TUGLAQ

ARCHITECTU
RE
SUBMITTED TO -
AR. KALPANA PANDIT
The Tughlaq dynasty also
referred to as Tughluq or Tughluk
dynasty.
It was a Muslim dynasty
of Turkish origin which ruled over
the Delhi sultanate in medieval
India. 
Its reign started in 1320 AD
in Delhi when Ghazi Malik
assumed the throne under the
title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq.
The dynasty ended in 1413 AD.
The dynasty expanded
its territorial reach
through a military
campaign led by
Muhammad ibn
Tughluq, and reached
its zenith between 1330
and 1335 AD. 

1335 AD

1330 and 1335 AD

Its rule was marked

with torture, cruelty and
rebellions, resulting in
the rapid disintegration
of the dynasty's
territorial reach after
1335 AD.
 1 2 3 4 5

TUGHLAQ
DYNASTY
Tughlaqa Tomb of Feroz Hauz Tomb of
bad Fort Giyas-ud- Shah Khas Telangani
din Kotla

ARCHITE
Tughlaq

CTURE
TUGHLAQABAD
FORT
 • Tughlaqabad Fort is a ruined fort
in Delhi,
• stretches across 6.5 km, built
by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the
founder of Tughlaq dynasty, of
the Delhi Sultanate of India in
TUGHLAQ 1321.
• Its a massive structure that lies
ABAD along the Mehrauli-Badarpur road.
FORT
PLAN
PLAN
• It has a pentagonal plan.
•It is guarded with parapet walls that support
massive cone-shaped bastions at every
intersection.
• The outer walls are inclined inward and
stand tall at a height of 11.75 meters seen
with continuous battlements.
•The arch shaped corridors and concave
chambers stretch along the interiors of the
court’s outer wall.
The massive fortifications of
Tughlaqabad, with immense
circular bastions, were raised by
Ghiyas-ud-din to protect his
subjects.

WHY IT
One of the primary concerns of
IS
Ghiyas-ud-din was to build a
capital that was strong enough to
CREATED?
repulse Mongol attacks and
provide security to its citizens.
Hence, in a short period of four
years, the massive Tughlaqabad
Fort was constructed.
The fort has massive
battlements and
bastions (some as high
as 15–30 m, built of
enormous blocks of
stone and walls 10 m CONSTRU
thick
Withininits
places)
sky-touching CTION
walls, double-storied
bastions, and gigantic
towers were housed
grand palaces, splendid
mosques, and audience
halls.
WALLS
The walls are thick, sloping and high,
capable of withstanding Mongol
attacks. Rubble masonry is used to
make up the shape of the structure,
with huge sandstone blocks, probably
quarried from the surrounding hills,
enveloping the rubble.
WALLS

Pointy Barbicans Surround the

Tomb Complex

Circular Bastion with Defensive

Barbican-like Parapet
MILITARY STYLE OF
ARCHITECTURE

The crumbling ruins of the Tughlaqabad Fort convey

a sense of lost grandeur. The massive ramparts,
battlements, and the mammoth stonework of this
fort speak highly of the engineering skills of the
workers who constructed it. The fort served the dual
purpose of a defensive structure as well as the
imperial capital of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the
founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. There are a number
of monuments within the precincts of this massive
fort.
 RAMPART
LEADING TO
THE FORT
ENTRANCE
PARTS
Tughlaqabad is divided into three parts :
1. The Palace
2. A Citadel
3. A Residential City
Moving east from the main entrance
to the fort brings one to the citadel.
This is probably the best preserved
area of the Fort, and houses a few
interesting structures. Walking up the
pathway to the citadel, there are
several defensive parapets
and circular bastions that are brought
into close view.
The most interesting structure
within the fort is an underground
passageway with chambers along
the length linking to the palace
area.
There is a building with a roof –
the only one in the fort that is still
complete. It has been conjectured
that it functioned as a house.
TOMB OF
GHIYAS-UD-
DIN
TUGHLAQ
The plan was dictated by the
contours of the hillock just
outside the southern gates of the
fortress over which this barbican-
like structure was planted.
The tomb is connected to the
fortress by a 228.6 m long
causeway,  that was supported by
26 piers and arches and crossed
over the artificial lake connecting
his Tomb with his Fort, but today
lake or water reservoir is dry
scrubland.
It is situated in the
south of the fortress of
Tughlaqabad
Built by Ghiyas-ud-din
Tughlaq in AD 1325
within an unusual
irregular pentagonal
fortified enclosure
The structure of this
simple but elegant
building
Within the Court
and diagonally
placed is the
Tomb of Ghiyas-
ud-din Tughlaq
seen as a square
shaped rubble
like stonework
structure with the
absence of any
decorations or
carvings on its
exterior portion,
however, the
interior is
overlaid with red
sandstone 75
Distinctive and a

(20 sq metre ) area of

decorative
degree white
chamber
marble. 
of its outer walls,

tomb and
Height of tomb is 24
metre.
The interior
diameter 10.41
metre while the
exterior diameter
measures 13.41
metre and it is
dressed with a
pointed dome
that rests on the
intersection of
small arched
corners.
THE ARCH
AND
LINTEL
The most iconic
characteristic of this is
the mixed attitude of the
Hindu builder to the
arched form of
construction and the
lintel and beam method.
In spite of using true
arch to span the
openings, a redundant
stone lintel was
installed just below the
springing of the arch.
 The Dome is
crowned with the
KALASA pinnacle
and hence depicts
Hindu architectural
influences as seen in
Hindu Temples
across Delhi.

