QUTUB MINAR

Delhi is home to some of the finest monuments in the world. Mostly built during the Mughal reign in India. The monuments in Delhi represent a rich style of architecture. The Qutub Minar in Mehrauli, Delhi is apparently the largest tower in the world built by one of the Mughals.

 The only Muslim building known to be taller than the Minar is the Minaret of the mosque of Hassan at Cairo. The Qutub Minar, however, has a far nobler appearance and is distinctly superior to its Egyptian rival in design and finished.

 Ibn Battuta, a famous Moorish traveler and commentator of the Middle Ages, spoke of the Minar as one of the wonders of the world – which has no parallel in the lands of Islam. It is known as a tower of victory and as a minaret of the mosque.

Let us have a look on the architecture of Qutub Minar. The Minar tapers from a 15 m diameter at the base to just 2.5 m at the top. At the foot of the tower is the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, the first mosque to be built in India.

 The tower has five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony and the first three storeys are made of red sandstone; the fourth and fifth storeys are of marble and sandstone.

An inscription over its eastern gate provocatively informs that it was built with material obtained from demolishing '27 Hindu temples'.

A 7 m-high iron pillar stands in the courtyard of the mosque. It is said that if you can encircle it with your hands while standing with your back to it your wish will be fulfilled.

Qutub-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim ruler of Delhi, commenced the construction of the Qutab Minar in 1200 AD, but could only finish the basement. His successor, Iltutmush, added three more storeys.

 The Qutub Minar was damaged by lightening in 1368 A.D. Then Firuz Shah Tughluq rebuilt the fourth storey, added the fifth and surmounted it with a harp-shaped cupola. The cupola has since disappeared being collapsed in an earthquake in 1803 A.D. but the fourth and fifth stores still survive.

They are essentially different, both architecturally and in medium of their construction, from the work of Aibak and Iltutmish. The fluted storeys are replaced by cylindrical shafts, and the bulk of the work is in white marble in lace of red stone.

The tower is so high that around 379 steps are needed to be climbed to reach the top. The verses from the holy Quran are carved on sandstone walls of Qutub Minar.

An attractive feature of the Qutub Minar is that the lowest storey has twenty-four flutings, alternately angular and circular; the second storey had circular flutings, and the third only angular.

Each fluting is carried right up to the end of the storey, and this undoubtedly adds to the beauty and effect of the tower. These three storeys are of red sandstone. Above this, however, the Qutub Minar is plain and made principally of marble with belts of red sandstone.

 Another remarkable feature of the Minar is that it is ornamented by four boldly-projecting balconies. A doorway in each storey opens on to its own special balcony.

 Ala'i-Darwaza, the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque was constructed by Alau'd-Din Khalji in AH 710 (AD 1311) as recorded in the inscriptions engraved on it. This is the first building employing Islamic principles of construction and ornamentation.

Ala'i Minar which stands to the north of Qutb-Minar, was commenced by Alau'd-Din Khalji, with the intention of making it twice the size of earlier Minar. He could complete only the first storey which now has an extant height of 25 m. The other remains in the Qutb complex comprise madrasa, graves, tombs, mosque and architectural members.

 

GOL GUMBAZ OF BIJAPUR

Bijapur, a small town bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka was once the capital of Adil Shah dynasty for more than 200 years. 

Bijapur is a city witness of wars and history from the period             of chalukya to Adil Shahi, Mugal shahi and Maratha. Bijapur is also known for its excellent Muslim architecture like Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rauza.

Gol Gumbaz is a fine piece of Islamic architectural style. The Gol Gumbaz has a floor area of 1700 square meter, a height of 51 meter and diameter of 37 meters with 3 meter thick walls. The construction of this large tomb took around 20 years to complete.

Mohammed Adil shah started construction of his own tomb to bury his mortal remains right after his ascent to the throne in 1626.

Mohammed Adil shah intended to build for himself a mausoleum comparable and possibly grander in scale than the Ibrahim Rauza, the tomb of his father, Ibrahim Adil Shah II.

