· 2020-01-31 · parallel with the length of the Gardens for supplying water and enhancing the...
Transcript of · 2020-01-31 · parallel with the length of the Gardens for supplying water and enhancing the...
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
74
THE HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING AND LANDSCPING OF A 16TH CENTURY MUGHAL
GARDENS AT WAH
Prof. Dr. Shahid Ahmad Rajput (Archaeologist)
Department of Architecture and Design
COMSATS, Institute of Information Technology (CIIT),
Islamabad, Pakistan
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Keywords—Bagh-i-Hassan Abdal; Wah gardens; Mughal architecture; hydraulic engineering; Akbar; Jahangir;
Shahjahan; Aurangzeb; Raja Man Singh; Hayat; Hammam; Baradari; Ahmad Mimar; Saleh Kanboh; Mullah
Abdul Hamid Lahori.
This paper is written on the Hydraulic engineering employed during the 16th century at a Mughal Garden
better known as ‘Wah Gardens’ in the area known as Hassan Abdal. The main purpose of this research paper
is to share discovery of the Hydraulic system and understand the Hydraulic Engineering employed in running
the fountains, the Hammam (Turkish Bath), supply of water to the main tank and three channels running
parallel with the length of the Gardens for supplying water and enhancing the beauty of the Gardens and to
restore it accordingly. It is important to note that this is the only Mughal Garden in the subcontinent where a
complete hydraulic system has been discovered, which provides us a complete model of the Mughal Hydraulic
Engineering system for study. The author was Principal investigator of the project titled “Archaeological and
Hydraulic Studies of Wah Gardens” by the Dept. of Archaeology, Govt. of Pakistan, in 1993-94. Complete
excavation report was published in 1996 by the author. Now another Project on the Landscaping of this
garden has been approved. Therefore it was felt necessary to write once again for the guidance of the team to
undertake the project of landscaping. In the conclusion some practical suggestions are made for the
restoration of this simple but complete hydraulic system as well as the landscaping on the original pattern.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
75
I. INTRODUCTION
About two kilometers east of Hassan
Abdal beside the G.T Road, is a 16th to
17th century Mughal garden initially
called Bagh-i-Hassan Abdal now
popularly known as Wah Garden. It was a
private property till 1976 but due to its
historical and architectural importance,
Wah Garden was acquired by the
Government and was handed over to the
Department of Pakistan Archaeology for
its excavation, restorations and
maintenance. (Fig.1)
This paper deals exclusively with the
description of the Hydraulic Engineering
System discovered during excavations
over the last two decades and re-
interpreted with the modern tools of today.
Wah Garden was not pre-planned and the
Mughal Emperors used it as a transit
camp. It evolved over a number of years,
growing and changing according to the
instructions of the Emperor who used it.
The excavations began in Mar.1993. Since
that time much has been revealed and the
work is still in progress intermittently.
The purpose of the project of excavation
was the study of architectural and
hydraulic features of the gardens. In this
connection a number of important
discoveries were made, e.g. a large water
tank on the eastern end of Wah Garden,
three water channels running parallel with
the length of the garden and fifteen
fountains in the central water channel with
water inlets situated in the upper terrace.
In addition, there is also a Hammam
attached to the southern wing of the
Baradari (Pavilion).
All these features will be discussed in this
paper but the main focus will be the
hydraulic engineering system of this
garden. Reader’s attention is first drawn to
the garden’s history in order to establish
the origin of its name, how and when this
garden came into being, who created it,
how it developed and how it stands today.
(Fig.1) Wah Gardens as it stands today
II. HISTORY
a). Mughal Chronicles
The area where the Garden is located was
given the name “Hassan Abdal” after
Hassan, a famous saint of Qandahar,
where he is still known and revered as
Baba Walli as he is in Pakistan. Abdal1
1- Abdal is a Persian word, meaning a substitute; certain
persons by whom God continues the existence of the
world, their number is seventy, of whom 40 reside in
Syria and 30 elsewhere. When any one of these dies his
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
76
was his title. He died and was buried in
Qandahar. It is written on his tombstone
that Mirza Shah Rukh (1406-1447) met
him in Qandahar with due respect in 1417
AD, and whatever he had heard about the
Saint, he saw the same with his own eyes.
