On the architecture of Delhi, Ajmer, Badaon, Jaunpur, and Sasaram (Bihar), from 1192 A.D. to 1545 A.D.

Illustrations: Numerous B/w Illustrations Description: The Mughals ruled a united north India for over three centuries, but the roots of the glorious monuments they built are found in earlier provincial styles of architecture. In this richly illustrated work, Dr. Elizabeth Schotten Merklinger presents the first comprehensive study of the architecture of the Sultanate period. During the pre-Mughal centuries provincial Islamic styles of architecture developed, some of great importance and originality, each a spontaneous movement arising from its respective rulers and the desire to express particular aesthetic ideals. Many factors influenced these regional styles, the most important being the indigenous arts prevailing in the region prior to Islam, the technical ability of the craftsmen, the climatic conditions and the strength of the bond each province had with the capital, Delhi. In Sultanate Architecture of Pre-Mughal India Elizabeth Schotten Merklinger traces the architectural development of each Sultanate. She shows that each provincial style is a synthesis between opposing spiritual and aesthetic concepts faced by the early Muslims in India. Nowhere else in the Islamic world was the clash of values more pronounced. But it is precisely these counteracting forces which released the enormous energy that resulted in the construction of the splendid monuments of the Mughal age. This book evolved out of a series of lectures on Indian Islamic architecture given at the Oriental Institute, Oxford, in 1991. There has been no update on Indo-Islamic architecture since the definitive work, Percy Brown, Indian Architecture: Islamic Period, Bombay, 1956, reprint, 1968.

The articles by John Burton-Page on Indian Islamic architecture assembled in this volume give an historical overview of the subject, ranging from the mosques and tombs erected by the Delhi sultans in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, to the great monuments of the Mughals in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This book reinterprets the Muslim architecture and urban planning of South India, looking beyond the Deccan to the regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala - the historic coasts of Coromandel and Malabar. For the first time a detailed survey of the Muslim monuments of the historic ports and towns demonstrates a rich and diverse architectural tradition entirely independent from the better known architecture of North India and the Deccan sultanates. The book, extensively illustrated with photographs and architectural drawings, widens the horizons of our understanding of Muslim India and will no doubt pave new paths for future studies in the field.