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cHAPrER FOUR
The Gardens of lndia *
Prabhakar B. Bhagwat
other country or city except perhapsAthens, could have surpassed this levelof development. King Ashoka (270-250 B.C.) not only loved trees andparks but gave royal orders to planttrees and develop gardens aIl ovei biskingdom. As they were Rock Edicts,these instructions are still available tous. Instructions were given regardingthe location and composition of parks.Bach park was expected to have waterpools, creeper arbours and shadedwalks. The design was more informaIthan formaI, the emphasis was on shadeand the cooling effects of water; andtrees, shrubs and creepers were givenpreference for their fragrance, and their
fruits, etc.Another example of the same period
is also very intersting. Menander (180-160 B.C.) was the Indian-born Greekking. Ris capital, Sagola (present daySialkot), had extensive parks and gar-dens. Many of these gardens and parkshad lakes and tanks with shaded walks.
From the wall paintings, sculptures,and rock-cut temples and from Sanskritliterature, one can get a fairly accurateidea of garden development from thelst to the 5th century A.D.
Kalidasa and other poets give usdetailed information about the gardens.Kalidasa (Malavikagnimitra Drama)has described a machine which is simi-lar to our present-day water sprayers.
India is one of the few nations to havehad a continuous civilization from about3000 B.C. It is interesting to know thatthe Indians were aware of the nation' scultural heritage. This had an importantimpact on successive developments.Information available about the earlierperiod is very limited and ,often one hasto guess the type of development that
might have existed.The earliest information we have is
from the Harappa Civilization, i.e.around 2500-2000 B.C. Trees wereconsidered important and to protectthem they were given reljgious values.Even at this early period, there weretrade and cultural contacts with Central
Asia.Around 1200to 1000B.C.,lndiahad
a developed art of town planning. Irri-gation systems were also developedand were in use. Some information isavailable about parks and gardens.However, it was not till the time of LordBuddha, (563 to 483 B.C.), that wehave sufficient information about thedevelopment of parks and gardens. LordBuddha was born in a park. During thatperiod more emphasis was on wood-lands and parks rather than on gardens.
From the point of view of culturaland artistic development, the Mauryanperiod (322 to 185 B.C.) could beconsidered as one of the 'best periods inthe history of India. It is said that no
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The Gardens of India
oped further. Indian influence wasclearly seen in Persia, Greece and Rome.
Traders from Central Asia,particulary Arab traders, were regularvisitors to India, and some ofthem evensettled down, generally in the coastalareas.
Ideas were exchanged in a friendlymanner. ln the early part of the 8thcentury there was conflict between In-dian and Islamic traders. Around thelOth century A.D. Arab traders wereattacked by pirates near Sind. The kingof Sind did not take any action andtherefore Mohamed-bin Kasim attackedand captured Sind. This can also becalled the beginning of the interactionof Indian (Hindu) art and culture withthat of Islamic conceptions and culture.Regarding the art of Arabs, Rawlinsonmakes a very important statement,which has some bearing on the devel-opment of Indo-Islamic art. He says,"The early Muslim conquerors ofHindustan were bigots but they were atthe same time men of considerable tasteand patrons of art and literature". Ref-erence has been made to the short-Iivedsplendors of the Court of Gazani duringits brief period of prosperity .The Arabshad no art of their own and Islamic artis largely an adaptation to the require-ments of the Mohammedan religionand of indigenous elements borrowedfrom the various nations which theyovercame. This was the case in India".
However, the Turki invaders fromthe north brought with them importantnew ideas, the arch, the dome and mina-ret and combined themwith the art ofthis country. ln this they were aided byHindu craftsmen and by the fact that inmany cases they either refashioned ex-isting Hindu temples or used them asquarries for new buildings. Indo- Islamicarchitecture, then, is a fusion of Central
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There were water-cooled garden pa-vilions and bathing tanks. Gardens werewatered from the main tank by weIl laidout water channels. The pools hadfountains. The concept of a pleasuregarden with use of water was fullydeveloped and utilizled. In the literaturenearly thirty different types of lilypools have been described.
