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The tomb of Shamsu'd-Din Iltumish... was built in about 1235 by Iltumish himself, only five years after the construction of Sultan Ghari's tomb. Yet it is quite different from the latter and illustrates that phase in the develpment of Indo-Islamic architecture when the builder had ceased to depend for material on the demolition of temples, although the arches and semi-domes below the squinches were still laid in the indigenous corbelled fashion. ... The tomb is plain on the outside, but is profusely carved on the entrances and in the interior with inscriptions in Kufi and Naskh characters and geometrical and arabesque patterns in Saracenic tradition, although several motifs among its carvings are reminiscent of Hindu decoration. ... In view of its lavish ornamentation, Fergusson described it as 'one of the richest examples of Hindu art applied to Muhammadan purposes.' The monument exemplifies the same phase in tomb-architecture, as we find in the Quwwatu'lIslam mosque: it is built with architrectural members removed from temples and employs the trabeated construction with which the indigenous architects were familiar. (en) |
