India: Marvels & Mysteries with William Dalrymple | Episode 5 | Two Queens

In this episode two queens Those who commissioned India's two most beautiful sun temples The first stepwell is Queen Udai Mata's Baawadi One of the greatest works of art in the world It's a masterpiece It has been recognized by UNESCO for its exceptional craftsmanship in stone inlay Rani ki Vav a royal memorial a temple of water And woman's beauty as well After that the father of the Mughal Maharani of India The mausoleum of Itmad-ud-Daula Nur Jahan in her own style has left an indelible mark on the history of Indian architectural art One of the most magnificent buildings has been constructed This white miracle was a tribute to Nur Jahan's own parents lit in their honor A building that would inspire the dreamers behind the Taj Mahal India Marvels and Mysteries with Volume De l'Écho Nourishing life along its course as it flows through northwestern India Today all that remains of the ancient river in modern Gujarat is dry sand and barren beds Those who were raised on its magical waters have also passed on their descendants now live in a world stripped of magic Sarasvati gradually dried up over thousands of years as earthquakes and tectonic shifts transformed the geography of this region But beneath the ground lay a hidden architectural treasure that had remained concealed for centuries In the case of Rani's Vav when excavation began only a small portion was visible above ground but as digging progressed deeper an entire complex of stepwells gradually emerged When excavation began in the 1940s and again in the 1960s only a portion of the cylindrical well and a few pillars were visible A stepwell or vav as it is known in the local language was discovered during the excavation Who transformed this place into the marvel that is now known as Rani's Vav Rani Ki Vav or Rani Ki Vav He stands today not only in India but across the world as a living testament to subterranean architectural mastery Rani ki Vav is a UNESCO World Heritage Site It was built by Queen Udaimiti the queen mother of the Solanki dynasty in memory of her husband King Bhim I This stepwell is located in the town of Patan 125 kilometers from Ahmedabad Once known as Anahilwada Pata It was the ancient capital of the Solankis Thousands of years ago caravans traveled along ancient trade routes carrying silk from China He reached the silk market Where the renowned Patan Patola designs are now created These ancient patterns are still woven in the same way As they were woven a thousand years ago PatoLa designs are visible on the walls of Rani's stepwell And much more This monument resembles ancient sculpture gallery featuring around 500 main statues and over 1 000 smaller ones We see beauty like that of Rani ki Vav in any place which is now a World Heritage Site But we also need to consider what life means on fertile land The peak of life's journey was shaped by a death In the year 1064 the reign of a great king came to an end Anahil Vada Patan's first king Bhim passed away after ruling for 42 years King Bhim was a great patron of art and architectural craftsmanship Queen Udaimiti will carry forward that legacy Udaimati's stepwell was a grand public project for the city Construction began in the year 1062 and is believed to have taken approximately 20 years There is no way to estimate how much the queen had spent But it's clear they left no room for error Rani ki Vav is over 210 feet long and 65 feet wide It extends up to 90 feet in depth The feminine form emerges vidly amidst the Shandar artworks His true perspective is finally coming to light The essence of the building is evident in what we can see today This scene is inspired by the art and essence of adornment known as Shringara Indian artists have been depicting this aspect of femininity for centuries Rani ki Vav is one of the finest examples of its kind A woman is swaying her hips as she sprays perfume Then the other one is applying lipstick to her lips Beautiful and sensual carvings have settled on the walls of Rani ki Vav over time This baddua stone structure was built in the Maru Gurjar architectural style No cement or binding material of any kind has been used anywhere Each stone is joined to the next with a piece of wood It was divided into a series of steps leading from one end to the water source And at the other end there was a circular well The remarkable thing about it is how deep it goes How many different levels have been created for it The floors here come with stubs attached Out of the original 292 pillars 226 still stand It remains fully intact Some stubs were lost over time But the remaining stubs bear witness to skilled design Finding relief from the heat of the deser And they were designed to reduce the rate of evaporation Water scarcity had already been a serious problem here by the 19th century The Saraswati that the locals used to worship had already dried up Near Rani ki Vav the remnants of a vast water reservoir tell a unique story Sahasralinga Talab got its name from the one thousand Shivalingas Those believed to have existed here before the Queen's stepwell Looking from above reveals how advanced hydraulic engineering was employed over a thousand years ago During the rainy season water was diverted from the Saraswati River The water once diverted flowed again through the canals And it was collected in the Rudra Kuppa a 40-meter-diameter tank Here the waterlogged soil would harden And the clear water flowed forward A simple system like Nehru's in the twentieth century This water management and storage system has replenished the water levels This provided assistance to Rani's Vav and other wells in the region Was this stepwell merely a gesture of devotion from Queen Udai Mata for her deceased husband Or perhaps it was something more than that Many people believe they not only discovered a well In fact a shrine was also established there where water itself was revered as the deity Some people say the queen had a temple built The mysterious thing about it was that their temple was upside down In reality if you look at Rani ki Vav it's like an upside-down temple spire A thousand years after its construction Rani Udai Mata's stepwell has become a symbol of pride for modern India The queen will know that her creation will keep her memory alive If only she knew that one day her legacy would live on forever on India's currency Taj Mahal one of the wonders of the world In the mid-12th century the Yamuna's banks were not home to just one architectural gem but many