Imperative Role of Nur Jahan and her Persian roots in the evolution of Mughal Garden Tombs
The contributions of Nur Jahan both in the field of art and architecture were a major turning point in the Mughal reign, a cross-cultural exchange that took place between the Mughal Empire (India) and Persia (Iran).
ABSTRACT
Mughal Garden Tombs what we see today are the results of various influences and innovations over the years of the Mughal Reign. This funerary architecture tracing its roots to the lands of Persia, found a new definition in India under the Mughals. The amalgamation of various art forms happened during different rulers starting from Babur and leading up to the golden era of architecture, under the great builder Shahjahan. While remembering the process, many a time, it is forgotten to mention the name of Nur Jahan, an aesthete and a prolific builder, whose Persian roots played a significant role in the evolution of Mughal funerary arts and architecture, which eventually led to the most popular garden tomb in the world, the Taj Mahal.
Nur Jahan, known to be the most influential Mughal Queen, built structures that put the great builders of the time in awe of her. It was the influence of her Persian roots that brought Persian arts and crafts into the foreground during Jahngir’s reign. The mosques, caravan saraies, and the tombs she built demonstrate the overpowering Persian elements in the most subtle way. It was her influence and appreciation for the diverse arts and crafts that helped the community of artists and artisans of the time flourish.
The paper intends to establish the imperative role Nur Jahan played in strengthening the link between Persian and Mughal art and architecture. Cases of several garden tombs with Persian concepts like Chahar Bagh, Hasht Bihisht, and amalgamation of various arts and crafts are discussed to highlight the Persian influences in the Indian context, that need to be credited to Nur Jahan.
Keywords: Garden Tomb, Mughal Funerary Architecture, Patronage, Nur Jahan
Mughals belonged to the most glamorous of the three gunpowder empires, the Muslim superpowers of the early modern period. The other two were the Safavids in Iran and the Ottomans in southeastern Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. At the time of its greatest extent, in the early 18th century, the empire of the great Mogul reached from Kabul in present-day Afghanistan to Aurangabad, and from the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Bengal. The Mughal dynasty lasted in India for more than three centuries (1526-1857).
During the Mughal rule, an amalgamation of traditions emerged, giving birth to various Mughal building styles. Bringing together Persian, Central Asian, Indian, and also European arts and craft traditions each specified to its patronage. When Babur took Agra in 1526 he initiated a remodelling of its urban Landscape. Coming from Central Asia, he was used to formally planned gardens. For him, gardens were the preferred type of architectural establishment. This led to the creation of ‘Little Kabul’, a riverfront garden city, where the module was a chahar bagh with the main building on a terrace overlooking the river. Humayun, Akbar, and Jahangir further matured this riverfront scheme, but it was only during Shah Jahan’s reign that it was fully developed into 44 gardens on the two banks of River Yamuna.
In context with the Indo-Persian relations, there seem to be two major highlights during the reign of the Mughal empire. The first link was established during the reign of the second great Mughal, Humayun. After ruling for a decade, he was ousted by Sher Shah Suri in 1540. Post defeat, Humayun fled the country and took refuge in Iran for 12 years. During this time, the Mughals augmented their contact with Persian culture. When Humayun returned and re-established the Mughal Empire in India, he had gathered Persian influences from his travels. He was accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen that signaled an important change in Mughal court culture. It can be witnessed that the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language, and literature. The second Indo-Persian link came in the early 17th century in the form of the most powerful empress of the entire Mughal reign, Nur Jahan, literally meaning the light of the world. As described by acclaimed historian Ruby Lal in her book ‘Empress; The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan’, the queen as, “.. a cerebral, an aesthete, a woman of many interests, from poetry to design to hunting.”
