The Taj Mahal, is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
Babri Masjid was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communities since the 18th century. According to the mosque's inscriptions, it was built in 1528–29 by general Mir Baqi, on the orders of the Mughal emperor Babur. The mosque was attacked and demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob in 1992, which ignited communal violence across the Indian subcontinent.
The architecture of India is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Among a number of architectural styles and traditions, the contrasting Hindu temple architecture and Indo-Islamic architecture are the best known historical styles. Both of these, but especially the former, have a number of regional styles within them. An early example of town planning was the Harappan architecture of the Indus Valley Civilisation, whose people lived in cities with baked brick houses, streets in a grid layout, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, granaries, citadels, and some non-residential buildings. Much other early Indian architecture was in wood, which has not survived.
The Qutb Minar complex are monuments and buildings from the Delhi Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi, India..The complex was built over demolished ruins of ancient Jain and Hindu site. Construction of the Qutub Minar "victory tower" in the complex, named after the religious figure Sufi Saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, was begun by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who later became the first Sultan of Delhi of the Mamluk dynasty. It was continued by his successor Iltutmish, and finally completed much later by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a Sultan of Delhi from the Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1412) in 1368 AD. The Qubbat-ul-Islam Mosque, later corrupted into Quwwat-ul Islam, stands next to the Qutb Minar.
Indo-Islamic architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent produced by and for Islamic patrons and purposes. Despite an initial Arab presence in Sindh, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture began in earnest with the establishment of Delhi as the capital of the Ghurid dynasty in 1193. Succeeding the Ghurids was the Delhi Sultanate, a series of Central Asian dynasties that consolidated much of North India, and later the Mughal Empire by the 15th century. Both of these dynasties introduced Persianate architecture and art styles from Western Eurasia into the Indian subcontinent.
The Bibi Ka Maqbara is a tomb located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was commissioned in 1660 by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the memory of his wife Dilras Banu Begum and is considered to be a symbol of Aurangzeb's 'conjugal fidelity'. It bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's mother, Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb was not much interested in architecture though he had commissioned the small, but elegant, Pearl Mosque at Delhi. Bibi Ka Maqbara is the second largest structure that Aurangzeb has built, the largest being the Badshahi Mosque.
The Gwalior Fort is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus indicate that it may have existed as early as the beginning of the 6th century. The modern-day fort, consisting a defensive structure and two palaces was built by Tomar ruler Man Singh Tomar. The fort has been controlled by a number of different rulers in its history.
The architecture of Bengal, which comprises the modern country of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley, has a long and rich history, blending indigenous elements from the Indian subcontinent, with influences from different parts of the world. Bengali architecture includes ancient urban architecture, religious architecture, rural vernacular architecture, colonial townhouses and country houses and modern urban styles. The bungalow style is a notable architectural export of Bengal. The corner towers of Bengali religious buildings were replicated in medieval Southeast Asia. Bengali curved roofs, suitable for the very heavy rains, were adopted into a distinct local style of Indo-Islamic architecture, and used decoratively elsewhere in north India in Mughal architecture.
Hajo is a historic town set in the hills northwest of Guwahati, Assam, India. The different hills of Hajo are a pilgrimage site for regional Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims. To the Hindus, the Manikut Parbat of Hajo is the site of the 10th-century temple ruins and the 11th- to 16th-century temples complex for Vaishnavism as well as shrines of Shaivism and Shaktism. To the Buddhists, particularly from Bhutan and Tibet, Assam is where the Buddha died and the Hyagriva temple in Hajo is a part of the sacred geography of the Buddha. To the regional Muslims, the Mughal era Poa-Mecca shrine on another hill of Hajo has the tomb of Giyasuddin Aulia built in the 17th-century.
Keshiary is a village in the Keshiari CD block in the Kharagpur subdivision of the Paschim Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal.
Barabati Fort is a 989 AD fort built by Marakata Keshari of Somavamshi (Keshari) dynasty in Cuttack, Odisha. The ruins of the fort remain with its moat, gate, and the earthen mound of the nine-storied palace, which evokes the memories of past days. Today it sits next to the modern Barabati Stadium, the venue of various sport events and cultural programs. There is also a temple dedicated to Katak Chandi, the presiding deity of the city, not far away from the fort. Now there are plans to develop the old Gadakhai into a world class tourist destination with boating facilities and a world class park. The renovation work of the Gadakhai is going on in full swing.
Pakistani architecture is intertwined with the architecture of the broader Indian subcontinent. With the beginning of the Indus civilization around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, for the first time in the area which encompasses today's Pakistan an advanced urban culture developed with large structural facilities, some of which survive to this day. This was followed by the Gandhara style of Buddhist architecture that borrowed elements from Ancient Greece. These remnants are visible in the Gandhara capital of Taxila.
Sultan Ghari was the first Islamic Mausoleum (tomb) built in 1231 AD for Prince Nasiru'd-Din Mahmud, eldest son of Iltumish, in the "funerary landscape of Delhi" in the Nangal Dewat Forest, Near Nangal Dewat Vasant Kunj).
Khirki Mosque, approached from the Khirki Village in South Delhi and close to the Satpula or the seven arched bridge on the edge of southern wall of Jahanpanah, was a mosque built by Khan-i-Jahan Junan Shah, the prime minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388) of the Tughlaq Dynasty. The word 'Khirki' prefixed to mosque is an Urdu word that means "window" and hence is also called "The Mosque of Windows".
The Sat Gambuj Mosque is near the northwestern outskirts of Dhaka in the Mohammadpur area. It is a fine example of the provincial Mughal style of architecture introduced in Bangladesh in the 17th century. The mosque's most notable features are its seven bulbous domes crowning the roof and covering the main prayer hall. Probably erected by Governor Shaista Khan, the monument stands in a romantic setting on a buttressed 15-foot-high bank overlooking an extensive flood plain.
Baba Adam's Mosque is a mosque situated in the village of Qadi Qasbah under Rampal Union of Bangladesh's Munshiganj District. It was constructed in 1483 A.D by Malik Kafur to function as a Jami mosque during the reign of Jalaluddin Fateh Shah. The tomb of Baba Adam Shahid, a 15th-century Muslim preacher, lies near the edifice.
Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments is a book written in Persian by Dr Ali Asghar Hekmat E Shirazi and published in 1956 and 1958 and 2013. New edition contains the Persian texts of more than 200 epigraphical inscriptions found on historical monuments in India, many of which are currently listed as national heritage sites or registered as UNESCO world heritage, published in Persian; an English edition is also being printed.
Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra is a large and imposing structure in the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, India. A large number of architectural members and sculptures of temples are lying inside the verandah of the complex.
Jatar Deul also called tower temple (rekha-deul), is located in the numerous rivers criss-crossed by stone-free alluvial and bush landscape of the southern Sundarbans settlements in the Indian state of West Bengal. It belongs to a small sub-group of Bengal temples, the architectural suggestions from Odisha can be traced back.
Kherur Mosque is located at Kherur in the Sagardighi CD block in the Jangipur subdivision of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India.
