The story of how architecture in Gujarat got a Mughal touch…

On hearing of a revolt in Gujarat in 1573 AD at his capital Fatehpur Sikri, Mughal emperor Akbar left for Ahmedabad with 3,000 horsemen. He apparently covered a distance of 600 miles from Fatehpur Sikri to the city in just nine days, and upon reaching Ahmedabad, killed the rebel governor and defeated the astonished rebel army.

This electric movement of the emperor had truly shocked the local rulers. Gujarat remained a peaceful province of the Mughal empire for the next 187 years.

Monuments in Ahmedabad, like the palace in Shahibaug, Azam Khan's sarai, Sujat Khan's mosque, and the tomb of Nawab Sardar Khan are among the major monuments representing Mughal architecture in Gujarat.

The Mughals had ruled India from 1526 AD to 1712 AD. The dynasty was gifted with brilliant military tacticians and administrators whose rule lasted two long centuries over a vast area of the Indian sub-continent. Akbar, the most famous among the Mughals, is justly called 'the great' for his statesmanship as well as for his military and administrative prowess. It was Jehangir, who, prior to his becoming the emperor, as the governor of Gujarat, had undertaken repairs on the damaged old part of the Bhadra palace and fort.

The palace at Shahibaug, built by another Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1622 AD, had a large garden in the style of the famous Mughal gardens.

The palace was built essentially to create employment for the victims of a severe famine that had occurred in the province during the previous years. This palace became the official residence of the governors of Gujarat after the state of Gujarat was formed in the year 1960.

This two-storied structure has a grand darbar hall, styled after all Mughal palaces, adjacent to which is an octagonal room on each side.

Azam Khan, by the name of Mir Muhammad Baquir, was one of the most efficient among the sixty-odd governors who had ruled Gujarat for the Mughals.

His habit of building palace-citadels even in the most turbulent times had earned him the nickname udhai (meaning, in Gujarati, the white ant that builds itself a home wherever it goes). His palace in Ahmedabad, built in 1637 AD, stands near the Bhadra fort and looks in the direction of the three gates.

The 5.49-metre high entrance of the palace leads to an octagonal hall, which had in the upper storey, a low balcony in stone. There were cupolas on different sections of the gallery with marble chequer. The palace was used as a hospital and a prison during the British period.

The mausoleum, known as Hazira in Vadodara,  is in the style of the Mughal tombs at Delhi.

It houses the graves of Qutb-Ud-Din Muhammad Khan who was the tutor of Salim, son and successor of Akbar, and also that of his son Naurang Khan.

Qutb-Ud-Din was uncle of Mirza Aziz Koka, foster brother of Akbar and governor of Gujarat thrice between the years 1573 AD to 1583 AD. He was killed in 1583 AD by Muzaffar III, the last sultan of Gujarat.

This very first example of  Mughal architecture in Gujarat is built on a high octagonal platform, with smaller gates in the cardinal directions, and five arches on each side.

Koranic texts in Arabic are carved inside the tomb chamber, on lintels, arches and also above jali work on the eastern side walls. The lower position of the cylindrical dome surrounding the tomb was covered with thick plaster.

The mausoleum has a double dome and seems to have been a garden tomb.
The Nawab Sardar Khan mosque is built of bricks and is raised on a platform. Three pointed arches in the facade enter it; the solid minarets rise to four storeys, the lower are octagonal and the upper are circular.

The roof has three Persian style onion domes surmounted by crescents. Nawab Shujat Khan's mosque too is a delicate example of Mughal architecture in Gujarat. In fact, the Gujarati mode of construction in the building types had so impressed the Mughals that the Gujarati architectural vocabulary finds its distinct and prominent place in the architecture of Akbar's capital, Fatehpur Sikri.

The scholar Ebba Koch has noted that "Gujarat played an important part in the foundation period of Mughal architecture which drew from diverse sources that which was most suitable for a monumental sandstone-oriented building programme. Gujarati tradition presented a model for successful adaptation of pre-Islamic Hindu and Jain architecture to requirements of Muslim architecture."

That art of Gujarat was held in high esteem by the court of emperor Shah Jahan is supported by his court poet, Abu Talib Kalim Kashani, who has written: "There is an art-inspiring breeze, Call it not Gujarat but India's Greece!"(Yunan-i-Hindustan)