The Red Fort, like most imperial Mughal forts, was the site of a variety of functions – residential, ceremonial, administrative, manufacturing and military – all of which required well-thought-out organisation and use of space. The design of the Red Fort, free of any constraints of previously existing Fort boundaries, formally utilised the opportunity to plan for all these different functions and improve the apparent deficiencies in the earlier Mughal forts. Additionally, the design of the Fort also catered to its links with the larger city of Shahjahanabad. These links were necessary for the realisation of the patrimonial-bureaucratic ideal of the Mughals.
The Fort where the emperor stayed not only needed to personify his involvement in all aspects of public life but also to provide an economic mainstay for the city both as an employment centre as well as a market. Such a relationship called for a far greater interaction between the emperor and his subjects than that normally seen between most subjects and their rulers.
The layout of the city and Fort was therefore planned to highlight the symbolism of this relationship and enable the smooth functioning of its practical aspects. To reflect the emperor’s dominant presence in all walks of life, the Fort in its sheer size (with a total length of 3,000 feet, a breadth of 1,800 feet, a height of 60 feet on the riverside and 75 feet on the other sides) was built with a view to dominate the cityscape.
Additionally, the presence of a 35-foot-deep moat around most of the Fort further enhanced the perception of its actual height. In recognition of the fact that both the road and river were important modes of transport into the city, the eastern and western faces of the Fort were treated as impressive front facades. There was effectively no rear facade. At the level of overall city planning, the links between the Fort and the city were present as impressive visual and spatial axes on which the formally designed public structures and spaces of the city – large mosques and important commercial and recreational areas – were positioned.
A progression of designed chowks of different sizes and functions were provided on these axes, both between the Fort and city as well as within the Fort. The two main designed axes of the city were the east-west Chandni Chowk and the north-south Faiz Bazaar. The former connected the western (or Lahori) gates of the Fort and the city, and the latter linked the southern (or Delhi) gates of the Fort and the city. The location of the Fort’s principal gates on its western and southern walls is significant. These directions had direct links with two strategic routes. One of these was the Grand Trunk Road that connected Delhi to the traditional land invasion route in the northwest and the other was the road to Agra which led to the Gangetic plains, a rich source of agriculture and revenue.
These directions also had a symbolic importance. To the northwest was the Mughal capital of Lahore as well as the summer court of Kashmir, with the forts and gardens established by Akbar and Jahangir. To the west were the traditional overland routes to the dynasty’s ancestral origins in Central Asia; Persia where Humayun had sought and found refuge and finally, Mecca, the home of the Islamic faith of the Mughals. The southern direction in its turn led to the earlier cities of Delhi in which Akbar and Humayun had ruled; where Humayun was entombed and many Sufi saints enshrined. Further south was the erstwhile Mughal capital of Agra or Akbarabad, accredited as being “the headquarters of the banners of glory”, where Babur had first established the Mughal standard and where later, Akbar had built a great city
Apart from such symbolic implications, there were practical reasons for locating the main gates to the Fort on the western and southern sides. After bending towards the northeast, the Yamuna flowed virtually north-south in a straight line some distance to the east of the Aravallis. If the Fort and the city were to be located close to the western banks of the Yamuna (in the tradition of the earlier cities of Delhi), it meant that the eastern and northern sides across the Yamuna would be excluded from any large urban development. Thus, the city could develop only on the southern and western edges of the Fort.
The series of chowks located on the south and west axes between the Fort and the city had their own hierarchy. They became progressively larger towards the Fort, finally terminating in the great royal squares at the junction of the Fort’s Lahori and Delhi Gates with these axes. These royal squares were followed both in size and significance by the square, rectangular and octagonal chowks in front of (or around) the major mosques, such as those of the Jama Masjid, the Fatehpuri Masjid and the Akbarbadi Masjid.
Next in the hierarchy were the subsidiary courts positioned at important junctions in the main Shahjahanabad, the progression of chowks towards the public streets, such as the chowks that punctuated the length of Lahori Bazar and Faiz Bazar, as well as the chowk midway in the street leading to Jama Masjid. Finally, there were the courts inside semi-public and semi-private areas, such as those within the Red Fort. Shah Jahan had already experimented with the provision of chowks as buffer spaces and appropriate preludes to the Fort at Agra in 1637. The motivation for these chowks is explained by the following passage from the Shah Jahan Nama of Inayat Khan.
Formerly, at Akbarabad, the area just in front of the fort was congested with various public buildings, offices and private dwellings, leaving no open space for a Forecourt (jilau-khana). As a result every morning and evening, when the nobles and all the officers of the state came to pay their respects, great inconvenience was caused to the public by the concourse of men and horses, especially on the days of Id and Nauroz, royal birthdays and other festivals, and during the occasions of a royal procession. In fact, due to the immense crowds that thronged together, the people’s lives were constantly endangered.
Therefore, at this time, on the return of the imperial standards from Daulatabad, His Majesty ordered that a spacious plaza which the natives of Hind call a chauk, be constructed in front of the fort gate, with a large bazar laid out in octagonal Baghdadi style, along each longer side of which there were to be cells and apartments, with several shops on each shorter side. Having laid the foundations at an auspicious moment, it was further commanded that on one side of the plaza, which would form a place of assembly for all the denizens of the world, a stately metropolitan mosque should be built at His Majesty’s private expense.
In Shahjahanabad, Shah Jahan further improved upon this arrangement devised in Agra, by separating the courts of the Red Fort and Jama Masjid (which generated its own crowds as the principal mosque). In this, he was aided by having virtually a virgin site. Jama Masjid, thus, was positioned on a high rock outcrop, effectively utilising the opportunity afforded by this imposing site feature, which overrode any overwhelming preoccupation with symmetry. The requirements of religion and symmetrical aesthetics were addressed by locating the important Fatehpuri Masjid on the principal axis aligned with the centre of the Red Fort’s western face.
Shah Jahan also instituted another important change in Shahjahanabad with reference to the architectural relationship established in Agra between the Fort and the Mosque. The distance between the Red Fort and the Fatehpuri Masjid was increased, turning it into the primary urban avenue. The plaza of the mosque, the bazaar, and the royal forecourts were, thus, separated.
Excerpted with permission from The Red Fort of Shahajanabad: An Architectural History, Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, Westland Books.