The Chatri in Indian Architecture: Persian
Wooden Canopies Materialised in Stone
Mehrdad Shokoohy and Natalie H. Shokoohy
New Delhi, the south wing of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A striking feature of Indian architecture is a type of domed pavilion
on
columns known as chatri, which punctuates the skyline of large
buildings
and appears as an adjunct to gates and porticoes, as well as in
free-standing
structures for many types of buildings from garden pavilions to
mausolea.
The antecedents of the form and its migration and metamorphosis from
the
wooden and brick canopies of Persian architecture, frequently depicted
in
manuscript illustrations, to the versions in stone which became a
signature
in Indian monumental architecture until recent times are analysed in
this
paper in terms of typology, function, and form. Through
historical
records as well as Persian and Central Asian manuscript illustrations
the
way such canopies were used, particularly in secular contexts, is
considered.
