DILKUSHA KOTHI, LUCKNOW, (1805)• CONSTRUCTED FOR THE NAWAB SAADAT ALI KHAN IN THE YEAR 1805. THE KOTHI WAS BUILT ON

THE LINES OF EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE WITH ITS DESIGN BEING PROPOSED BY GORE OUSELEY. THE BEAUTY OF THE KOTHI WAS ENHANCED BY BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS AS WELL, WHICH INCLUDED THE WOODS AND A RIVER.

• THE KOTHI WAS USED AS A HUNTING PLACE BY THE NAWABS BECAUSE OF THE FORESTS AROUND AND ALSO AS A VENUE FOR OUTINGS FOR THE BEGUMS AND THE FEMALES OF THE ROYAL FAMILIES. IT IS SAID THAT THE STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF THE DILKUSHA KOTHI RESEMBLES THE STYLE OF SEATON DELAVAL HALL IN NORTHUMBERLAND IN ENGLAND.

• LAKHAURI BRICKS PLASTERED WITH LIME MORTAR WERE USED IN IT’S CONSTRUCTION. THE EXTREMES OF THE KOTHI WERE KNOWN TO HAVE TOWERS THAT FURTHER HAD CIRCULAR STAIRCASES IN THEM. A SERIES OF STEPS LED TO THE ENTRANCE OR THE MAIN DOORWAY OF THE PALACE. IT IS SAID THAT THE HANDRAIL OF THE STAIRCASES HAD FEMALE STATUES ADJACENT TO IT. THERE IS ANOTHER STRUCTURE PRESENT NEAR THE PALACE WHOSE LOWER FLOOR SERVED AS A STABLE FOR THE HORSES AND WAS ALSO USED AS A PARKING GROUND FOR THE NAWAB’S HORSE-WAGONS.

• THIS BUILDING ALSO OPERATED TO BE ONE OF THE MAIN CENTRE OF THE 1857 MUTINY OF SEPOYS AND HENCE, SUFFERED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE.

• THE DILKUSHA KOTHI WAS ORIGINALLY A THREE STOREYED STRUCTURE WITH A PART BASEMENT. IT HAD FOUR ORNAMENTAL OCTAGONAL TOWERS WITH GLAZED POTTERY TOPS. THE ENTRANCE WAS THROUGH AN IMPOSING FLIGHT OF STEPS THAT LED TO A CENTRAL DOORWAY BENEATH A PORTICO SUPPORTED BY TALL PILLARS AS HIGH AS THE ROOF OF THE SECOND STOREY.

• THE BUILDING HAD PATTERNED WALLS AND UNUSUALLY NO INNER COURTYARD AS WAS TRADITIONAL IN INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. THE BUILDING THEREFORE HAD A SMALLER FOOTPRINT AND DID NOT EXTEND OVER A LARGE AREA BUT WAS TALLER THAN TRADITIONAL LOCAL ARCHITECTURE.

VIEW OF DILSEATON DELAVAL HALL, ENGLAND

VIEW OF DILKUSHA KOTHI, LUCKNOW LAUKHAURI BRICKS USED IN CONSTRUCTION

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• BUILDING MADE OF LAKHAURI BRICK AND LIME MORTAR.

• THE BUILDING ON A RAISED PLATFORM IN THE CENTRE OF A GARDEN .

• THE MAIN STRUCTURE OF THE KARBALA IS REMARKABLE FOR THE BILATERAL SYMMETRY OF ITS INDO-IRANIAN FACADE.

• THE CENTRAL ARCH IS LARGER AND GARLANDED BY ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS IN THE ELEGANT THULUTH SCRIPT, CONTAINING SHIITE RELIGIOUS TEXTS.

• A MARBLE SLAB BEARING A PERSIAN INSCRIPTION IS FIXED OVER THE NORTHERN ENTRANCE OF THE KARBALA

• THE KARBALA HAS A SPACIOUS ENCLOSURE WITH HIGH WALLS PIERCED BY DEEP NICHES AND CELLS.

• HE IMPRESSIVE RECTANGULAR GATEWAY ON THE EASTERN SIDE WAS ORIGINALLY EMBELLISHED IN STUCCO WITH FLORAL MOTIFS.

• THE ENTIRE BUILDING IS COLOUR-WASHED IN OCHRE.