According to information about theChola kings (around the 10th and 11thcentury A.D. ) in South India their citieswere weIl developed with weIl plannedgardens. The great South-Indian tem-ples, gems of Indian architecture, usu-ally had water tanks in their com-pounds with gardens attached to them.Invariably, such gardens were called"Nandanvaruun" (heavenly gardens).Similarly, on the western coast, some80 kms. to the north IDf the present cityof Ahmedabad was Anhilvad, capitalof the Solanki King:s of Gujarat (961A.D). We not only have informationabout the gardens, the pools and thefountains, but also about what plantswere grown at that time:. But now thecity lies in ruins
Al-Biruni (around 1020 A.D.) au-thor of Kitab-u-Hind :and the "Chronol-ogy of Ancient Natiot1s" has given us agooddescription of the developmentoftanks and reservoirs. He says, "In this,Indians have attained a very high de-gree of art, so that when ourpeople seethem, they wonder at them and areunable to describe them, much less toconstruct anything like them".
An ambassador from the kingdomof the Pandya was stationed in Athensaround 20 B.C. But it was not till thelst century A.C. that there was anyex change of ideas between the Westand India. Trade and cultural contactswhich India had developed with Cen-traI Asia not only continued but devel-
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Prabhakar B. Bhagwal
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Asian and Hindu concepts. Again. therise of Islam was largely responsiblefor giving a new dimension to the age-old trade connection of India with Cen-tral and Western Asia. At an early pe-riod Hindu art and science had astronginfluence in the Arab kingdoms. par-ticularly in Baghdad.
The chief feature of Hinduism. itspower of assimilation. was also an im-portant factor. Invaders like the Greeks.Saka. Kushan and Huna were graduallyabsorbed into Hindu society. But theMohammedans with their stronglymarked religious characteristics re-mained apart; They lived as a garrisonin a hostile country. holdil11g little or nointercourse with their subjects. Theymade comparisons with their home-lands and tried to create a similar envi-ronment in India. While doing this theyunknowingly used Indian materials andmethods. thus changing the image theyreally wanted to create.
Information available on gardensduring the earlierperiod of Islamic rule.that is up to the time of Babar , is ratherlimited. This is largely for two reasons.First. there were very few historians orchroniclers present during this period.Secondly. time has taken its toll in thistropical country and what was left. suc-ceeding kings demolished.
For the purpose of this swdy .we candivide India into two regions. Thelslarnic kingdoms in the North mostlyaround Delhi. Agra. etc. and IslamicKingdoms. popularly known as Sultan-ates, in the South ofIndia. IClimaticallyandgeographically. these two regionsdiffer from each other.The North. theplains of Indus and Ganges. is mostlyflat and fertile. The climate is hot anddusty during sumrner and pleasantlycold duringwinter. In the South how-ever. the land is mostly hilly. the soil is
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poor, and the climate generany warmthroughout the year, but not reachingthe extremes.
Four differentIslarnic dynasties ruledDelhi before Babar came to the throne.A Turkish slave Mohammed Ghoryestablished bis kingdom at Delhi, inau-gurating the Slave Dynasty, ( in 1206A.D). Kutb-din Ibak (1210 A.D.) madean important contribution to architec-ture during bis time. Very little infor-mation about gardens is available. Wehave some infonnation about the gar-dens and garden pavilions built duringthe reign of queen Razia Begam (1236A.D.). However, ber rule was shortlived.
Perhaps, the king best known for bislove of gardens before Babar would beKing FirozShah (1351 A. D.) Contem-porary historians have left a good recordof bis work. Sultan Firoz developedmore than 1200 gardens in and aroundDelhi. True, the gardens may have beenmainly fruit orchards, but recreationwas no sman part of it. More use wasmade of running water in the gardens.He developed forty-four gardens nearChittor and eighty gardens near Salaura.He was responsible for completingabout 30 gardens which were started byAla-ud-din (1296 A.D.). Most of thegardens bad irrigation channels, andsome bad fountains also. Sultan FirozShah was a great builder. It is recordedthat he established nearly 200 towns inaddition to a new capital calledFirozabad. He also constructed thirtyreservoirs and fifty dams. Another im-portant engineering feat of bis time wasthat of transporting two monolithic pil-lars of the Emperor Ashok and erectingthem in Delhi. This in itself deservescredit.
