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LAYERS OF SILK ROUTE OVER SANDS OF JAISALMER: AN ARCHITECTURAL

DISCOURSE IN HISTORY

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LAYERS OF SILK ROUTE OVER SANDS OF JAISALMER:
AN ARCHITECTURAL
DISCOURSE IN HISTORY

Mohammad Saquib*

Historical trade routes popularly referred to as Silk

routes long acted as routes for transformation of
technology, culture and civilization apart from trade.
These routes extended from central Asia to all directions
joining a major integrated land mass of the continent of
Europe, Africa and Asia. A geological introspection also
suggests its expansion along the extents of desert
stretches extending from Northern parts of Africa into
west-Asia, central Asia till Central China, Thar Desert in
Indian sub-continent defining the south-eastern extent
of this league of deserts.
While earlier trade routes were routed from and to
China to buy and sell silk, later routes suggest trade of
various commodities along the three continents and
their several countries including India. While the term
“silk route” refers to trade of silk only, it was later used
tosignify important trading routes in history that
resulted in societal transformation.
Due to proximity of the Indian subcontinent with the
west and central Asian countries, and its further
extended connection through land to Europe, trade links
were always there which is reflected in the exchange of
Art and Architectural characteristics. The ancient trade
routes though can be traced to India, but major trade
activity was centred in and around the central Asian
region. The Indian subcontinent figures in the ancient
silk route as one of the destinations for trade and in the
medieval trade route as a destination for the Arabian
and Persian countries and as a crossing country to
reach ports at Gujarat under the Mughals. Thus, India
was in the scheme of such routes through land trading
routes lying on its western frontiers as well as sea
trading routes of Gujarat.

* Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics,

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

58 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

 Trade routes through Thar Desert into Indian
subcontinent existed even before existence of Jaisalmer
but came into prominence with the Muslim invaders and
their subsequent rule that followed in the Indian
subcontinent, resulting in greater trade relations with
Muslim kingdoms of Persia, Arabia, Egypt and Africa.
History
Jaisalmer, lying on the western edge of Thar Desert
and located as an entry point to the large northern
plains of the Indian subcontinent acted as an important
destination for criss-crossing caravans which resulted in
its development as a major centre for trade contributing
to its economic prosperity.
Jaisalmer was first explored by Bhatti Rajputs in the
9th century AD when Ludorva, 15 km from the present
city was the capital of the ancient rulers. Later
encountering several invasions they established a mud
fort on Trikuta hill at the present site of the fort. It was
much later laid in stone masonry in three tiers at
different heights for added security.
Due to its existence in the desert, Jaisalmer was
also less prone to invasions, unless invited by its people
due to their own acts as witnessed in history before the
Mughals. Its major developments started during the
reign of Mughals where after an initial fight with
Humayun, the Bhattis maintained a cordial relationship
with the other Mughal kings including marrying them
with their daughters. This ensured their peaceful
existence leading to economic and cultural prosperity
which is highlighted in their 17th& 18th century Art and
Architecture. Jaisalmer also witnessed decline with the
downfall of Mughal Empire when British opened up
ports of Bombay and Calcutta in the mid of 17th century.
Thus new trade routes through sea were established
lowering the importance of earlier ones through the
desert city resulting in decline of prosperity in Jaisalmer.
The Bhatti Rajputs during their rule erected fort,
palace, Havelis, cenotaphs and gardens apart from
laying out the town in various phases of history. These
architectural marvels are known all over the world for
their excellent specimen of Architecture along with
exquisitely detailed art works over the façade of these
buildings.

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 59

 While the unique architectural work has long been
celebrated, over-emphasized, and considered role model
for others to follow at least in the northern plains of
India undermining a wider nature of Architecture in
place, a deeper look at the Art & Architecture of
Jaisalmer suggests further distant roots to the heritage
of the city. Cultural aspect of the Rajputs and their
relations with the Mughals are reflected in their Art &
Architecture, but Jaisalmer also bears characteristics of
Jain Architectural heritage in the western part of India
and influence of a foreign heritage outside it lying on the
trade route patterns followed under the Mughals in the
medieval Islamic world. Many important cities along
these trading routes also existed in the desert type hot
and dry climate similar to Jaisalmer and hence similar
adaptations are evident in the planning of these cities
and their architectural solutions. The cities which are
more reflected in a common language of Architecture
among these trading routes are the ones who were at the
zenith of their culture and tradition in the medieval
ages.
Table 1: Timeline of major Architectural works undertaken along with their ruler in Jaislamer and their contemporary ruler of Indian subcontinent

