The Glory of the Sultans: Islamic Architecture in India 1100-1880(ITALICS)
By Yves Porter and Gerard Degeorge
Flammarion
Reviewed by Andrew Myers

Muy Mughal

The Glory of the Sultans: Islamic Architecture in India 1100-1880 (ITALICS) traces, chronicles and documents the utterly unique, beguiling architectural blend of Islamic, Turkish, Persian and Hindu influences found on the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. It is Mughal-worthy in ambition and encyclopedic in scope. As writer Yves Porter notes in his foreword, few texts have attempted to tackle the subject of Muslim architecture in this vast region in this extensive way.

Porter, using Gérard Degeorge’s photographs, dares to do so. Separated into discrete sections—From The Arab/Muslim Incursions to The Foundation of The Mughal Empire (approximately from the Arab conquest of Sindh in 711 through the flourishing and demise of the Sultanate of Delhi, c. 1191-1555); The Independent Sultanates (or what was happening in terms of power grabs, building and architecture in Bengal, Kashmir, the Deccan, Gujarat, Jaunpur and Malwa as the Delhi Sultanate diminished then disappeared between the mid/late 14th century and mid 16th century); and The Great Mughals and Their Heirs (aka, a golden era of building and architecture from Emperors Akbar to Aurangzeb, resulting in mausoleums such as Humayun’s tomb and funerary complex in Delhi [recently restored by the Aga Khan Foundation] and Agra’s Taj Mahal, to the abandoned city Fatehpur Sikri, to numerous and splendid mosques, forts and palaces).

The last section of the book emphasizes the years from Akbar’s founding of the dynasty in 1556 to Aurangzeb’s death in 1707. Little time is spent on the 17 lesser and less effective emperors who ruled until 1857, when the dynasty was disbanded and India was brought under direct control of the British following the Sepoy Rebellion. Attention, however, is paid to the subsequent flourishing of “Indo-Saracenic” architecture, which added European aesthetics to the already rich amalgam.
         
As with all encyclopedic studies, “The Glory of the Sultans” has inherent limitations, as Porter is well aware. Again in the foreword, he states that his book presents but an outline of an enormous subject. Many of the buildings merit their own books and pictorial catalogues (and of course many, such as the Qutb Minar, and Agra’s and Delhi’s Red Forts, never mind the Taj Mahal, have received numerous incarnations of both). Conversely, the casual reader might feel, at times, bogged down in detail—the numerous dynasties and dramas, the many regions; their shared and particular styles, architecture and building materials—as well as by prose that, while informative and interesting, can occasionally veer into the dense and ponderous.

Quibbles notwithstanding, this is an important book. It is also a beautiful book as well, particularly when Degeorge’s studies of intricate stone jails, patterned inlays of hardstones, carved fountains, columns, column bases and Arabic inscriptions adorning walls, columns and arches fill the glossy, oversize pages.

Glorious Glory of the Sultans? Indeed.