The Saint died during the life of Mirza
Shah Rukh2, between 1417 and 1447. It is
not known when the Saint visited this
place but, during his stay in Hassan Abdal,
he made a Khanqah (meditation place) on
top of a hill, which is still visited, by locals
and foreigners alike.
Hassan Abdal lies on the main road from
Kabul to Lahore. Emperor Akbar stayed
or passed through Hassan Abdal several
times between 1581 and 1592. In 1581
Akbar travelled via Hassan Abdal to
Attock where he stayed for fifty days,
laying the foundation stone of the Attock
Fort on May 30, 1581. He then continued
to Kabul and returned to Lahore via
Attock. On these two occasions he might
have stayed in Hassan Abdal, for the
distance between Hassan Abdal and
Attock is ten kos (a Mughal kos is
equivalent to 2.5 km.) Since the normal
distance travelled by the army in one day
place is filled up by some one selected from among the
rest of mankind ; Abdal has also acquired the meaning
of a hermit. (Steingass, Persian English dictionary,Rpt,
N. Delhi, 1981).
2 - Elphinstone, M., An Account of the Kingdom of
Caubul, 72-74, London,1815; Siddiqi, Op.Cit. 29-35, In
his book Siddiqi has also published an illustration of the
Tomb Stone of the Saint at Qandahar.
was ten kos, this distance would make
Hassan Abdal a perfect manzil or a halting
place. During his eight days stay beginning
on December 13, 1585, Akbar went to
hunt in a Qumargah (hedge for a hunting
place) near Hassan Abdal and also during
this stay sent expeditions to check
Yusufzais in Malakand/ Swat as well as to
invade Kashmir3.
Near Hassan Abdal, even before the time
of Akbar, there was a pond in the middle
of which Raja Man Singh built a small
building (pavilion), as recorded by
Jahangir in 1607 during his first visit to
Hassan Abdal4. In 1581, when Akbar laid
the foundation stone of Attock Fort, he
appointed Raja Man Singh to protect the
frontiers 5 . Raja Man Singh stayed in
Hassan Abdal from 1581 to 1586, during
which time he might have built that small
building. The remains of this small
building have now been identified beneath
the existing Baradari.
Emperor Jahangir visited Hassan Abdal six
times between 1607 and 1626. On his first
visit in 1607 he stayed here for three days.
He described his first stay as follows:
3 - Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, Munshi NolKashor, 2:160,
Calcutta,1881 and Akbar Nama, 3:210, Kanpur, 1883 ;
Beverage, H., Ain-i-Akbari and Akbar Nama, Culcatta,
1939.
4 -Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan,Op.Cit., 48, Ghazi pur, 1963;
Rogers, A., Tuzuk, 99. RAS London, 1909.
5 - Akbar Nama, 3:210
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
77
“12 Muharram 1016 AH / 29 April
1607 Wednesday, (I) stayed at Baba
Hassan Abdal. To the East of this place at
about one kos there is a cascade whose
water falls with a great speed.….. I casted
the famous Indian net by my own hand
and caught twelve fish, put pearls in their
noses and let them loose in the water 6.
Four years later an English traveller,
William Finch, although he never went to
Hassan Abdal, repeated this story and
attributed the anecdote to Akbar7.
Subsequent writers (the European
travellers) confused the historic
chronology, however, later in October of
the same year, i.e. 1607, on his way back
from Kabul, Jahangir stayed at Hassan
Abdal to hunt8. Jahangir took an interest in
the development of Hassan Abdal. Thus
he sent Rs.4000 in 1608, and again
Rs.5000 the following year for the
development and construction of a
building in Hassan Abdal9.
Perhaps at this time the Hammam or a
portion of it was developed. The
Hammam as it stands now shows at least
6 - Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, Op.Cit, 48, 1963; Rogers,
A., Tuzuk, 99. RAS London, 1909.
