From Corbelled to Onion-Shaped: The Morphological Development of Domes in the Islamic Architecture of North India

This paper discusses the morphological analysis of domes in Islamic architecture of North India and investigates its stylistic development. With eight selected case studies from the early Islamic to late Mughal period in North India, from two capital cities of Muslim rule, the authors analyze the typology of domes on the basis of their geometry. With the help of direct observation, documentation and visual materials of representative monuments, the shapes of domes have been recognized. Photographs of domes were taken with great care to avoid perspective illusions. Later they were traced using AutoCAD software. The results illustrate five categories of domes from eight representative imperial monuments in North India: viz. the single-shell corbelled dome, the shallow dome, the three-centered dome, the double-shell bulbous dome and the double-shell onion-shaped dome. It further suggests future research for sub-classifying of domes by including sub-imperial buildings. This study fills the gap in the literature available pertaining to domes in Islamic architecture of India in regard to their morphologies and styles. It will also be useful for contemporary designers in order to better understand well-proportioned medieval Indian domes.