After the fan of the Tughlak dynasty ,by 1300 A.D., two important events
v
The Gardens of India
was a pleasure house. Now only a fewtraces of the original gardens remain. lnthe palace, there were fountains andtanks with coloured glass. Water usedto flow over the coloured glass tileswhich were lighted.
The gardens of this period were en-riched by introducing plants from othernations. As has been said earlier, therewere trade contacts with Central Asia.The traders used to visit various placesand bring back interesting goods aspresents or for trade. We have evidencethat during the reign of MahamudKhilaji, 1436-1469 A.D.,AdanonSoniaDigitata, a plant of the East coast ofAfrica, was introduced at Mandu.
Anotherimportant kingdom was theBaihmani kingdom (1347 to 1482A.D) in the south of India, which ulti-mately broke up to fonn several smallSultanates.lmportant from our point ofview are the City of Sultan Feroz ShahBahmuny (1397 to 1422 A.D.) and theSultanate of Bidar (1490 to 1574 A.D.)Feroz Shah Bahmuny built a town calledFerozabad on the banks of the riverBhima in the Deccan; The palace wasprovided with water from a canal whichwas connected to the Bhima river. Thepalace was divided into several court-yards. Many court yards had gardenswith water running through channels.Similarly the Tomb of Quasim Baridwho died in 1504 had a weIl laid outgarden with paved paths etc. The sameis true of the Tomb of Ali Barid whodied in 1580 A.D.
Coming to the gardens of Bidar, wehave some interesting infonnation. The"RangaMahall" (literally: Ranga= col-our, Mahall=pavilion, but it was actu-ally a hall for recreation) had a court-yard. This court-yard was developed asa garden with a cistem. The cistem'sdimensions are: 2.90 m. long, 2.08 m.
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took place in the country: the end ofDelhi as a seat of political power in diecountry and secondly and of interest tous, the rise of independent Islamickingdoms in other parts of the country .The Lodhi dynasty wbich ruled from1450 to 1526 A.D. contributed greatlyto architecture and to the art of gàrdensin India. It was Sikandar Lodhi whosbifted bis capital to Sidandra near Agra.The place is now famous for Akbar'stomb. Lodhi tombs in Delhi and otherstructures of this period speak of devel-opment achieved during this time.
As has been said earlier, after the fallof the Tughlak dynasty, independentkingdoms wereestablished in otherpartsof the country .Their contribution to theart of Islamic gardens in India is ofimportance to us. lit might sound sur-prising but some ofthese gardens weremore advanced for their time than thegardens developed by Babar in India.We will briefly dealwith these gardens.
Let us consider the Malava kingdom(1297-1531 A.D.) in central India. Themost interesting work of this period isthe Fort Palace atM:andu. Anyone whohas visited the site will be surprised bythe sheer location of the fort. not 10speak of its archite,cture. Mandu wasknown in the 8th to 13th century asbelonging to Parmar kings. It was at-tacked by Ala-ud-din Khilhji, Sultan ofDelhi in 1305 A.D. But it was not till1401 A.D. that it became the Islamiccapital under king Dilawar Khan. Thepresent city of Mandu was built byHoshang 1405-1432 A.D.
ItwastoKingBaz-Bahadur,1555to1562 A. D. , that the honours must go forthe development of the art of garden-ing. The Reva Garden was square inshape vith a great tank or pool in thecentre. The garden 'Nas set with treesand flowers. In the centre of the garden
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Prabhakar B.
that is was a real garden city.Perhaps it may be out ofplace, but is
of interest to mention, that the predomi-nantly Hindu Kingdom ofVijayanag~(1336-1565 A.D.) had weIl laid outgardens. This has been reported byDomingo Peos, a Portuguese merchant,in 1522 A. D.
