Fig. 76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islám Mosque.
Muhammadan Architecture.—The Muhammadan architecture of North-Western India may be divided into three periods:
| (a) | The Pathán | 1191-1320 |
| (b) | The Tughlak | 1320-1556 |
| (c) | The Moghal | 1556-1753 |
Fig. 77. Kutb Minár.
In the Pathán period the royal builders drew their inspiration from Ghazní, but their work was also much affected by Hindu influences for two reasons. They used the materials of Hindu temples in constructing their mosques and they employed masons imbued with the traditions of Hindu art. The best specimens of this period are to be found in the group of buildings in Old Delhi or Kila' Rai Pithora, close to Mahraulí and eleven miles to the south of the present city. These buildings are the magnificent Kuwwat ul Islám (Might of Islam) Mosque (1191-1225), with its splendid tower, the Kutb Minár (1200-1220), from which the mu'azzin called the faithful to prayer, the tomb of the Emperor Altamsh (1238), and the great gateway built in 1310 by Alá ud dín Khaljí. In the second period, named after the house that occupied the imperial throne when it began, all traces of Hindu influence have vanished, and the buildings display the austere and massive grandeur suited to the faith of the desert prophet unalloyed by foreign elements. This style in its beginning is best seen in the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakábád and the tomb of the Emperor Tughlak Sháh, and in some mosques in and near Delhi. Its latest phase is represented by Sher Sháh's mosque in the Old Fort or Purána Kila'. To some the simple grandeur of this style will appeal more strongly than the splendid, but at times almost effeminate, beauty of the third period. Noted examples of Moghal architecture in the Panjáb are to be found in Sháhjahári's red fort palace and Jama' Masjid at New Delhi or Sháhjahánábád, Humáyun's tomb on the road from Delhi to Mahraulí, the fort palace, the Bádsháhí and Wazír Khán's mosques, at Lahore, and Jahángír's mausoleum at Sháhdara. A very late building in this style is the tomb of Nawáb Safdar Jang (1753) near Delhi. A further account of some of the most famous Muhammadan buildings will be found in the paragraphs devoted to the chief cities of the province. The architecture of the British period scarcely deserves notice.
Fig. 78. Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Sháh.