Mughal architecture is perhaps the most sublime, most inspirational, most stirring and most awe-inspiring of the umpteen excellent and marvellous domains that was contained within the Mughal Empire and its ruling in India for more than 200 years. Besides its various efficiently maintained structural works that had forever changed the outlook of India and its administration, Mughal Empire is mostly known in Indian history for its exceedingly supreme and massive architectural groundings that one gets to witness in present times, almost retaining its past grandeur and opulence. However, such meticulous chisellings by such master architects, the legends and lores hidden such authentic works, the beginnings and terminations to such dreams, the realities behind such establishments, the stonework or the materials, the hiring of master masons mandatory for Mughal architecture, can only be comprehended once one is thoroughly acquainted with the first ever traces of this Persian dynasty upon the Indian soil. The architecturally magnificent Mughals truly were passionate and enthusiastic enough to look into such matters, even besides administering such a vast country as India was back then. Such an act does indeed call for applauding and further delving deep into explanations.

Several factors were responsible for such a remarkable development of the building art and architecture. The historical and substantial beginnings to Mughal architecture was all which were turned on with a fresh leaf under Emperor Babur. In 1526 a descendant of the Iranian house of Timur, Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur, better acknowledged in present times simply as `Babur`, had defeated the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty (from the previous Delhi Sultanate in India) in the First Battle of Panipat, approximately 90 km north of Delhi. The Lodis were one of many short-lived Islamic houses which had ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent since the Islamic conquest of this area in 1192 (referring to the last ruling Lodi Dynasty under Delhi Sultanate). Babur and his successors, who had continued to rule north India until 1858, were recognised as the Mughals, a term Babur would not have liked, for originally it bore a `dislogistic` connotation. However, well before the year 1600, during the reign of Babur`s grandson, Akbar, it was clear that Mughal rule had made a substantial impact on the cultural, economic and political development of the lands it controlled - an area then referred to as `Hindustan`. In the realm of architecture, the Mughals had indeed accomplished master-builder status, lending life to monuments such as the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri, which even today is considered one of the world`s most magnificent and sky-kissing edifices.

This style is a classic and classy blend of Islamic and Indian architecture and is often referred to as the highly venerated `Indo-Islamic architecture`. Thus the quite crucial and decisive sources to Mughal architecture, lying both in the Islamic and non-Islamic origins have made their presence known to make present-day readers and admirers comprehend in a bettered manner.

In spite of a long-standing Islamic heritage in India, Mughal rulers did consider themselves the rightful heirs of the Iranian Timurid tradition, which they felt was superior to Indo-Islamic culture. Mughal architecture thus had adopted from Timurid antecedents, possessing a sense of grandeur and an extremely sophisticated realisation of geometrical proportion. Timurid architects had developed an understanding of how interconnecting and stacked transverse arches could be, used instead of solid walls to create new spatial organisations. This had resulted in structures with a large central room surrounded by smaller chambers and arched entranceways of motleyed sizes. Frequently imperial Mughal tombs were designed on a similar plan, specifically one consisting of nine bays. That is, a central chamber is surrounded by eight smaller rooms whose placement, size and shape depended on a geometric division of the whole. Since the architect of the hugely awed Humayun`s Tomb - the first Timurid-inspired tomb in Mughal India, came from Bukhara, where he had designed a variety of building types, the Timurid inspiration for this and later Mughal architectural tombs is not surprising. In mature phases of Timurid architecture, the surrounding chambers became symbolic of the eight levels of paradise - a concept adopted for Mughal mausolea as well.

Following a long-standing Iranian tradition, the "garden" - symbolic of paradise, was developed by the Timurids and subsequently by the Mughals in their architectural groundings in India. Informally planted walled gardens with running streams, pools and often pavilions were an inherent part of the large Timurid cities. Babur, the first Mughal emperor, enlists in his memoirs numerous gardens that delighted him in Timurid Herat, a city whose splendid palaces and gardens went a long way in influencing Babur`s own building schemes in India. These gardens were named as char bagh (literally standing for: four gardens), although their actual layout is open to dispute, since none remains today.

