220px|thumb|right|The [[Shalimar Gardens, Lahore|Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, Pakistan, are among the most famous of all Mughal-era gardens.]]

thumb|19th century [[photochrom of the Taj Mahal showing its gardens before they were levelled by the British to resemble formal English lawns]]

A Mughal garden is a type of garden built by the Mughals. This style was influenced by the Persian gardens particularly the Charbagh structure, which is intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfect harmony with all elements of nature.

Significant use of rectilinear layouts are made within the walls enclosures. Some of the typical features include pools, fountains and canals inside the gardens. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India have a number of gardens which differ from their Central Asian predecessors with respect to "the highly disciplined geometry".

History

thumb|Mughal Emperor [[Babur supervising the creation of a garden]]

The founder of the Mughal Empire, Babur, described his favourite type of garden as a charbagh. The term bāgh, baug, bageecha or bagicha, is used for the garden. This word developed a new meaning in South Asia, as the region lacked the fast-flowing streams required for the Central Asian charbagh. The Aram Bagh of Agra is thought to have been the first charbagh in South Asia.

From the beginnings of the Mughal Empire, the construction of gardens was a beloved imperial pastime. Babur, the first Mughal conqueror-king, had gardens built in Lahore and Dholpur. Humayun, his son, does not seem to have had much time for building—he was busy reclaiming and increasing the realm—but he is known to have spent a great deal of time at his father's gardens. Akbar built several gardens, first in Delhi, then in Agra, Akbar's new capital. These tended to be riverfront gardens rather than the fortress gardens that his predecessors built. Building riverfront rather than fortress gardens influenced later Mughal garden architecture considerably.

Akbar's son, Jahangir, did not build as much, but he helped to lay out the famous Shalimar garden and was known for his great love for flowers. His trips to Kashmir are believed to have begun a fashion for naturalistic and abundant floral design.

thumb|Bird's Eye View of the Taj Mahal at Agra, showing its gardens as well as the Mahtab Bagh

Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, marks the apex of Mughal garden architecture and floral design. He is famous for the construction of the Taj Mahal, a sprawling funereal paradise in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. He is also responsible for the Red Fort at Delhi and the Mahtab Bagh, a night garden that was filled with night-blooming jasmine and other pale flowers, located opposite the Taj across the Yamuna river at Agra. The pavilions within are faced with white marble to glow in the moonlight. This and the marble of the Taj Mahal are inlaid with semiprecious stone depicting scrolling naturalistic floral motifs, the most important being the tulip, which Shah Jahan adopted as a personal symbol.

Gol Bagh was the largest recorded garden of the Indian subcontinent, encompassing the town of Lahore with a five-mile belt of greenery; it existed until as late as 1947.]]

The garden might include a raised hillock at the center, reminiscent of the mountain at the center of the universe in cosmological descriptions, and often surmounted by a pavilion or palace." The Turkish-Mongolian elements of the Mughal garden are primarily related to the inclusion of tents, carpets and canopies reflecting nomadic roots. Tents indicated status in these societies, so wealth and power were displayed through the richness of the fabrics as well as by size and number.

thumb|[[Nishat Bagh, Srinagar, Kashmir]]

Fountainry and running water was a key feature of Mughal garden design. Water-lifting devices like geared Persian wheels (saqiya) were used for irrigation and to feed the water-courses at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, Akbar's Gardens in Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikhri, the Lotus Garden of Babur at Dholpur and the Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar. Royal canals were built from rivers to channel water to Delhi, Fatehpur Sikhri and Lahore. The fountains and water-chutes of Mughal gardens represented the resurrection and regrowth of life, as well as to represent the cool, mountainous streams of Central Asia and Afghanistan that Babur was famously fond of. Adequate pressure on the fountains was applied through hydraulic pressure created by the movement of Persian wheels or water-chutes (chaadar) through terra-cotta pipes, or natural gravitational flow on terraces. It was recorded that the Shalimar Bagh in Lahore had 450 fountains, and the pressure was so high that water could be thrown 12 feet into the air, falling back down to create a rippling floral effect on the surface of the water.

The Mughals were obsessed with symbol and incorporated it into their gardens in many ways. The standard Quranic references to paradise were in the architecture, layout, and in the choice of plant life; but more secular references, including numerological and zodiacal significances connected to family history or other cultural significance, were often juxtaposed. The numbers eight and nine were considered auspicious by the Mughals and can be found in the number of terraces or in garden architecture such as octagonal pools. Garden flora also had symbolic meanings. The Cypress trees represented eternity and flowering fruit trees represented renewal. and Thomas Roe, for example). The first serious historical study of Mughal gardens was written by Constance Villiers-Stuart, with the title Gardens of the Great Mughals (1913). She was consulted by Edwin Lutyens and this may have influenced his choice of Mughal style for the Viceroy's Garden in 1912.

Sites

thumb|[[Humayun's Tomb garden, Delhi]]

thumb|[[Nishat Bagh is a terraced Mughal garden built on the banks the Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir, India.]]

thumb|[[Rashtrapati Bhavan was built in 1912 in a Mughal style.]]

thumb|[[Tomb of Jahangir in Shahdara Bagh]]

thumb|[[Pinjore Gardens, 17th century terraced Mughal gardens with significant later renovations by Sikh rulers of Patiala]]

thumb|[[Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan]]

Afghanistan

  • Bagh-e Babur, Kabul

Bangladesh

  • Lalbagh Fort

India

Delhi

  • Humayun's Tomb, Nizamuddin East
  • Qudsia Bagh
  • Amrit Udyan
  • Red Fort
  • Roshanara Bagh
  • Safdarjung's Tomb
  • Shalimar Bagh, Delhi

Haryana

  • Pinjore Gardens
  • Sheikh Chilli's Tomb

Jammu and Kashmir

  • Naseem Bagh
  • Achabal Gardens
  • Chashma Shahi
  • Nishat Bagh
  • Pari Mahal
  • Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar
  • Verinag

Karnataka

  • Lal Bagh
  • Brindavan Gardens
  • Daria Daulat Bagh

Maharashtra

  • Bani Begum Garden
  • Bibi Ka Maqbara
  • Himayat Bagh

Punjab

  • Aam Khas Bagh

Rajasthan

  • Jahangir's Garden at Ajmer
  • Lotus Garden at Dholpur

Uttar Pradesh

  • Agra Fort
  • Akbar's Tomb
  • Aram Bagh
  • Khusro Bagh
  • Mehtab Bagh
  • Taj Mahal
  • Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah
  • Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani
  • Zenana Gardens

Pakistan

Punjab

  • Gulabi Bagh
  • Hazuri Bagh
  • Hiran Minar, Sheikhupura
  • Quadrangle gardens at Lahore Fort
  • Shahdara Bagh
  • Shalimar Gardens, Lahore
  • Wah Gardens
  • Gardens of Mahabat Khan, Lahore

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

  • Shahi Bagh
  • Wazir Bagh

See also

  • Indo-Persian culture
  • List of parks in Delhi

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Lehrman, Jonas Benzion (1980). Earthly paradise: garden and courtyard in Islam. University of California Press. .
  • Ruggles, D. Fairchild (2008). Islamic Gardens and Landscapes. University of Pennsylvania Press. .
  • The Herbert Offen Research Collection of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum