In Mughal architecture, the term charbagh refers to which feature?
- A.A garden built on four hillside terraces
- B.A garden divided into four parts by crossing walkways or water channels
- C.A group of four gardens built by four emperors
- D.A garden enclosed by four gateways
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, a garden divided into four parts by crossing walkways or water channels. Charbagh means four gardens, and the plan is a walled square or rectangle cut into four equal quarters by two axes that meet at the centre, where a tank, a platform or a tomb is placed. The idea came from the Timurid gardens of Central Asia and from the Persian image of paradise watered by four rivers, and Babur brought it to India. Option A describes a terraced garden, which is what the charbagh becomes on a slope, as in Kashmir, but terraces are not part of the definition. Option C is invented; no set of four gardens by four emperors is known by this name. Option D confuses the charbagh with the walled enclosure and its gateways, which surround the garden but do not create its four part division.
Read the full article: Mughal Gardens and Famous Gardens of India: Notes
Practice Questions
View allWhich Mughal ruler laid out the Aram Bagh, also called Ram Bagh, at Agra, the oldest surviving Mughal garden in India?
- A.Akbar
- B.Babur
- C.Jahangir
- D.Shah Jahan
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Babur laid out the Aram Bagh at Agra in 1528, within two years of the first battle of Panipat, and it is the oldest Mughal garden that still survives in India.
Read the full explanation →Shalimar Bagh at Srinagar was built in 1619 by which Mughal emperor?
- A.Akbar
- B.Jahangir
- C.Shah Jahan
- D.Aurangzeb
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Jahangir built Shalimar Bagh above the Dal Lake in 1619 for his queen Nur Jahan, and it is the largest of the Mughal gardens of Kashmir, laid out in terraces with the Diwan-e-Aam, the Diwan-e-Khas and a zenana garden.
Read the full explanation →Nishat Bagh at Srinagar, the Garden of Gladness, was laid out by whom?
- A.Dara Shikoh
- B.Ali Mardan Khan
- C.Asaf Khan, the brother of Nur Jahan
- D.Fidai Khan
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Nishat Bagh was laid out about 1633 by Abul Hasan Asaf Khan, Nur Jahan's brother and the father of Mumtaz Mahal.
Read the full explanation →The Pinjore Garden, now known as the Yadavindra Gardens, is located in which state?
- A.Punjab
- B.Haryana
- C.Himachal Pradesh
- D.Uttarakhand
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The Pinjore garden lies at Pinjore in Panchkula district of Haryana, on the road from Chandigarh to Shimla, and is a seven terraced Mughal garden laid out by Fidai Khan, the foster brother of Aurangzeb.
Read the full explanation →Which monument is regarded as the first garden tomb built in the Indian subcontinent?
- A.Akbar's tomb at Sikandra
- B.Humayun's Tomb at Delhi
- C.The Taj Mahal at Agra
- D.The tomb of Sher Shah Suri at Sasaram
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Humayun's Tomb was begun in 1565 by his widow Bega Begum, also called Haji Begum, with the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, and it is the first tomb in the subcontinent set at the centre of a charbagh crossed by water channels.
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