The type of Jami or `large congregational mosque` (referring to the umpteen Jama Masjids that were accomplished durign the Mughal times, with the principal pivoting around the legendary Jama Masjid of Shahjahanabad, present-day Old Delhi) developed under the imperial Mughals, did derive a lot from large Timurid mosques. . The prayer chamber of these mosques is entered through a colossal vaulted portal; the side wings are presented as pillared corridors. This type of Timurid mosque adheres closely to earlier Seljuk models that had been the prototype as well for the mosque erected by the Ghond rulers who had conquered Delhi during the late 12th century (included in the dynasties of Delhi Sultanate, Muslim kings just prior to Mughal entrance in India).

The very foremost groundings under the Mughal Empire in terms of uplifting Mughal architecture and its historic status, begun during the times of emperor Babur. Indeed, Mughal architecture during Babur, though mostly spartan, had rolled the pace of rhythmic motion, which was to be followed till Aurangzeb. Babur`s memoirs indicate that the construction of permanent buildings had assumed less importance for him as compared to the construction of gardens. Just as he used to camp in gardens in Kabul when moving from site to site, so too in India the garden served as his camp. Moreover, his precarious financial situation - where the payment of troops had to be his first priority - left fewer resources for large stone monuments. Nevertheless, buildings were constructed by Babur, enough to employ virtually 1500 stone cutters at work on projects throughout his north Indian domain. Mughal architecture in the forms of gardens and its char bagh of most ancient times, hence came into prominence with the rule of Babur. His artistic idealism and zeal for thriving against all odds, had laid the groundworks of the Mughal architectural style. Of Babur`s strenuous activities in India a significant amount of building construction was undertaken under his orders, mostly in the form of ornamental gardens, monuments and mosques. There are, however, two mosques which have survived and have been attributed to this ruler, one in the Kabuli Bagh in Panipat in the Punjab and the other the Jama Masjid in Sambhal, a town east of Delhi.

Emperor Humayun was the son of Babur, who had assumed the reign of the dynasty after his father`s demise. Mughal archietcture during Humayun had suffered an early and much unwanted setback, which so much was fervently upheld during Babur. Humayun had lacked the craftiness of his father and was severely addicted to opium. He ruled the Indian subcontinent only for ten years and had also perished accidentally. Humayun is better acknowledged in contemporary times for the tomb legendary as the Humayun`s Tomb, which was created under the supervision of his wife as a telling tribute. With the exception of a single inscribed mosque in Agra, no other surviving Mughal architecture indisputably results from Humayun`s patronage. Despite the dearth of remaining buildings from Humayun`s time, contemporary sources do refer to his architectural output. They describe, for example, his unique conceptions, although they are based on Timurid design concepts. One of them was a floating palace formed from four barges, each bearing an inward facing arch and attached in such a manner that an octagonal pool formed the central portion. In addition, Humayun also had designed three-storied collapsible palaces, gilded and domed.

Mughal architecture during Akbar and his most critical knowledge of Akbar`s thought and policy comes across to present admirers from the writings of Abu ul-Fazl, Akbar`s chronicler and close companion. India`s non-Islamic architectural traditions; however, during the reign of the third Mughal ruler, Akbar (1556-1605), indigenous Indian elements, both Hindu and Muslim, were incorporated consciously into Mughal structures. During Akbar`s reign, imperially sponsored Mughal architecture very much had incorporated Timurid design concepts with forms, motifs and building techniques long indigenous to Indian architecture. Many of the resulting buildings, for example much of the palatial edifices in Fatehpur Sikri, are highly refined products of prevailing Indian tastes, although the organisation and spatial arrangements owe much to Timurid concepts. Emperor Akbar had built primarily at his capitals and also defensively at the major cities on the frontier of his domain, such as Allahabad. But Mughal architecture was not confined to these places; rather, it did expand to the hinterlands under this genius of a man. There, though, the architecture was built not by the emperor but by his nobles, whose taste most often echoed that of the centre. In this burgeoning Mughal Empire since Akbar, architecture increasingly served as a symbol of Mughal presence.

