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| {{Infobox architect | {{Infobox architect | ||
| | name = Ahmad Lahori <br/> | | name = Ahmad Lahori <br/> | ||
| | image = Miniature painting of Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori.jpg | |||
| | image_size = | |||
| | caption = Miniature painting of Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori | |||
| | birth_date = c.1580 | | birth_date = c.1580 | ||
| | birth_place = ], ], ] <br/>(modern-day ], ]) | | birth_place = ], ], ] <br/>(modern-day ], ]) | ||
| | death_date = c.{{Death date and age|1649|1580|df=y}} | | death_date = c.{{Death date and age|1649|1580|df=y}} | ||
| | death_place = ], ], ] |
| death_place = ], ], ] | ||
| | nationality = | | nationality = | ||
| | alma_mater = | | alma_mater = | ||
| Line 18: | Line 21: | ||
| | signature = Ustad Ahmad Lahori seal.png | | signature = Ustad Ahmad Lahori seal.png | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''Ustad Ahmad Lahori''' ({{circa}}1580–1649),<ref name= |
'''Ustad Ahmad Lahori''' ({{circa}}1580–1649),<ref name=d>{{Cite book |last1=Curl |first1=James Stevens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Lu6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture |last2=Wilson |first2=Susan |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967498-5 |pages=11 |language=en}}</ref> also known as '''Ahmad Ma'mar Lahori,''' was a ] architect and engineer during the reign of ]. He was responsible for the construction of several Mughal monuments, including the ] in ], a ]. | ||
| His architecture is a combination of ] and ] architectural styles, and thus, a major instance of ] culture. | |||
| Little is authoritatively known about '''Ahmad Lahori''' or the extent of his work as the identity of the architects of the his era are not definitely known because histories of Shah Jahan's reign emphasise the emperor's own personal involvement. In the Islamic world a building was in the first instance associated with its patron and Shah Jahan had himself represented as his own architect.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Koch |first=Ebba |title=The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra |date=2006 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2006 |publication-date=2006 |pages=89}}</ref> | |||
| Unlike Shah Jahan's painters, who were allowed to sign their works and to include their self-portraits. and not a single portrait of an architect from that era including that of '''Ahmad Lahori''' is known.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| Most information about him comes from a ''hagiography'' written by his own son called ''Diwan-e-Muhandis'', however the information in it is uncorroborated by any other official or unofficial record or inscription beyond him having worked as one of the people laying the foundation of the Red Fort, in records such as the ] when its attributing people by name on work done on the Taj Mahal there are no mentions of Ahmad Lahori.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| He is supposed to have belonged to an illustrious family of ] and ]. according to the hagiography written by his son, he was given the title of ''Nadir-ul-Asar'' ("wonder of the age") by Shah Jahan.<ref name="s">{{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHXEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |title=The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture |date=1996-03-01 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-0-89236-335-3 |language=en|page=155}}</ref> | |||
| == Life == | == Life == | ||
| ] | |||
| Ustad Ahmad Lahori hailed from ], ], as his '']'' indicates.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Balasubramaniam |first=R. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qjdEi89Q34kC&q=ahmad |title=New insights on architects of Tāj|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science, SpringerLink|volume= 44| issue=3 |date= 2009|issn=2454-9991|oclc=1398048453 |publisher= National Institute of Sciences of India|page=391|via=] }}</ref> He has been described as a ]<ref>{{cite journal | last=Srivastava |first=Prof. R. P. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=g2FRAAAAYAAJ|title=Patiala: Its Artistic and Cultural Significance|location=London|journal= The Sikh Courier|oclc=265579842|issn= | |||