The Evolution of Mughal Funerary Architecture
The ritual of placing the dead into the ground has existed all throughout the history of mankind. Over the years, different civilizations have had different ways of burying their dead. Tombs have been located in caves, underground, or in structures designed specifically for the purpose of containing the remains of the deceased. There are famous examples in history, like Stonehenge from prehistoric times, the great Pyramids of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the necropolis cemeteries around the world, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the traditional site of Jesus' Crucifixion and burial, the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, the thirteen tombs of the Ming dynasty in China, to name a few. Beliefs of an afterlife predate the three monotheistic religions, and like Judaism and Christianity, Islam too incorporated this concept into its beliefs. To understand the concept of Islamic burial and the notion of burial in a garden, we have to site it within an eschatological framework. Islam conceives of paradise as a garden. The qur’anic term is al-jannah meaning ‘the Garden par excellence’. Burial in a garden amounts to a material anticipation of immaterial bliss, and the closer the garden approximates the Qur’anic model, the more effective the analogy. Moreover, the structures over burials were seen as a means to ensure paradisiacal conditions for the dead, as promised to the faithful in the Qur’an. They provided protective shade, and the height of the dome symbolized closeness to God and Paradise.
Tombs existed in India even before the coming of the Mughals, but the grand dynastic mausoleums built in gardens were a paradigm of the imperial funerary architecture of the Mughals. Over the years, the Mughal dynastic chronology structured their respective sense of identity and the cultural arts that they produced. All six great Mughals had very distinct interests, priorities, and expertise. Each one inherited and incorporated his predecessor’s values, but still followed their own approach and style of ruling, which helped them in expanding the footprint of the empire. Babur, the first Mughal, inherited courage and royalty from both his parents, who happened to be the descendant of two of the most powerful rulers of their times. Being a Timurid from his father’s side and having the blood of Genghis Khan from his mother’s family, he was destined to be the great ruler he later turned out to be. Babur was born in the valley of Fergana in Central Asia and was raised around nature and the environment from the very beginning. He was fascinated by nature and was inspired by the beautiful gardens and flowing waters of Ferghana, Samarkand, and Kabul. He imagined this kind of landscaping to be his natural habitat. Therefore naturally after fighting and winning the famous first battle of Panipat in 1526 against Ibrahim Lodi and conquering Delhi, he did not like India at all in the beginning. He mentions it in his memoirs - the Baburnama, how he initially hated Hindustan because of the dust and heat and the lack of greenery and water, that he was used to. Coming from the imagery of the various cities with gardens, he tried to replicate the same in India. He tried to recreate Agra as ‘little Kabul’, by laying gardens on both sides of the river Yamuna. His garden, Araam Bagh, popularly known today as Ram Bagh is one the first gardens laid in Agra, along the river Yamuna that still exists. When Babur died, he was given one of the simplest burials according to Islamic principles. His grave lies in the gardens of Kabul in Bagh-e Babur, open to the sky and simply surrounded by a screen, known to be the purest form of Islamic burial. It was only after the death of Humayun that the Mughal Garden Tombs came into existence.
Humayun, the second great Mughal, after ruling India for a few years was dethroned by Sher Shah Suri at the battle of Buxar. After the loss, he decided to travel to and around Central Asia and Iran for assistance and aid from the Safavids and other rulers to raise an army against the Sur dynasty to regain his lost kingdom. Humayun brought back a large group of advisers, assistants, and an entourage of Persian noblemen and signaled an important change in Mughal court culture. These associates brought in a lot of Persian concepts and influenced the various fields of art and architecture. After Humayun’s sudden death at his abode in Delhi, his young son Akbar became the next ruler. He commissioned his father’s tomb in the proximity of the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi. Humayun’s Tomb as it is popularly known today, was not only built as a place to bury the late king but it was also seen as a symbol to propagate the power and strength of the Mughal Empire that had established in Delhi. It was inspired by the Tomb of Timur in Samarkand and had Persian concepts of burial. The Persian concepts of Chahar Bagh, and Hasht Bihisht were incorporated into the large double-domed mausoleum. It was raised on a Takht (high plinth), having the original cenotaph in the lower chamber. The use of symbolic color dualism is also prominent in this massive structure. This garden tomb was an answer to the existing tombs in Delhi and the onset of the arrival of the Mughals in India. The Mughal garden tombs can be seen following these Persian concepts and principles of burials till the Taj Mahal and in some cases even later, but not to their full potential. The next three Mughals have very massive and distinct Tombs in their name. However, Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughals, did break the chain of lavish burials and is simply buried with an open-to-sky grave and a screen around it, as intended in Islam.
