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Medieval Monuments | Indian Archaeology, Architecture, and Heritage Studies

Medieval monuments - forts, mosques, tombs, gardens, bridges, baolis, and palace structures - receive sustained coverage across the entire IJA run, primarily in studies by M.K. Pundhir, Asif Ali, and other contributors. The corpus covers Lodi, Sultanate, Mughal, Rajput, Nawabi, and Deccani structures, with particular concentration in Agra, Ajmer, Banda, Lucknow, and the broader Gangetic plain.

Key Sites

Ranthambhor Fort - mosque showing Lodi-period presence; contradicts assumption that Lodi rulers had no footprint here
Saharanpur Mughal Bridge - failure documented as a result of heavy piers reducing waterway and triggering river migration
Bari, District Dhaulpur (Rajasthan) - Lal Mahal, hunting lodge of Shahjahan
Chini ka Rauza, Agra - space organisation and glazed tile technology of a Mughal official’s tomb
Agra - multiple Mughal tombs (Sadiq Khan, Salabat Khan, Sultan Parvez, Diwanji Begum, Firoz Khan, Fatehpuri Begum Mosque)
Ajmer - medieval monuments including Akbari Gate of Taragarh, Jahangir’s pavilion at Pushkar
Badaun - Jama Masjid studied archaeologically
Banda - Nawabi structures of successive Nawabs of Banda
Pinjore - last Mughal garden built by Fidai Khan in the late 17th century
Gujarat - development of mosque architecture traced from Sultanate period
Kashmir - transformation from Hindu-Buddhist stone to wooden Islamic construction

Key Findings

Lodi presence at Ranthambhor (Vol 1, No. 1): The mosque in the fort provides solid epigraphic and architectural evidence of Lodi-period occupation, extending the documented political geography of the Lodi Sultanate.
Mughal bridge hydraulics (Vol 1, No. 1 and Vol 2, No. 2): Husam Haider’s studies on Mughal bridges establish that heavy pier construction reduced water-way cross-sections, leading to structural failure; an engineering analysis relevant to conservation.
Mosque architectural evolution (Vol 6, No. 2 and Vol 7, No. 2): Asif Ali’s two studies trace the transformation of mosque design from the hypostyle hall to the single-nave plan during the Sultanate period in north India, and document the Gujarat school’s independent development.
Mughal gardens (Vol 1, No. 4 and Vol 7, No. 2): Two studies on Mughal gardens - general symbolic/climatic analysis and a specific study of Pinjore - establish how Mughal garden design incorporated both Persian chahar-bagh geometry and Indian climate-adaptive features.
Timurid–Safavid roots of Mughal architecture (Vol 9, No. 2): Systematic study traces how Babur and Humayun imported Timurid architectural traditions from Central Asia, modified by Safavid influences from Persia, to create the Mughal synthesis.
Sufi influence on Kashmir architecture (Vol 10, No. 2): The study documents the shift from stone Hindu-Buddhist temple construction to wooden mosque construction in Kashmir after the 14th century, driven by Sufi missionary activity.

Vol 1, No. 1

A Mosque in the fort of Ranthambhor, A Study in Lodi Structure

Dr. M.K. Pundhir

Medieval Monuments | Indian Archaeology, Architecture, and Heritage Studies

Key Sites

Key Findings

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