Indian Planning and Architectural initiatives undertaken

Reigning Jaisalmer
subcontinent Remarks Water and
Period rulers City & Fort Palaces Havelis Religious
rulers landscape features
Existence of
Ancient city:
9th century Deoraj trade routes
ludorva
through
Period marked by Founding of
1156 AD Rawal Jaisal Mahmud Ghazni
unstability, mud fort on
invasions Trikuta hill Gadisar Lake
1367 Rawal Gadsi Singh
Excavated
1417 Unknown
Sultanate Dynasty
During 15th Bhattis reoccupied
century fort 07 Jain
Maharawal Jait temples
1513
Sing II
Tussle with
1530-1551 Rawal Lunakarn Humayun
Humayun
Daughter
1560-77 Maharawal Harraj Akbar
married to Akbar

Formally
acknowledged Fort rebuilt of
(1651-61) Rawal Sabal Singh Shah Jahan Zenana Mahal
the supremacy of Stone
(Palace for
the Mughals
women)
Maharawal Amar Crest of
1688 Aurangzeb Amar Sagar Cenotaphs of The
Singh prosperity in
Bada Bagh
Jaisalmer Lower city
Crest of
Maharawal Akhai Reign after developed, Sarvottam
1722-1762 prosperity in
Singh aurangzeb Ramparts of Vilas
Jaisalmer
the city built
Downfall of Salem Singh ki
Maharawals Mul Mughal Empire, Rise of the
1762-1819 Rang Mahal Haveli,
Raj II Signed a treaty patwas, Decline
Nathmal ki
with british, of prosperity in
Haveli, Patwon
Jaisalmer
1820-1846 Gaj Singh British rule Moti Mahal ki Haveli

British rule & Decline of

1914-1949 Jawahar Singh
Independent India Jaisalmer

60 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

City planning and Architecture
The overall visual image of Jaisalmer is of a dense
urban development for mutual shading of buildings to
respond to its hot and dry climate, possessing great
architectural marvels having finely carved facades of
building in golden sand stone throughout the lower city
set in a backdrop of the towering picturesque golden fort
on the Trikuta hill highlighted by its 99 bastions. In
many ways Jaisalmer follows similar fortification
concepts as in other hill forts of Rajasthan namely
Chittorgarh fort, Ranthambore fort, Kumbhalgarh fort
and Amer Fort in Jaipur which all predate the Golden
fort. It also possesses Jain religious structures and is
large enough to accommodate the population along with
the castle in their times. The fort inhabits city
population of around 4000 people even today apart from
royal palaces and Jain temples built in various phases,
the lower city was built much late once the fort was
overpopulated.
The city character bears similarities with Fez, a
medieval city lying on the edge of the Great Sahara
desert and still inhabited in Morocco.

Figure 1 View of the lower city Figure 2 City view of Fez,

from the Golden fort Morocco

Jaisalmer Fort (Golden fort)

The use of numerous bastions in the fort suggests
adaptation of innovative concepts for military purpose
from other medieval forts which developed under the
Islamic empires of the West. These bastions resemble
more to its almost contemporary Kumbhalgarh fort built
in 15th century AD where a common influence of Islamic
Architecture is visible as they seem to imitate the
Tughalqabad fort built in Delhi in 1321 AD which
initially transported the legacy of improved fort building
techniques for military purposes in India.

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 61

Figure 3 Jaisalmer fort with its Figure 4 Tughlaqabad Fort,
bastions Delhi

The entrance to fort shows a unique cultural blend

where gate is symmetrically supported on either side by
bastions resembling Islamic characteristics, entrance
passage designed structurally as a post and lintel
system prevalent in the Hindu Architecture contrary to
the arched Islamic entrances, and further marked by
design elements form a Jain torana over the wall of the
entrance. The entrance consists of watching tower and is
a bent entrance to avoid direct assault by the enemy in
case of siege as in medieval Muslim forts.
The entrance leads up to the upper hill area where a
centrally located royal square is surrounded by royal
palaces and designed open spaces from where narrow
streets disperse to parts of the city in various directions
often creating a loop. The character of these streets
contribute a lot in making it a unique architectural
experience, with narrow lanes covered at intervals to
reduce heat gains while walking in such a hot and dry
climate. These shaded connections on the street often
define the transition from a space to another creating
zones within the community and giving an integrated
architectural value to the whole townscape. These
twisting narrow streets bear strong linkages to the
medieval cities of the Islamic world ranging from Fez in
Morocco to Yazd in Iran, the only difference being that
the covered streets in the Islamic world are arched.
Similar arched streets can also be realised in the
medieval cities of the Mediterranean Europe.

