] or hunting house, built by Sultan Berusa [Sultan Firoz Shah, the pillar referred to is the Asoka lat brought by him from Meerut], a great Indian monarch, with much curiositie of stoneworke. With and above the rest is to be seen a stone pillar, which, passing through three stories, is higher then all twenty foure foot, having at the top a globe and a halfe moone over it. This stone, they say, stands as much under the earth, and is placed in the water, being all one entire stone; some say Naserdengady, a Potan king [probably Nasiruddin Tughlak, son of Firoz Shah], would have taken it up and was prohibited by multitude of scorpions, and that it hath inscriptions. In divers parts of India the like are to be seene, and of late was found buried in the ground about Fettipore a stone piller of an hundred cubits length, which the King commanded to bring to Agra, but was broken in the way, to his great griefe."

"During the British colonial period, Jaipur is again especially interesting because it remained the capital of semi-autonomous Indian state that lay outside the domain of British India....In the years since Independence, Jaipur, now the capital of Rajasthan, has experienced rapid and dramatic expansion and contributions to this process has been made by some of India’s leading architects…"

"The first to move beyond the walls with the growth of the city’s population were the wealthy mill-owners. They built s in the northern suburb of . From the early 1920s, wealthy members of upper-caste groups began moving to the western side of the river, where they constructed housing societies. These small cooperative apartment buildings, alongside buildings, became the new residential pattern in the area."

"The temple of Dwarica, the most celebrated of all the shrines raised to Crishna [Krishna], is built upon an eminence rising from the sea-shore, and surrounded by a fortified wall, which likewise encircles the town, from which it is, however, separated by a lofty partition-wall, through which it is necessary to pass to see it to advantage. The architectural character of this temple is that to which we are accustomed to give the name of pagoda. It may be said to consist of three parts: the munduff, or hall of congregation; the devachna, or penetralia (also termed gabarra); and the sikra, or spire…the chisel of Islam had been also at work, and defaced every graven image, nor is there enough remaining to disclose the original design: nevertheless, this obliteration has been done with care, so as not to injure the edifice. The basement, or square portion of the temple, from which springs the sikra, was the sanctum in former ages, when Budha-trivicrama was the object of adoration, anterior to the heresy of Crishna, who was himself a worshipper of Budha, whose miniature shrine is still the sanctum-sanctorum of Dwarica, while Crishna is installed in a cella beyond. The sikra, or spire, constructed in the most ancient style, consists of a series of pyramids, each representing a miniature temple, and each diminishing with the contracting spire, which terminates at one hundred and forty feet from the ground. There are seven distinct stories before this pyramidal spire greatly diminishes in diameter; each face of each story is ornamented with open porches, surmounted by a pediment supported by small columns. Each of these stories internally consists of column placed on column, whose enormous architraves increase in bulk in the decreasing ratio of the superimposed mass, and although the majority at the summit are actually broken by their own weight, yet they are retained in their position by the aggregate unity. The capitals of these columns are quite plain, having four cross projections for the architraves to rest on; and by an obtuseness in the Silpi not to be accounted for, several of these architraves do not rest on the columns, but on the projections; and, strange to say, the lapse of centuries has proved their efficiency, though Vitruvius might have regarded the innovation with astonishment. The entire fabric, whose internal dimensions are seventy-eight feet by sixty-six, is built from the rock, which is a sand-stone of various degrees of texture, forming the substratum of the island; – it has a greenish hue, either from its native bed, or from imbibing the saline atmosphere, which, when a strong light strikes upon it, gives the mass a vitreous transparent lustre. Internally it has a curious conker-like appearance. The architraves are, however, an exception, being of the same calcareous marine conglomerate, not unlike travertine, as already described in the temple of Somnat’h."