Emperor Jahangir, next as heir to the Mughal throne and subsequently in Mughal architecture, had considerably more interest in building, than is commonly believed. He had constructed extensively - palaces, hunting lodges and tombs - although hardly any religious buildings, despite his devotion to Muin ud-Din. Mughal architecture during Jahangir portrays considerable continuity as the concepts mature. Thus, for example, paradisical imagery associated with funereal settings, first visible in Akbar`s architecture, is developed in the tomb Jahangir had constructed for his father. Also, like Akbar, Jahangir made use of architecture to imply the ruler`s semi-divine status, foreshadowing developments under his son and successor, Shah Jahan. In addition, Jahangir, like his grandfather, Babur, was concerned not only with the building itself, but also with its setting. Buildings such as his Chesma-i Nur are architecturally uninspiring, but spectacularly situated. Many aspects of a `Mughal` Jahangir`s architectural style possess potent roots in the buildings of Akbar. If during Akbar`s period, Mughal architecture at the frontier was often a symbol of `Mughal` power, during Jahangir`s reign it was an indication of genuine presence, serving permanent populations as well as encouraging trade across the empire. Hindu rajas, also members of the Mughal nobility, built palaces on their ancestral lands that incorporated trends at the Mughal court.

Mughal architecture during Shah Jahan had reached true and almost unbelievable perfection, which never previously was witnessed and never could be emulated under the later Mughals. Shah Jahan`s active involvement in the design and production of architecture far exceeded that of any other Mughal emperor. Themes initially established in the buildings of his predecessors were finely honed and reached maturity under Shah Jahan. For instance, the long-standing notion that imperial Mughal mausolea were symbols of paradise was manifest most precisely in the Taj Mahal. More than any other ruler, Shah Jahan sought to utilise Mughal architecture to project the emperor`s formal and semi-divine character. He did so, in part, by adapting motifs found in western art and indigenous Indian architecture, such as the baluster column and baldachin covering, lending them a unique imperial context. The charged meaning of these motifs, however, is only found in Shah Jahan`s reign, for they are seen on the earliest non-imperial structures of his successor`s reign. While marble had been used sparingly by Akbar and Jahangir, it dominates Shah Jahan`s palace pavilions, mosques and the most important tomb he had constructed, the Taj Mahal.

Mughal architecture during Aurangzeb almost took a back seat. . His reign from 1659-1707 had marked the shift from the art loving Mughals, to a more orthodox ruler under whom the actual decline had set in. He was much less involved in Mughal architectural production than his predecessors were, but he did sponsor important monuments, especially religious ones. Most notable are mosques that date prior to the court`s shift to the Deccan. Some of these, such as the Idgah at Mathura, were built by the ruler himself, others by his nobles to proclaim Mughal authority in the face of opposition. On Aurangzeb`s palace mosque one can witness an elaboration of floral and other patterns derived from those on Shah Jahan`s palace pavilions. But these forms no more were intended to suggest the semi-divine character of ruler, a notion that little concerned Aurangzeb.

Only remaining to be said after the rule of Aurangzeb is the architectural prowess of the later Mughals, who indeed do not seize any kind of significance after such historic and dazzling ancestors from the early 16th century. Every kind of Mughal central administrational or architectural elements seemed to be dwindling, with none of these later Mughals sadly possessing the potential to carry forward such a huge task under their fragile shoulders. Administrational and warring tactics was so pathetic and a mishap that outside incursions had begun to be accomplished smoothly, the most notable amongst them being Nadir Shah from Persia, plundering everything under his crushing feet. Thus, shorn off from all its glory and illumination, Mughal architecture during later Mughals was nothing that could be impressed upon to the nobility or general populace alike. The advent of the British East Indian Company and the sudden exertion of independence of the small state nawabs in Lucknow or Hyderabad, had only heightened the quandaries for the later Mughals, which, by the time of 1857, was a closed chapter.