Agra once had a vast complex of 45 magnificent gardens where people traveled from palace to palace by boat All major monuments in Agra have their main entrances facing the river Centuries of unchecked urban expansion have destroyed most of the palaces and gardens that once graced this once-royal city About 15 of them still survive in some form among the factories and settlements of modern Agra Between them lies a garden tomb built in the 1620s commissioned by Nur Jahan the empress of India and wife of Emperor Jahangir in memory of her father Ghiyasuddin Beg Nur Jahan's father Ghiyasuddin was given the title Iftimad-ul-Mulk meaning "Pillar of the State " indicating his high status which likely contributed to his close association with Jahangir's court career The central chamber houses the tombs of the former Mughal prime minister and his wife But the story of Nur Jahan's father and her mother Asmat Begum did not begin with such grandeur In the early twentieth century the subcontinent and its neighboring regions were unstable The Persian Empire the greatest empire in this region was heavily pressing down on the Mughals Amid this great upheaval people moved from one state to another according to their circumstances Ghiya Suddin and Asmat decided to flee Iran and seek their future in Mughal India With whatever meager belongings they could carry they set off toward Hindustan They probably never imagined that the little girl they would name Mahruni would one day become Noor Jahan the light of the world the queen of Hindustan But the future was still far off and for now they were forced to confront hidden dangers at every turn Camps set up along the roadside were easy prey The threat of bandits loomed constantly The couple had brought very little valuable belongings with them But it wasn't worth more than their life So this was a family a Persian family The one who came to India seeking work like an immigra who truly built a splendid legacy for himself It is also known as Baby Taj the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah That is not an appropriate title Its brilliance far outweighs any lack of size The most remarkable thing about it is that it's not a very large mausoleum The tomb of Itmad-ud-Daula was built on a modest scale And this is completely perfect I think this is a very feminine tune The tomb exhibits extraordinary beauty and exquisite craftsmanship Nur Jahan in her own unique style left an indelible mark in the history of Indian architectural art One of the most magnificent buildings has been constructed In many ways this mausoleum stands as a testament to Nur Jahan's success And like most tales of women from his time it was largely about her Misconceptions also surround the stories of their rise to power So according to common belief she was considered a completely young and beautiful girl And Jahangir was completely infatuated with that young girl That's absolutely true She was in her late twenties at the time Thirty was such an age When you've fully dealt with all the serious matters regarding marriage and romance By then she was a scholar and she also had a young daughter Contrary to popular belief their greatest wealth was their intelligence Although Nur Jahan was not the mother of the future Shah Jahan she had become Jahangir's favorite queen Jahangir fell deeply in love with Nur Jahan a woman of remarkable intelligence and beauty and elevated her to the status of empress making her his trusted consort They had jointly envisioned the Mughal succession and to a large extent they were involved in it They had severe addictions to both opium and alcohol which only worsened over time Waking up late losing consciousness and getting lost in this terrible habit left their beloved Nour Jahan helpless and abandoned With the help of their father and mother they ruled here as the actual sovereign even issuing state decrees The impoverished desperate Persian family had undertaken a long journey Her mother Assamet Megem passed away in the year 1621 A few months later their beloved father Itima Dudhola passed away followed by the death of Suddhin Beg Using her personal funds Nur Jahan soon began construction of the Makam After her parents' deaths Nour Jahan was both a grieving daughter and a sovereign queen A grand monument was essential The tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah which was built as both a personal memorial and a royal mausoleum is precisely what makes it so captivating The serene atmosphere of the campus symbolized Paradis or heaven Composed of two Persian words "Tari " meaning garden and "Dez " meaning enclosed At its center lies a bright white radiant structure resembling a lotus It's like a small marble box It was meant to be seen as a vision of heaven The glass of alcohol is a bouquet of flowers Every inch has been thoughtfully and beautifully designed The tomb spans approximately 240 square feet and is built on a base of about 540 square feet Four 8-sided minarets each 43 feet tall stand at the four corners By that time red sandstone had become the royal color But they used only white marble which was quite expensive And later Shah Jahan saw it and had the Taj Mahal built That's my understanding Was this the artistic inspiration for the Taj The building of Noor Jahan was already completed and ready four years before the construction of the Taj Mahal began The white marble of the mausoleum is nearly identical to the inlaid work known as pietra dura This is the first example of Mughal tombs made of white marble Embedded with so many stones for decoration Was Nur Jahan the beginning of a new era The answer has been lost over time The interior spaces are small and familiar Where natural light is used in a dramatic theatrical manner We now know that the Mughal Light's constellations were greatly influenced God was associated with the splendor of sovereignty So you see these lattices all around facing the sun And you can see that Muzek class as if it were a Juliery box She was India's most powerful woman at that time The only woman of the Mughals who was honored with the title of Maharani She became entangled in the power struggle over succession when Jahangir was ill and dying Therefore when Mirza Khurram finally became Shah Jahan there was no question of Nur Jahan remaining in Agra Nur Jahan became a forgotten woman once the empress of Hindustan Jahangir's consort passed away eight years after his reign at the age of 40 and was buried in Lahore beside her husband Yet even after 400 years Nur Jahan's legacy lives on