With the development of Islamic styles of architecture in Gujarat from the fourteenth century, a new set of ideas transformed the relatively small-scale temple jali into a prominent feature in shrines and mosques. The symbolic importance of light in Islam, the need for discreet spaces in mosque enclosures (maqsuras) for women and elite visitors, as well as new aesthetic preferences for walls of lightness and pattern ushered in this change. The grid-like jali (so-called sakhandaka) found on the outer wall of a temple was adapted and expanded in mosques and tombs, sometimes enclosing the entire building, and in particular the tomb chamber. This style of jali grid contains repeating squares, each one bearing an individual sacred symbol almost identical to those from Jain and Hindu temples. A few modest innovations were added to the received formula, most notably a series of openwork mihrab-arch shaped openings in the uppermost line. The jali thus evolved from a minor feature to a key characteristic of the building. Gujarati Sultanate architecture is replete with extraordinary jali screens, serving as both decoration and function.The architectural remains at Bharuch, Khambhat, and Dholka have some of the earliest Islamic buildings of Gujarat and important transitions in style and function can be observed, including the transformation of the jali and the reuse of temple architectural elements. The mosque at Dholka, built in 1333 by Hilal Khan Qazi, a general of the Tughlaqs, features expansive jali screens in the upper level as well as in the zenana (women’s quarter) area. This early patron took steps to elevate the jali to a new status and function, developing an influential new formula. The temple whose elements are reused to build this mosque might have had some existing perforated screens that were added to. But even so we can see an adaptation of Islamic aesthetics in the introduction of arched openings in the top line of the upper screen.Hilal Khan Qazi mosque, Dholka, Gujarat, 1333.Photos: Abhinav Goswami…However, without doubt the masterpiece of all Gujarati jalis are of a type that stand apart for their lyricism and virtuosity—the Tree of Life carved screens of the Sidi Sayyid Mosque in Ahmedabad. The building was previously attributed to the patronage of a slave of Ahmad Shah I (r. 1411–1442) but is now attributed to an Abyssinian nobleman of the time of Sultan Muzaffar III (r. 1561–1572). Within the mosque enclosure, the qibla wall and side walls contain a series of almost semi-circular arches. The upper sections of the arches are fitted with exquisitely carved jalis, particularly the two that flank the central mihrab. This pair of jalis is each carved with the central motif of a tree, different from each other but unified in overall style. One contains a magnificent blossoming tree whose outwardly curving branches form gracious and pleasingly asymmetrical floral arabesques, standing before an almost hidden straight palm tree. The other jali contains a taller and slimmer central tree with sinuously interlocked branches, flanked by smaller waving date palms with chevron trunks and flowering trees, each with distinct types of blossoms (see pp. 6–7). Seven other perforated screens on the back and side walls of the building are regally carved in the square-grid style.Tree of Life jali, Sidi Sayyid Mosque, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 1572–73. Photo: Abhinav GoswamiThe ‘Tree of Life’ imagery reflects the importance of the tree motif as an ancient symbol of protection, fertility and divinity in Indian art and architecture. Images of the wish-fulfilling tree (kalpavriksha) and auspicious vines (vallijatika) and leaves (patrajatika) appear widely in architectural ornament. Flowering trees in mosque and tomb decoration evoke the Tree of Immortality (shajarat al-khuld) or the Blessed Tree in Paradise (tuba) mentioned in the Qur’an, or other metaphorical and actual trees described in Islamic literary and poetic tradition. The Sidi Sayyid jalis therefore blend the ideals of Indian and Islamic beneficence through their multi-layered and richly inflected arboreal imagery and powerful aesthetic language. Such fecund motifs exist all over Gujarati architecture, including in the sensitively carved trees adorning the cenotaph of Umar bin Ahmad al Kazeruni in Khambhat (1333). Yet the perceptible leap into a softer naturalism and decorative grace also reflects the influence of new aesthetics developing at the distant Mughal court in Delhi on the eve of Gujarat’s annexation in 1573.…The impact of Gujarati styles of art and architecture has been felt all around the Indian Ocean rim for centuries. The manufacture and export of carved marble tombstones from Khambhat to east Africa and southeast Asia in the late medieval period reveals a pattern of exchange that likely applied to other goods as well. Gujarati textiles dating to as early as the fourteenth century have been located in collections in Fustat, Egypt, as well as Indonesia. Among them is a type of painted and printed textile featuring a characteristically shaped three-petalled floral blossom on a curving stem (the so-called Big Leaf style). This distinctive motif makes a rare appearance in a jali window square in the mosque of Ahmad Shah at Ahmedabad (1414), demonstrating the fluid exchange of styles and symbols across media and region. The movement of Gujarati craftsmen across the Indian Ocean continued well into the nineteenth century, partly facilitated by the administration of the British Raj. Therefore, it is not surprising to find styles of Gujarati carving in the nineteenth-century architecture, particularly doors and arches of the houses, in Stone Town in Zanzibar. Among the many designs seen are doors surmounted with an arch containing a deeply wrought perforated floral jali design, recalling those of the wooden havelis and doorways of Ahmedabad, Khambhat and other cities of Gujarat.Big Leaf-style textile from Gujarat for the Indonesian market, late 14th, early 15th century. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ‘Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2005, 2005.407’Jali window with textile-like motifs, mosque of Ahmad Shah, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, c. 1414. Photo: Navina HaidarDoorway with floral carved Gujarati-style lunette in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Photo: Dinodia Photo LibraryExcerpt with permission from “Sacred Symbols: Jalis of the Gujarat Sultanate” in Jali: Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture by Navina Najat Haidar, published by Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad.
