Chatri

Chatri are round, square or multifaceted small arbors with four or more support pillars under the dome. Chatri stand on the ground or on some foundation or roof. In a broad sense, some of the several domes of the mausoleums are also called chatri.

In the Middle Ages, chathri (singular or in whole groups) as cenotaphs were placed at the cremation site of rich or prominent Hindu figures.

The Islamic rulers of North India erected early chathri in palaces and tombs. Then the chathri fell into the palace and memorial architecture of the rulers of Rajasthan (formerly Rajputana) . Mausoleums or memorial chatri are found mainly in the vicinity of urban centers (for example, Delhi , Agra , Gwalior , Orchha , Udaipur , Jaipur , Bikaner , Jaisalmer , etc.) or in holy places ( Vrindavan , Varanasi ). In rural areas, such structures were rarely built. In southern India, chatri are rare and mainly as an architectural element of buildings of the XIX - early XX centuries (for example, in the Mysore palace).

It is noteworthy that chatri often complements the architecture of mausoleums, palaces, gates, so-called drum houses ( naggarkhana ), etc., but rarely mosques (with the exception of the mosque of Fatehpur Sikri and Agra).

Chatri is etymologically derived from chatra (plural of Chattravali ) and denotes a domed vault of a Buddhist stupa of the classical period or honorary tents located behind a statue of a standing Buddha of the 5th / 6th century (examples are exhibited at the Sarnat Museum), which had sacred ceremonial significance and probably dated back to time pre-Buddhist rulers.

Chathri is not found in the oldest (preserved) Hindu temples of the 5th-6th centuries (for example, the Temple of Gupta or Talagunda). Later, similar forms intermingled with Hindu architecture, such as the "umbrella dome" in the Dravidian style (for example, in Mahabalipuram or Kanchipuram ); partially in the style of Chalukya of the 7th / 8th centuries in Badami and its environs, as well as in the architecture of the Chola. It is not clear how these buildings influenced Chatri, which was built after almost 400-800 years, in the Indo-Islamic and Rajput architectures of India. Presumably, they could have been inspired by the pavilion towers of 1000-1200 years BC. e. in Armenian architecture, but individually, not in groups; or Persian-Ottoman stalls also found singly.

In the early monuments of Indo-Islamic architecture, chathras are not yet found (for example, tombstones of Giyyas-ud-din Tuglak Shah I (1325), Firuz Shah Tuglak (1388) in Delhi or Khoshang Shah in Mandu (1435). An early example is the 1445 Shah Mohammed IV Mausoleum in Delhi . More examples are the tomb of Sher Shah (1540) in Sasaram , Bihar . Beginning in Mughal, chatri are actively used in Mughal architecture , the Khumayun mausoleum in Delhi, then several decades later - in various buildings in Fatehpur Sikri , Itimad-Ud-Daul and Taj Mahal mausoleums in Agra , in the Bibi-ka-Makbar mausoleum in Aurangabad .

In the 17th century, from the representative Mughal architecture, Chatri goes to the palace architecture of the rulers of Rajput and memorial complexes, generally called “Chatri”. Some of these chatri have a Bengal roof, which looks accordingly.

During the period of British colonialism, chatri were an integral element of the Indo-Saracen style (for example, the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta , the Gates of India in Bombay , the Government Museum in Madras ).

• Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh) (16th century): on the roof of the reception hall (Divan-i-Khas), there is one square chatri in each corner. A mosque ( Jama Masjid ) over her pestak and lancet roof is crowned with chatri.
• Jaipur (Rajasthan): the cenotaph of Moosi-Maharani-ki-chatri is dedicated to Queen Jaipur.
• Jodhpur (Rajasthan): Yaswant Tada (1899) - the white marble mausoleum in honor of Maharaja Yaswant Singh II.
• Shekhavati Region (Rajasthan): Among the most famous examples are the beautiful chatri Ramdutt-Goenka (1888) in Dundlod, as well as the chatri in Bissau , Parsurampura, Kiroori, Jhunjhun , Ramgarha, Mukungarh, Churu , Mahatsar and Udaipurvati.
• Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Krishnapura catri; Bolia Sarkars Chatri (1858).
• Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh): “Royal Chatri”, the cenotaphs of the Shinde dynasty. The marble mausoleum of Madho Rao Szindia with magnificent carvings.

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  Sher Shah's Mausoleum in Bihar (circa 1540)

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  Chatri in the form of cenotaphs in Maharanas, Udaipur , Rajasthan (XVII - XX centuries)

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  Chatri as cenotaphs in Jaisalmer , Rajasthan (XVII - XX centuries)

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  Chatri in Vrindavan , Uttar Pradesh (XVIII - XIX centuries)

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  Chatri at the Government Museum (19th Century), Chennai , Tamil Nadu

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  Tomb of Mariam, Sikandra, Agra

Chaparkat is a rare, oblong chatri form whose elongated dome rests on four or eight pillars. Often complements the portal of the mosque or, as in the mausoleum of Akbar and the tomb of his wife Mariam, in the center of all four sides.

A small tower-like roof resembling an opened lotus bud is called a guldast.

• Melia Belli Bose: Royal Umbrellas of Stone: Memory, Politics, and Public Identity in Rajput Funerary Art. Brill 2015, ISBN 978-90-04-30054-5 .

•   Wikimedia Commons has Chatri- related media files