Taj Mahal, The epitome of Mughal Garden Tomb
The next Tomb to follow happened to be that of emperor Akbar in Sikandra, near Agra. James L. Wescoat Jr. describes in his paper ‘The Changing Cultural Space of Mughal Gardens’, how the perception and use of gardens changed with each ruler. The first two Mughals commissioned gardens as experimental spaces. Babur followed the idea of how gardens were a symbol of a ruler’s conquest, whereas Humayun did mystical experiments for the pure love of nature. Akbar on the other hand shifted his emphasis from gardens to urban design. Akbar the Great, as he’s popularly known, ruled over India for nearly half a century. He understood the heterogeneous country he was ruling and tried to encourage and incorporate as many indigenous arts and crafts as possible. It can be identified that being raised in India, Akbar’s architectural establishments were more Indianised than his predecessors over the years. His Tomb, which he had started and commissioned in his lifetime, had influences from Rajasthani Architecture merging with the concepts of Garden Tombs. The construction of the tomb was completed under the rule of his son, Jahangir. It was raised on a monumental plinth and the dome was overshadowed by the different platform levels, Chhatris being a prominent element of the mausoleum. The architecture of his time was more Indo-Persian, which can be witnessed in his capital city of Fatehpur Sikri. It was only after Akbar that a major change could be seen in the gardens and architectural establishments that were commissioned.
It was the fourth great Mughal Jahangir, whose reign saw a lot of gardens being laid and Persian arts being promoted. In the book ‘Islamic Gardens and Landscapes’, D. Fairchild Ruggles writes that it was Jahangir and his love for flora and Nur Jahan and her Persian roots and together their intense interest in natural imagery that led to the revival of Persian arts and crafts. He further describes, “In the specific patronage of Nur Jahan, we can trace an especially keen personal taste for gardens and garden imagery that appears first in arts such as textiles and manuscript paintings, next in the empress’s own architectural commissions, and finally in her stepson’s imperial Taj Mahal complex.” It was the influence of Nur Jahan, the astonishing empress of her time, and her Persian aesthetics that helped in bringing a lot of arts and crafts into the foreground. The mosques, caravan saraies, and the tombs Nur Jahan built are proof of how the Persian elements were overpowering the Indian elements. It was her influence and interests in varied arts and crafts that helped the community of artists and artisans flourish during Jahangir's reign. The tombs built during the reign of Jahangir, commissioned by the queen herself, such as the tomb of her parents, known today as the tomb of Itmad-ud-Duala in Agra, and after that, the tombs of Jahangir and Nur Jahan in Lahore were entirely different in terms of treatment but were similar in layout patterns based on Persian Chahar Bagh. Ruggles further describes that “the Tomb of Itmad-ud-Duala derives in part from Persian architecture, where scenes of flasks, drinking cups, vases, flowers, and cypress trees often decorated the walls of garden pavilions and palace halls”. The treatments were inspired by the motifs and patterns dominantly used in Persian lands for surfaces such as intricate bands of floral laces.
The later Garden Tomb, Taj Mahal poised the patterns of preceding tombs in both planning and treatments proving an epitome of the architectural development of the Mughals. The design of the Taj reflected the experience of building earlier gardens along Agra’s riverfront and in the mountains of Kashmir and also incorporated new ideas from Europe.
Ruggles explains how the influence of Nur Jahan was not only restricted to just architecture. He writes, “A new genre of painting arose in the early 17th century that consisted of individual flowers accurately depicted with foliage and flowers complete with stamens and bracts in various stages of the plant’s life cycle. This life cycle existed earlier in textiles such as woven and especially embroidered silk and cotton textiles that included tailored garments. A person was surrounded by a parade of flowers as well as flowing water channels and fountains that blurred the distinction between architecture and nature.” These floral depictions were later incorporated by Shahjahan in his commissions, in the form of munabbatkari (stone carvings) and parchinkari (stone inlay) art forms.
Nur Jahan a Patron
The intricate wall paintings of I’timad-ud Daula tomb chamber
The Mughal world had never known a royal woman like Nur Jahan. When her influence first began to grow in the harem, after her marriage with Emperor Jahangir, it was built upon acts of kindness. “Nur’s generosity was boundless and unlimited. She bestowed gifts of clothing, jewels, horses, elephants, and cash on the royal men and women around her, and gave plenty of money to the poor” Ruby Lal points out.
