Architecture of India    
The Deccan: Golconda and Bijapur–2

Adil Shahis of Bijapur

The Adil Shahis have the distinction of being the most prolific of all the Deccan builders. They have to their credit one of the greatest forts of India, at Bijapur. Within and around this astonishing citadel, the Adil Shahis continued a campaign of incessant building for nearly 150 years which resulted in numerous public works, a series of tombs unrivalled except by the Mughals, and over fifty mosques.

The fort itself is composed of an immense ring wall 10 kilometres in perimeter, up to 12 metres thick and 10 metres high, and strengthened by over 100 bastions.

The early mosques of the Adil Shahis are usually three-bay affairs with the simple, broad, low-sprung arches of the Gulbarga Jami Masjid. The culmination of these mosques is the great Jami-Masjid of Bijapur. It has an open prayer hall surrounded on three sides by arcades, which define the open court in front of the mihrab. The great dome on top of the qibla is supported by great interlocking arches rising from the square base below.

Jami-Masjid, Bijapur

The chajja on top of the outer arches of the court is supported by numerous brackets, and the central arch in axis with the mihrab stands out by the addition of cusps to its inner curve. The later mosques of the dynasty, like the Anda Masjid of 1608 and the Mihtari Masjid of 1620 show an increasing elaboration of forms.

Of the rauzas (combination of mosque and tomb) the best example is perhaps that of Ibrahim II. Here mosque and tomb are directly facing one another, with the middle space occupied by an ornamental pool, on a rectangular terrace set out along the charbagh concept. The highly elaborate detailing of both structures does not detract in the least from their fine proportions but rather complement them.

Interior of Jami-Masjid, Bijapur

Muhammed I tried to outdo his successor, and in this he partially succeeded, at least in terms of sheer grandeur. For it is to him that can be attributed the Gol Gumbaz with its huge dome, the largest in India, and indeed among the largest in the world, along with its famous whispering gallery.

<<< Gol Gumbaz, Bijaipur

It should be said here that the sheer size of the structure is alas, not matched by a corresponding fineness of proportion. For the bulky and squat corner minars, the relatively blank facades of the walls, the out-of-scale detailing of the arcades around the dome, all combine to make the Gumbad magnificently confused.

This said, the sheer overwhelming size of the building leaves one wondering at its boldness of conception, surely among the most advanced in late medieval India.  

– Ashish Nangia
March 2, 2003

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