Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/273

CHAP. V. GUJARAT. 229 CHAPTER V. GUJARAT. CONTENTS. Jami' Masjid and other Mosques at Ahmadabad Tombs and Mosques at Sarkhej and Batwa Buildings in the Provinces. CHRONOLOGY. Muzaffar Shah, a Rajput, appointed Viceroy . A. n. 1391 Ahmad Shah, his grandson, founds Ahmadabad . . 1411 Muhammad Shall the Merciful 1441 Qutbu-d-Dm Shah ; war with Rana Kumbha . . . 1454 Mahmud Shah Begarah . A.D. 1459 Muzaffar Shah II. . . 1511 Bahadur Shah murdered by the Portuguese . . . 1536 Muzaffar Shah III. . . 1561 Gujarat becomes a province of Akbar's kingdom . . 1572 OF the various forms which the Saracenic architecture assumed in India, that of Ahmadabad may probably be considered as the most elegant, as it certainly is the most characteristic of all. No other form is so essentially Indian, and no one tells its tale with the same unmistakable distinctness. As mentioned above, the Muhammadans, in the 1st century of the Hijra, made a brilliant attempt to conquer Sindh and Gujarat, and apparently succeeded ; but the country was so populous, and its civilisation so great, that the invaders were absorbed, and soon disappeared from the scene. Mahmud of Ghazni next overran the province, but left no permanent mark; and even after the fall of Delhi (A.D. 1196) Gujarat maintained the struggle for independence for about a century longer, till 'Alau-d-Din, in 1297, wrested the country from Kama Waghela and appointed provincial governors. Muhammad Shah III. Tughlaq, in A.D. 1391, had appointed Muzaffar, a converted Rajput, of the Tak clan, to be his viceroy. This, however, was on the eve of the troubles caused by the invasion of Timurlang, and Muzaffar assumed independence in 1396, but, mutato domino, Gujarat remained as independent as before. The next two centuries during which the Ahmad Shahi dynasty occupied the throne were spent in continual wars and