lxxx 



architecture 



Beport of the Archaeological Survey. 



It was built after the Emperor's death in A. H. 962, 

 or A. D. 1554, by his widow Sdji Begam. It is therefore the 

 earliest specimen of the architecture of the Mogul dynasty. The 

 exterior form of the main body of the tomb is a square with the corners 

 cut off, or an octagon with four long and four short faces, and each of 

 the short faces forms one side of the four octagonal corner towers. 

 The dome is built entirely of white marble, the rest of the building 

 being of red sand-stone, with inlaid ornaments of white marble. In 

 this tomb we first see towers attached to the four angles of the main 

 building. It is true that these towers are very stout and massive, but 

 they form an important innovation in the Muhammadan architecture 

 of North India, which was gradually improved and developed, until it 

 culminated in the graceful Minars of the Taj Mahal. The intervening 

 links are, 1st, the one- storied towers of Itimad-udaolah's tomb at 

 Agra ; 2nd, the two-storied Minars of the gateway of Akbar's tomb at 

 Sikandra ; and 3rd, the three-storied octagonal Minars of Jahangir's 

 tomb at Lahore. In all these specimens the Minars are attached to 

 the main building, as in the original example of Humayun's tomb. 

 But in the Taj Mahal the Minars are placed at the four angles of the 

 square terrace or plinth, on which the tomb is raised, an arrangement 

 which was probably copied from the position of the four corner towers 

 of the platform of Shir Shah's tomb at Sassaram. Another innovation 

 observable in this tomb is the narrow-necked dome, which was after- 

 wards adopted in all the Mogul buildings. 



146. The citadel or palace of Shajahanabad was begun by the 

 Emperor Shahjahan in the year A. H. 3048, or A. D. 1638, but the 

 new city was not commenced until 10 years later. The circuit of the 

 walls of the citadel is 1\ mile, or just the same as that of the old 

 citadel of Tughlakabad ; but the new city is considerably larger than 

 either Tughlakahad or Bai Pithora's Fort, the circuit of its walls be- 

 ing 5|- miles. The citadel has two gates, named the Lahore and Delhi 

 Gates. The city has 10 gates, which are named as follows, beginning 

 from the north-east gate near Salimgarh, which is now called the 

 Calcutta Gate, because it leads to the bridge-of-boats over the Jumna 

 on the line of the high road to Calcutta :— 



1, Calcutta Gate to north-east. 



2, Kashmir Gate to north, 



3, Mori Gate to north. 