| Ustad Ahmad Lahori hailed from ], ], as his '']'' indicates.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Balasubramaniam |first=R. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qjdEi89Q34kC&q=ahmad |title=New insights on architects of Tāj|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science, SpringerLink|volume= 44| issue=3 |date= 2009|issn=2454-9991|oclc=1398048453 |publisher= National Institute of Sciences of India|page=391|via=] }}</ref> He has been described as a ]<ref>{{cite journal | last=Srivastava |first=Prof. R. P. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=g2FRAAAAYAAJ|title=Patiala: Its Artistic and Cultural Significance|location=London|journal= The Sikh Courier|oclc=265579842|issn=0037-511X |orig-year= |volume= 10 |issue=4 |date= 1981|via=]|publisher= Sikh Cultural Society of Great Britain |page= 16 |quote=Nadir-ul-Asar Ahmad Mimar Lahori Shahjehani was also a Punjabi who designed the Taj Mahal of Agra.}}</ref> and an ].<ref name="Janin">{{cite book|last1=Janin|first1=Hunt|title=The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World, 610-2003|date=2006|isbn=978-0786429042|page=124|publisher=McFarland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTWDxDEY-Q0C&q=Ahmad+Lahori+Indian%7CPersian&pg=PA124|access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|page=89|oclc=85485369 |last=Chopra |first=Ravindra Mohan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyRuAAAAMAAJ |title=Indo-Iranian Cultural Relations Through the Ages |date=2005|via=] |publisher=Iran Society |language=en}}</ref> Even after his family's migration to Delhi, his family is still referred to by the epithet "Lahori".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kanwar, H. I. S|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wn9CAAAAYAAJ&q= |title= Ustad Ahmed Lahori |journal= Islamic Culture| volume=48 |pages=11–32 |editor1= ] |editor2= ] |date=1974 |publisher=Islamic Culture Board| ISSN=0021-1834}}</ref> | |||
| Ahmad Lahori hailed from a family of Timurid architects, originally from ]. He was a skilled engineer who later in life was given the title of ''Nadir-ul-Asar'' ("wonder of the age") by Shah Jahan.<ref name=s>{{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHXEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |title=The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture |date=1996-03-01 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-0-89236-335-3 |language=en|page=155}}</ref> Two of his three sons,<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=David |editor-last=Pingree |editor-link=David Pingree |title=Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A |volume=1 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1970 |page=39 |url=https://archive.org/details/PingreeCESS/Pingree_CESS_A1_1970/ }}</ref> ] and ], also became architects, as did some of his grandsons,<ref name=s/> ] one among them.<ref>{{cite book |first=Chanchal |last=Dadlani |chapter=Innovation, Appropriation, and Representation: Mughal Architectural Ornament in the Eighteenth Century |editor1=Gülru Necipoglu |editor2=Alina Payne |title=Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local |year=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691167282 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nACCwAAQBAJ }}</ref> Ahmad Lahori was learned also in the arts of ], ] and ], and according to his son Lutfullah was familiar with the ]'s '']'' and ]'s '']''.<ref name=s/> | |||
| Even after his family's migration to Delhi, his family is still referred to by the epithet "Lahori".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kanwar, H. I. S|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wn9CAAAAYAAJ&q= |title= Ustad Ahmed Lahori |journal= Islamic Culture| volume=48 |page=11–32 |editor1= ] |editor2= ] |date=1974 |publisher=Islamic Culture Board| ISSN=0021-1834}}</ref> In Muslim India, Lahori was used as a synonym for Punjabi by historic writers: ] uses it to refer to the spoken language of the people of Punjab, and the Mughal Emperor ] writes, "In fact they are pure Lahauris and speak the same language."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shAdAAAAMAAJ&q=In+fact+they+are+pure+Lahauris+and+speak+the+same+language |title= Chieftains in the Mughal Empire During the Reign of AkbarAhsan Raza Khan |date=1977 |isbn= 9780896843769 |last1= Khan |first1= Ahsan Raza |publisher= Indian Institute of Advanced Study }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&dq=amir+khusro+lahauri&pg=PA204 |title= Different Types of History |page=204 |author= Bharati Ray|publisher=Centre for Studies in Civilizations (Delhi, India) |date=2009 |isbn= 9788131718186 }}</ref> However it was also common in Muslim India to keep names of cities they were attached to irrespective of origin, such as ] an paternal Turk called as Amir Khusro Dehlvi (of Delhi) and so other theories challenge this origin and portray him as having been from a family of Timurid Architects from ]<ref name="s" /> that moved to Lahore. | |||