• THE OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF THE BUILDING IS THE ARRANGEMENT OF TWO DOMES.

• ONE LOW AND THE OTHER RAISED IN THE MUGHAL STYLE, RESEMBLING THE DOME OF THE DARGAH OF HAZRAT SHAIKH SALIM CHISHTI AT FATEPUR SIKRI.

• THE LATTER IS FULLY COVERED WITH COPPER SHEETS RICHLY EMBELLISHED AND GILDED.

• THE MAIN DOME IS CROWNED BY A LOTUS BUD FINIAL AND FLANKED BY TWO BEAUTIFUL MINARETS OF IRANIAN DESIGN WITH ARCUATE PROJECTING GALLERIES IN THE FORM OF ANCIENT LANTERNS.

• THE INTERIOR IS NOTABLE FOR ITS GHULAM GARDISH (CIRCUMAMBULATORY PASSAGE) AROUND THE SHRINE CONTAINING THE WOODEN ZARIH.

• THE ENTIRE FLOOR IS PAVED WITH WHITE AND BLACK MARBLE SLABS.

• THE ARCUATE CEILINGS, LIT BY SLANTING VENTILATORS AND SQUINCH ARCHES ARE DECORATED WITH BANDS OF INSCRIPTIONS IN THE THULUTH AND TUGHRA SCRIPTS, AND COLOURFUL FLORAL MOTIFS.

• AMONG OTHER DECORATIVE OBJECTS ARE COSTLY CHANDELIERS, FRAMED MIRRORS AND WASLIS, BESIDES HANGINGS AND FURNISHINGS.

BUILDING STRUCTURE

BUILDING INTERIOR

BUILDING FEATURE

THE FAÇADE OF KARBALA

• THE WESTERN ENTRANCE AND INTERIOR OF THE WOODEN VERANDAH IS SUPPORTED ON FLUTED PILLARS.

• THESE PILLARS ARE CENTRAL ASIAN IN DESIGN AND EMBELLISHED WITH PIECES OF MIRRORS AND MOTHER OF PEARL.FLUTED PILLARS

KARBALA DAYANAT- UD- DAULA, LUCKNOW (A.D.1880-81)

RAUSHAN-UD-DAULA KOTHI (1896) • THE KOTHI GOT CONSTRUCTED 150 YEAR AGO, BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OR WAZIR, OF THE NAWAB NASEER-UD-DIN

HAIDER NEAR KAISER BAGH LUCKNOW. THE CHIEF MINISTER, MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN KHAN, ALSO KNOWN BY HIS TITLE OF ROSHAN-UD-DAULA, GOT THE KOTHI BUILT AS HIS RESIDENCE.

• THE KOTHI WAS BUILT ON THE INDO- FRENCH STYLED ARCHITECTURE THAT MADE THE STRUCTURE UNIQUE AND EXQUISITE.

• THE KOTHI IS REPLETE WITH BEAUTIFUL AND CREATIVE STRUCTURE COMPRISING OF ARTISTIC MINARETS AND COLUMNS, BEAUTIFUL ARCHES SPLENDID AND BEAUTIFULLY DONE ART GALLERIES AND ROOMS.

• RAUSHAN-UD-DAULA KOTHI HAD A COMPLICATED AND MIXED DESIGN, COMBINING AN ASTONISHING RANGE OF VARIOUS ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS.

• IT WAS A HUGE EDIFICE WITH AT LEAST ONE (AND POSSIBLY TWO) BASEMENT LEVEL AND NOW FOUR (BUT ORIGINALLY FIVE) LEVELS ABOVE GROUND LEVEL.

• ITS BASIC FORM WAS RECTANGULAR, BUT ACQUIRED A COMPLEX POLYGONAL OUTLINE, AS IT HAD CANTED CORNERS ON ONE FRONT, PROJECTING REGULAR BAYS ON ANOTHER FRONT, A GRAND HEXA STYLE PORTICO ON THE THIRD FRONT, AND YET OTHER TINY BALCONIES, COLONNADED VERANDAHS AND STAIRCASES ON EACH AND EVERY FRONT.

• THE UPPER BASEMENT CONTAINED TAIKHANAS, WHOSE VENTILATORS WERE TO BE SEEN PEEPING OUT OF ITS RUSTICATED OUTER FACE.

