Indo-Islamic architecture

Also called: Indo-Saracenic (medieval) · Topic: Vijayanagara and the Deccan · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara"

Meaning

Indo-Islamic architecture is a building style that grew when the architecture brought by the Turkish Sultans mixed with local Indian ways of building. Its main features are the true arch (an arch made of wedge-shaped stones that lock together) and the dome. At Vijayanagara this style appears in the city gateways and in secular (non-religious) buildings of the royal centre, such as the Lotus Mahal, the Queen's Bath and the "Elephant stables". [3]

It matters because it shows that a Hindu kingdom borrowed freely from the building ideas of its Muslim neighbours. Vijayanagara and the Deccan Sultanates fought wars, but they also shared ideas and a common culture.

Explanation

Background: where the style came from

• Early Indian builders mostly used the trabeate method (post and lintel: upright pillars with a flat stone beam laid across them). To cover wider gaps they used corbelling (each stone layer sticks out a little beyond the one below, until the two sides meet).
• The Turkish Sultans (from the 13th century) brought the arcuate method (building with arches). It used:
• the true arch, held up by a central keystone;
• the dome, which can roof a large space with no pillars inside;

• strong lime mortar to bind the stones.

• Art historians call the result Indo-Islamic because it kept changing as it met local building habits in each region. That is why it looks different in Delhi, Bengal, Gujarat and the Deccan.

• In the Deccan, Vijayanagara bordered the Deccan Sultanates. Craftsmen, soldiers and ideas moved across this border, so the arch-and-dome style reached Vijayanagara.

Main features at Vijayanagara

• Gateways: the arch over the gateway into the fortified settlement, and the dome above the gate, are typical Sultanate features.
• Lotus Mahal:
• stands in the zenana enclosure (the walled block for royal women), next to the stone basement of the "Queen's palace" [2][3];
• has Indo-Islamic arches and nine towers, so Hindu and Islamic ideas are mixed in one building [3];
• the name "Lotus Mahal" was given by British travellers in the 19th century. It is not the old name.

• Colin Mackenzie's map marks it as a council chamber (a room where the king met his advisers).

• "Elephant stables": a long row of large domed chambers close to the Lotus Mahal. "Elephant stables" is only the usual label. It comes from tradition, not from an inscription.

• Queen's Bath: ASI names it, along with the Elephant Stables, as a secular building in this mixed style. [3]

A clear pattern: secular buildings vs temples

• Secular buildings (gateways, pavilions, stables, baths) used arches and domes. [3]
• Temples kept to the Dravida style (the south Indian temple style with gopurams and pillared mandapas). They were built fully in stone.
• So the kings borrowed the new style for buildings of power and comfort, but kept religious architecture traditional.
• ASI reads this mixing as a sign of a multi-religious, multi-ethnic society. [3]

Results and continuity

• Vijayanagara was defeated by the confederacy of Deccan Sultanates in 1565, looted for about six months, and then abandoned. [4]
• The style did not die with the city. The nayakas (military chiefs who held land, and who later ruled as local kings) carried the palace-building tradition into their own capitals, for example the arched audience hall at Madurai.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Vijayanagara empire, 1336–1646. The royal-centre buildings belong to the city's peak, before the sack of 1565. [4]
• Place: the royal centre, in the south-west of the Vijayanagara settlement at Hampi, Karnataka. The Lotus Mahal and the Queen's palace basement lie in the zenana enclosure. [2][3]
• Heritage status: Hampi was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986. The site has more than 1,600 surviving remains. [3][4]
• How we know:
• Surviving buildings: arches and domes are built of stone and mortar, so they lasted. Most other palace buildings had wooden, brick and plaster upper parts that rotted or burnt away.
• Colin Mackenzie's map: the first survey of the ruins. It calls the Lotus Mahal a council chamber.
• 19th-century British travellers: gave the name "Lotus Mahal".

• Official records: the Archaeological Survey of India, the Indian Culture Portal (Ministry of Culture) and UNESCO describe the mixed style. [2][3][4]

• Textbook: NCERT Class 12, Part 2, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara".

Don't confuse with

• Indo-Saracenic style (colonial): in exams, "Indo-Saracenic" usually means the style the British used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It mixed Indian, Islamic and European Gothic features. Vijayanagara's arch-and-dome buildings are Indo-Islamic, from a much earlier period.
• Dravida style: the temple style of Vijayanagara (for example, the Hazara Rama temple). It has no true arch or dome. Indo-Islamic features appear in secular buildings.
• Trabeate vs arcuate: trabeate = pillars and flat beams (the older Indian method). Arcuate = true arches and domes (the method brought by the Sultans). Indo-Islamic architecture is mainly arcuate.
• "Lotus Mahal" as an old name: it is a 19th-century British name. Mackenzie's map calls the building a council chamber, so "pleasure palace for queens" is only one reading.

Prelims Hooks

• True arch and dome = the two typical features brought by the Turkish Sultans. At Vijayanagara they appear in the gateways and the dome over the gate.
• Lotus Mahal: has nine towers and Indo-Islamic arches; stands in the zenana enclosure at Hampi (Karnataka). [2][3]
• Lotus Mahal was named by 19th-century British travellers. Colin Mackenzie's map calls it a council chamber.
• ASI names the Queen's Bath and the Elephant Stables as secular buildings in Indo-Islamic style. [3]
• Trap: Indo-Islamic features appear in secular buildings, not in the temples, which stay in Dravida style.
• Hampi: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. The city fell to the Deccan Sultanates' confederacy in 1565. [4]

Mains Points

• Cultural exchange despite war. Vijayanagara fought the Deccan Sultanates, yet it took the arch and the dome for its gateways, the Lotus Mahal, the Queen's Bath and the Elephant Stables. ASI sees this as a sign of a multi-religious, multi-ethnic society [3]. This weakens the simple picture of "Hindu vs Muslim" kingdoms in the Deccan.
• Choosing which buildings to mix.
• Secular buildings used the new arcuate style.
• Temples kept the Dravida tradition.

• So the rulers showed their royal power in a shared style of the Deccan courts, while keeping religious buildings traditional. Even the evidence has limits: labels like "Lotus Mahal" and "Elephant stables" are modern names, and Mackenzie's map reads the Lotus Mahal differently.

• Continuity after collapse. The defeat of 1565 ended the capital [4], but not the style. The nayakas carried the arched audience-hall tradition to Madurai and other capitals. The building tradition outlived the empire.

Related concepts

• Royal centre of Vijayanagara
• Mahanavami dibba
• Mahanavami festival
• Lotus Mahal
• Hazara Rama temple

Read more

• The royal centre