7- Maclagan,E.D, “The Earliest English Visitors to the
Punjab, 1585-1628”, in The Journal of the Punjab
Historical Society, Vol.1, PP. 109-134; Foster, Early
Travels in India, 1583-1619, P. 168, London, 1921.
8- Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, Op.Cit., 61.
9 - Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, Op.Cit., 26.
two types of architecture of different
periods of which one is definitely
Jahangiri or earlier10.
Jahangir’s descriptions of his third visit to
Hassan Abdal are very important as they
provide us with an information of the
Garden under study: “15 Rabi al Awwal
1029 AH / 10 February 1620 Tuesday,
Landed at Hassan -Abdal ...at this manzil
gah (halting place) there is a flowing
spring, a cascade and a very fine pond. On
Thursday at the beginning of 53rd lunar
year of my life I celebrated my Taladan
(lunar weighing ceremony). Since the
journey ahead was mountainous and there
were plenty of ups and downs, it was very
difficult to take the whole army at once,
therefore, it was decided that Hazrat
Maryam Zamani (Jahangir’s mother Jodh
Bai) and other court ladies should stay
here for a few days before resuming their
journey”.11
On his fourth visit to Hassan Abdal in
1622, Jahangir again mentioned in his
Tuzuk that he stayed near the spring in
Hassan Abdal for four days12. During this
stay he hunted 30 mountain rams with
arrows and a gun inside a (hedge)
10 - This was pointed out by Philippa Vaughan. She
worked at Wah Garden in April 1993 and was sponsored
by the British Council Islamabad. Her paper on Wah
Garden will be published shortly in the forthcoming
Bulletin of School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London.
11 - Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, Op.Cit., 288-89.
12 - Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, Op.Cit., 343-344.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
78
Qumargah raised for this occasion. Hence
Hassan Abdal had already become a
popular spot for hunting, celebrations,
overnight halts, and was admired
frequently by the Emperor Jahangir. It is
thus apparent that there was some sort of
royal encampment or garden already in
existence in the vicinity where Jahangir
could leave his mother and other court
ladies for a few days’ rest, and that Hassan
Abdal had become an important manzil
gah, for the Mughal Emperors on their
way to Kashmir and Kabul.
The Shahjahani historians, Mulla Abdul
Hamid Lahori and Saleh Muhammad
Kanboh, visited Hassan Abdal with
Shahjahan during his twelfth regnal year in
April 1639, and recorded Hassan Abdal as
the most beautiful and gratifying garden
between Delhi and Kabul13.
According to his chroniclers Shahjahan
visited Hassan Abdal nine times during his
reign, between 1639 and 1652. He always
stayed at Hassan Abdal on his way to and
from Kabul except for once in 1647 on his
way back from Kabul when he did not stay
there14. During his third visit, on his way
back from Kabul in Oct.1646, the stay of
Shahjahan in Hassan Abdal is recorded to
have been in a garden called “Bagh-i-
13 - Lahori, Badshah Nama, 2: 143, Calcutta, 1868;
Kanboh, ‘Amal-i-Saleh, 2: 304, Calcutta, 1927
14- Kanboh, (‘Amal-i-Saleh) Shahjahan Nama, 3:7
Bahisht ‘Ain” 15 or Heavenly garden.
Chroniclers report that Shahjahan visited
Hassan Abdal for the fifth time in April
1647 and stayed in a building constructed
in the garden16. Two years later, in 1649,
when Kanboh came to Hassan Abdal with
Shahjahan, he recorded Hassan Abdal as
“Gulistan-i-Irum”17 or Paradise garden.
Finally Aurangzeb Alamgir stayed in
Hassan Abdal for one and a half years
between July 6, 1674 and January 2, 1676,
during which time he stayed for some time
in this garden. His historians refer to this
place as Bagh-i-Hassan Abdal 18 .
Shahjahani historians recorded the royal
gardens as Hassan Abdal. Jahangir
admired its cascade, pond, and it’s
building with the name Hassan Abdal.
