The Reflection of Mughal Imperial Power in the Cityscape of Shahjahanabad

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The Reflection of Mughal Imperial Power in the Cityscape of Shahjahanabad

The   imperial   capital   Shahjahanabad   was   built   by   Mughal   Emperor   Shahjahan   (1628-58) between 1639 and 1648 and it spread out over a large area along the banks of river Yamuna in the southeastern arts of the Delhi triangle. The out spurs of the Aravalli range reaching deep into the great

alluvial plains of north India have their terminal point in the Delhi Ridge which  afforded  natural  protection  to  the  city  from  erosion  by  the  river  Jamuna. Thus, heights for commanding positions,

rocks  for  stone - quarries, and the river for water supply were the  factors which should  have  combined  to  attract  Shah  Jahan  for  the  creation  of  his capital city that virtually overlapped the cities of Sher Shah and Firuz Shah. Other reasons for selecting Delhi were that it enjoyed a reputation as the imperial city and served as the capital of the Muslim rulers for about three hundred years. It also acquired an aura of sanctity as a religious center.

Shahjahanabad as the exempl ar of the sovereign city model this theory was propagated by Stephen P.  Blake. According to him like many other capital cities such as Istambul, Isfahan,Tokyo, and Peking, Shahjahanabad was also the ‘exemplar’ of the sovereign city model. The sovereign city, Blake opines, was the ‘capital of the patrimonial –bureaucratic empire, a type of state which characterized the Asian empires from about 1400 to 1750...The patrimonial – bureaucratic  emperor  dominated  the social, economic, and  cultural life of the city , and he dominated its built form as well. Blake further explains that from the micro perspective the sovereign city was an enormously extended patriarchal   household, and the center of power lay in the imperial palace fortress.

The city was  an extension of  the  imperial  mansion as the layout of the  buildings and gardens, and  the  shops in  the city copied  the layout of the buildings  within  the  palace complex. Similarly the organization of production and exchange in the city, by and large, followed the same system as was prevalent in the palace - fortress. In respect of social interaction of the inhabitants of the city also the imperial palace set the model. From the macro- perspective the sovereign city was the kingdom in miniature.

The emperor intended that his command of the city in respect of power, obedience, resources, and influence should be ‘symbolic’ of the influence that he and his subordinates exercised over empire.

The structure of society in the sovereign cities, states Blake, also followed the pattern prevalent in the imperial palace.

There was a pattern-client relationship between the emperor and his nobles, then between the nobles and the members of their household bound the city in a kind of vast extended family. These ties were reviewed and strengthened in the daily rituals of the palace fortress. The cultural life also revolved round the households of the emperors, princes, and great nobles who were well versed in the various arts and crafts, and they provided patronage to arts and crafts, literature, painting, music, and architecture.

Whether these characteristics were present in Shahjahanabad, and the city reflected the power of the Mughal emperor, or how much influence the ruler exercised on the inhabitants of the city is a subject of discuss on amongst the scholars. One may point it out here that the great cities in Mughal India were not merely princely camps as Max Waber has visualized on the basis of the account of the French traveller Bernier. Instead they had a logic and structure of their own. There were certain principles that guided their construction that manifested the power of the ruler in various ways. The capital stood as a symbol of his power and wealth. The planning of Shahjahanabad, undoubtedly, reflected the power of the ruler as many other cities of medieval India, but it also had certain distinguishing features denoting an independent urban growth in many respects. 

Dominating ideas in the founding of Shahjahanbad Shahjahan had most intense interest in architecture. He replaced many of the structures of Akbar’s period in sandstone in the palace fortress of Agra with those of his own design in marble. As Muhammad Salih Kamboh, a contemporary historian tells us, during his daily darbar nobles and princes exhibited their plans for buildings and gardens, and he also used to see in the evening the designs of buildings which were under construction.

In 1639 he decided to found a new capital not only for the reason that he wanted to distinguish himself from his predecessors, it was a lso because due to erosion the scope for the expansion of the imperial capital Agra became difficult, and on festive occasions it was difficult to manage the crowd in the palace - fortress and so on. 

Cityscape of Shahjahanabad

Shahjahan instructed the architect - planners and astrologer s to select a site for his new capital and his choice fell on a spot in the Delhi triangle where the spurs of Aravalli controlled the course of the river Yamuna in such a way that it would not change. In order to understand the founding of Shahjahanabad one has to take into account the fact that Mughal rulers conceived the city as the meeting place of the heaven and earth. Their belief originated in accordance with the traditional theories of Islamic architecture, which held that the city lay between the two major poles of man and the cosmos, and incorporated the principles of both. The city was therefore a sacred center that was considered ‘to encompass the empire and the universe’. 

It was ‘an organic analogy that controlled the plan and functioning of the urban system’. Accordingly the emperor also had a hallowed significance; he was the ‘symbolic centre of a nested hierarchy: city, empire and universe.’ This view is reflected in contemporary historian Muhammad Salih’s comment that the four walls of Shahjaha nabad ‘enclosed the centre of the earth’. These ideas were not merely confined to the Islamic architecture only, Hindu architects and builders also nurtured the belief that the capital city was located at the centre of the kingdom, the palace - fortress at the centre of the city, and the throne of the king at the centre of the universe. Many of them were associated with the construction activities of Shahjahanabad. 

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