328. Tomb of Mohammad Ghaus, Gualior. (From a Photograph.)
One of the most remarkable and characteristic of Akbar’s buildings is the old or Red Palace in the fort, so called from being constructed entirely of red sandstone, unfortunately not a very good quality, and consequently much of its ornament has peeled off. It is a square building, measuring 249 ft. by 260 ft. In the centre is a courtyard, 71 ft. by 72 ft., on either side of which are two halls facing one another. The largest, 62 ft. by 37 ft., has a flat ceiling of stone, divided into panels, and supported by struts of purely Hindu design, very similar to those used in the palaces of Mân Sing and Vicramaditya at Gualior. Every feature around this court is indeed of pure Hindu architecture. No arches appear anywhere, but the horizontal style of construction everywhere. The ornamentation, too, which is carved on all the flat surfaces, is of a class used by Akbar, but not found in the buildings of others. Indeed, throughout this palace arches are used so sparingly, and Hindu forms and Hindu construction prevail to such an extent, that it would hardly be out of place at Chittore or Gualior, though it still bears that impress of vigour and originality that he and he only knew how to impress on all his works.[545]
It is, however, at Futtehpore Sikri that Akbar must be judged of as a builder. During the whole of his reign it was his favourite residence. He apparently was the first to occupy the spot, and apparently the last, at least, to build there, no single building being identified as having been erected by any of his successors.
Akbar seems to have had no settled plan when he commenced building there. The original part of the building seems to be the Khas Mehal, a square block of building measuring about 260 ft. each way, and therefore of about the same dimensions as the Red Palace in the fort at Agra. Its courtyard, however, is larger, about 170 ft. each way, and the buildings that surround it very inferior in richness of design and ornamentation. This, however, is far more than compensated for by the courts and pavilions that he added from time to time. There is the Dewanni Khas, or throne-room, a square building with a throne consisting of an enormous flower-like bracket, supported on a richly-carved pillar;[546] a peristylar building, called his office, very similar to one he erected at Allahabad, to be mentioned hereafter; a five-storeyed open pavilion, all the pillars of which are most richly carved, and long colonnades and walls connecting these with one another. The richest, the most beautiful, as well as the most characteristic of all his buildings here are three small pavilions, said to have been erected to please and accommodate his three favourite sultanas: hence called Bîr Bul ka Beti ka Mehal, for his Hindu wife, the daughter of his favourite minister, Bîr Bul; Miriam’s House, appropriated to his Christian consort; and the palace of the Roumi Sultana. They are small, but it is impossible to conceive anything so picturesque in outline, or any building carved and ornamented to such an extent, without the smallest approach to being overdone or in bad taste. The two pillars shown in the annexed woodcut, are from a cast from the last-named pavilion, which is now in the South Kensington Museum. It is, perhaps, the most elaborate of the three; but the other two are generally in better taste.
329. Carved Pillars in the Sultana’s Kiosk, Futtehpore Sikri. (From a Photograph.)
The glory, however, of Futtehpore Sikri is its mosque, which is hardly surpassed by any in India ([Woodcut No. 330]). It measures 550 ft. east and west, by 470 ft. north and south over all. The mosque itself, 290 ft. by 80 ft., is crowned by three domes. In its courtyard, which measures 350 ft. by 440 ft., stand two tombs: that of Selim Chisti, wholly in white marble, and the windows with pierced tracery of the most exquisite geometrical patterns—flowing tracery is a subsequent invention. It possesses besides a deep cornice of marble supported by brackets of the most elaborate design, so much so indeed as to be almost fantastic—the only approach to bad taste in the place; the other tomb, that of Islam Khan, is soberer and in excellent taste, but quite eclipsed by its surroundings. Even these parts, however, are surpassed in magnificence by the southern gateway, measuring 130 ft. by 85 ft. in plan, and of proportionate dimensions in height ([Woodcut No. 331]). As it stands on a rising ground, when looked at from below, its appearance is noble beyond that of any portal attached to any mosque in India, perhaps in the whole world. This gateway may also be quoted as a perfectly satisfactory solution of a problem which has exercised the ingenuity of architects in all ages, but was more successfully treated by the Saracenic architects than by any others.