The name “Wah” does not occur in any of
the historical references. How then did this
garden of Hassan Abdal acquire the name
of Wah Garden? There is a gap in the
history of Hassan Abdal after Aurangzeb,
till 1815 when Elphinstone came to
Hassan Abdal as a traveller and recorded
his observations.
15 - Lahori, Badshah Nama , 2: 605.
16- Ibid. 2: 640.
17 - Kanboh, Op.Cit., 2: 508.
18 - Saqi Musta ‘id Khan, Ma ‘sir-i- Alamgiri, 134,
Calcutta, 1870
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
79
b). Wah Garden as seen by the
European Travellers
Elphinstone: “The valley of Hassan Abdal
recalled to our recollection the country we
had left. It had indeed been famous in all
ages for its beauty, and had been a
favourite resting place of the great
Mughals, on their annual migration to
Cashmere; Nor could there have been a
scene better fitted for the enjoyment of
their easy and luxurious grandeur....”.19. It
is important to note that the name of this
place so far is Hassan Abdal.
Then another English traveller, Moorcroft
in 1823, visited the garden. In his
travelogue he repeats the false anecdote of
William Finch as given above that Akbar
admired this garden and said “Wah Bagh”
(what a beautiful garden!). Hence the
garden was so named and it is known as
Wah Garden to this day. The impact of
Moorcroft’s story was so strong that even
the Rawalpindi Administration Report of
1865, the Journal of Indian Antiquary
1873, and the Rawalpindi District
Gazetteer 1883, recorded this place as
Wah Garden.
Moorcroft: “Advancing20 across the low
ridge of the hills, we came to a plain in
19 - Elphinstone,M., An Account of the Kingdom of
Caubul, 72-74, London,1815
20 - Moorcroft, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of
which stood the village of Wah, and an
extensive garden, in the usual
Mohammedan style, constructed by the
order of Emperor Akbar, on the site of an
old serai, the beauty of which drew from
the monarch the exclamation of “Wah!”
whence the name of the new pleasure-
ground originated. It covers a space about
a quarter of a mile in length and half that
in breadth, enclosed by walls partly in
ruins. The gateways and turrets that were
constructed along the boundary wall are
also mostly in a ruinous condition. The
eastern extremity is occupied by two large
stone-walled tanks; the western by
parterres, and they are divided by a
building which served as a pleasure-house
to the Emperor and his household. It was
too small for a residence, consisting of a
body and two wings, the former containing
three long rooms, and the latter divided
into small chambers (Fig. 2). The interior
of the whole is stuccoed, and in the smaller
apartments the walls are decorated with
flowers, foliage, vases, and inscriptions in
which, notwithstanding the neglected state
of the building and its antiquity, the lines
of the stuccoed work are as fresh as if they
had but just been completed, indicating a
very superior quality in the stucco of the
East over the West (Fig.3). The chambers
Hindustan and the Punjab, from 1819-1825,
2: 317-319, London, 1825; This account of Moorcroft
was published as it is by Wilson in 1841 from London in
a single volume, pp. 317-319 ; and it was included with
a little alterations by Villiers Stuart, Gardens of the Great
Mughals, pp.155-57, London, 1913.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
80
in the southern front of the western wing,
and other continued beyond it, constitute a
suite of baths, including cold, hot, and
medicated baths and apartments for
servants, for dressing, and reposing,
heating rooms and reservoirs (Fig.4) the
floors of the whole have been paved with a
yellow breccia, and each chamber is
surmounted by a low dome with a central
sky-light. Fresco paintings of flowers and
foliage in compartments embellish the
walls, and unless injured by mechanical
violence, the coloring has lost little of its
original luster.
Although possessing nothing majestic or
imposing, the bath of Wah bagh must have
….
(Fig.3) Stucco tracery on the inside of
baradari, photographed by the author.
been both commodious and elegant. The
water, which was supplied from the
reservoirs first noticed, is clear and in
great abundance. It comes from several
copious springs, at the base of some
limestone hills in the neighborhood and,
after feeding the tanks and canals of the
garden, runs off with the Dhamrai River
that skirts the plain on the north and
West”.
