129.81.255.94 at 23:07, 17 October 2025

2025-10-17T23:07:18Z

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{{short description|Architectural style}}
[[File:Jhali of Hawa Mahal Jaipur details.jpg|thumb|[[Jali]] panels of [[Hawa Mahal]], [[Jaipur]]; topped with Bengal roofs]]
[[File:Ananta Basudeba Temple1.JPG|thumb|[[Bansberia]] – ''Ananta Basudeba-Temple'' (1679)]]
'''Bengal roofs''' are sloping dome-shaped roofs with drawn-down corners associated with late [[Mughal architecture|Mughal]] and [[Rajput]] architecture of [[Northern India]]. It is believed that stone roofs of this type did not emerge until the 16th century and can be traced back to rural models with straw or reed roofs in the rainy regions of [[Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/wb/wbtemps.htm|title=Kamat's Potpourri: Temples of West Bengal|website=www.kamat.com|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911043616/http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/wb/wbtemps.htm|archive-date=2016-09-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Description==
Characteristic features of the Bengal roofs are the broad partial dome-like shape of the roof with runners down the corners. There are several common types of Bengal roofs: the ''do-chala'' type has only two hanging roof tips on each side of a roof divided in the middle by a ridge; in the rare ''[[char-chala]]'' type, the two roof halves are fused into one unit and have a dome-like shape; the double-storey ''[[at-chala]]'' type has eight roof corners, four on each level.<ref name="banglapedia">{{cite web
|url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Architecture
|title=Architecture
|publisher=Banglapedia
|accessdate=6 September 2009
}}
</ref><ref name=aishee>{{citation |url=http://www.aishee.org/essays/classification.php |title=Classification of Terracotta Temples |author=Amit Guha |accessdate=20 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131235044/http://www.aishee.org/essays/classification.php |archive-date=31 January 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History==
Such roof forms appeared for the first time in the 16th century on royal architecture of Rajputs and Mughals.<ref>Michell, 156</ref> Early examples are in the Bengali ruined city of [[Gauḍa (city)|Gaur]], including the [[Mausoleum of Fateh Khan]], the son of a general of the Mughal Emperor [[Aurangzeb]].

==Distribution==
Two of the first Mughal buildings with echoes of Bengal roof shapes are the two outbuildings of the private palace (''[[Khas Mahal (Red Fort)|Khas Mahal]]'') built by [[Shah Jahan]] around 1635 for two of his daughters in the [[Red Fort of Agra]]. A few decades later, his son Aurangzeb constructed the roof of the [[Moti Masjid (Red Fort)|Pearl Mosque]] (''Moti Masjid'') in the [[Red Fort|Red Fort of Delhi]] in a similar manner.

However, it is especially notable in the architecture of the Rajput princes and merchants of [[Rajasthan]], especially the countless jaroka-the roofs of the 1799 [[Hawa Mahal|Palace of the Winds]] (''Hawa Mahal'') in [[Jaipur]], and the roofs of the houses of rich merchants (''havelis'') in [[Jaisalmer]], Mandawa and elsewhere. Some of the later memorial pavillons (''chattris''), built in the 18th and 19th centuries on the incineration sites of the Hindu princes of Jaisalmer and their family members, are also covered with such roofs. Similarly, since the 19th century, the builders of many Sikh temples have used this element as the coronation of their [[gurdwara]], especially [[Maharaja Ranjit Singh]] at the [[Golden Temple of Amritsar]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Khas Mahal (Agra Fort)-1.jpg|''Khas-Mahal'' in [[Rotes Fort of Agra|Red Fort of Agra]] (in 1635)
File:Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi Moti Masjid within the Palace.png|''Moti Masjid'' in [[Red Fort of Delhi]] (1659)
File:Deeg Palace.jpg|Palace in [[Deeg (India)|Deeg]], Rajasthan (in 1750)
File:Hamandir Sahib (Golden Temple).jpg|[[Amritsar]] – ''[[Harmandir Sahib]]'' (in 1830)
File:Salim Singh ki Haveli 04.jpg|[[Jaisalmer]] – ''Salim Singh ki Haveli'' (in 1880)
File:Bishnu temple at Garui in Paschim Bardhaman district 07.jpg|Stone Temple (14th Century), Garui, Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal
File:Rasmancha - Bishnupur.jpg|Rasmancha (1600),[[Bishnupur, Bankura]], West Bengal
File:Antpur ChandiMandap.jpg|[[Antpur]] Chandimandap
</gallery>
{{Culture of Bengal}}

== See also ==
* [[Architecture of Bengal]]
* [[Bengal temple architecture]]
* [[Architecture of Bangladesh]]
* [[Indo-Islamic Architecture]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Harle, J. C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent''. (Pelican History of Art.) 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press {{ISBN|0300062176}}
*Michell, George, (1977) ''The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to its Meaning and Forms'', 1977, University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|978-0-226-53230-1}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.kamit.jp/04_jaisalmer/xban_eng.htm ''In Dorf Gulisa, West Bengal – photo'']
* [https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Fath_Khan%E2%80%99s_Tomb ''Fath-Khan-Mausoleum in Gaur – photo + Infos''] (English)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150202132857/http://aishee.org/monographs/medinipur/malancha/malancha.html ''Dakshineshwar Kali Temple – photo + Infos''] (English)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191534/http://www.aishee.org/essays/essay_at_chala.html ''Bengali Temples in at-chala-Types – photo + Infos''] (English)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170426105852/http://templenet.com/encbeng1.html ''Temples in West-Bengal – photo + List''] (English)

[[Category:Architecture in India]]
[[Category:Bengali architecture]]

Bengal roofs - Revision history

129.81.255.94 at 23:07, 17 October 2025