The composition and ornamentation of the Ibrahim Rauza is exceptionally intricate and beautiful.

The Gol Gumbaz was planned as a mammoth single chamber structure. The construction of the tomb continued throughout Mohammed Adil Shah’s regime but could not be executed to full extent due to the sudden demise of the Sultan in 1656. Buried along with the Sultan are his two wives, Taj Jahan Begum and Aroos Bibi, his mistress Rambha, his daughter and his grandson. 

Another significant feature of the Gol Gumbaz is its central dome which stands without the support of pillars. The dome is the second largest in the world, with a diameter of almost 600 feet, next only to St. Peter's Basillica in Rome.

The tomb is a giant cube topped with a hemispherical dome. The entire structure is fitted on a 600 feet podium. Staircases in the walls of the main building lead to the seven-storey octagonal tower at each of the four corners.

 Each storey has seven arched windows and all are capped by smaller domes. The seven floors of the towers are demarcated by a projecting cornice and a row of arched openings marking each level.

A broad eighth storey gallery, accessible by winding staircases in the four towers, circles the dome and hangs out at around 3.3 m. This gallery is an acoustic marvel and is called the “Whispering Gallery”. A commendable piece of civil engineering, this amazing echo system reflects any sound for over eleven times.

WHISPERING GALLERY

It has been designed in such a way that one can even hear the faintest tick of a watch across a distance of about 37 meters within the vast dome. Even amidst the chaos we could clearly hear the sound of paper crumpling, coins jingling, clapping and even the noise of a handkerchief shaking.

There are three windows near to the basement which help in the circulation of air and provide cool air to the graves. It is an indigenous method of air conditioning wherein the gumbaz always gets cool air from below. 

KONARK SUN TEMPLE

The Konark Sun Temple is the most popular tourist destination in Orissa, India. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1984. It is located in the village of Konark, which is 35km north of Puri on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

The Sun Temple of Konark is often called as the Black Pagoda. It is an ample testament to the artistic glory of the time. 

The word 'Konark' is a combination of two words 'Kona' and 'Arka'. 'Kona' means 'Corner' and 'Arka' means 'Sun', so it becomes 'Sun of the Corner'. Konark Sun Temple is situated on the north eastern corner of Puri and is dedicated to Sun God.

Konark is also known as Arka khetra. There are three images of the Sun God at three different sides of the temple, positioned in proper direction to catch the rays of the sun at morning, noon and evening.

King Narasimhadeva I, the great ruler of the Ganga dynasty had built this temple, with the help of 1200 artisans within a period of 12 years (1243-1255 A.D.).

This temple is widely known not only for its architectural grandeur but also for the intricacy and profusion of sculptural work.

The entire temple has been conceived as a chariot of the sun god with 24 wheels, each about 10 feet in diameter, with a set of spokes and elaborate carvings. Seven horses drag the temple.

Two lions guard the entrance, crushing elephants. A flight of steps lead to the main entrance. The surfaces of the temple are carved with exquisite stone sculptures with a wide variety of subjects, including many erotic scenes based on the Kama Sutra. 

The nata mandir in front of the Jagamohana is also intricately carved.  Around the base of the temple, and up the walls and roof, are carvings in the erotic style. 

There are images of animals, foliage, men, warriors on horses and other interesting patterns.

According to local legend, the temple has a great aura of power that comes from two very powerful magnets said to have been built into the tower - magnets that allowed the king's throne to hover in mid-air.

European mariners sailing off the coast used the temple's tower for navigation, but dubbed it the Black Pagoda for the frequent shipwrecks that occurred along the coast. Konarak was sacked by the Muslim Yavana army in the 15th century. 

Nature took over the destruction from there. Over the centuries, the sea receded, sand engulfed the building and salty breezes eroded the stone. It remained buried under a huge mound of sand until the early 20th century, when restoration began under the British.