62 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

 Figure 5 Entrance at Figure 6 Entrance at
Kumbhalgarh Fort Jaisalmer fort

Street edges are marked by Deori, a raised platform

used for day to day outdoor activity which acts as a
bridge between the street and façade of house providing
scope of interaction with life on street. Most of the
developments in the fort took place under the reign of
Maharawals Mul Raj II during 1762-1819 and Gaj Singh
during 1820-1846. The palaces are designed into a
series of interlinked terraced courtyards, un-
symmetrical in character but bearing symmetry in parts
in overall architectural character.

Figure 7 Covered Figure 5 Covered Figure 9 Covered

streets at arched street at arched streets in
Jaisalmer Fez, Morocco Pisa, Italy
Jain temples
The existence of Jain community since ancient
period is evident in other parts of western India too
where Jain heritage structures can be seen spread in
various places over the hills and in forts. Jains, as
traders in Jaisalmer were a small but economically
strong community, which is reflected in their
establishment of a series of Jain temples in the fort area
itself built in various eras. These Jain temples showcase

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 63

a fine ornamentation and sculptural work in its own
style.

Figure 10 Exteriors of Jain temple at Jaisalmer

The traditional temple form from the Hindu temple
was transformed to be applied here to create a typical
Jain temple identity. The core of a typical Jain temple
consists of a square shaped interior chamber similar to
Garbh griha in the Hindu temple, and crowned with a
high pyramidal tower. The difference being that this
inner core unlike a Hindu garbh griha, it is accessed by
a hall with columns supporting a corbelled domed
ceiling further having multiple corbelled domes over it
creating the temple tower in the exteriors and creating
an octagonal form in the interior hall leading to the
inner core.
The other marked difference in a Jain temple is that
though it exhibits Solanki style of linear arrangements
on the exterior walls of the temple with temple towers
rising up creating a mountain like form, with no or
lesser sculptures often not finely carved, emphasis was
instead on overall ambience. Further, the Jain temples
relate more to Islamic style of buildings showcasing
lesser or no ornamentation on the exteriors and heavily
decorating the interiors or batin. The Jain temples were
more intricately carved in the interiors, with fine
ornamentation in the domed ceiling of the pillared hall
having sculptures of different tirthankars and deities,
often possessing Hindu idols in their temple showing
their degree of tolerance adaptability for the Hindu
religion.

64 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

 Also despite stark contrast between the nature of
two types of Architecture, and the contrast in their
structural arrangement of their built forms, the Islamic
being arched and domed and the Jain essentially being
post and lintel and corbelled domed structures, one is
forced to draw visual resemblance between the
arrangement of domed ceiling and its stucco based
geometrical ornamentations of Alhambra built in 9th
century AD and sculptured ceilings of medieval Jain
temples built in various locally available stones in
western India.

Figure 11 Domed ceiling in Figure 12 Domed ceiling in

Alhambra, Spain Jain temple, Jaisalmer
The Jain torana placed between columns in the
interiors and the between the entrance gate to the
temple also shows a marked departure from the ancient
Buddhist torana which reflects horizontality in its
profile. Unlikely, a Jain torana reflects refinement in its
form and ornamentation which seems to arise out of
their trade links with the Islamic regions. The form
though engraved with images of Lord Mahavira and
other tirthankars in low and high relief, seems to be
derived more from muqarnas in the buildings of Islamic
traditions which was used as a structural element rather
than the torana which is used as a mere art form further
enhanced by intricate carving over it.

Figure 13 Muqarnas in Figure 14 Jain toranas inside

Islamic Architecture the temple

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 65

 While such observations are interesting to be
marked in Dilwara temple and Ranakpur temple
especially, the series of Jain temples at the fort city in
Jaisalmer only seem to be following the legacy of Jain
heritage developed over the years, the uniqueness here
being use of golden sandstone for erecting them which
exhibits an aura different from other Jain temples of
western India.
Lower town
The later development of lower city follows the edge
of the fort while dispersing into grid-alike street
patterns. The town retains its identity of narrow lanes
with multiple storeys which makes it shaded and hence
walk able in heat. The lower town has been constructed
in Golden sandstone masonry work with intricate
carving over it. The arched forms, jharokhas and
intricate carving on facades of the buildings are visible
throughout the edges of the city, but are used only as an
aesthetic element, followed by jharokhas with intricate
jaali wok and ornamentation on its façade as in other
Rajput styles. The character of the street from the lower
town area retains its identity from the fort town, though
built at a later stage. The typical house layout is
courtyard type with flat roof due to scarcity of rainfall,
having post and lintel construction. Arches on façades
are used often as an aesthetic element. The ramparts
around the city were also built which is hardly left now.

