Architecture and Monuments of Uttar Pradesh: Full Notes

No state carries as many famous buildings as Uttar Pradesh. The Buddha preached his first sermon at Sarnath and died at Kushinagar, the Guptas raised the earliest surviving temples of brick and stone in the Ganga plain, the Sharqi sultans built a style of their own at Jaunpur, the Mughals made Agra and Fatehpur Sikri their capitals, and the Nawabs of Awadh left Lucknow its imambaras and gateways. For UPPSC, UPSSSC, SSC and Railway papers the examinable facts are the pairs: the monument, the place, the builder and the year.

Mughal Agra

The Taj Mahal was begun in 1632 by Shah Jahan as the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, built of white marble brought from Makrana in Rajasthan, on the right bank of the Yamuna; the chief architect named in tradition is Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, and the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983. The Agra Fort, of red sandstone, was raised by Akbar between 1565 and 1573 and holds the Jahangiri Mahal, the Diwan-i-Am and the Diwan-i-Khas, Shah Jahan's white marble Moti Masjid and the Musamman Burj; it was inscribed in 1983 as well. Across the river stands the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah, built by Nur Jahan for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, the first Mughal building faced wholly in white marble and inlaid with pietra dura, which is why it is nicknamed the Baby Taj. Akbar's own tomb is at Sikandra, outside Agra.

Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri from 1571, in red sandstone, and left it within about fifteen years, so the city survives as a complete Mughal plan. Its Buland Darwaza was raised in 1576 to mark his victory in Gujarat and is one of the tallest gateways in India. The complex also holds the five-storeyed Panch Mahal, the Diwan-i-Khas with its single carved central pillar, the Jama Masjid, the Ibadat Khana where Akbar held religious debates, and the marble tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti with its carved jali screens. Fatehpur Sikri was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986.

Buddhist and ancient sites

Sarnath, near Varanasi, is where the Buddha preached his first sermon; it has the Dhamek Stupa, the Chaukhandi stupa and the Ashokan pillar whose lion capital was adopted as the State Emblem of India. Kushinagar is the place of the Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, with the Mahaparinirvana temple and the Ramabhar stupa; Sravasti and Kaushambi were monastic centres. Of Gupta architecture the state keeps the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh in Lalitpur district and the brick temple of Bhitargaon in Kanpur district. The Ashokan pillar now in the Allahabad fort at Prayagraj carries Samudragupta's Prayag Prashasti, composed by Harisena, and a later inscription of Jahangir; the fort itself was built by Akbar in 1583, and Khusro Bagh near it holds Mughal tombs.

Awadh and Lucknow

Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula built the Bara Imambara in 1784 as famine relief work, so that the hungry were paid to build; its central hall is one of the largest vaulted chambers built without beams, and the maze of corridors above it is the Bhool Bhulaiya. He also built the Rumi Darwaza, the gateway modelled on a Turkish design. The Chhota Imambara was built by Muhammad Ali Shah in 1838, and the ruins of the Residency remain as they were left by the siege of 1857.

Other monuments to remember

How the state's monuments are grouped

For revision, group them by builder: Akbar for Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and the Allahabad fort; Shah Jahan for the Taj Mahal, the Moti Masjid and the Jama Masjid of Agra; Nur Jahan for Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb; the Sharqi sultans for Jaunpur; the Nawabs of Awadh for Lucknow; and Ashoka and the Guptas for Sarnath, Deogarh and Bhitargaon. Three sites of the state are on the UNESCO World Heritage List: the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, both inscribed in 1983, and Fatehpur Sikri in 1986.