British archaeologists uncovered the lower parts of the temple that had remained well preserved beneath the sand and restored what they could of the rest of the ruins

The tower over the Garbagriha is missing, however the Jagmohana is intact, and even in this state, it is awe inspiring.

It is said that the temple was not completed as conceived because the foundation was not strong enough to bear the weight of the heavy dome. Local beleif has it that it was constructed in entirety.

However, its magnetic dome caused ships to crash near the seashore, and that the dome was removed and destroyed.

Inside of the temple is a huge statue of Surya, the sun god. The beautiful image is carved of high-quality green chlorite stone and is one of the masterpieces of Konarak. Surya wears tall riding boots and is accompanied by a small figure of Aruna, the charioteer, at his feet. 

The temple also symbolizes the passage of time, which is under the sun god's control. The seven horses, which pull the sun temple eastwards towards the dawn, represent the days of the week. The 12 pairs of wheels represent the 12 months of the year and the eight spokes in each wheel symbolize the eight ideal stages of a woman's day.

It is believed that each wheel represent a sun dial in itself. One can calculate the time using the sun dials accurate to minutes.

LOTUS TEMPLE

The Lotus Temple is also known as the Bahai House of Worship or Bahai Mashriqul-Adhkar Temple.

It is one of the best architectural marvels in the county in modern times.

The temple is visited by more than four million people every year with an average of more than 10,000 visitors daily. It is located in New Delhi. One of the world’s most beautiful religious buildings and a must-visit place when in Delhi.

Visitors from all across the globe come for peace, meditation, prayers and study. It is a famous tourist attraction of the city.

It is known for its beautiful flower-like architecture and marvelous ambiance that make it a popular tourist attraction for people of all faiths.

Many of people are saying that this temple looks like a lotus in shape and because of it is known as lotus temple. But this is half-truth. Lotus is a symbol of love and purity. It gives the message of immortality. And because of this bahai temple is designed like a lotus flower and it is known as lotus temple.

The temple was constructed from the money donated by Ardishir Rustampur of Hyderabad. He gave away all his life-savings in 1953 for the temple to be constructed.

Iranian architect Fariborz Sahba was approached for designing it in 1976. A UK-based firm named Flint and Neil was given the structural design project while the construction project was undertaken by ECC Construction Group.

Construction of this architecture takes 10 years to complete. The temple was completed in 1986. There are 800 people who have worked in construction of this temple. This team includes engineers, technicians, and workers.

There are nine sides to the temple formed by 27 marble petals, arranged in groups of three. The nine doors lead to a central prayer hall that has a capacity of 2500 people and is about 40m high.  The floor inside the central hall is also made of marble. The marble used comes from Greece, from the Penteli Mountain. Height of lotus temple is 40 meters.

Marble, cement, dolomite, and sand were used in its construction. It looks like half opened lotus temple. Outside of this temple there are nine reflecting pools. 

The Bahai House of Worship in Delhi is one of seven such places of worship. The other six are in Sydney in Australia, Panama City in Panama, Apia in Western Samoa, Kampala in Uganda, Frankfurt in Germany and Wilmette in USA.

It is in line with the teachings of the Bahai faith believing in the Oneness of God, the Oneness of Religions, and the Oneness of Mankind. As such, people of all religions and races can come in the temple as it is a place to worship the creator of the universe and not one particular deity. There is no idol to be worshipped and people of any faith, case, creed are welcome inside. Even though everyone is welcome, no ritualistic ceremonies can be performed inside the Lotus Temple nor can anyone deliver sermons. 

GOLDEN TEMPLE

Golden Temple is also known as Sri Harmandir Sahab and Sri Darbar Sahab, literally means "the House of God”. The shrine consists of Darbar Sahib, which is surrounded by the Holy Tank (Amrit Sarovar).

