Book Title: Sambodhi 2011 Vol 34
Author(s): Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Page 50
________________ 44 M. A. Dhaky SAMBODHI lieu of sikhara is an enlarged, elaborated version of the Dholkā minaret without flutings. Eight or nine decades separate the Dholkā and the Ahmedābād versions, and what evolutionary changes went in between must account for the differences and elaborations which distinguish the two. Had the architects in Ahmedabad, for their minār elevation, entirely followed the Hindu conventions, using balconied stories to increase the height and finish it with a mandapikā-pavilion, having a phá, sanā, i.e. tiered roof, they would have produced structures hardly different from the contemporaneous Hindu and Jaina buildings (of course sans figural decoration), as for example the manastambha (c. late 13th century), and the famous kirttistambha of Mahārāṇā Kumbhā (1459), both in Chitor.38 But the situation and form of the Dholkā type of minaret, at once distinguishes the two, by changing the character of the structure from Hindu to Islamic. 39 Architecturally, the non-tapering verticality of the Dholkā minarets may have been found convenient for grafting it over and blending it with the lower part fashioned after a Hindu shrine form. But there also may be a sentimental reason in choosing this Dholkā variety. For it preserves, it would seem, an imprint on its face of the more ancient architectural devices of Islām, and, with that, the distant but ineffaceable association with the homeland of Islām. Notes and References In the context of the pre-partitioned India, Islām of course first entered in Sind in early eighth century through a military conquest and was established there since then. The form of the early mosques there is unknown. The Mosque no more exists. Cambay then was known as Stambhatirtha or Khambhāyat in the medieval period and at present Khambhāt. It was burnt down in a riot in early 12th century and was soon rebuilt through the intervention of the Solanki king Jayasimha Siddharāja (1095-1144) of Anhilapāaka. It was once more rebuilt in 1218: (vide Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian Supplement pt. 1, 1961, pp. 4-5.) Renamed Ahmedābād in 1412 by Sultān Ahmedshāh. Cf. M.A. Ghagtai, "The Earliest Muslim Inscription in India from Ahmedabad”, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. III, 1939, p. 647. Anc. Bhỉgukaccha anglicized 'Broach.' Vide Imamuddin Dargahwala, "Gujarat-māṁ ävelā ārambhika Muslim pracārako” (Gujarāti), Vallabhavidyānagara Sa jodhana-patrik', Vallabhvidyanagar, Vol. I, No. 2, p. 62. Personal observation as also consultations with Dr. Z.A. Desai. Anc. Śrī Devapattana. Cf.D.C. Sircar, “Veraval Inscription of Chaulukya-Vaghela Arjuna, 1261 A.D.", Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXIV, part IV, pp. 141-151. 10. Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Perrsian Supplement, 1961, 10, pl. V (a). 11. Cf. Purātana-Prabandha-Sangraha: Ed. Shri Jinavijaya Muni, Singhi Jaina Granthamālā, Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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