"The foundation of this shrine must have been laid in the solstice, as its front varies ten points from the meridian line; and as the Silpi, or architect, in these matters, acts under the priest, we may infer that the Surya Siddhanta was little known to the Goorgoocha Brahmins, the ministrants of their times, who took the heliacal rising of those days as the true east point; its breadth is, therefore, from N.N.W. to S.S.E. Contrary to custom, it has its back to the rising sun, and faces the west. Crishna is here adored under his form of Rinchor, when he was driven from his patrimony, Surasena, by the Budhist king of Magadha. A covered colonnaded piazza connects the cella of Crishna with a miniature temple dedicated to Deoki, his mother; and within the ample court are various other shrines, one of which, in the S.E. angle, contains the statue of Budha Tri-vicrama, or, as he is familiarly called, Tricam-Rae and Trimnat’h, which is always crowded with votaries. Opposite to this, or at the S.W. angle of the main temple, is a smaller one, dedicated to another form of Crishna, Madhu Rae, and between these is a passage leading by a flight of steps to the Goomtee, a small rivulet, whose embouchure with the ocean is especially sacred, though is would not wet the instep to cross it. From the grand temple to the sungum, or point of confluence, where there is a small temple to Sungum-Narayn, the course of the Goomtee is studded with the cenotaphs of those pilgrims who were fortunate enough to surrender life at this “dwara of the deity.” Amongst them are four of the five Pandu brothers, countenancing the tradition that the fifth proceeded across the Hemachil, where, being lost sight of, he is said to have perished in its snows, and whither he was accompanied by Baldeo, the Indian Hercules, whose statue is enshrined in the south-west corner of the great munduff, several step under ground. Baldeo is represented on his ascent from patal, or the infernal regions, after some monstrous combat."

"After AD. 1411 came to be erected the oldest extant fortification of the city, viz., the square Bhadra towers, which with massive form included the royal citadel on an area of about 16 hectares."

"Its wealth of wooden architecture of settlements is also a great heritage for which the city is well known since centuries and is considered a storehouse of integrated crafts which extended from block making for textile printing to some of the finest expressions in traditional houses and temple building arts...Its economic enterprise sustaining the city and state, its wisdom in financial expertise and its guild tradition for community co-existence, leading to a world class status in textiles in 19th century."

"Ahmadabad is a curious amalgam of conservative traditions and cosmopolitan trends. Reputed as 'Manchester' of India, is a busy industrial city situated in cotton-growing hinterland north of Gulf of Cambay, about 100 km upstream of the mouth of the Sabarmati river."

"It is true that Mosque architecture in Gujarat only began in the 14th century. When ‘Ala-al-Din Khalji conquered and annexed the country to the Delhi Sultanate in the later part of the 13th century, there still flourished a singularly beautiful indigenous style of architecture. The early monuments of Gujarat, notably at Patan (Anhilvada) tell the same story of the demolition of local temples and the reconstruction of their fragments…"

"…In the beginning, at the Qutb, the Hindu element was confined architecturally to the trabeate constructive methods, and to part of the decoration, Islam contributing the plan and the embellishment of the Arabic lettering. In Gujarat, notably in the entrance porches of the Jami‘ Masjid at Cambay, much may fairly be described as literal reconstruction of Hindu work, as units in the established plan of a Muslim place of worship. These entrances have their parallels in the pavilions and mandapas of Hindu and Jaina temples still standing, for instance, at Modhera and Mount Abu…”"

"The earliest recorded building in Gujarat is the Adina Masjid at Patan (Anhilvada), as stated above. This bears the same unusual name as that of the Mosque built by Sikandar Shah at Hazrat Pandua about fifty years later. The tomb of Sheikh Farid and the Adina Masjid at Patan, which are dated C. AH 700/AD 1300, correspond in their utilization of Hindu building material with the tomb and the Mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi at Tribeni in Hooghly, Bengal, which are dated C. AH 705/ AD 1305. The now demolished Adina Masjid at Patan, is said to have had one thousand and fifty pillars of marble and other stones taken from destroyed temples. Erected by Ulugh Khan, ‘Ala’-al-Din Khalji’s Governor, it measures 400 feet by 300 feet…”"

"Unlike the Patan Mosque, the Jami‘ Masjid of Bharoch, which is also dated C. AH 700/AD 1300 is a new creation. Although it does incorporate Hindu pillars, it is built on the usual Mosque plan with which we are familiar in earlier works. The brackets of the incorporated pillars and the carved interior of the corbelled domes are particularly fine. They, of course, necessarily recall the much earlier work of the Quwwat al-Islam at Delhi. It is important to realize that these primitive methods were still being used in the Indian provinces two hundred years after they were fully developed at Delhi."

