Diwan-i 'Amm, Agra Fort, India.

There are words you need to know when you visit Mughal palaces and forts in Rajasthan, India, words to identify the shapes of arches and ceilings, to name decorations and stucco works, to describe paths around flowerbeds and canals of water. The word Diwan-i ‘Amm, for example, identifies the hall of public audience in the courtyard where the emperor administrated his empire and met his subjects. The physical appearance of the ruler, a tradition deemed important to support his authority, was part of a daily routine emphasized and refined in all minute details. It was Shah Jahan (1592-1666), the fifth Mughal emperor, known for his interest in etiquette and ceremonials, who replaced the open courtyards, wooden halls and tents of the past with more permanent and elegant structures, built in sandstone and marble.

In the center of the complex of the Agra Fort, along the Yamuna River, not far from the Taj Mahal, the Diwan-i-‘Amm was completed in 1639 in a large rectangular courtyard. Narrow galleries of red sandstone pillars, supporting multi-cusped arches, surround three sides of the courtyard, while the hall stands on the fourth side, along the river, to the east. The Daulat Khana-I Khass-u- Amm, the “Palace Building for the Special Ones and for the Wider Public”(1), or Diwan-i ‘Amm, is a rectangular pillared hall with a flat roof. Made of red sandstone plastered white, is open on three sides, and closed to the east by a wall adjoining the palace where, around two meters above the floor, is the jharoka, a recessed balcony for the imperial throne. Ten slender columns, paired in the external row, are arranged along three aisles in a vertigo of arches and stone that is by no means accidental but rooted in the tradition of the ancient Persian kings. The presence of many columns, in fact, was the only known element of the great audience halls of the past, and Mughals, eager to emulate the mythical kings, introduced colonnades in the plan of contemporary buildings, such as tombs and mosques. The use of similar structures for imperial and religious buildings had a further advantage for the ambitious Shah Jahan, as it strengthened the connection between the two authorities he claimed to unite.

                               

In the Diwan-i ‘Amm, the jharoka, the elevated niche in the center of the eastern wall where the emperor took place during the public audiences, replicates the mirhab, the place that in the mosque, pointing towards the Mecca, indicates the direction of the prayer. The message implied is intriguing in that the emperor, seated on the throne-jharoka, presented himself as the highest authority and direction for his people. Besides, placing the niche to the east, where the sun rises, offered further themes to eulogize the increasing splendour of his kingdom.

Made of marble, the jharoka stands out for its elaborated decorations of pietra dura inlays, repeated along the four narrow columns with cusped arches and the wall inside the niche. The beautiful flowers, real or imaginary, were finely cut in multi-colored semi-precious stones and laid in thin hollows carved on the marble surface according to an art born in Florence, Italy. Stone and marble evoked a garden of paradise, with columns like cypresses and flowers that never fade, one of Shah Jahan's preferred metaphors for the blooming of his empire. Porcelains put in the small niches in the wall, called chini khana, completed the decoration.

Durbar, public audiences, were hold twice a day: Shah Jahan reached the Diwan-i ‘Amm around 10 o’clock for an hour, and again at 4 o’clock in the afternoon till sunset. Trumpets and drums announced his entrance in the jharoka from the door in the back, then he seated crossed-legs on the precious throne. "During the durbar, the emperor's personal attendants and royal standard bearers stood immediately below the throne balcony, carrying the imperial ensign, and the imperial standard ... as well as several flags and totems... Eunuchs with fly-whisks and fans attended on the emperor and he was guarded by a squad of armed sergeants under a sheriff."(2) Courtiers stood in front of the jharoka in separated areas grouped according to their rank. The most prestigious nobles and rajas were closer to the emperor, separated from those belonging to the lower rank by low silver railings. Red railings divided the latter from servants, foot soldiers and those without rank who occupied the entire courtyard. "...All standing, their eyes bent downwards and their hands crossed ...in a posture of profound reverence."(3) A strict etiquette regulated all the different moments of the audience, from the way in which people addressed to the emperor to the colours of their dresses. The Vizir, seated on the marble dais placed at the feet of the jharoka, presented complaints and petitions to the emperor, who listened with equal attention to rich and poor. 

Other public and private celebrations and religious festivities took place in the forty-pillared Diwan-i-‘Amm, with all the pomp and magnificence that such events required in the Mughal empire, but its origin was linked to a simpler and practical need: to protect nobles from inclement weather during the daily public audiences. 

 (1) Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, p.67.
 (2) Abraham Eraly, The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age, p. 45.
 (3) Ibid.

Vocabulary:
Diwan-i-‘Amm or the hall of public audience;
Jharoka or window of imperial appearance;
Pietra dura is Italian for hard (=precious) stone, a refined form of stone intarsia developed in Florence, Italy.
Chini Khana or wall decoration of small niches in which were placed bottles, vases or the motif that appears in relief or inlay work;
Durbar or public audiences.

Photos:


TravelinaGarden, Agra 2010.
Miniature: Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India, holding a durbar in the public audience hall of his palace.
Miniature painting by an unknown Mughal artist, around 1650.
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shah_Jahan.jpg



Further reading:


Ebba Koch, Mughal Architecture, Oxford University Press, New Delhi  2002. [Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1991].


Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal. London, Thames and Hudson, 2006.
Abraham Eraly, The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age, Penguin Books India, 2007.
books.google.com/books?isbn=0143102621