We wiIl now consider the final phaseof the Islamic garden in India. Thework of this period is best known as itis not only fairly weIl preserved asmonuments, but is weIl documented inhistories, biographies and miniaturepaintings. Unfortunately, similar infor-mat1on is not available for earlier gar-dens. Moreover,there was continuityand stability during the Mughal period.It is generally believed that Babar intro-duced Islamic gardens, prior to Babar' sarrival. One wiIl find this hard to be-lieve. It is clear that there was a freeex change of ideas between India andCentral Asian countries and also be-tween various Islarnic rulers. Many In-dian artisans and craftsman were work -ing in faraway places such as Baghdadand Gazani. The concept of "Bostan"(fruit orchard) and the "Gulistan"(flower garden) was an Islarnic con-cept. This being the case, it wiIl besomewhat impractical to give alI thecredit to Babar .As has been said ear-lier, infonnation about the Mughal pe-riod is readily available, and this maylead one to believe that no other gar-dens existed earlier. However, alI saidand done, Babar did give a very solidimpetus to garden development in In-dia. Babar was a shrewd observer and avery ambitious person. He tried to makethe best of every situation. His observa-tions of Indian plant life are remarkablein this respect. Babar laid out and im-proved many gardens around Kabul.Important among these gardens is the
wide, 0.76 m. deep.The royal pavilion in the same pal-
ace also had a fountain made of darkhorblende, octagonal in shape, withcusps at the margin. The basin is 75 cmsacross. Some traces do remain of intri-cate water channels. The kings werevery fond of water, and runriing waterin particular .Then there is a Lalbagh orRuby (red) garden, so called because ofred flowers which may have been grownin the garden. This garden is rectangu-lar in shape, 125 meters by 64 meters.The pavilion which is in the centre haswater channels beside it. A cistem ofelegant design, built in the middle of aplatformis 1.2m.highand 12rn. square.The cistem itself is only, 1.02 rn. deephaving a fourteen-sided oval shape, witha black stone margin. A narrow chan-nel only 86 cms. wide, runs and joinsanother ci stem 18 ms. by 2.5 ms. withfountains. Two small water cascadesare also provided. The water for thegarden was lifted from wells. Then thereis the Tarkash Mahall, with a gardenand cistern.
These gardens were further modi-tied by the Mughal governors.
There is a reference to the Farh-baghgarden being laid out by Mukhtar ,Mughal Governor of Bidar in 1671'
We will consideronly two more ex-amples before coming to the Mughalcontribution.
First, Mahmud Peghadra, King ofGujarat(from 1459to 1511 A"D.)builtan excellent palace in a lake ait Sarkhejnear Ahmedabad. No details of the gar-dens are easily available but contempo-rary works gi ve us some infonnation onthe garden at that time. The secondexample is also of the 15th century:Champaner, near Baroda, the IslamicCapital of Gujarat; whatever little in-formation is available goes to prove
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:,~",rl~f~.,J" ,~,."""J
The Gardens of India
Bagh-i- Vifa (Garden offidelity) whichhe developed with great care, plantingtrees and plants br,ought from India. Inhis memoirs he refers to this gardenseveral times.
When Babar came to Agra, heinmediately started bis first garden,Char-Bagh. It is interesting to note hisefforts in establishing this garden:
"Shortly after ,coming to Agra, Ipassed the Jumuna with this object inview, and examilJIed the country , topitch upon a fit spot for a garden. Thewhole was so ugly and detestable. thatI repassed the river quite repulsed anddisgusted. In consequence of the wantof beauty and the disagreeable aspectof the country .Igave up my intention ofmaking a Char-Bagh; but as no bettersituation presented itself near Agra. Iwas fmally compel1ed to make the bestof this same spot. First of all I began tosink the large weIl which supplies thebaths with water; I next fell to workonthe piece of ground on which are theaffibli (Tamarindus Indica). and the 00-tagonal tank; I then proceeeded to formthe large tank and its enclosure; andafterwards the tank and lalar .I nextfinished the garden of the private apart -ments, and the apartments themselves.after which I completed the baths. Inthis way. going on. without neatnessand without order.in the Hindu fash-ion, I. however. produced edifices andgardens which possessed considerableregularity. In every corner I plantedsuitable gardens; in every garden Iplanted roses and l1\arcissus regularly.and in beds corresponding to eachother...
