Charbagh
Chahar Bāgh (Persian چهار باغ, DMG CAHAR Bag; Hindi: चारबाग Carbag, " four shared garden " ) or Tschārbāgh is a type of Islamic garden, which is found in mainly in Iran, Afghanistan and North India.
Definition
The Chahar Bāgh is a rectangular four shared garden, which has two intersecting axes. The term is sometimes more broadly. So Babur also designated channels provided with terraces and gardens shore as Chahar Bagh, and even the Bagh -i Nilufar in Dholpur, which is not applied symmetrically. The articulated by a longitudinal axis palace gardens of the Iranian Safavids were called Chahar Bāgh (eg in Isfahan ), although Brignoli doubts that it ever (classical ) Chahar baghs was in Iran.
A "typical " Chahar Bagh, about the grave yard of Humayun, is characterized by four rectangular channels from a simple water tank ( hauz ) or an increased pool out in the center. A platform made of stone or brick ( tschabutra / chabutra ) could serve as a resting place or wear a throne. If, on the platform stood a pavilion ( Köşk (Turkish ) or Baradar ( pers ) ), it was called kursi. At the edge of the channels trees like pomegranate, cypress, oriental plane trees, mulberry trees and flowers were planted.
In the terraced variant, as in the Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir and Lahore, a channel runs in the middle of a terraced rectangular area on the individual terraces axially intersecting channels and central basins may be located. The view is however dominated by the downhill flowing channel.
In the shore - variant, represented approximately by the grave yard of the Taj Mahal a raised terrace situated on the riverside, from which a central channel runs out, which in turn can be crossed by side channels again. The river here represents a channel of Chahar Bagh, and the garden represents (or these are on the other side of the river ( Mahtab Bagh ) ) only two of the four quarters of the full Chahar Bāgh. In Agra there were more of these banks of gardens that were used mainly by women.
The classic Chahar Bāgh found primarily in Mughal India, where the expression is, however, by the time Babur used only rarely. In Persia, however, also systems are called Chahar Bāgh that are more than four two - divided, such as Farahābād the last Safawidenherrschers Hussein.
In the following, especially the classic Chahar Bāgh is treated, a discussion of the variants can be found under the headings of Persian Garden and Mughal Garden.
History
An attempt was made to Chahar Bāgh traced back to the time of the Achaemenids This is based solely on the description that Xenophon from the garden of the satraps of Cyrus in Sardis are ( Oikonomikos 4.20f. ). After the trees were just in rows, were arranged at right angles and gave off a pleasant scent. This is unlikely to be sufficient to reconstruct the garden plan, however, was the basis of far-reaching speculations of Baroque physician Thomas Browne, who were influential, especially in the English language without having their bases were reviewed. This derivation is, however, now widely rejected.
Dickie sees the Chahar Bāgh as Timurid creation, which was further developed in India and Persia. Chahar Bāgh were built in the Mughal Empire, as the Bagh -e Wafa Jalalabad, was built by Babur. Even before Babur's grave, the Bagh -e Babur in Kabul is a Chahar Bāgh. Many royal tombs of the Mughal period are located in the center of a Chahar Bāgh, so take the place of the central basin.
Even Sikhs built in India gardens along the lines of Chahar Bagh, but this had no religious significance. One example is the Hazuri Bagh in Lahore, which was converted by Ranjit Singh between the Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque of, from him at a munitions depot, built.
The construction of gardens was considered a central task of Persian rulers and is highlighted in the sources. According to Engelbert Kaempfer Shah Abbas was planning I. (1587-1629) the Chahar Bāgh -e Abbasi in Isfahan and personally introduced himself as the successor to the Achaemenid emperor Cyrus the ancient Near East in the tradition ruler the title "Lord of the four quarters of the world " led.
