Ustad Ahmad Lahori

Ustad
Ahmad Lahori
Ustad Ahmad Lahori ;
	Miniature painting of Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori
Born	c.1580; Lahore, Lahore Subah, Mughal Empire ; (modern-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Died	c.1649 (aged 68–69); Delhi, Delhi Subah, Mughal Empire
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Red Fort
Signature

Ustad Ahmad Lahori (c.1580–1649)^[1], 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.^[2] He has been described as a Punjabi Muslim^[3]^[4] or an Indian of Iranian heritage.^[5] Even after his family's migration to Delhi, his family is still referred to by the epithet "Lahori".^[6]

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.^[7] Two of his three sons,^[8] Ataullah Rashidi and Lutfullah Muhandis, also became architects, as did some of his grandsons,^[7] Shah Kalim Allah Jahanabadi one among them.^[9] 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.^[7]

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.^[10] Afterwards, he was relocated to Delhi where the emperor commissioned him for the construction of the new imperial city, Shahjahanabad, in 1639.^[10] 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^[11]^[12] and Mir Abd-ul Karim.^[13] 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,^[13] for the construction of the Taj Mahal.^{[citation needed]}

Ahmad Lahori's major works
Red Fort's Lahori Gate in Delhi
Covered bazaar in Old Delhi

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.
^ Chopra, Ravindra Mohan (2005). Indo-Iranian Cultural Relations Through the Ages. Iran Society. p. 89. OCLC 85485369 – via University of Michigan.
^ Janin, Hunt (2006). The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World, 610-2003. McFarland. p. 124. ISBN 978-0786429042. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
^ 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ ^a ^b 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
^ ^a ^b Asher, p.212

Notes

Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard (1992) [2003]. The New Cambridge History of India, Vol I:4 - Architecture of Mughal India (Hardback) (First published 1992, reprinted 2001, 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN 0-521-26728-5.
Begley, Wayne (March 1979). "The myth of the Taj-Mahal and a new theory of its symbolic meaning". Art Bulletin. 61 (1). The Art Bulletin, Vol. 61, No. 1: 7–37. doi:10.2307/3049862. JSTOR 3049862.
Begley, Wayne E.; Desai, Z.A. (1989) [1989]. Taj Mahal - The Illumined Tomb (Hardback). University of Washington Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-295-96944-2.
Begley, Wayne E. (1983). Grabar, Oleg (ed.). "Four Mughal Caravanserais Built during the Reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan". Muqarnas Volume I: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture. Yale University Press (Newhaven). pp. 167–180. Archived from the original (pdf) on 12 June 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2007.
Koch, Ebba (2006) [Aug 2006]. The Complete Taj Mahal: And the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (Hardback) (First ed.). Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 288 pages. ISBN 0-500-34209-1.

[d-1] Curl, James Stevens; Wilson, Susan (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-967498-5.

[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[4] Chopra, Ravindra Mohan (2005). Indo-Iranian Cultural Relations Through the Ages. Iran Society. p. 89. OCLC 85485369 – via University of Michigan.

[Janin-5] Janin, Hunt (2006). The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World, 610-2003. McFarland. p. 124. ISBN 978-0786429042. Retrieved 17 November 2021.

[6] 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.

[s-7] Necipoğlu, Gülru (1 March 1996). The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture. Getty Publications. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-89236-335-3.

[8] Pingree, David, ed. (1970). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A. Vol. 1. American Philosophical Society. p. 39.

[9] 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.

[i-10] 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.

[unesco-11] Taj Mahal Description and Profile (Ahmad Lahori, architect of the emperor) UNESCO.org website, Retrieved 17 November 2021

[B65-12] Begley and Desai (1989), p.65

[A212-13] Asher, p.212

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Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	United States
Artists	ULAN

Life

Career

See also

References

Notes