The gardens developed by Bahar.were usually constructed in a series ofterraces of sloping ground, which wasthe usual Turki and Persian plan. Thereligious concept of Paradise was pre-
dominant in garden planning. Paradisehad eight divisions and based on thisconcept the gardens were divided intoeight terraces. However, in some places,the number seven was also chosen torepresent the seven planets.
ln these terraced pleasure gardensthe main pavilion, the climax of thedesign, was in nearly every case placedeither on the topmost terrace from whichone couldget a wide view, or else on thelowest terrace from where one couldenjoy the garden with its background.This system has been commonly usedin Kashmir .
But it was not always possible tohave a site where terraces were possi-ble. This led to the development ofgardens on flat ground. ln suchgardensthe main structure was raised suffi-ciently high so as to achieve an impos-ing effect. Secondly, were eight ter-races or seven terraces and if it were notpossible two water channels were de-signed to form a cosmic cross.
Islamic gardens could be dividedinto three types:a. gardens developed around a mauso-
leum,b. gardens developed as pleasure gar-
dens,c. court yard gardens.
The simple plan which was followedin the plains could have been influ-enced by Hindu mythology. The Hin-dus considered Mount Meru as the cen-tre of the world, while from the fourcardinal points holy springs the lifegiving springs used to flow, On thecentral mount stood the tree of knowl-edge and a temple. ln the Islamic con-cept, which had a strong ideology of aParadise, the mausoleum replaced the
temple.The gardens in the plains, and par-
ticularly around the mausolem, follow
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Prabhakar B. Bha$Wat
a very simple plan. Where possible, theking used to develop the garden him-self, and after his death a mausoleumused to be built in the garden.
Arnong mausoleum gardens we have:1. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, (1556
A.D.),2. A:kbar's Tomb, Sikandra near Agra,
(1605 A.D.)3. Jahangir' s Tomb, Shahadra, Lahore,
(1627 A.D.)4. The Taj Mahal, Agra, (1658 A.D.)5. Mausoleum for Rabi a Darauni.
Arnong pleasure gardens" the impor-tant gardens are the Nasim Bagh byAkbar .Shalimar Achabal, Vernag andNishat, builtduringthetimeofJahangir.ThenduringShahjahan'stime, wehavethe Chasma Shahi in Kashmir, Shalimarat Delhi and also at Lahore and thegardens of the Red Fort at Delhi. ThePinjore Gardens near present-dayChandigarh are perhaps th,e only im-portant gardens of Aurangzeb' s period.
Arnong court-yard gardens, we havethe Anguri bagh, Agra fort, the Gardenof the Amber Fort and Udaipur LakePalace.
The garden around Huma:yun' s tombis perhaps the oldest garden of theMughal period to have preserved mostof its original design. It is here we findthat water was passed over small chuteswith designs giving different patterns.
Up to the time of Akbar, the waterchannels were somewhat narrow, withbroad pavements adjoining them. Wa-ter fans, or water sheets, and fountainswere not fully developed. But it was forJ ahangir to utilize water fully as hadbeen done in the gardens of Kashmir .
The water was taken through narrowor wide channels according to the de-sign. The channels were generally shal-low and were filled up to the brim.From the main channels, small chan-
nels were developed to water the gar-den. At suitable places, small tankswere constructed from which the waterwas distributed. These tanks or basinswere carved in various shapes. Waterfalls and water chutes weredeveloped.Water rushing over the carved chutewas either thrown up in ripples or bro-ken pearls or formed a sheet of water .There were water jets ofvarious types.
