History of domes in South Asia
There are examples of domed chambers in brick and stone temples built prior to Islamic rule over northern and central India.
[1] Domes in pre-Mughal India have a standard squat circular shape with a lotus design and bulbous finial at the top, derived from Hindu architecture.
[3] Most monumental architecture in South Asia, until the wide adoption of stone construction by the sixth or seventh century AD, was made of perishable materials that have not survived the climate, such as timber or brick.
What did survive included stone mortuary monuments, rock-cut monastic complexes, stone-carved depictions of buildings, and references in texts.
[4] Hemispherical rock-cut tombs appear to imitate in stone the early bamboo or timber roofed domed huts with central poles known from the pre-Buddhist period.
[5] The hemispherical shape of Buddist stupas, likely refined forms of burial mounds, may also reflect earlier wooden dome roof construction, such as depicted at Ghantasala.
[8] The Buddhist monastery of Takht-i-Bahi (2nd/4th century) included domed cells that may have represented thatch-domed huts, and may have been a response to building conventions from central Asia.
[12] Some caves near the Buddhas of Bamiyan include domes on squinches, evidence of influence from the west transmitted along the caravan route to Bamyan.
[13] The term kaṇṇikā in Pali texts has been proposed to mean a roof-plate central attachment point for curved dome or semi-dome ribs in early Indian timber construction.
[16] In the tenth century, temples with domed chambers include examples built by the Hindu Shahis at Amb, Bilot, and Nandana.
The Alai Dawarza, a gate in the Qutb complex built in 1311, has the first dome in India made of finely dressed stone cut into voussoir blocks.
[19] Domes from the late 14th century use roughly shaped stones covered in render, due to the dispersal of skilled masons following the movement of the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and back again.
The central dome is faced with marble blocks in attached to the core by alternating wide and narrow layers and there is evidence of the use of iron cramps to secure them.
Smaller domes were widely made with rectangular bricks beginning in the 16th century, the necessary curvature being created by tapering the mortar joints.
[31] Domes in the buildings of Shah Jahan are used "almost exclusively for mosques and tombs" in the raised bulbous onion style of Mughal architecture.
[32] The Taj Mahal in Agra, also a brick structure clad primarily in marble, was begun in 1632 and mostly completed in 1636; the rest of the extensive complex would not be finished before 1643.
[41] The dome was the most technically advanced to be built in the Deccan, and exemplifies the flowering of art and architecture that occurred during the period of the Adil Shahi Sultanate's greatest extent.