Later travellers do not add to this
significantly.
The Illustrated London News, Saturday,
April 20, 1850, published an article about
Wah Garden with an engraving after a
sketch by G.T. Vigne 21 in 1836 (Fig.5).
This sketch was also published by F.S.
Aijazuddin in his book The Historical
Images of Pakistan, P.131, Lahore, 1992.
Villiers Stuart22 visited this garden during
early 20th century and published his
account in 1913, in which he quoted
Moorcroft as above.
Thus to this day the name of the garden is
Wah following Moorcroft’s story.
Henceforth let us call it Wah Garden since
we are left with little choice.
21- The author is thankful to Khwaja Shahid Hosein,
Former Secretary Ministry of Culture and Tourism and
the Ambassador of Pakistan to UNESCO in Paris, who
provided the author with this sketch from his personal
library in London.
22 - Villiers Stuart, Op.Cit., 155-57.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
81
III. Hydraulic Engineering System of
Wah Gardens
The following lines will describes the
Hydraulic Engineering system of the
garden as it is known today:
a). Hydraulic System,
b). Hammam (Turkish Bath)
a) The Hydraulic System
Our excavations have discovered a large
water tank on its eastern end, fifteen
fountains in the central water channel and
their water inlets, three water channels, a
Paien Bagh/Zanana, (garden for ladies) a
few architectural ornamental objects in
stone, and the Hammam or Turkish Bath.
Our excavations confirm much of
Moorcroft’s descriptions of Wah Gardens.
Main Water Tank
The main water tank is the principal
feature of the garden. As shown in the
plan it is situated at the Eastern end of the
upper terrace and it measures 220’ X 214’
and 5’.6” deep. The removal of debris and
in-fill has revealed seven pointed arches
between the tank wall and the platform in
the center of the tank indicating a cause-
way. These arches are parallel on either
side of the platform suggesting that the
causeway went right across the tank. Later
selected trenches sunk beyond the
causeway at the north-eastern end revealed
the continuation of the northern wall
suggesting that the tank extended beyond
the causeway. This would be consistent
with Moorcroft’s description of two tanks
although the precise form is yet unclear in
view of the asymmetrical axis of the
garden.
The layout of the water channels, tank and
positioning of the pavilions are not
symmetrical. Indeed, the lack of symmetry
is a notable feature of the garden. The
reason for this lack of symmetry is that the
layout follows the topography of the site
and the principal sources of springs.
Water Channels
There are two outlets of water at the
Northern and Western walls of the main
tank. Once the tank is filled, water flows
into these outlets forming a northern
channel in the north and central channel in
the west. Both channels run through the
whole length of the garden and finally join
the river, which once flowed along its
west.
Northern Channel
This channel is fed through an arch
situated at the northeastern end of the main
tank. This channel is 2.6 feet wide and 1.6
feet deep when it leads to the north from
the main tank but in the middle of the
northern pavilion when it turns westwards
it widens up to three feet. However, its
depth remains the same throughout its
length in the upper terrace i.e., 18 inches.
Here there are six terra-cotta (T/C) pipes
embedded in bricks at regular intervals and
called stepping-stones. Their purpose is to
maintain the water level and to keep it
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
82
thoroughly fresh as T/C pipe allowed
water to run through from the base.
Central Channel
From the middle of the western wall of the
main tank in the upper terrace, starts the
main or the central channel which is 10’.4”
wide & 11.3” deep. This channel passes
through the Baradari down in the lower
terrace, making a cascade. Water follows
into the central channel when the main
tank is filled to the height of 5’.6”. There
is a stone bridge on this channel at the
distance of 91’ from the main tank.
Hitherto, only four fountains were known
between this bridge and the main tank, but
during our present project eight more
fountains were discovered in the same area
at regular intervals i.e, 7’.6”each. These
fountains are connected by a terracotta
pipe embedded in thick masonry, which is
40” deep. The drawing in (Fig.6) depicts
the depth and width of the central channel
and the details of how the fountains were
connected with terracotta pipe and how the
water was supplied to these fountains.
