Hiran Minar

Hiran Minar – The Mughal Legacy

40 kilometers in the north-west of Emperor Jahangir’s sepulcher to pay tribute to Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s pet gazelle. Like all good Mughal emperors, Jahangir loved to hunt antelope. He also loved his cherished pet Mansraj (meaning “Light of the Mind”) who was an antelope. After the passing of Jahangir’s dear deer Mansraj, the chasing ground was changed into an ensured asylum and chasing was restricted. The Emperor himself records about the erection of the tower in Memoirs Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri.  

"On Tuesday (12 Ziqa’adah 1015/31 March 1607) the royal standards alighted at Jahangirpur, which is one of my fixed hunting places. In this neighborhood had been erected by my order a manar at the     head of the grave of an antelope called Mansraj, which was without equal in fights with tame antelopes and in hunting wild ones. On a stone of that manar was carved his prose composition, written by Mulla Muhammad Husain of Kashmir who was the chief of the elegant writers of the day: “In this enchanting place an antelope came into the world-holding (jahan-giri) net of the God knowing ruler, Nurud-Din Jahangir Padshah. In the space of one month, having overcome his desert fierceness, he became the head of the special antelopes:'' On account of the rare quality of this antelope, I commended that no person should hunt the deer of this plain, and that their flesh should be to Hindus and Muslims as is the flesh of cows and pigs. They made the grave-stone in the shape of an antelope."

The complex of structures raised at Hiran Minar Sheikhupura under the reign of Jahangir in 1634 changed a short time later by Jahangir’s successor Shah Jahan, who went to his father’s most loved chasing preserve and chose to add to the complex a vast water tank and octagonal structure toward the east of the commemoration tower (for setting, this was two years after Shah Jahan began building the Taj Mahal). Here, in this illustrious chasing resort, we discover a declaration of the Emperor’s identity who made this gathering of structures for his recreation. The high minar filled extremely well for the need of providing a reasonable perspective of the encompassing zone for locating game, while the astounding baradari amidst an expansive tank satisfied the need of a perfect place for amusement. The highest point of the pinnacle incorporates a place to bury Mansraj’s remaining parts, while the border of the pinnacle highlights gaps that were in all probability used to mount the heads of animal trophies taken by the ruler.

The minar is circular in shape and tapers towards the top. Its diameter at the base is 33 feet and at the top 23 feet, while the overall height is 102 feet 9 inches. The top is flat, having a parapet wall, 2 feet and 9 inches high. There is no indication that there was originally a pavilion over it. There are 210 square holes on the outer surface of the minar, arranged regularly in 14 rows. The purpose of these holes cannot be determined precisely. Several theories have been advanced by archaeologists and art historians, some of which assert that these were used for hanging the heads of hunted animals, a curious hunting tradition among the early Mughal sovereigns of the subcontinent. The other suggestion is that these were only meant to be used as nests by wild birds. A spiral staircase consisting of 108 steps, each measuring 4’ x 901/2” x 1.3”, has been provided inside the minar. Alongside the staircase, there are 11 ascending rectangular arched openings provided for air and light. From these ventilations there is a good view of the tank, the baradari and the surrounding area. 

The minar has been constructed with country bricks laid in kankar lime mortar. It is divided into six tiers of different heights. The lowest tier is octagonal in plan and decorated with panels, while the others are circular. The third tier has a small octagonal room. The base of each tier has projected molding and the lowest tier has an arched opening for entrance. The entire exterior as well as interior of the minar has lime plaster, apparently with some floral or lineal fresco painting. The thick lime plaster applied over the surface of the lowest tier has been divided into decorative panels of arched niches and horizontal bands in high relief.

Around the base of the minar are the remaining parts of structures, yet it is troublesome now to decide their correct nature. It might be induced that the remaining parts represent a verandah with standard curved openings, a typical element of such minars fabricated somewhere else, uniquely in Iran. Here is said to have been the grave of the renowned antelope of Jahangir, Mansraj, with its unordinary engraving which was, as per the Emperor, created and deciphered by one of his court’s lord craftsmen and calligraphists, Mulla Muhammad Huain Kashmiri. Nothing of this engraved figure of pronghorn and the grave is presently saved. Be that as it may, in 1966, when a few diggings were completed at the base of the minar to uncover the basic stays with the end goal of protection, a head of an antelope made of red sandstone was found from the debris at a depth of around 3 feet, broken and marginally harmed. The head might be taken as that of the likeness of the antelope which Emperor Jahangir requested to be made and set on the spot.

There are two more contemporary representations of an antelope which can be viewed as that of the same Mansraj. The first is executed in a board of title mosaics fixed on the outside surface of the northern fortification wall of the Lahore Fort. Here, the imperial antelope is indicated completely caparisoned together with its chaperons remaining amidst a wilderness symbolized by a couple of plants out of sight. The nearness of an attendant and the emblematic forest shows that the animal is only a fake. The representation may in most likelihood be that of Mansraj as the date of the execution of these tile mosaics compares significantly to the brief time frame when Mansraj stayed in the imperial administration.

