Under Shah Jahan, Ahmedabad continued to be the major city of Gujarat, which was kind of a following of tradition since Akbar and Jahangir. The new buildings, both religious and secular, generally were designed in the Mughal style, not a local idiom, as one notices in monuments provided by Azam Khan. Among his many works is the serai built in 1637-38. Azam Khan had been appointed governor of Gujarat in 1636, a position he held for six successive years. The serai was located conveniently adjacent to the main entrance of the city's citadel. It has undergone alterations, although enough of the seventeenth-century structure remains to determine its original appearance to this date. This quadrangular building, measuring nearly 64 by 73 metres, is entered through a high two-storied central portal. The stellate and net vaulting of the interior chambers is typically Mughal. Neither this serai nor the similar nearby Shahi Bagh palace belongs to local building traditions, but rather to the Timurid-inspired Mughal tradition, reminiscent of Babur by Shah Jahan. The choice of such a style is hardly surprising, since Azam Khan was not only a high-ranking Mughal amir, but also was extremely proud of his Iranian heritage, maintaining the customs of his homeland throughout his life. Azam Khan was indeed an enthusiastic builder. His structures are noted in Mathura and Jaunpur, among other places, but the greatest number is concentrated in Gujarat. These include three forts, one of which, Shahpur Fort in Ranpur, still survives; but his mosques, a well and baths are known only from written references to contemporary researchers scouting on Shah Jahan's architectural endorsing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. |