Beyond the stone bridge the floor of this
channel is embellished with Sang-i-Abri
and Sang-i- Khattu, the black and golden
stones set in a chevron design (Fig.7).
(Fig. 7) Black & golden stone set in
chevron design.
This design continues from the bridge
down to the lower terrace including the
cascade. Water flows from the cascade
down to the lower terrace in a tank
measuring 14’.3” X 19’.3” with a fountain
in its center. From this tank, the water
enters into yet another smaller tank
measuring 7’.9” x 16’.11” which also has a
fountain, the only one with an eight petal
flower. Here the channel is bordered on
either side by tall Cypress trees to the
outer boundary. (Young trees are seen in
the illustrations in Crowe’s book 23 and
were planted earlier in 20th century. What
they replaced is not clear). Halfway
through the lower terrace, the main
channel joins another tank 40’.2” X 40’.6”
also with a fountain in its center.
Adjacent to this tank is a platform, beneath
this platform are three channels through
which the water resumes its course
23- Sylvia Crowe and Sheila Haywood, The Gardens of
Mughal India, 126-27 London, 1972.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
83
through the main channel once again. This
channel continues to the western end of the
garden where it passes through a small
gateway and joins another smaller tank
outside the boundary wall. This tank has a
small tapering drain indicating the end of
the central channel. A trench sunk just
beyond this drain revealed a thick layer of
river pebbles showing that at this point the
water of the central channel flowed into a
river, which once bordered this garden on
the West. This excavation confirms
Moorcroft’s descriptions as mentioned
above.
Southern Channel
Parallel to the northern channel and on the
south of the central channel there is yet
another channel though is badly damaged.
Like the other two channels mentioned
above, it also starts from the upper terrace
and runs through the lower terrace to the
western wall of the garden. Similar to the
northern channel this channel also has a
small tank, which in a later period was
divided, into four smaller tanks, two on
either side almost in the middle of the
lower terrace. However, unlike the
northern and central channels this channel
was fed by the surplus water of a higher
water channel running behind the screen
wall and supplying water to the fountains
in the central channel at the upper terrace.
b). The Hammam or Tukish Bath
Adjacent to the southern end of the
Baradari there is a Hammam (Fig.4). Here
an independent aqueduct running beside
the eastern wall of the main water tank
supplied the water. This aqueduct
supplying water to is nine inches wide and
one foot deep. Fortunately the Hammam is
still in a good state of preservation,
showing almost all the necessary
architectural features in situ of which we
can identify the water supply, the heating
room, the hypocaust and latrines. Some
important and interesting aspects of this
bath are: it has a single entrance through
the western wing of the Baradari; it has a
complex arrangement of rooms and halls
as was seen and recorded by Moorcroft24;
its walls are extra-thick to maintain the
inside temperature; it has hollow
pavements and the provision for a
hypocaust, for circulating hot air and
steam in the Hammam and for boiling
water for a hot bath, there is a furnace
which is connected with the hypocaust.
The furnace has an entrance from the
outside of the Hammam; there is also an
excellent arrangement of running water
and the provision of pools for hot, cold and
medicated water; it has an effective
drainage system still in operation; initially
it had special ventilators in the ceiling of
the rooms and its walls on the inside were
once embellished with cut plaster painting
and floors with mosaic as recorded and
published by Moorcroft25 in 1823. Traces
24 - Moorcroft, 317-319.