• THE PORTION FACING NORTH WAS FIRST BUILT AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF THIS PORTION WAS COPIED FROM THAT OF DAULAT KHANA ASIFI. IT WAS RAISED TO THE THIRD LEVEL TO MATCH THE FLOOR LEVEL OF THE ‘HEARING HALL’ ROOFTOP.

• THE PORTION FACING SOUTH WAS CONSTRUCTED AFTER COMPLETION OF THE FIRST PHASE, AND IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE PREVIOUS CONSTRUCTION.

• THE TWO ‘HEARING HALLS’ OF THE TWO PHASES CONSTRUCTION WERE CONNECTED WITH FIVE DOORWAYS OF EIGHT FEET HEIGHT, WHICH WERE CLOSED IN 1870S FOR THE REASONS BETTER KNOWN TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THAT TIME.

• THE DESIGN OF THE CEILING OF THE ‘HEARING HALL’ WAS THE SAME AS THAT OF PRESENT DAY STRUCTURE. THE WELL-DEFINED DESIGN STILL TELLS THE BUILDING DESIGN GENIUS OF THAT PERIOD.

• TOTAL LOAD DISTRIBUTED THROUGH SMALLER BEAMS TO THE LARGER ONE AND FINALLY RESTED TO THE STRONG AND WIDE WALLS. TODAY THESE ARE CALLED COFFER BEAMS AND COFFER SLAB.

• POST-MUTINY PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ORIGINAL KOTHI SHOW A SEMI-CIRCULAR GILT BAND ON THE TOP OF THE SIX STOREYED BUILDING.

• THE KOTHI OF ROSHAN-UD-DAULAH FASCINATED THE LAST KING OF AWADH, WAJID ALI SHAH SO MUCH THAT HE MADE IT THE RESIDENCE OF HIS FAVOURITE QUEEN, MASHOOQ MAHAL AND ALSO GAVE IT THE NAME KAISER PASAND (CEASER'S CHOICEST).

• THEREFORE RAUSHAN-UD-DAULA KOTHI IS ALSO KNOWN AS KAISER PASAND KOTHI.• AFTER THE RECAPTURE OF LUCKNOW IN 1858 BY THE BRITISH ARMY THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED HERE THE

OFFICE OF DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF LUCKNOW. FOR A LONG TIME, CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE AND CITY MAGISTRATE MADE THEIR OFFICES HERE.

• ON THE ROOF, A SECOND PAVILION WAS CROWNED WITH A STRIKING HALF DOME, COVERED WITH COPPER, AS THOUGH IT HAD BEEN SLICED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. • ALL THE DOMES, BIG AND SMALL ARE COVERED WITH COPPER. POTTERIES ARE EXTENSIVELY USED. ON THE TOP OF ALL, THERE IS A SEMI-CIRCULAR COPPER WARE, SUGGESTING THE SUN IS RISING, WITH THE SEMAPHORE IN THE CENTRE

• FOUR SQUARE KIOSKS WITH CANOPIES IN THE FRENCH FASHION, ALONG WITH SMALL CHHATRIES AND GUMBADS (DOME) APPEAR AT A LOWER LEVEL.

TWO OF ITS UPPER STOREYS DEMOLISHED ALONG WITH THE GILDED ARCH

TINY BALCONIES, COLONNADED VERANDAHS AND STAIRCASES ON EACH AND EVERY FRONT.

A GRAND HEXA STYLE PORTICO ON THE THIRD FRONT,

• IT WAS A HUGE EDIFICE WITH AT LEAST ONE (AND POSSIBLY TWO) BASEMENT LEVEL AND NOW FOUR (BUT ORIGINALLY FIVE) LEVELS ABOVE GROUND LEVEL.

• COURTYARD IN FRONT OF KOTHI

ICONIC COLUMNS, BALUSTRADES WITH GLOBE LIKE FINIALS, MOORISH MINARETS, HINDU UMBRELLAS, ARCHES, PEDIMENTS, LANTERNS ARE ALL BLENDED IN A CONFUSION WHICH THE EYE MAY LONG SEEK VAINLY TO DISENTANGLE, AND SURMOUNTED WITH A GILT BAND'.

VIEWS OF THE RAUSHAN-UD-DAULA KOTHI WITH SIX STOREYS ,DOME AND KIOSKS VIEWS OF RAUSHAN-UD-DAULA KOTHI WITH REMAINING FOUR STOREYS

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