UPSC PRELIMS 2020 CURRENT AFFAIRS - MANIFEST IAS

UPSC PRELIMS 2020 CURRENT AFFAIRS

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Classical Islamic Architecture
           (Mughal)
         1. Humayun’s Tomb
            2. Taj Mahal

Islamic Architecture
Arcuate style
• Arch a curved member that is used to span an opening and to
  support loads from above.
• Dome
• Pendentive(dome arch triangle connection) and Squinch-dome on a
  square
• Mihrab – semicircular niche indicative of direction of Kabba
• Minarates

• Vaulted roof
• Lime plaster and gypsum
• Ornamentation
• Lightness and grace
• Love of light and space with simple severity
• Practical needs of congregational religion
• Massive and extensive buildings
• Lofty portals
• Open courtyards

Ornamentation
•   Calligraphy – kufi , tughra, naskh, nastaliq
•   Geometrical patterns
•   Multi colored tiles
•   Floral works
•   Arabesque patterns –flowing and interlacing lines (C+ F+ G)
•   Jali work-perforated stone work or latticed screen
•   Pietra dura – inlay work
•   Charbhagh style – gardens, fountains and water works.
•   Multicolored marbles- opus sectile
•   Lotus , bell, swastika, animals and swans- images of relief
•   Paintings / murals on wall during Mughal age

Mughal Architecture
❖ Bulbous domes
❖ Multicolored domes
❖ Usage of marble
❖ Multiple domes
❖ Elements of ds + Persian + provincial styles
❖ Imposing gateways
❖ Not single hall but complex interiors which are partitioned in
  tombs
❖ Experimentation with trabeate and Arcuate styles (panchmahal )
❖ Palace fort complexes
❖ Charbhag concept
❖ Matchless building activity
❖ Power and wealth of empire and relatively settled conditions
❖ Aesthetic element well developed

Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi

Historicity
✓ Famous for/as Precursor to Taj Mahal, Mughal Architecture
✓ This World Heritage Site in India was built by Begum Bega, the first wife of Humayun between 1565-1572. IT is the only
  monument which has gone several restoration works and is complete. It’s a tomb complex consisting of several smaller
  monuments including the tombs of Isa Khan Niyazi, an Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri’s court of the Suri dynasty.
✓ Humayun's tomb as a structure was inspired by the Persian culture imbibed by Humayun during his exile. This building is
  in fact a landmark in the development of the Mughal style of architecture.
✓ The tomb has thus become representative of an Indian rendition of a Persian concept.
✓ It represented a leap in Mughal architecture, and together with its accomplished Charbagh garden, typical of Persian
  gardens, but never seen before in India, it set a precedent for subsequent Mughal architecture
✓ In later Mughal history, the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar took refuge here, during the Indian Rebellion of
  1857, along with three princes, and was captured by Captain Hodson before being exiled to Rangoon.
✓ including one that even pre-dates the main tomb itself, by twenty years; it is the tomb complex of Isa Khan Niyazi, an
  Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri's court of the Suri dynasty, who fought against the Mughals, constructed in 1547 CE.
✓ An English merchant, William Finch, who visited the tomb in 1611, describes rich interior furnishing of the central
  chamber

✓   A Tomb,
✓   Many Water Channels,
✓   A Pavilion and A Bath.
✓   The tomb is octagonal in plan and is crowed by a high
    dome which is actually a double dome.
✓   Humayun's tomb is one of the earliest specimens of the
    garden enclosure and is raised high on an arcaded
    sandstone platform.
✓   Red sand stone and white marble
✓   Double dome
✓   Complex interior
✓   Spacious park like enclosure

✓ Imposing gateways on four sides
✓ To the centre of each side of the tomb is a porch with a pointed arch providing entrance to the main chamber.
✓ The interior of this building is a group of compartments, the largest in the centre containing the grave of the
  Emperor.
✓ The smaller ones in each angle were meant to house the graves of his family member. Each room is octagonal in
  plan and they are connected by diagonal passages.
✓ includes several elements of Indian architectural, like the small canopies, or chhatris surrounding the central dome,
  popular in Rajasthani architecture
✓ This burial technique along with pietra dura, a marble and even stone inlay ornamentation in numerous
  geometrical and arabesque patterns, seen all around the facade is an important legacy of the Indo-Islamic
  architecture,
✓ The highly geometrical and enclosed Paradise garden is divided into four squares by paved walkways (khiyabans)
  and two bisecting central water channels, reflecting the four rivers that flow in jannat, the Islamic concept of
  paradise hasht-behesht

Taj Mahal, Agra

✓ It is located at the bank of river Yamuna in Agra.
✓ One of Seven Wonders of the World, White Marble
 Mughal Architecture, the Taj Mahal was built by emperor
 Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
✓ The construction project employed some 20,000
 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led
 by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad
 Lahauri.