25 - Ibid., 317-319.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
84
of painting on the wall and mosaic in the
floor are still to be seen intact. Moorcroft
saw and recorded in his descriptions that
all the chambers of the bath were
surmounted by low domes with central
skylight. But when this Hammam was
excavated not only its low domed ceiling
but also its walls were badly damaged and
the whole suite of baths was buried under
a mound of earth. Some functional and
more important architectural features or
elements of this Hammam are as follows:
Apodyterium- where the bather undressed
and left his clothes, measuring 7.4X7.8
feet; Alipterium- where oil was anointed,
measuring 12X12 feet; Calidarium- hot
room, it has two wings, measuring 14X14
feet and 14.10X9.4 feet; Sudatorium-
steam room, measuring 12X10 feet;
Tepidarium- warm room, measuring
14X14 feet. Tepidarium generally is a
large hall with a beautiful pool in the
middle, such as found at Wah Garden, and
it was used as a special meeting room;
Frigidarium- cold bath, measuring
12.10X10.6 feet. It has an octagonal pool,
measuring 4.4X4.4 feet, with a fountain in
the middle. These are the most important
features of all the known Mughal
Hammams or Turkish Baths.
IV. Conclusion
The Mughal garden at Wah initially called
“Bagh-i-Hassan Abdal” took its present
name as “Wah Gardens” only in 1823 after
Moorcroft. Raja Man Singh erected the
first building, a little pavilion no longer
intact, in the pool during his stay in the
area between 1581 and 1586. Later due to
its serenity, the abundance of fresh spring
water, and its location, Mughal emperors
admired and stayed in this area and sent
money to construct buildings. The whole
structure shows alterations and additions in
many places and represents various
periods of architecture. There is historical
and archaeological evidence for the
patrons of the garden and the chronology
of its construction.
This is the only garden in which a
complete hydraulic system of Mughal
period is discovered which represents a
marvel of Hydraulic engineering of the
16th Century. The hydraulic engineering
involved in this garden is based on the
gravity and thus very simple but
amazingly perfect and continuously
running fountains were connected by T/C
pipe to a supplying reservoir whose base
was approximately four feet higher than
the fountain heads. This height through
gravity kept the fountains running round
the clock. It has been very unfortunate on
part of the department of archaeology that
the hydraulic system after its discovery in
1994 has not yet been restored according
to its original plan reflecting in the lack of
interest in restoring the hydraulic system
which can serve as a prototype. The main
purpose of paper and demonstration is
primarily focused to draw the attention of
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
85
the concerned authorities for taking
necessary initiatives to restore the
hydraulic system of the unique garden.
There is no rocket science involved in its
restoration according to the original plan.
It is very simple, main thing here is of
understanding or get help from those who
understand it and are willing to contribute
for its authentic and original or near
original restoration. Additionally, the
landscaping of these historical gardens
also require serious planning based on the
historical references of which there are
many available with the author and in the
libraries. There is ample evidence as to
why two terraces were named differently
i.e. Faiz Bakhsh and Farah Bakhsh. These
names have specific meaning in them and
thus the landscaping of the gardens must
take into consideration these meaning and
landscaping be carried out accordingly.
This paper provides a platform to benefit
from and the author shall be available for
consultation in case the young team
requires assistance in understanding the
hydraulic system as well as for selecting
the right plans for plantation at each
terrace of the garden according to the
authentic historical sources. The author
has first-hand knowledge of all the
architectural and archaeological features of
these gardens and his excavation report
was published in 1996 26 . Since the
excavation of Wah Gardens in 1993-94,
26 Rajput, the Mughal Gardens Wah,...,73-87
the author has been involved in the
research and teaching of Islamic Art and
Architecture. He has been delivering the
lectures on international forums and on
Islamic Art and Architecture and has
published number of papers and books on
the subject. His recent published works
such as a) History of Islamic Art 27 ; b)
Significance of al-Mansurah28; c) Origin of
Blue and white29; and d) Principal source
of Arabic Calligraphy30 are few examples
of his commitment on the subject.
The enlargement of gardens, with the
expansion of the tank, the installation of
fountains, and construction of the
Hammam, and a grand entrance,
corresponds with the descriptions given by
Lahori and Kanboh, so that it was once
indeed a Bagh-i-Bahisht ‘Ain and the
Gulistan-i-Irum. This garden is unique in
view of the fact that it was used as manzil
bagh (transit garden) and is the only
surviving garden of its type in the whole
subcontinent. We hope and look forward
to restore the garden once again according
to the original pattern for the benefit of
posterity.
