An Islamic force attacked India around the 10th century. The Ghazna and Ghur Dynasty based in Afghanistan repeatedly invaded India to plunder the spoils of war from the rich Hindu kingdom. At the end of the 12th century, Turkish Muslim political power was established in Delhi, extending its power to various places in the continent, such as Bengal, Deccan and Gujarat, etc. Subsequently, the local Islamic dynasties were established in these areas by around the mid 14th century. In the medieval period, struggles were seen not only between local Islamic dynasties, but Hindu kingdom also contended for power. It was in such a period that local culture matured. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Mughal power (which professed itself to be Turkish-Mongolia) came from Central Asia, invaded and established the Mughal Empire. It controlled an area of North India by he late 16th century. In the Mughalid period, Muslim control spread over almost the whole Indian Continent. Thus, Mughalid culture based on Islam spread all over the continent as well.

 After Islamic kingdoms were established in India, Muslims came to live in cities and constructed mosques and mausoleums. Such religious architecture was donated by Muslims for their use. Therefore, they can be called Islamic Architecture in India. However, in this writing we also included secular buildings such as palaces, water supply facilities and forts, etc. in Islamic Architecture in India.

 The distinctive features of Islamic Architecture in India is its eclectic architecture of Indian indigenous architectural style of the pre-Islamic period and an architectural style brought by Islam originating in the Middle East. The degree of mixture is not uniform but it differs by region and time. This is another distinguishing characteristic of Islamic Architecture in India. The degree of mixture can be measured by particular elements in the building; if it employs corbelled arches or true arch, post and beam structures or arch structures, etc.


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