| The extent of his work is not known as Shah Jahan's court histories emphasize his personal involvement in the construction, and it is true that, more than any other Mughal emperor, he showed the greatest interest in building new magnificent buildings and holding daily meetings with his architects and supervisors. The court chronicler, ], writes that Shah Jahan would make "appropriate alterations to whatever the skillful architects had designed after considerable thought and would ask the architects competent questions."<ref name="K89">Koch, p.89</ref> ] | |||
| ⚫ | In writings by Lahori's son, Lutfullah Muhandis, two architects are mentioned by name: Ustad Ahmad Lahori<ref name="unesco"> UNESCO.org website, Retrieved 17 November 2021</ref><ref name="B65">Begley and Desai (1989), p.65</ref> and Mir Abd-ul Karim.<ref name="A212">Asher, p.212</ref> Ustad Ahmad Lahori laid the foundations of the ] at Delhi, which was built between 1638 and 1648. Mir Abd-ul Karim counted as the favourite architect of the previous emperor, ], and is mentioned as a supervisor, together with Makramat Khan,<ref name="A212" /> for the construction of the Taj Mahal. |
||
| Lahori had three sons—], ], and Nurullah—who were involved not only in architecture but also in other fields like mathematics. ] was his grandson. <ref>{{cite book |author=Chanchal Dadlani |chapter=Innovation, Appropriation, and Representation: Mughal Architectural Ornament in the Eighteenth Century |editor1=Gülru Necipoglu |editor2=Alina Payne |title=Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local |year=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691167282 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nACCwAAQBAJ }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=David Pingree |editor-link=David Pingree |title=Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A |volume=1 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1970 |page=39 |url=https://archive.org/details/PingreeCESS/Pingree_CESS_A1_1970/ }}</ref> | |||
| ==Career== | ==Career== | ||
| In 1631, Shah Jahan appointed him for the construction of ]. The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by Ahmad Lahori. The project took twelve years to manifest into reality.<ref name=i>{{Cite book |last=Khan (Arshi) |first=I. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=teHRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |title=BLACK TAJ MAHAL: The Emperor's Missing Tomb |date=2015-08-28 |publisher=Black Taj Project |isbn=978-81-927479-0-3 |language=en|page=38}}</ref> Afterwards, he was relocated to Delhi where the emperor commissioned him for the construction of the new imperial city, ''],'' in 1639.<ref name=i/> The building of the city, including the ], was complete by 1648. | |||
| Little is known about Ahmad Lahori's work from neutral sources beyond him having been one of the people that laid the foundations of the Red Fort, as Shah Jahan is credited to be the supreme architect of the things built under him. What is recorded is that the planning of Shah Jahan's buildings was carried out by a ''team of architects'' who worked under his close supervision. He held daily meetings with them, and, ] says, made 'appropriate alterations to whatever the skillful architects designed after many thoughts, and asked competent questions' The emperor's historians claim that most of the buildings were designed by his "precious self" .''The credit for his buildings, even for their overall concept, had to go to Shah Jahan as the'' '''Supreme Architect'''.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| ⚫ | In writings by Lahori's son, Lutfullah Muhandis, two architects are mentioned by name: Ustad Ahmad Lahori<ref name="unesco"> UNESCO.org website, Retrieved 17 November 2021</ref><ref name="B65">Begley and Desai (1989), p.65</ref> and Mir Abd-ul Karim.<ref name="A212">Asher, p.212</ref> Ustad Ahmad Lahori laid the foundations of the ] at Delhi, which was built between 1638 and 1648. Mir Abd-ul Karim counted as the favourite architect of the previous emperor, ], and is mentioned as a supervisor, together with Makramat Khan,<ref name="A212" /> for the construction of the Taj Mahal.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} | ||
| According to the Hagiography written by his son. Ahmad Lahori was learned in the arts of ], ] and ]. According to his son Lutf Allah Muhandis, he was familiar with the ]'s '']'' and ]'s '']''.<ref name="s" /> | |||
