Indian Castles 1206 – 1526: The Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate
The feudal division and ensuing instability in India from the 13th century to the mid 16th century led to the intense fortification of many of the provinces, as the lords spent considerable resources building forts to bolster their military positions. It is also the period during which Indian castles start to show their defining features, elements of which would be modified later in response to evolving military technology. The attitude to work with what is already functional left functional military structures intact. As a result, forts inherit the combined influence of the Islamic and Hindu architectural tradition giving them a unique style.
A two-page introduction succinctly summarizes the political history of the period makes broad remarks on castle architectural styles. This is followed by a map showing the location of the castles covered in the text and a chronology of events.
The first substantive chapter starts with a discussion on the differences between castles, forts and fortresses. The discussions seems inspired by classifications of European castles and don’t translate very well to Indian castles. The last paragraph of this discussion refers to Sanskrit terms used for the various fortifications. I wish this paragraph would have opened the discussion, and elaborated on (leaving out the European legacy). Happily, the next discussion on types of castles draws on Indian treatises and, for the most part, is well summarized. While there is a mention of Manu in the main text, there is no supporting reference to Manu in either the footnotes or references. This chapter ends with a general discussion on the methods used for castle construction. The second chapter discusses the functional elements of castle design. In this case, they include ditches, walls, towers, gates, merlons, loopholes, and machicolations. From the perspective of architectural style and diversity, these first two chapters are the crown jewels of the book.
The next chapter provides a detailed description of the defenses of three different castles. These descriptions take into account the architectural design (walls, gates, towers, etc.), physical terrain, and access routes to the castle. The text illustrates how these castles integrate the disparate mechanisms of defense examined in earlier chapters. The following chapter while titled “Interiors and Living Quarters” examines palaces within the castles. An Indian castle generally has several palaces within one castle.
The chapter titled “The Castles in War” provides accounts of sieges and some of the tactics used by the defenders and attackers. In places, it reads like a collection of real stories about real people. This is probably the best chapter that could create interest in the subject. My regret is that it is buried in the middle of the book, and could be overlooked. The next single-page chapter discusses the difficulty of studying castles and how the advent of handguns and cannons influenced modifications in castle design. The last chapter provides a very brief (a few sentences) summary of roughly two dozen castles (all of which are marked on the map earlier in the book).
For a book to cover so much material in so few pages is indeed remarkable. As it is clearly intended for those with hardly any background in Indian castles, the specialist would take issue with some of what is presented. Overall, the information is accurate and compactly presented to make it interesting for the novice and enjoyable for the specialist.
On a personal note, my seven-year-old son and I read portions of this book together, spending about as much time exploring the pictures as on reading the text itself. While he is aware of using elephants during warfare, this is probably the first time some practical considerations of employing elephants for warfare occurred to him (such as the high gates needed to accommodate elephants, elephant spikes and other defensive measures to guard against elephant attacks). As the book provided a good summary of Padmini’s story (Ala-ud-din’s siege of Chittorgarh in 1303), we read it in its entirety. We also read portions of Mahmud of Ghazni’s military campaigns. Since our reading, he has claimed the book as his own, and it now sits on his shelf wedged between Carroll’s The Taj Mahal and Berinstain’s India and the Mughal Dynasty.
Page Added: September 2006