✓ The plan of the complex is rectangle with high enclosure wall and
 a lofty entrance gateway in the middle of the southern side.
✓ There are octagonal pavilions, six in all, at the corners and one
 each on the eastern and western sides. The main building of the Taj
 stands on a high marble platform at the northern end of the
 enclosure. To the west of this structure is a mosque with a replica on
 the east side retaining the effect of symmetry.
✓ It is a large, white marble structure standing on a square plinth
 and consists of a symmetrical building with an iwan (an arch-
 shaped doorway) topped by a large dome and finial.
✓ The Tai Mahal is a square building with deep alcove recesses in
 each side and its four corners beveled to form an octagon.

✓ Above this structure rises a beautiful bulbous dome topped with
 an inverted lotus finial and a metallic pinnacle.
✓ Aesthetic wonder
✓ Between real and unreal
✓ Engrailed arches
✓ Bulbous dome true double doming
✓ Charbagh concept
✓ Pietra dura – decoration

➢   At the four corners of the platform rise four circular minarets capped with pillared
 cupolas. The interior resolves itself into a central hall with subsidiary chambers in the
 angles, all connected by radiating passages.
➢ The dome is nearly 35 metres (115 ft) high which is close in measurement to the
 length of the base, and accentuated by the cylindrical "drum" it sits on which is
 approximately 7 metres (23 ft) high
➢ The ceiling of the main hall is a semi-circular vault forming the inner shell of the
 double dome.

➢   The decorative features of the building consist of calligraphy and inlay work in the
  exterior and pietra dura in the interior.
➢   Marble, the main building material, is of the finest quality brought from Makrana
  quarries near Jodhpur.
➢   Each minaret is effectively divided into three equal parts by two working balconies
  that ring the tower. At the top of the tower is a final balcony surmounted by a chattri
  that mirrors the design of those on the tomb. The chattris all share the same
  decorative elements of a lotus design topped by a gilded finial.

➢  The garden in front of the main structure is divided into four quadrants with two canals running
across, forming the quadrants.
➢ The cenotaph in the main hall was enclosed originally with a screen in golden tracery. But it was later
replaced by Aurangzeb with a marble screen.
➢The shape of the dome is emphasised by four smaller domed chattris (kiosks) placed at its corners,
which replicate the onion shape of the main dome
➢  Halfway between the tomb and gateway in the centre of the garden is a raised marble water tank with
a reflecting pool positioned on a north-south axis to reflect the image of the mausoleum.
➢ More recent threats have come from environmental pollution on the banks of the Yamuna River
including acid rain due to the Mathura Oil Refinery, which was opposed by Supreme Court of India
directives.
➢ The pollution has been turning the Taj Mahal yellow-brown. To help control the pollution, the Indian
government has set up the "Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ)", a 10,400-square-kilometre (4,000 sq mi) area
around the monument where strict emissions standards are in place.

• The Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred under
  the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 has constituted the Taj
  Trapezium Zone Pollution (Prevention and Control) authority in
  1998.
• TTZ is a defined area of 10,400 sq km around the Taj Mahal to protect
  the monument from pollution.

   • TTZ is so named since it is located around the Taj Mahal and is shaped like a
     trapezium.
   • It comprises monuments including three World Heritage Sites the Taj Mahal,
     Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.

Ornamentation
• The decorative elements were created by applying paint, stucco, stone
  inlays or carvings.
• The domes and vaults of the sandstone buildings are worked with tracery
  of incised painting to create elaborate geometric forms.
• Floors and walkways use contrasting tiles or blocks in tessellation patterns
• On the lower walls of the tomb are white marble dados sculpted with
  realistic bas relief depictions of flowers and vines. The marble has been
  polished to emphasise the exquisite detailing of the carvings.
• The dado frames and archway spandrels have been decorated with pietra
  dura inlays of highly stylised, almost geometric vines, flowers and fruits.
  The inlay stones are of yellow marble, jasper and jade, polished and
  levelled to the surface of the walls.

The main gateway (darwaza) to the Taj Mahal

Semi-Circular vault forming the inner shell of the
double dome.

Outstanding Universal Value

• 1. Master piece of Human Creative genius
• 2. To exhibit interchange of Human Values
• 3. Unique or Exceptional testimony to Cultural Tradition
• 4. Illustrative of significant stage in Human History
• 5. Traditional Human settlement representing a culture or interaction
  with environment
• 6. Heritage associated with works of outstanding universal
  significance
• 7. areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance

• 8. To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's
  history
• 9. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going
  ecological and biological processes in the evolution of ecosystems
• 10. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for
  in-situ conservation of biological diversity, especially threatened
  species.

Q. Consider the following about Medieval Ornamentation tradition:
1. Nastaliq is a format of Mural Painting.
2. Usage of Multi colored Marbles is called Opus Sectile style.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

• Q. Which of the following architectural features form part of Mughal
  Architecture?
• 1. Guldasta
• 2. Pistaq Arch
• 3. Dado Panels
Select the correct answer using the codes below:
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1,2 and 3