| There is no solid evidence he worked in any major capacity as claimed he did on the Taj Majal beyond the hagiography unlike the many named in documentation such as the ],<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| He is named to have laid the foundations of ] along with '''Ustad Hameed''' of whose construction '''Makramat Khan''' was named as being the chief overseer'''.''' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Koch |first=Ebba |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.79132 |title=Mughal architecture |date=1990 |year=1990 |edition=1st |publication-date=1990 |pages=96}}</ref> | |||
| Ahmad Lahori is popularly misattributed to as having been involved with the development of ]. He died in 1649, a year before the foundations of mosque were laid.<ref name="i">{{Cite book |last=Khan (Arshi) |first=I. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=teHRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |title=BLACK TAJ MAHAL: The Emperor's Missing Tomb |date=2015-08-28 |publisher=Black Taj Project |isbn=978-81-927479-0-3 |page=38 |language=en}}</ref> the misattribution came from a 2015 book called the ''BLACK TAJ MAHAL: The Emperor's Missing Tomb by I.N Khan''<ref name="i" /> which was in turn quoting another source that explicitly made it apparent it was conjecture on the author's part with no evidence - "Although there is no documentary evidence, it is possible that before his death"<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tajmahalillumine0000unse |title=Taj Mahal : the illumined tomb : an anthology of seventeenth-century Mughal and European documentary sources |pages=xlv}}</ref> | |||
| <gallery heights="180" mode="packed" perrow="5" caption="Ahmad Lahori's major works"> | <gallery heights="180" mode="packed" perrow="5" caption="Ahmad Lahori's major works"> | ||
| File:Delhi fort.jpg| |
File:Delhi fort.jpg|]'s ] in Delhi | ||
| File:Covered market past the Lahore gate entrance in Red Fort.jpg|Covered bazaar in ] | |||
| </gallery> | </gallery> | ||
| == Controversy == | |||
| Because of the nature of architectural work in Shah Jahan era's and him being credited as the supreme architect, in the remaining vague areas a lot of names pops up with different agendas,<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| "The lack of information about the identity of the architect of the Taj Mahal has led to all kinds off fanciful speculation. In the 19th century, local informants of the British fabricated the story of an architect from Turkey named ']', and came up with fictional lists of workmen and materials from all parts of Asia.<ref name=":0" />More attractive to the British was the claim of the Spanish Augustinian friar Sebastian Manrique, who saw the Taj under construction in 1640-41, that an Italian goldsmith named 'Geronimo Veroneo' had prepared the design" for the aims of ]<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| the name of Ahmad Lahori is now similarly used for ] to claim monuments like Taj Mahal that fell in another country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-22 |title=FM on X: "Taj Mahal was made by a Lahori 🇵🇰 Give credit where it is… |url=https://archive.today/20241122002211/https://x.com/FM1947PAK/status/1783105378357514355 |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=archive.ph}}</ref> | |||
| ==Legacy== | |||
| * ]Ahmad Lahori is mentioned in ]'s ]-winning novel, ''The Twentieth Wife''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundaresan |first=Indu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUz6AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT762 |title=The Indu Sundaresan Collection: The Twentieth Wife, Feast of Roses, and Shadow Princess |date=2013-10-01 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-6418-4 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Latest revision as of 13:18, 13 January 2025
17th century Mughal chief architect (1580-1649)
| UstadAhmad Lahori | |
|---|---|
 Miniature painting of Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori | |
| Born | c.1580 Lahore, Lahore Subah, Mughal Empire (modern-day Punjab, Pakistan) |
| Died | c.1649(1649-00-00) (aged 68–69) Delhi, Delhi Subah, Mughal Empire |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Red Fort |
| Signature | |
 | |
Ustad Ahmad Lahori (c.1580–1649), also known as Ahmad Ma'mar Lahori, was a Mughal architect and engineer during the reign of Shah Jahan. He was responsible for the construction of several Mughal monuments, including the Red fort in Delhi, a World Heritage site.