According to legend, Nur Jahan is purported to have made contributions to almost every type of fine and practical art. According to Findly, Nur Jahan is said to have contributed substantially by introducing a variety of new textiles, among them are the badla (silver-threaded brocade) and the kinari (silver-threaded lace). Remnants of imperial orders issued by her, coins minted in her name, paintings that paid ode to her sovereignty and bravery are all evidence of the enormously powerful figure that she was. Jahangir and Nur Jahan’s intense interest in nature can be witnessed in the number of gardens commissioned by the two in Agra, Lahore and the valley of Kashmir, which was a favourite destination of the Emperor. Nur Jahan’s keen interest in the world arts resulted in many gifts in the form of European goods, art books, and other objects from visiting ambassadors wishing to curry favour mentions Ruggles. Her love for the various arts, observant nature and attention to the minutest details revitalized and strengthened the Indo-Persian style of arts and architecture in the 17th century during the reign of Emperor Jahangir. According to Dutch traveller Pelaert, her patronage of architecture was extensive, as he notes, "She erects very expensive buildings in all directions- "sarais", or halting places for travellers and merchants, and pleasure gardens and palaces such that no one has seen before".
Nur Jahan commissioned and designed her first public building, a traveller’s inn, the Nur Mahal Serai in Jalandhar, on the Grand Trunk road between Agra and Lahore. Apart from an estimated accommodation for nearly 2000 guests, it had a separate area for the imperial couple and its own mosque. Ruby Lal describes “In act after act - hunting, advising, issuing imperial orders and coins, designing buildings - she ensured that her name was etched indelibly in public memory and in history.”
Landscaping was another of her forte, which can be seen by the gardens she was associated with after she became the queen. Gardens laid during her travels with the emperor to the Kashmir valley are a fine example of her Persian influence. Shalimar Bagh built by Jahangir for the queen in 1619 and the Achabal Gardens built by the queen herself in 1620 are great examples of Persian techniques used for channeling of water and landscaping.
Nur Jahan not only built them but she even renovated one of the most historic gardens of the Mughal reign. In February 1621, she began overseeing the creation of her Light Scattering Garden, the Bagh-i Nur Afshan. This garden was among the first Chahar Baghs of Hindustan established by the first Mughal, Babur, unhappy about the lack of springs and streams in Indian cities. He tried to design a spot that re-created the canals, waterfalls, the pathways found in Persian gardens, following the concept of squares divided into quarters by walkways and waterways to represent a replica of the Paradise. Babur was temporarily buried here, in the very centre, before being entombed in Kabul in Bagh-e Babur. In reusing the first Mughal’s garden for her own, Nur made an aesthetic link with Jahangir’s great-grandfather - a connection between herself and other male emperors.
“Nur’s plan for this garden, famously known as Ram Bagh today, was less formal and more innovative than a traditional Persian arrangement. She added three descending terraces and walkways along the river, with pavilions, arcades, and walled rooms for shelter and shade - a rhythm of open and closed design that echoed the harem quarters. Beneath the main pavilion were underground rooms, including a hammam or bath with a disrobing room, a hot room, and a cool room; and a large room with pools and waterfalls”, details Lal in her book. Contemporary writers often referred to Nur as the Sheba of her age: Bilquis-uz-Zaman, the powerful Sheba! And as with all the gardens planned and cherished by Nur and Jahangir, she was building a bridge between the whole Mughal past and the dynasty’s future.
Her next architectural commission was a pioneer in itself and a landmark in developing a more dominant persian style complex. After the unfortunate death of her parents in the span of four months, Nur was devastated. She ordered the construction of a spectacular garden tomb in honor of her parents Ghiyas Beg, known by his title I’timad-ud Daula and his wife Asmat. It would take nearly six years to complete. The Jewel Box, as it is popularly called in Agra, this tomb is an exquisite rectangular building made entirely of white marble inlaid with semiprecious stones, colored mosaic tiles, and latticework called pietra dura - sits on the banks of the Jamuna, on the other side of the river from the structure that would later echo its architectural form, the Taj Mahal. The Persian influence is quite evident in this remarkable white structure. Persian motifs, such as rose-water vases, wine cups, lilies, and red poppies - a lot of red, red flowers signifying suffering and death, a motif that would appear later in the Taj, built little more than a decade after Ghiyas and Asmat’s tomb was completed. Qur’anic inscriptions decorate the outside walls of the monument.