Perhaps the most famous of terracedgardens will be the Nishat Bagh inKashmir, built by Jehangir. It has twelveterraçes, rising higher and higher andreaching the mountain. The stream tearsdown these terraces in cascades enli-vening each terrace by its movement.An important feature of the NishatBaghis the stone and marble thrones. Gener-ally one such throne is placed at thehead of every water fall. The NishatBagh also has a tower at either end,surveying thewhole landscape. But tosome the Shalimar, or Royal Gardens,are more interesting. They are trulycalled Paradise in Paradise. The mostimportant feature is the black marblepavilion, surrounded by jets of water;this pavilion in the Ladies' garden is theclimax of the whole design, and is thebest example of a Mughal "Baradari"open on all sides.
Among court-yard gardens theAnguri Bagh is the finest example. Thisgem of a garden lies in the Khas Mahallroyal quarters, with ladies' quarters onthree sides. The garden isdivided intofour squares, which are laid outin beau-tiful geometrical shapes. ln the centrethere is a raised platform with a smalltank and fountain. This is perhaps themost intimate garden.
Although the Hindu influence onIslamic architecture has always beenstrong, it was perhaps most prominentduring Akbar' s times. The Anguri Bagh
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The Gardens of India
at Agra, the Amber garden at J aipur andthe Lake Palace garden at Udaipur areclassical examples of this influence.Another product of this influence wasdevelopment of moon-light gardens asagainst sun-lit Islamic gardens.
Infonnation is available about theplants used in Islamic gardens. Ground-cover which was "clover" in Bahar' sgarden, was not used in Indian gardens.Fruit trees like citrus spp. pomegranate,were commonly planted. Amongshrubs narium spp., jasminum spp.,roses, hibiscus spp., were very com-mon. Among seasonal plants., holly-hocks, carnations, narcissus, polyanthusand marigolds were common.
The subject of Islamic gardens inIndia is in itself a wide one, coveringnearly 1500 years and two differentreligions. ln this short paper, effortshave been made to put forward thesalient points, rather than a detailed
description.Our present concem is two-fold:
flfSt to preserve what we have and;secondly, to restore or reconstructwherever possible. lt is needless to say,as every one will agree, that effortsmust be made to protect and preservewhatever little has been left. After thefall of the Mughal Empire and alsoduring the British period, these monu-ments suffered a lot. If one goes throughthe reports of Archaeological Survey,one will be shocked to read of oldmonuments used as Military barracks,schools, railway stations, Govemmentoffices and what nolt. Three examplesof this misuse wouJd be sufficient toillustrate the point: the Red Fort ofDelhi, part of which is still used as amilitary garrison: a machine tool fac-tory has been established right in front
ofPinjore Garden, colmpletely destroy-ing the view. Elsewhere a modem
swimming pool has been built in the
middle of an old Mughal garden. There
are many other examples like this, some
small, others big, but each example has
its own impact. Even the Nishat and
Shalimar gardens in Kahsmir have not
escaped from this destruction. The gar-
dens themselves have suffered. During
reconstruction work, properthought was
not given to them. ln some places, even
the existence of a garden was ignored or
forgotten. Fathepur Sikri, Akbar's
capital, is one such example. British
gardeners also modified the plans of
gardens and introduced new plants. This
must have been done in enthusiasm and
unknowingly.The problem is enormous, but a so-
lution has to be found. the following are
some of the suggestions for tackling the
problems:-complete survey of the existing gar-
dens and probable garden sites.
-detailed study of each garden in terms
of design elements such as pavil-
ions, water channels, paving,
fountains, etc.; study of the evolu-
tion of various forms.
-study of plant material so as to estab-
lish a list of suitable plants which
couldbe used in each garden.
-giving suitable training to Landscape
Architects in Archaeology, and to
Archaeologists in Landscape design,
so that the process of conservation
andxestoration can be safely carried
out.For the purposes of this paper, geographical and
political boundaries are assumed. to be thosc of the181h century i.e. during the Mughal period.
BibliographyAbul Faz1, 1873, Ani-i-Akbari. Translated by:
Blochmann Jarret!. Calcutta.AbulFaz, 1939,AkbarNama. TranslatedbyBeveridge.
Calcutta.Babar,1922,BabarNama. TranslatedbyH.Beveridge.
London.Badoni, 1884 .Mutakhabu Tawarikh. Translated by
Lowe. Calcutta.
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