Mughal garden

This style was influenced by the Persian gardens particularly the Charbagh structure,[1] which is intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfect harmony with all elements of nature.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India have a number of gardens which differ from their Central Asian predecessors with respect to "the highly disciplined geometry".

This word developed a new meaning in South Asia, as the region lacked the fast-flowing streams required for the Central Asian charbagh.

Akbar's son, Jahangir, did not build as much, but he helped to lay out the famous Shalimar garden and was known for his great love for flowers.

[8] Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, marks the apex of Mughal garden architecture and floral design.

[9] He is also responsible for the Red Fort at Delhi and the Mahtab Bagh, a night garden that was filled with night-blooming jasmine and other pale flowers, located opposite the Taj across the Yamuna river at Agra.

This and the marble of the Taj Mahal are inlaid with semiprecious stone depicting scrolling naturalistic floral motifs, the most important being the tulip, which Shah Jahan adopted as a personal symbol.

[11] Gol Bagh was the largest recorded garden of the Indian subcontinent,[12] encompassing the town of Lahore with a five-mile belt of greenery;[13] it existed until as late as 1947.

The principal source of water to the Mughal gardens were: (i) lakes or tanks (ii) wells or step-wells (iii) canals, harnessed from the rivers, and (iv) natural springs.

131 Salih Kambuh, a native of Lahore, described very artistically the water system and its symbolic meaning in the garden of Shalamar at Lahore that 'in the center of this earthly paradise a sacred stream flows with its full elegance and chanting, fascinating and exhilarating nature and passes through the gardens irrigating the flower beds.

The Mughals developed hydraulic system by using Persian wheel to lift the water and obtained adequate pressure necessary for gardens.

The main reason behind the location of gardens on the bank of river was that water was raised to the level of the enclosure wall by Persian Wheel standing on the bank from where it was conducted through aqueduct, to the garden where it ran from the top of the wall in a terra-cotta pipe which also produced adequate pressure needed to work the fountains.

Julie Scott Meisami describes the medieval Islamic garden as "a hortus conclusus, walled off and protected from the outside world; within, its design was rigidly formal, and its inner space was filled with those elements that man finds most pleasing in nature.

Its essential features included running water (perhaps the most important element) and a pool to reflect the beauties of sky and garden; trees of various sorts, some to provide shade merely, and others to produce fruits; flowers, colorful and sweet-smelling; grass, usually growing wild under the trees; birds to fill the garden with song; the whole is cooled by a pleasant breezes.

"[16] The Turkish-Mongolian elements of the Mughal garden are primarily related to the inclusion of tents, carpets and canopies reflecting nomadic roots.