Figure 6 A typical Figure 16 Patwonki Figure 17 Carving

narrow street in Haveli on the facade of
lower town Patwonki Haveli
Jaisalmer

66 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

Patwonki Haveli
Built by a wealthy Jain merchant of Jaisalmer
Guman Chandin 1805, the haveli along with other
havelis in the lower town built later represents one of
the finest marvels of Architecture in Jaisalmer. Though
it represents a courtyard type of arrangement inside
haveli similar to havelis in other areas of Rajasthan,
they show a marked difference from them. Patwon ki
haveli is a series of sequence of Havelis, having multiple
storeys, the high point being most beautiful and detailed
carvings on the facades of these Havelis collectively
visible from the street.
The Havelis stand on a raised platform as seen in
the medieval houses of Aleppo, Syria. The outer wall
mostly acts a screen wall with laced carvings on Jaali,
balconies and Jharokhas, to filter heat and light
penetrating the building. This laced façade also helps in
keeping out dust due to the desert, allowing cool air to
pass through. The courtyard further acts as shelter from
climate by providing shaded indoors due to shadows
cast inside by its multiple storeys. The ceilings are low
with post and lintel system. Walls are often arched with
interiors also showcasing decorative motifs on sandstone
as well as wood.
The exquisite carvings done on sandstone show a
stylistic similarity to details in wood carvings. It can
probably be due to near visual resemblance of the
golden sandstone with wood and an urge of the rich
merchants to imitate rich wood carving patterns from
facades of Havelis in Gujarat in their own local material
i.e. Golden sandstone to give their works a long lasting
identity.

Figure 18 A sandstone Jaali resembling wood

work carving

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 67

 Figure 19 Wooden Facade of a Haveli in Gujarat
This suggests a major influence of strongly linked
culture relating to the art of wood carving. While wood
ornamentation works were being done in Kashmir, Nepal
etc. too, but the details of these stone works closely
mimic the wooden ornamentation of the traditional
buildings of Gujarat. Havelis in Gujarat showcased
carvings on wooden facades on its Havelis for 650 years.
Further, evidence of copying timber forms in stone has
also been seen in West Asia and Egypt, which were
directly linked due to Gujarat through its trade routes.
The trade links of Muslim traders with Jain trading
community through sea trading routes is well known
which enhances the possibility of justifying any such
similarity from one region to another.
Conclusion
Architecture of Jaisalmer showcased some of the
best specimens of Architecture in India along with
Fatehpur Sikri and Taj Mahal. While the uniqueness of
its style cannot be undermined, it is imperative to
understand that it showcases successive layers of styles
transferred through the trade routes it witnessed. In
that sense it is a find blend of Hindu, Mughal and Jain
Architecture along with a direct influence of trade
relations with the medieval Islamic world. Similar
patterns of development of buildings, streets, palaces,
forts and cities can be witnessed in cities which
witnessed similar exposure to trade routes in that time.
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List of Illustrations
Figure 1 View of the lower city from the Golden fort (Source:
Author)
Figure 2 City view of Fez, Morocco (Source:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6523749193_df054a54df
_z.jpg)
Figure 3 Jaisalmer fort with its bastions (Source: Author)
Figure 4 Tughlaqabad Fort, Delhi
(Source:http://www.funonthenet.in/articles/new-delhi-
pictures.html )
Figure 5 Entrance at Kumbhalgarh Fort (Source:
http://rajasthanwallpapers.blogspot.in/2012/07/kumbalgarh
-fort-udaipur.html)
Figure 6 Entrance at Jaisalmer fort (Source: Author)
Figure 7 Covered streets at Jaisalmer (Source: Author)
Figure 8 Covered arched street at Fez, Morocco(Source:
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.
asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=T
OIA/2012/11/23&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00201&ViewMod
e=HTML)
Figure 9 Covered arched streets in Pisa, Italy(Source:
http://www.dudziak.com/picture.php/back_streets_of_pisa32
90)
Figure 10 Exteriors of Jain temple at Jaisalmer (Source:
Author)
Figure 11 Domed ceiling in Alhambra, Spain (Source:
http://searchoflife.com/alhambra-a-moorish-paradise-2013-
11-14)
Figure 12 Domed ceiling in Jain temple, Jaisalmer (Source:
Author)
Figure 13 Muqarnas in Islamic Architecture(Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqarnas)

Ateet; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252 71

 Figure 14 Jain toranas inside the temple (Source: Author)
Figure 15 A typical narrow street in lower town Jaisalmer
(Source: Author)
Figure 16 Patwon ki Haveli (Source: Author)
Figure 17 Carving on the facade of Patwon ki Haveli (Source:
Author)
Figure 18 A sandstone Jaali resembling wood work like
carving (Source: Author)
Figure 19 Wooden Facade of a Haveli in Gujarat (Source:
SadiyahFaruki and AneriNihalani (2013) More than just face
value Walled City’s Facades Reflect Myriad Influences [online]
e-paper, The Times of india

72 ATEET; Special Issue, Dec. 2012 ISSN 2249-1252

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