Indo-Islamic Architecture

Indo-Islamic architecture is the building tradition produced across the Indian subcontinent for Islamic patrons and purposes, taking systematic shape after Delhi became the capital of the Ghurid dynasty in 1193, and continuing through the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire that followed it. It introduced building types that had little precedent in earlier Indian architecture, above all the mosque and the tomb, and it made far greater use of large domes and arches than Hindu temple architecture had; where much Islamic building elsewhere in the world relied on brick, Indian builders drew on a long local tradition of fine stone masonry instead. Regional sultanates in Bengal, Gujarat, the Deccan and Kashmir developed their own distinct variations on the tradition, and the style is generally agreed to have reached its peak under the Mughal Empire from the early sixteenth century onward, after which its influence extended even into some Hindu architectural commissions.