CHAHAR-BAGH |

Curator: Tarushikha Shakhtawat

Group : Sarang Sharma and Meghavi Saini

Topic: Islamic Chahar-Bagh gardens; inquiries into their shifting paradigms over the ages in respect to the development of the garden layout.

Idea: The Chahar-Bagh garden has enjoyed a significant place in middle-eastern culture and philosophy prior to the advent of Islam. Later the garden layout was adapted by the Timurid, Safavid and Mughal dynasties and their impetus led to the evolution of the original quadrilateral plan. 

Feedback: The maps developed by the group exhibit the changing political scenarios of the South-West Asian region in respect to the different gardens which have been constructed. 
  

Process:

The idea of Chahar-Bagh has always been seen as the physical image of paradise, or the other world, as described in the Qur'an. The appearance of paradise as a quadrilateral space with four rivers intersecting each other also find reference in the book of Genesis of The Old Testament. Keeping the religious aspect aside, the garden also finds a prominent place in medieval Islamic literature in which it emerges as a recurring metaphor for love, beauty and spirituality. The idea of Garden as paradise was also adopted by the Sufi poets and philosophers who viewed the garden as a space of purity, sanctity and intellectual growth. With the rise of  Mughal dynasty the idea of paradise received unparalleled  royal patronage and it became a popular element of architecture, especially during the period of Jahangir. The group has studied the establishment of Islam, the rise of Sufi movement, Persian literature. and the ever-changing political scenario of the region. They have processed their research in the form of maps showcasing the changing political boundaries, trade routes. Sufi migration patterns and the imperial gardens constructed over the ages.

The maps for the following are:

500 BC Iran

200 BC Iran

Greeco Bactrian Kingdom 180 AD

Silk Road

Islamic Expansion

Chronology of major Sufis order

Travelling routes of the gardens

Chahar-Bagh Gardens

Safavid and Mughal Empire 1600 AD

 Some of the flowcharts of day to day process are:

 References:

Books:

1. The way of the Sufi -Idries Shah

2.The Perso-Islamic Gardens- Lyla Halsted

3.The Persian Mystics: Jalaluddin Rumi- Hadland Dauis