The mosque architecture of the Independent Sultanate period (from the 14th to the 16th centuries) represents the most important element of the Islamic architecture of Bengal. In this book Perween Hasan demonstrates that the distinctive style of the region drew its inspiration from the indigenous vernacular architecture of Bengal, which was also a source for the Buddhist/Hindu temple architecture of the region. She illustrates with photographs and floor plans how the popularity of the style is rooted in the geography, ecology and culture of the area. -- Dust Jacket.

Bengal (both Bangladesh and West Bengal of India), which is a deltaic region includes one of the most heavily populated concentrations of Muslims in the world and is isolated from the core land of Islamic civilization. Almost three quarters mosques were built in Bengal during independent Sultanate period (1342 to 1576). The characteristics of these mosques have changed a lot over time compared to the typical features of Islamic architecture. The architectural historians are trying to classify and differentiate the features of Islamic architecture based on the climate, geography and the cultural conditions of Bengal from decade to decade in a traditional way rather than emergent generation of a style. Shape grammar which had been explored by Stiny & Gips (1972) is a rule based methodology for analyzing and generating designs of any style . This book describes a grammar for Sultanate Mosques in Bengal architecture to give a new framework of understanding the style systematically. Shape grammar methodology is used to develop the grammar for Sultanate Mosques with the help of a shape grammar interpreter, Grammar Environment (Li et al, 2009).

Traces the development and spread of architecture under the Mughal emperors who ruled the Indian subcontinent from the early-16th to the mid-19th centuries. The book considers the entire scope of architecture built under the auspices of the imperial Mughals and their subjects.

The period of the Sultanates is typically defined as beginning with the Ghurid incursions into north India in the 1190s, and ending with the coming of the Mughals in 1526. However, regional architectural traditions did continue after that, fading out only many decades later. Thirty-five sultans ruled from Delhi, and many more in the provinces, effecting the maturation of a style that progressed from an architecture of demolition and recycling to a synthesis of East and West, creating one of the finest moments of Islamic architectural history. This volume includes in-depth analyses of the architecture of the Suri dynasty, Delhi under the Tughluqs, Sindh, Narnaul, Jaunpur, Gujarat, Malwa, Bengal, and the Charminar in Hyderabad