"The Mosque of Cambay demonstrates the imposition of Khalji features, such as the arched screen of the Jama‘at Khana Masjid at the Dargah of Nizam-al-Din Aulia in Delhi, upon the local trabeate forms of Gujarat Hindu architecture. Codrington writes, ‘The Jami‘ Masjid at Cambay was finished in 1325, and is typical of these earlier buildings. It has all the appurtenances that Islam demands-cloisters, open court-yard, the covered place for prayer, mimbar and mihrab-but only the west end is in any sense Islamic. As at Delhi and Ajmir, the pillars of the cloisters, and notably the entrance porches as a whole, are the relics of sacked Hindu shrines."

"As we enter the town, very expansive square opens before us, with a large expanse of water in the middle, for public use… the square itself is composed of magnificent houses which render Calcutta not only one of the best town in Asia but one of the finest in the world. One side of the square consists of a range of buildings occupied by persons in civil employments under the Company, such as writers in public offices."

"Dhaka, once known as a city of mosques or the Venice of the east, will soon become a city of shopping malls—a shapeless concrete jungle if the current trends continue."

"...In Bengal the British, who had been trading there since 1650s, settled for Calcutta as their base around 1690. Here a collection of bungalows which looked like ‘thatched hovels’, a stables, a hospital, a barracks, and a powder magazine could all be found huddled next to the imposing Fort William. The three as yet unpromising settlements of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, were eventually to become the power centers of British rule in India."

"Calcutta, more than New Delhi, is the British-built city of India...In the building of Calcutta, known first as the city of palaces, and later as the second city of the British Empire, the British worked with immense confidence, not adopting the styles of Indian rulers, but setting down in India adaptations of the European classical styles as emblems of a conquering civilisation. But the imperial city, over 200 years of its development also became an Indian city…To me at the end of 1962, after some months of Indian small-town and district life, Calcutta gave me the immediate feel of the metropolis, with all the visual excitement of a metropolis… Twenty-six years later the grandeur of the British-built city… could still be seen in a ghostly way, because so little had been added since independence, so little had been added since 1962… The British had built Calcutta and given it their mark. And though the circumstances were fortuitous – when the British ceased to rule, the city began to die."

"Dan enjoyed bragging that the Kamalapur station was one of the largest railway stations in Asia. If one counted the length of its long platforms and adjoining railway staff quarters, the station structures stretched out over a mile."

"আধুনিক স্থাপত্যধারায় তৈরি কমলাপুর রেলওয়ে স্টেশন দক্ষিণ এশিয়ার আধুনিক ট্রেন যোগাযোগব্যবস্থার একটি ব্যতিক্রমী প্রতীক। ১৮৮০ দশকে তৈরি মুম্বাইয়ের ভিক্টোরিয়া টার্মিনাল, যেটা এখন ছত্রপতি শিবাজি টার্মিনাল নামে পরিচিত, আর বিংশ শতাব্দীর শুরুতে নির্মিত কলকাতার হাওড়া স্টেশন ছিল ঔপনিবেশিক স্থাপত্যধারার প্রতিনিধি। এ কারণে কমলাপুরের ঐতিহাসিক গুরুত্ব অপরিসীম।"

"If you draw a picture of Dhaka, Kamalapur will invariably come to your mind. People keep that iconic image as postcards. You can also find it as decorative paintings behind rickshaws..."

"Though it is not as globally recognizable as Australia’s most famous building, Kamalapur Railway Station has assumed its own prominent position in the architectural identity of Bangladesh’s capital. The reproduction of the station’s likeness is common in both local memorabilia and imitative design from other parts of the country."

"শুধু কমলাপুর স্টেশন ভাঙা কেন, আমাদের এখানে কোনো ধরনের ঐতিহ্যবাহী জিনিস রাখা হবে না এরকম একটা অভ্যাস শুরু হয়ে গেছে। কেননা এ ধরনের কাজের সঙ্গে যারা যুক্ত তাদের ইতিহাস, ঐতিহ্য ও নান্দনিক কোনো জ্ঞান নেই। সে জন্য শুধু কমলাপুর কেন কোনো ধরনের ঐতিহ্যবাহী স্থাপনা বা নান্দনিক স্থাপনার কোনো মূল্য তাদের কাছে নেই।"