PROVINCIAL STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE

Gujarat (1300-1550AD)
Gujrat Style (1300-1550 AD)
• The largest and important of the provincial styles is that of Gujarat in West India with its
capital city at Ahmedabad.
• This development flourished in this area for a period of some 21/2 centuries. Early in 14th
century Gujarat was under the rule of Governors appointed by Khalji sultans of Delhi. Later
it came under the independent rule of Ahmed Shahi dynasty.
• 2 main reasons for Islamic architecture of this part of the country being pre-eminent, one,
owing to the ambitions of the Muslim dynasty who ruled it and the other to the artistic
traditions of the inhabitants.
• This period can be divided into 3 parts:
1.Early period: during 14th century phase of demolition e.g. - Jami masjid of cambay.
2. Second period / ahmad shahi period: during 1st half of 15th century. e.g.- jami masjid at
ahmadabad.
3. 3rd or begarha period :during last half of 15th and beginning of 16th century (e.g. Jami
masjid at champanir )
 First Period (First half of the 14th Century A.D.)
• Consisted of the customary phase of demolition of temples followed by reconversion of the
building materials.
•The buildings of this period have the appearance of being formative and experimental.
•Many buildings were built using materials from Hindu temples. Most often, the pillars
would be used as they were, while the walls would be built of original masonry, sometimes
using stones taken from the temples and recut to suit the requirements.
First Period Main Buildings:
1. Jami Masjid or Adina Masjid at Patan
2. Jami Masjid at Bharuch
3. Jami Masjid at Cambay

 Second Period (First half of the 15th Century A.D.)

•In this period, we see the art approaching an early consummation, with slightly tentative
qualities.
•There is more directional authority in the buildings and increased assurance in the design.
•This can also be called the Ahmed Shahi period, after the Sultan Ahmed Shah.
Second Period Main Buildings:
1. Jami Masjid at Ahmedabad
2. Teen Darwaza
 Third Period (Second half of 15th Century A.D.)
• This is the most magnificent aspect of the style.
• Most of the development in this phase happened under Sultan Mahmud I Begarha (1458-
1511).
Third (Begarha) Period Main Buildings:
1. Bai Hari Wav
2. Sidi Sayyid Masjid
3. Jami Masjid at Champanir
JAMI MASJID, CAMBAY
•The façade of the Liwan is composed
of a blank screen wall consisting of
large central arch, & 2 symmetrically
subsidiary ones.

•There were 14 domes that constitute

interior of the liwan behind.

•The cloisters that define the courtyard
on the 3 sides are formed by a flat-
roofed aisle & a series of 21 domes
over octagonal ccolumn bays .
•The pillars have been enriched by an
engrailed arch similar to one found in
temples, a motif which later figures
prominently as the flying arch within the
central openings of mosque facades in
Gujarat.

•The entrance gateway in the middle of

the eastern cloisters is re-erected temple
portico with a dome added on for Islamic
effect.
1. Built in the year 1325 A.D.
2. Judging from the appearance, it is
probable that local artisans were
reinforced by a group of artisans from
Delhi to build this structure.
3. The sanctuary of the mosque is having
an enclosed facade with a screen of
arches.
4. The shape and position of the arches,
the masonry consisting of alternate
broad and narrow courses and the
overall architectural treatment is
reminiscent of the architectural style of
Delhi under the Khalji dynasty.
5. The arrangement of pillars inside the
archways of the facade borrows from
the Ajmer type of mosque.
6. The pillars have been enriched by an
engrailed arch similar to one found in
temples, a motif which later figures
prominently as the flying arch within
the central openings of mosque facades
in Gujarat.
JAMI MASJID, A’BAD – (1423)
• measuring 116m x 79m, considered to be the high water mark of mosque design
(nadir of mosque design) on western India.
• Most of the architectural effect is concentrated in the sanctuary.

The ‘solids’ & ‘ voids’

composition of the façade.

•The architect has combined the two types of sanctuary facades, the screen of arches and the
pillared portico, with the screen in the centre and the portico on the wings.
•The juxtaposition of the two elements creates contrast between the volume and strength of the
wall surface and the depth and airy lightness of the colonnade.

•The large central archway has large moulded buttresses of minarets on either sides, whose
upper parts have now disappeared. 2 smaller archways are placed on either side of the central
one.
 JAMI MASJID, A’BAD
•Liwan consists of around 300 slender pillars, closely set at 1.6m distance

•Directly visible through the archway in the shadows is the colonnade of the interior with its
engrailed arch springing lightly from its slender columns.

•The dynamic volume (liwan) is roofed by a large corbelled dome resting over an octagonal
ring of columns, each of the 8 facades being filled in with panels of jaalis,
The doomed roof added on Islamic quality to the interior as well as the façade; & the open
grills the dome made the central bay an open shaft generating cool currents in the air, so
essential in the hot & humid climate of A’bad..

•The balconies provided a sufficiently private Zenana apartment for the ladies.

•The central compartment of the nave rises up

to 3 storeys, the side aisles are 2 storeys and
the rest of the hall is single storeyed
JAMI MASJID, A’BAD
columns are symmetrically arranged to form 15
bays across the long axis of the hall

81m
64m
A - Prayer room

B – Liwan (300
290m

pillars)

C - Zenana

70m
Plan
JAMI MASJID, A’BAD

Section

•The nave is composed of two pillared galleries one above the other. The enclosed triple
height space which is overlooked from the galleries is square in plan on the first floor and
octagonal on the second and is covered by a dome.
•Each overlooking balcony is provided with an asana or a sloping backed seat as seen in
temples.

