| Safdar
Jang Tomb
(1753) other
sites in Delhi |
Delhi, India |
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The Safdar Jang mausoleum, built in the later years of the Mughal dynasty, is often panned by critics as unharmonious and poorly proportioned. Built in 1753 for Safdar Jang, the second nawab of Oudh (1739-53), by his son Nawab Shuja al-Daula, the monument recalls the Taj Mahal and Humayan's tomb of earlier years. However, the Safdar Jang mausoleum fails to capture the elegant massing of these momuments: the Taj Mahal gives the impression of lightness as opposed to the heavy massing of Humayan's tomb. The Safdar Jang mausoleum takes a middle road to ill-effect. The architect made the building tall in an attempt to convey lightness, but the effect is spoiled by the lack of freestanding corner towers as found at the Taj Mahal. The architect also sought to ground the building to the earth with the use of a plinth, but the plinth is too short and too narrow to give the sense of solidity found at Humayan's tomb, with its wide, heavy foundation. The end result is a monument that seems crowded, clustered, and excessively tall.
The interior of the tomb is much more successful. The marblework and ceiling decoration are particularly noteworthy, as are the mural paintings found in the galleries of the lower level.
Like its predecessors, the Safdar Jang mausoleum sits at the center of a char bagh paradise garden with gridded pathways, rows of trees, and long reflecting pools.
Bibliography:
All images copyright 2003 Timothy J. Olker:
Alfieri, Bianca Maria. Islamic
Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent
London: Lawrence King Publishing,
2000.
Koch, Ebba. Mughal
Architecture: an Outline of its History and Development (1526-1858)
Munich: Prestel-Verlag publishers,
1991.
Mishra, Laxman Prasad. Agra
and Fatehpur Sikri
United Kingdom: Hawk Books,
Ltd.
Tadgell, Christopher The
History of Architecture in India.
Singapore: Phaidon Press,
Limited, 1990