27 History of Islamic Art, Sang-i-Meel, Lahore,
2008 28 Significance of al-Mansurah in the Context of
Arab’s and Muslim’s History of Science, ELK Asia
Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, 2015. 29 The Origin of Blue and White and its
development during the 15th-16th century, Frontier
Archaeology, 2014 30 The Principal Sources of Arabic Calligraphy in
the Muslim World, Pakistan Heritage, 2013
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
86
REFERENCE
[1] Abul Fazl. (1881) Ain-i-Akbari,
Munshi Nol -Kashor, Calcutta.
[2] Aijazuddin, F.S. (1992) The Historical
Images of Pakistan, Lahore.
[3] Bahadar, M. (1988) “Mughal Garden
Wah”, Journal of Central Asia, Vol. XI,
No. 2.
[4] Baron Charles Hugel. (1845) Travels in
Kashmir and the Punjab, London.
[5] Beverage, H. (1939) Ain-i-Akbari and
Akbar Nama, Culcatta,
[6] Burns, A. (1834) Travels into Bukhara,
Vol. I, London.
[7] District Gazetteer of Attock, (1865)
[8] Elphinstone, M. (1815) An Account of
the Kingdom of Caubul, London.
[9] Foster. (1921) Early Travels in India,
1583-1619, London.
[10] Kanboh. (1927) ‘Amal-i-Saleh’,
Calcutta.
[11] Lahori. (1868) Badshah Nama,
Calcutta,
[12] Maclagan, E.D. (N.D) “The Earliest
English Visitors to the Punjab, 1585-
1628
[13] Mohan Lal. (1946) Travels in the
Punjab, Afghanistan, and Turkistan,
London.
[14] Nadiem, Ihsan H. (1986) “The
Hydraulics of Shalamar Garden”,
Journal of the Pakistan Historical
Society,Vol. xxxiv, part 1, pp.1-13
[15] Nath, R. (1976) Some Aspects of
Mughal Architecture, Delhi.
[16] Rajput, S. A. (1996) “The Mughal
Garden ‘Wah’ Near Hassan Abdal:
“Report of Excavations of 1993-94 and
New Discoveries” Based on
Collaborative Study Sponsored by
Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
DC & Dept. of Archaeology, Lahore,
The Mughal Garden: Interpretation,
Conservation and Implications, 73-87
[17] --------History of Islamic Art, Sang-i-
Meel, Lahore, 2008
[18] --------Significance of al-Mansurah in
the Context of Arab’s and Muslim’s
History of Science, ELK Asia Pacific
Journal of Social Sciences, 2015.
[19] --------The Origin of Blue and White
and its development during the 15th-16th
century, Frontier Archaeology, 2014
[20] --------The Principal Sources of Arabic
Calligraphy in the Muslim World,
Pakistan Heritage, 2013
[21] Rogers, A. (1909) Tuzuk, RAS London.
[22] Saqi Musta‘id K. (1870) Ma ‘sir-i-
Alamgiri, Calcutta.
[23] Siddiqi, M.H, (1977) Tarikh -i- Hassan
Abdal, Lahore.
[24] Akbar Nama, (1883) Kanpur,
[25] Sir Sayyed A. K. 1963 Tuzuk-i-
Jahangiri, Ghazipur.
[26] Thomas Moore, (1817) The Lalla
Rookh, London.
[27] Villiers Stuart. (1913) Gardens of the
Great Mughals, London.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
87
(Fig.2) The Plan of Wah Garden by the author
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
88
(Fig.2.1) A close up Plan of Garden by the author
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
89
(Fig. 4) Plan of the Hammam or Turkish Bath at Wah Gardens by the author.
ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ISSN 2394-9392 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJSS/issn.2394-9392/2014
Volume 1 Issue 3 (2015)
www.elkjournals.com ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
90
(Fig. 5) A sketch of Eastern gateway of Wah Garden, engraving by G.T.Vigne 1835.
(Fig.6) Cross section drawing of the Hydraulic Engineering / water supply to the fountains at Wah Garden. Discovered and
drawn by the author