India before Europe: by Catherine B. Asher & Cynthia Talbot

Author:Catherine B. Asher & Cynthia Talbot
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2006-03-15T18:30:00+00:00

Figure 5.12 Raja Man Singh’s Govinda Deva temple (1590) at Vrindavan reflects Islamicate styles used in imperial Mughal architecture.

Man Singh built several other temples that were intended both to celebrate Mughal victories and to commemorate recently deceased family members, including one for his mother, one for his father, and one for his heir apparent, Jagat Singh. The temple commemorating his heir, erected in the Kachhwaha palace compound at Amber, is highly unusual in that its exterior is covered with figural sculpture, rare in north India since even before the twelfth century. All the same, the temple’s entrance and porch evoke the contemporary architecture of Akbar. This temple, like the one built for the image of Govinda Deva that had only recently been discovered in Vrindavan, has a large porch, needed for the crowds assembled for darshan (auspicious sighting) of the image which lasts from fifteen minutes to an hour, seven times a day. As the popularity of this type of veneration for Krishna associated with the bhakti movement increased, temple formats had to accommodate this change from individual to congregational worship. Man Singh’s patronage was instrumental in making this change. By providing temples throughout the domain in a recognizably Mughal style, Man Singh was helping to spread Akbar’s official policy of sulh-i kul, just as the Khan-i Khanan did by commissioning an illustrated Ramayana. To further promote the concept of sulh-i kul, Man Singh provided at least two mosques and supported the shrine of a Muslim saint.

Man Singh built several palaces, including two in his ancestral lands. But the largest and most important is the one he provided in eastern India at the hill fort Rohtas, previously associated with Sher Shah. Man Singh’s Rohtas palace is the largest non-imperial palace of the entire Mughal period, and many of its features suggest that Man Singh intended to signal his role as Akbar’s agent. For example, the entrance gate flanked by elephants and the public viewing window both recall their equivalents at Fatehpur Sikri, a privilege allowed only to the Kachhwaha princes because of their special ties to the Mughals.

There is reason to believe that to Man Singh the Rohtas palace was more than just a residence for the Mughal governor of eastern India. Palace inscriptions in Persian and Sanskrit show that Man Singh recognized his dual role as both Mughal governor and Hindu raja. The one in Persian implies that Raja Man Singh built the palace as a servant of Akbar, for it addresses the emperor extensively and makes only a brief reference to the actual patron, Man Singh. In the companion Sanskrit portion, Raja Man Singh omits Akbar’s name altogether, asserting his own authority as head of the Kachhwaha house and identifying himself as king of kings. The use of his Kachhwaha title rather than his Mughal one, on a palace intended to serve both the governor’s needs and those of the state, underscores the dual nature of the relationship between the raja and Mughal emperor. Under the Mughal state

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