KALASA OVER THE

MUSLIM DOME
FEROZ SHAH
KOTLA
 Feroz Shah Kotla
was the grand and
opulent royal citadel
of the city.
Built by the famous
ruler, Sultan Firoz
Shah Tughluq in the
year 1354AD, it is a
typical structure of
that era.
Sultan Feroz Shah
Tughlaq established
Ferozabad and Feroz
Shah kotla.
FEROZ SHAH
KOTLA
The walls of the citadel are as high as 15 meters high and
have a slight slope on the outside. The top parapets have now
disappeared but the arrow slits can still be seen.
The entrance has a huge iron gate with a
board that bears the name of Feroz Shah
Kotla.

The boundary walls of the fort, built as a

stone masonary, are as high as 15
metres.

Inside the fort a number of ruined

structures can be seen, of which the
Mosque and the Baoli (step well) are still
recognizable.
The Ashoka Pillar stands tall on the top
of a pyramidal three-tiered structure.

The 13 metres high pillar, which was

brought by Feroz Shah Tughlaq from
Ambala to Delhi, bears the edicts of
Ashoka’s principles.
ASHOK
PILLAR
This monolith pillar is 13
metres high, with a
diameter of 65
centimetres at the top
and 97 centimetres at
the bottom.
It was crowned by a
capital of coloured
stones and a golden
globe with a crescent on
top.
JAMI MASJID
 1 2 3

Built inside However, most It was built on a

Feroz Shah’s of the structures series of
Kotla, Jami such as the underground
Masjid used to prayer hall and cells and made
be one of the walkways have of quartzite
largest mosques vanished. stone covered
of the Tughlaq with lime plaster
period.  and surrounded
by a huge
courtyard with
cloisters and a
Prayer Hall.
The entrance of Jama Masjid lies
on the northern side and was
connected by a causeway to the
pyramidal structure of the
Ashokan Pillar.
BAOLI
The circular Baoli, which means 'step
well', lies towards the north western
side of the Ashokan Pillar and in the
heart of a large garden constructed in
the form of subterranean apartments
and a large underground canal built on
its eastern side through which the
water runs into the well.
PAVILIONS

Three Pavilions (Front View) Adjoining Complex

FEROZ SHAH’S
TOMB
 Entry to the tomb is through a
passage in the south leading to the
doorway.

Three horizontal units laid over eight

vertical posts that are chamfered
FEROZ constitute the plinth.

SHAH’S Squinches and muqarnas are seen in

TOMB the solid interior walls of the tomb
and these provide the basic support
to the octagonal spherical dome of
the tomb.
The dome with a square plan –
14.8 m (48.6 ft) in length and height
– has a diameter of 8.8 m (28.9 ft).
The tomb, a square chamber, is
made of local quartzite rubble with a
surface plaster finish that sparkled
in white colour when completed. The
door, pillars and lintels were made of
grey quartzites while red sandstone
was used for carvings of the
battlements. The door way depicts a
blend
of Indian and Islamic architecture.
Another new feature not seen at any
other monument in Delhi, built at the
entrance to the tomb from the south,
is the stone railings.
There are four graves inside the
tomb, one is of Feruz Shah and two
others are of his son and grand son.
KHIRKI MASJID
Entrance of khirki masjid in south.
The word 'Khirki' prefixed
to masjid is an Urdu word that
means "window" and hence is
also called "The Masjid of
Windows"
The Masjid, which is in a
quadrangular shape, was built as
a fortress with an unusual fusion
of Islamic and
traditional Hindu architecture.
LAYOUT
Instead of a one big open courtyard,
the mosque has four smaller square
courtyards measuring 30 Ft x 30 Ft.
Due to the modern day construction
found all around, little sunlight filters
in through the lattices on the upper
floors.
 Another interesting aspect of this
mosque is its design of the terrace.
Partitioned into 25 squares of
equal size, each square has 9
domes on each side, measuring 81
in all & these square blocks are
alternated by 12 flat roofs, giving a
very distinct shadow upon the
interiors. One can take the eastern
flank stairs to reach the roof & a
visit is imperative to comprehend
the mathematical beauty of its
design.
HAUZ KHAS

 The name Hauz Khas in Urdu

language is derived from the
words -
‘Hauz’: “water tank” (or lake) and
‘Khas’:“royal”- the “Royal tank”
HAUZ
KHAS
The notable structures
built by Firoz Shah on
the eastern and northern
side of the reservoir
consisted of
the Madrasa (Islamic
School of Learning – a
theological college), the
small Mosque, the Main
tomb and six domed
pavilions in its precincts,
which were all built
between 1352 and 1354
A.D.
TOMB OF
TELENGANI
This was the tomb of
firoz’s shah Prime Minister,
Khan-E-Jahan Telangani,
built in the Nizam-ud-din
Auliya area.
The tughlaq builders
decided that since the
inner space of a tomb
served only the function
of accommodating a
gravemit need not
necessarily be square in
plan but could very well be
an octagon.
The spread-out base provided
by the surrounding veranda
certainly led visual credence to
the structure.

The entire composition is

further appropriately graded
by the installation of small
kiosks along the base of the
dome and over the veranda.
Use of the typical Hindu chajja
added a new dimension.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 THANK YOU

Compiled By-

NAMIT CHHOWALA 2015UAR1697

RASHI SINGH 2016UAR1530
VARTIKA SOOD 2016UAR1477