His architecture is a combination of Indo-Islamic and Persian architectural styles, and thus, a major instance of Indo-Persian culture.
Life
Ustad Ahmad Lahori hailed from Lahore, Lahore Subah, as his nisba indicates. He has been described as a Punjabi and an Indian of Iranian heritage. Even after his family's migration to Delhi, his family is still referred to by the epithet "Lahori".
Ahmad Lahori hailed from a family of Timurid architects, originally from Herat. He was a skilled engineer who later in life was given the title of Nadir-ul-Asar ("wonder of the age") by Shah Jahan. Two of his three sons, Ataullah Rashidi and Lutfullah Muhandis, also became architects, as did some of his grandsons, Shah Kalim Allah Jahanabadi one among them. Ahmad Lahori was learned also in the arts of geometry, arithmetic and astronomy, and according to his son Lutfullah was familiar with the Euclid's Elements and Ptolemy's Almagest.
Career
In 1631, Shah Jahan appointed him for the construction of Taj Mahal. The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by Ahmad Lahori. The project took twelve years to manifest into reality. Afterwards, he was relocated to Delhi where the emperor commissioned him for the construction of the new imperial city, Shahjahanabad, in 1639. The building of the city, including the Red Fort, was complete by 1648.
In writings by Lahori's son, Lutfullah Muhandis, two architects are mentioned by name: Ustad Ahmad Lahori and Mir Abd-ul Karim. Ustad Ahmad Lahori laid the foundations of the Red Fort at Delhi, which was built between 1638 and 1648. Mir Abd-ul Karim counted as the favourite architect of the previous emperor, Jahangir, and is mentioned as a supervisor, together with Makramat Khan, for the construction of the Taj Mahal.
- Ahmad Lahori's major works
-
Red Fort's Lahori Gate in Delhi
-
Covered bazaar in Old Delhi
See also
References
- Curl, James Stevens; Wilson, Susan (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-967498-5.
- Balasubramaniam, R. (2009). "New insights on architects of Tāj". Indian Journal of History of Science, SpringerLink. 44 (3). National Institute of Sciences of India: 391. ISSN 2454-9991. OCLC 1398048453 – via University of California.
- Srivastava, Prof. R. P. (1981). "Patiala: Its Artistic and Cultural Significance". The Sikh Courier. 10 (4). London: Sikh Cultural Society of Great Britain: 16. ISSN 0037-511X. OCLC 265579842 – via University of Virginia.
Nadir-ul-Asar Ahmad Mimar Lahori Shahjehani was also a Punjabi who designed the Taj Mahal of Agra.
- Janin, Hunt (2006). The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World, 610-2003. McFarland. p. 124. ISBN 978-0786429042. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- Chopra, Ravindra Mohan (2005). Indo-Iranian Cultural Relations Through the Ages. Iran Society. p. 89. OCLC 85485369 – via University of Michigan.
- Kanwar, H. I. S (1974). Pickthall, Marmaduke William; Asad, Muhammad (eds.). "Ustad Ahmed Lahori". Islamic Culture. 48. Islamic Culture Board: 11–32. ISSN 0021-1834.
- ^ Necipoğlu, Gülru (1 March 1996). The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture. Getty Publications. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-89236-335-3.
- Pingree, David, ed. (1970). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A. Vol. 1. American Philosophical Society. p. 39.
- Dadlani, Chanchal (2016). "Innovation, Appropriation, and Representation: Mughal Architectural Ornament in the Eighteenth Century". In Gülru Necipoglu; Alina Payne (eds.). Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local. Princeton University Press. p. 183. ISBN 9780691167282.
- ^ Khan (Arshi), I. N. (28 August 2015). BLACK TAJ MAHAL: The Emperor's Missing Tomb. Black Taj Project. p. 38. ISBN 978-81-927479-0-3.
- Taj Mahal Description and Profile (Ahmad Lahori, architect of the emperor) UNESCO.org website, Retrieved 17 November 2021
- Begley and Desai (1989), p.65
- ^ Asher, p.212
Notes
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