The temple (or gurdwara) is a major pilgrimage destination for Sikhs from all over the world, as well as an increasingly popular tourist attraction.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji laid the foundation of Golden Temple with the help of a Muslim saint, Hazrat Mian Mir Ji of Lahore, on 1st of Magh (December, 1588). He wanted to build a common place of worship for the Sikhs, providing a common platform where all the Sikhs could gather and offer prayer to the Almighty. This wish initiated the idea of constructing Golden Temple.

The construction work was directly supervised by Guru Arjan Sahib, with the assistance of prominent Sikh personalities like Baba Budha Ji, Bhai Gurdas Ji, Bhai Sahlo Ji and many other devoted Sikhs.

The earlier Guru Sahibs acquired the site from the Zamindars (landlords) of native villages. The plan to establish a town settlement was also made.

Therefore, the construction work on the Sarovar (The Tank) and the town started simultaneously in 1570. The tank was excavated in 1577 A.D. and was subsequently called "Amrit sarovar”, meaning the pool of the nectar of immortality.

This contributed in naming the city, which grew around it (Amritsar). In due course, a splendid Sikh edifice, Darbar Sahib (Temple of God) was constructed in the middle of this tank, which became the prime centre of Sikhism.

Golden Temple deviated from a temple in another aspect, by being open from all four sides, rather than having only one gate for both entrance and exit. This symbolized the dawn of a new faith, which embraces people without any distinction of caste, creed, sex and religion.

The building work was completed in 1604 A.D and Guru Arjan Dev Ji installed the Adi Granth in it. He appointed Baba Budha ji as its first Granthi i.e. the reader of Guru Granth Sahib. After this event, it attained the status of 'Ath Sath Tirath’.

The Golden Temple has a unique sikh architecture. It is built at a lower level than the surrounding land area. This teaches the lesson of egalitarianism and humanity.

In the early 19^th century, 100 kg of gold was applied to the inverted lotus shaped dome and decorative marbles were added. This work took place under the patronage of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who is known to be  major donor of money and materials for the shrine.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre also occurred in the city of Amritsar on 13^th April 1919 in which many Indians were killed. The killing was done by the orders of Reginald Edward Harry Dyer.

After independence, there was a partition in which India was partitioned as India and Pakistan where Punjab was divided between the two countries and Amritsar came under India. The Indo-Pak border called Wagah Border is 28km away from the city.

In June 1984, Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi ordered an attack on armed Sikh militants holed up in Golden Temple. Over 500 people were killed in that firefight, and Sikh were outraged at the desecration of their holiest site. Four months after the attack, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two sikh bodyguards, leading to a massacre followed in which thousands of Sikhs lost their lives.

Although most of the damaged has been repaired but the incident cannot be forgotten.

HAWA MAHAL

Hawa Mahal is one of the beautiful forts in the pink city (Jaipur), Rajasthan, India. This beautiful five-storey palace was constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, Grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, who belonged to Kachhwaha Rajput dynasty.

He was so impressed with the Khetri Mahal built by Maharaja Bhopal Singh in the town of Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan that he embarked on constructing the Hawa Mahal that today stands as a remarkable gem of Rajput style of architecture. It was built as an extension of the Royal City Palace and leads to the zenana or women's chambers. 

The main architect of this palace built of red and pink sandstone, is Lal Chand Ustad and the palace is believed to have been constructed in the form of the crown of Krishna, the Hindu god as Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh was a true devotee of lord Krishna.

This Wind Palace is constructed as a beehive castle with numerous small windows, called as ‘Jharokhas’. There are a total of 953 ‘Jharokhas’ in the Mahal.

These jharokhas were build in such a manner that air circulates naturally through them creating Venturi effect (doctor breeze) thus air conditioning the entire structure during the hot summers.

 Each jharokha has a small chamber where one can sit and view the street. Fountains at the middle of each chamber complimented well with the light wind flowing through the jharokhas thus enhancing the cooling effect of the chambers.

During those days, ladies of the zenana (royal household) observed very strict purdah (covering the face) that Rajput royal women did not appear in public or in front of strangers. However, they were keen to follow the day-to-day events and royal processions occurring on the streets. It is for their benefit that the Hawa Mahal was built, complete with small windows and screened balconies. This gave the women a sense of freedom, without appearing in public.

