Keywords
Tomb of Akbarabadi Mahal
Tomb of Fatehpuri Begum
Taj Mahal
Badshahi Mosque
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper presents a geometric analysis of four seventeenth-century Mughal buildings in an attempt to decipher the design methods used by Mughal architects to create their masterpieces. The geometric analysis is placed in the framework of the Hasht Bihisht (Eight Paradises) plan-form, the archetypal ground-plan of Mughal architecture. Categorized as a type of “nine-square mandala” diagram, the Hasht Bihisht is a symbol of the cosmos, i.e., a harmoniously created universe. Our findings are a continuation of those of scholars of Central Asian Timurid architecture and analogous to what is common to traditional architecture generally, down to our times, as will be shown through the work of a hereditary master mason. In conclusion, it is proposed that these design methods be interpreted in the light of traditional cosmology.
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