The Bahmani style of minarets in Kalaburagi

Minarets at Sajjadanashin's residence (Dewadi) near dargah of Khwaja Bandanawaz in Kalaburagi. Photo by Anwar Ansari Nizami

The outer gateway of dargah of Ladle Mashaikh at Aland. Photo by Firasat Ansari Karbari 

Minarets at the entrance of dargah of Sirajuddin Junaidi in Kalaburagi. Photo by Yousuf Hussain Nimbalkar

North Karnataka is a cradle of several architectural wonders including the Indo-Islamic monuments built during the Bahmani and later Adilshahi periods.

After the disintegration of the Bahmani dynasty, five independent dynasties were formed, one of them being the Adilshahi dynasty of Bijapur (present-day Vijayapura).

Adilshahi kings continued the tradition of the Bahmani architecture and therefore, the early Adilshahi style of architecture is considered a type of neo-Bahmani style of architecture.

Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of Adilshahi dynasty, was a great patron of art and architecture, and that reflected in the monuments built during his time. He built four gateways of paired minarets, two in Kalaburagi city and two in Aland town in Kalaburagi district.

Among Yusuf Adil Shah’s first projects was the addition of a monumental free-standing entrance to the dargah of Shaikh Sirajuddin Junaidi in Kalaburagi at a place called Shaikh Roza. Standing at one end of the street leading to Shah Bazaar mosque (also a protected state monument), this gateway is known as Bab-al-Dakhila (entrance gate) or Shaikh Roza Minarets.

The mausoleum of this Sufi is a simple one. The entrance which is flanked by two lofty minarets is quite imposing. Double arcades with angled profiles flank a central portal raised slightly above the roof line. Lofty corner minarets present unadorned stone cylinders divided into three stages by balconies and capped with flattish domical tops.

Similar-shaped minarets were added at about the same time to the gateway of the complex next to the dargah of Khwaja Bandanawaz, also at Kalaburagi. It served as the entrance of the Dewadi (mansion), the official residence of the Sajjadanashin (spiritual head/chief custodian of the dargah).

At Aland

Another two gateways of paired minarets can be seen at Aland, 45 km northwest of Kalaburagi. These two gateways define a processional path leading to the dargah of Shaikh Alauddin Ansari popularly known as Ladle Mashaikh.

The first (outer/main) gateway has a central arch flanked by lofty minarets (about 82 feet tall) on octagonal bases. Each portal has a pair of unadorned cylindrical shafts. The cylindrical shafts of the minarets are interrupted by arcaded galleries and topped by bulbous domes. These minarets show arcaded galleries at two levels. These are crowned with foliated domes of three-quarter sphere shape, as in the Adilshahi and Qutbshahi styles in addition to an encircling band of open arches in the Qutbshahi manner.

The outer gateway leads to the second (inner) gateway which ultimately leads to the mausoleum of Ladle Mashaikh. The second gateway is comparatively shorter in height with simpler architectural features but has similarly styled minarets at the two outer corners.

All these four gateways of paired minarets directly or indirectly form a part of the protected state monuments under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage.

Prof Mohammed Suleman Siddiqi, former vice-chancellor of Osmania University, Hyderabad, in his book The Bahmani Sufis says that though these four paired minarets (two at Kalaburagi and two at Aland) were built by the Adilshahi king Yusuf Adil Shah, they can be called as Bahmani minarets as all these three Sufis (Shaikh Sirajuddin Junaidi, Shaikh Alauddin Ansari and Khwaja Bandanawaz) belonged to the Bahmani era (Bahmani Sufis) and they were built in Bahmani style of architecture. All these minarets share a similar profile and face the western direction towards the holy city of Mecca.