 This five storied pyramid shaped structure is made up of small casements, each with tiny semi-octagonal, overhanging windows with perforated screens, and arched roofs with hanging cornices, exquisitely modeled and carved. Placed one above the other, they have about them an air of lightness and delicate beauty

The cultural and architectural heritage of the palace is a true reflection of a fusion of Hindu Rajput architecture and Islamic Mughal architecture. The Rajput style is seen in the form of domed canopies, fluted pillars, lotus and floral patterns, and the Islamic style as evident in its stone inlay filigree work and arches.

 Its top three stories are just a single room thick and at the base are two courtyards . The elaborate construction in the front stands on walls that are barely 0.2 metre (8 inches) in width. 

Basically, it is a fifty-foot-high thin shield, which is less than a foot in thickness but have over 900 niches and a mass of semi-octagonal bays, carved sandstone grills, finials and domes, which give this palace its unique facade.

The interior of the Hawa Mahal is stark and plain with passages and pillars reaching to the top storey. The building does not have stairs to reach the upper floors; the storeys are connected by slopes. From Hawa Mahal, you have an excellent view of the city. The monument also has an archeological museum.

KAILASH TEMPLE AT ELLORA

The Kailash temple is the world’s oldest single rock carved, multi-storeyed temple complex situated at Ellora caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra (India).

The Ellora caves are not natural caves that is built by nature out of wear tear of seasons and movement of earth, but spiritual dwellings excavated manually by Hindus out of the face of a cliff.

The Kailasa Temple is crown and part of the Ellora cave group. It is build at number 16th cave among total of 34 caves.

It is believed that this was designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Bhagwan Shiv – standing tall, enclosed within a big manmade crater, surrounded by rocks.

It was built in complete 18 years in around 756-774 CE under the direction of King Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the rulers of the western Deccan area but ideally should have taken centuries to built. It is found that over 4000 tonnes of rock were scooped out of a rock to carve this temple out which sounds completely impossible even if there were thousands of artisans employed day and night for 18 years. 

This temple consists of a gateway, two-storied halls and the main shrine within. It is the most majestic creation flanked by huge elephants all carved from solid rock, pillars and pondiums.

Elephant is considered as an auspicious animal in Hinduism. Elephants are protectors and dwarpals of many Hindu temples. They protect pride and opulence of Hinduism thereby representing both these traits themselves.

Similarly, there are elephants guarding the entire place within Kailash temple. There are real size statues of elephants in and around the temple.

An image of the sacred bull Nandi paying obeisance to Bhagwan Shiv is in the center of the temple.

Like other Hindu temples, the Kailasa temple has a Sikhara (spire), but it looks relatively small compared to the whole structure. On top of inside the temple, there is a ring or flower carvings on the ceiling of the central room.

The result is an awe-inspiring representation of Shiva's Himalayan abode. Nearby caves are alive with stone murals depicting divine struggles and victories. With these caves, it is clear that India far surpasses the rest of the world in the glory of its rock-cut architecture.

Another interesting fact about the unique construction of Kailash temple is the digging of holes that cannot be done by human beings of even height of 3 feet. The way holes are dug it shows someone very small can carve it in as normal human being cannot enter and dig such holes. This is totally unbelievable fact about this temple. 

There was no electricity in ancient period so the reflection of sun rays from mirrors were used for light. However, there are so many inner parts of the structure where even sun rays cannot reach even using multi-layered mirror arrangement so delicately carving intricate designs in such places is done using yogic eyes.

The temple houses several intricately carved panels, depicting scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the adventures of Krishna.

Also worth admiring are the immense monolithic pillars that stand in the courtyard, flanking the entrance on both sides, and the southeastern gallery that has 10 giant and fabulous panels depicting the different avatars (incarnations of a deity) of Lord Vishnu.