•Around the exterior of the balconies are pillared verandahs and in the arcade between the
pillars are stone jalis through which the galleries are illuminated.
JAMI MASJID, A’BAD

AXONOMETRIC VIEW
JAMI MASJID, CHAMPANER

•Built with the Jami Masjid at Ahmedabad as

model except on a smaller scale and a few
differences.

•aspects which differentiate the masjids of

Champaner & A’bad are :
i) façade of the liwan discards the open
colonnade wings.
ii) other 3 sides are ornamented with
balconies, bracketed openings, turrets,
buttressess & corner minars with Hindu
ornamentation.

•Composed of hypostyle hall of a forest of

columns piled up one over the other.
JAMI MASJID, CHAMPANER

•The entire structure is a rectangle of

86.4m X 57.6m.

•The courtyard is surrounded by a range of

arched cloisters, one aisle deep.

•An imposing entrance pavilion projects

from the centre of each of the north, south
and east cloisters. The eastern pavilion is a
fine example of architecture in itself.

•A series of moulded buttresses along the

exterior of the qibla wall along with
traceries openings at close intervals along
the entire periphery makes the exterior of
the mosque attractive as well.

Plan
JAMI MASJID, CHAMPANER

•Sanctuary facade is of enclosed type containing 5 pointed archways with two slender
minarets flanking the central opening.
•The ornamentation of the minarets is restricted to their buttress like bases, with the five
stages above left mostly unadorned.
•On the whole, the frontal screen is more or less economically treated, relieved only by 3
oriel windows, one above the central arch and two on the minarets.
•Sanctuary is a pillared hall measuring 270' X 130', containing 176 pillars.
•The nave rises to 65' in height through 3 storeys and covered by a dome.
•From the second storey, it takes the form of a Latin cross with very short arms.
•Each storey is accessed by a staircase in the minarets.
JAMI MASJID, CHAMPANER

•The level of the first floor is continuous with the roof of the rest of the building,
forming a wide terrace for circumambulation among the cupolas with a square well
above the nave.

•The second floor is restricted to the Latin cross and is a large pillared gallery with an
octagonal well. This floor communicates with the oriel window above the central arch
in the sanctuary facade.

•The zenana chamber is placed at the northern end of the transept.

•Around the galleries are provided stone seats with sloping backs.

•The Champanir mosque is based on the Ahmedabad mosque as a template, though

the builders were not able to provide much of an improvement on the Ahmedabad
archetype. The pillars in the Champanir sanctuary are more sophisticated than the
Ahmedabad example, as may be seen in the vertical recessed chases of the shafts and
other architectural details of a similar nature
BAI HARI'S WAV
1. Built in A.D. 1499 at Ahmedabad.
2. Only kiosks on two ends are visible
above ground, the rest of the structure
being subterranean.
3. The wav is 125' long, 18' wide and 30'
deep.
4. The subterranean passage takes the
form of a series of galleries
interconnected by stairways.
5. There are three pillared storeys, with
a system of supercolumniation which
forms an outstanding characteristic of
the main composition.
6. At each stage, the gallery is expanded
into a pillared compartment. Due to
the balconies around each
compartment, each storey becomes a
cool and quiet retreat.
7. The pillars, capitals, railings, wall
surfaces, cornices and borders are
exquisitely crafted.
 Section

7.3m
square
shaft

plan

entrance
BAI HARI'S WAV.
SIDI SAIYYED NI JAALI - (1573)
• As attested by the marble stone tablet
fixed on the wall of the mosque, built by
Sidhi Saiyyed, General in the army of
the last Sultan Muzaffar Shah III.

• The structure though sober but is an

example of great architecture. The
minarets are provided on the northern &
southern extremities. Façade (Panaromic view)

• In the western walls of liwan, jaalis

infill panels in the arched aperture were
inserted.

• It is a genious work responding both

Islamic (geometric decoration) & non-
Islamic (figurative decoration).
SIDI SAIYYED NI JAALI

• Walls are composed entirely of

perforated stone screen which have
given the building a worldwide
reputation.
• The screen in the mosque, though
usage of figurative elements, is
animated by a sensuality that belongs
only to the female human form.
• For expressing this sensuousness, the
artist has chosen the entwining trunks,
branches, leaves of plants & trees as
his subject.

• On top of the arcade is laid a flat roof. In the construction of the ceiling, the methods of
bracket, diagonal beam and squinch have been used.
SIDI SAIYYED NI JAALI
• 8 square piers supporting the arches
form the interior of the mosque.

• The branches of this natural element

are then minutely dispersed within the
arched outline in a manner suggestive
of elementary simplicity at first
glance, & extreme complexity on
deeper study. Section

Plan
RANI SIPRI MOSQUE – (1515)

• Rani Sipri ni Masjid is a timeless gem in

A’bad, Gujarat.

• Queen Sipri, the Hindu wife of the Sultan

Begara, commissioned the mosque. And
thus, this mosque throws light onto the
inter-religious marriages in those times
that were common among Indian royalty.

• known as Masjid-e-Nagina (Jewel of a

mosque) because of the intricate jali
carvings on its walls.

• The Jali screen work that includes

flowing plants and trees is the prime
attraction of this monument, like Siddi
Sayyed Jali and Sarkhej Roza.
RANI SIPRI MOSQUE
• Despite being small with a height of 16m and length of 17m, it always impresses with
intricate cravings on its walls.

• The columns in the mosque are a reflection of the beautiful craftsmanship.

• After the queen’s death, she was buried in this mosque. Inside, there is also a Zenana, a
separate area for women to worship.

•It includes a tomb and a row of columns

along with a pair of minarets in the front
which depict the early Muslim
architectural work.

•it attracts the attention of the tourists

towards the elegant proportions and
splendid minarets.
Jharokha Detail
RANI SIPRI MOSQUE

Front elevation

Plan