Nur Jahan built this memorial garden along the classic pattern that Babur had begun: the tomb at the centre of the Persian funerary architectural element known as the Chahar Bagh. But she added her own flourishes - terraces and platforms. Josef Tieffenthaler, a missionary and a geographer, who was in Agra in the 1740s, found the I’timad-ud Daula’s Tomb more fascinating than the Taj. He wrote, “It surpassed all Agra monuments, if not in size, in arts and ornamentation.”
Interior of Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah with its detailed panels of floral and geometric patterns
Interior of Jehangir Tomb Source: Youlin Magazine, h. (2018). The Tombs of Jahangir and Nur Jahan: A Forlorn Reminder of Their Passionate Relationship - Muhammad Asif Nawaz - Youlin Magazine. [online] Youlinmagazine.com.
The next architectural gem credited to Nur Jahan was the tomb of her husband Jahangir in Lahore. Although there are contradictory arguments regarding the patronage of the tomb, architectural experts and historians have maintained that Jahangir’s tomb was the product of Nur Jahan’s vision. Shah Jahan gave the orders for its construction, but the tomb was designed and built under the supervision of Nur Jahan. It took her ten years, from 1628 to 1638, to complete this monument to the memory of her husband. Jahangir wanted to have a tomb that allowed direct connection with the divine, i.e. to be open to the sky. Nur solved that problem by incorporating elements of the platform tombs and designed a unique mausoleum with a monumental bare plinth and high minarets at the four corners, open to the sky, the rain, and the clouds, “a symbol of divine mercy.” This tomb design was repeated only once, on about half the scale and without corner minarets, in the tomb of Nur Jahan, built by Jahangir’s widow herself.
Interior of Taj Mahal Source: Ebba Koch "The Complete Taj"
The stark evolution in the Mughal funerary architecture took place after the construction of I’timad-ud Daula’s Tomb which was commissioned under the patronage of Nur Jahan. The entire vocabulary of the façade, inner chamber, the cenotaph, and the detailing came out to be fashioned delicately with the existing model of Mughal Garden Tombs which was based on Persian Chahar Bagh.
CONCLUSION:
The evolution of Mughal Funerary Architecture starting from Babur to Aurangzeb displays a variety of experimentation through aspirations of different regions resulting in fused architecture. Each tomb marks its place in the architectural development keeping intact the sole meaning and symbolism of tomb buildings. Mughals being great patrons of art and architecture, ranging from simple screens to large complexes were able to convert buildings of stone to symbolic representations through complex planning and intricate detailing. Nur Jahan falling into the center of the evolution chart made such an impact on the Mughal buildings that it changed the course of the whole building style of the generation. This fact is largely ignored by art historians and scholars it never took the forefront in the evolution of tomb architecture. The architectural evolution of the Mughal Garden Tombs that resulted in the best-known monument of India, and the most magnificent of mausoleums built by the emperors of the Mughal dynasty, the Taj Mahal was a logical conclusion of the strands which already existed in Mughal gardens, buildings, and tombs and where Nur Jahan played an imperative role. Mughal funerary architecture had already been established by the time Shah Jahan came to the throne. The Persian planning concepts of funerary architecture i.e. ‘Chahar bagh’ and ‘Hasht Bihisht’ were well established. The tomb of Humayun was built in 1564 at Delhi being its pioneer and the first great statement of the Mughal Empire. The minarets had a predecessor in Jahangir’s tomb at Lahore, and the white marble inlay had been used in the tomb of I’timad-ud Daula at Agra, both built by Nur Jahan. The garden form too, had progressed from that of the early squared layout, brought from Kabul by Babur, leading to the layout surrounding Humayun’s tomb and Jahangir and Nur Jahan’s incomparable layouts in Kashmir, with their broad use of moving channels of water. The monumental tomb that Shah Jahan decided to raise for his wife had a major contribution by an empress, a co-sovereign, and a Persian daughter, called Nur Jahan. The contributions of Nur Jahan both in the field of art and architecture were a major turning point in the Mughal reign, a cross-cultural exchange that took place between the Mughal Empire (India) and Persia (Iran).
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