The Court Of Lions of the Alhambra in Spain also follows the pattern of the Chahar Bagh, here the central pool is conceived as aloof shell, which is supported by lions. The relationship between Chahar Bāgh and maghrebinischem Agdal garden is still little studied.
In classical modernity, the motif of Chahar Bāgh was resumed, among others, Luis Barragán, who was influenced by the Moorish gardens of Spain.
Swell
The Irshad al- Zira'a ( "Guide to Agriculture "), a 1515 authored Garden Manual of the Timurids, describes the construction of Chahar Bāgh. Special embodiments will be described here, in which a pool of just a channel starts, which is crossed by a plurality of side arms. Karim describes a structure of a wide channel with a tank in the middle. The boundaries of the garden are two smaller channels, about 1/2 m wide and 1.5 m apart, marked. At the outer channel poplars to be planted on the inner channel peaches, apricots and roses. In the four main beds fruits such as pomegranates, quinces, peaches and pears are to thrive. Between the flower beds clover covers the floor.
A miniature of the reign of Jahangir shows a Chahar Bagh, in which the channel margins are planted with cypress trees, while in the four beds flower meadows and shrubs grow. Chahar Bāgh are also often depicted on carpets.
Interpretation
It is often claimed that Islamic gardens after the pattern of Chahar Bāgh were based on the description of Paradise in the Qur'an.
The word Jannah can both garden and paradise denote ( cf. the concept of transformation of the Persian paradeisos ). It is 147 times before in the Koran. Furthermore, the terms and, Firdaws and Rawdah (pers. ROUZE ) are used. The term and corresponds to the biblical Eden.
The whereabouts of the faithful after death is a garden, " beneath which rivers flow " ( Sura 2, 25), in which numerous fruits grow. At plants are palm trees, vines (2, 266, 17, 91, 36, 34) and pomegranates (55, 68) mentioned. Sura 47 mentioned the " parable of the Garden which is promised to the righteous " (47, 15). It contains " rivers of water that is not stale, and streams with milk whose taste does not change, and rivers of wine that is delicious to those who drink, and rivers of clarified honey. " Furthermore, the righteous receive "from all fruits and forgiveness from their Lord. " After Sura 55 reach the true believers in a garden with two sources, which contains two copies of each kind of fruit (55, 52). Islamic theologians interpret these descriptions often used as metaphors.
God has created the earthly gardens, with fruit, date palms (13, 4), Korn, " fragrant plants " (55, 11-12), olive trees, vines and pomegranates (6, 99) Gardens " with trellises and without trellises " (6, 141).
According to the historian Penelope Hobhouse garden provide the channels of Chahar Bagh is the four rivers of Paradise, the garden itself the earthly paradise. However, this is contradicted by the four rivers of Paradise from the Old Testament, but not from the Koran are known. Here the garden is not the same as Eden readily with the whereabouts of the faithful after their death. It contained also, as already stated above, only streams of various kinds
For Wescoat the Mughal gardens are more likely to connect with pre-Islamic traditions of divine kingship as the message of the Quran. Koranic quotations in the Taj Mahal take mostly on water in general terms, the story of the Queen of Sheba. Especially the suras 36 (Ya -Sin ) and 48 (Al -Fath ) can be used.
Examples
( Here are just Chahar Bāgh with " classic " layout listed )
- Bagh -e Babur, Kabul (Afghanistan)
- Garden of the four streams in Berlin- Marzahn ( Germany )
- Garden of Humayun mausoleum in Delhi (India)
- Garden of the Viceroy of India in Delhi, designed by William Robertson Mustoe, Horticultural Department
- Itmad -ud- Daula 's Tomb
- Chahar Bāgh -e Abbasi in Isfahan ( Iran)
- La Mort Ella, Ischia (Italy )
- Hamilton Gardens, Waikato Region, North Iceland (New Zealand)
- Lawrence Gardens ( Bagh Jinnah ) in Lahore, Pakistan
- Court Of Lions of the Alhambra, Granada (Spain )