Other contemporary proof has been managed by a smaller than normal painting of a gazelle, executed by Manohar, one of the court painters of Jahangir. The composition demonstrates a ruler, most likely youthful Jahangir, driving his eland — Mansraj. The artwork is a part of the Wantage Bequest, now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Confronting the fabulous and great minar on its east is a major tank with an interstate prompting the octagonal baradari, worked in its middle. There is a square structure at each corner with a portal to the baradari on the north-west. The tank is rectangular fit as a fiddle, estimating 895 feet 6 inches long and 752 feet wide. Each side of the tank has a slope, 65 feet 4 inches wide, flanked by four staircases of 8 stages (7 feet 6 inches wide) prompting the water. The motivation behind this incline, developed in block nervous stone work, appears to have been to permit wild animals a simple access to water keeping in mind the end goal to extinguish their thirst. The tank has been furnished with a parapet mass of 3 feet 6 inches tall on all its four sides.

The four corner pavilions are square in plan and measure 18 feet by 18 feet and have low pyramidal roofs. The pavilions have full length arched openings on their four sides and an eave (chhajja) supported by broad brackets made of bricks. A number of small, flat arched-niches have been created in the interior. The surface was finished with lime plaster and decorated with fresco paintings. The inside dado is painted and polished in red with broad yellow and black borders. The apex of the soffit possesses an intricate floral pattern in red, yellow and green, while the squinches have likewise decorative roundels with floral patterns. Two staircases consisting of 8 steps each lead to the water from the two sides of the pavilions.

The four corner pavilions are square in plan and measure 18 feet by 18 feet and have low pyramidal rooftops. The structures have full length arched openings on their four sides and an eave (chhajja) upheld by broad brackets made of bricks. Various little, level arched-niches have been made inside. The surface was done with lime mortar and enriched with fresco artistic paintings. Within dado is painted and cleaned in red with expansive yellow and dark fringe. The zenith of the soffit has a many-sided flower design in red, yellow and green, while the squinches have similarly enlivening roundels with floral patterns. Two staircases consisting of 8 stages each prompt the water from the two sides of the structures.

At present, the tank gets supplies of water through a little direct take off from the Shaikhupura Rajbaha and is associated with the tank from its eastern incline. Amid Mughal days, in any case, the channel was cut from the Aik waterway and connected with the tank at its north-west corner. What’s more, an intricate framework for topping off the tank with rain water from the catchment area was concocted by methods for encouraging channels and little filtration tanks developed in the south-west, south-east and north-east corners of the tank. These channels have now vanished, with the exception of the remaining parts of one on the south-western side which gives a genuinely smart thought of the framework.

The main gateway to the baradari is a rectangular vestibule, estimating 34 feet by 22 feet 6 inches, with a pointed arched gateway flanked by four other comparative however littler openings, constructed one upon the other. Inside the vestibule are two platforms, 3 feet 2 inches high, covering the zone on either side of the principal entrance. The inward dividers have been enriched with recessed niches, while the soffit of the arch molded roof has a honeycomb design. The two flights of 13 steps developed at both the corners prompt the rooftop. The external and internal surface has been put in the standard way and embellished with fresco compositions, especially at the front of the passageway.

A causeway, standing on 21 pointed arched-pillars connects the main baradari with the gateway. It is 308 feet 8 inches long and 10 feet 6 inches broad with a parapet, one foot eight inches high, running along both the sides. A square shaped projected platform measuring 23 feet 7 inches by 23 feet 7 inches has been provided in the center of the causeway.

In the focal point of the tank has been raised an octagonal stage with a low parapet divider on all sides. Over the stage stands the lovely baradari in a similar arrangement. The baradari was likewise developed under the requests of the Emperor Jahangir in 1030/1620 for use as a regal living arrangement. He records in his Tuzuk:

“On Monday the 25th, I hunted with much enjoyment in the hunting ring of Nakhiyala then in ten stages. I camped at the stage of the hunting-place of Jahangirabad. Afterwards, I founded a village with my own name, and after erecting a small building, placed it in charge of Sikandar Mu’in, who was one of my best huntsmen. After I came to the throne. I made a pargana of it, and bestowed it as a jagir on him. I gave an order that they should construct a building there as a royal residence with a tank and a minaret (munara). After his death this pargana was given in jagir to Iradat Khan and the charge of the buildings was given to him. It has now been handsomely completed. Undoubtedly, the tank was very broad, and buildings here cost Rs. 1,50,000. Really, it is a kingly hunting place.”

Afterward, amid the rule of Shahjahan the baradari was redesigned and a few adjustments to its structure and basic beautification completed. With these remodels, the baradari got another and more amazing look. It has been recorded that Shahjahan went to the place upwards of four times amid his rule. A similar author gives an itemized record of the primary regal visit, obviously after his proposed adjustments and alterations. The occasion occurred on 23 Shawwal 1043/22 April 1634.